Women Revolutionaries of Bengal 1905-1939 8185195412, 9788185195414

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92-907511 I-E-69445

Handal, Tirtha. The women revolutionaries of Bengal, 19051939 / Tirtha Handal. -- Calcutta, India : Minerva Associates (Publications), 1991. viii, 153 p. ; 22 cm. 58-91 Includes bibliographical references (p. (144) -148). Includes index. ISBN 8185195412: Rsl35.00

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Handal, Tirtha. The women revolutionaries of Bengal, 19051939 / Tirtha Handal. -- Calcutta, India : Minerva Associates (Publications), 1991. viii, 153 p. ; 22 cm. 58-91 Includes bibliographical references (p. (144) -148). Includes index. ISBN 8185195412: Rsl35.00 i

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11IE WO:MEN REVOLUTIONARIES OF BENGAL 190S-1939 ,

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THE WOMEN REVOLUTIONARIES OF BENGAL

1905-1939

Tirtha Mandal, M.A., Ph.D. Senior UGC Research Associate Ocptt. of History University of Burdwan

MINERVA : INDIA

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First Published : 1991 O Tirtha.Mondal, 1991 ISBN .;-81-8S19S-41-2

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This book. has been supported by a publication grant of btdian Council Qf Social Science Research. However, the responsibility for the facts stated, opinions expressed, and conclusions reached is entirely that of the a_uthor and that the ICSSR accept.a no rcapoD11bility for them. I� consultant: Prof. Barun D e.

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. Photo Typesetting at : ATS Grapho Laser Pvt. Ltd., 17-B Lake View Road., Calcutta-700 029 Offset Printing at: ATS Grapho Laser Pvt. Ltd., 17-B Lake View Road., Calcutta - 700 029 Publishecl by : T. K. Mukherjee on behalf of Minerva A3sociates (Publications) Pvt. Ltd. 7 -B, Lake Place : Calcutta- 700 029

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TO MYFATIIER SRI RAKHAL CHANDRA PAL

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PREFACE ARMED REvoumONARY activities aimed to achieve India's freedom from British domination have not yet been thoroughly documented. Whatever account is available reflects mostly on the activities of the male revolutionaries in this movement. Very little is in fact known about participation of women in the revolutionary movement in spite of the fact thatIndian women played a very significant role in it. Hence, in the present study an attempt has been made to document the role of women revolutionaries in the Indian freedom struggle. Specifically, the study throws light on the women of Bengal who participated i n the armed struggle for India's freedom. The Bengali women led some rcv.olutionary · actions, in addition, worke-4. to educate, inspire, organise and prepare revolutionary activities. In the initial stage of the study, Dictioruuy ofNationalBiography, available at the Library of Tata Institute of S9cial Sciences, Bombay, was consulted and relevant revolutionary literature ayailableat theNationalLibrary, Bangiya SahityaParishadLibrary,JayasrccPatrikaOfficeinCalcutta,and-thepersonal collection ofProfcssor Satyabrata Ghosh, an ex-freedom flgllter in Bombay, was surveyed to identify those women who took part in the revolutionary movement. In the process, seventy women could be identified. Later, information was available about ·ruty other women tlu'Qugh interviews with the women revolutionaries. Thus the study covered hundred and twenty women revolutionaries of Bengal. After identification, biographical sketches of_ each of these women were prepared with special emphasis on their contnl>ution to the revolutionary movement. On the basis of these b�aphical sketches, questionnaires were prepared for interviewing the • women revolutionaries. Two types of questionnaires were actuafly prepared for the purpose of the interview. One was a general questionnaire, common t o all women, seeking detailed information regarding their involvement in revolutionary movement. The other questionnaire was specific and varied from individual to individual. Through the latter questionnaire, attempts were made to clarify certain points relating to their activities in the revolutionary movement Resource persons, mainly freedom flglltcrs, were contacted to trace women revolutionaries who arc still alive and to interview them. Thus name-$ and addresses of a few women revolutionaries were initially collected. These women were then contacted and uked about their colleagues who arc still alive. In this way, fifteen women revolutionaries could be traced and. all of them were interviewed extcnsivdy. Interviews with these women involved certain steps. Fustly, detailed information was collected from them on the basis of the two questionnaires. Secondly, they were requested to

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provide information about their colleagues whose activities are not yet recorded. Thirdly, their personal ·wntin8-' about their revolutionary activities in the forms of memoirs and autobiographies (some published and some unpublished) were collected. These writin8-' hel� the researcher to have· a clear idea of their day-to-day activities. However, the information obtained from the women revolutionaries was then cross-checked by consulting daily newspapers of that period available with the National Library Newspaper Section and the Ananda Bazar Patrika Offrce Library, Calcutta. In addition, in order Jo ascertain the attitude of the Government towards the women revolutionaries, ConfidentiaJFilesoftheHomeDepartment(PoliticaJBranch} of the Government of West Bengal, available at the West Bengal State - encral Archives and Abstracts ofIntelligence at the Offices of Inspector.G of POiice, Intelligence Branch, West Bengal, and Deputy Commissioner o f Police, Special Branch, Calcutta have been consulted. Finally the meagre writings on the women revolutionaries in the form of articles, published in a few journals, were consulted. In the study those surnames of the women revolutionaries have been used by which they were known at the time of their involvement in revolutionary activities. Finally, a political map of Bengal in the early decades of twentieth century pointing out the location of different districts and copies of some important documents have been appended to the study.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS '

The research: associateship awarded by the University Grants Commission has enabled me to undertake this study. I am thankful to the Commission for the same. I am also thankful to Dr A. S. Desai, Director, Tata Institute ofSocialScicnces,forhavingallowedmeto carryonthework.atTatalnstitute. The work., started in November 1986, was completed in August 1989. To Professor Y. D. Phadke, I owe a debt of gratitude. He gladly agreed to supervise the work., gave valuable suggestions in selecting the subject and minutely corrected the first draft of the work. His suggestions werit a long way to improve the quality of the work. The women revolutionaries patiently and carefully responded to all my questions. Interviews went on for hours, some of them were interviewed several times. In addition to the formal interview, I had written to many of them in the course of my work. to collect information on some aspect of the study or other. They readily responded to this. Their co-operation, hospitality and assistance will never efface from my memory. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Library of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, National Library of India, Bangiya Sahitya Parishad Library, West Bengal State Archives, Jayasree Patrika Office, Offices of the Inspector-General of Police, Intelligence Branch, West Bengal and Deputy Commissioner of Police, Special Branch, Calcutta,for their kind co-operation in the collection of data for the study. In this connection, I am especially thankful to Professor Satyabrata Ghosh of Bombay who kindly allowed me to have an access to his porsonal collection of revolutionary literature. Last but not the least, I must record the contribµtion of my husband Dr Kalyan Sankar Mandal who showed special interest in the work and provided his_best pos.sible support to carry it on and complete it.

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TIRTHA MANDAL

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

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ACKNO

IX

I

INTRODUCTION

II

RBVOLUI'IONARY MOVEMENT INBENGAL

OJAPTER

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9

1llE WOMPN RBVOLtmONARIES

27,

CHAPTER

IV

WOMPN IN PREPARATORY WORK

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CHAPTER

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WOMF.N IN RBVOLUI'IONARY ACTION

77

CHAPTER

VI

UFEINJAIL

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CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS

134

APPENDJCES

139

BIBLIOGRAPHY

144

INDEX

149

CHAPTER

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION nm Two major streams in India's freedom movement were-the n o n -violent struggle in the form of satyagraha and civil disobedience; and the armed revolutionary activities organised by the secret societies. The programme of non-violent struggle was initiated by Gandhiji. "Non-violence," as explained by Gandhiji, "is based on the assumption that human nature, in its essence, is one, and therefore, unfailingly responds to the advance of love and we should try patiently to convert our opponents. It can always be possible even to win tyrant by patience, sympathy and goodwill."' Gandhiji thought that non-violence could manifest itself conveniently in the activities of non-cooperation with the opponents. "The best way to bring the unjust to their senses is to non-cooperate with them."2 The Indian National Congress 4dopted the programme of non-violent non-cooperation to achieve the country's freedom from British rule and Gandhiji emerged as the undisputed leader of the movement. A section of young Indians, however, could not consider the non-violent non-cooperation programme as adequate to achieve the country's freedom from foreign domination. They believed that a government maintained by violence and brute force could not be overthrown without bloodshed and killing members of the ruling class. This view was clearly expressed by M. N. Roy, the illustrious national revolutionary-turned - communist. He wrote: "British rule in India was establist,ed by force and is maintained by force, therefore it can and will be overthrown only oy a violent revolution. We arc not in favour of resorting to violence if it can be helped; but for self-defence, the people of India must adopt violent means without which the foreign domination based upon violehce cannot be ended."' Hence, this section of the Indians organised themselves into secret revolutionary societies in different parts of the country and called for a violent revolution to terrorise the British masters and drive them away from the country.The main technique adopted by them was that of killing British officials in high positions and their stooges, and whenever possible, to go in for big mass action. In India's freedom strpggle, the women of the country played a significant role. In fact, freedom movemc;nt was the fU'St occasion when the ordinary women of the country, so long confined to their activities at home, came fo� to play an active role in the politics of the country. Like their male counterparts they were also vocal about the injustice meted out by the alien government and were anxious for the independence of their country. Numerically of course, mostof the women who joined the national movement were in the non-violent struggle led by Mahatma Gandhi, yet a handful of them became members of or were in touch with the secret revolutionary societies and played a very crucial role in the armed revolutionary activities. Digiti zed by

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1llE WOMEN REVOLtmONARIES OF BENGAL

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In the non-violent struggle, women's participation was largely due to the d'forts of Mahatma Gandhi. With his remamble foresight and experience gained in south Africa, Gandhiji assessed the strength inherent in the women. He was confident that wpmen had great potentialities lying dormant in them and given an opportunity they could rise up to the occasion and do useful service. Gandhiji was of the firm opinion that non-violent struggle which required no physical strength but only moral courage and determination was more suitable to women than to men. So, in his non-violent struggle he sought the co-operation of women. He appealed to their sense of patriotism and awakened in them a sense of national consciousness:•• For the first time 'In Indian history, Gandhiji's call led to mass mobilisation of women in active politics. As non-violent struggle in the form o f non-coopccation was antithetical to any kind of aggressive action, it was in complete accord with indigenous social convention. So, politicisation of women took placesmoothly as there was no deviation from traditional domestic norm. Thus, women cameout in largenumbersfromtheir purdah and participated in the satyagraha campaign launched by the Mahatma m 1920-21, 1930-32, 1940 and 1942. They contributed cash and jewellery for swarajfund, took out prabhat pheris, led processions, attended mee�, bravely faced the police with their Jathis,bore sufferings and humiliation and even welcomed imprisonment. They successfully organised demonstrations in front of liquor shops and shops selling foreign clothes.5 When the non-co-operation . movement was launched in 1921, Gandhiji asked the men to organise boycott of foreign cloth and liquor shops. But in 1930 he realised that these activities were "meant only for women". He admitted that he had made a mistake in 1921 by asking men to take up these activities; he should have realised that these would not have been effective. The truth was then evident to him that a )¥Oman could conquer hearts more speedily than a man.6 Even in the implc�entation of Gandhiji's constructive programme, women rendered valuable assistance. They took to spinning, and used an d sold khadi. The entire khadi movement depended on them and it could collapse on the day women refused to extend their cooperation to it. Success of the khadi movement thus depended solely on women.7 Women's involvement in the non-violent stru¢e was largely supported and encouraged by Gandhiji. Under his leadership, women, literate and illiterate, rural and urban, swelled the ranks of freedom fighters.• On December 7, 1921, when Basanti Devi and Urmila Devi, wife and sister of Chittaranjan Das, were arrested in Calcutta selling khaddar, Gandhiji urged the Indian women to take up the challenge. He declared : "women of India should have as much share in winning swaraj as men."' In fhe armed revolutionary activities, women's involvement presents a different picture. It has already been said that compared to non-violent struggle women's participation in revolutionary activities was less. But those Digiti zed by

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INTRODUCl10N

who joined this movement took the decision on their own. These women did the work of propagating revolutionary ideas. conveyed secret coded messages, provided food . and s�er to the absconding revolutionaries, smuggled .and hid weapons, wrote and delivered proscribed literature, provided financial assistance, strengthened revolutionary organisations and recruited and b'ained young girls for revolutionary action. They were further mgagcd in preparing explosives for the manufacture of bombs, led lhc life of absconders along with their male partners, acted as political dacoas for coBecting funds for the organisation, planned, organised and led raids on British establishments and assassinated members of the British power dilc. In these activities, women's participation was ,independent of any support bythelcadership. Infact. the secretrevolutionary societies made no conce�ed attempt to encourage or win the support of women as Mahatma Gandhi had done. On the contrary, they were averse to admitting women into revolutionary organisations.'• Commenting o n their attitud� towards women's joining the revolutionary organisatio� Kalpana.'ouu. -one of the leading women revolutionaries in thelndian rccdom f struggle, asseciated with Chittagong Uprising, said: "It was an iron rule for the revolutionaries that · they should keep a1oof from the womcn." 10 .Just on the eve of Chittagong Armoury Raid on 18 April 1930, Anania SiJl8ha, one of the leaders of the raid, told his ddcst sister Jndumati, who wanted to accompany her brother in that task, "we .shall not. be able to take you along." 11 Perhaps, the male . revolutionaries had in their mind the traditional role-model of women and could not j.magine them taking part in revolutionary action along with men. They also fcarc4 that women caught and arrested for revolutionary activities might b e exposed to physical torture including rape. The fear was not, however, baseless. In 1915, when Rashbchari Bose, the great revolutionary leader, was hunting for a house at Lahore to organise an AU-India Uprising.he could not get accommodation anywhere as the Police Commissioner of Lahore at that time had issued a notice that no house would be given to a bachelor: Rash� Bose was, at that time, a bachelor. The problem was however solved when Yamuna, the young wife of Ramswaroop Das, one ofRashbehari's close associates, came forward. She posed as Rashbehari's wife.Ahousewas thcntakenatLahorewhcreRashbehariandYamunastartcd staying as "husband and wife" and thus Rashbehari got the opportunity to organisehis plan. However, within a few days, the whole plot was uncovered by the police. Rashbchari could manage to escape but Yamuna was arrested and taken to Lahore jail. After three days of ceaseless interrogation which yielded n o result, she was sent to the barracks of the Baluch Regiment. The Baluch soldiers physically tortured and raped her. Ultimately she became unconscious and was ld't stripped on the road-side.12 Finally, Suniti Chowdhury, another noted woman revolutionary, has said, that their male counterparts thought that women were not fit to take part in revolutionary Digiti zed by

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nm WOMEN REVOLlTilONARIES OF BENGAL

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action. Recalling her own experience, she said that when she was trying to persuade the leaders of her group to give her some serious assignments, they replied that at the time of revolutionary action they (women) would lose their mental balance, and in that process would fail in their attempt, would b e lll'rcsted by police and at the time of interrogation would disclose everything which would ultimately lead to the smashing of the whole organisation. 13 However, in spite of the reluctant attitude of the male revolutionaries towards women's involvement in armed struggle, the women were determined and ultimately succeeded i n persuading the leaders to take them as partners and give them responsible and serious assignments. The psychology behind their participation in the armed movement was clearly expressed by Prcetilata Waddadar, the first and the only woman who died in revolutionary action in Chittagong. In the testament which was found after her death, it was writte11: "I wonder why there should be any distinction between males and females in a fight for the cause of counuy's freedom? If our t...othcrs can join a fight for the cause of motherland, why can't the sisters 7 Instances are not rare that the Rajput ladies of hallowed memory fought bravely in the battlefield and did not hesitate to kill their country's enemies. The pages of history are replete with high admiration for the heroic exploits or'thcst.distinguished ladies. Then why should, we, the modemIndian women, be deprived of joining this noble fight to redeem our counuy from foreign domination 7 If sisters can stand side by side with the brothers in a Satyagraha movement, why are they not so entitled in a revolutionary movement ? In other countries, women have joined armed revolutions in hundreds. Then, why should India alone regard this as abominable ? As regards fitness, is it not sheer injustice to the females that they will always be thought less fit and weaker than the males in a fight for freedom ? Time has come when this false notion must go. If they are yet less fit it is because they have been left behind. Females are determined that they will n o more lag behind, b11t they will stand side by side with their brothers in any activities, however dangerous or difficult."" Actually it was their strong determination which led these women to join anned revolutionary activities. They wanted to prove that women could also do what men could do in the political arena and thus could be equally important to the nation's future. And once they had joined, the male revolutionaries became aware of the advantages of having them as members in supporting or leading roles. The presence of a woman pretending to be a wife would help camouflage the identity of a suspected member. This had been succcssfuUy attempted in the caseofBhagatSingh,a wcUknownrcvolutionary from Punjab. After Bhagat Singh shot dead Saunders, the Assistant Superintendent of Lahore Police, on 17 December 1928, Durga Devi Vora, wife ofBhagwati Charan Vora, one of Bhagat Singh·s closeassociates, helped him to escape from Lahore. Posing as Bhagat Singh's wife she along with Digiti zed by

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5

IN'IRODUCOON

her infant son accompaniedBhagatSingh in his journey toCalcut�." Actually awoman wasless suspect and could escapethe closesupervision and detection by the police. However, once accepted as members, women had to undago the same training as the male revolutionaries. No special privilege was granted to them and n o special programme was devised to train them as Mahatma Gandhi had done. When Gandhiji wanted to involve the women in his · non-violent struggle, he fe.lt that the lack of training a.,d of discipli.,e among women was an important limitation for their participation in politics. So his constructive programme had, as one of its objectives, the training and education of women in the fundamentals of organised activity and propaganda.16 The women revolutionaries got no such special training tn make them fit for revolutionary activities. They were also not placed in any special category. All the members had to undergo a long period of indoctrination an d allegiance to revolution was the only guiding principle. The members were made awareof the implications of &heir participation both for themselves and for their families. Pasonally it could mean death or life imprisonment Their families would be exposed to harassment by government offlcials an.d police, the loss o f jobs and alienation from friends and relatives. The present study seeks to focus on these women revolutionaries in the Indian freedom struggle. Their contribution in prcparatery work and in d� action, would be probed in this study. In additio"7 an attempt would be made to study the background of their participation ; their socio-economic status, sources of their inspiration to join this type of movement and theirinteractions with the revolutionary organisations. Finally their sufferings at the hands of the alien government and the life they led in imprisonment would also be dealt with. The women of Bengal form the subject of this study. Compared to other provinces, armed struggle for freedom was more sustained and vigorous in Bengal . It started after partition of Bengal in 1905 and continued till 1'934. In this struggle, women of the province played an important role from the beginning to the end. Numerically, women's involvement in armed revolutionary ectivities was more in Bengal than in any other province and the nature of involvement on the part of Bengali women was more varied than their counterparts in other provinces. In view of this, it was .fclt that it would be worthwhile to make an attempt to focus on the women re..olutionaries o f Bengal. This being the main objective of the study, it did not focus on v.·omen's participation in anti-partition agitation and in 1942 mov�!Jlent. Women's role in these two movements in addition to their activities in the revolutionary movement will give a complete picture of Bengali women's rot: in the country's -politics in the first half of twentieth century. Interested scholars may 11ndertake the assignn1ent of exploring women's role in 1905 agitation and in 1942 movement. Who were those women, what was the nature of their involvement arc subjects which need thorough analysis. Digiti zed by

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1llE WOMEN REVoumoNARJES OF BENGAL

Let us tum to our own field. Some aspects of the invol-vcmcnt of Bengali women in the armed activities for the country's freedom have beat focus�. in some studies. M. Kaur's work. Role ofWomen in the FreedomMovanent, 1857-194 7, records the role of Indian women in various phases of freedom struggle from 1857 to 1947. In one chapter of her study entitled 'Origin and Growth of Extremist Women in Indian Politics (t900-l 9 l 3)' the author has discussed the activities of three women from Bengal, namely, Kumudini Mitra, Sister Nivedita and Sarla Devi Ghoshal Olaudhurani. Thus the'study is confined only to a limited period. Many women in Bengal were involved in revolutionary activities after 1913 and some of them contributed a great deal to the revolutionary movement after 1930. Kaur's study does not t/lkC into consideration their role. Again, �he discussion on the women involved in revolutionary activities in the early phase, namely, Nivedita. Kumudini and Sarla Devi, is only in the form of a biography and there is no general analysis on their socio-economic background and sources ofth.cir inspiration to take part in revolutionary work.. That �omen in Bengal were involved in the violent movement after 1920 have been shown both by L. A. Gordon·(Bengal: The NationalistMovement, 1876-1940) and D. M Laushey (Bengal Tcm,rism and the Marxist Left: Aspects of Regional Nationalism in India, 1905-1942). But dlese studies firstly, give a very brief coverage of women's involvement in armed activihes of the said period and secondly, do not refer to the women involved in that type of work in the initial stage. I. M. Sharma's work. Role of Revolutionaries in the Freedom Struggle, has dealt with the activities pf those women of Bengal who played leading • roles in the revolutionary mo-vcment. But that account is too brief and based only on one government rcpo,rt. Also the work. has excluded the activities of those women who were inyolved in suppo� roles. The study has mainly covered the activities of the male revolutionaries. . . V.Agnew undertook a study on EliteWomenin IndianPolitics.One chaptec of her study is on the Indian women in extremist politics. In that section, very briefly, the author·h8$ dealt with the overall activities of the women in Bengal in armed struggle. Though the discussion co-vcrs the entire period, it is a cursory treatment of the subject and needs further probing. The only conceptual work on the subject is the paper by G. R Forbes entitled "Women Revolutionaries of Bengal."17 Herc '1le author has tried to give an analytical focus to the subject. But smce it is a paper, the discussion is too brief. Forbes has based her work. only on interviews and memoirs of the women revolutionaries and has not consulted the government records, which is an indispensable source material for understanding the attitude of the go�mment towards these revolutionaries.

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INTRODUCTION

Apart from these scholarly works, information on the subject is available from the writings of the frcedomrighters. In this coMcction, most important is Kamala Dasgupta's Swadhinata Sangnunc Banglar Nan. Being a revolutionary, Dasgupta was in a position to contact most of the women freedom righters from Bengal and hence her work is based on the personal cq,crienccs of these women. But it has ta be admitted that it is only a compc'1dium of biographical sketches of the Bengali women involved in violent and non-violent struggle for the country's freedom and coMcctive historiography i, missing in it Reminiscences and memoirs both published and unpublishc4 been written by a numbc;r of women revolutionaries -like Kalpana,Dutt,,-ICamalaDasgupta, BinaDas, KalyaniDas, Shanti Ghosh, Suniti Chowdhury; Indusudha Ghosh, Shantisudha Ghosh, Helena. Datta, . NiJ,nala Kabali etc. These are of immense value for providing rll'St hand .information. But all these writings throw light mainly on their individual activities and 1hose of their colleagues. Again, being written in old age, when the authors had to depend soldy upon their memory, some of tJle memoirs suffet from chronological inaccuracies. Kamala Dasgupta in her :memoir (Rut�Afshate, pp. 86,87) wrote that Shanti Ghosh and Suniti Chowdhury lhot dead theDistrict Magistrate of Cnmilla on 24 December 1931 and Bio DuflJ'ed at the Governor of Bengal on 6 December 1932. In cases, . both the . · the chronological information is not correct Prof. S. Ghosh, an cx-�volutionary is engaged in the work ofpopularising the revolutionaries of Indian freedom movement He has written a number of· articles on the women revolutionaries of Bengal.'' Although they undoubtedly provide useful information on the subject, these are mainly biogJaphical sketches and not a general historical survey. Ghosh's·writi"&'­ mostly provid_e popular accounts of the revolutionaries and· have been ·put,lished in journals having mass circulation. These have not� published in any professional journal. In writing these articles Ghosh depended on illtetviews with the women revolutionaries, their memoirs and the; history of Indian revolutionary movement and did not consult any primary source matetial such as official records a'll8ilable at Government Archives, abstracts of ntelligcnce etc. Thus, a survey of the literature in the rdcvant field suggests that no thorough and systematic account of the role of women of Bengal in the armed' struggle for India's freedom covering the entire period is available. To add to this,. there is also no detailed analytical treatment of the subject. The present study is an attempt to fill these gaps in existing knowledge. In the next chapter, an attempt is made to study the background of women• s participetin in the revolutionary movement. The following chapter would focus ol\ the w . omen revolutionaries, in terms of their socio-economic background, sources of their inspiration and their interactions ·with the different revo4)tionary organisations. In the subsequent two chapters, women's activities in the revolutionary mo�ent, both in preparatory work and in direct action, are discussed thoroughly. The sixth chapter would focus on their sufferings i.e.,

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the price they paid for their activities and their life 'in jails. In the concluding .chapter, an attempt would be made to find out the factors which brought the women revolutfonaries in the field of anncd struggle and the areas from where they particularly came. These women would then be compared with the other women of Bengal who took part in the non-violent movement Lastly, the attitude of the society an d the country as a whole, towards the activities cf the women revolutionaries and 'the tatters' opinion about &he independent rountry would be glanced through.

NOTES AND REFERENCE l . Bahadu1, Indian Freedom Movement and Thought, 1919-29, Sterlina i'ubhshera l?rivate Limited, (New Delhi, 1983), p.28. Ibid., p.32. I. M . Sharma, Role ofRevolutionariu in the Freedom Slruggle, Marxist Study Forum, (Hyderabad, 1987), p.24. 4. R. K. Sharma, Nationalism,Soda/Refonnandlndian Women,JanakiPrakasbaa. (Patna, 1981 ), pp.59-60. S. Ibid., pp.60-61; Y. D. Phadke, Women 1nd Political Prfx:e,,; A Historical Perspective, Paper presenJed in a Seminar at Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Dr.cember 1987, p.8. 6. G. H. Forbes; Women Revolulionaries ofBengal, TbeOride,1980,April, Vol.2, No.2, p. l. 7. R. K. Sharma, op.cit., pp.61,65. 8. L. N. Menon, Women and rhe National movement, D. Jain (Ed.), lndi1n Women, Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, (New Delhi, 1975), p.23. 9. K. Dasgupta, Swadhinata Sangrame Banglar Nari, Baaudhara Prakaahani, (Calcutta, 1370, B.S.), p.48; Y. D. Phadke, op.cit., p.8. 9a. A. Biswas, Amar Biplabi Jibane, Stnrid, S. Guha (Ed.), Oiatto,,-.m Bidrober Dahnisikha, Education and Cultural Department,ChattogramParilhad, (Calcutta. 1974), pp.233-234. 10. K. Dun, Chittagong Annoury Raiders: Reminiscence,, People'• Publishing House, (Bombay·, 19\tS), p.16. 1 I. S. Ghosh, Heroic lVomen from the Past, Eve·, Weekly, 1980,April 19-25, p.37. 12. S. Ghosh, A Marriage of Convenience, Eve's Weekly, 1981, August 15-21, pp.14-15. 13. intervi�w with Suniti Chowdhury Ghosh on S.10.86. 14. P. Waddadar, Bidaybani,S. Guha (Ed.), op.cit., p.281. 1S. Details in l M. Shanna, op.di., p.2 IS. 16. V . Agnew, Flite Women inIndian Polilics, Vikas Publishing House, (New Delhi, 1979), p.36. 17. Paper presented in a Seminar at Netaji Bhavan, Calcutta, on 23 January 1980, published in The Oracle, 1980, April, Vol.2, No.2. 18. Published mostly in Eve's Weeklyand musrra1ed Weekly ofIndia. I. , 2. 3.

