Death and Desire in Times of Revolution

Author(s): SARMISTHA DUTTA GUPTA

Source: Economic and Political Weekly , SEPTEMBER 14, 2013, Vol. 48, No. 37
(SEPTEMBER 14, 2013), pp. 59-68
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

Death and Desire in Times of Revolution

SARMISTHA DUTTA GUPTA

This paper engages with the choices made by Pritilata

rected by Ashutosh Gowariker and Chittagong directed
Waddedar (1911 -32), a member of the Chittagong-based
Two recent Hindi films, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey di
by Bedabrata Pain, commemorating the martyrdom of
Indian Republican Army, who died on 24 September
Chittagong revolutionaries in India's struggle for independ
1932 after successfully leading a siege on the
ence, dwellPahartali
at length on Pritilata Waddedar (1911-32), revered
European Club in Chittagong. Pritilata has aslong been
a virangana (literally heroic woman) of India's militant anti
imperialist resistance. Long after the British withdrawal from
accorded iconic status as a virangana in nationalist
India, till about the 1970s at least, for those growing up in the
historiography. Her dying statement has been studied
Hindu middle-class families of Bengal, Pritilata was a house
by historians to understand whether and how the
hold name. She is remembered for her political role in success
politicisation ofwomen in anti-colonial struggles
fully leading the siege on the Pahartali European Club in Chit
tagong and
resulted in a reordering of gender relations. Thisgiving up her life thereafter in order to inspire the
article
Indian women to sacrifice their lives at the altar of freedom. So
engages with the complexity of Hindu women's
it was interesting to note that in both films, Pritilata was por
participation in militant anti-colonial struggles
trayed more as by
a sexual subject than as a political one.
problematising the choices made by them. Pritilata
Itandattempts
Nirmal Sen (1900-32) - second in command to
Surya Sen
a decentring of knowledge by exposing to (1894-1934) in the Indian Republican Army (ira) -
scrutiny
are shown to be open about their mutual attraction from the
areas of "private" experience ofwomen in
very beginning of these two films. But the films leave us asking
"public"/"political" movements through a reading
whether of
Pritilata was there in ira because of her attraction for

the writings of Pritilata, Kalpana Dutt andNirmal

SuryaSen or was joining
Sen. the revolutionary group a conscious
"political" choice on her part? This question looms large when,
in her final moments, Gowariker shows Pritilata leading the
Pahartali siege in a traditional Hindu red-bordered white sari
and dying with Nirmal Sen's name on her lips. She is spared of
being the masculinised warrior of nationalist historiography,
but come dangerously close to the coloniser's way of seeing her
as a sexualised subject only, especially in Gowariker's film.
While memorialising the martyrs in India's struggle for
independence - most of whom belonged to militant nationalist
groups - oral sources and written ones in Bengali (in the
form of history textbooks, biographies and commemorative
volumes brought out by members of erstwhile secret societies)
often referred to Pritilata as the only woman martyr of the
agnijug or the fiery age of revolution since Rani Lakshmibai's
The first draft of this paper was read at a seminar of the Institute
death in the battlefield in 1858 (Ghosh 1965: 256-58; Ray and
Kishore 1967: 79; Majumdar 1978: 545). These sources turned
of Development Studies, Kolkata in October 2008. Subsequently,
comments from Modhumita Roy, Jasodhara Bagchi and Shefali
her into a desexualisedMoitra
figure and we learnt to believe that the
enriched the draft. Swati Ganguly suggested the title of this article.
21-year-old Pritilata, attired in men's clothing, took potassium
Subhasish Mukherjee, Rajib Kundu, Amit Kumar Suman, Ruchira
cyanide after successfully leading the siege on Pahartali Euro
Goswami and Aveek Sen helped variously. Over the years, conversations
peanhusband
with Kalpana Dutt's youngest sister Maitreyee Roy, her Club so as not to surrender
and to the police. On the other
well-known Marxist critic the late Ajit Roy and their hand, the British intelligence
daughter Nandini reports cast her as a typical femi
Roy helped in more ways than can be accounted for. nine figure with eroticised overtones that is incapable of any
political
Sarmistha Dutta Gupta (sarmistha91@yahoo.com) is a agency by referring to Pritilata1 as the "lover of
Kolkata-based
NirmalShe
independent researcher, literary translator and activist. Sen". is the
author of Identities and Histories, Women's Writing and Politics inis her last testament "Long Live Revolu
What is often cited
Bengal (2010).
tion" (Ray 1973: 557-59) found by the police on her body as

