Khudiram Bose

Khudiram Bose was a freedom fighter, who was one of the youngest revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement. He was born on 3rd December 1889. Trailokyanath Basu, his father was a Tahsildar of the town and mother Lakshmipriya Devi was a religious lady. His birth place was Bahuvaini in Medinipur district, West Bengal.

Khudiram Bose was influenced by the notion of karma in the Bhagvad Gita , and was involved in revolutionary activities to free mother India from the clutches of British rule. Dissatisfied with the British policy of the partition of Bengal in 1905, he joined Jugantar - the party of revolutionary activists. At the tender age of sixteen, Bose left bombs near police stations and made government officials his victims. On the charges of carrying out a series of bomb attacks he was arrested.

In Muzzafarpur, Bihar,on 30th April, 1908 Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki planned to assasinate the Chief Presidency Magistrate Kingsford. The magistrate was known for his blatant judgements against the freedom fighters. They waited for Kingsford's carriage to come in front of the gate of European Club and blew up a carriage which was not carrying Kingsford. As a result of this unfortunate incident two innocent British ladies - Mrs.Kennedy and her daughter were killed. Both the revolutionaries fled the crime scene. Later Prafulla committed suicide and Khudiram was arrested.

On the charges of bomb attacks carried out by Khudiram Bose, he was sentenced to death at the age of 19.He was hanged to death on 11 August 1908.

Titu Mir

The real name of Titu Mir was Sayyid Mir Nisar Ali. He was born on 14 Magh 1188 BS (1782 AD) at village Chandpur (controversially Haiderpur) under Bashirhat sub-division of the district of 24 Parganas in West Bengal. His father was Sayyid Mir Hasan Ali and his mother's name was Abida Rokaiya Khatoon. Titu's family claimed descent from Hazrat Ali (R). His predecessor Sayyid Shahadat Ali came to Bengal from Arabia to preach Islam. Sayyid Abdullah, son of Shahadat Ali, was appointed the chief qazi of Jafarpur by the emperor of Delhi and was invested with the title of Meer Insaaf. Henceforth the descendants of Shahadat Ali used both the hereditary titles 'Sayyid' and 'Mir'.
Titu Mir had his early education in the village maktab and then entered into a local madrasah. He was a hafiz, excelled in three languages- Bangla, Arabic and Persian and developed keen interest in Arabic and Persian literature. He was well versed in Islamic theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, tasawwaf (Islamic mysticism) and mantiq. While a student in the madrasah Titu Mir grew up into a good gymnast and a renowned pahlwan (wrestler).
Titu Mir went on a pilgrimage to Makka in 1822 AD and came in close contact with the great Islamic reformer and revolutionary leader Sayyid Ahmad of Bareilly who inspired him to free his fellow countrymen from un-Islamic practices and foreign domination. On his return from Makka in 1827 Titu Mir started preaching among the Muslims in the districts of 24 Parganas and Nadia. He advised them to refrain from practising shirk and bidaat and inspired them, especially the weavers and peasants, to follow the Islamic way of life. But soon he was in conflict with the Hindu zamindar Krishnadeva Rai of Purha for his sectarian attitude towards the Muslims and imposing illegal taxes on them. Titu Mir happened to be in conflict with other landlords like Kaliprasanna Mukhopadhyay of Gobardanga, Rajnarayan of Taragonia, Gauri Prasad Chowdhury of Nagpur and Devanath Rai of Gobra-govindpur for their oppression on the peasantry.
To face the situation and to give protection to the peasants Titu Mir formed a Mujahid force and trained them in lathi and other indigenous arms. His disciple and nephew Ghulam Masum was made commander of the force. The increasing strength of Titu Mir alarmed the zamindars who however attempted to take united stand and to involve the English in their fight against him. Being instigated by the zamindar of Gobardanga, Davis, the English kuthial (factor) of Mollahati, advanced with his force against Titu Mir, but was beaten back. The zamindar of Gobra-govindpur was killed in a conflict with Titu Mir. Alexander, the collector of Barasat, advanced against Titu with the daroga of Bashirhat and sustained a severe defeat in the hands of Titu Mir. By this time Titu Mir filed a complain to the government of EAST INDIA COMPANY against the oppression of the zamindars, but to no result.
Titu Mir built a strong fort with bamboo poles at Narkelbaria in October 1831, recruited mujahids and gave them military training. The number of Mujahids rose to nearly five thousand. Having completed his military preparation Titu Mir declared himself Badshah (king) and urged upon the people to participate in jihad against the British. He soon established his control over the districts of 24 Parganas, Nadia and Faridpur. Titu Mir demanded tax from the zamindars of Taki and Gobardanga who implored protection of the English. An English contingent was sent from Calcutta. But the combined forces sustained severe defeat in the hands of the mujahids. Subsequently Lord WILLIAM BENTINCK sent a regular army against Titu Mir under Lieutenant Colonel Stewart consisting of 100 cavalry, 300 native infantry and artillery with two cannons.
The English launched attack on the mujahids on 14 November 1831. The mujahids with traditional arms failed to resist the English army equipped with modern arms and took shelter inside the bamboo fort. The English opened fire and totally destroyed the fort. There was heavy casualty on the side of the mujahids. Titu Mir along with many of his followers fell in the battle (19 November 1831). 350 mujahids including their commander Ghulam Masum were captured. Ghulam Masum was sentenced to death and other 140 captives were sentenced to imprisonment on different terms.

