By Sujata Jena

Bhubaneswar, Aug 10, 2023: Quite a few articles have been published to elucidate the role of Indian Christians in Indian freedom movement. However, little information on their struggle is available in public domain.

Numerous Christians from the eastern Indian state had played an active role in the freedom movement such as ‘Utkal Gaurav’ Madhusudan Das, Sailabala Das, Lal Mohan Patnaik, to ‘Rai Bahadur’ Samuel Das, Lakhma Jee Jachuck, Rajkishore Mohanty.

Information about all of them has been mentioned in the book Odia Christian Luminaries that has been authored by Prime Abhilas and Barendra Kumar and published by Unicorn Books, Delhi.

Lakhma Jee Jachuck was was born in 1871. He was popularly known as ‘Muni Aja’. After India gained independence, he was given the honor of hoisting the national flag for the first time at the residence of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, in Cuttack, old capital of Odisha.

Rajkishore Mohanty was born in a non-Christian family but later embraced Christianity. Being a nationalist, he used to wear khadi (handloom) clothes.

Lal Mohan Patnaik was former legislator who become the first speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly, from 1946 to1952. A devout Christian and an ardent nationalist, he wrote “Jeevan Champu” and several other books like “Resurrected Odisha.” He was born in 1891 in an Odia Zamindar family. He practiced law at Berhampur and later joined the Indian National Congress in 1921. He was also part of the movement for the formation of separate Odisha province by merging the Odia speaking tracts.

Samuel Das was bestowed with the “Rai Bahadur” title of honor during British rule in India. He was an Indian Civil Service officer who served as the secretary, head of Education and Health. He joined as a deputy magistrate in Odisha Civil Service and was responsible for making all legal arrangements for a separate Odisha province in the Patna secretariat where he was posted from 1932 to 1936.

He came to Odisha after the formation of Odisha province and was the district magistrate of Cuttack during the crucial “Quit India” days. During the World War II, he was the collector of Cuttack. Owing to his nationalist leanings and able administration no firing took place in Cuttack district. He played a key role in formation of Odisha (Orissa then) state. He was the first chairman of the Odisha Public Service Commission. He contributed to the framing of the Land Reform Act of Odisha, the first of its kind in India. He was a close associate of ‘Utkal Gaurav’ Madhusudan Das, the founder of Modern Odisha.

A Padma Shri awardee, social reformer and politician, Sailabala Das was the adopted daughter of ‘Utkal Gaurav’ Madhusudan Das. She was the first woman from Odisha to go to England for higher studies and the first woman from the state to be elected to the Rajya Sabha. She was the pioneer of women’s education in Odisha. In 1903, she formed the Utkal Young Men’s Association and the Utkal Young Women’s Association. She started a school to train Hindu widows as high school teachers.

On the political front, she started several branches of All India Women’s Conference. She established Odisha Nari Seba Sangha in 1941 for the social welfare of women. The Indian National Council for Women held its biennial conference in Cuttack, under her leadership. Das also became the first woman honorary magistrate of India, adjudicating over 600 cases a year.

In 1927, when Mahatma Gandhi visited Odisha, her father Madhusudan Das, asked her to escort the Mahatma during the visit. At her residence that night, Mahatma Gandhi asked her to introduce charkha to women of Odisha. She refused saying it was not the sole method of economic emancipation. Industrialization processes had their benefits too or else motor cars and watches should also be discarded, she argued.

India’s first President Rajendra Prasad had persuaded her to be a member of the Parliament and she was elected from Odisha to the Rajya Sabha in 1952. The Indian government awarded her Padma Shri in 1959. She was instrumental in the establishment of the first women’s college in Odisha at Cuttack, the main building of which was gifted by her. The college has been named Sailabala Women’s College.

The greatest Christian of Odisha, “Utkal Gourav” Madhusudan Das is regarded as the architect of modern Odisha who relentlessly toiled for the political, social and economic uplift of the people of the state. If Odisha is counted as a separate state in independent India, the credit should go to Madhu babu, as he was known.

He was a statesman, freedom fighter, legislator, lawyer, journalist and writer. Even Mahatma Gandhi described him as a great Indian patriot who wore himself out in giving shape and reality to various nation building schemes. He was the first graduate and first advocate of Odisha. He is widely regarded as the “Founder of Modern Odisha”.

One of the doyens of the freedom movement, he was given the sobriquets ‘Kulabrudha’ or grand old man and ‘Utkal Gourav’ (Pride of Odisha). Das was the personal tutor of Sir Ashutosh Mukherjee, former Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University and taught Janakinath Bose, father of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, at the Ravenshaw College, Cuttack.

He founded the ‘Utkal Sammilani’ which triggered a revolution in the political, social and industrial development of Odisha. As a result of his long political battle, the dream of a modern Odisha was realized on April 1, 1936. This day is celebrated as ‘Utkal Divas.’

He was the first Odia to become a member of both the Legislative Council and the Central Legislative Assembly of India. He was the first Odia minister and also the first Odia to sail overseas. He founded the ‘Utkal Tannery’, a factory manufacturing shoes and other leather products in 1905.

Earlier in 1897, he had founded the Orissa Art Ware Works. With his support, the silver filigree art of Cuttack rose to new heights. Some of his important poems include ‘Utkal Santan’, ‘Jati Itihash’ and ‘Jananira Ukti’.

(This is based on the book “Odia Christian Luminaries authored by Prime Abhilas and Barendra Kumar)