Madhusudan_Das

116 Madhusudan Das :
But many people perhaps do not know that the late lamented Sashibhusan
Rath, who belonged to an orthodox Brahmin family of Ganjam District
and who was one of the early pioneers of daily paper journalism in Orissa
was also a manager in Madhu Babu's Utkal Tannery. Mr. Rath had recorded
this in his diary and which has later been put into his biography by Sharat
Chandra Mahapatra who was also journalist, an author, a fighter for Orissa
province and a social reformer.
AN IDEAL TEACHER
After securing his M. A. degree from the Free Church Institution of
Calcutta in 1873. Madhusudan got B.L. degree in 1878 from the Calcutta
Presidency College. But after his graduation in 1870, Madhusudan chose
the life of a teacher for some lime. He was the Head Master of Christian
Missionary Society High School and Garden Reach High School. During
this period he also acted as die private tutor of Asutosh Mukherji, who
subsequently became Sir Asutosh and the most illustrious educationist of
Bengal. Sir Asutosh had life long respect and regard for Mr. Das for his
magnanimity of heart as Madhusudan gave free private tuition. in 1881
he returned to Cuttack for practising law after completing three year's
practice at the Calcutta Courts.
LAW TEACHING IN RAVENSHAW COLLEGE
From 1893 to 1900 he worked as the Law Lecturer of the Ravenshaw
College giving a new life to the teaching and study of law in the premier
College of Orissa. His mode of teaching had attracted quite a sizeable
number of Oriya boys to the law class who after obtaining their law degree
distinguished themselves in various walks of life in Orissa and elsewhere
and some of them also became good lawyers.
SUCCESS IN LEGAL PROFESSION
During his career as a lawyer he won many historic cases to his
credit. The first case in which he shot to lime light in Orissa was the civil
suit of a rich Mahant of Puri against a poor man in which the Mahanta had
engaged all the top non-Oriya lawyers against that man. When the Mahant
approached Madhu Babu to accept his brief he politely declined the offer
on the ground that let not the poor man go undefended in the Court of
Law . At last the opposite party of the Mahant, the poor man came to
Madhu Babu and he took up his case and won it in the Court without
taking a pie from the poor man. This was another instance of his greatness
of heart and head. Next came the Puri Jagannath Temple case of 1885-86 .