Madhusudan_Das

132 Madhusudan Das:
over spending of his personal earnings in the work his nation. His industrial
ventures were solely meant for uplifting the Oriya nation. In this respect,
his life was an example of complete dedication. But this nation abandoned
him when he was almost thrown out of his personal residence to the street.
He was however, saved from this utter ignominy through the kindness of
a Bengali family for whom he had rendered lmmence humanitarian and
material service in the past. While this Hazra family came forward to save
him from being dislodged from his residence, his dear nation for which he
had given his all stood aside in cold indifference. It is indeed surprising
to realise mat even the most enlightened and benevolent Maharaja of
Paralakemindi, Krushna Chandra Gajapati. who had made common cause
with Mr. Das in bringing a reunion of the Oriya speaking peoples in a
separate province and rendered remarkable service in this respect, did not
desist from executing his decree which ultimately led to putting me
residence of Mr. Das to auction sale. But for the Hazra family the house
which Madhusudan built as his residence and turned the same to become
the nerve centre of the Oriya movement would have gone to a speculator
who might have put it to any purpose in his interest. Mr. Das was in fact
dispossed of his house wherein he was a allowed to continue as a tenant
of the Hazras who purchased on auction sale.
Even as tenant there was no respite for his troubled state of mind
on the same issue. His creditors brought before the court a charge of
'benamidari' deal against him concerning the sale of the house. The
Hazras were said to be me fictitious purchasers of the house to protect Mr.
Das's interest against me creditor's money. In the face of this mounting
personal crisis. Mr. Das had to defend himself against me accusation. He
offered to explain in detail the background for the Hazras' grateful
reciprocity towards Mr. Das, their old benefactor. Mr. Das explained that
he was a god-father to me Hazra children following the death of their
mother. As her five children came to suffer domestic unrest with the arrival
of a step mother in the family, Mr.Das had volunteered to take care of me
Hazra children in their distress. In his own words as spoken before the
court, he said : " I had no children as my own. Consequently I looked
upon these children as my grand children. I asked three of these children
to come to Cuttack and I took complete charge of their education. These
children were Miss Das. Mr. Hazra and Miss Hazra.." Explaining his
point he further added: "It does not look strange for Mr. Hazra to have
purchased this in auction. 4 He and Miss Das supplied the funds. The idea