Masterda Surya Sen

Surya Sen (1894- January 12, 1934) (also known as Masterda Surya Sen)  was a prominent Bengali Indian freedom fighter and was the chief architect of anti-British freedom movement in Chittagong, Bengal (now in Bangladesh).

Early life

His father's name was Ramaniranjan. A resident of Noapara in Chittagong, he was a teacher by profession. He was initiated into revolutionary ideas in 1916 by one of his teachers while he was a student of Intermediate Class in the Chittagong College and joined the renowned anarchist group Anushilan. But when he went to Behrampur College for BA course, came to know about Jugantar and became more inspired with their ideas. On his return to Chittagong in 1918, he organized Jugantar there. Every revolutionary group was using Indian National Congress as umbrella to work. Consequently in 1929, Surya Sen became the president of the Chittagong district committee of the Indian National Congress. He continued to organize the hardline patriotic organisations and first became a teacher of the National school in Nandankanan and then joined the Umatara School at Chandanpura. Hence, he was known as Mastarda (teacher brother).

By 1923 Surya Sen spread the anarchist organization in different parts of Chittagong district. Aware of the limited equipment and other resources of the freedom fighters, he was convinced of the need for secret guerrilla warfare against the colonial Government. One of his early successful undertakings was a broad day robbery at the treasury office of the Assam-Bengal Railway at Chittagong on December 23, 1923.

Chittagong armoury raid and its aftermath

His major success in the anti-British revolutionary violence was the Chittagong Armoury Raid on April 18, 1930. Subsequent to the raid, he marched to the Jalalabad hills along with his fellow revolutionaries. After the battle with the British troops on April 22, he escaped from there.

Surya Sen, being constantly followed up by the police, had to hide at the house of Sabitri Devi, a widow, near Patiya. A police and military force under Captain Cameron surrounded the house on 13 June 1932. Cameron was shot dead while ascending the staircase and Surya Sen along with Pritilata Waddedar and Kalpana Dutta escaped to safety.

Surya Sen was always in hiding, moving from one place to another. Sometimes he used to take a job as a workman; sometimes he would take a job as a farmer, or milkman, or priest, houseworker or even as a pious Muslim. This is how he used to avoid being captured.

Either because of money, or out of jealousy, or because of both, Netra Sen told the British Government that Surya Sen was at his house. As a result, the police came and captured him on February 16, 1933. This is how India's supreme hero was arrested. But before Netra Sen was able to get his 10,000-rupee reward he was killed by the revolutionaries.

This is how it happened. Netra Sen's wife was all for Surya Sen, and she was horrified by her husband's deed. She felt mortified by her husband's betrayal of Surya Sen. She couldn't believe her eyes; she couldn't believe her ears.

One evening she was serving her husband food when a great admirer of Surya Sen came into the house. He was carrying a very big knife, which is called a dal. With one stroke of the dal he chopped off the head of Netra Sen in the presence of his wife. Then slowly and stealthily he went away.

