415. Bankim Mukhopadhyay (1897-1961),

  [ Promod Dasgupta (lt), Bankim Mukherjee (rt)] Bankim Mukherjee was born in Belur in Howrah as in 1897. He was a famous Parliamentarian and Leader of Workers and Peasants of India. He at first studied in Hindu School and then Presidency College.He joined in Non-Cooperation movement with his boyhood friend and and teacher colleague Radharaman Mitra and was jailed in a jail of Uttarpradesh.Under the instruction of Motilal Nehru came back to Bengal and join Swarajya Party  as an active worker, He, gradually, came in contact with the revolutionary Bhupendranath Datta and joined in Workers and Peasants Movement in India He conducted the strike called by the workers of Chengail Jute Workers Union in 1927 and Burrabazar Coachman's Strike, 1928-29. He then joined in Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930 and was jailed for several times.  In jail he came in contact with Marxism and  became a member of the Communist Party of India in 1936. In 1937 he was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly.  He was the first elected Communist member in Legislative Assembly.He became one of the founder of  All India Kisan Sabha in 1936.The developments on the peasant front culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha(AIKS) at the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress in April 1936 with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati elected as its first President. The other prominent members of this Sabha were N.G. Ranga,Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev and Bankim Mukerji. In 1952 and in 1957 he was elected in Budge Budge Assembly Seat defeating his Congress rival Kalipada Mukherjee. He was jailed for the last time in 1959 in Food Movementof Bengal. He married Santa Volerao on Maharashtra, assistant Secretary, AITUC .

414. Bankim Chattopadhyay (1838-1894)

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
Born	27 June 1838 Naihati, Bengal, India
Died	8 April 1894 (aged 55) Kolkata, Bengal, India
Occupation	Magistrate, writer, lecturer
Nationality	Indian
Ethnicity	Bengali Hindu
Alma mater	University of Calcutta
Genres	Poet, novelist, essayist, journalist
Subjects	Literature
Literary movement	Bengal Renaissance
Notable work(s)	Author of Anandamath containing the National Song of India Vande Mataram

Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay  (27 June 1838 – 8 April 1894) was a Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India's national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengaliand Sanskrit stotra personifying Indiaas a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement. Bankim Chandra wrote 13 novels and several 'serious, serio-comic, satirical, scientific and critical treaties' in Bengali. His works were widely translated into other regional languages of India as well as in English.

Bankim Chandra was born to an orthodox Brahmin family at Kanthalpara,North 24 Parganas. He was educated at Hooghly Mohsin College founded by famous Bengali philanthropistMuhammad Mohsin and Presidency College, Calcutta. He was one of the first graduates of the University of Calcutta. From 1858, until his retirement in 1891, he served as a deputy magistrate and deputy collector in the Government of British India.

Bankim Chandra is widely regarded as a key figure in literary renaissance of Bengal as well as India.^[4] Some of his writings, including novels, essays and commentaries, were a breakaway from traditional verse-oriented Indian writings, and provided an inspiration for authors across India.

When Bipin Chandra Pal decided to start a patriotic journal in August 1906, he named it Vande Mataram, after Bankim Chandra's song. Lala Lajpat Rai also published a journal of the same name.

Bankim Chandra was born in the village Kanthalpara in the town of North 24 Parganas, Near Naihati,in an orthodox Bengali Brahmin family, the youngest of three brothers, to Yadav (or Jadab) Chandra Chattopadhyaya and Durgadebi. His family was orthodox, and his father, a government official who went on to become the Deputy Collector ofMidnapur. One of his brothers, Sanjeeb Chandra Chattopadhyay, was also a novelist and his known for his famous book "Palamau".

He was educated at the Hooghly Mohsin College founded by philanthropist Muhammad Mohsin and later at the Presidency College, graduating with a degree in Arts [Law] in 1857. He was one of the first two graduates of the University of Calcutta.^[6] He later obtained a degree in Law as well, in 1869.

He was appointed as Deputy Collector, just like his father, of Jessore, Chattopadhyay went on to become a Deputy Magistrate, retiring from government service in 1891. His years at work were peppered with incidents that brought him into conflict with the ruling British. However, he was made a Companion, Order of the Indian Empire in 1894.