Economie & Political weekly BGE3 September 14, 2013 vol xlviii no 37 59

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

well as distributed as pamphlets by members of ira in Section 2 is centred on the Chittagong revolutionaries and
Chittagong after the Pahartali siege (Roy 1993: 82). Excerpts asks what women were doing to the groups they had joined by
from this document usually highlight Pritilata's appeal to her looking at the way Pritilata and Kalpana were rupturing the
"sisters" to "get themselves ready to face all dangers and diffi- nature and intention of the leadership vis-à-vis women. Finally,
culties and join the revolutionary movement in their thou- drawing on the narratives of these two revolutionary women,
sands" as the central focus for her exemplary sacrifice. Some this paper deconstructs Pritilata's choices, with the purpose of
scholars have celebrated Pritilata's declaration that if women complicating the representation of female political icons,
"are yet less fit it is because they have been left behind", as an
emancipatory assertion that points to the social barriers 1 Fight Like a'Man', Nurse Like a'Woman'
women like her scaled en route to their political participation When 300 young women from a handful of Calcutta colleges
(Mukherjee 1999). Some others have interpreted Pritilata's marched past in dark-green sarees during the inaugural pa
invocation in her dying statement, of the chaste wives, heroic rade of the 1928 Congress session in Calcutta, Pritilata Wadd
mothers and warrior women of India's past, as a sign that she edar - to whom we shall return presently - was a 17-year-old
could come to terms with her transgression by casting it "in student in Dacca. Mentored by the Bengal Provincial Congress
the shape of an extraordinary sacrifice demanded by an elect Committee (bpcc) president Subhash Chandra Bose, these girls
few at a rare moment" (Sarkar 1989: 240-41; Basu and at the parade had been trained by the founder of MahilaRash
Banerjee 2006). triya Sangha, Latika Ghose, who believed that like heroines of
In this historiographical maze, what is obscured is the figure India's past, women had to realis
of Pritilata the revolutionary, i e, the reasons why she chose selves, and like sparks ignite the fi
militant action; and why, indeed, she chose to die. Setting an purified and ready to serve the mot
example for the women of India may have been one reason, been urging Bengali women to ap
but not the only reason she had chosen death. That she had Shakti (Forbes 1996a: 28) and it w
sought her leader Surya Sen's permission to die if the siege was squad be included in the reception
successful and that there may have been a far more layered Congress. Commenting on the girls
narrative of her life and death, was something one does not get The Forward, Bose commented that
to know unless one reads her fellow-revolutionary Kalpana a touch of all the frailties that are s
Dutt's (1913-95) reminiscences. Manini Chatterjee's exten- them" (Forbes 2005:54).
sively researched book on the Chittagong uprising, Do and Die: What were the ideological underp
The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34 , published nearly 55 years to respectable young women to marc
after Dutt's memoirs, reiterates the fact that Pritilata sought a teaching girls and working for wom
release through death when she could have escaped (Chatter- were possibly the only viable optio
jee 1999: 216-24). break out of the confines of domesticity? Let us first briefly re
This essay primarily looks at the writings of Pritilata Wadd- call why Hindu Indian nationalists of the late 19th and
edar, Kalpana Dutt and their leader Surya Sen to problematise 20th century promoted the image of the heroic wo
the iconic representations of Pritilata to which I have alluded, militant goddess. As Sunder Rajan among others have ar
Its focus is on the "private" experiences of women in "public"/ this was done to elevate both Hindu women's and Hind
"political" movements rather than on the public realities that self-image and status; to mobilise women to participate i
are more often discussed and debated. I am interested here in freedom struggle; and most importantly, to provide an
the "subjective" as against the "objective" and in the "whole rational symbolic focus for national and communal ident
parallel realm" where much of sexual politics is located which through figures such as the Bharatmata (Sunder Ra
was until the 1980s considered "private" and outside the scope 1998: 36).
of politics (Stree Shakti Sangathana 1989: 28-30). When the British asserted moral superiority over the c
Section 1 lays out the gendered terrain of militant anti- nised by emphasising the low status of women in India, e
colonial politics in Bengal in order to understand and situate Indians in response began to construct a self-image w
the dynamics of Pritilata's participation. It shows that Pritilata depended on rereading and reconstituting the past
is not only iconic, but also a representative of a generation of repository of a lost glorious tradition in which the vedic w
middle-class women, who were variously involved in anti- was recast as the highest symbol of Hindu woman
imperialist political activities. There has been some scholarly (Chakravarti 1989: 27-87). The modern Hindu woman
discussion about how women in the Gandhian movements urged to emulate the high-minded and spiritual women of
went beyond the patriarchalist intentions of the leadership "golden" past. Spiritual power and partnership in religious
(Sarkar 2006: 551-54; Kaur 1985; Chattopadhyay 1986; Sen in particular were central to this idea of womanhood as
1990; Minault 1981; Ray 1995; Forbes 1996b, 2005; Everett: could be easily deployed to play other roles in the regener
1979; Basu 1976; Kasturi and Mazumdar 1994). But little atten- of the nation (Bagchi 1985:58-62). By the time of the Sw
tion has been focused on how women in militant nationalist movement in Bengal, nationalism was already occupying
groups negotiated with their leaders to create spaces of their place of religion and caste Hindu women were called up
own (Mandai 1991; Mukherjee 1994; Dutta Gupta 2010). participate in patriotic rites such as pledging to use
60
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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

Swadeshi goods, inspiring husbands and sons to boycott Brit- fired up by "sons like Jibananda" and "daughters like Shanti",
ish goods, and, like Bimala in Rabindranath Tagore's novel who as ascetics vowed to renounce all ties with family, prop
Ghare Bairey (The Home and the World), donating money and erty and sexuality until their enslaved mother country was
gold ornaments to Swadeshi funds. free. Jibananda, belonging to the band of militant ascetics,
Alongside the creation of the myth of the vedic woman was had to forsake his wife Shanti in order to be true to his vow.
created a second image - that of the virangana. The virangana With the "dynamic uplift" that Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
ideal, best epitomised in the historical/mythological figures of gave to the role of the sahadharmini or partner in religion "by
Rani Durgavati, Tarabai and Lakshmibai, were used to pro- delinking wifehood from the enclosed space of domesticity"
mote powerful female models in many parts of the country not (Bagchi 1985: 58-62), Shanti could don the disguise of a
only to displace the more prevalent models of female subordi- male sannyasi Nabinanda and fight like a virangana by the
nation, but also to inspire men as well as women to take up the side of her ascetic husband, strictly following the life of a
righteous struggle in defence of the honour of the motherland, celibate warrior.
Riding on horseback, armed with a sword and dagger, the Rani As we know, historians have concurred that images like that
of Jhansi became a byword for resistance to the British. Op- of the chaste Rani of Jhansi and of Shanti defying normal can
posed as they were to the proponents of non-violence, the mili- ons of femininity legitimised a combative political role for
tant nationalists began using the virangana as a potent symbol women in masculine Hinduism and some women like Pritilata
in myriad ways. Pictures of the Rani appeared together with Waddedar used these iconic images to catapult themselves
revolutionary nationalists from Bengal, Maharashtra and into militant politics (Basu and Banerjee 2006: 419). In doing
Punjab - Aurobindo Ghose, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala so, they also had to do renunciation like their male counter
Lajpat Rai - during the Ramlila celebrations in Uttar Pradesh parts as sexual renunciation had become synonymous with
in 1911 (Hansen 1988: 25-33). A good 15 years after the 1928 spiritual superiority and "manliness". Renunciation signified
Calcutta session of the Congress, we were to see Subhash different things for men and women. While for men it implied
Chandra Bose creating one unit of women in his Indian conservation of energy, for women it meant conservation of
National Army (ina) and calling it the Rani Jhansi Regiment. chastity. Sexual denial apart, politically active women needed
Bose's inclusion of women too drew significantly on the cult to desexualise themselves completely so as not to pose as sex
of the mother goddess in Bengal. In keeping with the sanction ual threats to men. If for some reason a woman's sexuality
derived from the religious practices of Hindu Bengal, the seemed discomfiting to the male leadership of a group, she was
bhadralok conceived of the country as the great mother figure unceremoniously removed.3
and the ideology of motherhood was given an enormous Desexualisation also guaranteed the idea of an activist mas
importance in the cultural life of Bengal (Bagchi 1990: 65-71). culinity and resulted in a deep investment in the sister figure
In Anandamath (1882), Bankim Chandra Chatterjee politicised (Datta 1999: 224-25). "Brotherly-sisterly" bonds, sometimes
the mother goddess image and santans or children of the enforced ritually with women tying rakhis on men and nam
mother country were imagined as worshippers of a female figure ing their relationships in kinship terms, helped dim the threat,
of the motherland as mother goddess. Swami Vivekananda's At the Calcutta session of the Congress, all the men who
interrogation of "superior" western masculinity and formula- entered the stalls in the exhibition grounds managed by
tion of alternative maleness took its meaning from the worship women volunteers who had earlier taken part in the parade,
of Shakti, and the principles of creation in destruction, of were anointed with sandal-paste dots on their forehead by
the triumph of good over evil and the auspicious over the their "sisters" (Dasgupta 1989: 61-62). This ritual was an overt
inauspicious (Chowdhury 1998). attempt not only to desexualise gender relations, it was also
instituted to render the interaction "respectable".
Mother Image in Swadeshi Era
In the Swadeshi era, the mother image that was projected Dignity and Innate Modesty
in nationalist literature, especially in Bengal, combined "the In Section 2 we shall have occasion to see how women of the
affective warmth of a quintessential Bengali mother and the Chittagong group negotiated the threat perception of the men
mother goddess Shakti, known under various names as Durga, in order to be accepted within the fold. This entailed a crucial
Chandi or Kali, who occupies a very important position in negotiation both as class subjects and gendered subjects. As
mainstream religious practice" (Bagchi 1990:65-71). In Bengal, class subjects, these women had to maintain the boundaries
embodiments of Shakti could be both smiling mothers appear- between themselves and women on the street, and as gen
ing heroically as an inspiration for lifting up the spirit of their dered subjects they upheld middle-class notions of virtue. Like
sons and they could also be the all-powerful destructive their sisters in non-violent movements who had to be careful
Shakti, the goddess who puts fear into the lives of miscreants in preserving their "dignity and innate modesty", while picket
and slays the demon incarnated in British rule. The demon- ing and in other public roles (Forbes 2005: 47-48), the women
slaying Shakti was reborn in the masculinised warrior and who were ready to leave home and take up arms, had to prove
literary imagination produced exemplary female icons embod- that they were of the "right kind". When the ira leader Surya
ying masculine virtues of courage and strength. Since the time Sen agreed to let girl students be a part of the larger group, he
of Anandamath, the imagination of the Hindu elite had been was very clear that his associates must be careful to choose
f\ 1
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SPECIAL ARTICLE

