“Ekbar biday de Maa, ghure ashi” ~ History of martyr Kudiram Bose

 

Remembering the martyrdom of the youngest revolutionary

- Khudiram Bose 

Two things that we read in History books that needs deletion from our memory !!   (distorted truths)  :  1. British who ruled us were – kind, clement and cared about their subjects 2. Freedom was obtained by only Gandhi & Nehru without shedding blood !!   Fact remains that British were cruel and have been waging wars killing millions; also scores of Countries too got their freedom (but there are no Nehrus in their  History!) 

Blue Line, also known as North–South Metro, is a rapid transit metro line of the Kolkata Metro consisting  of 26 operational stations from Dakshineswar to Kavi Subhash – if you happen to travel by this – get down at this particular station, touch the soil and remember the Hero ! 

The   debates after celebrating ‘Quit India movement’ –   brought to fore – what we should be learning in Schools as History and whom we should  rever ? – the freedom at midnight was gotten not free or easily but due to sacrifices of those martyrs who underwent untold sufferings and yet remained without ever getting in the limelight.  The Nation should be learning the lives of such great people. 

I am no music aficionado  ~ may be some of you would have heard Lata Mangeshkar singing  the iconic patriotic song “Ekbar biday de Maa, ghure ashi” ("Bid me goodbye Mother") is a Bengali patriotic song written by Pitambar Das -

 

Mother bid me farewell once, I will be back soon.

Whole of India will watch me While I wear the noose smiling

With me I had a bomb I’d made

Waiting by the roadside O Mother

I went to kill the Governor

But killed some other poor Englander

Had I had a dagger on me

You think they could have caught me?

Would have made a blood bath

And the world would have watched how to fight … .. …. 

 

One would be moved to tears when we understand that this is in memory of the youngest revolutionary of this mother land who was just 18 years 8 months and 8 days old  ~ and he was hanged 117 years ago ! 

The boy (Great Man) -  Khudiram Bose was born on 3.12.1889 in the village of Mohoboni at Keshpur Block in Paschim Midnapore district of West Bengal. In 1902 and 1903, when Sri Aurobindo and Sister Nivedita respectively visited Medinipur and held a series of public lectures along with secret planning sessions with the revolutionary groups; Khudiram was among the teenage student community of the town which was fired up with a burning inspiration of revolution. It was from then that Khudiram took his first steps towards choosing the path that would make him a boy-martyr. At the young age of sixteen, Bose planted bombs near police stations and targeted government officials. He was arrested three years later on charges of conducting a series of bomb attacks.  

It was 1908, a time when India had nearly forgotten the great revolt of 1857, blatantly undermined as  the Sepoy Mutiny. The path taken by the revolutionaries of the 19^th  century had almost stopped echoing in the corners of a nation that had witnessed epic battles.  

In 1908, Bose and Prafulla Chaki [sad no history book mentions them] took upon themselves  to kill Muzzaffarpur district magistrate Kingsford.  Douglas Kingsford was the Chief Magistrate of the Presidency court of Alipore, and had overseen the trials of Bhupendranath Dutta and other editors of Jugantar, sentencing them to rigorous imprisonment. The defiance of Jugantar saw it face five more prosecutions that left it in financial ruins by 1908. Kingsford also earned notoriety among nationalists when he ordered the whipping of a young Bengali boy by the name of Sushil Sen for participating in the protests that followed the Jugantar trial.   

                   On 30th April 1908, Khudiram threw a bomb at a carriage believed to be carrying Kingsford right outside the European club. But instead of Kingford, the carriage was occupied by the wife and daughter of barrister Pringle Kennedy, a leading pleader. A bounty of Rs 1,000 was also announced for anyone who could provide any information on Khudiram who walked throughout the night trying to flee, but was arrested in a railway station nearly 25 miles away. 

His partner, Prafullka Chaki had split up from Khudiram soon after the attack. On being intercepted by the police at the Mokama railway station platform, he shot himself dead evading arrest and jail. Khudiram was unaware of Prafulla’s death at the time of his trial. Khudiram was eventually hanged to death on 11 August 1908. The morning after, Anandabazar Patrika reported how Bose died ‘cheerful and smiling’. To honour the 18 year old’s death, poet Pitambar Das wrote and composed the popular Bengali song Ek Baar Bidaye De Ma – a song that resonates the passion the young boy had for his motherland. It is also a song that always manages to bring a lump in one’s throat because of its sad, haunting words.