Bankim Chandra, following the model ofIshwarchandra Gupta, began his literary career as a writer of verse. His majestic talents showed him other directions, and turned to fiction. His first attempt was a novel in Bengali submitted for a declared prize. He did not win the prize, and thenovelette was never published. His first fiction to appear in print was Rajmohan's Wife. It was written in English and was probably a translation of the novelette submitted for the prize.^{[citation needed]}Durgeshnondini, his first Bengali romance and the first ever novel in Bengali, was published in 1865.

Kapalkundala (1866) is Chattopadhyay's first major publication. The heroine of this novel, named after the mendicant woman in Bhavabhuti's Malatimadhava, is modelled partly after Kalidasa's Shakuntala and partly after Shakespeare's Miranda. However, the partial similarities are only inferential analysis by critics, and Chattopadhyay's heroine may be completely his original. He had chosen Dariapur in Contai Subdivision as the background of this famous novel.

His next romance, Mrinalini (1869), marks his first attempt to set his story against a larger historical context. This book marks the shift from Chattopadhyay's early career, in which he was strictly a writer of romances, to a later period in which he aimed to stimulate the intellect of the Bengali speaking people and bring about a cultural renaissance of Bengali literature. He started publishing a monthly literary magazineBangadarshan in April 1892, the first edition of which was filled almost entirely with his own work. The magazine carried serialised novels, stories, humorous sketches, historical and miscellaneous essays, informative articles, religious discourses, literary criticisms and reviews. Vishabriksha (The Poison Tree, 1873) is the first novel of Bankim Chandra that appeared serially in Bangodarshan.

Bangodarshan went out of circulation after 4 years. It was later revived by his brother, Sanjeeb Chandra Chattopadhyay.

Bankim Chandra's next major novel was Chandrasekhar (1877), which contains two largely unrelated parallel plots. Although the scene is once shifted back to eighteenth century, the novel is not historical. His next novel was Rajani (1877), which features an autobiographical plot, with a blind girl in the title role. Autobiographical plots had been used in Wilkie Collins' "A Woman in White", and a precedent for blind girl in a central role existed in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Nydia in "The Last Days of Pompeii", though the similarities of Rajani with these publications end there. In Krishnakanter Will(Krishnakanta's Will, 1878) Chattopadhyay produced a complex plot.It was a brilliant depiction of the contemporary India, lifestyle and corruption,In that complexity, critics saw resemblance to Western novels. The plot is somewhat akin to that of Poison Tree.

One of the many novels of Bankim Chandra that are entitled to be termed as historical fiction is Rajsimha (1881, rewritten and enlarged 1893). Anandamath (The Abbey of Bliss, 1882) is a political novel which depicts a Sannyasi (Hindu ascetic) army fighting the British soldiers. The book calls for the rise of Hindu nationalism to uproot the foreign British rule and attain self rule. The novel was also the source of the songVande Mataram (I worship my Motherland for she truly is my mother) which, set to music by Rabindranath Tagore, was taken up by many Indian nationalists, and is now the National Song of India. The plot of the novel is loosely set on the Sannyasi Rebellion. The novel first appeared in serial form in Bangadarshan, the literary magazine that Bankim founded in 1872.

Bankim Chandra's next novel, Devi Chaudhurani, was published in 1884. His final novel, Sitaram (1886), tells the story of a local Hindu lord, torn between his wife and the woman he desires but unable to attain, makes a series of blunders and takes arrogant, self-destructive decisions. Finally, he must confront his self and motivate the few loyal soldiers that stand between his estate and the Muslim Nabab's army about to take over.

Bankim Chandra's humorous sketches are his best known works other than his novels.Kamalakanter Daptar (From the Desk of Kamalakanta, 1875; enlarged asKamalakanta, 1885) contains half humorous and half serious sketches. Kamalakanta is an opium-addict, similar to De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, but Bankim Chandra goes much beyond with his deft handling of sarcastic, political messages that Kamalakanta delivers.

Bankim Chandra's commentary on the Gita was published eight years after his death and contained his comments up to the 19th Verse of Chapter 4. Through this work, he attempted to reassure Hindus who were increasingly being exposed to Western ideas. His belief was, that there was "No serious hope of progress in India except in Hinduism-reformed,regenerated and purified". He wrote an extensive commentary on two verses in particular-2.12 and 2.13-which deal with the immortality of the soul and its reincarnation

Critics, like Pramathnath Bishi, consider Bankim Chandra as the best novelist in Bangla literature. Their belief is that few writers in world literature have excelled in both philosophy and art as Bankim has done. They have felt that in a colonised nation Bankim could not overlook politics. He was one of the first intellectuals who wrote in a British colony, accepting and rejecting the status at the same time. Bishi also rejects the division of Bankim in 'Bankim the artist' and 'Bankim the moralist' – for Bankim must be read as a whole. The artist in Bankim cannot be understood unless you understand him as a moralist and vice versa..