only those who were "reserved" and of "high moral standards" when in college, we would avidly read prison memoirs of revolution
(Dastidar 2001: 37). Here too women of character and grit aries like Aurobindo Ghose's Karakahini and Upendranath Banerjee's
were necessary to occupy places of honour and responsibility. Nirbashiter Atmakatha. We often wondered: Why can t we have this
kind of a life?'
In addition to that they had to perform any role and be ready
- Bina Das in Shrinkhal Jhankar (1995: 9; emphasis mine).
to continually shift between "masculine" and "feminine" roles,
as and when necessary, without any everyday challenge to so- I begin this section with quotations from the memoirs of two
daily assigned gender roles. Like the Rani of Jhansi, they were well-known revolutionaries of Bengal, Bina Das (1911-86) and
expected to adhere to purdah norms while holding court, but Satish Pakrasi (1893-1973). Not only are the quotations from a
don male attire in the battlefield (Banerjee 2005: 52). Like man and a woman, they belong to two different generations
Shanti, they could be imagined to charm British soldiers and hail from quite different family backgrounds. I use these
dressed as a boshtomi one minute and then ride away like the quotations to show how the imaginary lives of santans and
seasoned warrior Nabinananda, the next. real lives of militant ascetics induced many young middle
In late colonial Bengal, when revolutionary nationalist class Bengalis to aspire for an existence beyond the ordinary
brothers called upon their sisters to join the anti-imperialist and for a life where worldly gains seemed immaterial. Seething
cause and acquire muscular fitness and necessary physical at the "perpetual subjection" and "endless suffering" of their
skills, girl students' associations had begun springing up in country at the hands of the colonisers, and revering the
district towns of Bengal. Though all of these groups played a sannyasi-santans as icons of selflessness, they were keen to
key role in making women politically conscious and trained carry on an inspiring tradition of martyrdom. If the all
them physically and mentally for an active political life, most powerful destructive shakti idol/ideal did not appeal to a
of them followed a programme of physical culture and social Brahmo woman like Bina Das in the way that it found
work, where girls were taught "manly" arts like fencing with resonance in the Hindu-born Satish Pakrasi, the popular
sticks and swords, cycling and boxing, as well as "womanly" image of a revolutionary as an asexual renunciate - capable
skills in first aid and nursing (Bhattacharjee 1952: 179-80; of supreme sacrifice and exemplary courage - certainly did
Dutta Gupta 2010:146). If in their outer bodies they were re- (Das 1995: 8-9). Her most favourite novel was Saratchandra
quired to be "masculine", in their inner core they had to re- Chatterjee's Pather Dabi. The hero Sabyasachi, a mysterious
main "modest" and "feminine". As The Forward comment on and invincible revolutionary, who was incessantly chased
the girls marching past Congress delegates shows, these for his boundless love for the motherland, captured Bina's
women were expected to hold back their frailty selectively, so imagination the most,
that they could be recognised as parts of Shakti. Celebrating
the emergence of women like Pritilata who could take up any Pritilata Waddedar alias Rani
task for the country's freedom, Bose told a group of women Pritilata Waddedar alias Rani - whose dying statement is
volunteering for the Rani Jhansi Regiment of ina in 1943: "Our often; quoted to argue that she sought approval for her trans
brave sisters...have shown that when the need arises they gression by recalling the heroic women of India's past - was
could, like their brothers, shoot very well" (Forbes 1996a: 38; also inspired by this notion of politics as supreme sacrifice,
emphasis mine). What is too often overlooked is the fact that in the same state
Some of the women who had chosen to take up arms as anti- ment she had also asserted that the Ch
imperial subjects may have found the goddess-virangana in April 1930 "captured the imaginat
model empowering and could have sought acceptance within her and "gave a new impetus to the r
the same cognitive frame. But we need to ask, what else made It is important to remember that r
them choose the life of a militant ascetic? And once their literature which her cousin Purnen
choice was made how did they cope with the pressures of a (Dastidar 2001: 32), and stirred by th
masculinist nationalism? What did it cost women who dared Chittagong-based ira, Pritilata wa
to walk tightrope of trying to be essentially "feminine" and yet revolutionary activities while still i
selectively invoke the demon-slaying Shakti? Some of them the course of this paper, coming face
had to pay for their choices not only in life, but trapped in with a world of brave young men w
stereotypical representations, sometimes long after death. We everything to end the tyranny o
now turn to Pritilata Waddedar to understand her multiple choose the kind of politics that she
struggles in trying to live up to the demands and expectations It is also critical to point out here
of such a nationalism. Pritilata joined in 1928 was Leela Nag's Deepali Sangha in
Dacca which was set up with the specific intention of making
Between Men
women politically conscious. However, when she met Surya
We, the members of the Anushilan Samiti, would practise wielding the Sen alias Master-da in 1932, a few months before her death,
lathi and parade daily in a spot of clearing surrounded by bamboo , _ , . , t . . , . , ,
A * ,, / she made it very clear that she was not interested in the type of
groves and mango and jackfruit trees. We would meet here every . u ...
evening and imagine ourselves as the santans of Anandamath, dedi- wo women S organisations did (Sarkar 2000: 1
cated to the cause of freeing our mother-country from bondage. probably believed that unless she took the risks that h
- Satish Pakrasi in Agnijuger Katha (1982:13; emphasis mine.) lutionary "brothers" were taking in direct combat, she wo
62
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 SSSSS SPECIAL ARTICLE

