Remembering Khudiram Bose..

Most of us brought up in an education system that does little to celebrate our national heroes can be forgiven for forgetting that today is the death anniversary of one of the most extraordinary characters in our freedom movement: Khudiram Bose.

Khudiram Bose’s story is all the more remarkable because of his age. When put to the gallows, he was barely an adult and was probably one of the youngest martyrs of the movement. His execution fired the youth in Bengal had repercussions throughout British India. Khudiram’s “crime” was his attempt at assassinating Kingsford – a British District & Sessions Judge notorious for his disdain of Indians. Kingsford had become an object of hate for the revolutionaries in Bengal for the harsh sentence he had imposed on a 15-year old boy. Khudiram and his friend Profullakumar Chaki’s attempt at assassinating Kingsford was made on the evening of 30th April 1908. This is what happened next:

Khudiram started running immediately after throwing the bomb. He ran throughout the night, along the railway  line,without stopping. He stopped only in the morning. By then he had run about 25 miles. He reached a place now known as Lakha near the railway station at Veni. He had run with out rest and was quite exhausted. In addition, he was unbearably hungry. Buying some fried corn, he started eating. By that time, the news of the Muzaffarpur incident had spread in all directions. At the very shop where Khudiram was eating, people were talking about it. Khudiram listened with curiosity.

Hearing that two women died, he forgot himself for a moment and asked, “What! Didn’t Kings ford die?” Khudiram’s words drew the attention of the people in the shop. The boy looked a stranger to the place. Utter fatigue was clear in his face. The shopkeeper’s suspicion grew stronger. He entertained a hope that he would be rewarded if he could expose the criminal. Immediately after serving water to Khudiram, he gave a hint to the police going on their usual rounds nearby. As Khudiram raised the glass to his mouth, the police arrived and caught hold of him. Khudiram failed in his attempt to take out the revolver in his pocket. Both the revolvers in his pockets were seized by the police.

At the time he made this attempt, Khudiram had barely turned 18. The arrest led to a predictable case against him for murder. The sentence was a foregone conclusion. Khudiram’s case for being fought by some of the best lawyers in Muzzafarpur (who refused any fees for defending him). But that could not prevent a death sentence. Initially refusing to appeal against the sentence, he was persuaded by his counsellors that if the death sentence is commuted to life imprisonment, he may still live to serve the country. An appeal was lodged in the High Court. His lawyer made a robust defence which nevertheless failed to move the court.  Wikipedia mentions that:

As a final attempt, an appeal was made to the Governor General.. But the appeal was summarily turned down..On the contrary, the order came to carry out the death sentence latest by 11 August 1908.

Kolkata erupted in intense protest from the entire student community. The streets of Kolkata started to be choked up with processions all at the same time, for several days.On 11 August, the region around the prison became packed with a swelling crowd before it was 6 am—the scheduled time. People holding flower garlands filled up the front rows of the crowd. Upendranath Sen, the lawyer-journalist of the Bengali news daily “Bengali”, who was close to Khudiram, reports having reached the venue by 5 am, in a car with all the necessary funerary arrangements and clothes. After the hanging, the funeral procession went through Kolkata, with police guards holding back the crowd all along the central artery street. The people kept throwing their flowers on the body as the carriage passed by.

…Soon after, practically a “competition” among the youth of Bengal began, to kill Britishers and embrace martyrdom.

It is reported that when asked to make his final statement, Khudiram replied:

Like the heroic Rajput women, I wish to die for the freedom of my country. The thought of the gallows does not make me unhappy in the least. My only regret is that Kingsford could not be punished for his crimes.

He was reportedly hanged with a copy of Bhagavad Gita in his hands and “Vande Mataram” on his lips. As you go about your day today, please take a moment to remember the sacrifice of Khudiram Bose – and countless others – who got us our freedom and our dignity..and please share this story with your friends and the younger ones in your family.

Related Posts: This category of posts on  National Heroes

P.S. Note that the date of his execution is mistakenly mentioned as 19th August in several online essays. However this Government of India publication as well as the official website of the Government of West Bengal mentions the date as 11th August. (Image courtesy: Government of West Bengal).

B Shantanu

Political Activist, Blogger, Advisor to start-ups, Seed investor. One time VC and ex-Diplomat. Failed mushroom farmer; ex Radio Jockey. Currently involved in Reclaiming India - One Step at a Time.

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8 Responses

  1. This is a dedication to Khudiram Bose, written by my son, Uday Vikram. He’s a student of grade 10, and a passionate admirer of the philosophy espoused by revolutionary freedom fighters such as Bhagat Singh, Udham Singh and Khudiram Bose.

