Chitta Ranjan Part 1

Chitta Ranjan.

by Suk.u.mar Ranjan Das.

CHAPTER I.

Family Connections and Early Life.

Encircled by the rivers Padma and Meghna lies the famous land of Bikrampur, once the pride of Eastern Bengal and the cynasure of the whole of Hindusthan. In its days of prosperity it not only supplied many fashionable articles of fine taste to the people of the East but also attracted scholars from all parts of India as it was then one of the greatest centres of culture of the Hindus. Round the land of Bikrampur sailed down the river Padma many a vessel loaded with merchandise when in its palmy days it carried on trade with Ceylon, Sumatra and Arabia.

In this land of learning and culture was born the great Brahmin prince Silavadra who was the teacher of the Chinese traveller Hiant-Chuang.

It is this Bikrampur which can claim to be the birth-place of Dipankar Srignan, the great teacher of atheism. Here was also born Biravadra, the highest prelate of the famous Buddhist Temple at Nalanda. Lastly towards the beginning and end of the nineteenth century many a n.o.ble son of Bikrampur played a great part in the religious reform of the Brahmo Samaj and in the national awakening of the Swadeshi days.

In this land of Bikrampur there is a small village called Telirbag which is the ancestral home of Srijut Chitta Ranjan Das. He comes of a respectable Vaidya-family of Eastern Bengal. His great-grand-father Babu Ratan Krishna Das was highly respected for his charity and benevolence. Chitta Ranjan's grand-father, Babu Jagadbandhu Das was the eldest son of Ratan Krishna. Jagadbandhu was the senior Government pleader of Rajshahi and had an extensive practice. He earned a good deal but spent even the last farthing in allaying the distress of his poor relations and neighbours. His charity was proverbial in Bikrampur. He maintained a guest-house in his village and was very keen about its proper management. There runs a very interesting story of his unique zeal about this guest-house. One day it occurred to him that he should see if his servants of the guest-house performed their duties regularly. He at once set out in a boat and reached his native village just at midnight. He then sent a man to the manager of the guest-house to enquire if there would be board and lodging for a fatigued stranger. The servants in charge of the house were much annoyed as they were just then going to sleep after their usual hard work and did not care to entertain a guest at such a late hour. At this Jagadbandhu's anger knew no bounds, he came there immediately and severely scolded his servants warning them for the future. Jagadbandhu was also very kind-hearted. There are many instances of his goodness of which we shall here relate only one. In his old age one day Jagadbandhu was going to a distant village in a palanquin; on the way he noticed an old worn-out Brahmin trudging along the road barefooted.

Jagadbandhu was much moved, he got down and asked the Brahmin to take his seat in the palanquin. Thereupon he himself walked the whole distance covering over three miles. Besides, Jagadbandhu was a poet and a patron of learning. His verses on some of the sacramental rites are still read with admiration in every Hindu house of Eastern Bengal; their pathos and sentiment are no less admired by all lovers of poetry. These n.o.ble qualities of the grand-father--his hospitality, benevolence and poetic endowment came down to Chitta Ranjan as a natural heritage.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Chitta Ranjan's father Babu Bhuban Mohan Das, was a well-known Attorney of the Calcutta High Court. For a great part of his life he was connected with Bengali journalism. As editor, first, of the Brahmo Public Opinion and subsequently of the Bengal Public opinion, he made a very high position for himself among Bengalee journalists. His style was simple and lucid, and his manner of exposition was so forcible that it was rare even in more successful periodicals of those days.

His courage and truthfulness were exemplary. Once in his capacity as editor of the Bengal Public Opinion he severely criticised in his paper a judgment delivered by one of the Judges of the Calcutta High Court. As luck would have it, shortly after this, Bhuban Mohan had to file an appeal before the same Judge on behalf of an accused on whom the sentence of death was pa.s.sed by the Sessions Court. The Honourable Judge showed signs of indifference for the appeal. Bhuban Mohan with his high sense of duty had the courage to remind the Judge that even if His Lordship had any personal feeling against him, he still hoped to get adequate justice for a poor accused whose life was trembling in the balance. These spirited words had the desired effect. The Judge was highly pleased and acquitted the accused after an impartial review of the case.

Bhuban Mohan was a sincere patriot and had always the welfare of his country at heart. Like many English-educated Bengalees of his generation, he threw himself heart and soul into the Brahmo Samaj movement.

