Umesh Chandra Dutta

Umesh Chandra Dutta
Born 16 December 1840
Majilpur
Died 19 June 1907 (aged 66)
Kolkata
Occupation Social reformer

Umesh Chandra Dutta (also spelt as Umeshchandra Datta or Umes Chandra Dutta) (1840-1907) was one of the pioneer Brahmos who firmly established the Brahmo Samaj at Harinavi in the face of severe opposition from local people. He was one of the founders of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj and contributed substantially to the cause of education, particularly women’s education. He was designated a ‘Sadhu’ for his pious life.

Early life

Son of Haramohan Dutta, he belonged to Majilpur village, adjacent to Joynagar village. Both the villages were on the fringe of the Sundarbans in 24 Parganas district. He passed entrance in 1859 from the London Missionary Society Institution at Bhawanipur. Although he joined Medical College, poverty forced him out of medical education. From 1862 he took to teaching in different schools and graduated in 1867 as a private student.

He shifted to Bharat Ashram established by Keshub Chunder Sen after his marriage according to Brahmo rites in 1867.

Influence of Brahmo Samaj

When he was young, Shib Krishna Dutta of his village carried the flame of the Brahmo Samaj into the village. He used to read the Tattwabodhini Patrika regularly. Under his influence young folk including Umesh Chandra Dutta were inclined towards the Brahmo Samaj. As the young men had attempted to follow Brahmo religious rites, they faced substantial opposition and torture but withstood the opposition bravely and stuck to their beliefs. He came in contact with Debendranath Tagore and Keshub Chunder Sen and joined the Brahmo Samaj in 1859.

Harinavi School

When he joined as a teacher of a school at nearby Harinavi he got together some people of the locality and the surrounding areas and started a Brahmo Samaj there in 1866. They built a small room with thatched roof on a piece of land in the compound of a Brahmo devotee and made arrangements for regular upasana. While matters thus progressed, Sivanath Sastri, who also belonged to Majilpur, formally joined the Brahmo Samaj and removed his sacred thread.

Forsaking ones sacred thread was something unheard of in those regions. While his father turned him out of the house, it created an enormous public outburst. Parents of young Brahmins who used to come to the samaj for upasanas started torturing their wards, in order to prevent them from taking part in upasanas. There was an environment of fear amongst those sympathetic to the cause of the samaj. The people of the locality gathered and concluded that Sivanath Sastri had forsaken his sacred thread on his advice, and, therefore, no Brahmo could continue to be a teacher in the school. They put up a petition to that effect to the secretary of the school Dwarakanath Vidyabhusan, maternal uncle of Sivanath Sastri. He was in many ways sympathetic to the Brahmo cause but had not joined the Brahmo Samaj.

He had come to know about the petition. Therefore, when the secretary called him he carried a letter of resignation with him. Dwarakanath Vidyabhusan apprised him about the wishes of the people of the locality; he submitted his letter of resignation without saying a word. The learned secretary could not hold back his tears when he released his much-loved young man from the school.

Activities

Harinavi Brahmo Samaj

He quit his job but did not forsake the Brahmo Samaj. Every week he went to the Samaj and organised upasana. On witnessing this the people approached the zemindar of the village to take measures so that he could not organise upasanas. Just before Kali Puja when he was engaged in upasana with others, a group of around 150-200 people surrounded the samaj. They entered the premises, blew out the light, physically lifted the devotees one by one and threw them out on the fields. Many of the bloodied persons fled in different directions. However, they did not dare to touch him.

When he went to the police station, only one constable was there. The zemindar had arranged beforehand for the absence of all others. He got hold of the police diary from the constable and entered his complaint in it. Next morning, he went to the residence of the magistrate at Alipore and apprised him of the incidents. The magistrate agreed to take action against those who were involved.

He then went and met Keshub Chunder Sen at his Colutola residence and narrated to him the incidents at Harinavi. After patiently hearing everything he said, “They have done a great wrong by infringing on your religion. If you lodge a complaint against them, they will face severe punishment. Just because they have tortured you, don’t leave the place. Next week, take people from here and organise upasanas and kirtans on a grand scale. However, don’t complain against those people out of a sense of revenge but they have to be taught a lesson so that they do not repeat it in future.”

When he arrived in Harinavi with a group of Brahmos from Kolkata for the organisation of festivities, they found that the villagers had placed an image of Kali and a shalagramshila (family stone deity) in the Brahmo Samaj and were organising noisy pujas with the beat of drums.

He took the group to the residence of another Brahmo sympathiser, where they organised upasana and had their meals. Most of them left for Kolkata after that. He asked the two persons remaining back to follow him to the samaj. As they neared the place, they found that villagers were running away from the samaj. When they went nearer, they found the policemen taking the Kali image out of the samaj and subsequently dumping it into the nearby field. They also removed the shalagramshila.

When they entered the Samaj, a police inspector asked, “Who is Umesh Chandra?” On being pointed out, he said, “I have been sent by the magistrate to ensure that you have the freedom to worship as you like. I have taken action accordingly. You can come every Wednesday and worship here as you like. In case of any difficulty, we shall help you.”

On the advice from Keshub Chunder Sen, he went and filed a complaint with Alipore Court. On hearing it, the magistrate instructed the issue of warrants of arrest against all those involved. He requested the magistrate only to issue summons to be present in court. On hearing this, the magistrate asked, “Are you a saint?” In reply, he said, “We don’t want to trouble them. We only want to threaten them a little so that they may not do such things again.”

As the time for the court appearance neared, the villagers issued with summons started pleading with him for forgiveness. The zemindar also intervened seeking forgiveness for the villagers. He offered a compromise solution for removal of the samaj from inside the village to a plot of land on the main road, donated by a sympathiser. The court case stood withdrawn and they constructed a permanent structure for Harinavi Brahmo Samaj with the assistance of Debendranath Tagore.

Sadharan Brahmo Samaj

He was one of the key figures in the movement for the establishment of the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in 1878. According to Sivanath Sastri in his History of the Brahmo Samaj, “At the time of its foundation, the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj was headed by three men universally esteemed in Brahmo society for their high moral character. They were Ananda Mohan Bose, Sib Chandra Deb and Umesh Chandra Dutta.” He served as secretary and president of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj.

When City School was established in 1879 he joined as its headmaster. He was principal of City College, Kolkata from the year of its foundation in 1881 till his death. Along with three of his friends, Jamininath Bandoapadhyay, Srinath Singha and Mohini Mohan Mazumdar, he established the Deaf and Dumb School in Manicktala in 1893. He was member of the Calcutta University senate.

He was editor of Bamabodhini, Dharmasadhan, and Bharat Samskarak. With the objective of educating women fully he started the Bamabodhini magazine and wrote two books Bamarachanabali and Strilokdiger bidyar abasykata.

Commemoration

The name of the Umes Chandra College commemorates his name.

References

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