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CHAPTER ll REVOLUl'IONARY MOVEMENT IN BENGAL nm PIRsT three and half decades of the twentieth century covered the phase of revolutionary movement in Bengal. In this movement, women of the province participated in association with different ,evolutionary organisations. To understand the background of their participation, it is necessary to have a glance at the whole movement · in the light of the activities of different revolutionary groups. Organisation of violent rcwlutionary movements to ac.hieve country's freedom froqi British rule was important only in a few areas of India, nameJy. Maharashtra, Bengal, Punjab and later the United Provinces. The fll'St ·outbreaks were in Maharashtra, but within a short period it spread to Bengal. In the early yean of the twentieth. century, Be.ngal proved to be the most fertile soil for revolutionary activities and it ultimately became the nerve centre of the revolutionary movement in India. There was, however, a' close link between the revolutionary movements of Maharuhtra and Bengal. Therefore, with a view to understand the phenomenon in Bengal in its proper perspective., it is necessary to have a focus on the developments in Maharashtra. In Maharashtra, the fll'St violent revolt against British rule openly aiming at political independence was led by Vasudeo Balwant Phadke. With his tiny organisation, he challenged the imperialist authority (February 1879) in a manner typical of a revolutionary secret society. However, on 21 July 1879, Phadk.e was arrested and was subsequently sentenced to transportation fqr life.' But, the dormant spirit was again awakened after a �p of a little less than two decades. The English officials charged with the duty of eradicating the epidemic of plague in Bombay overstepped the limits of the Indian idea of decency in their house to house search for patients and the rats causing the disease. On 22 June 1897, Colonel Rand, the Plague Corornis11ioner: and his Lieutenant, Ayerst, were murdered by the Chapck.ar brothers, Damodar and 13alkrishna. The two brothers, who were caught with great difficulty, pleaded guilty and were hanged. In February 1899, thelast survivingChapebr "brother Vasudco murdered the two Dravid brothers who had been rewarded by the government for information which led to the arrest and conviction of Damodar Chapekar. Vasudco was also caught, tried and hanged.2 After the hanging ofChapekar brothers Maharashtra ceased to be the ground of rcwlutiooary activities until at least another decade. In the riext phase, the movement centred roun.d Bengal. In Bengal. violent outbreaks first started after the partition of Bengal in 1905. Announcement of the government decision to partition Bengal and the failure of constitutional agitation· against partition created a great

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JO diuatisfvtioa 2rno-Jg tbc )Oillb m JI@Hw,J 1 Aad ID IIe· 5 � PALM 4?RI Ibey' rmted ID wiolrncr Tbac Jlrnpfi )*tda acre Ilic ,1, s oC scad formed in diffciait paitsolR.... ,,,..dslkaid ofdie . • b and in � earl) · ycan ol �t-ta, op. cit., p. 22. R.C.Majumdar, op.#t., pp.194-19S. K. Ghosh, op. cit., p. 111. S.C. Sengupta, op. cit., pp. 22-23. Interview with Suni1i Chowdhury CilOlb OG 27.4.87: S. Roy, op. cit., pp. 219-220. G. S. Roychowdhury, op. dt., pp. 87-88. S. Roy, op. dr., pp:200-221. Ibid., p 221. . Ibid., pp. 221-222.

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34. Sediuoa Committee Repon, op.cit., p. 20; R. Du, op. cit., pp. 51, 53; G . S. Roycbowdhury, op.t:it., pp. 95, 118-119, 131-132. 35. S. C. Sengupta, op. cit., p. 23. .. ·36. Ibid., pp. 26-28; $edjtio,o Conmittee Rep«t, p.323: 37. S. C.Sengupta,.op. cit., pp. 33-34. • 38. Ibid., p. 40. 39. LM. Sharma, op. cit., pp. 54-55. ,: . 40. S.Roy, op. cit., pp.154-1S7;JC.Obo8h, op.cir., pp. lll-112;S.C.Sengupta, cit., p. 19. •, 41. S. C. Seagupta. op. cit., p. 23. 1 42. S. Roy, op. cit., p. 367. 43. Sedltioa Committee Repo,t, op.cit., p. 36; S. C. Sengupta, op.cit., pp. 31, 42; N. JC. �. &rw/•y:,Biplabbad, A. Mukherjee and Company Private Limited, (Cllcutta,-1376 B. S.)·, pp. 1'89-190. 44. S. Roy, op. cit., pp. 383-386. . 45. lbld., pp. 386-388 ;S.C.Sengupta, op. cit., p.39;M.N. Roy, · iatln Mukherjee. Meo IMet, Lalvani PubliahingHoUlc, (Bombay, 1968 ), pp:3-4. � 46. LM. Sharma, op. cit., pp. 73-75; B.Du, op. cit., p. 4. • 41. A.Singha, Olatta,:ram BidroberSangathan OPnstuti,InauguratioliofSurya Sen �vu Souvenir, (Calcutta, 1987), p. 1. • " 48. LM. Sharma, op. cit., pp. 90-92. 49. Ibid., pp. 107-111. 50. lbid., pp.11)-112. 5I. Ibid., p. 1611; • 52. Ibid., p. 1 � 53. A.Singha, op. cit., pp. 2-3. 54. L M. Sharma, op. cit., pp. 174-177. 55. Ibid.,_ pp. 178-180. 56. Ibid., pp.180,256 . ' 57. Ibid., pp. 2 5 7 -2S8. 58. JC.Dasgupta, RMter.Alkbare,Nebhana, (Calcutta, 1954), pp. 78� 79-80. 59. JC. Dutt, ClJittagotJB AnDOC.IIYRaiden, Reminiacences, op.cit., p. 1. Article,pP .4-5. . 60.. JC. Dutt, Preetilata Waddldat', Unpublilbcd . 61. LM:Sharma, op. dt., pp. 284-28S. 62. Ibid., p. 287. . 63. N. Sea, Btaoy, Bada4,Dinesh, Storming of Writers' Building: Golden Jubilee Sou¥Mir, (Celrutta, 1980), pp. 5 6 -S7. 64. S. Bhattac:haraya, Ralctaranga Dinguli O Saheed Kanai Bhattadwaya. ., pp. J)P,63-64. 65. B. K. Rabbit Roy,_$abt,r Alibhye, Vol. II, Bengal Publishcn Private Limited, (Calcutta, 1373 B�-h pp. 89-90 . ._66. Ibid., pp. 91-93. • . 67. R. C. Majwndar, op. cit., pp. 283-284.

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S. C. Sengupta, op. dt., p. 140. R. C. Majurndar, op. cit., p . 308. G, Ghosh, Otitt,goog Upti&ing and JuImpact, Owletrp, pp.30-31. S. Guha, Dacx:ar Magistrate .Durno lutyar Otesr., .lnauguntioa ofSurya Su Bbann Souvenir, pp.67-68. S. Sen, Comil/arAty1clwi PoliceSuperintendentElluoaHatya, pp. 73-74. 8. Sen, G/lirl/1 Sangh,nhl OMatcrda Bllldi, pp.85-88. N. K. Gulla. op. dt., p. 21 S. Ibid., p. 216;K. Dasgupta, Swedhwr.s..n,r.meBlnglarNlli; pp.91-93. Orginally a aoclal service unit of Mukd Sangha, Sri,Sangha aubaequeady hec:ame involved in revolutionary activitiea. However, upto 1928 Sri Sangha waaattadied to Mukti Sangha and after that became a separate revoluaionary l'�ai•alMllL S. Bose, Daccar Kubhyata m ,uperintendeat Crusbyte Hatyar Pncbcrtl, Storming of Wtiten' Building: GoldenJubilee Souvenir, p.82. R. C . Majurndar, op. cit.,pp. 286-287; K. Dasgupta .Ratier Ahlwe, p.87. L M. Sharma, op. cit.,pp.293-294. Interview with Kamala Dasgupta on 27.10.86, Q uoted LM Sharma, op. cit., p.295.

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PREsBNT chapter makes an attempt to focus on the women revolutionaries of Bengal This would b e done in terms of their socio-economic background, sources of their inspiration to join the reYOlutionary movement and fmally their interactions with the different revolutionary organisations in Bengal. The women who took. part in the revolutionary movement in Bengal were in broad terms mothers, housewives and daughters in the agegroup of thirteen to fifty. Some of them were born in the last three decades of the nineteenth century but most of thebl during thefll'St two decades of the twentieth century. Most of the women who joined the revolutionary movement were below thirty years of age. Of such women the students formed a sizeable portion and many cases they joined the movement in their teens. Those who were above thirty years of age and in few cases those below thirty generally did the work of providing food and shelter to the absconding revolutionaries, providing financial assistance to the revolutionary organisations, smuggling and hiding weapons, passing secret messages etc. Kshirodeprabha Biswas of Chittagong came to be associated with the Chittagong revolutionary group when she was nearly fifty years old. At the age of fifty one she was arrested by the police for giving shelter in her house to Surya Sen, the leader of Chittagong Uprising.' However, in most cases the women joined the revolutionary movement when they were below.thirty years of age. Thisgroup of women, whowaemostly unmarried students, mainly worked to strengthen revolutionary organisations and also took. part in direct revolutionary actions. Many of these students came to be associated with the revolutionary groups and did revolutionary work. when they were teenagers. In fact, a few of them became involved in revolutionary action in their early teens. Notable among them were Suniti Chowdhury and Shanti Gliosh of Comilla.2 These women revolutionaries were mostly Hindus, There were, however, some Brahmas and Muslims. Of the Brahmas, mention may be made ofSarla Devi Ghoshal (afterwards Sarla Devi Chowdhurani) and the two sister revolutionaries, Bina Das and Kalyani Das. Sar1a Devi was the daughter of Janak.inath Ghoshal, the courageous social reformer of the day, and Swamak.umari Devi, the wdl-kJ)own writer and niece of Rabindranal.h Tagore. Bina and Kalyani were the twodaughters of Bcnimadhab Das, a noted ' educationist of that period. All of them had their base in Calcutta.3 There were only two Muslim women involved in revolutionary activity. They were two sisters namely, Halima. Khatun and Razia Khatun of the Mymcnsingh district.4 Commenting on the class background of the women revolutionaries, Kamala Chatterjee, one. of the noted women revolutionaries of the period, said, "most of these women belonged to the middle class and lower middle

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classfamilies ofBengal".'Castewise, theyweremosdy Brahmins, Kayastbas, and Vaidyas and thus comprised the Bhadralol. class of Bengal, a s was the case with the male revolutionaries. The Bengali Bhadralok, as has been characterised by L.S.S. O'Mallcy, "is a name given to the three higher Hindu castes viz. Brahmins, Kayastbas and Baidyas, and Mohammedans of birth. breeding and education. It is a category that includes the richest and the poorest of the ·community. A measure of education, a way of life, and aversion to manual work were the attributes of a bhadralok.. He is not necessarily townbred. He is the common dement in both urban and rural life o f Bengal".•A large number of Bhadralol owned land from which their income was wholly or partly derived.Besides land owning, they followed professions like those of lawyers, physicians, priests and worked a s government officials, clerks and teachers.' In case of the women revolutionaries, it has been seen that they were both from rural and urban areas. The head of their families depended for income o n white collar jobs. They were mostly teachers, doctors, mulctean, pleaders and government servants ranging from clerks to high government officials. Ninnala Chakraborty of Chittagong, who was associated with the Chittagong revolutionary group, was the daughter of a priest.' Preetilata's father was a clerk in Chittagong Municipal Office.' lndusudha Ghosh of Mymensingh was the daughter of a clerk in Mymensingh Court. 10 Pl:amila Gupta of Dacca was the daughter of a clerk in Railway Mail Serivcc.11 Some of the womm revolutionaries were however daughters of persons holding high rank. in service. Helena Gun of Dacca was the daughter of a police superintendent of TripuraState. 11Lila Nag of Dacca was the daughter of Rai Bahadur Girisb Chandra Nag, a senior civilian in Assam-Bengal Service. On his retirement, he was elected a s a member of the Indian Legislative Council from Assam " Similarly, Banalata Dasgupta of Dacca was the daughter of a judgc. 14 Shanti Ghosh o f Comilla was the daughter of a professor of philosophy in Cornill1 College. 15 In this way the fathers of the women revolutionaries were found to be in white collar occupations which needed some amount of education. Being educated personally, these persons gave some importance to education in their family and made arrangements for the education of their daughters alongwith thcirsons.Anattemptwill nowbe madetolookintotheeducational background of the woinen revolutionaries. It was a period when the general attitude of Bengalis towards the education of girls was one of reluctance. The study conducted by M. Urquhart on the women of Bengal of the first two and half decades of the twentieth UDt of the torture inflicted on Ullaskar Datta see A. Nandi, op.at., pp.)4-39. 63. Letter of Dinesli Gupta to his sister-in-law on 29.3.31; Lut letter of Dinesb to his mother on 30.6.31, Stomung . of Writers' Building: Goldea Jubilee . Souvenir, pp. I09-112. 64. S. Das, op.cit., p.8. For the full sreech of 9of,inathSaha seeR. C.Majurndar. op.cit., pp.273-274. 65. A. Nandi,op.cit., p.97; K. Duu, Reminiscence,, op.cit., p.53. 66. P. Dastidar, op.cit., pp.30-31. 67. S. Das, op.at., p.9. 68. Interview with Suniti Chowdhury Ghosh on 5.10.86; S. Oltlwdhwy· Ghosh, Smriti Chr11n (5), Amader Tripura, 1974, January-February, p.136. 69. G .Forbes, Women Revolutionaries ofDengal, p.10. 70. S. Chowdhury, op.cit., pp.90-92. 71. Interview with Kshiredeprobha Biswas on l l .10.87. 72. K. Dasgupta, SwadhinataSangrameBanglarNari,;pp.31, 42, 44,207. 73. Interview with Indusudha-Ohosh on 21.8.87. 73a. B .K .R;.ikshit Roy, op.at., pp.202-203.

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74. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.114. 75. P. Dastidar, op.cit., p.38. 76. B. Das, op:cit., pp.14·23; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.120; B. K. Rakshit Roy, op.cit., p.139. 77. Interview with N"annala Kahali Awthi 011 5. 10.87. 78. S. . Das, MuJcti Yuddher Homagni1e, Stonning of Wrilen·· Building: Golden _ Jubilee souvenir, pp.6S:66. 7?.. S. P. Sen (Ed.l.,Dic:tiom,yofNatioaa/Biograpby, Vol. 2. Insntute ofHistorical Studies,(Calcutta, 1973), p.59. 80. Interview with Suniti Chowdhury Ghosh on 27.4.87. 80a. Bengal Administration Report, 1930·31, Part I, Political Report, para 22; Home (Political) Confidential File, No. 648/193 J. 80b. Home (Political) Confidential File, No. 648/1931. 81. Interview with Suniti Chowdhury Ghosh on 5.10.86. Bia. K. Dasgupta, RatterAishare,_pp.53·60. 82. Interview with Sunili Chowdhury Ghosh on 27.4.87; A. Nandi, op.cit., pp.107• 109. 83. B . Das, Confession at the Court on 15 February 1932. 84. Ibid. . BS. S. Chowdhury, op.cit., pp.40·4S. 86. B. K. RakshitRoy, op.cit., p.139. 87. G . Forbes, op.cit., p.9. 88. S. Pakrashi,Agni DinerKatha, Nabajalltk Prakashan (Calcutta, 1982), p.97. 89. A. Nandi, op.cit., pp.96-102; B. K. Rabbit Roy, op.cit., pp.202-203; P. Dastidar. op.cit.,j>p,27-38; K. Dasgupta,Ratter Akshare, op.cit.,pp.IO-19; K. Dutt, Preetilata Waddadar, p.5; S. C·. Scngupti, op.cit., pp.60-061. 89a. A. Nandi, Biplabi Andolane Naii, Stonmng of Writers' Building: Golden Jubilee Souvenir, p.48. 90. K- Dasgupta,Swadhinata �e Bang/.arNari, pp. I 43, I 56,270. Interview with Ujjwala MajumdarRakshit Roy on 1.6.87. 9 I. Oiapter VI ofSedition committee Report deals elaborately with the recruitment of the male revolutionaries from Bengal schools and colleges; also see S. Pakruhi, op.cit., p.96. 92. A:Nandi, Biplabi.rSmritfcbaran, pp.102�105. -105. 93. In this way wereformedTripura Zilla OihatriSangha by Prafullanalini Brahma, Shanti Ghosh and Suniti Chowdhury and Comilla Chhatri Samitf J>y Parul Muk�jee and Pratibbll Bhadra,Women's dub of Alckanda in Barisaul town by Shantisudha Ghosh etc. 94. In Tripura Zilla Chhatri Sangha Bankim.Chak raborty and Nripen Sen of Comilla Jugantar group used to train girls in /athi and sword play respectively. 95. A. Nandi, Biplabi AndoTane Nari, ·pp.48-49; A. Biswas, Amar BiplabiJibaner Smriti; P. Das,Abis1naraniya,·S. Guba (Ed.), Chattagram Bipiaber Bahnisikha, pp.96, 234. , 234. 9 6 . Interview with Helena Gun Datta on 24.8.87. Dlgltlzedby

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9 7 . Interview with Shantisudha Ghosh on 3.10.87. 98. K.Dugupta,RuterAbharc,p.S�B.Daa,SriDklY/lbaabr, pp.24-27. 99. Interview with Kamala ChlitterjccMukhcrjce oo 16.1.88 ;LencrfromNlrmala KahaliAtarthi to the Researcher wiled 28.11.87. For details of the oathlaken by the members of theAnuailan�itiat the early rsgc.aeeJ,Halder, � ·s.m;tir.S.nkshiptya Itihu, J)p.35-37. 100. S. Chowdhury Ghosh, Smriti Charan (3), tfMD., p.10; K. Dugupta,.op.at., p.13 ; B. Du, op.cit., {'J> 29-30; it Oun Datta, Uapub&bed Memoir, p.4. 101. B. Roy,Didi :°Janke Bhulte Parina, Jayasree, Lila Roy Commemorative Volume, (Calcutta, 1377 B.S.), ,p.297. 102. A . Singha, A&oigarva aiattogram, Vidyodaya Library Private Limited, (Calcutta, 1968), p.314; P. Das, Abilmaraniya, p.95. 103. S.Pak.rashi, op.cit., pp.91-92. 104. A. Nandi, Biplabir Smtiticharan, pp.135-136. 105. K. Dasgupts, op.cit., pp.Sl)-61. 106. K. Dutt, Reminiscence,, p.52; M. Sen, OJattogn,m.Bidrohe Biphbi Mata Binodini Sener Abadan, Surya Sen Bhavan Inauguratio,n Sou-,enJr, op.ca, pp.93. 96. 107. Interview with Helena Gun Datta on 24.8.87. 108. The distinctive treatment of the women revolutionaries within the Jupntar and Anusilan might have stemmed from their inbuilt ideological differences. While the fonner encouraged individual acts of violence, the latter IIJ'Cssed 011 conaetisation • of the organisational infrastructure for all-India uprising. 109. Lila Nag who joined Sri Sangha in 1924 soon became one of its leaders. l JO. Quoted in P. Dastidar, op.cit., p.98.

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CHAPTER.IV WOMEN IN PREPARATORYWORK SINcE nm beginning of the revolutionary movement in Bengal till its end, women of Bengal took part in the preparatory work. In this context, they helped in the fonnation of revolutionary· oipnisations, propagated revolutiona ry ideas through literature, provided food and shelter to the absconding revolutionaries, often carried secret coded messages, hid and smuggled weapons and other explosives, provided imancial assistance, were engaged in preparing explosives for manufacturing bombs and imally did the organisational work, recruited and trained young women for revolutionary action. The present chapter attempts to focus on these activities of the women · revolutionaries. AsslsTANCE IN THB FORMATION OP RBvoumoHARY ORGANISATION

In the very beginning; when the revolutionary organisations wetc yet to b e formed and before the movement was launched, Sarla Devi Ghoshal took. the initiative to prepare the background and to encourage the Bengali youth · to proceed along that path. To remove the shackles of bondage, a,cquisition of physical strength is a must. With this aim, Sarla Devi proceeded to make the Bengali youth physically fit. As a firststep,she established at lier residence in Calcutta a centre for physical culture (1.900). There training \\'.as imparted to the youth in sword and lathi play. Professor Martaza, a famous gymnast from Goa, was appointed instructor to train the youth. As Sarla Devi herself said that she used to takeattendance of the students and bear all the expenses of the club including Martaza's salary. The example of this club was soon followed by others and within a short period many such clubs were founded in and around Calcutta. The revolutionary organisations formed in the following years originally developed in most cases out of these clubs of physical �ulture. For example, Pulin Das, before he bf"C.llme the leader of Dacca Anusilan Samiti, met Sarla Devi in connection •.. ith her centre of physical culture. With her assistance and encouragement, Pulin Das started a centre for physical culture in Dacca out of which developed Dacca Anusilan · Samiti. The other clubs also received imancial and material assistance from her.1 Secondly, to make physical exercise popular among the Bengali youth day of Durga Sarla Devi organised BirasJitamiBrata in 1904. On the Ashtami ' Puja, she arranged competition in physical exercise on the ground adjacent to her house at Ballygunge (Calcutta). Almost all the clubs in Calcutta participated in this competition and the winners were given prizes. Sarla Devi herself took part in the physical exerci�s. In the following years, Birashtami Utsav spread throughout Bengal. On the particular day, (Ashtami day of Durga puja), of every year, the Bengali youth used to arrange competition in physical exercises.2 Digiti zed by

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Sada Devi also took the inmalivc in mauig the 13,,:npti youth mc:ntaly strong. She fell that a nation has tQbe physicalJy fd as wdJ u mentally stroog to successfully overthrow foreign domination. Incidents of courage llnd bravery shown by the Indians against the Etiglisbuu•n always used to rm a prominent place in her magazine Bharati. 1 This W¥ a great CftCOUrag,cma,t to the young boys of schools and colleges. The)' used to meet Sarla Devi and through the pages of Bharati sta.rted aprcssing their discontent apiDII Brldsh rule. Of these youth, Sada Devi sdcc:tcd the ootstaocting ones and formed a group which took an oath of allc:giawe to India and to save tbe motherland with the Jut drop of their blood. Further, b y otpoising Pratapaditya and Udayaditya Ut.un, Sula Devi l'ffl!iodcd the youth of tbe great sacrifice$ made by Pratapaditya and Udayadiaya for th- sake of tbe country's independence.• All these inspired the Bengali youth to be heroic in rqpioing the lost independence of their country. Apart from takina penonal initiative iD preparing the Bengali youth for revolutionary purpose. Sada Devi atSo helped others in that direction. In the beginning of 1902, when Jatindranath Banerjee came to Calcutta to establish seem societies for orpnising revolutionary movement in Bcnpl, he sought Sada Devi's assistance. Sada Devi lv:J:ped him and both of them wo� together till Jatindranalh left politics towards the end of 1904.5 PllOPAGA11NO REvoun'loNARY IDl'.ASTHtOOOH l.m!RATIJRE I n propagating revolutionary ideas women played a considerable role. In . initial stage Sarla Devi, through Bharati. procccdcd to instil the Bengali the youth with heroic spirit The articles in Bharati like Mrittucharcha (practice of self dedication), Byamcharcha, (practice of physical exercise) Bilati Ghushi BollJJ1ll Deshi Kill (alien boxing versus indigenous fist) gave a call to the Bengali youth to become strong and fit and even to face and C0lJrt death with courage for the sake of prestige. She urged the youth not t o be afraid of the foreign rulers and to take revenge if _insulted by them.• In the early phase of the revolutionary moYCment, Kumudini Mitra, daughter of Krishna Mitra, a wcllknown public leader and relative of Aurobindo and Darin Ghosh, played an active role in propagating revolutionary ideas (1907-1912). Through the Bengali magazine Suprobhal of which she was the editor, she propagated the cult of revolution with the motto "Motherland needs blood".7 In the late twenties, Mira Dattagupta of the Bengal Volunteers propagated revolutionary ideas through the Journal &nu. Mira was in charge of the women's section of &nu. The paper urged the young boys and girls of Bengal to be courageous and acquire strength again!il the oppressive foreign ruJcn. In the minds of the youth, the influence of Benu was irresistible.•

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PlOVIDINO Foop AND SHELTER To 1'MF. AnscoNDING REvounlONARIES

in providing food and shelter to the absconding revolutionaries, women,

particularly the housewives, rendered valuable services and for that many of them had to court arrest and imprisonment. Since 1907 to 1914 women like Kumudini Mitra of Calcutta, Soudamini De.vi, and Durgamoni Pinc ofFaridpur, BrahmamoyceScn, Chinmoycc Sen, JagaUara Sen, Bagalasundari Devi and Bindubasini Som of Dacca, Binodbala Devi, wido�ed elder sister of Jatin Mukherjee, provided food and shelter to the abscondingrevolutionaries. But very litqc is known regarding the details of their services, the group of revolutionaries to whom they offered assistance, I\Aturc of their sufferings etc.' During theperiod oflndo-GcrmanPlot(1914-1915), women likcNanibala Devi (Mukhujee), Sindhubala Ghosh, Kshirodasundari Chowdhury and Sushila Mitra offered invaluable assistance in providing food and shdtcr to the absconding revolutionaries of the Jugantar group. Greatly inspired by the courage and devotion of the revolutionaries, NanibaJaDevi, a widow, brokcfamilyticsand volunteered to do housekeeping for the underground leaders of the Indo-Gcnnan Plot. She took a house on rent in Rishra (Howrah district) and there gave shdtcr to Amar Chatter}ee, awellk.nown leader of theJugantar party and some of his associates for about two months. Nanibala acted as their aunt. Actually, Amarcndranath Chatterjee was Nanibala's distant relative and he initiated NanibaJa in tl\e path of r�volution. It was in August 1915, when police raided the Sramajibi Slmabay Organisation of Calcutta in connection with lndo-German Plot, that Amar Chatterjee became absconder and with few of his associates took shelter in Nanibala's house in Rishra. After a shon period, apprehending police detection, Nanibala left the shdter at Rishra and moved to Chandemagore inllooghly district. There also she did housekeeping for •,:e underground leaders like Jadugopal Mukherjee, Amar Chatterjee, Atul Ghosh, Bholanath Chatterjee, Nalini Kar etc. After police searched quite a few places of Chandemagorc and·the revolutionaries escaped immediately, Narul>ala did not feel safe enough to stay at Chandernagore. The police, by that time, had come to know about her activities and became active to arrest her. Nanibala was so chased by police that ultimatdy she had to abscond. She left Bengal for distant Pcshwar. She was arrested there, while suffering from a severe type of cholera. Under strict police vigilance, she was taken to police lock-up in Pcshwar on a strecher (1917) and after recovery sent to Bcnaras Jail 10 In the same year ( 1917), some of the absconding revolutionaries of the lndo-Gennan Plot like Kuntal Chakrabony. Bhupendra Kumar Datta and also Amar Chatterjee took shelter in the house of Sindhubala Ghosh. Sindhubala along with her husband Dcben Ghosh, who was a clerk in Tiljala Railway Cabin (near Calcutta), did housekeeping for those revolutionaries Digiti zed by

