Madhusudan_Das

IX
MADHUSUDAN :
A POET AND PROPHET OF ODIA IDENTITY
ACHARYA BHABANANDA
OUR GUIDE WHEN ALIVE
OUR GUIDE THOUGH DEAD"
Madhusudan Das. professionally a lawyer and hero of 'Oriya
nationalism' was the only man in British-Indian Utkal, who virtually
destroyed himself to establish an 'Odia Identity'. He was a versatile genius
and a product of incipient renaissance in the mid-nineteenth and early
twentieth century Utkal. He proclaimed : "Our neighbours have tried to
wipe us out. Have they been successful ? No one can wipe you out" The
life-force within the Odia people can not be wiped out. (Das. Nabakishore--
Utkal Gourab Madhusudan : 1951. p. 194 -translated by me.) Further, he
invited Odia people, "not to develop individuality" (Ibid : p. 194) and to
"relinquish the knowledge of varna-superiority "And "... I will tell you
brothers — as long as you have not got what you want, go on trying again
and again." (Ibid : p. 193)
The image of the land, where he was born in a decadent feudal
family, was to him. the 'image of a mother'. — not different from India. If
'mother' Utkal remained as an enigma for Madhusudan. in his search for
symbolic representation of the Utkaliya culture, he was committed to the
syncretic tradition of Jagannath. This commitment to the 'Lord of the
Universe' (Jagannath) inspired him to uncover the Dharmic tradition.
Passionate about the past heritage, he could harmonise his ethical stance
of a lawyer to uphold the roots and history of Utkaliyas. In a nobler spirit,
gracious and dignified manner, he advocated for the renewal and
revitalisation of language, culture and society — even the economic
content of such a dream for Utkal.
He was not only enchanted by the development of other societies,
be it Eastern or Western, but inculcated a transformational approach to
the problems and issues of 'Oriyas', in the then administrative, political
and cultural environment (see: A Brief Account of Orissa Under British
Administration published in Oriya Weekly 'Utkal Deepika' 20.11.1897)
Conceptually speaking the various motivations (Cooperative Society
Female Education. Leprosy Home. Filigree. Tannery etc. ) which
influenced Madhusudan. seems to us as 'unmanageable projects', one