Bhuban Mohan's Brahmo faith was but the development of the monotheistic element in Hinduism. His Brahmoism was but a spiritual form of the religion taught by the Hindu Sastras. He did not believe in Idolatry it is true, but he was no less a Hindu than the followers of the Sastras. He showed in word and act, that his Theism was not an exotic, planted and watered by the licentiousness of European influences, but a plant of native growth rescued out by the men of his school from the thorns and thistles of popular Hinduism that choked it.

His personal life and more particularly in his dealings with his Hindu relatives, he belonged to the old Hindu type. His sincerity, generosity and modesty were things very rare in this selfish world. As an attorney he earned a good deal, but spent whatever he earned for the support of his poorer relatives. Indeed he spent upon them more than his finance allowed and consequently got involved in heavy liabilities. He was not a slave to fashion nor did he spend his earnings recklessly. Yet he was forced, during the closing years of his professional life, to take refuge in the Insolvency Court. This was mostly due to the treacherous way of the world. There are some people amongst us who find delight in deceiving others in any way possible. Bhuban Mohan was not in want of such lip-deep friends who were good enough to relieve him of much of his earnings as a return for the many benefits they derived from Bhuban Mohan. His elder brother Babu Durga Mohan Das who was one of the leading Vakils of the Calcutta High Court, spent his all to free him from heavy debts. But as fate would have it, he had to get himself declared as an Insolvent.

This turn of fortune weighed heavily on Bhuban Mohan's mind and caused the break down of his health.

Bhuban Mohan's eldest brother, Babu Kali Mohan Das, was noted for his courage and uprightness. In his most brilliant career at the Bar which was unfortunately cut short by death, we get an unique account of his spirited championship for truth and justice. We shall here give only one instance from among many. Once in a civil suit before Justice Louis Jackson who was known to be a man of an irritable temper Kali Mohan was arguing some law-points which the learned Judge failed to be convinced of. Kali Mohan was annoyed and remarked that he was surprised to see that His Lordship could not understand in two hours what any of his first year law-students would in half an hour. His Lordship was highly offended and said in a fury that he would refer Kali Mohan's conduct to the Chief Justice and if his argument was considered to be wrong, his Lordship would disbar Kali Mohan. His many friends at the bar advised him to make an apology but Kali Mohan was firm and if it was his fate to be disbarred he would rather earn his livelihood by serving as a school-master than submit to the ignominy of an apology. Sir Charles Barnes Peac.o.c.k, the then Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, gave his verdict in favour of Kali Mohan when the case was referred to him and Kali Mohan came out honourably acquitted. The n.o.ble example of Bhuban Mohan's liberality, Durga Mohan's self-less philanthropy and Kali Mohan's uprightness went a great way towards shaping the future character of Chitta Ranjan.

Chitta Ranjan was born at Calcutta on the 5th of November 1870.

Shortly afterwards Bhuban Mohan came to stay at Bhowanipur and Chitta Ranjan was admitted into the London Missionary Society School whence he pa.s.sed the Entrance Examination in 1886. He was subsequently educated in the Presidency College and took his degree in 1890. He was much disappointed with the result as he narrowly missed Honours in the B. A. Examination. However he sailed for England to qualify himself for the Indian Civil Service. From his boyhood he was rather deficient in Mathematics and therefore with all his proficiency in literature he could not secure high position in the University examinations. But Chitta Ranjan gave considerable promise of exceptional literary and oratorical gifts even when he was a student in the Presidency College. The habit of making speeches grew upon him even in his boyhood when he would gather his friends and playmates in his house and begin to deliver a speech imitating the voice and posture of an orator to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of his people. Professors and fellow-students at college all hoped that he would one day turn out as one of the most powerful speakers of India. This hope has amply been justified.

Chitta Ranjan went to England and began to prepare for the Indian Civil Service. At that time the late Dr. Dadabhai Naoroji was trying to get himself elected a member of Parliament from Finsbury so that he might personally state Indian grievances before the British Parliament. Chitta Ranjan had then just appeared in the Civil Service Examination, but the result was not yet out. He came to Dadabhai's a.s.sistance and made some political speeches in connection with the Electioneering Campaign. Some of the speeches were very favourably noticed by the English and the Indian press.

While in England, deeply versed in the literature of western countries, Chitta Ranjan grew a thorough-bred Englishman in dress and manners. But not-with-standing all this he was a true Indian at heart.