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in their railway quarta: By the lime the police came to kpow about tbeae revolutionaries, they left the place. Deben Ghosh was arrested. Sindhubala at that time had gone to her parents' house at village Indus in Bankura district. Police Superintendent Bholanath Chatterjee followed her there with a warrant. After reaching Indus, he came to know that two ladies na1DC'A1 Sindhubala were there. Ju the particular lady whom the police wanted could not be identified, police arrested both of them Deben Ghosh's wife Sindhubala was at that time in an advanced stage of pregnancy. But evaa in that condition, she and the other lady were forced to walk upto Bankura rail station and imprisoned in BankuraJail.11 The two othcz ladies who offered shelter to the leaders of the Indo-German Plot wae Kshirodasundari Chowdhury and Sushila Mitra. .After the murder of Basanta Chatterjee (30 June 1916), the Deputy Superi ntendent of Police, Intelligence Branch, Calcutta, warrantswereissued against Kshitish Chowdhury and Surcndra Mohan Ghosh of Mymrnsiogh, the two revolutionaries of Jugantar group. To avoid arrest they hc:ame absconders, a house was taken on rent in Mymcnsingh and there the two revolutionaries started living along with Kshirodasundari Chowdhury. She acted as their mother. Actually, Kshirodasundari was the aunt of Kshitish Chowdhury. After.she became a widow at the age of thirty two or thirty three, Kshitish Chowdhury introduced her to his colleagues. However, after a few days, the two notable revolutionaries of lndo-German Plot namdy Jadugopal Mukherjee and Nalinikanta Kar sought shelter there. At that time Rs. 10,000/- was declared as prize money for arresting Jadugopal The underground leaders stayed there for quite some time. Ultimately they had to leave the place when the police became alert. The whole group, Cltcept Surendra Mohan, eventually shifted to Deobhog in Narayanganj (Dacca district). There also they were haunted by police and had to shift from one place to another like Sarishabari (Faridpur �istrict), Sirajganj (Pabna district) etc. For about a year, therefore, Kshirodasundari stayed with theunderground revolutionaries and did house-keeping for them. While she was thus staying ' in Assam, her relatives became worried as they did not get any news of her. The revolutionaries felt that it would not be safe to have her any more as housewife and sent her first to Benaras and from there, to her owp village in Mymensingh. While in Benaras, Kshirodasundari, instructed by the revolutionaries, wrote h_er name and address in a register there. When police reached her house in Mymensingh and interrogated her regarding her stay and activity during that period, she innocently replied that she had been to Benaras during those days. Police could not suspect anything wrong, as after reaching Benaras they found support of her statement from the register where she had already written her name and address. Thus the foresight of the underground revolutionaries whom she had given shelter helped her to escape arrest. 12 Digiti zed by

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1,ikc Kshirodasundari, Sushila Mitra also provided sbdtcr and food to the absconding revolutionaries of lhe Indo-Ocnnan Plot and managed to escape arrest. He:r brothers-in-law Satycn Bose and Sachin Bose were the members of Jugantar group of revolutionaries. At the time of ind oGerman Plot her house in Noakhali was a secret shelter of.the absconding revolutionaries. 13 In the. year 1922. Ambik.a Devi of PalangofParidpur district and in l 9Z3, Snehalata Bose of Rautbhog, Dacca, provided food and shelter to the absconding revolutionaries. Detail information could not be gathered regarding the nature of their service, the group o f revolutionaries to whom they offered assistance and nature of their sufferings etc. 14 In the early thirties, the revolutionary movement reached its zenith in Bmgal. During that period, many women came forward to provide food and shelter to the absconding revolutionaries. 1bosc who did housekeeping for the Chittagong group of revolutionaries in Chittagong, were Apama Chakraborty of Kattali. Subhasinibala Roy of Katalgan j, Manadasundari Mitra of Kumira, Binodini Dasgupta of Kocpara. wife o f Puma Talukdar of Gahira, Jyotsna Chowdhury of Guatoli, Kshirodeprabha Biswas of Gairala, Charubala Dasgupta and Nirupama Dasgupta of Cha11dandi, Chandrabasi Devi and Rajlakshmi of Durgapur, mother of Sachin Das and SavitrlDevi ofDhalghat. Soudamin iSenofDharla, Chintasundari Devi of Nababp1,1r. Banalata Sen and Sita Sundari Das of NaYJpara, Bidutlata Roy and Swamamoyec Dastidar of Paraikora, Binodini Sen of ruinglubazar. mother.of Krishna Kumar Mallick of Bidgram, mother of Rajcndra Barua of Vaidyapara, mother of Rasaraj Nag of Mithachara, Saruwati Barua of Mautala, Ninnala Chakraborty and Kundaprabha Sengupta of Sripur, mother of Prasanna Pariyal and mother of Birendra Pariyal of Saroatoli. 15 . Outside Chittagong, Chittagong revolutionaries were given shelter by a number of women. After the armoury raid, two field leaders,GaneshGhosh and Ananta Singha got detached from the main body of the revolutionaries. Later on, Jiban Ghoshal and Ananda Gupta followed them. After a clash with the police at Penni railway station, the four revolutionaries reached Calcutta and sought shelter with Bhupendrakumar Datta ofJugantar group. 'TheJugantar group leader initiaDy arranged for their shelter. But considering it unsafe to keep all of them a t one place, he arranged for their shelter at different places. ThusJiban Ghoshal and Ananda Gupta were given shelter by Laxmimani Devi and Saradamoni Devi in their house at. Puturia, Tollygunge. 16 For giving safe shelter to Ananta Singha andGanesh Ghosh, a house was taken on rent in Chandemagore, which, being a French possession, was comparatively safq. To avoid local suspicion, a married couple was needed to run the shelter. A genuine couple not being available, it had to be faked. Sashadhar Acharaya, a worker of the Jugantar group was to lease the house and Suhasini Ganguly of the same group posed as his wife D1g1tizeo by

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and did housekeeping for those two rcvolutionariCL Laler on JibanGhoshal and AnandaGuptajoined thcm. 17 Some details can be noted here about the activities of (cw of those ladies. Immediately after Chittagong Armoury Raid (18 April 1930), Ananta Singha, Ganesh Ghosh, Jiban Ghoshal and Ananda Oup ta, the f'our remlutionarics involved in the raid, came to the house o f Biilodini Sen of Fuinghibaz.ar and sought refuge (20 April). Binodini, mother o f a wellknown Chittagong revolutionary Rajat Sen, was always hospitable to the Chittagong revolutionaries. She immediately arranged for the shelter of the four remlutionaries in her own house and provided food to them. Next day, t he police came to her house to make enquiries about those revolutionaries. With her cleverness she could manage to hide them. From the end of- 1930 t o 1932, her house was one of the main working places of the Chittagons revolutionaries.11 Again, for the above four revolutionaries, Suhasini Ganguly, posing as the wife of Sashadhar Acharaya. did housckP.Cping in Chandemagore for about f9ur months. Suhasini, being a spinster, showed tremendous moral strength to pose as.somebody dsc's wife with regular vermilion mark and conch shell bangles just togive shelter to thefour runaway revolutionaries.She was a teacherinDW andDumbSchool in north Calcutta. But on the instructions given by the Jugantar group leaders, she unhesitatingly left that job and came to Gondalpara in Chandemagore-to 1 In 1932, when Dinesh Majumdar became an!absconder, Kalyani Das used· to collect from him the necessary instructions required for the working of their revolutionary organisation and pass on to him secret information.31 Similarly, Mira Dattagupta of Bengal Volunteers played an important role as liaison between the a)>sconding revolutionaries of B.V. group during the period 1931-33.3' HIDING AND SMUGCUNO ARMs AND AMMuNmoNsAND� Another important work which the women did in the revolutionary movement was that of hiding and smuggling arms and ammunitions and other aplosivcs. In the initial stage of the movement, womcri like Labanyaprabha Datta of Baharampore, Soudamini Devi and Durgamoni Pine of Faridpur, Brahmamoyee Sen, Chil)moyee Sen, Jagattara Sen, Bagalasundari Devi and Bindubasini Som of Dacca, Sarojini Devi, Priyabala Dasgupta an d Mrinalini Dasgupta of Barisaul and Sushila Mitra of Noakhali concealed arms an d ammunitions during the period 1906-1916.4° Towards the end of 1916, Dukaribala Chakraborty (born in 1887) Of the village of Jhaopara in Birbhum district, kept in her house seven mauser pistols and cartridges. The fire-arms were entrusted, by the Jugantar group, to the care of Nibaran Ghatack. a member of the party. Nibaran, who was Dukaribala's nephew, kept these arms in Dukaribala's safe custody. The lady was already influenced through Nibaran by revolutionary·ideas and was willing to provide some service to the revolutionaries. So when she was given the responsibility of concealing those fire-arms, she gladly agreed to do the work and kept those ammunitions in her trunk. Suddenly on 8 January 1917, the police searched her house and the pistols were recovered. Dukaribala was repeatedly interrogated regarding the supplier of the arms. As she did ttot disclose anything, she was ultimately arrested. Leaving minor children at horrie she went to jail on 12 March 1917.4' In 1922 and 23, Ambika Devi of Faridpur and Snehalata Bose of Dacca did the work of hiding arms and ammunitions in their houses.42 Then in the final phase of the revolutionary movement during 1930-34, and at the-. time o f its preparation in 1929, many women recruited to

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revolutionary organisations and a few elderly ladies concealed anns and ammunitions in their own custody. Some of them also took the responsibility of carrying these secretly from one place to another. To this category belonged Kalpana Dutt, Nirmala Chak.raborty, Binodini Sen and Anima Biswas of Chittagong. Harshabala Ghoshal ofChaygaon, IndusudhaGhosh, Prabhabati Bose, Surama Majumdar and Kamala Chatterjee of Mymcnsingh, Shantisudha _Ghosh and Sushama Dasgupta of Barisaul, Pramila Gupta, Sushila Dasgupta, Helena Gun, Jyotirmoycc Bose and her two daughters Helen Bose and Nilima Bose, Kunjabala Dasgupta and her two daughters - Asha Dasgupta and Makhan Dasgupta of Dacca, Bishnupriya Bhattacliaraya of Pabna, NinJ)ala Kahali and Nirupama Kahali of Faridpur, Suhasini Pal and Jyotikana Datta of C:>1nilla, Kamala Dasgupta, Sulata Kar,.Mukul Datta, Banalata Dasgupta and Ava Dey of Calcutta.43 While all of them kept arms and ammunitions concealed in their possession, Jyotirmoycc Bose, along with her two daughters - Helen and Nilima Bose, Asha Dasgupta, Pramila Gupta, Sushila, Dasgupta, Helena Gun and Kamala Dasgupta also carried them to proper places. Kamala Dasgupta, after joining the Jugantar group of Calcutta i n 1929, left her house and started staying in a ladies' hostel at Garpa in north Calcutta. This she did after receiving instructions from the party leaders who felt that for carrying out revolutionary work smoothly, Kamala should stay away from the family members.•• After the Chittagong Armoury Raid, which greatly inspired the revolutionary circles of Bengal, the Jugantar group of Calcutta took up an ambitious programme of killing the Europeans wherever they could be found by throwing bombs. For this purpose, they resorted to feverish bomb-making. Kamala was apprised of this matter by Rasiklal Das, one of the senior leaders of the Jugantar group. Since the place, where those bombs were kept, was not safe, Kamala was asked by the leader whether she could take up the responsibility of keeping those bombs at her disposal. She readily agreed. Thereupon, a person came to her hostel in a taxi and brought those bombs in a big basket, the upper part of which was covered with fruits to avoid suspicion of anyone.Kamala, at that time being the warden of the hostel, brought that basket of bombs to her room. Some of these she kept in her own trunk, for the remaining she bought some small suitcases. Putting those bombs in those suitcases she kept these in the store of the hostel. Being the warden, the key of thestore was with her and so she could keep those suitcases in the store under lock and key. She passed those days with great anxiety, all the time under the apprehension that someone might come to know of this. She could however succeed in despatching the�e bornbs to the places as directed by the Jugantar group members. Some of these bombs in a number of suitcases were taken by the party members who used to meet Kamala in the hostel as her visitors. The remaining bombs, Kamala herself carried to different places as instructed by the party. This she did sometimes being

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dressed as a modern young girl and sometimes as a housewife. Ultimatdy however, Kamala could not avoid arrest. It was with a·few of these bombs that attempt was made on the life of Tegart, the Police Commis11ioncr of Calcutta, at Dalhousie Square on 25 August 1930. Getting some clue in COMcction with this Dalhousie Square bomb episode, the police arrested Kamala from the hostel on 16 September 1930. At that time, a search was also made for the bombs in the hostel, but those had already been canied to safe places. Kamala could not be fJJ1ally implicated in the case and was released after about a month. After her release she bCNiroe involved again in revolutionary work and supplied a revolver to Bina Das with which the latter made an attempt to kill the Governor of Bengal at the Convocation of Calcutta University on 6 February 1932. On the next day (7 February), police arrested Kamala and although after interrogation she was released on the same day, police kept a constant watch on her activity and fJJ1ally arrested her on 1 March 1932. Kamala was then confined as a detcnue.•5 In January 1933, Helena Gun, who joined Dacca Sri Sangha, secretly carried a revolver from Calcutta to Dacca. She had dressed as a housewife from rural areas. She had theidea of using that fire-arm in some revolutionary actio,1. At Dacca, she felt unsafe and again came to Calcutta to her maternal uncle's house at_Baranagar, but from there, she was arrested by the police in February 1933 and was ultimately detained."" The other ladies who had to court arrest for concealing fire-arms were Banalata Dasgupta, Jyotikana Datta and NinnalaChakraborly. Both Banalala and Jyotikana were classmates studying in the third year course of Diocessan College of Calcutta in 1933. The former, associated with t11e revolutionary group led by Bhupal Bose, took the responsibility of co11barancc Datta, Kamala Oasgupu. Solata Kar, Kalyani Das an d Kamala OJaurzjcc of Jugan tar group.•• RccolJcctmgPrccti's cootnl>ution in providing f111J111cial assistance to the Olittagong Revolutionary Party, KaJpana Dutt, anochcr member of the group. wrote that once their party needed Rs. 500/­ for some work and Rs. 450/- bad been collected, the balance of Rs. 50/wu wanted, Prcrtilata handed over the entire salary of her father of that month which amounted toRs- SOI-. When SuryaSm and the other members of the group showed 41nwiDingp,c:u to take that momcy on the ground that in that case the famity would be left with no ready cash for that month, P!cdi bunt into tears � ulfimatdy could persuade. the lcatlers to take that amount.63 lntlumati Singha of the ClJi1tagongRevolutionary Party also played a ,ay important role in collectir,grunds � meeting the cost ofdcfcncc ofthcundrztrialprisoncnofOittagr,agUprisirig.Fordmpurposc,shctourcd the entire lalgth and breadth o f Bengal and even beyond. Allhough she did notknow English, in most cases sbccould influence the contnl>utors spcatmg tida in Hindi or Bengali. In some places, however, she was ignored and insulted by the people who were loyal to the English. That could not stop her from her venture. She ,hs so courageous that she had �en gone to Lal Bazar, the head officc of the Bengal police, cded sympathy of the police offaccrs and coDcctcd contributions from them. At Allahabad, 1*twahartal Nehru gave hrz Rs. SOI/-. Fmally on IS December 1931, when she bad gone to ComiQa to collect funds, she was arrested by the police. On the previous day, the Magistrate of CnmiDa was assassinated by Shanti and Sunili and police started arrcstir,g the women arousing slightest �uspicion_ In that process, lndumati was arrested and confined to jail as a detcnue. Even in jail. she was constantly worried about collection of funds for the trial of undcrtrial prisoners.63 Like lndumati Singha, Bimalpralll>ha Devi (Banerjee) had been equally concerned of the Chittagong revolutionaries facing trial m prison. Toraiscfundsfor thcirdefcnccshehadmade adaringvcnturc. Under her leadership, a dacoily was committed on 2 October 1931, in the guddj of the fJJ1D of Krishna Chandra Sanatan Pal, at 234 Canal West Road at Maniktala in Calcutta. Narahari Sen, Kalipada Roy, Prafu)Ja Bhalla and two others of the Jugantar group entered the guddi armed with revolvers and dagvrs. They threatened the cashier and forced him to hand over aD the cash amounting to Rs. 300/-. They. came to the f°JJ'ID in the ca r of BimalpratibhaDevi and while they had entered the guddi, Bimalpralibha Devi was waiting in the car along with her driver. However, after taking the cash, the five persons drove away in the car. Shortly after this, the car hit against an obstruction on the road bringiog it to a standstill at a distance of about half a mile from the place of occurrence and close to Manik.tala Police Station.

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The occupailts o f the car then got down and started running away when an Assistant Sub-Inspector and several constabl� of M/loikralt Police Station, hearing the alarm, chased and arrested fou1 of them including Bimalpratibha Devi. The police then searched the car and seized a rcYOlver, nineteen cartridges, the portraits of the undertrial revolutionarics... of Chittagong Armoury Raid and the portraits of some other martyrs such as Ramkrishna Biswas, Dinesh Gupra, Benoy Bose and Badal Gupta. Subsequently, Bimalpratibha Devi's house was also searched and the portraits of the OJittagong revolutionaries along with a few revolutionary le&flets were found...Inthetrial, which startedatAliporeJudges'Courton l 20ctober 1931, BimaJpratibha Devi denied her association with the incident.65 The Public Proaccutor, however, opined that "Bimalpratibha Devi was the brain of the party and organised the raid."66In cou� of the trial one of the Indian Judges received letter from Barisaul Violence Party to the effect of considering the case about Bimalpratibha Devi. It was stated ,, "She is a heroic lady and her future depends only upon your judgement. We expect you too. Otherwise the violence party will stop to it. And you must be turned to 'Garlick'."67 The judgement in the case was delivered on 14 December 1931. While three of the accused were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, two others including Bimalpratibha Devi were acquitted.61 Regarding Bimalpratibha Devi, the judgement said that although she was associated with the accused youth in many matters, there is no evidence to prove that she conspired with those youth regarding this daeoity.69 Although acquitted in the case, she was immediately ttarrcsted and detained as a detenue in different jails of Bcngal.70 Another member of Jugantargroup, Kalyani Das, accepted private tuitions to bear the expenses of the treatment of Dincsh Majumdar, their leader, who during his absconding life (February 1932 - May 1933) had been suffering from tuberculosis.71 Of the other revolutionaries, Parul Mukherjee of Anusllan provided financial assistance to the revolutionaries arrested in Inter-Provincial Conspiracy Case. Recollecting those moments she said that she used to send money to them in tiffin carriers, when their food was sent to them in tile jail. 72 ln the period 1931-33, Mira Dattagupta of the B.V. �p of revolutionaries used to donate her full salary, which she was drawing as Vice-Principal of the women's section of Vidyasagar College, Calcutra, for the party work..73 Apart from these women of different revolutionary groups, some elderly ladies, althoµgh not members of revolutionary organisations, provided fmancial assistance to different groups of revolutionaries during the same period (1929-1934). Mention in this connection may be made of Sushila Mitra and Charubala Kanjilal of Noakhali, Binodini Sen and Maya Datta Cllowdhury of Chittagong, Harshabala Gboshal of Chaygaon, Sushama Dasgupra of Barisaul, Surama Majumdar of Mymensingh and Nagendrabala Devi of Daeca.74 Most of them contributed their jewellery to help the

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l'C'W>lutionaries. Maya Datta Oiowdhury contnb1.1tcd hez jewdlcry wor1h some thousand rupees for an attempt to secure the release of Surya Sen. the leader of Chittagong Uprising. from imprisonment75 Nagendraba1-Devi collected Rs. 200/- by mortgaging her jewdlcry and contributed it t o appeal against the verdict of the Court of Special Tnbunal which decided for capital punishment to Manoranjan Banerjee of B.V. group in the Governor shooting case in Darjeeling in 1934. Monoranjan could be saved due to that appeal (rom capital punishment and was sentenced to transportation for lifc.76 PREPAJUNO ExPLosIVF.s F1la Chattajcc and lndusudba Ghosh played important roles in organisational work, in crating awareness among the girls for rcvolutinary work.and in recruiting them for suchwort .111 In Comilla, Prafullanalini Brahma, Shanti Ghosh and Suniti Chowdhury, rccrujted to the Juganw g,oup of the district, played a � vital role in strengthening the women's wing of the Jugantar group there. Prafula was the first girl to be recruited to the Jugantargroup of Comilla After a lengthy discussion with Akhil Nandi, an important leader of the Jugantar group of Comilla, Prafulla could convince the latter of her willingness and ability to do revolutionary work and was recruited to the Jugantar group ofComiK• "' The fll'st task. assigped to her was to organise the women's wing of die revolutionary group in the district.,en Prafulla immr.diatdy proved her competence by recruiting Shanti Ghosh and Suniti Chowdhury-, her jwuar schoolmates, to the revolutionary group.10> Then to expand the women's wing oftheJugantargroup of C.nroilla,Tripu11 DistrictWomen Students' Organisation wasfonned withPrafulla as Prcsidcnl and Shanti as Secretary. Both Shanti, Sunid and Prafu)la took the initia!Pe in recruiting more girls to the organisation. Clubs were fonned in differait localities to iJnpart physical training to the girls including sword and JatbipJay. Initially the male members of the Jugantar group used to impart t1'8ining ID the women in those clubs. But within a short period that task. was takc11 up by Shanti, Suniti and Prafulla. Those, whom they considered suitable for revolutionary work, were then recruited ·lo the party. Thus were rccrui1cd : a number of girls to the Jugan tar group of Comilla. A few among them wac . Unnila Guha, Nilima Nandi,Banalata Sarlw, Shanti Sen, Usha Cbakraborty, Jahanara Chowdhury, Manorama Sen etc.104 BinaDasofBhupalBose'srevolutionarygroupalsodidorganisational� In this connection she took the initiative in recruitinggirls to their organisation. Bina, particularly, attempted to influence the students of Dioccssan College where she studied for her B.A. degree. She tried to explain to these studcms the ideals of their group and the ways through which they wanted to achieve these ideals. To this effort of hers, some of the girls responded and some did not. 105 In theAnusilan group, ParulMuk hcrjec, UshaMuk.hcrjce,PratibhaBhadra, Sarojabha Das Chowdhury, Nirmala Kahali and Nirupama Kahali worked to strengthen their organisation.106 Immediately after her joining the Anusilan group in Comilla, Pratibha Bhadra was assigned the task of organising the women's wing of the party. For this purpose she visited different places d. Comilla, Agartala, Chandpore etc. In 1933 Panal Mukherjee, as ID absconder,' 0' worked to organise women's wing of the Anusilan party in Rangpore, Dinajporc, Faridpur, .Comilla, Barisaul, Khulna and other places SarojabhaDas Chowdhury alsoplayed an important role in the organisational

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work. The founder of the women's wing of Anusilan in Barisaul, Sarojabha worked mainly lu�1ong the girl students. Ilowever, of these women

revolutionaries. Pratibha Bhadra, Usha Mukherjee, and Sarojabha Das Chowdhury were arrested and confined as detenucs. Parul could avoid arrest for quite some time bu.I was ultimatley caught in January 1935 in connection ,with the Titagarh Conspiracy Case ,ind was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment.Nirmala and Nirupama, although not arrested, were interned in their house in Faridpur in 1943. Lastly, in the organisational work, the contributions of two women revolutionaries of the Bengal Volunteers, namely Ujjwala Majutndar and 1'1ira Dattagupta, deserve mention. Mira Dattagupta organised the women workers of theB.V.group .Added to this, between 1931 to 1933, she played an important role in planning the future programme to be undertaken by the B.V. group in Midnaporc and other places. In connection with the Anderson shooting case in Darjeeling by the Bengal Volunteers in 1934, Mira was interrogated at the police chamber at Elys-ium Row in Calcutta and, although not arrested, was cxtcmed fromBengal for two ycars. 10• Ujjwala of the same group did organisational work particularly among the girl students of Dacca and C_alcutta}09 These are, in brief, the various types of preparatory work which the women of �gal. invoived in the revolutionary movement .of the province, did between 1900-1935. This can be regarded as the first phase of women's activities in the revolutionary movement of Bengal, when in most cases they worked silently, far away from the view of the public. In the final phase, a few women came in the front rank .and, being trained, jurT)ped into revolutionary action. The following chapter allempts to focus on that part of the activities of the women revolutionaries of .Bengal. NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. S. Ch:ludhurani,JibancrJharapara,RupaandCompany,(Oilcu11a, 1975),p.I 35; R. C. Majumdar, Bang/a Desher Itihas, Vol.4 p.6; B. 8.· Majumdar, Militant ·Natioaalism in India, General Printers and Publishers Private Limited, (Calcutta, 1966), p.103. 2. J. C. Bagal, J/Jdya Andola11c &ng:1 N:Jri,Iliswabharati Grantruilaya, (Calcutta,. 1361 D.S.), p.5; J. Halder, Anusilan S1UT1itirSan/cshiptya I1ihas1 p. 4 ;,\. Gttosh,Bipl:1b ODipl11bi,Rabindra Library, (Oilcuua, 1383 D.S.), p.6. 3. A DcngaliJoumal, Sarla Devi was its editor fro1n 1897 to 1899. 4. S.Oiaudhurani,op.cil.,pp. I26!127; J. 13ag:il, op.cit.,p.S; A. Ghosh, op.cit.,pp. 4-5. S. O.S.Roychowdhury, Bhagjni Nibedita OBanglay Biplahbad, pp.30, 40-41 6. AGhosh, op.cit., pp.3-4.

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7. P. N. Chopra, Women in the Indian Freedom Struggle, Government of India, Ministry ofEducation and SocialWelfare, (New Delhi, 1975),p.7 ;U.Bala, l!ldwl Women Freedom Fighters, l857-1947; Manohar, �ew Delhi, 1 986), p.170. 8. B.K.RakshitRoy, S,barA/altshye, Voll, p.213 9. U. Bala, op.cit., p.170; K. Dasgupta, Swadhin.tta Sangnme &ngl6r N.-i, pp.286-2_87;K. Chatterjee Mukherjee, UnknownHeroine•ofFreedomSlrvtglt in India ( l 773-1947}, Paper presented at the Third A l l -India l&tory Seminar at Netaji Bhavan, Calcutta, o n 24 January 1980, p.9; Y . D . Phadke, Women in Political�, op.cit., p.6. 10. K . Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.36-41 ;S.P.Sen, Dictio,wyofNationa/Biography, Voll pp.445-447. 11. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.276-277. 12. Ibid. , pp.44-46. 13. Ibid., p.207; S. C. Sengupta, Samad Bangali Ollllitavidhan, p.128. 14. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.286-287. IS. S. Guha (Ed.) Oiattogram Bidrroher Babnisikha, pp.327-332; K . ,Sengupta, Karasmriti, Publisher Jagatbondhu Sen, (Chittagong, 1974), pp.1-9. 16. K. Dasgupta op.cit., p.160; S. P. Sen (Ed.) Dic:tio,wy of National Biography, Vol.2, pp.28-29. 17. S. P. Sen, (Ed.), op.cit., pp.28-29. 18. M. Sen, Chattogram Bidrohe Biplabi Mata Binodini Sener Abadan, Inauguratioo ofSurya Sen Dhavan Souvenir, pp.93-96. 19. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.IS 1-153; S. P. Sen (Ed.), op.cit., pp.28-29; Details in G. Ghosh, Chandtmagore Sangharsha, Inauguration of Surya Sen Bhavin Souvenir, pp.SS-57. 20. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.146; K.Dutt, Reminiscences, p.40; M. Dutt, Dhalgb,I Sangharsha, P. Waddadnr, Dhalghat Sangharshe Ninnalada O BholarPrand,n, Inauguration of Surya Sen Ohavan Souvenir, op.cit., pp.69-70, 71-72; N. Mitra (Ed.) The Indian Annual Register, Vol.I, 1932, January-Jvne, AnnualRegister Office, (Calcutta, 1932), p.27; B. K. Ralshit Roy, op.cit., p.95. Details in the Secret Report of the Intelligence Branch on the Political Situation in Bengal for the Seven Days ending 18 June 1932, p.l. 2 I. S. Guha (Ed.), op.cit., p.327; B. Roy Pahartall European Oub Amman, Inauguration of Surya Sen Dhavan Souvenir, pp. 76-78. 22. B. Sen, Gaira/a S,ngharsha OMasterda Sandi, Inauguration ofSuryaSen Bb,1'111 Souvenir, pp.85-88; K. Dasgupta op.cit., pp.133-134, 279; Bangabani, 2 September 1933, p.7 �Interview withKahirpdeprabha Biswu o n 11.10.87. 23. K. Dutt, Reminiscences p.12;K. Dutt .Joahi, a.bin Sanghanba,Inaugun,tioa of Surya Sen Bhavan Souvenir, pp.89-92. 24. B. K. Rabhit Roy, op.cit., Vol.U. pp.16-17, 27-18, 41-45, Bharate S,sllastn Dip/ab, pp.388-393; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.161, 274; A. Ghosh. Abismarraniya, Storming of Writers' &Ji/ding: Golden Jubilee Souvenir, pp. lOS-107.

