Madhusudan_Das

110 Madhusudan Das :
Though his activities were mainly confined to Bengal, Bihar
and Orissa, he was out and out a nationalist. Regional loyalty did
not stand in the way of his loyalty to the cause of Indian nationalism.
In one of his speeches he said, "The mother Utkal (Orissa) is an
incarnation of mother India. To do good to the mother Utkal is to
do good to the mother India." "It is difficult to form the national life",
he said, "when individual life has not lost its importance."
Though Western-oriented, he was critical of the English ways.
In his opinion, the English were materialists and did not realise the
spiritual aspect of life.
Press and platform were his methods of communication of ideas.
He edited a weekly paper, The Oriya, to present the grievances of
the people to the authorities. His important contributions in The Oriya
were "Industrial Development", "Industrial Awakening", "War is
business and business is war", "Freedom from Industrial Captivity"
etc. In his writings he fearlessly criticized the policies of the British
Government. He also wrote a few patriotic poems in Oriya.
Madhusudan was a forceful speaker in English and Oriya alike.
His speeches were imbued with genuine national fervour.
Madhusudan thought of industrial development of India on
Western model . To give stimulus to industrial growth, he started the
Utkal Tannery and the Embroidery Works. He laid emphasis on the
economic independence of India, which, as he believed was the
prerequisite for political independence. He wrote, "We are now crying
for Swaraj, but we do not realise how much we depend upon others
for the pettiest of our necessaries." Madhusudan led a simple and
unostentatious life. He realized the dignity of labour in his personal
life. He used to say that the hand is more important than the head.
This aspect of his life impressed Gandhiji very much. Charity was
the air he breathed till his last breath.
The closing years of the nineteenth century and the early years of
the twentieth century witnessed the rapid modernization and reformation
of Indian society which set the stage for the emergence of militant
nationalism in the later period. Though chronologically, Madhusudan
Das died a little later than the said period, yet historically he will be
remembered as one of the foremost nation-builders of the formative
phase of Indian nationalism.