Madhusudan_Das

His Life and Achievements 181
pains to inculcate the ideal "Alo Sahki' Apana Mahata Apey Rakhi" i.e.
"Oh Companion, take steps to guard your prestige" and how he should
love his own place. Never he heard stones or ballads relating to achieve
something : but he always saw the imagery of fire and a lady sacrificing
for a so-called sacred cause. These very ideas became a part of his life. he
got never tired of repeating these scenes and words to audiences and it
was very sacred lor him to jump into the fire of love for the modern
country. He was very proud of the family blood in him. So also his mother's
lesson he kept in mind and acted upon it till death. He preferred death to
bending low. liven alter all was gone he preferred to earn his pittance at
the bar and it is said he sent on paying rent to his adopted daughter for
staying m the house which was bid in auction in her name after his
insolvency. Thirdly, the struggle he had with poverty, uncertainty and
unrecognisability during his stay at Calcutta (1866-1881) was a sore in
memory. And his lonely life alter the death of his wife and scoffing of
others at his conversion into Christianity made him crave for more
gregariousness. more vocal expressions, more pity for others who even
went astray.
Society in Orissa was also in a flux. The result of the Sunset laws,
and British authoritian rule had made the people benumbed with the
'Bhadroloks' and 'Babus' more from beyond Orissa. A fragmented and
subdivided land with great doubts about her own stability was in dire
need of a Captain to consolidate and coordinate their needs as political
men. And that is the twilight of history when Mr. Das arrived. He was
bound therefore to give lions share of his dedication to this aspect of the
country and rest to other interests. The influence of Vidyasagar, Bipin Pal.
Surendranath Banerjee and a host of other leaders was more of political
nature including that of Sir Asutosh Mukherjee whom he tutored in his
early days. Mr. Das, naturally therefore, could not think of business,
enterprise, profit and mechanization and industrialisation consummating
in economic resurrection. In this context we may quote Friedman:
Economic growth in a particular country is not the result of certain
actions, but a process of interactions in which cause and effect
are intermingled with antecedents that reach immeasurably far
into the past and which emerge to a head through a combination
of unique and favourable occurrence. In that it is a historical
process in the perspective: economic growth appears as the
remaking of society. 38