He was married at a very young of age of eleven, he had a son from his first wife, she died in 1859. He later married Rajalakshmi Devi. They had three daughters.

412. Bangshidhar Kar (1925-1942), 413.Bangshidhar Bar,

Bangshidhar Kar was born in Midnapore in 1925. He died in police firing in Railway Camp when he was picketing there during Quit India Movement.

Bangshidhar Bar born in Midnapore and died in Belbani while participating in Quit India movement in 1942.

411. Phulrenu Guha, Dr. (1911-2006)

PHULRENU GUHA (1911-2006)

Phulrenu Guha was a freedom fighter and revolutionary. She was born on 13 August 1911 in Calcutta ( originally they hailed from Barisal, Bangladesh)and was educated at Calcutta University (M.A.), London University and the Sorbonne (D.Litt) in Paris. She worked as a social activist at the age 12 in her school days.She first joined the Jugantar Party at the age of fifteen in 1926. Jugantar belonged to the radical end of the spectrum of political groups working towards Independence. There she met her future husband Biresh Chandra Guha, who had joined the Jugantar Party even younger, and who had completed his M.Sc. in organic chemistry in 1925 and begun working under Prafulla Chandra Ray. In about 1928, Biresh Chandra left for England while Phulrenu joined the Sorbonne in Paris. Neither were to return to India till about 1932. Biresh Chandra was working with Sir Jack Drummond and Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins in London and Cambridge and helping to discover vitamins.

On their return to India, the Guhas were caught up in the Non-Cooperation Movement, and Biresh Chandra was jailed, leaving Phulrenu, undaunted, to fight alone. Phulrenu was part of the effort to relieve the distressed during the Bengal Famine in 1941-43 and she also strove to restore communal harmony at Noakhali. From 1943 to 1944 she was Secretary of the Women’s Section of the Azad Hind Relief Committee. Like Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (q.v.) she understood that the first priority after Partition had to be the rehabilitation and succour of the displaced, especially women and children. Phulrenu and Biresh Chandra Guha were married on 17 July 1945, many years after they had first met. After Independence Phulrenu threw herself into nation-building. She served various State and Central Government organisations in different capacities. She was Chairperson of the Task Force on Child Welfare Committee of Planning Commission, Government of India, from 1971 to 1972 and of the Committee on Status of Women in India from 1972 to 1975. She was also president of the Indian Council of Child Welfare from 1970 to 1973. In 1977 she was awarded the Padma Bhushan. She was a Member of the Lok Sabha from 1964 to 1970. She served as Minister of State for Social Welfare from March, 1967 to February, 1969 and Law from February, 1969 to June, 1970. She was a formidable debater and a person of very sharp intelligence and good sense. She died at the age of 95, in an old age home she had founded herself, and also publicly donated much of her wealth and possessions to Calcutta University to set up the B.C. Guha Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

Phulrenu Guha

She joined her teaching profession in the field of adult literacy. She  helped in founding many educational Institutions.She was a secretary of United  Council for Relief and Welfare (UCRW) since its formation ind in Indian Council for Child Welfare.She was secretary in All India Womens federation and Vice-Chairperson for two  years. She won Padmabhusan and was awardwd with Tagore Award for Adult Literacy. 

410. Phanindranath Mukhopadhyay (1897-1981)

Phanindranath Mukhopadhyay was born in Agarpara, 24-Parganas, in 1897.He was a social activist, a Journalist, and a Litterateur. He is best known as an editor of "Bharatbarsha" [ now non-existent]. He served in that post for 35 years.

{Bharatvarsa  a Bangla journal originally edited by the famous dramatist dwijendralal roy (1863-1913). The journal appeared in June 1913 (1 Asadh, 1320 BS). Phanindranath Mukhopadhyay edited the journal for a long time.

From the very first issue, the Bharatvarsa created a sensation by publishing six multi-coloured plates of drawings by eminent painters. The fields covered in subsequent issues include literature, science, fine arts, religion, philosophy, history and archaeology. Novels, short stories, drama, poetry, lyrics, travel, reviews etc were its regular features.

From the very first issue, one of the popular sections was ‘Photography’. Many rare photographs with editorial notes were published in this section. Sections like Sports, Women, Children, Cinema, Literary news, current news (both national and international), Cartoon were added from time to time. Besides books, Gramophone records were regularly reviewed.