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Interview with Pra�d Dose oo. 8.1.88. A Ghosh, Abismaraniya, p.107 IC. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.160. . IC. Das Bhattacharyll, Saheed Dinesh Majumder, S. Dey (Ed:), Agniyug, Vol.I, Puma Publishers, (Calaitta 1978), pp.154-159; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.91-93. 29. Interview with Indusll!lhaGhosh on 21.8.87 ; Unpublished Memoir ofL Ghosh; K.Dasgupta. p.176 30. Interview withN"umahiKahaliAtarthion 5.10.87. 31. IC.Dasgupta, op.cit.,p.188. 32. Ibid., pp.221-222, 276, 278, 287. 33. This was one of the fifty mauser pistols theft from Rodda and Company. 34. K.Dasgupta, op.cit., p.37. 35. Bengali widow dresses completely in white. The vermilion mark on the forehead and conch shell bangles in hand which are the signs of a married Bengali woman are-removed as soon as she becomes a widow. 36. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.207. 37. P. Das, Abismaraniya, S. Guba (Ed.), op.dt., pr .92-93; Unpublished Memoir of H. Gun; Interview with Nirmala Kahali Atarthi onS.10.87; Interview with Parul Mukherjee on 22.9.87;K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.91, 156,271, 274. 38. K. Dasgupta,op.cit.,p.91. 39. Ibid., p.271. 40. Ibid., pp.62-63, 286-287; S. C. Sengupta, (Ed.), op.cit., p.1_28. 4 I. Green Ust o fthe Bengal Revolutionaries, Bengal Government Press, (Calcutta, 1930), p.131, Dukaribala Devi; Report on Police Administration in Bengal Presidency for the year l �16, BengalAdmkustration Report, 1916-17, Bengal Seaetariat Book Depot, (Calcutta, 1918), p.16; J. Bagal, op.cit., pp.16-17; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.42-43;K. Ghosh,J,garan OBishphoran, Vol.2,op.cit., pp.453-454. 42. K.Dasgupta, op.cit.�p.287. 43. Ibid., pp.141, 163-165, 170, 174-175, 176, 180, 182, 186, 221-223, 278, 280-287 ;A ' Ghosh, Abismaraniya, pp.I 06-107 ;K. Dasgupta, Ratter Aksbare, pp.30-31 ;M.Sen, CbaltogramBidrobeBiplabiMataBinoduiiSenerAbdan,p.96; A. Biswu, Amar Biplabi Jibanu Smriti, p.237; intuview with Nirmai Kahali Atarthi on S.10.87;K . Joshi. Claittagong Uprising and tbeRole of the Muslims, Otalfmge,p.59. 44. IC. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.27-28. 45. lbid.;pp.29-31, 39-43, so, 53-64. . 46. K . Dasgupta, $1vadhinata Sangrame Banglar Nari, pp.170-17 l ; Unpublished Memoir ofH. Gun; Interview with Helena Gun Datta on 24.8.87. 47. Report on the PoliceAdministration in the the Town of Calcutta and its Suburbs for the year 1933, Bengal Administratioa Report 1933-1934, Bengal Government Preas, (Alipore, 1935), p.17;K. Da�gtupta, op.cit., pp.141, 164; 25. 26. 27. 28.

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B. D�. Srinlchal Jhanlr.ar p.26;Details of the event ID Banca•- nseptember 1933, p.S, 13 September 1933, p. l. 48. Bangabani,SScptember 1933,p.l,K.BhJttacharaya, op.dL,p.69;K.Dugupta, op.dt., pp.142. 165. 49. K. Dasgupta, op.dt., pp.280-281. 50. K. Joshi, Chittagong Uprising and the Role of the Mo•lims, a.deD,e, op.cit., pp.59-60. SI.

Ibid,

52. Jbid.,p.60; K. Dasgupta, op.at., p.132. 53. Interview with Kamala Olatterjee Mukherjee on 1S.S.87; IC. Mukheriee,Amlr Abhijjnatay Calcutta, 1929-31, Bharat OSamajtantru. GD.R.; 1982, Vol.VID Nos. 7-8, p.71; K. Joshi, Cruttagong uprising and the Role of the Mi,slimJ, Challenge, p.60. 54. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.286-287. SS. Ibid., p.287. 56. Ibid., pp.148-150; K. Dutt, Reminiscences, pp.56-57; S. Guha (Ed.), op.at., pp.92-93, 236. 57. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp. I56, l 88: Interview with Parul Mukherjee on 22.9.87. 58. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.271,274. 59. Unpublished Memoir of H. Gun. 60. B. Das, Srinkhal lhanur, VP 27-28. 61. K. Dasgup&,a, op.dt.,pp.74,16 I, 186; Rdter.Abhare, pp.S9-60;S.Day (Ed.), op.dt., p.158; mtervicw with Kamala Olatterjee Mukherjee on lS.S.87. 62. K. Dutt, Reminiscences. pp.56-57. 63. K. Dasgupta, Swadhinata Sangrame BanglarNari pp.149-1 SO;S. P. Sen. (F.d.), Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 4, Institute of Historical Studi.el, (Calcutta, 1974), pp.238-239. 64. Trial bySpecial Tribunal of Bimalpratibha Devi and othen in an armed dec:oily case in Calcutta, Home (Polltic!al} ComfidetJtial File, No.673, Year 1931: Bangabani, 4 October 1931, pp.1-3, ll October 1931, pp.2-S. 65. Details in Bangabani, 1 December 1931, p.S. 66. From theDeputy Commissioner of Police,Sped.al Branch Calcutlll. totheOiicf Secreatry to the Government ofBengal,PoliticalDeppent, l 30ctober 1931, Home (Political} Confidential File, No. 673, Year 1931 67. For the Jetter of the Barisaul Violence Party dated 7 November1931, see HoaJte (P.olitical} Confidential File,No. 673, Year 1931. . . 68. The Additional District Magistrate of 24 Parg?Jllls to the c_hiefSeaetary to the Government of Bengal, 14 Decembe.r 1931, ibid. 69. Bangabani, I 5 December I93 I, p. l. 70. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.74. 71. K . Das 13hattacharaya, Saheed Dinesh Majumdar, p.158. 72. Interview "-ilh Parul Mukherjee on 22.9.87. 73. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.271.

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74. Ibid., pp:208, 287; A Ghosh, _Abismanniya p.93; A Biswas, Amar Biplabi ibaner Smrid, p.236. 7S. A. Biawas, Amar Biplabi Jibaaer Smrid, p.236. 76. A. Ghosh, Abiamanrµya p.10S. 77. A. Mitra, Bip/•b Sahayogj Oiandemagore Inauguration of Surya Sen Bhavan Souvenir, pan II, p.42. 78. JC. Chatterjee Mukherjee, Unknown Heroines of Freedom Struggle in India (1772-1947}, p.9. ' 79: JC. Dutt, Reminiscences, pp.25,27. . ' 80. K. JOlbi, Olitf18ong Uprising and the Role of the Muslims, p.60. 81. M Sen, Oaattogram Bidrohe Biplabi Mata Binodini Sener Abadan, p.96. 82. JC. Dasgupta, op.dt., p.131. 83. MKaur,RoleofWomeniatheFreedomMovement(1857-1947}, pp.104-10S. 84. LilaRoy,Jayuree,LDaRoy Volume, 137S B.S., 268-270;K.Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.83-ll4. 8S. S. C. Sengupta, India Wrests Freedom, p.118; B.· K. Rabbit Roy, Sabar A/dshyee, VolI p.203. 86. G. Forbes, WomenRevolutionaries ofBeng,J, p.4 ;J.C.Bagal, op.cit., pp.26-27. 87. K.D8$gupta, op.cit., pp.12S, 166-167, 169, 172, 174-17S. 88. S. C. Sengupta, op.cit., pp.117-118. 89. AfterChittagong Uprising on 18 April 1930, the Government of Bengal started arresting notable revolutionary leaden throughtout Bengal In that course, Anil Roy was arrested. 90. I.i/1 Roy, Joyasree p.272; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.173. 91. JC. Dasgupta, op.dt., p.90. 92. G. Forbes, op.cit., p.S. 93. JC. Dasgupta, Ruter.Abbare, p.9. 94. JC. Dasgupta, Swadhinara Sangnme Bang/ar Nari, pp.90-91 . 9S. G. Forbes, op.cit., p.6. 96. JC. Dasgupta, op.cit;, pp.90, 126, 132, 179, I 83. 97. �d., pp.91-93, 183, 186'; Interview with Shantisudha Ghosh on 3.10.87. 98. Details in K. Dasgupta, Ra/crerAlcshare, pp.20-21. 99. Ibid., p.51. 100. K.Dasgupta, Swadhinata SangramcBang/arNari, p. 1 76 ; Interview with Kamala Chatterjee Mukherjee on 15.S.87. 101. For details sec A. Nandi, Siplabii Smriticharan, pp.96-102. 102. Ibid., p.102. 103. JC.Dasgupta, op.cit., p. l S4.. 104. A. Nandi, op.cit., pp.I05-106. 105. B .Das,. op.cit., pp.25-27. 106. K. Dasgupta, op.cir., pp.143-144, I 57, 188; Interview with Nirmala Kahali

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Atanhi on 5. I 0.8 7. 107. In 1933, in connection with Inter-Provincial Conspiracy Case police issued warrant against Parul Mukherjee and at that time to evade arrest Parulbecame absconder. I 08. B . K. Rakshit Roy, op.cit., p.220; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.270-271. I 09. B . K. Rakshit Roy, op.cit., p.220; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.137.

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Bircswar Roy, Mahcndra Chowdhury, Sushil Dey and Kalikinkar Dey, led by Prectilata proceeded from Kattali shdter to raid the club.10 7 Before they left, Prceti touched Surya Sen's fcct. The lcada wished Prccti saying "Come back victorious".108 In response Prceti said, "Bless me that I may join the group of martyrs after accomplishing my taa"1°' Actually after the death of the two revolutionaries, Ramlu'ishna Biswas and Nirmal Sen, one hanged and the other killed by British bullets, Prceti became mentally very much upset. Quite often she used to tell Surya Sen, "They beckon me to come to them." While bidding farewell to Surya Sen, she took potassium cyanide from him.110 Shortly before 10 p.m. at night all the revolutionaries assembled neartbc club. Prccti was dressed as a soldier and the others were dressed a s coachmen like the members' coachmen waiting outside the club house. All of than were armed with bombs, revolvers and a number of rifles and shot guns.111 In attacking the club the revolutionaries got the help of a Muslim babootali of the club. Thc boy, son of a farmer of nearby village, was very mudl aggrieved at the rude and rough behaviour and the insulting treatrof"flt of the Euro�s who used to come to the club. He gave the revolutionaries necessary information regarding the number of doors and windows of the club, way of entrance to and exit from the club and the number of armed police and soldiers employed to guard the gates of the club etc. It was also decided that from the kitchen window of the club he would signal the revolutionaries by showing torch light. Accordingly, the revolutionaries, who were waiting outside, started their action. 112 In front of the alert soldiers and police guarding the club gate, the young revolutionaries, Mahendra Chowdhury and Sushil Dey, entered the premises dressed as coachmen. They were mistaken by the guards to be the members' coachmen entering to sec the programme. Prceti and the other companions made their entry by a . back-lane.1 13 It was exactly 10 O'clock at night, when about forty Europeans both men and women were busy in a programme, that the attack began at Prceti's command.114 According to official report, "The attack opened Mb the exploding of a bomb at a door followed almost immediately by another bomb which exploded inside the room and indiscriminate shooting from al the doors. The attackers withdrew after three or four minutes. Mrs. O'SuUivan aged about 65 was shot dead and five other women and eight men were wounded." 115 Actually, when all the revolutionaries had taken thcirposmons. Mahendra Chowdhury and Sushil De y , who first entered inside the premaes. threw the first two bombs on the dancing and noisy Englishmen and womca according to an earlier decision. Then at Preeti's instruction, she herself and the other revolutionaries started firing with revolvers standing at the doors and windows of the building. There was consternation and alarm all over. The guards and the sentries on duty got terribly panicky with the sudden and

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unusual sound of the bombs and ran away to distant places outside the club for safety. 'The Europeans, who could not get away as all the exits were blocked by the revolutionaries, used the only things that they could get hold of-chairs, soda bottles, whisky bottles etc. Being alarmed, they turned off the electric light and lay down on the ground for safety. When all resistance stopped and groans and screams of the wounded were heard, Prccti signalled her companions to stop and leave the place. 116 Then all thc revolutionaries started returning quickly. Suddenly Prccti got a bulJct shot in hu breast and 'fdl down on the ground. Actually, after Chittagong Annoury Raid the Europeans in the town always used to move with some arms for self-defence. When the rcvolutioM1¥S started.fi ring on the Europeans in the dub, one • of them managed to escape and for self-defence took shdter in a ncarl>y dnin. When he found the revolutionaries returning, he started firing with his rcvolve.r. One such revolver sl\ot wounded Prccti. In the thick of blood Precti was still conscious and irnmediat,.Jy decided to die instead of being caught by police. She coolly handed over her. revolver to one of he.r companions and asked them to go bad. immediately and hcnelf took potassium cyanide and collapsed there. 111 'The young revolutionaries, after paying their last respects to Prccti, left the place and hurriedly started to Proceed across the paddy fidd to give the news to Surya Sen. By the time thepolice came to the place, the revolutionaries had safely cscaped.111 The police and the military force reached the place .shortly after the attack. They first took. care of Mrs Sullivan who dir.d and the thirteen others who were wounded by the attack of the revolutionaries. Subsequently, they discovered Prccti's dead body dressed in a male attire on a path about hundred yards from the club. With her were $0 found a plan of the Eurq,can Oub comj!lete to the details of the width of the doors and windows, three live and a. . 450 revolver cartridges, . photo of Sri Krishna .. photograph of Ramk.rishna Biswas, a whistle, a swcmcnt of Prccti herself and a f cw leaflets of Indian Republican Anny•1 19 _On the ptcvious night (24 September), these lcafJets were posted all over the Oiittagong town threatening the Europeans with dire consequen ccs.120 'The statement of Prcetilata which was found Mb he.r after her death explained the moti� which led her to plunge into revolutionary action. Her intenae desire was to free the �otherland from the oppressive rule of the alien rulers. As she has·wntten, "British people have snatched away our independence, have bled India white and have played havoc with the lives of Jndians, both male and female. 'They arc the sole cause of our complete ruin-mental, physical, political and economic-and have thus proved the worst enemy of our country, the greatest obstacle in the way of recovering our independence. So, we have been compelled to take up anns against the lives of any and every member.of the British community, official or non-offlCial, though it Is not a pleasant thing to take the life of any human being; but Digi tized by

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in a fight for f rcedom we must be readyto remove, byanymeans, whalsoc'ICI every ��clc that stands in our way."131 Prcctilata's action, while leading the raid on the European Oub, washighl)' appalauded by En&fishrrwi, the weekly which was the chief spokesmllll cl the English of the day. In one of its issues the paper termed Prccti as a "courageous" and "bold" woman, but the Bri�h Association of Calcutta stronglyprotested against this and the paper in its neJlt issue had to cxprtss rcgrct .123 The leading Bengali newspaper of the day, namely, AnandaBm Patrih published a dctai!NI account of the event but .refrained from commenting either in favour or against the action. •u ThcBcngallntclligcnccBranchrcgardcdtheraidasa"dastardlyattack",1 )1 while, in the government rcport, the leader of the raid was tern.cd as a "notorious woman absconder". The latter report also stated that ''Pr=i Waddadar had beat closdy associated wall, if not actually the mistrm m, the terrorist Biswas, who washanged for the murder of Tarini Mukherjee, and some reports indicate that she was the wife of N'n:mal Sen. who wu killed whic attempting to evade u1est At Dhalgha1."1" Hou'CVCI', the successful attac:l Oft the European Cub by a group cl rcYOlutionarics under Prccti and the government's failure to arrest lll1'J ci these rcYOlutionaries was anocbcr' instance of the sua:c:ss of tbc rcYOlutionarics. It also proved the faihm: of the gowemu1t.nt to wppress lbc reddi«ary movcmcnL The Intcligencc &audl reported that imfflNfiatdy aftrr 1k aaad.. an armed party bicd to folow the rcYOlutionaries and rccciwd mormatiOG in t he Mubammedau quartCF of the town about the dircdOJ tat.co by them. But when the rcYOlutionarics reached the Hindu quarter. f.athcr informatioo bct:amcunobtainable.••Tbcgo'Vt:lmDCllt after a wamq to the nbabilants of Oiftag,,ag. iu,p>Sed a mllmi..e fine on the Hindu Wild a,mmunay of the area.�, The fwd thus Aisc:d was ascd f cx ,. for the affected Ewopeao famities •u Prccti's dead body, after pc4111101tem, was givcu to-her fathQ-. He bad to sign a bond that there would not be any processica and n ot more tu! filccn pc:t'S()1M wbould bcalowcd tnaacnd �funnal. ' 29Tbus pasccd .\WI} the fD'St M>IDID martyr ol Joctian �riooary mow:m:ad, uuoocia:d •d she mifiad the r,sa pcows -nmdcd by the people in WMK possession in life-her ifeo, mdf.

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Iiv Krlpzor Dutt al Owt.,-.played & .a, •ilal rolciatle rc-dtlfionary mowm;,.. Dzrsp4aof Bia.oJebdwri Duaol the Slip.-._ of Chittagc-«, 1"".zlpN was bona--. 1913. She was two yan ID Ptt:cri Lile PtCll:ti, ,be too wasthe stDClc:m f#Dedap F;11J,4lllfaSd,ool of ...s afta' �•· g lcr •kzf • 1929. IIIOI whti-P"I

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in Bdbune College of Calc.ut� for the Intermediate Scicoce course. Both in school and ir\ college, Kalpana was very close tb Pree.ti. aa.d joined the Outtagong revolutionary group (f919) shortly after her.nu In the Pahartali European Oub raid, Kalpana was to accompany Prccti. Bu• just scvm days before the raid ( 17 Scptemb'tr 1932), she was arrested by the police while going to meet Surya Sen to discuss the plan of action.,,, Kalpana hcrsdf rcpaited her bad luck. as she missed that chance.' 32 In the revolutionary movcmmt of the country, she played a very crucial role and in fact was the only woman who took active part in diffcrcnttypesof revolutionary activities. After the Chittagong Armoury Raid in April 1930, several rcvolutionaries were arrested. An attempt was subsequently made to rdeasc them from prison by blowing up jail walls and to bring the administration to a standstill by causing explosion at different places. In this action. Kalpana played an ind�lc role. Later,facing the hardships of underground life, she along with tl1e others, tried to organise revolutionary activity against the British Government ICalpana'sfather wasingovemmcnt'serncc.' 3,Hagrandfathcr,Dui:pdu Dutt, an influential J)Cl'S9 . n in Outtagong, was honoured by British Government1 14 Unlike Prccti, Kalpana's family, to quote her own words, "was rather loyalist in trend thcn--righr from the use of foragn doth downwards." So when Precti used.to tell Kalpana about her family Ulat they had the true Indian way oflifo--ellof them using swadeshi goods, Kalpana use.dtofeclvery'sm•P' ''5However,as aschoolstudentKalpana,likePrceti. read about the lives of the Indian martyrs like Kshudiram, Kanailal, about the hqoic action of Rani of Jhansi and was inspired to follow their example. She. alio bad gone through Sarat Otandra's P»ther Dlbi which fl.Iida inspired her. At .home, her uncle mentally prepared her to sacrifice herself for the service of motherland. As a young girl Kalpana was very perturbed by the sufferings of milliOl\9 of the Indians and fdt that the only remedy was to make the country free from British rule.•J• In 1929 Kalpana passed the Matriculation Examination and got a .scholarship of Rs. l S/- per month. She then joined Bethune College in Fatcutta..,, As a student of Bethune College, Kalpana joined Kalyani Du' Cbhatri Sangha and was inspired to do political wort. She took. part in the strite organised by Bethune College students at the time of civil disobedience movement At the same time Kalpana came in contact wkh the Outtagong re�utionarics through Pumcndu Dastidar, a member of the group.•» After the Chittagong Armoury Raid in April 1930, Kalpana, like Prceti. became impatient for taking part in some revolutionary action. She urged Manoranjan Roy, a leader of the Outtagong revolutionary group;who used to stay in Calcutta at that time, to give her a chance to take active partin some revolutionary action.',, She became so keen that at-the end of 1930, along with Manoranjan Roy, she returned to Chittagong to take partinsome Digi tized by

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such work. She was eYCO prepared. if permitted by Sur-p Sen. to discxlntmue her education in C.lcvtta and get hendf admitted in the Olittagollg Conqe. Manoranjan who met Surya Sen. in his hideout. informed him of Kalpana'a firm detennination.i.eo During that time the revolutionaries, arrested in connection with the Chiltagong Annoury Raid, and c:onflned in Outlagong jail. were facing trial. A few days after the trial started in the second week of September 1930, Surya Sen, Ninnal Sen and the other absconding leaden planned to release those inside the jail by blowing up jail walls. At the wnc time, il was also planned to bring about a dead.loc:l in the administration by causing explosion at different places of Chittagong town. Ho.wevcr; a few days before the trial started, the British authoritiea rclees,cd one of the prisoners, Ardhcndu Guba, on bail The main object was to ace wbdha Ardhendu was contacting any of the underground leaden and then to arrest them by keeping a watch on Ardhendu• s movement. However, shortly aflC'l release Ardhendu was caPed upon by Surya Sen and was informed of his plan. Accordin3fy. he contacted Ganesh Ghosh and Ananta Singha, the two noted revolutionary leaden, in 'Prison. facing trial Ardhendu, though rdcascd, was instructed to appear e�day in � court at the time of the trialandtobeprcscntinthe samec:ellalongwiththeotherundertrialprisonm. He 11tilised this opportunity to consult Ganesh and Ananta regarding Surya Sen's plan and the two leaders took. up the responsibility to conduct all.die wort in this connection, both inside and outside the jail. Then Ardhcndu Slll1cd litisol\ing in this matter between the imprisoned revolutionaries and tboM; who remained underground,· At this time, throughoutChittagong police wae vcrymuchalertandkcpta watchfuleyeontheactiviticsoftherevolutionariea. Till that time women were least suspected by the people. Hence Surya Sea fdt that in some important wort like that related to the dynamite c:onspincy, they could take the help of women. Accordingly, he requested Manoranj• to introduce Kalpana to Ardhendu Guha especially as he had heard about her determination to particjpate in revolutionary work. As suggested by Surya Sen, Kalpana discontinued her studies in Calcutta, took. admission in O,ittagnng College and through Ardhendu took. an active part in the secood phase of Chittagong revolt.141 On instruction from the piµty leaders, Kalpana procured sulphuric and nitricacidsinhugequantitiesfrom Calcutta.1 4:zoThenshe prepared gun-c:oltOII with those chemicals. 143 Between l O September 1930 to May 1931 the Chittagong revolutionaries completed all the wort to organi$e the second phase of Chittagong revolt. In spite of strict police vigilance, huge quantities of very powerful explosives were s�y prepared at a number of places and about half a maund of this powder and a number of small arms were successfully smuggled into the jail and kept secretly and securely buried at a number of places. Added to Dlgltlzedby

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this, one do:zen very powerful landmincs were prepared with long wire connections to cause explosion at desirable moments at different important and strategic centres of the town to bring about a dead.lock in the administration. Since thetrial of the Chittagong revolutionaries arrested in connection with armoury raid was on, the whole town was under continual curfew between dusk and dawn and police ca.rs prowled throughout the night in every area. Yet a few courageous and bold revolutionaries took. the risk. and successfully buried about half a dozen of the landmines at different important centres and road crossings. 144 Kalpana got a ciphered letter from Ananta Singha in jail explaining the plan and her role in it. She was to "switch on"' the electric connections for igniting the dynamites put underground. A "one person job" 11 the fmal stage, Kalpana was assigned that task. ••s Unfortunately the whole planwasdiscoveredbythe authoriticsbeforeitcouldbecarriedoutAnumber of revolutionaries, associated with this. plan, were arrested including Ardhendu Cluha. 146 Initially the policc could not suspect Kalpana's involvement in the plot but from the evidence of one of those arrested, the police came to know of her involvement. In the absence of any concreteproof Kalpana could not be arrested but the police restricted her movement. She was to attend only the Chittagong College where she was studying for her B.Sc. course, and was to come back home straight from the.college and not to go anywhere.'"' However, in spite of police vigilance she did all the work. which she was forbidden to do like reading proscribed literature, taking acids and other chemicals from the college laboratory for use in preparation of explosives and meeting the couriers from Surya Sen for sending and receiving mesug,..,_1" I nMay 1931 Surya Sen sent instruction to Kalpana to meet him. This very fnt meeting with Surya Sen overwhelmed Kalpana and she has written, "I felt as if I could do whatever he wanted me to do at a moment's notice". After the fll'st meeting with Surya Sen Kalpana met him several times.14 91( was she whofirstintroducedPreetitoSuryaScn(June1932), when the leader, along with a few of his colleagues, took shelter in Dhalghat village.1'00n 12June 1932 whenPrectihadgonethereagaintomeetSuryaSen, Kalpana was also called to accompany Preeti. While Precti stayed back, Kalpana left that shelter on that very night Consequently, the next day's aicounter (13 June), which took place between the police and military force on the one hand and the revolutionaries on the other, was not faced b y her.1'' Exactly three weeks after the Dhalghat incidtnt Precti left home on the advice of Surya Sen. After Precti became an absconder, police suspicion againstKalpana, already under watch, deepened. Enquiries from the Principal of Oiittagong College where she was studying in the B.Sc. class and reports about her movements drew a blank. In spite of strict police vigilance Kalpana managed at this time to meet Surya Sen, Precti and the other revolutionaries Digiti zed by

