Madhusudan_Das

40 Madhusudan Das :
of the Oriya-speaking tracts, resisting the forces of evil, combating
the tyranny of the official tin-gods, focusing public opinion on matters
of common welfare and creating a platform, when none existed, for
the ventilation of the grievances of his own people. We find him since
the last decade of the last century, staking all his material possessions
in order to bring about the industrial reorganisation of his own
province. The attempt and the deed were both heroic but it cost him
the fortune and savings of a lifetime. Even in the midst of financial
crash and ruin and stricken with age, he displayed the vigour of a
Hercules till the last days of his life, in self-help and self-reliance.
Such was the man who made history for his own province and
gave his all to Orissa but had no personal axe to grind.
In his attempt to remove the "Inferiority complex" which
obsessed the minds of his own people, he never came into clash with
either communities in Orissa. He tried to engender in the minds of
his own people a spirit of healthy rivalry with the sister Bengalee
community. There was no trace of hostility and bitterness in his
relations with the said community.
Orissa's "sun" is set! He had given Orissa light and life which
lit up the darkest corners of the province of Orissa.
• • •
(2)
ORISSA BEFORE THE NATION
SATINDRA NARAYAN ROY MAHASAYA
Madhusudan Das lived like a lord and spent like a lord.
Poor people looked up to him as the only man whom they should
go to when they were in trouble, I never knew a leader of man who
had a stronger hold on the mass mind.
He was an intense lover of Orissa. His desire to serve his people
exclusively was a bar to his taking part in Indian politics. The costly
garden parties that he gave were never meant to show himself off,
but to enhance the prestige of the place and the people.
His insolvency gave a shock of surprise to many people,. The
Utkal Tannery, of which he was the proprietor, was valued at Rs.