A single instance from Chitta Ranjan's life in England would justify this remark. In 1892 when Chitta Ranjan was still in England one Mr.

James Maclean, a member of Parliament, while delivering a lecture, pa.s.singly remarked that Indian Mahammadans were slaves and the Hindus were indentured slaves. This offensive remark wounded the feelings of young Chitta Ranjan. He at once set about in convening a meeting of all the Indians in England. The Indians a.s.sembled in Exeter Hall where Chitta Ranjan made a powerful speech protesting against the conduct of Mr. Maclean. The city of London was in a state of excitement over this matter and the leading journals of London in commenting on the speech of Chitta Ranjan gave a prominent place to the subject of the meeting.

The Liberals in London convened a huge meeting at Oldham under the Presidentship of Gladstone where Chitta Ranjan was invited to make a speech on Indian affairs. In a speech on "Indian Agitation" he gave a powerful display of his oratorical gifts and love of mother-land. In that huge a.s.sembly he stood erect and boldly said:--

"Gentlemen, I was sorry to find it given expression to in Parliamentary speeches on more than one occasion that England conquered India by the sword and by the sword must she keep it!

(shame) England, Gentlemen! did no such thing, it was not her swords and bayonet that won for her this vast and glorious empire; it was not her military valour that achieved this triumph; it was in the main a moral victory or a moral triumph. (cheers) England might well be proud of it. But to attribute all this to the sword and then to argue that the policy of sword is the only policy that ought to be pursued in India is to my mind absolutely base and quite unworthy of an Englishman." (Hear, hear)

In the same speech he also remarked:--

"We now find the base Anglo-Indian policy of tyranny; the policy of irritation and more irritation, of repression and more repression; the policy which has been beautifully described by one of its advocates as the policy of pure and unmitigated force."

The result of this agitation was that Mr. James Maclean had to submit an apology and was forced to resign his seat in Parliament.

But all this opened the eyes of the Bureaucratic Government by whom Chitta Ranjan was not considered fit for the Civil Service and though he came out successful in the open compet.i.tive examination, his name was chucked off from the list of probationers. Even now in many a table talk he speaks of this event and says with a smile--"I came out first in the unsuccessful list." Chitta Ranjan's near relations were mortified at his failure, for at that time his father was involved in heavy liabilities and was pa.s.sing his days in mental agony. During Chitta Ranjan's stay in England the whole family were put in such pecuniary embarra.s.sments that for want of proper allowance from home he had to live upon hot water and a piece of bread for a couple of days together. For this reason his well-wishers thought that it would have been a great help to his family if he could secure a lucrative post under Government, on the other hand it required patient waiting even for a brilliant scholar to make a name at the bar. However Chitta Ranjan joined the Inner Temple and was called to the Bar in the early nineties.

It was no doubt a great gain for the country that Chitta Ranjan could not get into the "Heaven-Born service". For once a Civilian, he would have exerted all his powers to reach the highest rung of the ladder and could have found no opportunity of ever mixing with his countrymen and of working for their welfare. Happily, Providence wished it, and mother India was not deprived of the services of a patriotic son who would in future lay his all at her feet.

CHAPTER II.

Choice of profession and career as a lawyer.

In the year 1893 Chitta Ranjan came back to India and joined the Calcutta Bar. The profession of law was not to his taste, for his literary talents dictated him to take up the role of a teacher. But the consideration of the heavy liabilities of his father left him no other alternative. He thought that in the legal profession alone was there any chance of clearing off his paternal debts. To choose a profession is always a perplexing business and it was doubly so in the case of Chitta Ranjan. It is especially perplexing if to choose a profession means to discover one's own capability and to do the work one is fitted to undertake in life. "How unfold one's little bit of talent; and live, and not lie sleeping while it is called To-day."

That is the great problem. But it occurs only to those who are troubled with a sense of duty and not to those whose ambition is to "get on". It was therefore no small embarra.s.sment for Chitta Ranjan to choose the legal profession.

Within a short time of his joining the Calcutta Bar, Chitta Ranjan took upon himself the responsibility of all his father's debts; but as a newly enrolled Barrister, he earned very little and therefore could not hope to clear the heavy debts of his father immediately. This forced him at the very commencement of his professional career to join his father in seeking the protection of the Insolvency court. It was not because he wished to get rid of the liabilities but in the absence of any other alternative he declared himself as an Insolvent which act weighed heavily on his mind and was the source of much uneasiness.