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in their hideouts. "2 Both Prccti and Kalpana practised shooting at this time under supervision of Tarakeshwar Dasddar, Surya Scn's lieutenant after the death of Nirmal Sen.' '3 By the middle of September ( 1932) Surya Sen made up his mind to send Prccti and Kalpana jointly to attad the European Oub. Kalpana was called to meet Surya Sen in their hideout at Katta1i village t o discuss the plan ( 16 September). As the final date for action was still not decided she was asked to return home once more. It was fdt that as the finishing touches to the preparation for the raid would take some time. there would be suspicion if she did not return, for the restraint order on her was still in force. At that time the D.I.B. Inspector used to come to Kalpana's house daily. So.Kalpana fdt that he must have noticed her disappearance and was therefore ready to arrest her for violating restrictive orders. She was therefore not willing to return home. At last it was decided that if she noticed any danger she was to come back at once. She was also given a revolver just in case they tried to arrest her so that she could shoot her way ouL All these arrangements were actually of no use. As apprehended by Kalpa.na, she was arrested on the very next evening near the Pahartali Oub, while going in male attire to meet Surya Sen in Kattali Village. Just a week after her arrest, from the same spot, Pahartali Club was raided under Prccti's leadership.',. While in Jail, Kalpana came to know about the Pahartali European Oub raid led by Prccti and her subsequent death (25 September 1932.) To start the Pahartali raid case the Government arrested eightyfour young boys. Kalpana was also to be implicated in this case as the dress found o n Prccti was identical to her dress when she was arrested. However, she was no.leased on bail after a month and was detained in her house. A case was instituted against her under section 109 of Indian Penal Code on a charge of concealing her identity in a male attire. While the case was on, Kalpana absconded from her house (28 December 1932) at Surya Sen's instruction and went to his hideout."' Kalpana herself said that it was not easy for Surya Sen to lake that kind of decision. The revolutionaries always preferred to keep aloof from the women and the great-leader had once frankly admitted to Kalpana. "I just could not make up my mind about letting girl revolutionaries abscond. But their bravery and steadiness made up my mind for me.""6 However, from then started a difficult phase of Kalpana's life. She had to escape from the police and face all the hardships of absconding life. At this stage. she, along with other absconders, was secretly trying to organise revolutionary activities against the government. After Kalpana t-ccame aaebs�onder, police bigilance wasfurthcr lightened. As absconder Prcctilata successfully led the raid on the European Club. So when Kalpana went underground, they apprehended that another such action would definitdy take place under her leadership. So the police became extra cautious. Kalpana's picture with her description as tall, fair · and with hair was sent round all the military camps

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and police stations. The vigilance committee, sponsored by lhe authoiitiea, was given the right to visit any house at any time of the day and night. Still Kalpana was not traceable. Along with SUI)'& Sen and otha revolutionaries, she moved from place to place mostly in the areas under less vigilant police stations and changing shelters very frequently •157 Commenting on this stage of life, Kalpana has written, "Underground life was hard and uncertain. l)ut Surya Sen never allowed anyune to suffa for want of good food. He even f°IXed up sing.song in the underpoond dens - so that the monotony of underpoondlife wouldbebrok.en." 15'0nPebruary 121933,Ka\)anaa1ong with Surya Sen, Mani Datta, Shanti Chakra&orty and Sushil Dey �ed the wlage of Gairala in the Patiya Police Station. Brajcn Sen, a revolutionary . from that village, took them to the house of Kshirodeprabbil Biswas of that village. It was a general rule that the abscondas would leave the shdter in the evening by 9 p.m. after dinner and return before dawn. During that time they used to carry on secret discussions for their work in solitary places tidier on the bank of a river or on the cremation ground. Thus, on 16 February at about 10 p.m. Surya Sen, along with his group, started going out, but were stopped by the military force just at the gate.The revolutionaries then started running back.wards amidst the shower of bullets from the military force. Surya Seo, holding Kalpana's hand, started moving. Suddcntly she slipped into a ditch and got separated from Surya Sen. However, along with Mani Datta � was already in the ditch, Kalpana could IJl8JUl8C tc, get out and, with bamboo bushes as cover, started flling in th e direction of the rifle shots. After some time thc two revolutionaries again crawled into the nearby pond, and hid m the water with only their noses avove it. It was very difficult to bold on for long in the midst of cold water and so after one hour they came out. and ultimately managed to escape. Surya Sen along with Brajcn Sen was arrested by the military force.159 After escaping arrest at Gairala, KJlpana,along with Mani Datta and Shanti Olakraborty, came to nearby Baghdandi village under the samePatiya Police Station. Haren Chakraborty, a revolutionary of the Chittagong group belonging to the Baghdandi village, took them to �house of Lakshman Dey. Lak.shman was already in ·the list of suspects. However, he put up the revolutionaries, including Kalpana, in the go/a (the local term for the place where paddy was stocked) without giving information to his father. There, when the revolutionaries were drying up the cartridges and wiping out water from the revolvers, Lakshman's father opened the small door of the gol.a and was shQck.ed to see them there. He could easily identify all the boys u well as Kalpana and asked them to leave that place immediatdy as their presence there was unsafe for him and for his family. The revolutionaries then left that shdter and proceeded to another village. 160 Actually, after the arrest of Surya Sen, the leader of the Chittagong revolutionaries, it became difficult for the revolutionaries to fmd a safe shelter. Particularly those with Digi tized by

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whom Kalpaoa wu moving found It more difficult. At this star. they were given shdter in IOllle casea by the Hindu but most of the time by the Muslim families. The govemmen.t INlOUllced that anybody who woutd".\,Jing news about Kalpana would be rewarded. The police, in their effort to search for Kalpana, tortured the familic& of manygirts who resembled Kalpana ln spite of police torture and the taDptllioa of reward, nobody informed the police and d,,o, military of'the direction which Kalpaoa and the male rc,,o&utionuica hid tu.en. Even at thil stage, Kalpanaand herassociates were planning action. The question of rescuing Surya Sen from prison wu seriously taken up and someothcr smalleractlonshldalsobeeoattempted.TheplantorcscucSurya Sen ultirnatdy failed because of the ureat of Sailesh Roy when he wu about to hand over a message through a jail warden to Surya Sen.'".' On 16 May 1933, Kalpana with TarakcshwarDatidar, Manoranjan Du and Sudhindra Das reached Cabira., a villa,e in the soutl.et11 part ol. Chittagong.There they weregiven shdterby Puma Taluk.dar.PumaTlllukdar although aware that they were swadesbiwa/.lasand giving them shelter might cause him trouble, agreed to give them shdter and asked them to stay in oac room in the north side of his houae. On 18 May u usual, the rewlutionaricl ldt the house in the evening for tbe beach and when they wei-c returning at tbe end of the night, they saw a light being focussed on the top of tbc mango tree in front of the house. Of the. four revolutionaries, only Tarakeshwar had two revolvers and Kalpana one. The military force by tbal time cordoned that house and f"ighting ensued. The call for surrender by the military force from outside was replied by the revolutionaries with hullds Suddenly one shot from outsideltilled Pu maTaluk.dar,the owner of the house. The next one to get bullet on the chest was his brother Nishi Taluk.dar. The womenfolk. were wailing on the 1'81'8ndah and small children were running here and there amidst showers of bullets. In this situation the revolutionaries went on fifing through the window of their room till all their cartridges were exhausted. Then they planned tn make a dash out to take a chance if at least one could escape. Just at that moment a bullet through the open window killed Manoranjan Das. AfterManoranjan Das waskilled, the revolutionaries decided to surrcnder. Descn"bing tbe event KaJpana has written. "As the call for surrender was for me, I insisted that the three revolvers with us should be handed over to the military by me only, so that , if no arms were found on Futuda.(Tarakcshwar Dastidar), he would not be taken as the leader and be hanged. On the other hand, if I were to be hanged Chittagong would be the fll'St from where a girl would be hanged for revolutionary activities". Thus with a hope of being hanged Kalpana came out fll'St followed by others. They went past the dead body of Puma Taluk.dar in a pool of blood still oozing from his chest and a row of blood stained heads and faces of the young members of the family sitting motionless. Suddenly she was slapped on her face by the Subedar of the Jat Ragiment. To her surprise Kalpana Digi tized by

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noticed that when the Subedarprocceded to slap her again. he was stopped by seven or eight soldiers. who told him. "she is not to be touched. If you raise your hand once apin, we will not obey you." However, after Kalpana, came Tarak.eshwar Dastidar and Sudhindra Das. They were badly beaten , by the soldiers. Then the three revolutionaries were forced to walk to the nearby military camp. On their way, they were accompanied by a huge crowd with signs of sorrow and grief on their face. Even at that stage, when they had been taken to military camp, the villagers of that area sent food to them. .on the ne,rt day (20 May 1933) Kalpana, Tarakeshwar and Sudhindra were $Cnt to jail. 162 C'n Kalpana's arrest. the government felt extremely happy as according to them Kalpana was a "dangerous terrorist" 163 On June 15 1933, the Chittagong Armoury Raid Second Supplementary Case was started with Surya Sen. Tarakeshwa r Dastidar and Kalpana on trial. The judgement was passed on 14 August. While Surya Sen and Tarak.eshwar were sentenced to death, Kalpana was sentenced to transportation for life. 164 The Judge on Special Tribunal did not give a death ffiltence to her, as she was a woman and young.165 However, according to court decision, Kalpana was, put in Hijli Jail on 24 August 1933 and actually after staying in prison for about six years, she was released in May 1939.166 Rabindranath and C. P. Andrews took. special efforts for her release and called on the Bengal Governor. When Kalpana was released both of them conveyed their joy and happiness to her.161

UDWALA'S ATIEMPT To AssAsslNATB

Tul!GOVFJtNOROPBENGAL(MAY 1934) Just one year after Kalpana's arrest, Ujjwala Majumdar of Dacca was arrested for making an attempt to assassinate the then Governor of Bengal, Sir John Anderson at Labong race course in Darjeeling. By 1934, the revolutionary movement in Bengal was at a low ebb. Almost all its leaders and most workers w�e either dead or in confinement But the few, who still were free, made desperate efforts to boost the morale of their countrymen. The most important in this respect was the attempt on the life of the Governor of Bengal made by three boys and a girl. The girl Ujjwala was then only twenty years old. Her Matriculation Examination was just over and the result was yet to be published. Ujjwala ·cold her family members that she was going to spend some days with one of her friends at Malabdia in Dacca. Actually during this time she fmalised the plan and along with Bbavani Bhattacharaya. Rabi Banerjee and Manoranjan Banerjee came to Darjeeling to assassinate the Governor of Bengal.161 Suresh Chandra Majumdar; Ujjwala's father, was active supporter of the Bengal Volunteers of Dacca. That revolutionary group got his support and assistance in different ways. Top ranking leaders of B.V., like Rasamoy Sur, Supati Roy and Nikunja Sen used to come to his house. His house, being Digi tized by

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a safe place, was used as a centre for discussion of different plans and activities. After the murder of Lowman, the Inspector-General of Bengal police in Dacca, Benoy Bose came to his house and was given shelter. The atmosphere in the family had a direct impact on Ujjwala. Being very young at that time she did not know the names of many of those revolutionaries. However, their discussions and talks with her influenced the little girl and she decided to take part in the revolutionary movcmcnt.169 Ujjwala's father also hdped her to get into underground revolutionary activit. ies. Quite often Surcsh Chandra used to assign Ujjwala with the responsibility of concealing arms. In an interview Ujjawala said, she used to take those along with her while going to school for the sake of safety .110 Besides, the political situation of the day was a direct encouragement to Ujjawala. The activities of the revolutionaries like Chittagong Armoury Raid under Surya Sen's leadership, murder of Lowman, the raid in Writers' Building and the assassination of Simpson, the murder of Dauglas and Burge, the District Magistrates of Midnapore, the murder of the Session Judge of Aliporc, etc., swept the whole country.171 Ujjwala was especially moved by the letters of Dincsh Gupta, one of the three heroes ofWriters' Building raid. Dincsh wrote letters before his execution to his mother and sister-in-law urging them to face death boldly and courageously.172 Above all by that time women started taking direct part in revolutionary movements. Shanti, Suniti assassinated the District Magistrate of Comilla, Bina Das shot the Governor of Bengal, Preeti died heroically after leading the raid on Pahartali European Club. Those actions of the young girls made the youth of the country restless and Ujjwala was not an exception. At this stage, the call of Benu to the women of Bengal to appear in direct action led Ujjwala to decide her course and tiltimatdy she joined the B.V. group.17 3 She was then e student of class VII in Deepali High School of Dacca. The influence of Lila Nag and of Dcepali School also contributed to Ujjwala's joining the revolutionary organisation. 1 74 After joining the B.V. group, Ujjwala was given the responsibilities of concealing arms and ammunition, to recruit young girls to the organisation, to maintain contact with the different members of the group, and t o pass and exchange messages. 17 5 Ujjwala enjoyed full freedom in the family under the indulgent care of her step mother and grandmother and hence made her own home the centre of her activities. 17 6 Early in 1934 Jyotish Guha, the leader of the B.V. group, consulted his two lieutenants - Sukumar Ghosh and Madhu Banerjee about the assassination of Sir John Anderson, the� Governor of Bengal.177 Anderson earned his fame in the government circle by handling the Sinn Fein revolutionaries of Ireland with the help of a specially recruited armed force, called Black and Tans. To suppress the revolutionary movement in Bengal he was called upon to act as Bengal Governor in March i932.171 In keeping with his earlier career, Anderson, as Go".emor of Bengal, was determined

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to suppress the Bengal revolutionaries. In addition to repressive measures,

attempts were made to break down the morale of the youth by crcati,ngvillage guards from among them. The professed objective of village guards was to give protection to the villagers against anti-social clements. Actually, they acted.as informers to the government regarding the revolutionary activities of the youth, in return for handsome .monetary rewards. For uniformed policemen, it was difficult to track. the rev�lutionarics unless they had · committed ·some overt act of violence. The village guards were used to control the revolutionaries as they could freely move about at day and night and could entor any place or private house without being bound to give an explanation. 179 Thus. combining his repressive measures with the system of village guards, Anderson·reduced the power of the Bengal revolutionaries to a considerable extent and by the end of 1933, the intensity of revolutionary activities in Bengal began to decline. Jyotish Guha, who had been in confmcment since 1931, was released in March 1934 and immediately after release started plaMing to assassinate Anderson, the Governor. After �iscussion with Suk.umar Ghosh and Madhu Banerjee .he came to the conclusion that Anderson could be most conveniently attacked atDarjeeling, then lhe summer capital of Bengal, where the Governor moved about somewhat freely. As official protocol was not very strictly observed there, it would also not b e difficult for outsiders to come close to the Governor in a crowded meeting place. Jyotish Guha decided to take a chance during the ensuing summer and asked Sukumar and Madhu to select a team which should be adequately trained and equipped for this purpose.11 0 Sukumar had by that time established his hold at Joydevpore, near Dacca, and he suggested the names of Bhabani Bhattacharaya and Rabindra Banerjee of Joydevpore, who were the two volunteers of B.v: group, as reliable, courageous and trained persons, able to accomplish the task. 111 Jyotish Guha ag{eed to this suggestion but, in addition 10 Bhabani and Rabindra, he proposed to include Manoranjan Banerjee and Ujjwala Majumdar in the tcarr.. Manoranjan, Madhu's younger brother, was then involved in the organisational work of the party in Calcutta and by his ability and intelligence had become one of the trusted lieutenants of Jyotish Guha. Ujjwala, already a recruit to the party, was considered on theground that she should be used asa shield against any police supervision.112 The plan was that Bhabani and Rabi would proceed straight from Joydevpore to Darjeeling and stay at Lewis Jubilee Sanatorium. They would not, however, carry any weapon, for (hat sanatorium was a popular summer resort of. Bengalis and it might also b e the haunt of police informers. t.1anoranjan and Ujjwala would come to Calcutta from Dacca and after collecting ammunitions from Calcutta would go to Darjeeling posing as a fashionable you�g man and his jolly, bespectacled girl friend out on a pleasure trip. Ujjwala would take with her a harmonium inside which the ammunitions would be concealed. Befitting such fashionable young people, t.1anoranjan. and lljjwala would stay at the more exclusive Snow View llotel. Jyotish � Digi tized by

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booked accommodation at both the places and asked Suk.umar and Madhu to communicate the plan to Rabindra, Bhabani, Manoranjan and Ujjwala. 111 All of them having readily agreed, Bhabani and Rabi left Dacca on 3 May and reached Darjeeling on the next day. Manoranjan was also ready. The problem arose with respect to Ujjwala. Being a girl it was very difficult for her to obtain her guardian's permission to stay out. So at Madhu' s suggestion Ujjwala told her mother that as her examination was over she was going to spend some days with one of her classmates at Malabdia inDacca. Her mother agreed and Ujjwala came out of her house and with Manoranjan came to Calcutta.114 In Calcutta, Ujjwala stayed in the house of Uma Sen, another girl recruited to.Bengal Volunteers. Manoranjan picked up Ujjwala from Uma's house and took. her to Scaldah Railway Station. Manoranjan brought with him two suitcases in one of which was a harmonium and inside the harmonium an automatic pistol and a revolver were k.ept concca.lcd. Manoranjan told Ujjwala about that and said that as the train would be searched beforcrcachingDarjccling, if the luggage were with her, there would be less suspicion. He further told her that in case of any trouble they would say that they were not the owners of the suitcases. Ujjwala agreed to this.115 Both of them reached Darjeeling and stayed at the Snow View Hotel. I n the hotel, they were visited by Bhabani and Rabindra. Manoranjan handed over the fire-arms to Bhabani and the latter took. those to their hotel 116 In Darjeeling the revolutionaries decided to aim at the Governor at the race course on the day of the Governor's Cup Race to be held on 8 May.'" On the morning of 8 May Ujjwala and Manoranjan visited Rabindra and Bhabani in the sanatorium. They took. all possible precautions; while Manoranjan cleaned the arms, Ujjwala warmed up the cartridges by burning papers. In the afternoon they went to race course. Dressed in western attire Bhabani and Rabindra first came out from their hotel with arms concealed in their clothes. Ujjwala and Manoranjan followed them later. Ujjwala was wearing a coloured Saree and high-powered spectacle. Their duty was over when Bhabani and Rabindra took their seats in the general stand close to the Governor's stand. They left the race course immediately and came to Siliguri in a taxi to board the train to Calcutta to avoid possible arrest.. The tickets were bought earlier.11• At around 3.30in the afternoon, Bhabanifircd the first shot at the Governor and was immediately followed by Rabi. Both the attempts, however, failed. The two boys were taken to Victoria Hospital in Darjeeling seriously wounded.119 Neither did Manoranjan nor Ujjwala escape the notice of the police who had been galvanised into hectic activity after the shooting, Information reached Siliguri that a young man and a fair complexioned girl wearing a pink .�arce and high powered glasses , both revolutionaries, had decamp.ed from Darjeeling and might be at Siliguri on their way to Calcutta. Ujjwala had taken precaution to remove her glasses and in the train i;he had

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changed to a white saree. So they could bluff their pursuers and reached Calcutta safely. 190 Recalling tbat moment Ujjwala said that at Siliguri police could locate her but could not identify. When the police looked at her at Siliguri, she was sitting quite innocently without showing any sign of nervousncss. 191 In Calcutta, she was ultimately arrested and so also Manoranjan. As arranged earlier, after reaching Calcutta she took. shelter in the house of Sobharanee Datta, at No. 116, Ash.utosh Mukherjee Road of Bbawanipore. On receipt of infonnation from Dacca, officers of the Intelligence Branch of Calcutta searched that house on 18 Mayand arrested Ujjwala on the ground that she answered all the description of thegirl reported to be abscondingfroll)Darjccling on 8 May. On thesame day police arrested Mlmoranjan Banerjee froin. another house of Bbawaniporc. 192 Shortly afterwards, Ujjwala was taken to Kurscong for an identification parade at the Maharani Girls' High School in Darjeeling. She was placed in a row of girl students of the school. Bc:fore the police and their witnesses arrived; the Head Mistress had whispered !O her that she must take off her spectacle if she were to escape detection. However, Ujjwala was duly idcntified.1 '3 After arresting Bhabani, Rabi, Manoranjan an d Ujjwala. police became more active and arrested a large number of young men including Jyotish Guha, Sukumar Gho�h and Madhu Banerjee.194· The trial started bcfore a SpecialTribunal in Ojirjtding on 14August 1934. Ujjwala in her statement denied all the allegations against hcr. 195 The judgement was delivered on 12 September. On two separate counts, Rabi and Bhabani were sentenced to death, Manoranjan was sentenced to death and life imprsonment and Ujjwala was sentenced to life imprisonment and fourtecn years' rigorous imprisonment. k was said that Ujjwala, being a girl, was not sentenced to death. On appeal to High Court, tllc death sentence of Rabi and Manoranjan was CC?mmutcd to transporation for life. Ujjwala was sentenced to fourteen years' rigorous imprisonment. Bhabaniwas hanged in Rajshahi jail on 3 February 1935. 196 However, as in the case of Shanti, Suniti, Bina and Kalpana, Ujjwala did not have to undergo the whole period of imprisonment and was rdcascd in April 1939 under the general amnesty for political. prisoners.1 97

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PARUL'S ll-,VOLVEMFNI' IN 'n'i'AGARH AFFAm!l

In !anultJ)' 1935, the Sub-Divisional Police Offica·ot.Barrac.kpore,'in the district of z;i Parganas, received an anonymous letter. l t stated that a fashionable young girl was living in a rented house of Siddheshwar Haldci­ of Goalpara in Titagarh in the District of24 Parganas, and that the� seemed to be no male member living with her. but young men� to visit the house at night and left before the next morning. Acting on this information, a party of polie$1en led by the Officer-In-Charge of Titagarn Police Station raided the house on ·the night of 20 January 1935 and arrcs•� the girl along with

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108 two young men. Wllh them the potice n:co'YCl'ed a laJge stock of chcmicals and instructions for mating explosn,cs. The girt said that she was 'khuki' and 'Sunna Devi' but later on turned out to be Parul Mukherjee, a recruit to the Anusilan group of Comilla.'" In the revolutionary wort. carried on by the Anusilan Party, Parul played a very active role. Her sdf1ess service m the revolutionary movcmem brought her sufferings at the bands of the police and she was imprisoned for quite some time. Daughter of Guruprasanna Mukherjee and Manorama Devi o f Coroilla, Parul was born in 1915.'" Since childhood, Parul � brought up m 111 atmosphere which led her to take the decision to join the rcvolutiooary movcmcnL Parurs ddcr brother AmuJya Mukherjee was an important lcadt.r of the Anusilan Party and was in charge of the organisation in the whole Cllittagong division. Since childhood, Parul saw the leaders of the Anusilan party coming to their house for discussion with her ddcr brother. Police used to raid their house quite often. lbc. suff� which the family had to bear on the one hand, and the boldness and courage of her ddcr brother o n the other, inspired Parul to take part in the rcvol11tionary wort. and ultimatdy she joined the Anusilan Samiti in ComiDa 200 Initially. after joining the Anusilan group, Parul worked to strcngthco the women's wing of the party. She organised dubs in Camila where physical training was imparted to the girts to make them fit for sdf-dcfcncc and also arranged for study circ:lcs in those clubs for their mental awareness. In Ibis way, after coming into close contact with many girts she used to recruit the suitable ones to the Anusilan group.201 In 1932, after Bina Das made an attempt on the life of the Governor of Bengal, police started arresting the young girts and boys suspected to be involved in revolutionary work. Parul, at lhat time, was iAtcmcd in her own house in Comilla 202 She left her home in June 1933, and remaining underground, continued organisational wort. forthcAnusilangroup in the diffcrcnt districtsof the eastern part of Bengal.203 While being an absconder, Parul played an active role in the revolutionary activities of the Anusi.lan. Party. By the middle of 1934 some of the leaders of Anusilan group, namdy, Pumananda Dasgupta, Niranjan Ghoshal, Siaanath Dey and Haripada Dey, arrested in connection with Inter Provincial Conspiracy Case, escaped from jail. Haripada Dey was caught immediatdy but the other three leaders, Pumananda, Niranjan and Sitanath Dey could not be aircstcd_ Within a short period, the Anusilan group members under Pumananda's leadership were involved in an attempt to prepare bombs and explosives in large quantities. A house was hired for that purpose from Siddheshwar Halder in Goalpara. Titagarh, and all the necessary things were brought to that� To make the arrangement safe and beyond suspicion by police, i t was necessary to give their shelter the appearance of a nonnal household. For that purpose, Parul who was at that time in Khulna, came toTcagarlt and started staying in the house posing as the wife ofPurnananda's

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nephew.204 In Parul's presence at the Titagarh house, the revolutionaries started collecting huge chemicals and othet ingredients and stored it there for the preparation of bombs and other explosives. Within a short period however, that shelter was exposed to police attack. Getting infonnation from an anonymous person, a party of policemen from Titagarh Police Station raided the house on 20January 1935 at the closing hours of night Purnananda Dasgupta and Shyam Binode Pal, who stayed in that house that night along wtdl Parul; got up i n the early morning and were getting ready to g o out, · Just · at that t1me the policemen knocked on the door. Shyam Binode opened the door� but realising that the strangers were policemen he pushed them out and closed the door by force. Hearing the noise Parul also came near the door and within a moment she could rcalisc!he approaching danger. The three inmates then immediately appeared on the roof of the house and found that the house had been surrounded by police on all sides. There was only one revolver with Shyam Binode, with which he attempted to fire at the policemen and was being helped by Parul in that venture, but realising the fact that one revolver was of no use in the face of so many policemen standing with fire-arms in their hands, Pumananda snatched that revolver and threw it out towards the cast. ·Then along with Shyam Binode Pul'IUlnanda started to run -away to the north, jumping across the intervening Jane on the tin roof of the next house. Immediately, they were chased by the police party and were ultimately arrested. The police then returned to that house and found the gate locked from inside. Parul in the meantime jumped down from the roof on the open varandah inside the house and closed the door from one"Ioom. The police then demanded that the gate be opened as otherwise they would be forced to break it open. The door still remained closed. However, on being entreated by the landlord, the door was opened from inside by Parul She gave false names of 'Khuki' and 'Surama Devi'. Her delay in opening the door was due t o her attempt to destroy all the incriminating papers. After entering the house, police found in th_e middle room some burnt and half burnt papers, while a lighted lamp was found on the b� and an open suitcase containing more papers. The house was then -searched and a large quantity of chemicals for manufacturingexplosives, chemicals for preparation of smoke screen, diagrams of bombs and hand madegrenades, papers containing inst ructions for preparation of bombs, note books with cryptic writings and a list of books on explosives and names of various explosives were found. Parul .vas immediately arrested. On the basis of these fmdings, police alleged that the Titagai;h house was the headquarter of a conspiracy to wage war against the King Emperor and deprive him by force of the sovereignty of a part of empire.205 The trial in the case started before a Tribunal in Alipore Court and judgement was delivered in April 1937. While Pumananda was sentenced t o transportation for life and Shyam Binode to ten years' rigorous

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imprisonment. Parul was sentenced to three years' �rous imprisonmca However, in 1939 Parul was also �cased under the general amnesty for political prisoners.Such were the different revolutionary activities in which the women took active part. While Shanti, Suniti, Bina and Precti were the leaders o f ccrtail revolutionary actions, Kalpana, Ujjwala and Parul were the associates i n some other actions. In all the cases, whether as leaders or as associates, the part they played was an indispensable one. Except Bina, who herself settled the plan and target of her action, all the other girls were selected by their group leaders for diffucnt revolutionary actions. In those cases where the girls kcl the actions, their group leaders felt that they were more suitable for those actions than the boys, and in those cases where the women were the associates, their leaders considered that the involvement of the women was indispensable. On the whole, by allowing the participation of women i n direct revolutionary actions, the revolutionary leaders wanted to set a n e w example which would have a thrilling and inspiring effect on the people and a tremendous impact on the administration which the movement wanted to overawe.207 Of course in the initial stage, they feared that the young girls might oungle or make a confcssion when caughL201 The girls, however, wih their ficry determination and strong arguments persuaded the leaders t o allow them to play an active role and through their activities in all the revolutionaiy actions, proved that their leaders' apprehensions were baseless. In all the C8$el, they came to play their part boldly and unhesitatingly. All o f them except Prccti were caught. None had opened their lips. Shanti, Suniti, Kalpana and Parul were physicaliy torturcd.209 Even in that stage they rema.ined silent. When they became involved in those actions, they wcrefuly aware of the risks involved to themselves. These conriderations could not stand in their way to join such actions. They were determined to prove that they were no less equal than the men in taking part in direct action, that they could hold up fire-arms ur.:;h::.kingly. could perform the task the way the men did.210 Although only Prectilata courted death by taking potassium cyanide all the other girls were ready to sacrifice their lives. Shanti and Suniti while facing trial were hoping that the Judge would sentence them to death. As Shanti has written that they wished to be hangedlike GopinathSaha uuering his last words, "may every drop of my blood sow the seeds of frccedom in every home of lndia." 2 " Their Counsel B.C. Chatterjee found it very difficult to convince them that they would not be hanged as they were-minors and also to persuade them to, therefore, deny all the charges levelled against them.212 Although ultimately they did so,whenthe judgement was delivered, they were heard saying "death was better than this."213 Bina boldly said in the court that she wanted to die "nobly serving the cause of the motherland' Her hatred against the British rule was so deep-rooted that after ilfty four years ·of her revolutionary action, she commented in an interview, "If the Digi tized by

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Brilish were still around, I would still fight them. I hate � for what they did to us".214 Prccti went to raid PahartaU Club and faced death. Kalpana. when asked to surrender to the police and military force at Gairala village. forced her leader Tarakcshwar Dastidar to give all the arms to her, so that she could create an impression that sh� was t� !caller of theirgroup. In doing so, hermain object was to savethe leaderfrom capital punishment and instead get herself hanged. Parul and U jjwala took. risk.s in leaving their houses and were prepared to face any situation.