When the police arrived to investigate, they asked Netra Sen's wife if she had seen who the murderer was. She said, "I saw with my own eyes, but my heart will not permit me to tell you his name. I am sorry. I feel miserable that I was the wife of such a treacherous man, such an undivine man as Netra Sen. My husband betrayed the greatest hero of Chittagong. My husband betrayed a great son of Mother India. My husband cast a slur on the face of India. Therefore, I cannot tell the name of the person who took his life. He has definitely done the right thing. You can do anything with me. You can punish me, you can even kill me, but I shall never tell the name of the person who killed my husband. Our Master-da will be hanged, I know, but his name will forever be synonymous with India's immortal freedom-cry. Everybody loves him. Everybody adores him. I, too, love him and adore him, for he is the brightest sun in the firmament of Chittagong. Surya means sun and he is truly our sun."

Tarakeswar Dastidar, the new president of the Chittagong Branch Jugantar Party, made a preparation to rescue Surya Sen from the Chittagong Jail. But the plot was unearthed and consequently frustrated. Tarakeswar and Kalpana along with others were arrested. Special tribunals tried Surya Sen, Tarakeswar Dastidar, and Kalpana Datta in 1933.

Surya Sen along with his comrade Tarekeshwar Dastidar was hanged by the British rulers on January 12, 1934. Before the death sentence Surya Sen was brutally tortured. It was reported that the British executioners broke all his teeth with hammer and plucked all nails and broke all limbs and joints. He was dragged to the rope unconscious. After his death his death body wasn’t given any funeral. The prison authority, it was found later, put his dead body in a metallic cage and dumped into the bay of Bengal.

His last letter to his comrades, written on 11th January, will remain enshrined in history as the most eloquent testimony of the excellence of his manhood... "Death is knocking at my door. My mind is flying away towards infinity ... this is the moment to myself to embrace death as the dearest of friends. In this happy, sacred and crucial moment, what am I leaving for you all? Only one thing, my dream, a golden dream, the dream of a Free India. Dear comrades, march ahead; never retrace your step. Days of servitude are receding. Freedom's illuminating ray is visible over there. Arise and never give way to despair. Success is sure to come." [Arindam Ray, Ami amar bhogoban ke dekhini, kintu tar somporke jotota jani ta likhlam.]

Pritilata Waddedar

Pritilata Waddedar (5 May, 1911 – 23 September, 1932) was an anti-British pro-India revolutionary in East Bengal, (then part of Province of Bengal in pre-independence India), now in Bangladesh.

Born in Chittagong on 5 May 1911, she was a meritorious student at the Dr. Khastagir Government Girls' School of Chittagong and passed the matriculation examination in the first division in 1928. She continued her education in Eden College, Dhaka and in 1929, she passed the Intermediate examinations securing the fifth place among all the candidates from Dhaka Board. Two years later, Pritilata graduated in Philosophy with distinction from Bethune College of Kolkata. In her college days, Pritilata was used to visit Ramkrishna Biswas, a rebel who later was hanged. Pritilata received combat training from Nirmal Sen. He died on 10/11 June 1932.

In early 1930s, Pritilata joined Mastarda Surya Sen's armed resistance movement. In 1932, Surya Sen planned an attack on the Pahartali European Club, which bore the notorious sign 'Dogs and Indians not allowed'. He assigned Pritilata to lead a team of 10-12 men that would attack the Club on September 23, 1932. Members of the team were instructed to carry potassium cyanide with them so that in case they were caught by police they could swallow it before the arrest. Kalpana Dutt, a fellow revolutionary of Pritilata said, "Surya Sen told us he does not support suiciding. But he took Potassium Cyanide from me before he went". The raid was successful but Pritilata, dressed as a man was trapped without a way of escape on that fateful night. She committed suicide by swallowing the cyanide, thus ending her short endeavor in fighting for freedom of her country.


Pritilata was vocal against gender discrimination. She wrote a letter a day before she died in which she questioned her countrymen for it. Pritilata was the headmistress of "Nandankanon School" in Chittagong.