Madhusudan Das
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Madhusudan Das was born on 28 April 1848 in a village called Satyabhamapur, 20 kilometres from Cuttack. His father Choudhury Raghunath Das and mother Parbati Debi named him Gobindaballabh. Later they changed his name to Madhusudan. He is also popularly known as Utkal Gourab. He had two elder sisters and a younger brother named Gopalballabh.
Madhusudan Das had his early education in the village school, learning all subjects, including Persian, from a maulvi. After his early education, he moved to Cuttack High School (later known as Ravenshaw Collegiate School) where English education was imparted. Against all odds, after passing the Entrance examination in 1864, he went to Calcutta (now Kolkata) for College Education braving many adverse situations. He lived there for fifteen years (1866 to 1881), completing his M.A. and B.L. degrees. He returned to Orissa in 1881, and settled down at Cuttack to pursue his legal profession. He was the first graduate, M.A. and B.L. of Orissa. He always had the feeling that as the State's first graduate he had to fulfill some great national demand.
He worked untiringly for the political, social and economical uplift of people of Eastern India, especially Orissa, and rendered commandable service to the nation as a lawyer, social reformer and patriot. To arouse the sense of patriotism in the hearts of millions, he contributed a number of articles and poems both of Oriya and English literature. He was also a powerful orator in Oriya, English and Bengali. He worked hard to rehabilate the Orissan artisans who were celebrated for their artistic skills. He gave of his earnings generously for the cause of higher education of poor students and contributed liberally to various political, social and cultural organisations.
At the age of thirty-one he became a widower without any issue. Having no immediate family responsibilities and liabilities he decided to dedicate his life to the Cause of Oriya people. He earned sufficiently from his legal practice because of his deep understanding of the intricacies of law and his neat presentation. He spent all his earnings for the common cause and died a pauper. In the last part of his life he had to declare himself insolvent. He died on February 4, 1934. Mahatma Gandhi described him as a great Indian patriot who wore himself out in giving shape and reality to various nation-building schemes.