. NOTES AND REFERENCES

1. K. Dasgupta, Swadhinat, Sangn,me BanglarNlll'i, p;J I�; 2. Ibid., 1>. I 14; Prabasi, 1338, D.S., Vol.2, p. 462. 3. S. GhDsh, An Interview with Suniti Chosh on 4 July 1986. 4.. ibi_d � cc:oasgupra, op.cit., pp.116-117. S. S. Dils, Aron IJahni,-.p.26.: 6. D. Das Bhowrnick, Sediner Duti Agnisi.lha, S.Dey (Ed.), Angiyug. Vol. J, p. 23(i; K. Dhattachar:iya, Jiban Adhyayan; p.22. . . 7. S. Chowdhury Ghosh, S.lllriticha@n (7), Amader Tripun, 1914, July-August, p. S2. . 8; Interview with Suniti Chowdhury Galosh.on 29.3.87. 9. S. Cho�hury Ghosh, 5'nrjti�hlnn .14), Amader Tripura, 1973, .. 0L1obcr-Novembcr, p.89, 10. A. Nandi, BiplabitSmriticha(tlJJ.op.cit., pp:I 18-120. ·11. Ibid., p.J 20. 12. Ibid., pp.109,. 119; Dangabanl, 1931, December 1S;p.l. 13. A. Nandi, op.dt.,pp.13S, 142-143; Dangabani, 1931, December 1S,p.l. 14. A.Nandi; op.cjt.;p.117. IS. S.'Ghosti, An Interview with SunitiGhosh on 4 July 1986. 16. A. Nandj, op.cit., p.13S. 17. Ibid., p.136. 18. S . Cho"';dhury Ghosh, Sroritich:i"'0:(4), op.cit., p,90; A. Nandi, op.cit., p.137. 19. A. Nandi, op.cit., p.144; Interview with Suniti Chowdhury Ghosh on S.10.86. . 20. A. Nandi, op.cit., pp.144-14S; S. Chowdhury Ghosh, Sm,:iticharan (4), op.cit., p.90 21. Ananda lJazarPatrika, 1932, January 28, p.4. 22. Interview with Suniti Chowdhury Ghosh on S.l0.116. 23. Anaada lJazar Palrika, 1932, January 28, o.4; A. Nandi, op. cit., pp.143,14S. Text of the application in Nandi, op.cit. pp.147-148. 24. Interview with Sunili Chowdhury Ghosh·on S. JO. 86; S mrilicharan (S), op.cit., p.136. . 2S. Statement of Nepal Sen on the murder of Stevens, dated 17 December 1931, Home (Political) Confidential File, No. 87 4, year 1931 ; Ananda BazarParrin, 1932,January 28, p.4• S. Das, op.tit., p.16. Digiti zed by

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26. !7rom Nepal Sen, S.D.O., to Rai Blhadur MabeDlhnath Oupca, ComlJla, 17.12.31,Home (Political} ConfideatillFile, No.874, year 1931. 27. S. Chowdhury Ghosh,Smriticharan (6), Almdec1iipcn 1974,April-May,p.9; � Blur Patrih, 1932,January 28, p.5; IC. Ghoah. Jeaanao OBilpberm. VoL2,p.547. 28. S. Chowdhury Ohoab, Smriticharan (6), op.cit., p.9. 29. Interview with Sunld Chowdhury Clloab oa 5.10.86. 30. The Press from where Beau, the monthly jourml of tlll" Benp lVolunteerfw used to be published. Stevens' murderwaa ,ped•lly weloomedby the·B.V.'°" ·which was d01ely allied to theJug111m poup ol ConiDI 31. B.K. Rabbit Roy, Sabir Alwhye, VQl.U, pp.3·4; K. D11gupt1, op.cit, p.l 16. p. l 16 .• 32. · Pnibesi, 1338 D.S., Vol.2, p.462. 33. TheSt•teaman, 1931,December 17. 34. Ibid. 35. S. Das, op.cit, p.21. 36. S. Chowdhury Ghosh. Smritichlran (6), op.cit, p.9. 37. The District of Comilla WU within theChittagoD& Divilion.. 38. R.N.Raid,theComminionerolChittagoogDivisiontoW.S.Hoplyna,Seaml) to the Government of Bengal, Political Department,19 Dec:embec 1931 ;Ftm the Chief Secretary to the Government olBengal.P\,litic:alDepartment, ID ll Flowerdew, Inspectoc.General ol Prilon, Renpl, 19 Deccml,er 1931, Hoa (Political} Confidential flle)Jf. 874, year 1931. 39. S. Chowdhury Ghosh,Smritichlran (6),op.cit,p.10. 40. S. Das, op.cit.• pp.22,25; Allan� Baur Patdb. 1932,January 2 8 . 4 l . S. Chowdhury Ghosh,Smriticbaran (7), Amada- 1iipcn. 1974, July-Augiat, pp.51-52. 42. S. Ghosh, An Interview withSunlti Ghosh oa 4 July 1986. 43. Ibid.; Das, op.cit., p.26. 44. Interview with Suniti Chowdhury Ghoah on 29.3.87. 4S. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.90; B. Das, StinthaJ JlwJbr, p.8 46. B. Das, op.cit, pp.23-24; Interview with Kamal• Olatterjee Mukherjee 01 3.3.87. 47. B. Das, op.cit.,pp. 27-28. �8. Ibid.; pp.2S,28. 49. Ibid., pp.32-33. so. Ibid., p.33. 51. N.K.Guha,BlnglayBiplabbad, pp.212-213. 52. B. Das, op.cit., pp.8, 33-34, Con/ess/bn at the Court on 15 February 1932; K. Mukherjee, Agnik•nya Bina Das (Bhowmick), Parichaya, 1987, Pebnmy, p. l 19. 53. K. Ghosb, op.cit, p.S59 . S4. B. Das, ·SrinlchalJhanlcar, p.34.

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S5. /bid.,p.35;A. Dutt,TheFire Bums on,lllustratedWeeklyoflndia,1986,August 31. 56. K. Dasgupta, Kakter Abha,-e,op.cit., p.S3. S1. .lbid,pp.S3-60. S8. Interview with Suniti Chowdhucy Ghosh on 2 7 .4.87.. According to Suniti Chowdhury,Bina shifted to Diocessan College hostel becauae she did not want her parents to be harassed by the police for her activity. S9. K. Dasgupta, op.dt., pp.57-58. 60. B. Das, Confeasion at tbe Coun oa l SFebruary, 1932. 61. K. Dasgupta, op.dt., PP�S9-61. 62. Ibid., p. 62; K. Mukherjee, Sri Bina Das (Bhowmick) Smarane, Ola/ar Pathe, 1987,March, p.22 63 S. Dey (Ed.) op.cit., Vol.2, p. 246. 64. JC. Ghosh, op.dt., p.SS9. 65. B. Bhowmick (Das), Mer,e Biplabi Jiban ki Kahani, R. Joshi (Ed.), Krantihri Pttnna Ki Srote,Rajaathani Salliaj Prakashan, (Calcutta, 1971), p.202. 66. K. Ghosh, op.cit., p.559. 67. Ibid.; B. Bhowmick (Das), Mere Biplabi Jiban"li Kahani, op.dt., p. 202; Fortnightly Report on the Politic:u Situation of Bengal: Ftrst Half of February 1932, Home (Political) Confidential Pllpcr, No.40; Pcabasi 13311 B.S. Vol.2, p.892. 68. K. Dasgupta, op.dt.,pp.63-64., 69. B. Das, Srinkhal Jhankar, p.37. 70. K. Dh:lttach:lraya, op.cir.,p.33. 71. D. Das, op.cit., pp.38-39. 72. K. D:isgupta, op.dt., p.6S. 73. K. Mukherjee, Agnikanya Dina Das (Ilhowtnick), op.cit., p.120 74. Quoted in the Secret Report of the Intelligence Branch on the Political Situation inIJengalfor the Seven days ending 6February I932;Fotcommeats ofPtabui, see Prabasi,1338 D.S., Vol.2, pt>.892-893. 75. AnandaBazarPatrika,1932,February 11,p.3. 76. Fortnightly Report on the Politic:u Sitootion in Bengal: First Half of Febnwy 1932,_Home (Political) ConfidentialPaper�o.40;S. Dey,(Ed.), op.cit.,p.248. 77. Ananda IJamr Piltrib,1932, February 16, p.6. In an interview with Satyabrata Ghosh on 17 October 1979, Dina Das Dhowrnick said that the statement was drafted by her father. 78. D. Das, Confession at the Coun on 15February 1932. 79. K. Dh:lttach:lrayll, op.cit.,pp. (3), (5). 80. JC. D:isgupta, Swadhinata Sangramc IJanglarNIJli, p.123. 81. Intelligence. Branch Report on the Political Situation in Bengal for the seven days ending 24 September 1932, p .I. 82. K. Dutt,Prcctilata Waddadar, Unpublished Article, p.6.1 83. K. J1,2shi, Chittagoot Uprising and the Role of the Muslims, Challenge,,p.66. p.66. Digi tized by

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84. K. Dutt, op.cit., p.9; fnteJJJgen� BnadJ Repon 00 ibe Polifical Situacioa ii Bengal for the Seven Day, ending 24 Septemb« 19.12, p.l. 85. K.Dasgupta, op.cit., p.125; P. Daatidar, Sr.bnya PreetilMa. p.10. 86. K.D�, op.cit., p.2. 87. Ibid. p. l ; S. Chowdhury, Birangana Preetil•ta, p.14. 88. K.Dutt, op.cit., p.3 89. Ibid., p.214; K. Dutt, Reminiscencu, pp.53-54. 90. P.Dastidar, op.cit., p.32. 91. K. Dutt, Reminiscencu, p.54; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.125; Details in P. Duudar, op.cit., pp.33-38. 92. P. Dutidm', op.cit., pp.26-29, 31, 33-34, 36-38. 93. Ibid., p.40; K.Dutt, op.cit., p.4; K.Dagupta, op.cit., p.126. 94. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp. J25-12'6. 95. K.Dey,BiranganaPreetn.taSmar1J1e, tc.lantN, 1980April 19,p.3. 96. Ibid., K. Dutt, op.cit., p.4; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.J26. 97. K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.J 26; S. Dey (Ed.), op.cit., Voll, p.126 98. K .Dutt, op.cit., p.6· 99. K. Dey, Birangan• Preetil•t• Smarane op.cit., pp.3-4; S. Chowdhury, op.cit, pp.67-69. JOO. K. Dutt, op.cit., pp.6-7; M. Dutta, Dlwghat Sar,gharsJY, Suzy• Sen Bhat11 Inaugur•tion Souvenir, pp.69-70. JO1. K .Dutt,op.cit., pp.7;S. Chowdhury, op.cit., pp.76-79; P.Waddadar, Dhllghll Sangharshe Ninnalda OBhola r Prandan, Suzy•SenBhavan Inauguration Sou� nir , op.cit., p.71; K.Dutt, Reminiscence,, op.cit., p.55, K. Dasgupta, op.di., p.127; Ananda Baza• l>atrika, 1932,September 26. 102. K.Dutt, op.cit., pp.7-8; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.128. 103. K. Dutt, Reminiscence,, p.l; P. Dastidar,-op.cit., pp.95-96. 104. B. Roy, Pahllflali European Qub ,Ununan, 24 September 1932, Surya Sea Bhavan Inauguration Souvenir. p.76. 105. Ibid., pp.70-77; s. Chowdhury, op.di., p.89. 107. B. Roy, op.cit., p.77. 108. B. K. Rakshit Roy, Bharate Sashastr•Biplab p.406. 109 .. B. K. �hit Roy, SabarAlakshye. Vol.I, p.98. 110. K.Dutt, op.cit., p.9; Reminiscences, op.cit., p.S-6. l _l I. B. K. Rakshit Roy, .Bharate Sashastra Bipl,a b, p.406; S. Chowdhury, op.cit, p.90. 112. P. Dastida•, op.cit., pp.100-101. 113. B. K. Rakshit Roy, Sabar Alakshye, Vol.I, pp.98-99. 114. K.Dutt, op.cit., p.S68. 11 S. Intelligence Dranch Report on the Political Situation in Dengal for the Set1e11 Days ending 24 September 1932.

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116. B. K. Rabbit Roy, Bbante Sashastra Biplab, p.437; B. Roy, op. cit., p.77; Benpl Adminimative Report 193I-Ji, General Summary;"Political Review, pJCVI; Fortnightly Report on the Political Situation in Bengal foe the Second Half of September 1932. Home (Political} ConfidentialPaper,No.40,K.Dutt, op. cit., p:9. 117. P.Dutidar op.cit., pp.103-104; B. K. Rabhlt Roy, op.cit., p.408. 1 I8. B. Roy, op.cit., pp. 77-78. 119. B. IC. Rabhlt Roy, Sabar Alwbye, Vol.I,p.100; Intelligmce Btancb Report oa the Political Situatioa ia Bengal for the Seven Day, endiag 24 September

·1932. 120. N. N. Mitra (Ed.} 1be Indian Annual Register, 1'932, Vol.ll,July-December,

The Annual Register Office, (Calcutta,1933),p . l I. 121. IC.Dutt, op.cit.,j;,.10. 122. P. Daatidar. op.cit., p.105. 123. Ananda Baar Patrib,1932,September 26. 124. Sea-etRepott of tbelateJJigeaceBtaacb oa tbePoliticalSituatioo laBengal foa tbe Sevea Day, endiag 24 SepterJJW I 932. 12S. Fortnightly Report on the Political Situation ,jn Bengal for the Second Half of . September 1932; Home (political}.ConfidentiatPaper, No.40. 126. Seaet Report of the Inte/Jigence Bnncb on tbePolitical $ituatioa iaBengaJ for rbe Seven Day, ending 24 September 1932. 127. Benpl Administration Report, _193 I-32, (ieneral Summa,y,Political �eview,

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128. B. Roy,op.cit., p.78. 129. s. Chowdhury,op.cit., p.96. 130. IC. E>ugupta, op.cit., p.13 l ; JC. Dutt, op.cit., pp.2-3; p,.m;�c:e,, op.cit., p.14. 131. IC.Dasgupta, op.cit. ,p.133. 132. IC. Dutt,Reminis,;eace,, p. l 53. 133. S. Ghosh, Firebrand Revolutionary, Eve', Weekly, 1979, November 10-16, p.17. 134. Kalpa"'I Dutt in S. Clholh and others (Ed.),Mukti PatbuJattiJara,p.S3. 135. IC.Dutt,Remini•oeace,,p.S3. 136. lC.Dugupta, op.cit.,p.131. 137. P. 0..Udar, op.cit., p.46. Dugupta,op.cit., p.132 . 138. • 139. IC. Dey,Birangana J>reetilata Smaranc, op. cit., p.3. . 140. A.Gulla, OlattagnmBidtoMrDwitiyaParyaya,SuryaSeaBbavaalnau,uration Sou�,p,61. 141. lbid., p.58-61. 142. Ibid., p.61. 143. K. lolhi, Cbia.,. Upd,ingudrbeRoleoftbeMmtim,, Challenge,pp.59-60. pp.59-60.

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A.Guha,p.62;G.Ghoah,p.31. JC. Joahi, Outt,gong Uprising and the Role of the Muslims, 0,11,..ry:e,p.60. A.Guha, Cbattogram Bidroher Dwitiy11 Pllrllyay11, p.63. JC. Joahi, Gahirll Sllnghllrsbll, SUI)'• Sea BbllvllD .lall�tioa Souveair, p.89; JC.Dasgupta, op.at.,pp.132-133. 148. JC. Joshi, Outtagong Uptiaing 1111d tbe Role of the Mulliml, CballnJge, p.6S. 149. JC. Dutt, Remiaiscence,, p.156. 1so. JC. Dugupta, op.at., pp. 126-127. lSl. JC. Dey, Binap,w PrN,dlat11 Sm11ta11e, p.4. 152. JC. Josbi, a,;n•ong Upming 11Dd tbe Role oftbe Afcc«tiOJI, a,.11,.-age,op.dt, p.65. 153. JC. Dutt, Reminitceac:e,, p.52. iS4. Ibid., pp.41-52; JC. JOlbi Chittagoag Upri,ing ud tbe Role of tbe Mnaliov, Chll/ta,ge, p.6S. lSS. N. N.Mitra{El!.J TheladianAanUIIIRegister, 1933,Vol.1,January-June,Annual Register Office (Calcutta N. D.), p:23. 156. K. Dutt, Remirmceace,1 pp.16-1 7. 157. lbid.,pp.66-67; JC. Joshi, GebiP Sangbllrsbll, p.89. 158. K. Dutt, Remiai•ceace,, p.18. 159. JC. Joshi, Outt,gong Upcising 11nd the Role of tbe M11«tiOJ1, OMlll!flle, op.di., p.67; B. Sen, Gabint Sangbllrsba O Mastercla Budi, Surya Sea BIia� IM�tioa Souveak, pp.80-86; K. Dasgupta, op.at., pp.133-134. I�. IC. Joahi, Cbittagong UJIMllB nJ tbe Role of tbe M«,,Pro,, OJlllleage, op.at, pp.67-68. 161. Ibid.,p.69; JC. Joahi, Gebfra Sanghllnhll,p.90. 162. IC. Jolhi. Gabin Sangh.mhll, pp.89-92; Chittagong Upr;,ing and tbe Role of tbe Mu,Jim,, Chllllenge, pp.69-70. 163, BeDglll .A.dmioiltrlltion Report, 1932-33, General Summary, PolitiailReview, p. XX. 164. Ibid., p.71. 165. K. Dutt,Reminiiceace,, p.86. 166. Note on ICalpana Dutt prepared by the Office of the Deputy Cnmmiuiooer of Police. Special Branch, Calcwta, Wett Bengal. 167. K. Dutt,.Reminitceace,, pp.81-82. 168. Interview withUjjwalaMajumdar R.abhi.tRoy OD 1.6.87. 169. Ibid. f70. Ibid. 171. K.' Dasgupta, op.dt., pp.136-137. 172. InterviewwithUjjawalaMajumdarRabhiton 1.6.87. 173. K.Ougupta, op.at., p.137. 174. Interview withUjjawalMajumdarRabhit Roy OD 1.6.87. 175. B. JC. R.abhi.t Roy, op.dt. ,p.220. i76. Ibid.; K. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.137.

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177. S.C. Sengupta,.mdill Wmt. Freedom, p.1S8. 178, Ibid.,p.1S0. 179. lbid.,pp.1S1·1S2;B.JC.RabhitRoy, op.cit., Vol.2,p.1S4. 180. S.C. 5al&upta,op.cit., p.1S8. 181.' Ibid. 182. M-Beoerjee,&DBiplabiA.clbyayerP,.,-i,anwj,t;, Sumliagtt/Wdten'Building; Golden Jubilee Souvenir, pp.86-87.. 183. S.C.Seugupta, op.at.,p.1S9. 184. M Banerjee,EKdBiplabiA.dbyaya, l'lriumaptl, p.87. 18S. Iotcrview. with Ujjawala Majwndar Rak.ahit roy'Oll 1.6.87. 186. A Note OD Labong ShootingCaae. High Court Record, Home (PoliJicalJ Ccafidt:ntial Paper,No:114,p.2. 187. S.C. Sengupta,op.cit., pp.1S9-160. 188. A Note 011 Laboq Sbooliog Caae. op.cit., p,3; B. JC. Rabbit Roy, op.cit., pp.lSS-156. 189. M - B-ocerjeee, op.cit., p.88; A Note On Labong Shooting Caae, op.cit., p.3. 190. S'.C. Sengupta, op.cit., p.161. 191. Iotervicw with UjjawalaMajumdar Rabbit lloy oa 1.6.87. 192. Ibid. A.mrit.a Baar Patria,1934,May 19; K. Ghosh, op.cit., p.632. 193. B. K. Rabbit Roy, op.cit., p.1S9-160. 194. S.C. Sengupta. op.cit., p.162. 195.- JudgementonLabongOutrage,Home (Political} Ccafidentia/F_ile,No.43S,year 1934,p.37. 196. S.C. Sengupta, op.cit.,p.162; K. Ghosh,op.cit.,p.632;M . Banerjee, op.cit., p.90. 197. JiiterviewwithUjjawalaMajumdarRabhitRoyon 1.6.87 ;K.Daagupta,op.cit., p.139. 198. Note on Titagarh Conspiracy Cue, High Court Record, Home (Political} Ccafidential Paper No.112, p.11 ; Bengal A.dm.inistratioa Repott, 1933-34, GelleralSwnmary, Political Review, p.XXVDI. 199. 'K. Dasgupta,p.143. 200. Interview withPandMukherjeee on 22.9.87. 201. Ibid.; According to Prati� Bhadra, a leading revolutionary of the Anusilan group ofComilla,Parul ,heraelf useed to impart tt'llioing In sword play. 202. IC. Daagupta, op.cit., p.144; Interview withPand Mukherjeee OD 22.9.87. 203. P. Dasgupta, Bipaber Patbe,Busan!\ Library,(Calaina,1982), p.10S;Note OD TitagarhConspiracy Cale, op.cit., p.2, 204. Note on Titagarh Conspiracy Cale, op.cit., pp.1-2; Interview with Parul Mukherjeee oon 22.9.87. Dasgupta, op.di., pp,105·106; K. Dasgupta, op,cit,p.144. 20S... �te on TitagarhConspiracy Cale, op.cit., pp.11-12; P. Dasgupta, op.cit., pp.104,11S-116. 206. IC. Dasgupta, op.cit., p.14S ; Note on TitagarhConspiracy Case, op.cit., p.21.

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207. S. C. Seqiq,•'1, op.at., p.121. 208. Interview with Sunid QowdburyOholb OD 5.10.86; Con� ofBina0. wit'1 Kamala Ougupta la JC. Dugupta, RaberAblJare, pp.57·58. 209. JC. Dugupta, Swedbiaeta SM,,-me 8-,plarNan, pp.115, .135, 144-14S. 210. A. Nandi., op.cit., p.146. 211. Du, op.atp.22. 212. S. Qowdhury Gholb, Smriticbana (7}, op.at, p.51. 213. An•nd•Baza•Patrika, 1932,Jmllll)'28,pp.3-5. 214. DIUltnted Weekly ofMt. 1986, AugUll 31, p.47.

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CHAPTER VI UFEINJAIL MANY OF the women who had taken part in the preparatory work and almost all those who plunged into revolutionary action were arrested and kept confined in prison. While some of them had to undergo imprisonment for a short period, many werek.ept confined fora long term. There were generally two types of prisoners convicted, those against whom there were some specific charges and who were tried and imprisoned for a specific term. and dctenue, impri1oned on suspicion of being involved in revolutionary activities. As there were no specific charges against the latter, they were not tried and hence the period of their imprisonment was not defmite and depended mostly on the whims of the authorities. There were also a few women arrested in connection with certain cases and kept confmed in police custody or in jail and released after a short period. However, all the women revolutionaries confined in jail had to face the i8Jtominy of jail llfe like ordinary prisoners. To CJttract confession, police tortured some of them both physically and mentally. 'They showed tremendous courage and boldness, did not disclose secrets and took.life as easily as possible. The present chapter seeks lo focus on this aspect of the life of the women revolutionaries. Bcfo� l920,_ the women_ a.rrcsted in connection with revolutionary activities were Nanibala Devi, and Stndhubala Ohosh. It has already been stated that for giving shelter to the leaders of the lndo-Oemwt Pfof,Nanibala Devi was.anestcd in Pcshwar in :1917. lnitiaQy kept in police lock-up in Peshwar, she was afterwards sent to.the &,iaras jail In the Benaras jail NanibaJa was subjected to inhuman torture for ha constant refusal to disclose any fact about the revolutionaries: One day two wardresses took. her to a separate cell, removed her clothes by force and introduced crushed chillies into her private parts. Maddened with pain she started k.ick.ingthesc women who then stopped their crud trcabnenl Naniba la was again brought for interrogation and again when she refused to disclose . anything about the whereabouts of the revolutionaries, WI$ give'! the threat of severe punishment. She remained unmoved. Conscquendy she was k.ept in an underground punishment cell for three consecutive days. With only one door and no windows, there was no arrangement of ventilation in that cell. For the fust two days Nanibala was kept there for half an hour and when she was brought out she was almost half dead. Still the police could not make her disclose secrets. On the third day she was k.ept in &hat cell for aboat forty ftve minutes and when the door was opened she was found unconscious.1 Being unsuccessful in getting� confession from Nanibala, the Benaras police sent her to Presidency Jail in Calcutta,There, Naru'b-1& refused tqtake food. The jail authorities, including the Magistrate, failed to persuade her.

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Every day she wu taken to lntclligcnccc Office and there the Special Superintendent,Goldie, tried to persuade her to take food. G.: .>neoccasion, Goldie asked her to put hc..·delIWld in writing. which she did.Goldie, howcva, tore it off without reading it. Feeling insulted, Nanibala slapped him hard on the face. Thereafter she v•as made a state prisoner and kept conf'mcd in Presidency Jail. Still Nanibala continued her fast. In the meantime, she came to know that at that time another woman, Dukaribala Devi, convicted for keeping fJJ"C-arms with her and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment was in the same jail. Nanibala intended to rescue her from hard labour. S o when the Magistrate agaiP came to request her to take food, Nanibala said that she would take food if it was cooked by a Brahmin girl. But at that time as no other female Brahmin cook was availabk in jail, Duk.aribala was employed for cooking and Nanibala took. food on the twenty fll'st day of fasting. In this way she passed two years in jail and was released in 1919.3 As has already been said, Nanibala's contemporary in the Presidency Jail was Duk.aribala Devi (Chakraborty) of Birbhum, convicted for having kept mauscr pistols with her. Dukaribala was sentenced t o one year's rigorous imprisonment and one year's simple imprisonment. In jail Dukaribala was a 'C' class prisoner and during the fll'St year, which was one of rigorous imprisonment, she had to "1Jld half a maund of pulse every day. It was at this time that Nanibala Devi, hearing her hard labour, intended to rdievc her and asked the jail.authorities to employ Dukaribala as her cook. This request was ultimately granted.4 However in the initial stage, after arrest, the police tortured her in various ways to get a confession. She continued to maintain a strict silence' and when ultimately she had gone to jail, she left -her three young children in the care of her husband. 'fhougb a mother, being separated from the young children, Dukaribala wasJlCV'CI' mentally upset. On the contrary, she wrote to her husband from jail telling him to console the young children and not to worry about her. In December 1918, Duk.aribala was released from jail.6 Around the time of Dukaribala and Nanibala's arrest, the police arrested SindhubalaGhosh (from BanJwra) who, along with her husband, did housekeeping for the leaders of lndo-Gennan Plot A woman in the advanced stage of pregnancy. she was brutally tortured by the police who arrested her in that condition and kept her confined in Bankura jail. The incident however caused great cxcitemcot and ultimately Sindhubala had to be released after about one month.1 In the 1930s, many women either housewives or recruited to diffCl'Cllt revolutionary organisations were arrested for giving shelter to the absconding revolutionaries, for keeping anns and seditious books and pamphlets i n thcir possession, for involvement in certain cases, for taking direct part in revolutionary action, and on grounds of suspicion of being involved ii revolutionary activities. A few of them were released after a short period, but many were kept confmed for a long tenn.

