Madhusudan_Das

His Life and Achievements: 43
Utkal Tannery ? On Moti Lal answering the question in the negative
Mr. Das said, "very well I will send a man to take the measurement
of your feet and present you with a pair of shoes made of leather
which you will find to be softer than your canvas shoes."
A few days afterwards when Babu Moti Lal Ghosh was visiting
Lord Carmichael, the latter found that Moti Lal was no longer wearing
the old fashioned canvas shoes, but a pair of fine glossy glace kid
shoes made by the Utkal Tannery. At home also he was found wearing
a pair of slippers made by the same tannery. And he wore them long
and every time we looked at them we were reminded of the giver,
Mr. Madhusudan Das.
• • •
(4)
REMINISCENCES OF MY GURU
SWAMI BICHITRANANDA DAS
When I think of the late Mr. M.S. Das, my mind is filled with
ecstasy; for in him I realised the ideal of my life. A man of great
personality, a versatile genius, a successful lawyer, a veteran politician,
a great industrialist, the father of the new Orissa and a Harishchandra
of this age — such was our Madhu Babu. I remember the greatness
of his soul and his magnanimity that brought him to the brink of
worldly ruin. I remember him as the inspire of souls and as a man
whose soul thought and lived in a higher plane than those of ordinary
mammon worshippers. The motto of his life was. "Fear no man but
God." His fearless temperament earned for him the reputation of hard
critic of the Government and of the oppressions and repressions of
the men in power and yet he was one of the greatest constitutionalists
of his age. He was a devoted Christian, not of the orthodox type but
one who loved and followed Christ. He used to say, "Where in this
world could I have a nobler personality than that of Christ ? Where
is his parallel in the world, for he said in his hour of suffering and
pain. Father forgive them : they know not what they do". I often
narrated to him as a parallel the great sacrifice of Dadhichi Maharshi,
who gave his life-bones for the manufacture of thunder in the holy