Gopabandhu Dash

Gopabandhu Das
Statue of Gopabandhu Das on Lenin Sarani, Kolkata
Born	(1877-10-09)9 October 1877 Suando, Puri district, Orissa, British India
Died	17 June 1928(1928-06-17) (aged 50),
Occupation	Poet, philosopher, social activist
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Puri Zilla School, Ravenshaw College, Calcutta University
Period	20th century
Notable works	Bandira Atma Katha,Dharmapada

Gopabandhu Das (1877–1928), popularly known as Utkalamani (Jewel of Utkal or Orissa), was a social worker, reformer, political activist, journalist, poet and essayist.

Gopabandhu Das was born on 9 October 1877 in Suando village, near Puri in what was then called Orissa. His mother was Swarnamayee Devi, the third wife of Daitari Das. His father was a mukhtiar and the family were reasonably well-off. Das married Apti at the age of twelve but continued his education. He had basic schooling in the village before progressing to a middle school nearby. Then, in 1893, by which time his mother had died, Das joined Puri Zilla School. There he was influenced by Mukhtiar Ramchandra Das, a teacher who was both a nationalist and a proponent of public service in aid of people in distress. Becoming adept at organising his fellow children in the spirit of co-operation, the inadequate response of authorities for the victims of an outbreak of cholera prompted him to start a voluntary corps called Puri Seva Samiti. Its members helped those suffering from the outbreak and also cremated the dead.

Das, whose father by now had died, progressed to Ravenshaw College in Cuttack. He became a regular contributor to local literary magazines called Indradhanu and Bijuli, where he argued that any modern literary movement, just like any modern nation, could not be a clean break with the old but rather had to acknowledge and base itself on its past. In one instance, he submitted a satirical poem that so enraged the Inspector of Schools that Das was punished when he refused to apologise for it.

It was while at Ravenshaw that Das started a discussion group, called Kartavya Bodhini Samiti (Duty Awakening Society), in which he and his friends considered social, economic and political problems. It was also during this time, in 1903, that he attended a meeting of the Utkal Sammilani (Utkal Union Conference), where he disagreed with Madhusudan Das's suggestion that Odia-speaking areas should be amalgamated with Bengal Presidency. These extra-curricular activities, which also included helping the victims of flooding, impacted on his academic studies such that he failed his degree examination, although he gained his BA at the second attempt. It was also while at Ravenshaw that his new-born son died; he explained his preference to deal with flood victims on that occasion rather than be with his sick son as being because "There are so many to look after my son. What more can I do? But there are so many people crying for help in the affected areas and it is my duty to go there. Lord Jagannath is here to take care of the boy".