However it was not only a filial duty, but a point of honour with Chitta Ranjan to share the indignity with his father. This was the first instance of Chitta Ranjan's honesty and uprightness during his professional career.

The first stage of a professional career is very tormenting. There lies all around only palpable darkness where occasionally beams forth the flickering light of hope. At that time the whole future life appears to be a desert where the faint ray of hope glimmers like a mirage. But it is almost unconceivable how tormenting must have been the state of mind when over and above this uncertainty there was the uneasiness arising from heavy liabilities and consequent loss of social prestige. But one thing haunted his mind day and night and caused him the greatest pain. By his insolvency he was very seriously handicapped not only in his professional but also in his public life.

But for it, Chitta Ranjan would have long ago thrown himself into all political and patriotic movements of his country and won the position of leadership which has now fallen upon him and to which he was ent.i.tled by his capacity, patriotism and uncommon talents.

Though his exceptional abilities were universally recognised, from the very beginning of his career, as a member of the High Court Bar, he could not secure adequate scope for them for a good many years; pecuniary struggles forced him to abandon the chances of a successful practice in the High Court for the mofussil practice which is more profitable to a junior Barrister. Indeed at that time he was put into such pecuniary difficulties that he could not even meet his house-hold expenses with all his exertions and on many an occasion he had to walk the whole way to the court for want of tramfare. But his was a spirit which the frowns of adversity could not daunt. By dint of energy and perseverance he pushed on and on till at last he became one of the most prominent and honoured members of the Bar. True genius does not long remain concealed, it waits for an opportune moment to reveal itself. Chitta Ranjan's genius as a lawyer waited for such an opportunity and in no time manifested itself before the admiring gaze or the public.

The years 1907 and 1908 are ever memorable in the history of Bengal.

The current of a new spirit had flowed in, inundating every nook and corner of the province. The soul of the nation became awake. A divine touch had just broken the eternal sleep of the nation. Lashed into action by the high-handed measures of Lord Curzon, the lethargy of the people died away, they tried for the first time to stand upon their own legs and boldly face the world without fear of death. In an evil moment Lord Curzon sanctioned the part.i.tion of Bengal against the united voice of the people. This led to the manifestation of a new spirit in Bengal. A heavy out-burst of Anti-European feeling followed; a strong hatred against every form of Europeanism, a revengeful att.i.tude to their commerce and industry, a growing apathy to everything a.s.sociated with them, led to the repudiation or abandoning immediate Anglicised past, and a new spirit entered into politics and created a mighty and dynamic yearning towards a truly national future.

This had for its realisation at its basis Swaraj, National Education and Boycott.

Persecutions were inaugurated by the Bureaucratic Government. On the third of May 1908 in the still hours of night Srijut Aravinda Ghosh, the leader of the national movement of Bengal, along with other brilliant young men were arrested on a charge of being implicated in a conspiracy against the established government. Evidence of all sorts was piled up by the prosecuting counsel. At this critical moment Providence sent Chitta Ranjan to take up the case in defence of Aravinda and other accused. The prosecution dragged on for more than a year. For this long period Chitta Ranjan conducted the defence case at a great personal sacrifice. This celebrated conspiracy case pushed Chitta Ranjan into the fore front of the Calcutta Bar. For more than six months he was engaged in this case, and even for his house-hold expenses during these months, he had to incur a large debt. The acquittal of Aravinda at once raised the reputation of Chitta Ranjan in the eyes of his countrymen. After this he took up the defence of the famous Dacca Conspiracy case without charging any fees at a great personal loss and also volunteered to defend the boycott cases of Bengal earning thereby the lasting grat.i.tude of the whole nation.

Providence also rewarded him amply for his good work and from the very day that he came back to take up the broken threads of his High Court practice, he found himself on the high road to both fame and wealth.

We have already said that under peculiar circ.u.mstances Chitta Ranjan was forced to take shelter in the Insolvency Court. But it was never his intention to deceive his creditors and no one could with propriety ascribe this motive to Chitta Ranjan who spent his earnings right and left for allaying the distress of the needy and the poor. Consequently as soon as he found his position in the legal profession secure, Chitta Ranjan's first thought was to remove the stain of insolvency from his father's name and his own and he started to pay off every pie of those old debts. "This is the first time", said Mr. Justice Fletcher, "that a discharged insolvent publicly accepted his old liabilities and applied for a formal discharge of his insolvency."

