Gopabandhu

RECALLING THAT GREAT ODIA

This October 9 is reminiscent on our part in connection with that great Odia, who was not only Utkalmani but a distinctive angel of humanity to the human society and a messiah of hope for the poors. Utkalmani Pandit Gopabandhu Dash was born on this date in the year of 1877 to Swarnamayee & Daitary Dash in Suando village of Puri district. His birth was aimed to serve the society. When he was a pupil in secondary standard at Puri, he had formed Puri Seva Samity to serve the cholera stricken Rath Yatra pilgrims at Puri. Dase Apane lost his father during his study in Ravenshaw College. Never, he was beaten up by the odds. He was the pioneer of the Kartavya Vodhini Samity with a view to resist the conspiracy against Odia language. Dase Apane and Muktar Ram Chandra Dash were the duo initiators of the first session of Utkal Sammilani at Rambha. He had to sail for Kolkata to pursue law education following the completion of his graduation at Ravenshaw College in 1904. Odia Shramik Sangha and Sandhya Vidyalay at Kolkata was also his design to fight for the causes of non-resident Odias there. Satyavadi Vana Vidyalay at Sakshigopal is the memento of this glitzy saint which is a part and parcel of each Odia’s emotion. My state, Odisha is sentimentally attached to this nation building sanctum. Gopabandhu had also been elected to Bihar-Odisha Assembly and was a member from 1917 to 1921. His unparalleled benevolence for the downtrodden and suffering fellow beings was noticed by entire world with astonishment throughout flood and famine like periods in Odisha. He was using to handout foods, clothes, medicines and essential life-saving commodities to the victims by wandering amid the calamities on his feet! Odia news paper, ‘Samaj’ was his brain child. Samaj ushered in a revolution in the world of mass media so far as our state is concerned. Samaj opened the depressed Odia’s mouth. It was the first lens through which the rest of the world could read Odisha. ‘Nija Hita Pain Jata Nuhen Hindu, Desha Hite Tara Prati Rakta Bindu’(Hindu is not born for himself, each drop of Hindu blood is meant for the motherland) is a popular stanza, written by Utkalmani, who was nevertheless a great literary creator. I have never got a personality in history to be at par with Gopabandhu Dash who was a wonderful amalgamation of all the excellences. He breathed last on June 17 of 1928. Our state or our country gets seldom opportunity to have a persona on its earth. Words will be scarce to illustrate the qualities of this illustrious Hindu, and the guardian of Odisha, Pt Gopabandhu. I offer my warmest obituary at the feet of Dase Apane on this pious date of his Jayanty who sang, Deshara Swarajya Pathe Jete Gada; Puru Tahin Padi Mora Mansa Hada (Let the gaps en route to the freedom of my motherland be filled with my flesh and blood).