never be able to prove that she was equal to them in her devo- following the Armoury Raid and most young men beco
tion and competence. This, in turn, reflects that Pritilata had political suspects, women were needed more than ever to
accepted the division between the "social" and the "political" a bulwark to militant groups. Intertwined with this is th
and internalised the ideological position that the work of that since the mid-t92os, a sizeable section of middle-cla
women's organisations was "social" and never equal in impor- upper-caste Hindu women had begun forming their ow
tance to the "political" work done by men. The tension pro- sciousness-raising collectivities like Deepali Sangha of Da
duced by this stereotypical binary also influenced Pritilata's Chhatri Sangha of Calcutta and Shakti Sangha of Bari
choice and manifests how gender interacts with history at an These young women's groups began pressing for the rig
extremely palpable level. be included in political movements (Dutta Gupta 2010:145-47).
When Surya Sen first heard from the ira member Purnendu We already know that in such times Pritilata had com
about his cousin Pritilata, the latter was studying in the touch with Deepali Sangha and found that the group sou
Intermediate Section of Dacca's Eden College (Dastidar 2001: membership from girls. Having been denied the opportu
36). Founded in 1918 by Surya Sen, Ambica Chakrabarty and of joining ira till then, Pritilata triumphantly showe
others, in the second phase of the militant resistance in Bengal membership form of Deepali Sangha to her cousin Pur
between 1923 and 1926, the ira had started recruiting scores who had counted on her for covert support like safekee
of young men - some of them teenagers - through a physical of books. It was then that the latter finally told Sury
training club started by leading members Ananta Singh and about Pritilata (Dastidar 2001: 34-35) and Sen agreed t
Ganesh Ghosh (Chatterjee 1999:24). As a means to combat the accept her as a member in principle (ibid: 39).
British colonial perceptions of the "effeminate Bengali" which
had come into circulation since the mid-i9th century, gymna- Process of Defeminisation
siums and physical exercise clubs had become even more Recalling Pritilata and Kalpana's entry into the group, Su
popular. As Nirad Chaudhury notes, these gyms were Sen writes that although he himself was not averse to the i
"institutions for giving training in patriotism, collective disci- of including women, he categorically states that he
pline and ethics of nationalism" (Chaudhury 1964: 244). From thought they could be of much use except as sympathise
the time of the Swadeshi movement, these clubs or akharas behind-the-scene "helpers". This was in part because t
had also proved rich recruiting grounds for revolutionary cial conventions shackling middle-class Hindu women w
groups all over Bengal. Such institutions tried to inculcate not allow them to fully participate in the kind of mili
the practice of sexual abstinence in young men and the self- activities that the group engaged in (Sarkar 2000: 4). Th
discipline ingrained here was supposed to help entrants in years later when he was actually to meet Pritilata in a vil
their preparation for a life of non-attachment to worldly ties, hideout and had sent a messenger to accompany her
Women's entry into these masculine cultural spaces was one evening, he still was not quite expecting to see h
strictly forbidden and those who had begun to be accepted thought would it be possible for a girl who had a family
much later had to erase all markers of their sexuality in order guardians... .After all she was not a man who needn't b
to gain entry. to seek permission from her family before stepping out on her
The Chittagong group was no different. As celibate warri- own", he wrote (ibid: 12). Since grou
ors, most ira members wanted women to be kept out of the way of women's participation, he be
way, perceiving them as sexual threats, which also had the be considered as associates. The fact
power to destabilise the male bonding within the group. In his about his perceptions about women
unfinished piece "Female Organisation" (sic), written in "Female Organisation", while he w
abscondence in the last days of his life, Surya Sen admits, "My shows both his flexibility to chan
comrades couldn't think of such a thing at all and if they resilience and determination of some
came to know that anyone was trying to recruit girls, they about this change.4 Kalpana and Pr
would go out of their way to severely censure that person" "uninitiated" members they would ne
(Sarkar 2000: 5). Most of the organisers were single men and group and would never be given a
although Surya Sen was married, he never lived with his wife So they were resolute in their d
Pushpakuntala, having pledged his sexual energy to the na- "initiated" members.
tion (Begum 2004). As Kalpana Dutt recalled, it was an "iron When Sen met Kalpana in 1931 and Pr
rule for revolutionaries that they should keep aloof from litmus test for both of them. They bo
women" (Dutt 1945: 12) and some of them like Ananta Singh night and having walked several m
were deeply distrustful of the opposite sex, "so much so that he from Chittagong town. In the very f
could not trust men who were associated in any way with any proved that she was "physically fit", "m
girl" (ibid: 21). to take part in action", had a "high endurance level", was
As most ira members were hostile to the idea of women's "willing to sacrifice comforts" and "would be
entry, when the group rocked the nation with the Chittagong to the leader's calls at any hour without succum
Armoury Raid, it was an all-male endeavour. But with severe pressure" (Sarkar 2000:10). The leader observ
repressive measures unleashed by the British government it was raining heavily both when she came a
Economic & Political WEEKLY rcrara SEPTEMBER 14, 2013 VOL XLVIII NO 37 ^3