The Bharatvarsa played an important role in the development of Bangla language and literature.sharat chandra chattopadhyaya (most of his novels were serialised in it), tarashankar bandyopadhyaya, bibhutibhushan bandyopadhyaya, Banaphool (balaichand mukhopadhyay), Premendra Mitra, Narain Gangopadhyaya, Samaresh Bose, Ashapurna Devi, Annadashankar Roy,jasimuddin were regular contributors to the Bharatvarsa. Linguist suniti kumar chatterji, historianramesh chandra majumdar, archaeologist rakhaldas bandyopadhyay, scientist prafulla chandra ray and meghnad saha, criminologist Panchanan Ghosal, magician pc sorcar wrote numerous articles in the journal.

The journal was so popular that many libraries contain complete sets, but its complete index is yet to be published.  [Indrajit Chaudhuri]}

He was a follower of Bipin Behari Gangulee in his student life. He participated in Non-cooperation movement in 1921.He accompanied Gandhiji as an interpreter during his visit to East Bengal in 1925. He was an editor of "Banglar Katha" daily paper founded by Subhas Chandra in 1927.He joined Quit India movement in 1942. He became Presiden of Barrackpore Congress Committee in 1946 and was elected in Assembly Seat there in 1952. His active participation to the service of flood victims of North Bengal attracted the sight of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy.   

409. Phanibhusan Majumdar (11902-1981)

From left: Syed Nazrul Islam, Phani Bhushan Majumder, Tajuddin Ahmed and M Amir-Ul Islam in an occasion during the height of independence days 1971.

Majumdar, Phanibhushan (1901-1982)  politician. Born in 1901 at village Sendia in Rajoir upazila of Madaripur district. His father was Satish Chandra Majumdar. Phanibhushan Majumdar passed matriculation examination from Madaripur HE School, ISc from Bankura College and BA from Vidyasagar College in Kolkata. He obtained law degree from Ripon College, Kolkata.

 While he was a student in Madatripur School, he along with Hem Chandra Ghosh, Panchanan Chakrabarty etc 9 friends formed a revolutionary Party. He again formed a strong centre for revolutionary activity in South Calcutta area with some of his friend of the previous Dal. He was among those rebellion who revolted against the leaders of Anushilan Samity and Jugantar Dal in the same uear of 1928, after the Congress session.  

Phanibhushan Majumdar was involved in active politics since his student days. He joined the Biplobi Party in 1919 and worked as an activist of the secret unit of the party. He was an active worker of the Madaripur Peace Force in 1925. He was arrested in 1930 for his political activities and was kept confined till 1938. After his release Phanibhushan Majumdar had active role in the formation of Madaripur Voluntary Force in 1938. He was a close associate of Netaji subhas chandra bose and was nominated as the secretary of Bengal Forward Bloc in 1938. He took active role in the Anti-Compromise Conference held in Ramgarh, Bihar. He had close relation with Subhas Chandra Bose.  (Holwell monument)Holwell had erected a tablet on the site of the 'Black Hole' to commemorate the victims but, at some point before 1822 (the precise date is uncertain), [it disappeared.Lord Curzon, on becoming Viceroy in 1899, noticed that there was nothing to mark the spot and commissioned a new monument, mentioning the prior existence of Holwell's; it was erected in 1901 at the corner of Dalhousie Square, which is said to be the site of the 'Black Hole'. At the apex of the Indian independence movement, the presence of this monument in Calcutta was turned into a nationalist cause celebre. Nationalist leaders like Subhas Chandra Bose lobbied energetically for its removal. The Congress and the Muslim League joined forces in the anti-monument movement. As a result, Abdul Wasek Mia of Nawabganj thana (now in Bangladesh), a student leader of that time led the removal of the monument from Dalhousie Square in July 1940. The monument was re-erected in the graveyard of St John's Church, where it remains to this day.]
		He was again arrested in 1940 for participating in the movement for removal of Halwell Monument under the leadership of Netaji Subhas Bose and was arrested in 1940 along with Subhas Chandra Bose.He was released in 1946.

He became one of the Secretary of Forward Bloc after its formation by Subhas Chandra Bose. After being released in 1946 he took the lead role in establishing communal harmony in Madaripur.   Phanibhushan Majumdar founded the Madaripur Sub-division Weavers’ Cooperative Society in 1948. For his active role in the initial stage of the language movement, he was arrested and kept confined in 1948 and later between 1949 and 1953. He was associated with the Awami Muslim League since its inception in 1949 and remained one of the member of Presidium till his death.. Majumdar was elected a member of the provincial assembly in 1954 from Madaripur-Gopalganj constituency as a candidate of the united front. He was arrested after the promulgation of martial law in 1958 and was kept confined till 1962. He was once again arrested in 1965 under the Pakistan Security Act and was released during the mass-movement of 1969.

Phanibhushan Majumdar was elected a member of the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly as a candidate of the Awami League in 1970. He was the chairman of the regional council for south-western region-2 (Jessore-Faridpur) during the liberation war of 1971. He visited different regions of India to create public opinion in favour of independent Bangladesh, and had an occasion to speak in the Indian Parliament (Loka Sabha).

Phanibhushan Majumdar was included in the cabinet of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1972 in charge of the Ministry of Food. He was elected a member of the Jatiya Sangsad in 1973 as a candidate of Awami League and once again was included in the cabinet as Food Minister. Later, he was given the charge of the Ministry of Land Administration and Land Reforms. He was the minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives in the cabinet of Khondakar Mostaq Ahmad. He was arrested in the martial law regime in 1977. Majumdar was elected a member of the Jatiya Sangsad in 1979 as a candidate of Awami League. He was a member of the presidium of the Awami League. He died on 31 October 1982.  He suffered 32 years jail life for his political activies.

408. Phanibhasan Nandy ( ?-1937)

Phanibhasan Nandy was born in Chittagong. He fought with British army in Chittagong Armoury Raid, Jalalabad fight, Ka;larpole Fight. While he was in underground he attacked the area of Chittagong where the Europeans lived and was arrested in 5.5.1930 during exchanges with the police. He was sent to Andaman being convicted as life-imprisonment.He was brought after being attacked with TB and died in Alipore Centre Jail.

 .

Detached from the main body of the insurgents the absconders in small groups planned for attacking individual centres of power of the Government. One such small party consisting of six young boys, viz., SWADESH RAY, RAJAT SEN, DEBAPRASAD GUPTA, MANORANJAN SEN and two others started from their place of hiding, took a shampan on May 6, 1930, to reach the European Club for an attack.

The news of suspicious movements of some men in a shampan on the Karnafuli reached the Kotwali P.S. and some officers with a number of armed men rushed in a boat and followed the shampan which landed the young men at Lamboor Hat.

    When the police boat had reached the middle of the stream a torch was flashed on them. The pursued reached the other side of the river and the police could see five or six such men receding from the bank towards Kalarpole.

The villagers including the President of the Union Board, a Mohamdan, noticed some six men hurriedly passing along the village road. They were variously dressed and each seemed to have a pistol in his hand. The runaways were closely followed by the villagers and challenged at odd crossings. They fired a few shots to avoid arrest which accidentally killed two men at an interval of a few minutes.

      Two persons, one of whom was Phanindra Nandy, were apprehended, by the villagers. A constable, Prasanna Barua, in trying to arrest one of those men was shot from the effects of which he died on May 9, just after midnight. The four others who now could be clearly seen proceeded towards east through the field as persons had then been streaming from the west. The race continued and in the meantime a large armed police contingent reached the place under a high police official. As the chase continued men came along the track in driblets and a fairly big crowd proceeded by the route covered by the fugitives. 'The police party reached a place called Julda, where they were shown a clump of bamboos or a bamboo grove where four persons were seen lying on the ground very close to each other.

A little before daybreak, at Samirpur village, there was sharp exchange of shots for, a short while and firing from the bamboo grove completely stopped. At dawn when the police reached the place of shelter taken by the young men and found three of them Debaprasad, Rajat and Manoranjan already dead and the fourth man Swadesh in dying condition. He was arrested but could evade all further troubles as death came handy to him within a few hours of his arrest.

    It was found that in addition to other injuries almost every one pi them had some homicidal wounds indicating that they had preferred death with their own weapons to falling captives in the hands of the police. All these boys had participated in the Great Raid of April 18, 1930, that had made history in another field of battle. Swadesh and Manoranjan had share in the attack on the police Line and Rajat, on the Auxiliary Force Armoury.

In the case that was instituted by the Government against the two persons arrested at Kalarpole together with ten others as conspirators, judgment was delivered on March 1, 1932, and all the twelve accused were sentenced to transportation for life.

Source - Roll of Honour - Copy right -Author Kali Charan Ghosh.