Madhusudan_Das

His Life and Achievements 147
programme of Mahatma Gandhi and after Mahatmaji's death, he became
a follower of Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Thus Gopabandhu created a band of
leaders for Orissa and embarked on many novel experiments in the fields
of education, literature and politics. The Satyabadi School stands preeminent
in the History of Orissa and Gopabandhu would have risen high
in national politics had he not died at an early age of 51 in 1928. A year
before his death, Lala Lajpatrai took him as a member of the People's
Society and made him its Vice-President. The two leaders of Orissa who
made important contributions to the contemporary Indian political
thought are Madhusudan Das (1848-1934) and Gopabandhu Das (1877-
1928). Lesser celebrities may be left out of account for the purpose of the
present paper.
II
Madhusudan Das was an Advocate by profession. He had his
education in Calcutta and he even started his practice as a lawyer in
Calcutta High Court. Prior to this he was a teacher when he had the
honour of being the private tutor to Sir Ashotosh Mukherjee. He lived in
Calcutta from 1866 till 1881 when he shifted to Cuttack and started legal
practice there. He entered the Bengal Legislative Council in 1896 and
remained a member in 1897-1900,1901-1902. and 1908-1911. For two
years, he was also a member of the Imperial Legislative Council. On the
creation of the Province of Bihar and Orissa in 1912, he joined its
Legislative Council in 1913 as a member and continued as such till
1927. He was a prolific writer in the journals and newspapers of those
days; he delivered Presidential addresses in numerous Conference in his
long life of 86 years and participated in the deliberations of the legislature.
He was not a scholastic philosopher; he was a practical statesman. His
views are there in his speeches and writings and not in systematically
arranged books.
He had been associated with the Congress from 1886 till 1903
when he diverted his attention to the Utkal Union Conference which he
founded that year with the help of the Rulers of a number of feudatory
states like Mayurbhanj and Zemindars of Ganjam district in Madras
Presidency. 3 His Utkal Sabha had been converted into a Provincial unit of
the Congress from October 6.1888 and was the earliest Provincial Congress
Committee in Orissa.
Madhusudan was not parochial at all; he had a lofty sense of
idealism. In explaining the objectives of the Utkal Union Conference he
said in an address of October 25,1903: