Madhusudan_Das

204 Madhusudan Das:
caste system. " In his lecture in Utkal Sammilani of 1908 he declared,
"Without the worship of Goddess Laxmi this nation cannot thrive. "
With the able assistance of his co-worker Gourisankar,
Madhusudan helped revival of ancient Oriya literatures, Oriya Palas,
Jatras and Purans and with confidence he pointed out to his adversaries
in these words : "How far this attempt to suppress Oriya literature
succeed would be found by a reference to Oriya Publications during
last forty years. " (Vide The Oriya, 1918). He revived ancient and
traditional Oriya arts and crafts and ushered a movement Buy Orissan.
He revived Orissan Filigree Works and in his famous lecture in the
London Town Hall (1897) he supported caste system as it fosters
hereditary crafts.
Utkal-Gourab summarised the whole of his movement in his
own words in the editorial of The Oriya of October, 1918 in the
following words :
If the history of British administration of the Oriya speaking
tracts comes to be written at any time by an American, his
reflections on the dismemberment of a nation, the attempts
to deprive a nation of pleasant associations of their mothertongue,
the attempt to dry up the spring of national
consciousness, which a nation's mother-tongue is, would be
a valuable exposition on the extent to which the divide et
impera policy dominated British administration in Orissa.
The persistent refusal by Government to place the Oriya
speaking tracts under one administration, and thus give the
people opportunities for national growth under the impelling
force of a national consciousness, at a time when Britain is
fighting to secure to small nations the right to shape their
destiny and in the face of an admission in the Report of
Constitutional Reforms that 'Linguistic or Racial Units of
Government' afford additional facilities for the success of
the reforms proposed, would furnish to the foreign historians
materials for contrast between truths - taught and practised.
There is enough historical materials to present Oriyas as a
distinct race. A distinctive national consciousness is the
impelling present force. It is growing everyday, both in