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

and it was muddy all around, not even once did she stumble. Tagore penned Ela and Antu's love story Char Adhyay in 1
Just this one meeting was enough to convince us of these in the context of the "revolutionary terrorist" movemen
strengths of hers" (ibid). Though Kalpana, an undergraduate Bengal, most revolutionaries felt betrayed by their "very o
in chemistry, had been transporting nitric acid and sulphuric Rabindranath" who could imagine them "getting embroile
acid from Calcutta to Chittagong, making bombs at home and such a gross love story!" (Acharya 1988: 286; Dutta G
had even got herself transferred from Calcutta's Bethune 2011: 47-66).
College to the local college in her hometown so that she could
be near the nerve centre of activities, she had to prove her 3 Do and Die
worth by performing a more overt and more commonly recog- Although Kalpana lived to tell parts of her story, Pritilata d
nised masculinity. That is, she ignored social restrictions on not. This section tries to posit Pritilata's "private" self, thro
her mobility, walked in darkness with a stranger in torrential fragments of her own writing and that of Kalpana, as crucia
rains without showing any signs of fatigue or fear and proved understanding what the political process of entering a "m
her competence in "handling machines". It was then that she line" institution meant for a person like her who believed
was accepted in the inner circle of the group (Sarkar 2000: she was "brought up in the best traditions of Indian wom
10). More than a year later, when Kalpana was leading the life hood" (Waddedar 1932) and whose socialisation prepared
of an absconder with Surya Sen, one day he had told her, "I in no way to play the roles of a masculinised warrior,
just could not make up my mind about letting girls abscond. We have seen how Kalpana and Pritilata demonstrated the
But their courage and composure made up my mind for me" capabilities so that they could move beyond the auxiliary ro
(Dutt 1945:12). far assigned to women. Both were deeply conscious of their sta
Disguised as men for the most part, the women had to prove tus as colonised subjects since their
their mettle by engaging in "masculine" activities such as But both were temperamentally very d
scaling walls, hiding in jungles, crawling along the ground or "tomboy", climbing trees and the hills o
diving in ditches to avoid getting captured or bringing any she was a child. Later, in Calcutta's Be
harm to the group. In overcoming all timidity, awkwardness run down the stairs every morning a
and inhibitions while moving around in the company of male college grounds (Dutt 1991). Pritilata
comrades and strangers, these women had to "relearn" and more of a "feminine" persona. She wa
"re-establish" their bodies "in a totally revolutionary fashion" quiet person who could write well, sing
(Fanon 1967 : 59), not unlike women used to being behind of mind (Dutt 1946: 78-81). She would
veils taking up arms against colonial occupation elsewhere in flute alone on the rooftop of Bethun
the world. For Pritilata and her friends, successful degender- (Dastidar 2001:49).
ing meant earning the trust of even someone as bitterly Kalpana describes an incident in her m
opposed to female participation as Ananta Singh, which her friend's "extremely gentle charact
Kalpana considered one of her most significant achievements holidays when she had gone over to P
(Dutt 1946:44-47)- were discussing who could slaughter a goat. While Kalpana
Not only did the young women have to establish they were said, "Of course, I can. There's not
more than equals of men by going through a process of felt, "When I am ready to give up my
"defeminisation", but like their sisters in non-violent move- freedom, I won't hesitate a bit to
ments, they had to be constantly alert against being repri- necessary. But I shall not be able t
manded for any moral lapse. Under such scrutiny, women ture so coolly" (Dutt 1945: 56, 194
began to censor their own instincts and impulses. Though Chittagong Armoury Raid, convin
Kalpana felt attracted to Tarakeshwar Dastidar, she could righteous war against the British i
not even think of admitting it to herself. As late as 1991, one's life at the altar of the mother
nearly 60 years after Tarakeshwar had been hanged, Kalpana taking other lives,6 this gentle so
said in a published interview that Surya Sen was not too plunge into work.
happy whenever he found her and Tarakeshwar in conversa- Sensing her anxiety and eagern
tion (Dutt 1991). Irrespective of gender, as revolutionaries group's daring exploits, an elderly
both Tarakeshwar and Kalpana believed in the need to Calcutta was a support centre for
renounce affective relationships of a sexual kind till freedom gested that Pritilata provide succo
was won. Neither of them had ever spoken to each other his death cell in Alipore Jail (Dastid
about their feelings. It was only when Tarakeshwar had sentenced to death for assassinating
been tried and sentenced to death and knew his days were jee in Chandpur and was hanged on
numbered, did he ask Kalpana, "Will you wait for me if I death Pritilata met him 40 times disg
come back?" (ibid). Das (Dutt 1946: 79). Some of Pritilata's papers found by the
Subordinating all other loves to the love of one's mother police show that Biswas' "calm surrender to death, s
country, these patriots were permitted to function only as devotion to God, childlike simplicity" impressed her d
political subjects. No wonder then that when Rabindranath Though Pritilata wrote that she felt "ten times more i

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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