This unusual act of strict uprightness raised Chitta Ranjan Das to the position of a great moral hero.

During his professional career Chitta Ranjan conducted many cases.

Since the release of Aravinda he was engaged in almost all the note-worthy cases of the High Court and of the mofussil on one side or the other, his daily fees exceeding a thousand rupees. His reputation as a profound lawyer spread even outside Bengal. In the long-drawn Dumraon Raj case he has all along been engaged on the side of the Dumraon Raj. When Mr. Vaidya, the then secretary of the Home Rule League in the Central Provinces was sentenced to eighteen months'

rigorous imprisonment, Chitta Ranjan went to Nagpur to defend him. Mr.

Vaidya was acquitted and Chitta Ranjan became very popular in the Central Provinces. On the acquittal of Mr. Vaidya, Chitta Ranjan addressed many meetings on Swaraj and although he earned nothing in the case, he gave a large donation to the local Home Rule League. The citizens of Nagpur as a mark of deep grat.i.tude and respect presented to him an address in a silver casket. After a few months of this case Chitta Ranjan went to Rangoon to defend Dr. Mehta and his co-workers in the national cause who were convicted under the Defence of India Act. Mr. Das addressed the court on the illegality of the Act itself securing thereby the release of Dr. Mehta and others. Shortly after this he was engaged by the Kutubdia Internees at Chittagong. Those young men were kept in a house infested with serpents and they were compelled to fly away for fear of death. But this was a grave offence in the eyes of the Government.

In all these cases Chitta Ranjan charged no fees, but conducted them with the utmost zeal. Whenever he was engaged in a case he made it a point to bring all his intelligence and capacity to bear on it. It was not rare in his life that he meditated on a case for hours together before coming to any conclusion. He would then be so deeply immersed in contemplation that he lost all external consciousness like a _Yogi_ wrapt in meditation upon something serene and divine.

He had often returned briefs of cases to which he thought he would not be able to give proper attention. Legally he was not bound to return the fees but moral scruples dictated him this course. For such acts of honesty he was much respected by the litigants. Often he had taken up the cases of the poor without charging them any fees and thereby earned the lasting grat.i.tude of his countrymen. It was for his honesty and integrity apart from his legal ac.u.men that the Government of India selected Chitta Ranjan from among the leading counsels of India to conduct the Munition Board case even when they knew him to be the leader of the extremist party in Bengal. At first Chitta Ranjan hesitated to represent the Crown and told the Government that unless he was allowed to follow the dictates of his conscience to the best interests of his country he would not accept the brief. When the Government agreed in all these conditions he gave his consent to the contract. The accused party knew that Chitta Ranjan had not yet received brief for the Crown, they came to his house, placed before him a cheque of several lacs and entreated him again and again to come to their defence. But Chitta Ranjan, true to his words, said with a smile, "Gentlemen, I am sorry I cannot comply with your request, when I have once given the Government my words of consent, I am morally bound to take up their case." The greedy merchants were taken aback at such indifference to money and faithfulness to his promise; they could not but admire this act of Chitta Ranjan, though they had to go away disappointed.

Throughout his professional career he showed courage and independence.

We shall here cite an instance of his uprightness. In a case at Noakhali one Mr. Cargil, the local magistrate, was an witness for the Crown. He was given a special seat in the Court. Chitta Ranjan was on the defence-side, his searching cross examinations annoyed Mr. Cargil who in an insulting tone called him "Babu." Chitta Ranjan would not tolerate this. He said with a retort "Mr. Cargil, you know that out of courtesy I have allowed you a special seat instead of making you stand in the witness box. I hope you will not fail to return the same courtesy to others." Chitta Ranjan was not made of such stuff as to bear any insult. Whenever there was any injustice done in a court, he would protest against it fearlessly and if it was not rectified he would leave the court unhesitatingly. It was for this reason that Chitta Ranjan left the court in the Dacca Conspiracy case when in spite of his protests the court was not just to his cause.

As a lawyer Chitta Ranjan earned a good deal. For the last three years his income was about fifty thousand rupees a month. Many are of opinion that no lawyer of India had ever earned so much. More over there is no doubt that his income would have been much enhanced if he could exclusively engage all his time in the legal profession. He took up the political cases almost without any fees and also served on the Punjab Enquiry Committee for more than four months at a great personal sacrifice. This unrivalled practice he has given up unhesitatingly at the call of his mother country.