Ghosh, Barindrakumar

Ghosh, Barindrakumar (1880-1959) the youngest son of Krishnadhan Ghosh and Swarnalata Ghosh of Konnagar, West Bengal, was born at Norwood in the vicinity of London on 5 January 1880. On his return to India, Barin, as he was popularly known, passed the Entrance Examination from a high school at Deoghar in 1898 and joined the Patna College. He, however, did not prosecute his formal studies longer.

Barin Ghosh spent a few days with his elder brother Manmohan Ghosh at Dhaka and found a lot of love from Professor Kalipada Basu, an eminent Mathematician. He then went to Baroda and there received rifle training and at the same time had extensive study in history and politics. Under the influence of aurobindo ghosh, his elder brother was gradually drawn into the revolutionary movement.

In the early 1900s, Aurobindo deputed his able lieutenant Jatindranath Banerjee to bring the various revolutionary groups of Bengal under a common programme and in 1903 Barin was sent to Calcutta to help Jatindranath in this mission. But due to different attitudes and perceptions, strained relations developed between Barin and Jatindranath. In 1906, in the heydays of the swadeshi movement Barin Ghosh started Jugantar, a Bengali weekly, to propagate revolutionary ideas. The popularity of the Jugantar particularly among the younger generation made the British officials highly suspicious of Barin's motives. He faced persecutions, but his spirit was indomitable. In 1907, he started the Maniktala group with a small batch of dedicated young revolutionaries to collect arms and manufacture explosives. They were trained in the use of sophisticated weapons. On 2 May 1908 Barin was arrested along with other revolutionaries for trying to incite an armed struggle against the British raj. Barin was condemned to death, but on appeal it was commuted to life imprisonment. He was deported to the Andamans.

Almost a decade after, following the colonial government's decision to release political prisoners, he was brought back to Calcutta and set free. Thereafter, he took to journalism and acquired one of the best printing houses in Calcutta. But af nd render his services to the ashrama. During his stay in Pondicherry, Aurobindo's spiritual influence drew him closer to the philosophy of sadhana. However, after a lapse of six years Barin returned to Calcutta in 1929. In the succeeding years he became associated with the Statesman of Calcutta and gained fame as a columnist. Later he joined the Basumati as its editor. ter two years Barin left his business to start an ashrama in Calcutta. In 1923 he decided to leave for Pondicherry and render his services to the ashram.

In 1933, he married Sailaja Dutta, a widow of a respectable family. Though a devout Hindu, he certainly was not a fanatic, rather, tried to combine diverse philosophies and religions into a composite spiritual whole. He died on 18 April 1959 at the age of seventy-nine. [Raj Sekhar Basu]

Bibliography Barindrakumar Ghosh, Pather Ingit, Calcutta, 1337, BS; UN Bandyopadhyaya, Nirbasiter Atmakatha, Calcutta, 1352 BS; RC Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India, II, Calcutta, 1963.