to fight for freedom after meeting Biswas (Chatterjee 1999: created a huge impression on her. She seemed to have fr
289), she was also greatly depressed immediately after he talked to him about her meetings with Ramkrishna Bisw
was hanged - so much so that she stopped attending classes and how she negotiated her duties towards her country
for some time and let the college authorities know that she and her family (ibid: 18-20). For an introvert like Pritila
would not be appearing for her honours papers (Dastidar who had to keep her family and friends in the dark abou
2001: 81). Immediately after her final examination in April role in the secret society, this camaraderie that she was a
1932, she returned to Chittagong and took up a teaching job to strike up with someone in a position to guide her, mu
in a girls' school there. have meant a lot. That night at Dhalghat when the police ar
So far Pritilata's first "action", so to speak, was to perform rived, she was ordered by Surya Sen to be with
the "feminine" role of providing emotional support and tender downstairs. Within seconds of her going down,
company to Biswas in his last days. But getting to know him killed Cameron and in the crossfire that followed
closely brought her face to face with a world of fearless tionary was fatally wounded. Recalling those painful
young men. Biswas and his comrades had adopted a "Death Pritilata wrote:
Programme in 1929. Deeply inspired by the Irish struggle for was not possible for me to stay still any longer. I tri
independence, the Chittagong group had earlier named but the women held me back. I could hear Nirmal-da
themselves after the Irish Republican Army that had master- shriek, 'Rani, Rani!' I tried my best to run up. ...I cou
minded the Easter Rising in Dublin in April 1916. The ira free myself once and beSan runninS UP the stairs but
, , , , gone halfway, they again hauled me down. Nirmal-da was still
leaders wanted to re-enact the Easter Rising in Chittagong calHng for
because they believed that the heroic deaths of brave young wrenching c
men in armed battle against the British, would spark off minutes, I don'
mass protest and anger and ultimately lead to an end of me see him befo
colonial rule in India. The ira's Death Programme was the core and thr
adopted after the Chittagong revolutionaries were incensed Roy 199
with Jatin Das' death on the 63rd day of his hunger strike in The sud
Lahore jail on 13 September 1929 (Chatterjee 1999: 54-61). first that Pr
It was their pledge to "Do and Die" and Pritilata wanted to comrades, o
emulate the daring men of ira by getting into "direct action" her to th
as soon as possible. party, Pritilata had to refuse to privilege her personal need to
be with Nirmal Sen in his final moments. While outward
Camaraderie and Commitment tilata proved her mettle so as not to be consid
But three months before her "martyrdom", on 13 June 1932, and unpatriotic, she was struggling to
Pritilata received a severe jolt. When she had gone to meet Nirmal Sen's death inwardly. True to her
Surya Sen in Dhalghat village on 12 June 1932, Nirmal Sen - British, she did not break down after this
with whom she shared a close camaraderie - and a young lead an absconder's life from 5 July till h
comrade Apurba Sen were also there. On the second day of tember 1932, all the time on the run w
her visit, shortly after Pritilata had performed the traditional village to village.
role of cooking and serving a meal, they suddenly found This was the time she had to prove h
themselves surrounded by the police late at night. What endurance level, ability to forego all comf
followed was a bloody battle in which both the leader of detachment with home and family. This is n
the police team and Nirmal Sen were killed. Surya Sen men joining revolutionary nationalist group
tried to escape to another hideout taking Pritilata and Apurba prove all of this. Trapped in gender stereot
with him. But Apurba, whose meal Pritilata had affection- must have suffered greatly while trying
ately watched over earlier like an elder sister, was shot dead of "manliness" and "heroism" and for
while the three of them were making their way through their innate natures while inflicting viol
the jungle (Sarkar 2000). This "encounter" deeply affected for women like Pritilata it not only mea
Pritilata and she struggled to come to terms privately with it emotional resistances in living the l
even as she was leading an extremely dangerous absconder's warrior among men, as we have seen ea
life publicly. having to perform "feminine" roles like cooking and looking
Going underground soon after, Pritilata tried to extricate a after male comrades as and when required.
form of selfhood through writing and it is her piece entitled tension produced as a result of continually ha
Abishwaranio Sannidhho or "An Unforgettable Closeness" between "traditional" and "revolutionary"
which helps us recover her short-lived friendship with Nirmal something that was recognised by patriarchal
Sen and every detail of the final moments at Dhalghat as did not empathise with the practical and emotio
perceived by her (Sarkar 2000: 18-20). Pritilata had met generated out of such gendered dilemmas.
Nirmal Sen a couple of times before she got a chance to meet "private" experiences were relegated beyond th
Surya Sen and the easy-going commandant with "fiery eyes" "public" realm, women had to carry "the doubl

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SPECIAL ARTICLE

[mostly unrecognised] 'private' struggle tacked on the public If it were Pritilata's choice to join a militant group, partici
one" (Stree Shakti Sangathana 1989: 28-30). pate in "direct action" and die a martyr's death, then it was her
leader's prerogative to decide if she could do so and impose
'Dangerous Action' team-leadership on her. No other revolutionary party in India
Besides, the nationalist enterprise of which Pritilata became had a woman leading a group of men in "action" till th
an icon, commanded its devotees entirely to reserve all affec- Pritilata's achievement in such a role would surely mean
tive space for an abstract devotion to the mother country. So scoring a first, as much as it would mean giving a fitting rep
not only did Pritilata have to repress her own true self while to the imperialists claiming their supremacy by propagat
living the life of a warrior woman and stifle her feelings for the inferior status of the Indian women. Putting a wom
losing Nirmal Sen, she also had to remain separated from who had led a gender-segregated and quiet life - at the hear
her parents and four siblings. They were financially hard up the combat would most powerfully testify to the violenc
and Pritilata had in fact taken up a school teaching job to inhumanity of the colonial occupation,
run the household (Dutt 1946: 82). Having to sever all Surya Sen's writings also show that he believed tha
ties with her family soon afterwards and leaving them to appointing Pritilata to lead and by giving her permission
fend for themselves, could not have been easy for her. In a die, he had helped her "fulfil her dream" of "sacrificing he
poignant letter written to her mother, Pritilata had begged at the feet of the [mother country] goddess" (Sarkar 200
forgiveness and asked her to sacrifice one child to free the For the leader, the desired impact of Pritilata's sacrifice wa
mother country from enslavement (Dasgupta 1989: 132-33). see more and more women as the fierce Shakti personified
In such intense mental turmoil, it was during this period of it is not improbable that to make it exemplary, Sen may h
abscondence that Pritilata insisted on dying in a "dangerous edited Pritilata's last testament. Manini Chatterjee's resear
action" (Chatterjee 1999: 220). shows us that of Surya Sen's papers seized by the police after
By this time, that is between December 1931 and February his arrest, a copy of this testament was found with
1932, Shanti Ghosh and Suniti Chowdhury, two schoolgirls additions" in Surya Sen's "own handwriting" (Chatt
from respectable families of Comilla and Bina Das, a college 1999: 256). What would perhaps no longer be know
student from Calcutta, had already stunned the nation by much of this often-cited last statement was edited
taking up arms to assassinate high-ranking British officers and leader before it was published and widely circulate
were serving life sentences. But the "revolutionary terrorist" and without this knowledge we will continue to attr
movement was yet to see women in armed insurrection entire authorship to Pritilata.
and get its first woman martyr. Convinced of Kalpana and What is remembered about the Pahartali siege was
Pritilata's willingness and capabilities of being in "action", young woman of 21 led a team of seven men bravel
Surya Sen included them in the Pahartali team after an earlier successfully and became the first woman "martyr" of t
attempt to raid the European Club had failed. But Kalpana was revolutionary movement. That Pritilata was unable
arrested eight days before the siege while returning home to terms with her "private" grief and turmoil and chos
disguised as a man (ibid: 286-87) and after her arrest, the come back alive if the siege was successful under her
mantle fell on Pritilata. ship, has not been recognised. Her "political" act has not
On the morning of the Pahartali siege, Surya Sen ordered been seen in relation to the opacity, mystery
Pritilata to lead the team. By then she had already spent a cou- of the private, as the public/political aren
pie of trying months in hiding and had earned the trust and any recognition of the private and the intimat
respect of not only the leader, but her other comrades too. But It is possible for us to argue that there may
true to Pritilata's introverted and self-effacing nature, she motive but a cluster of motives that drove Pri
openly hesitated to lead the eight-member team though her death. It was as if by taking part in a dang
teammate Bireswar Roy writes that her seven male comrades Pritilata wished to kill the enemy and kill her
"unhesitatingly accepted Priti-di" as their "leader" (Roy 1993:
81-83). As parts of her diary and the last statement also reveal,
obsession with wanting to take part and die in a "dangerous EPW Index
action" could not uproot her selfhood to such an extent that
An author-title index for EPW has been prepared for the years from
she got over all her inhibitions to be able to lead, rather than
1968 to 2012. The PDFs of the Index have been uploaded, year
follow (ibid: 84). In response to her hesitance, Surya Sen
wise, on the EPW web site. Visitors can download the Index for
had asserted:
all the years from the site. (The Index for a fewyearsis yet to be
Bengal doesn't lack brave young men today. From Baleswar to
prepared and will be uploaded when ready.)
Kalarpol, their daring feats have infused fresh blood into the land
time and again. But the fact that Bengal today is producingEPWmother
would like to acknowledge the help of the staff of the
kind ready to play the role of Shakti in every home, has not yet gone
library of the Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research,
down in the annals of history. Let your victory or your sacrifice ensure
Mumbai,
that that episode gets written - this is what I wish. Let the British in preparing the index under a project supported by the
RD Tata Trust.
know, let the world take cognisance that women of our country are no
longer lagging behind (ibid:84).