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Sushasini Ganguly in Chandemagore and Savitri Devi, Kshirodeprabha Biswas and Srimati Talukdar (wife of Puma Talukdar) were arrested in Chittagong, for giving shelter and doing housekeeping for the Chittagong group of re9olutionarics. For giving shelter to Surya Sen and his associates, Kshirodcprabha Biswas of Gairala village in Chittagong. was convicted and sentenced to four years' rigorous impmonmcnt. For giving shclter•to Kalpana Dutt, Tarakcshwar Dastidar and others, Srimati Taluk.dar of Gahira village in Chittagong, was cqnvictcd and sentenced for the same period of imprisonment. Accordingly, they had t o remai11 in prison for that period. However, none of them did have any experience of torture.1 The flJ'St two women, Suhasini Ganguly and Savitri Devi, had to face inhuman torture after their arrest. Suhasini was arrested in Chandemagore on 1 September 1930 on the charge of harbouring the Chittagong revolutionaries. At the time of arrest, Charles Tcgart, the Police Commissioner of Calcutta, who himself had gone to Chandernagore to arrest the revolutionaries, slapped Suhasini on hcrfacc.' Afterwards, taken to police custody she was tortured cruelly. To extract a confession the police used to prick pins in the middle of her finger n:: ils. Sometimes she was given an clcctric shock which used to make her unconscious. But nothing could make her disclose the sccrcts.10 Ultimately, she was acquitted of the charge of harbouring criminals and was released after a few months. 11 Savitri Devi, widow of late Nabin Churaborty, was arrested along with her son and daughter in Dhalghat village of Chittagong in the early morning of 14 June 1932. They during that time were providing shelter to Surya Sen, the leader of the Chittagong Revolutionary Party and his assistants.11 After a short period , the daughter turned into an approver. Sllvitri Devi was offered huge sums of money for giving out all that she knew about the revolutionaries. Though uneducated and a poor woman, Savitri Devi not only resisted "all the glittering temptation of gold", but also "unflinchingly" bore all the tortures inflicted upon her and her son. On the charge of harbouring the proclaimed offenders the lady, along with her son, was convicted and sentenced to four years' rigorous imprisonment. Both of them were taken to Midnapore Central Jail as 'C' class prisoners. In jail, Ramk.rishna, the son, became a victim of tuberculosis. In spite of repeated requests the mother was not permitted to meet the ailing son for six months. The jail anthorities gave out false excuses that her son was punished with solitary confinement for breaking jail regulations and so could not be permitted an interview. Only a week before his death she was taken to meet her son. When the guard came to call her in the office, she was overjoyed as she hopefully thought that she was going t o be tranferrcd to Chittagong jail for release. She actually returned from the office crying aloud as by that time her son's condition was serious. At that stage, the government decided to release the son provided any of their relatives agreed to stand surety for him. The son told the mother Digi tized by

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to 1e11d a wire to his uncle so that be could be rdeased. Both the mothrt and the IOft had only four annas each. which came \o eight � but no tdqram could be sent for less � twelve aruw. The jail authoribcs themsdvea would not pay·the amount nor would they permit sanctiooingit from the money of the other prisoners. They just ga..-c her a post card lo write to her people. Savitri Devi wrote a letter to her brother-in-law, but no reply came, nor did anybody tum up. lJltimatdy R1rokrisbna died in jli When the mother wu allowed to have a glimpSeof the deld body. abc fo11nd iron fettcn still on the wrists of her 1011. Her IOll's .SCllh was cxtraDdy ahocking for her. Even then she never lost her c:oungc and strmgtb of mind. Not only did she refuse to disclose any secret to the police but she was llso in the habit of warning others not to make any confession. Wbe,I Kalplaa Duu wu arrested in male attire near Pahartali European Oub, and wu &•km to jail. Savitri Devi told her that they (police) migllt torture her, but ew:a tl\cn she must never tcll them anything, they migbt even threaten her Mb hanging. but she must never give way. A few months lftel' R1rotrisbm'• death Savitri Devi wu released from jail.u In the same year ( 1932), lndusudha Ghosh of theJugantar group of lloogly wu arrested for doing house keeping for the rewlutionarics of tM 11mc group, who attempted to murder Watson, the editor of the StJttcsmu. lndusudha, arrested from Jalpaigoorcc, wu brought to Calcutta and kept in the police custody at Lal Bazar. Everyday she wu takrn to lntdligm Office at Elys-ium Row for interrogation. She denied her association wall the revolutionaries who attempted to murder Wutson. Conse!qucntly, she wu confined in a completely dartcell in AliporcJail Recalling her cxpericucc of those days lndusudha said, "that wu 'IICl)' painful for me."14 UJtim1tdy she wu acquitted for want of evidence.. But immediately after release she was again arrested and imprisoned u a dctenue fll'St in Presidency Jail 111d then in Hijli Detention Centre. In 1937, she was released from jail but for the nat one year wu interned at her home in Dacca.15 In jail; howe'la, lndusudha did not have any apericnce of physical torture. 16 On 18 May 1934, Sobharancc Datta of the Jugantar group of Calcuaa was arrested from her house at Bhawaniporc'in south Calcutta. Al. that rime, Ujjwala Majumdar of Bengal Volunteers, inwlvcd in the attempt to murder the Bengal Governor at Darjccling on 8 May 1934, wu in her house. AflU arrest, Sobharanec wu taken to police lock-up at Lal &zar, While sean:hina her house. the police discovered, among her papers, th� names of catU1 persons associated with revolutionary activities. Considering her to be a "dangerous revolutionary" tl\ey made desperate efforts to e&trlet confessions from her. After all these attcmptsfailcd.she was cruelly tortumf. As she herself said: "the wardresses used to beat me with lock... Bcilg repeatedly hit on the head, with heavy locks, she became insane. lnitilly the police did not care and she was tried in the Governor Shooting Case • Digi tized by

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123 When ultimately she could not be convicted, she was confined inPresidency

Jail as a detenue. There her condition worsened and she was sent to the mental hospital i n Ranchi. After recovery she was again taken back to the Presidency Jail, although her mother and sister petitioned to the government to take her back. home. Towards the end of 1935, Sobharanee was fonnally released from jail, but kept interned in Alrnora for next one and half years. 17 Anumberofyounggirlswerearrcstedbetwcen 1933and 1934forcarrying and concealinJ arms and ammunitions and having kept sedjtious books in their possessions. O n 12 February 1933, Helena Oun of Dacca Sri Sangha was arrested in Calcutta for having secretly carried a revolver. Taken to Lal Bazar police lock-up, she was kept there for fifteen days. These fifteen days, she passed without taking bath, brushing teeth, and washingher face. For neither clothes, nor brush, comb or any other thing was provided to her by the authorities. Everyday she was taken to Intelligence Office at Elys-ium Row for interrogation. In an interview, Helena said that at that time terrible mental pl'C$Sure was created on her to collect information regarding the secrets of her party, names and addresses of other party nembers etc. Once to extract confession she was put in a dark room where one interrogating officer entered taking a dog with him and started frightening Helena by forcefully striking at the table with a stick which was in his hand. Being afraid she closed her eyes but. still did not reply to any of their questions. On 28 February Helena ,. .• was sent to Presidency Jail as a detenue and afterwards taken to Hijli jail.1 1 19 .. Al the end of 1937 she was released . Next to Helena, Jyotikana Datta and Banalata Dasgupta of Calcutta Diocessan College were arrested for concealing fire-arms. Jyotikana, .• convicted and sentenced to four years' rigorous imprisonment, was confmed .· mostly in the Presidency Jail, always repenting her inability to keep those arms safely and secretly.20 Banalata was confmed as a detenue.21 In Jaif, Banalata suffered very much and ultimately died as a prisoner. When first arrested along with Jyotikana, she had been taken to police lock-up at Lal Bazar. There, for three continuous days, she was made to sit on a small stool for twenty four hours and was not allowed to sleep even for a moment. A ' constable was all the time there to guard her and when Banalata felt sleepy he used to shout loudly to wake her up. The mental torture continued after 1 she was sent to Presidency Jail from Lal Bazar lock-up. To extract confcssion 1 from her regarding the source of getting fire-arms, the jail authorities kept 1 her conf med i n a solitary cell for more than one month and she was not allowed 1 to talk to anyone. Commenting on the tremendous mental strength shown by Banalata, Intclligcnce Officer commented, "She possesses such a strength l that even if kept up in a solitary cell throughout the life, she won't confess". 1 From Presidency Jail, Banalata was sent to Hijli jail as a detenue. There, ' after one year, her health started failing and ultimately she became the victim I

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ofgoitre. When she hcum"' seriously ill, thejaiauthoritiea decided to rck:ase her on the condition of ha signmg the bond that in future she would not be involved in political wort. Banelata refused end preferred t o ,email, ;:i prison. Her mother petitioned to the jail authorities to take her out for treatment, but that WIS not granted. Uhimatdy, oo I July 1936 Benaleta died in Calcutta Medical College Hospital u a prisoner. At that time. she 22 WIS only twenty one t'Clll old. In 1934policearrcstedNim>alaChakrabortyofSripurvilllgcofCbittlgong when they discovered a revolvei and some seditious papers in herIX''session. Ninnala wu coovicted and sentenced to one and half years' rigorous imprisonment. But on completion of her term in jail in Rajshahi, she wu confined es a detcnue in Hijli jail and S!Jbsequently interned home for one year. At the end of internment tlle l)Olice externed ha from Chittagong district.2J Between 1930 and 1933,many women were arrested for their involvement in revolutionary activities. On2SAugust 1930,theJugantargroup of revolutionaricsofCalcuttathrew a bomb to kill Charles Tep.rt, the Police Commissioner of Calcutta, � Dalhousie Square. The attempt of course failed leading to the death of one of the revolu tionaries on the spot. However, in coMection with thisDaJhousie Square bomb case the police arrested Kamala Oasgupta, Sobbaranee Datta, Satyarani Datta and Kamala Das of Jugantar group of Celrntta and Reou Sen of Dacca Sri Sangha. All of them were ultimately rdeased for want of evidence. Kamala Das was not taken to the lock.-up. Sobharanee. aftec a few days of her stay in police custody, was released on bail. Satyarani Datta, Renu Sen and Kamala Dasgupta were kept confined in . Lal Bazar police lock-up for quite some time. FromLal Bazar lock-up Kamala andRenu were sent to Presidency Jail, due to their refusal to give an undertaking that ii, future they would not be involved in such work. They were finally released.24 Next year (2 October 1931) Biinalpratibha Devi (Banerjee) was arrested in connection with Maniktala dacoity case in north Calcutta.25 After arrest she was taken to police custody and initially was not granted bail, but later was released on bail on grounds of illness.26 Ultimately she was �quitted from the case for want of evidence. On that very day ( 14 December l 9j1), after the judgement WIS delivered, she was rearrested and �ept conf'med as a detenue.27 For about six years she had to remain in detention in diffezc:nt jails at Suri (Birbhum district), Hijli etc. After being interned for few months at home in Bumpur, she was finally released in 1938.21 In 1933, the police arrested Sula ta Karand ShantisudhaGhosh on suspicion of being involved in .the Grin4lays Bank fraud case. Sulata taken to Bhawanipore Police Station in south Calcutta was kept confmed in a solitary cdl forfourteen days. She �as not allowed to talk to anyone. For interrogation she was lak.cn every day to thclntclligenceOfficcat Elys-iumRow. To extract Digi tized by

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a confession, the police used to threaten her that her husband who was a professor of physics in a Government College (Presidency College) would loose his job and that she would be k.cp�imprisoned f orevcr. Sulata however. did not disclose any secret and hence was sent toPresidency Jail. Ultimatdy she was acquitted from the case for want of evidence and released from jail after one month. Even so, she was cittcmed fromBengal for two ycars.29 On l lNovcmber 1933,thcpolicearrcstedShantisudhafromVictoriaCollege in Calcutta. Shantisudha, a lecturer of that college was then getting ready · t o deliver a lecture in the class. Ta.king the pcnniuion of the Principal of the college, she came with the police and was .kept confined i nPresidency Jail. Due to reasons of ill-�th she was released on bail after about one month. Ultimately in May 1934 she was acquitted from the case but police interned her first in Barisaul in her own house and then inPuri. In Novcmbu 1937 she was completely freed. During her short stay in Presidency Jail Shantisudha did not citperience any suffering at the hands of the policc.'0 The women who took. direct part in revolutionary action were arrested, convicted and sentenced to long term imprisonmenL Only Prceti could not be tried as she died by swallowing poison after heroically leading the raid onPahartaliEuropcanClubioChittagong.InfactPrcctiwasvcrymuchscarcd of police torture and harassmenL She used to say "they arc brutes, if we arc caught by them, they will disgrace us". Hence all the time she used to move ta.king potassium cyanide with her so that in case of need she could die herself which she did. Prccti's panic about police torture was .known to her relatives. So when after her dcath,.her father was told by the police that her bloodstained dresses would be removed, he brought a new tcaree and covered his dead daughter with that.'1 Thus Prccti did not give a chance to the police to arrest her. But her close relatives and the people ofChittagong had to undergo tremendous sufferings. Precti's uncle, an employee of Pahartali Railway Work.shop, used to stay in the adjacent railway quarters. On the very night when Prceti died, police reached his house and, along with his children and wifc, he was mercilessly beaten by the police.Prccti's f ather · was immediately arrested and taken to police custody. Her mother was rudely treated by the police, her grown-up sister and brother were addressed with abusive language. In addition to this, about a hundred youth from different parts ofChittagong were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the event.32 However,Prccti' s apprehensions, in case of being arrested by police, were actually experienced by Parul Mukherjee. arrested for her involvement in Titagarh affairs. On 20 January 1935, police arrested Parul from a house in Titagarh when she• was destroying all the incriminatingpapcrs.Initially taken to Titagarh Police Station,Parul was brought on the next day to Tollygungc Police Station in south Calcutta and from there she was sent to Howrah jail to a segregated cell. Parul was put under terrible mental pressure from the very beginning. A leprosy patient was provided to her as her attendant.In

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addition, she was subjected to physical torture. An inte.H� off"ICel' in bis attempt to extract confession from Parul proceedcJ to rape her. Iii desperation, Parul started throwing her shoes aiming at him. It had no effect on the man. Parul then started shouting loudly and another off"acer rushed to the room hearing her wice, he scolded the man making him aware of the ad�rse consequences of such an attempL33 However, fQr keeping unlicensed arms in her possession, Parul was f'ust tried under Anns Act and sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonmcnL,. Subsequently, according to the judgement of litagarh Conspiracy Case she was sentenced to another three years of rigorous imprisonment.35 Once in Presidency Jail she was unjustly beaten up by the wardress. At that time Indusudha Ghosh, a dctenue of Hijli jail, was in Presidency Jail for treatment. lndusudha bnbed one policeman by offering her golden bangle and IIUlJlagcd to send a message to the newspapers whlch gave publicity t o that incidcnL36 The other women revolutionaries imprisoned for taking direct part in rewlutionary actions, namely, Shanti, Suniti, Bina, KaJpana and Ujjwala did not experience any physical torture in imprisonment, but some o f them were subjected to terrible mental pressure. �:uniti, the youngest of these women, a girl of fourteen years, was made a division m prisoner in jail, although Shanti, convicted for the same offence and the other political prisoners got the status of division Il prisoner. AJ division prisoner, Suniti became a victim of all sorts of ill-treatment; she was not aDowed to stay, and take her food along with the other political prisoners.37 She had to live with the ordinary convicts, the food :md dress and the beddings provided to her were of the worst type. 31 The aut.'ioriucs thought that living apart from the other political prisoners and being subject to tremendous sufferings, Suniti would fed depressed and, in tum, would disclose the secrets. To weaken her mentally, they took further measures. Suniti's father Umacharan Chowdhury lost his pension. Her two elder brothers, who were at that time the only earning members of the f amily, were arrested and kept confined in jail as detenucs.Consequently Umacharan along with his wife and two young sons had to face extreme poverty. Their relatives could not give help to them for fear of police torture. One of Suniti's younger brothcneame to Calcutta and started haunting for a job to save the family from starvation. Having failed to get a job he started to work. as a hawk.er. Within a short period, because of physical exhaustion and malnutrition, h e became a victim of tuberculosis and ultimately died. In jail Suniti heard about her family's sufferings and the death of her brother." The sadistic persecution was not, however, confined only to Suniti and her family. Almost all the workers of the Jugantar group of Comilla and their family members were tortured in an inhuman way. The whole structure of Chittaranjan Jatiya Pratishthan of Brahmanbaria (in Comilla) was brought down by ui.ing huge elephants for the work and the books of the libr&I)"

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collected by Lalit Burman. a revolutionuy leader of the area, then in detention, were burnt in a bonfire on the grounds of the local sporting cJub.40 The oj.hcr convict in the SteVCIIS assassination case, namdy, Shanti Ghosh, was also mentally tortured m jail although she got a better status than Suniti. namely that of the division II prisoner. The two convicts in the same case and initially kept together in Midnapore Central Jail, Shanti and Suniti were separated and Shanti was sent to the Dacca jail A few days before, Dincsh Majumdar, convicted in the Dalhousie Square bomb case, Sachin Kar Gupta and Sushil Dasgupta, convicted in another case, escaped from Midnapore Central Jail (8 February 1932). The authorities apprehended that their eJNARJES OP BENGAL

140

D. A i.E'IIER atEGARDING 11UAL OF SIIAN'l1 � SUNl1l Confldendal Prom Rai N.C.Bole Babadur Offs. Dlatrict Magistrate Tlppera. To The Chief Secretary Go,etBmeat of Benpl. Polldc:alDepartmw C1lcn11a.

.

Dated ComlDa die 29th Dec:ember 1931 Sir, I b1ve tbe honour to lllte that I ctwae lheet under sectiou 302/ 34/109/1208/307 LP.C. bu been received apinat (1) $unity Chowdhury aliuMir1Debl_ud(2)SantiGho1haliuDIISeninl:4'11nectionwitllthemurder of late Mr Stevem. A charae under section 19P of tbe Indian Arma Act bu also been added -- 1plDJt both the accused. The Superintendent of Police recommends and Iqree with him, that the accused penom lhould be lriecl under tbe proviaion1 qf the Benpl Emeraency Powers Ordinance 1931. Jl ia unnece111ry to elaborate that the murder wu committed in furtheruce of ud In connection with the terroriat movemCIIL There ii no other explanation of tbe crime. I recommend that -- under aection 25 of the Ordinance the Local Government be pleased to direct that the above mentioned accused persona be tried by I Special Tribunal. 2. I have already informed the Commi11ioner that it ia very de1irab� that the case be tried at a place other thin Comilla and preferably i n Calcutta or Alipur (24 Parganat). Apart ·· from the ponibillty of the trial creatiJlg a good deal of local excitement there ii no accomodation available here for the -- memben of the'Tni,unal. 3. Though the accused penou were cauaht ffiibandll!.d and one o f them bu confened to tbe crime It ii very Wtely that the cue wW be contested. The Superintendent of Police recommendl that �u Pankoj KumarGanguly of the Alipur Bar be enpgi=d t o conduct tbe P«*CUliOO. I donot know the gentleman and I am not aware of bis profe11ional capacity I am not tjierefore In a position to offer any comment on tbe recommendation mide. I suggest that I capable lawyer, who bu hid experience of handling cues of --- similar natun1,be enpaed on behalf of the Crown. I hive the honour to_ be Sir Your m01t obedient aerva� District M1giatrate (Offg.)

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(ON FEBRUARY 6, 1932 BINA DAS SHOT AT BENGAL EX-GOVERNOR SIR STANLEY JACKSON, SCENE: CONVOCATION DAY AT 1111! CALCUTTA UNIVERSITY HAll, SHE MADE THE FOLLOWING STATEMEN.T----F.D.) I confess I fired at the Governor on the last Convocation Day at the Senan,· House. I hold myself entirely responsible for it. My object wu to die, and if to die nobly fighting again.It this de�potic system of Goverment which haa kept my country in perpetual subjection to ill inflait11 shame and endlaa sufferings, - and fighting In a way which cannot but tell. I fired at the Governor impelled by my love of my country which Is beina repressed and what I attempted to do for the sake of my country wu a great violence on my own nature too. It waa a severe Injury to the family to which I belong, and the Institution where I wu having my education • an lnstitu�ion which loved mo dearly and exercised the highest influence oo my life and character, aJld which I looked upon with all regard due to a mother; but the love of my country wu alway, supreme in my mind; ,and I felt very deeply in my heart the miserable condition of my country. All the ordinances, all measure to put down the noble upiration for freedom in my countrymen, came as a challenge to our national manhood. and a, indignities hurled at it. This hardened even the tender feminine nature like mine into one of hero is mould. I had been thinking - Is life worth llvlng in an India so subject to wroq and continually groaning under the tyranny of a foreign Government or Is i t not better to make one supreme protest against it by offerlJll one', life away? Would not the im1nolation of a daughter of India and of a son of England awaken India to the sin of its acquiescence to ita continued state o f subjection and England to the iniquities of its proceedings? Thia waa the one question that kept thundering at the gates of my brain like the iace11ant hammerblow that would neither be arilled nor muffled. My sense of religion and morality Is not Inconsistent with my sense of Political freedom. I believe that a person. who ii a slave politically cannot realise God who Is the spirit of freedom and bu ll)ade Hia aom and daughters free to share In the job that ii in him. I have. held, therefore, that Political freedom Is organically corinected with rcligion a,id morality ; and thece ought to be no confiict between them. In fact, I feel in the heart of my hearts that the best and the divine in humanity cries in revolt qaln•t all form, of tyranny in this world. Political Preedom, rellglon and moral ideala should, therefore, be blended together Intoone harmonious whole and the subject race inhabiting this globe •hould be;polltically free. h was for the purpose of bringing this fact home to the thinker, In India and other-countries that I selected, a, my field of action, theConvocation Hall of my sacred Alma Mater. I atudied"in the Dioace,san College for my B.A. Degree and paued with honours in English and my father sent me to that college for an additional

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coune of atudy for the B.T. Degree, in order to bring me into cloler tooch with truJy Chriadan IOula ud to &fve me opportunities to� the beat llide of Brltl1h character. I gratefully acknowledge that I have immeuely profited by my 1tudy under the Slaten of my dear College. But at the Ame time, with the comparative knowledge of thinp, I felt and felt with deep uguiJb that the Chrilt apirlt WU not much ill evidence ill the admlniltratiOII ct I Chriltian Government. The 1erle1 of ordilllllce uvouring of martial law, to my mind, lhowed nothing but a IIJ)irit of vindlctivenea ud were onl_y meaaurea to cruah dowa all aapirations for freedom. The outr•e• perpetrated i n the name of tbc · Government at Mldnapore, Hljli and Chittagong. (my own Diatrlct), tbe refuaal to publilh the official enquiry reports, were thlnpI could never drive away from my mind. The outrages on Amba Dani of Contai and Nilwblla of Chittagong literally upset my whole being. I used to held the wife ct 1 detenu, in her studies, u a wort of, Jove. Everyday I uw with my own eyea, the sufferings of the poor &frl who wu �ng the life of widowhood ii the life time of her husband,· the almost demented mother and the father every day linking Into the grave, without their having the faintest notion ct · lie nature of the supposed guilt of their 10n. I attended the Court durial the_ trial of my own 1iater, JCalyanl. Herpunilhment tq 1erve a term of rigorous Imprisonment for attending a meeting which could not be held, ud for beflll · member of an unlawful society (which she was. not), without any evidence thereof except a leaflet which was published and clrculai�d without her knowldege, was to my mind gronly unjust. She Is a graduate with H011oun _and lived in all the comforts of the life of a well-to-do reap�bie family; still.for some time of her life In priaon she wu 1ubjected to the ignominy of jail dress and jail diet of an ordinary convict and hid even to pan lleeplea nights amongst such criminals. I saw all thia with my own �es and allo saw the bitter tears welling out of my dear parents. I thought such '1!Ult be tbe 1uft'erings of Innumerable othen. All these and many othen worked 011 my feelings and worked them into a frenzy. The pain became unbearable a.ad I felt I would go mad if I could not find relief in death. I only sought the way to death by offering myself at the feet of my country and invite the attention of all by ·my death to &he situation created by the measures of the Government, which can unsex even a frail woman like myself, brought up in all, the beat tradition of Indian womanhood. I can anure all, that I coulli have no grudge against any person or thiaa on earth; I have no sort of penonal feeling against Sir Stanley Jackson, the mal\ and Lady Jackson, the woman. But the Governor of Deng.al represeall • 1y1tem of repression which has kept enslaved 300 millions of my countrymen aod country women. Now I staifd alone before the judgement seat of God, and open mywelf before him and pray for his all forgiving loce to wash me clean, that I may be a worthy offering to him. May I see the benignant countenance of the

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143 · Motlier Divine ud feD her lovillg embrace fonne - even for me at thJa the most 10lemn moment of my life, If It be her will that I should die; or may coaaecnte mylife to the service of aufferinghumanity, which w.u the foadat Jonafna of my -b,an, If she out ol her Infinite mercy spares It to be used by .bet aa her instrument May God fulfll himself throup my death, • or life. if it ao pleue him. They will be done, oh. God :

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BDUJOGRAPHY OffJaAL PAPERS (MANUSCRIP'l' AND PRINTPDI A WESTBENGAL STATB AROUVES 1. Ccafidenti,J File, of the Go�ent of ·Beng,al, Home Department, Politic:al

Braam:

�206 208,331,490, 673,874,875 139,404,145,899 277,435 320,973,K. W.

y� 1930 1931 1933 1934 1935

2. Slate Committee for Compilation dthe Hatory of Preedom Movement inIndia, &,n,-J Region: �Papen Fortnightly S«:tet Repott of theBellllll 38 Go.-emmeat (1930), '39 FortnightlySecret Repott of tbeBengal Govmunent (1931), Foltnightly Seaet Repott of tbe Beag,J 40 Go�ent (1932), 41 Fortnightly Seaet Repott oltbe-Benpl. Go�t (193�). Note oa Tit,gam CoMpincy Cue, 112 Note on ubong ShootingCa� 114 B. omce OF nm INSPECTOR - OENBRAL OF POUCB, JNTELUOENCI! BRANOI,WESTBENGAL: 1. Green I.ht ofthe Beng,aJ Revolutioaariea, 2. Note on Terrorism in In-!ia by C. A. Te,.a,t. 3. SeaetW)dlyRepoctontbePolltic:al�tuatioalnBenpl� 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935. C. omCEOPmBDEPUTYCOMMJS&ONEROPPLICB,SPBOALBRANOI. CALCUlTA: 1. Notca011 I) Bimalpratlbha Devi, Ii) Bina Bhowmic:k. iii) Kalpana Dutt,

iv) Kalyanl Bhattacharaya,

v) LilaRoy, vi) UjjwalaRakshitRoy.