 

The historical trial started on 21 May 1908. Along with Khudiram, two others were tried for assisting the boys in their mission—Mrityunjay Chakraborty and Kishorimohan Bandopadhyay, who had accommodated Khudiram and Prafulla in his dharmashala for their mission. The first man died during the trial, and subsequently the trail of Sri Kishorimohan was separated from that of Khudiram.  Unlike the case of Vanchinathan, whose family was abandoned uncared for and died in chill penury, eminent lawyers Kalidas Basu, Upendranath Sen and Kshetranath Bandopadhyay took up Khudiram's defense. They were joined later in the trial by Kulkamal Sen, Nagendra Lal Lahiri and Satischandra Chakraborty—all of them fighting the case without any fees, fighting for their country.   

Only during the later part of the trial Kudiram could know the death of his friend.  He smilingly accepted the death sentence for the Nation.  As per the legal system, Kudiram had 7 days time to appeal to the High Court. Khudiram refused to make appeal.  On that day in August, Kolkata erupted in intense protest from the entire student community. The streets of Kolkata started to be choked up with processions all at the same time, for several days. The Amrita Bazar Patrika, one of the prominent dailies of that era, carried the story of the hanging the next day, on 12 August. Under the headline "Khudiram's End: Died cheerful and smiling" the newspaper wrote: "Khudiram's execution took place at 6 a.m. this morning. He walked to the gallows firmly and cheerfully – an  established British newspaper, The Empire, wrote: "Khudiram Bose was executed this morning...It is stated that he mounted the scaffold with his body erect.  

Akin to Vanchi Maniyachi, Khudiram Bose Pusa station is a two platform station located in Samastipur district, Bihar, India with zero originating trains. It is 72 kilometres (45 mi) away from Patna Airport and 13 km (8.1 mi) from Samastipur Junction.  A station named after the great martyr, who died so young !  

In case, you are tempted to know how Congress reacted !! to the hanging of a son of India,  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, denounced the violence, lamenting the deaths of the two innocent women. He stated "that the Indian people will not win their freedom through these methods." Bal Gangadhar Tilak, in his newspaper Kesari, defended the two young men and called for immediate swaraj. So Gandhians were respected but Tilak was arrested   by the British colonial government on charges of sedition.  

Unlikely we ever get to read of a person by name Sasmal !!  Birendranath Sasmal (1881 – 1934) was a barrister and popular as "The Uncrowned King of Midnapore" and "Deshapran" (soul of the nation), because of his love and devotion to the country and for his efforts in the Swadeshi movement. He was the principal representative of the Indian National Congress at Midnapore. He was instrumental in organizing mass uprisings and protests in the Midnapore district on behalf of the Congress and later the Swaraj Party. He was also, one of the most influential leaders of the Bengal Presidency during the freedom struggle.  As a barrister, he represented many of the accused in cases against the British Raj. He was one of the major associates of Chittaranjan Das and along with Das and others, he was a founding member of the Swaraj Party and later worked as its principal organizer in Bengal.

A very young Kudiram bose had   joined Anushilan Samiti, and came into contact with the network of Barindra Kumar Ghosh of Calcutta. He became a volunteer at the age of 15, and was arrested in Midnapore for distributing pamphlets against the British rule in India, but he was completely acquitted of the charges due to the effective pleading by Barrister Birendranath Sasmal.  

After that attack,   Prafulla committed suicide by shooting himself; his  head was severed from his body and sent to Kolkata to be identified by Khudiram. Khudiram was later arrested and hanged to death. Following this incident, inspector Nandalal was assassinated by two young revolutionaries, Srishh Pal and Ranen Ganguly.    

That Railway station mentioned in Blue line is an elevated metro and named as “Shahid Khudiram”  lying  close to Dhalai Bridge in Briji, Garia, a southern neighbourhood of Kolkata, West Bengal.   

On this day, with tears remember that lad who passed away young for the Nation.  Jai Hind !

 
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
11^th Aug 2025