66
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 SPECIAL ARTICLE

instance. As a colonised Indian driven to despair by British 1970, did not say anything about Nirmal Sen's last moments at
atrocities, Pritilata may have preferred death to a life of Dhalghat though her biographer quotes from other parts of her
degradation. It could have originated from her wanting to pro- diary. And possibly it is for the same reason that parts of
test social injustice against women as she clearly said in her Pritilata's diary which gives voice to her uncensored feelings,
last statement that if women "are yet less fit it is because they has not been published until very recently (Sarkar 2000;
have been left behind". But her despair, which led her to prefer Ghosh 2007).
death to life, seems to have been drawn from the deepest well- Interestingly, even Pritilata's last testament seems to
springs of her "private" grief. have been selectively appropriated. Towards the end of her
statement, Pritilata invoked "the Almighty" to help her dis
Locating the Voice charge her "grave duty" and declared that "Today I have come
Looking back on the time when the news reached Kalpana in finally prepared to embrace His feet". Perhaps when s
her prison cell that her friend had died leading the Pahartali thought of her country, the invincible image of the Almi
siege, Kalpana wrote: Krishna emerged before her, like the Vaishnav Santans of
Priti had grown eager to take part in action after Ramkrishna-da's Anündüniath who worshipped Lord Krishna as th
death. Then she met Master-da. Nirmal-da's death in the Dhalghat slayer. But mention of the "Almighty Father" has b
encounter disturbed her greatly...The death of two of her very dear expunged from her widely published statement (Roy
ones had caused her immense pain (Dutt 1946:79-80). 86). Is it because the Chittagong revolutionaries,
Grief seems to have superseded all other emotions when she whom had turned to communism in prison in the l
chose to die in a public action and the very nature of her grief were not comfortable with such an invocation of the
makes the line between the private and the public rather fuzzy. Or in their bafflement, did they decide to purge
As Kalpana realised, Pritilata's choice was made for not being was mysterious?
able to come to terms with the death of her closest comrades Postcolonial theorists like Gayatri Chakravorty Sp
and she was incapable of forgetting Nirmal Sen's dying mo- shown us that knowledge is never innocent and is g
ments. Besides, having sacrificed her duty towards her family in the interests of its producers. In Pritilata's case
for her duty towards the country, Pritilata was desperately try- ries that have been produced and circulated - alm
ing to come to terms with the kind of patriotism that regarded emerging from the location of the subaltern wom
sacrifice of all affective ties with home and hearth as an affir- not been interested in grappling with the comp
mation of masculinity. Pritilata's choices. As a result, the more she has been cele
Such a masculinity demanded astounding spiritual power brated as an icon, the less has grown the possibilit
and martial prowess and would naturally want to represent hearing her voice. Alternative histories of Pritilata's life
Pritilata's taking of her own life, after successfully executing death got silenced, just as the stories of unheard and un
the group's plan of action and seeing off her teammates women in revolutionary groups like ira did not form a pa
to safety, as avowal of supreme strength and patriotism, mainstream histories.7 But I would still argue, the last word
Those who failed to successfully lead/complete a mission Pritilata's in the way she chooses death and effaces hersel
often found it difficult to confront the "failure". This, of through her final public statement. In "Can the Sublate
course, was not something particular to women, a case in Speak?", the 17-year-old unmarried Hindu Bengali woman
point being Saileswar Chakraborty, the leader of the first Bhubaneswari Bhaduri's act of taking her own life while
team that attempted the attack on the Pahartali club, who was menstruating, foreclosed the possibility of interpr
took his own life rather than carry the burden of "disgrace" her death as an act of shame for an illegitimate pregnan
after a failed attempt. In Pritilata's case, an acknowledgement (Spivak 1988: 314-15), Pritilata Waddedar's suicide aft
by her compatriots that her suicide could be because of her successfully leading an "action" and seeing off all her c
inability to cope with "private" grief and inner struggle, rades to safety, foreclosed the possibility of interpreting h
would tantamount to her death looking "unheroic" and decision as incompetence, dereliction of duty and privilegin
"non-martyrlike". of the private over the public.
It was only Kalpana who resisted this martyrology and Sixty-six years after India's Independ
wrote that, "I was convinced that she (Pritilata) could have do we still need to portray Pritilata
done much more by coming back alive. If only I were by her icon of valour or as a desiring w
side, in action together, I would never have let her commit sui- agency of her own? Must we int
ride" (Dutt 1945: 46). Unlike Surya Sen, it was important for through the lens of over-public sta
Kalpana to understand her comrade's private struggle and part of the master narrative? O
dissuade her from choosing death rather than be a political new questions befitting the complexi
example before the women of the country through her martyr- gendered dilemmas she and som
dom. For most of their other comrades, it seems it was far more faced? This essay is only a search in
important to represent Pritilata as a political icon free from female political icons like Pritilat
affect. It is possibly because of this that Pritilata's biography by registered way that can accomm
her cousin and comrade Purnendu Dastidar, first published in well as affect.