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BIBUOORAPHY D NATIONAL.LIBRARY

1. BengllAdminiltntion Repom(Annual) : 191S-16, 1916-17, 1930-31, 1931-32, 1932-33, 1933-34, 1934-3S. 2. Indian Annual Rquter: 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935. 3. Sedition Committee Report, 1918. 4. TowardsEqua/ity:ReponofthecpmmitteeontheSlatuaafWomeAwindi1, 1974. PRIVATE COLLF.CI'IONS 1. BlnaDaa' Confealon at the Court on lSFebruary 1932. 2. Unpublished Memoin: i) Helena Gun Ditti, !ii Indusudhl Ghosh, WI Nirmala KahaliAtarthl, iv) Shllntiludhl Ghosh. INTERVIEWS 1. 2. 3. 4. S. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. IS.

Prat11>haBhadraRoychowdhury,Cakutta, 19.10.87. Kahlrodepr1bha Blswas,Calcutta, 11.10.87. Prabhabllti Bose, Clllcutta, 8.1.88. Kamala Chatterjee Mukherjee, Bombay, 3.3.87, S.3.87, 2.8.87, 3.8.87,

4.8.87, 14.8.87, 1S.8.87, 16.8.87, 17.8.87, 16.1.88,Cllcuaa, 1S.S.87, 1.6.87, 1.9.87. Sunitl Chowdhury Ghosh, Bo�bay, S.10.86, 3.8.87, 29.3.87, 27.4.87, KamalaDugupta, Calcutta. 27.10.86, 16.S.87, 22.8.87. KalpanaDuttJoshi,Calcutta, 17.10.87. Indusudha Ghosh, Calcutta, 21.8.87. Shlntisudha q11osh, Calcutt•, 3.10.87. Shanti Ghosh Das,Calcutta, 23.10.86. Helena GunDatta,Calcutta, 24.8.87. Pramlla Gupta, Calcutta. 12.9.87. Nirmala Kahali Atarthi, Calcutta, S.10.87. UjjwalaMajumdarRabhltRoy,Cak:utta, 1.6.87. Parul Mukherjee,Calcutta. 22.9.87. JOURNALS,MAGAZINF.S, NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS

Amader Tripun, 1972· 197S. Amr/ta Bazar P•ttih, 1933-1934. Aaand• Bllz.arPatrib, 1931-1932. Bllngabflni, 1930-1933. &runwt, 1986,August 11, 1987,.A-ugnu 12. D1g1tizeo by

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BliantOSamajtamzilOD.R.., 1912, Vol VD:Noa. 7-1, 11913, Val. "'9.No.7.

Ou,lu Pllhe. 1917, March. Dab, 1988,March 19. Bvo'• Weekly, 1979, Mardi 3 -91 No-vember 10-16. 1910,Aprll 19-25. 1981, . Auaust 15-21. 1987,Aprll.l 8 -24. Dlwtnted.Weekly ofIndia.: 1973,January 28. 1986, Auguit 31. J/lypree: 1941. 1968(Ula�BinhdlyVolum,:).J970(UlaRoyCommemonlm. Volume). 1981 (GoldeAJubileeVolume}. !9�7. K.fatir•: 1980, April 19. Onde : 1980,April. Paricbay• : 1987, Pebnmy. Patriot: 1972,AIIJllll lS. Prabai: 1931-1934., SOUVPMRS

Imu,uration ofSurya Sen Bbavm Souvenir, (Calcutta, 1987). Stonnm, al Wdten' &ll""'8: Golden Jubilee Soc,�, (Cabitta, 1980). PUBUSHEDBOOKS

A&new,V.;EllteWomeninlndimPolitia,VlkaaPubliahingHouae,(NewDelhi.1979}. Althana, P., Women',Movementin India, Vlkaa Publilhln&House, (Delhi, 1974). Sri Aureblndo, On HJm,elf, SriAurobindo Alhram, (Pondicheny, 1972). . ·,Ba� ·J:c., Jatiya Andolam: Banga Nan,BilwabharatiOrantbalaya,(Calcutta, 1361 B.S.). ° Bahadur, L., Indian FieedomMovement and Tbou&bt, 1919-29, Sterlin& J>ublilbeR PrivateUmlted, (New Delhi. 1983). . ' . Bala,U.,lndianWomenFreedomF,ghten: 1857/1947,Manobar,(NewDelhi.1986). Bhattacharaya, K., Aban Adhyay,n,A. Majunidar 11111 Company, (Calcutta, 1951). Owtopadhyay, B., Anandamatb, Bangiya Sahltya Parilhad, lClk:utta, 1345 B. S.)_ Owtopadhyay, S., PatherDabi, Sartar and Som Privau, Ijmited, (Calcuaa, ND.). Olaudhurani,S., JibaaerJh.-apata,Rupa and Company, (Calcutta, 1975). Olopra,P.N., WomeaintbelndianFreedomSln,a/e.Governmeataflnctia,MJl!IM:ly of Bduc:adon and Social Welfare, (New Delhi, 1975). Olowdbury,S., Biran,paa Preeti/ata, Deb Sahltya Kutir, (Calcuna, 1953). Du.B. (Bina), SrmkhalJlwJbr, Signet Prea, (Calcutta, 1355 B.S.). Du,B.(BrajenJ, An,,,UaaSamitirBiplabPraya,h,BiplabiParilbad, (Obua, 1977). Du,R., Biplabi Aurobiado,Alhok Prakuhan. (CalCIJtta, 1971). Du, S., Al1ln Bahn(, B1111road Sahitya Mandir,Cak:ulta, 1374 B.S.J. Dasgupta, K., Rakter Abhare, Nabhana, (Cakutta, 1954); Stndbialta S..,w Bang/u Nati, Buudhara Prakuhani, (Calcutta, 1-370 B.S.J. Dasgupta,P., BiplaberPatbe,BasantiUbrary, (Calcutta; 1982). Daatldar, P., Bidanya Preeti/ata, Bangala Bazar,(J)acca, 1377 B.S.). D1g1t 1zeo by

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BIBUOGRAPHY

Datta, B. N., BlwaterDwitiya SwadbinaaSangram,NababharatPu� (Calcutta, 1983). Dutt, K . , Outt,gong Annowy Raiden: Reminiscenca, People'• Publishing Houae, (Bombay, 1945). Dey, S. (Ed.), Agniyug, Vols. I & 2, Puma Publishers, (Calcutta, 1978). Ghosh, A., Biplab OBiplabi, Rabindra Library, (Calcutta, 1383 B.S). Giosh, K., la&aran O Bishphonn, Vols. i& 2,lndian AslodatedPublishing Company Private Limited, (Calcutta, 1379, 1380 B. S.). Clhoah, S . and others (Ed,.�MuktiPatberJalli hn, Fratei:nity, (Calcutta, 1982). 'Ouha, N. K,IJanclayBiplabbad,A. Mukherjee and CompanyPrivate limited, (Cabtta, 1376 B.S.). . :otiha,S. (Ed.), ChattorgramBidroherBahnisilcha,EducatlonandCulturalDepartment, •· Olattorv,im Parishad, (Calcutta, 1974). Halder, J., AnU8i/an Samitir Sankshiptya Itiba,, Shilendu Mukhopadhyay, (Calcutta, 1950). Jain, D. (Ed.), Indian Women, Publication Division, Ministry of Information &. Broadcasting, Government of India, (New Deihl, 1975). Joshi, R. (Ed.), KranlikariPrerana Ki Srote, Rajasthani Samaj Prakaahan, (Calcutta, 1971). Kanungo, H., Banglay Biplab Prac:b�ta; Chiryat Prakashani, (Calcutta, .1928 ). Kaur, M., Role of Womenin theFreedomMovement, 1857-194 7,SterlingPublisbers Private Limited, (Jullunder, 1968). Majumdar, B . B., Milit1111t Nationa}jsminIndia,General Printers andPublishers Private Limited, (Calcutta, 1966). Majumdar, R. C�Bangla Desherltihas, Vol.4, General Printers and Publishers Private Limited, (Calcutta, 1982). Mukherjee, J., BiplabiJibaner Smrili, Academic Publishers, (Cala1tta, 1956). Nandl, A., BiplabirSmriticharan, Vol. J ,lndianAasociatedPublishingCompany Private Limited, (Calcutta, 1976). Pakrashl, S., Agni Diner Katha, Nabajatak Prak.uhan, (Calcutta, 1982). Rabbit Roy. B .K . , BharllteSasbastraBiplab, Rabindra Library, (Calcutta, 1377 B.S.). SabarAlabhye, Vols. I &2,BengalPublishersPrivati.1Jml�ed, (Calcutta, 1373 B.S.). Roy, M. N., Men I Met, Lalvani Publishing House, (Bombay, 1968). Roy, N. R. and others (Eds.),. Challenge: A Saga of India', Stlugg/e for Freedom, People's Publishing House, (New Delhi, 1984). _ Roy, S., Bharater Baiplabik Sangnuner Itibas, Vol.I, D.N.B.A. Brothers, (Calcutta, 1970). Roychowdhury, O.S., 13haciniNibeditaOBanglay Bip/abbad,Jijnaaa, (Calr11tta, 1960). Sarkar, S., The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal: 1903-1908, People's Pu1Jliahing House, (New Delhi, 1973). Sen, S. P. (Ed.), Dictionary of National Biography Vol,. 1 4- , Inatitute of Hiltorical Studies, (Calcutta, 1972, 1973, 1974). Dig1t1zeo by

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148

OPBENOAL

1llEWOMEN

Senaupta, K., ICMumdd, Publlsher llptban4hu Saa, (�. 1367,B.S.). SenauPta, S. C., Indl, Wrau.Aeedom, Sahilya Semnct. (Calcutt.a, 1982). Sengupta,S. C., andolhen (Eda.),Sam-4Btfff/111a.nlffldllu.AppemledVolume, Sahitya Samad, (Calwna, l 98J ). Sharma,J.M.,Ro/oofRew:Jutlotw#a/orbeP.reedomSrruate,MarxlatStudyForum, (Hyderabad, 1987). Sharma, R. K., N•tiomlitm, Socul Reform md IDdl4n Womea, Jeoaki Pr.ak..._, (Patna, J981 ). Shutri s.. RamWIUuh/ri O TNkallo ,_.,,. S.rmj, Bilwahloi PrakNbaoi, (Calo•, 1390B.S.). Singha, A., A,uprva O.,to,,am, Vldyodaya Librwy PrivallO 1boilrd (Cllln#I, 1968).

Urquhart, M., Women of Benpl, Aaiociadoa Prea, (Calcutta. 1927). ARTIC..BS

Du, S., [iltt.d Nag- Lil• Roy. Dutt,K., Preeru.ta W•d"-d•. Porbe1,0. H., Women Revolutionm�d&n,.Z. Ohoah, S., Heroic Women from the Put.. Jolhl, K., Gahir• s.t,glmsh•. Mukherjee,K., AlmrAbhijjnatayOtlcutt•, 1929-1931. -, Je/oAlmr Sanginigan. -,, Uninown Heroines ofFreedom SrnJale in IDdi._ Nandi, A., Biplabi .Andolane Nm.

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INDEX Acharya,Sasadhar ss. 56 Alipore Conspiracy Case 14 Allen (D.M., Dacca) 13_ . Ananda Baz.arPatrib �6 Anandamath 37 Anderson,John (Governor of Bengal) 21,104-06 Andrews,C. F. 77, 88,103 Ansushilan Sarniti (Calcutta)· 10, fl, 13,IS,22 AnusilanSarniti(Dacca) 12, IS, SI Anusilan (oathJ 44 . Anusilan (All India Uprising) l 7 Anusilan (Inter Provincial Conspiracy) 23 Aprakasita Rajnaitilc Id.bas 37 AtmonnatiSarniti 11 ,. .

'Baade Mataram 12 . . Banerjee, Bimalpratibha (Debi) 64, 65,124,130 'Banerjee,Girin 79 Banerjee,Jatindranath '10, 11, 52 Danerjee,Kanai 69 . Bannjee,Madhu· 104-0-, .Banerjee, Manoranjan ,. $7, 66, 103, 105-07 .Banerjee,Rabi. l 03, 1OS-07 .Banerjee,Upendranath 14 Bangla.y Biplabbad 37.. Barisal Violence Party 65 Darrah dacoity l 5 .Barua, Saraswati 55 Bengal CriminalLaw Amendment Act .' 19 Benu 37, 52, !Of . .. BengalVolunteers 12 Bhadra,Pratibha 30, 43.; 60, 63, 64, 70,128,130,137 Bhaduri,Anil 22 Bbagawad 9i1a 38 Bbarati 52 Bhatta,Prafulla 64 .-

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Bhattacharya,Abinash 13 Bhattacharya, Bhabani 21, 88, 103, 105-07 Bhattacharya, Biren 58,78,79 Bhattacharya,Bishnupriya 59,61,136 Bhattacharya,Kanai 21 Bhattacharya,Pradyot 21 Bhowmici, Rarnen 22 Biswas, Anima, 43,61,63 Biswas, Kahirodeprabha 27, 39, S5, 58,121 . Biswas,Rarnkrishna 22,65,91,94,95 Bose,Benoy 20,21, 58,65,104 Bose, Bhupal 39,42,62, 84 Bose,Helen 57, 61 Bose,Jyotirmoyee 57, 61 Bose,Kanailal 3 8 Bose,Krishnakali 57 Bose,NUima 57,61 Bose,Nirmala 57 Bose,Prabhabati 58,61 Bose,Rashbehari 3,17 Bose,Sachin 5 5 Bose,Satyea 14,55 Bose,Snehalata 55,60 Bose, Subhas Chandra 12, 19, 34, 39,40 Brahma,Prafullanalini 30,34,39,42, 43,70, 79,128,130 Brahma,Sudhir 79 Burge 21, 129 Chaki,Prafulla 14, 34 Oihakrabarty,Abinash 16 Cliakrabarty, Apama 55, 56,93 Cliakrabarty, Dukharibala (Devil 39, 60,120,128,137 Chakrabarty,HarikWJ1ar 79 Chakrabarty,Kalipada 22 Chakrabarty,Klllltal S3 Chakrabarty,Nianala 28, 55,61,62, 124 Chakrabarty,Prabhat 23 Origlr.al from

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WOMPN REVOumoNARJES OP Bl!NGAL

Oiakrabuty, �- S6, 121, 122, 129 Olwa berty, Saileswar S6,93 Olakrabarty, Satiab 17 Olakrabarty, Shanti 93, IOI Olakrabarty, Saehalata S6 Olakrabarty, Usha 70 CbalarPatbe 37 Chapekar, Balkriaboa 9 Chapekar, Darnod1r 9 Chapelw,V11udeo 9 Oiltterjee,Amarendranath S3 Chatterjee,�NDta 16, S4 Chatterjee,Bholanath 16, S3 Chatterjee,B. C. 77, 110 Chatterjee, JCarnll1 27, 30, 31, 33, 61-4, 70, 128 Chatterjee,Kanakrenu S7, SB Chatterjee,Priyacama S7, SB Chatterjee,Sunil S9 Chhatri Sangha 44, 68,69 Chittagong ReYOlutionary Party (formation) 17 Chittagong Revolutionary Party (dacoity committed) 19 Chittagong Uprising 20,40 Chowdhury,Jahanara 70 Chowdhury, Jyotsna SS Chowdhury, Kshirodasundari 39, 53-5 Chowdhury, Kshitish 54 Chowdhury,Suniti 3,7,30,38-40,43, 45,70, 71,77_-83,110,126,127, 129, 130 DalhousieSquareBombCase 20,124 Das, Basanti 2, 34, 87 Das, Benimadhab 27, 87 Das, Bina 7, 27,30, 31, 34,35, 39-41, 45, 62, 64, 70, 77, 83-8, 110, 126-31,135, 137 Das, Chittaranjan 11, 14,18 Das, Hemchandra 4 Das, Kalyani 27, 30, 31, 35, 58,60, 64,65,68,69, 83-5, 128 Das, Kamala 59, 124 Das, Manoranjan 102 Dlgltlzedby

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Du, Nha-1 83, 84 Du,PrafuUa 93 Du,Pramlla 44, 60, 63 Du, Pulia 12, 1.S,S 1 .'. Du,Raliklal 61,69 . Du,Sarla 3S ... Du, SitNundlri SS Du, Sudhlndra 102,103 Du, Unnila 2, 136 DuOlowdhury,Sarajabha 59,64,70, 128 Dugupta, Asha 61 Duguptt1,Blnalat1 28,30,34,61,62, 68,123,124,130 .• Dugupta, Bilnal 21 Dugupta,Binodini SS Dugupta, Olanabala ss Dasgupta, Kam•la 30, 31, 37, 42, 6 1 -4, 68, 69, BS, 86, 124, 128, 134,136,137 Dugui,ta, Kuojablla S7, 61 Dasgupta, Llbanya 68, 128 Dasgupta, Makhan 61 Dasgupta, Nirupama SS Dasgupta, Priyoblla 60, 63 Dasgupta, Pumananda 108, 109 Dasgupta,Sh-1tti S 7 Dasgupta,Sushama 59, 61, 65 Dasgupta,Sushila 30,33,6J,668,121 Dastidar, Purnendu 39, 40, 90, 97 Dallidar, Tarakeawar 22, 57,93,100, 102,103,111,121,127 Datta, Bhupendranath 13, S3,SS Datta, Jyntikana 30,61, 62, 123 Datta, Kanailal 14 Datta, Labanyaprabha 35, 60 Datta, Manindra S7, 101 · Dattta, Mrigen 21 Datta, Mukl!l 61 Datt•,Satyarani 124 Datta,Sobharani 35, 57, 58,64,107, 122-24 Datta, Suhuini 39 Dana, Ullask:ar 14, 38 Datta Chowdhury, Maya 66 Datta Chowdhury, Rambhuj 67 Original from

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INDEX Datta Gupta,Mira 32, 34, 43, 52,60, 64, 71 Dattaguupta, Sailahua 57 Dauglu 2f Deli; OJowdhunmi 37,89 Deepa1i Sangha 31, 44,67, 68, 90 Desher Katha 37 DeValera 37 Devi, Ambika 60, 63 Devi,Annapurna 58 Devi, Bllgalasundari 53, 60,63 Devi, Binodbala S3 Devi, Binodini S1 Devi, Oland!'lbasi Devi, Oiintasundari SS Devi,Hemlata 57

ss

Devi,Kuaumlr.umari 57, 58 Devi,1.akshmimani ss Devi,Nagendrabala 57, 65,66 Devi, Saradamani SS Devi,Sarayu 57, 58 Devi, Sarojini 60, 63 Devi, Sabitri SS, S6, 91, 121, 122, 129,136 Devi, Soudamini 53, 60,63 Dey,Abha 61, 68, 69, 136 Dey,Haripada 108 Dey, Ka1ik.inkar 9.4 Dey,Sitanath 108 Dey, Sushil 94, IOI \ District Magistrate of Comilla I (Stevens) 40, 78,80,81 ! Dovid lfcothers 9

.''

Duma 22 Dutt, Benodebchari _96 Dutt, Durgadas 66, 97 Dutt, Kalpana 3, 7,30,33,36, 39, 44,

45,�7.61,63,64,66,69,97, 103, 110, il l , 121, 122, 126, 127, 129, 130

wtOub 11 Blison 22 &g}ishhman 96

Fignur, Vera 38 Frazer,Andrew 13 Fuller, Bamfylde 13 Digiti zed by

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151

Gandhi.jl 1-3, S, 18, 20, 35, 36, 42, 68,136 Ganguly, .fratul 17 Ganguly, Suhasini 55,. 56, 69, 121, 128, 137 Garibaldi 35 General Asacmbly'a Institution IO Cihataclr.,Nibaran 60 Ghosh,Atul 53 Ghosh, Aurobindo I 0 -6 Ghosh, Bario 11-6,66 Ghosh, Bhaktiaudha 58 Ghosh, C. C. 88 Gholh,Dcbcn 54 Ghosh, Ganesh SS, S6, 66,98 Ghosh, Hcmc:handra 12 Gboah. Induaudha 28, 34, 39, 58,59, 61,70, 122,126,130 Ghosh, Jyotijiban 21 Ghosh,Netrakashi 66 dhosh,Sagark.ali 66 Ghosh, Sha·:ti 7, 28, 30, 35, 36, 39, 40, 43, 45, 70, 77-83, I 10-12, 129, i37 · Ghosh, Shantisudha 3:Z, 33, 44, 61, 68, 69, 124,1'25 Gllosh, Sindhubala 53, S4, 119, 120, 128 Ghosh, 85, 8.(i, 104-07 ' · Sudhir Ghosh, S\lkukar 57, 122, I 24 Ghosh, Surenchamohan 54, S8 Gh.>shal, Harshabala S9, 61,65 Ghoshal, Jiban 5S, 56 Ghoshal,Saraladevi 24,29,SI, 52,66 Gosain, Naren 14 Governor of Bengal (Stanley Jackson) 40, 85-7 Grassby 22 Guba, Ardhendu 98,99 Guba,Jyotish 104,105, 1'07 Guba,Saroj 22 Guba, Urmila 70 Gun, Helena 28, 33, 45,60-2,64, 68, 123,129,130 Gupta, Ananda 55, 56· Guptil,Badal 21, 65 Ongmal from

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

152

WOMEN REVOLUllONARIES OF BENGAL

Gupta, Dinesh 21,38, 65, 104 Gupta, Pramila. 28, 30, 33, 61, 68, 123,137

Halder,Siddheawar 107, 108 Hijli Detention C•n (firing) 21 Hodaon 20

Indian.National Congrea 1 Indian National Congrea (Calcutta Session 1928) 19 Indo-GennanPlot 16, 17 Inter Provincial Conspiracy 22, 23, 108,109

Jalalabad battle 20 Jugantar (origin) 13, 15, 16 Jugantar (armed uprising) 16,17 Jugantar (dacoity) 19 Jugantar (attempt on Tegart 1930) 20 Jugantar (Central Committee) 68

Kahali, Ashutosh 39 Kahali,Nirmala 39, 59-61, 70, 71 Kahali,Niruparna 39, 59-61, 70,71 Kalarpole fight 20 KamalPasha 37 Kanjilal, Charubala 65 Kar, Nalinikanta 53, 54 Kar, Sulata 33, 61, 68, 69, 124, 136 Karakahini 37 Kennedy, Mrs & Miss 14 Khatun Halima 27 Khatun, Raz.ia 27 Kingsford 14 Kshudiram 14, 34, 38

Lahiri, Jitendranath 16 Lahiri, Kumarjanani 58 Lahiri, Mani 22 Liberty 87 Lowman 20, 40, 58

Majwndar, Dinesh Majumdar, Manorama Majumdar, Ramchandra Majumdar, Surama Majumdar,s·uresh Majumdar, Ujjala Dlgltlzeo by

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Martua

Mitra, Kumudini Mitra,Manaduundari Mitra,Pramatha Mitra,Surama Mitra,Sushila. Kukherjee, Amulya Mukherjee, Jadugopal Mukherjee, Jatindranath Mukherjee;J. C. Mukherjee, Nanibala (Devi) Mukherjee, Parul Mukherjee, 1'arini 22

Mukherjee, Usha 70,71, 128 Mukti Sangha . 11 Muraripukur Garden 14 Nag. Hardayal 40 Nag. Lila 28, 31,33,34, 39, 43, 67,

68, 104, 128, 131

Naidu, Sarojini 35 Nandi, Akhif 43,70,78, 80 Nandi, Nilima 70 Naria (daco(iy) 15 National College (Calcutta) 12 Nehru,Jawaharlal 64 Non-cooperation movement (suppre· ssioo of) . 18 O'Sullivan ?4, 95

Pakrashi,Salish 17 Pal, Bipin Chandra 12 Pal,Nalini 63 Pal, Prabhangshu 21 Pal,ShyamBinode 109 Panza,Anath 21 Partition of Btingal 9, 10, 12 Patel, Vallabbhai 81 Pather Dabi 37, 8�. 97 Peddie 21, 40 Phadke,Balwant 9 Phadke, Vasudeo 9 Pine, Durgamoni 53, 60,63 Plague (in Bombay) 9 Prabasi 81,.87 Ptlma SwarajProposal 20 Original fl·om

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

INDEX

Rajlak.shmi 55 Rauhi1• Arati 60• 63 Rand 9 Rani of Jbami 38, 89 Recruitment of women in Revolution­ ary ni:gaoizationa 42-4 Revolutionary Movement in Bengal (main features) 13 .Revolutionary organisations in Bengal 41, 42 Rodda (dacoity) 16 Role of women in revolutionary organisations 45 Rowlatt Ad 18 Roy,Anil· 39 Roy,Biddutlata 55 Roy,B.C. 8 1 Roy,Kalipada 64 Roy,Kiran Shaok•r 39 Roy,M.N. 1,16 Roy,Manorenjan 58,91, 97,98 Roy,Matilal I 5,66 Roy,Radharani 66 Roy,Sailesh 22 Roy.Salish 80 Roy,Subhasinibala 55 Royal Proclamation (Dec. 25, 19 I 9) 18 Roy chowdhury_. Oiittapriya 17 •

Saha,G!:>pinath 19, 38 Saha Roy,Giribala 57 Sandbya 13 Sarkar, Banalata 70 Saunders 4 Secret Societies in Bengal 10, 12-4 Secret Societies in Gu jrat IO Sedition Committee.Report 17 Sen,Arnita 63,128 Sen,Apurba 91,92 Sen, Atul 22 Sen,Banalata 55 Seo,Binodini 55,56,61, 65 Seo,Brahhmamoyee 53,60,63 Seo, Brajen 57, 101 Sen,Oiinmoyee 53,60,63 Sen. Iagattara 53,60, 63 Dig1t1zeo by

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153

Seo,Manorama 7 0 Sen.Mrina1ini 66 Sen,Narahari 64 Sen,Nepal 80 Sen,Netta 57 Sen.Nirma} 96,98 Sen. Panoalal 93 Sen,Rajat 45, 66 Sen,Renu 30, 31, 35,68,124.128 Sen,Shanti 70 Sen,Saudamioi 55 Sen,Surya 20,22, 39,44, 56,57,64, 90-5,98,103,121,127,134 Sen. Uma. 57, 60,64,106 Sengupta,Kundaprabha 55 Simpson 21, 40 Singh, Bhagat 4 Singh, Kripal 17 Singha. Ananta 3, 19, 44, 55, 56,66, 98,99 Singha,lndumati 3,63,64,128,129 SisterNivedita 11, 14 Som,Bindubasini 53,60,63 Sri Krishna 38, 95 Sri Sanghha 39,42, 44,67,68 Suhrit Samiti 11,67 Suprabhat 52 Surawardi (Dr) 86, 87 Swadbinara 37 , Swami Vit>.bnanda 37 Tagore,Rabindranath 37,TI,88, 103 Talukdar(Sm) 55, 51;121 Takukdar,Puma 55,57,102 Tegart,Oiarlei 19,20,40,56,58,62, 84,121,124 Trtagarh Conspiracy Case 23, 108, 109, 125 '

Upadhyay, Brahma Bandhab 13

Vora,Durga Debi 4

Waddedar, Preetilata 4, 28, 30, 33, 38,39,41,42,44,45,56,63,64, 68,69,88-97,99,100,110, lll, 125, 134 W•taon 22,58,122 Writen'BuildingsRald 21, 42 Origir.al rrom

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CORRIGENDUM Page 11, 17th line Page 13, 26th line Page 29, 2nd line from bottom Page 36, 1st line Page 36, 7th line from bottom Page 76, 8th line Page 83, 5th line Page 85, 7th line Page 89, last line Page 98, 26th line Page I 00, 6th line from bottom Page I 00, last line Page 119, 19th line Page 13I , 22nd line

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