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67

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NOTES
Ghosh, Shankar
- (i99o): "Representing Nationalism: Ideology of (2007): Pritilata (Kolkata: Pro
Motherhood in Colonial Bengal", Economic
"Terrorist Outrage at Pahartali Institute, metheus &
Publishing House).
Political Weekly, 20-27 October: 65-71.
Hansen, Kathryn (1988): "The Virangana in North
Chittagong", Letter No 1628/6/G-3 (Secret) in
Home Poll D8671/32, National Archives Banerjee,
of Sikata (2005): Make Me A Man! Mascu
Indian History, Myth and Popular Culture" in
India, Government of India. linity, Hinduism and Nationalism in India
Economic(Al
& Political Weekly, 30 April: 25-33.
bany: State University of New York Press).
Lahiri, Agamani and Bijaykumar Nag (1999):
Banglar Katha, Ashwin 11,1335 BS/1928.
Barun De recalled in a conversation with the Basu, Subho and Sikata Banerjee (2006): "TheLila Ray (The Leading Light That
Shikhamayee
Quest for Manhood: Masculine Hinduism and
Was Lila Ray) (Kolkata: Jayashree Prakashan).
author in February 2011 about his mother
Nation in Bengal" in Comparative Studies ofKasturi, Leela and Vina Mazumdar (1994): ed,
Pramila De's (Gupta) association with a revolu
South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Women Vol 26,and Nationalism (Delhi: Vikas).
tionary group as a student of Bethune College
No 3:416-90.
around 1929-30. He pointed out that the revo Kaur, Manmohan (1985): Women in India's Freedom
Begum, Maleka (2004): Surjya Sener Stree Pushpa Struggle (Delhi: Sterling Publishers).
lutionary-turned-communist Suhasini Gangu
kuntala 0 Chattagramer Biplobi Narider Katha
ly had told him sometime in the 1950s about Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra (1978): History of
the circumstances under which Pramila was (Surya Sen's Wife Pushpakuntala and the Rev
Modern Bengal, Vol 2 (Kolkata: G Bharadwaj).
olutionary Women of Chittagong) (Kolkata:
suddenly asked to make herself scarce by the Mandai, Tirtha (1991): The Women Revolutionaries
Papyrus).
party leaders. They thought that as a pretty of Bengal 1905-39 (Kolkata: Minerva Associates).
woman Pramila was a bit of a distraction and Bhattacharjee, Kalyani (1952): Jibon Adhyayan (A
Study ofLife) (Kolkata: Saraswati Library). Minault, Gail (1981): ed, The Extended Family:
her presence had begun attracting informers Women and Political Participation in India and
and the police as well. Chakravarty, Uma (1989): "Whatever Happened to
Pakistan (Delhi: Chanakya Publications).
the Vedic Dasi?" in Kumkum Sangari and
Apart from Pritilata and Kalpana, some of the Mukherjee, Ishanee (1994): "Women and Armed
Sudesh Vaid (ed.), Recasting Wome: Essays in
other women who were variously part of IRA Revolution in Colonial Bengal: An Integrated
Indian Colonial History (New Delhi: Kali for
activities between 1930 and 1934, include Study of Changing Role-Patterns" in Leela Kas
Women), 27-87.
Suhasini Ganguly, Indumati Sinha, Premlata Dey, turi and Vina Mazumdar (ed.), Women and
Chatterjee, Manini (1999): Do and Die: The Chit
Mrinalini Sen, Sarojini Pal, Kamala Banerjee, Nationalism (Delhi: Vikas).
tagong Uprising 1930-34 (Delhi: Penguin India).
Renu Ray, Binodini Sen, Manorama Gupta, - (1999): "Scaling the Barrier: Women, Revolu
Chattopadhyaya, Kamaladevi (1986): inner Recesses,
Khirodprobha Biswas and Sabitri Chakraborty.
Outer Spaces (Delhi: Navrang). tion and Abscondence in Late Colonial Bengal,"
In Anandamath, the leader Satyananda ex Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Vol 6 No 1:
plains to the newcomer Mahendra that sarttans Chaudhury, Nirad C (1964): The Autobiography of 61-78.
an Unknown Indian (Delhi: Jaico).
are of two types - the initiated and the uniniti
Chowdhury, Indira (1998): The Frail Hero and Virile Pakrasi, Satish (1982): Agnijuger Katha (The Fiery
ated. The initiated are those who have re
Age of Revolution) (Kolkata: Nabajatak Pra
nounced everything and they are the only ones History. Gender and the Politics of Culture in kashan).
who could be entrusted with important work. Colonial Bengal (Delhi: Oxford University
Press). Ray, Rakshit (1973): Bharotey Sashastro Biplab
Bankim Rachanabali (Kolkata: Sahitya Samsad,
Das, Bina (1995): Shrinkhal Jhankar (The Clang of (India's Armed Revolution) (Kolkata: Rabindra
1977), Vol 1,756.
Chains) (Kolkata: Jayashree Prakashan). Library).
Since the time of the Swadeshi movement, ex
- (2010): Bina Das: A Memoir (Translated by Ray, Rakshit Bhupendra Kishore (1967): Sabar
tremist literature in Bengal had tried to create
Dhira Dhar) (Delhi: Zubaan). Alokshey (Away from the Public Eye), Vol 1
a vanguard of revolutionaries prepared for self
Dasgupta, Kamala (1989): Swadhinata Sangramey (Kolkata: Bengal Publishers), 79.
sacrifice through exemplary action. They ignited
Ray, Bharati (1995): "The Freedom Movement and
the imagination of the youth by calling out, "If Banglar Nari (Women from Bengal in the
you are determined, you can put an end to Eng Struggle for Freedom) (Kolkata: Jayashree
Feminist Consciousness in Bengal, 1905-29" in
lish rule in one day.. .Give up your lives by first
Prakashan). Bharati Ray (ed.), From the Seams of History:
Dastidar, Purnendu (2001): Birkanya Pritilata (The
taking lives. Sacrifice your life at the altar of Essays on Indian Women (Delhi: Oxford Uni
versity Press), 174-218.
liberty. The worship of the goddess will not be Firebrand Pritilata) (Kolkata: Nishan Prakasani).
complete without the sacrifice of blood". "Svar Datta, Pradip Kumar (1999): Carving Blocs: Com Roy, Bireswar (1993): "Pahartali European Club
ajya Sthapan", Yugantar, 1, 49 (3 March 1907), munal Ideology in Early Twentieth-Century Akroman" in Ganesh Ghosh (ed.), Biplabi Ma
quoted in Partha Chatterjee's "Bombs and Bengal (Delhi: Oxford University Press). hanayak Surya Sen O Chattogram Jubo Bidro
Nationalism in Bengal": 2004. Dutt, Kalpana (1945): Chittagong Armoury Raid ho (The Revolutionary Leader Surya Sen and
Consider for example, the story of Premlata ers: Reminiscences (Reprinted in 1979, Delhi: the Youth Uprising in Chittagong) (Kolkata:
Dey, another woman of the Chittagong group People's Publishing House).
Biplabtirtha Chattogram Smriti Samstha):
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