    Have you heard of Khudiram Bose?
    He sure has heard of you
    Gave up his life with no remorse
    To end your servitude

    Lively as they say he was
    A sharp and hungry mind
    Troubled with the thought he was
    Of enslavement of our kind

    Orphaned at the age of six
    But Bose had no regrets
    The mother whose love he so relished
    Was clearly under threat

    Vande Matram, he screamed
    A young boy of fifteen
    Vande Matram, he screamed
    Calling out to a nation asleep

    A call that shook the tyrants
    A millions laathis fell
    But it took a lot more than violence
    To have her sons quelled

    Vande Matram in the town
    The streets it did fill
    Young boys scuffled around
    Distributing hand bills

    Have you heard of Khudiram Bose?
    He sure has heard of you
    Gave up his life with no remorse
    To end your servitude

    In Medinipur, 103 years ago
    Assembled a crowd of youths
    Cast they maddened looks around
    But the air was free of hoots

    No hues, no shouts
    The morning lay in peace
    But in came, to drive them out,
    Goons of the police

    Blood stained the court of guns
    Merciless, the laathis came
    But up stepped a loyal son
    Sushil Kumar was his name

    He snatched the weapon from the brute
    A boy not older than me
    The coward trembled in his boots
    While the crowd cheered in glee

    He beat the scoundrel black and blue
    Before his screams were heard
    But our young hero was captured too
    And produced before Kingsford

    With each stroke of the whip he yelped
    But not for help or for himself
    Vande Matram, he cried
    After each blow was dealt

    And to everyone who shed a tear of pride
    The fire so fierce had not yet died
    For now each drop of teenage blood
    Was building up a freedom flood

    Have you heard of Khudiram Bose?
    He sure has heard of you
    Gave up his life with no remorse
    To end your servitude

    Kingsford feared his death was near
    To Muzaffarpur he fled
    But to the sons the aim was clear
    Sushil must be avenged

    Summer’s April 1908
    The Jugantar leaders met
    Chose they Bose and his mate
    To reap the creeper’s death

    Prafulla Chaki was chosen too
    To repay our beloved mother
    Whom they both were loyal to
    And thus set out the brothers

    The bombs and guns coincidental
    To free the mother they both strove
    Where only the eyes and heart proved essential
    To find the path they roved

    Bihar, the home of countless legends
    Had given birth to yet another one
    With teeming talks of Marx and Lenin
    But his mind was ruled by none

    Ninth grade, when he first rose
    To the service of his mother
    And then the anger just explodes
    And conquers like no other

    A sense of wrong and right
    Was all that was required
    To bring them all to fight
    And leave generations inspired

    Have you heard of Khudiram Bose?
    He sure has heard of you
    Gave up his life with no remorse
    To end your servitude

    The duo reached the town
    With no shoes on their feet
    After days of following Kingsford around
    They planned an ambush on the street

    Around 8.30 as planned,
    The judge’s carriage was spotted
    They bombed it and ran
    They thought they had got it

    But Alas! What a disaster!
    The carriage contained not the judge
    But the wife of a barrister
    Who with her daughter was struck

    They both ran in different directions
    25 miles of running
    Before Bose stopped at Veni Station
    A sight quite stunning

    Clothes unkempt, bare mud -caked feet
    And at once police became suspicious
    Grabbed him from behind, the cheats
    But not against his wishes

    Grinned he mysteriously
    As the traitors bashed him around
    The pistols flew out of his pocket
    And Vande Matram out of his mouth

    Have you heard of Khudiram Bose?
    He sure has heard of you
    Gave up his life with no remorse
    To end your servitude

    Meanwhile, Chaki received some help
    A civil servant with regrets
    Felt it his duty to treat him well
    Gave him shelter, did his best

    Mokamghat station
    Chaki was discovered
    And with no hesitation
    He uttered a salute to the mother

    And shot himself dead
    The English stood in consternation
    But they did cut off his head
    And sent it home for confirmation

    A pity he died among knaves
    A great warrior and son
    But if we can produce someone even half as brave
    The battle is already won

    Bose appeared before court
    Death was to be his fate
    And on the train of martyrdom he climbed aboard
    11th August 1908

    He smiled as they marched him to his death
    What a grievous loss!
    But while lived he fought with every breath
    And so should you with yours

    Have you heard of Khudiram Bose?
    He sure has heard of you
    Gave up his life with no remorse
    To end your servitude.

  2. K P Ganesh says:

    Khudiram Bose Amar Rahain. In this egoistic, selfish world self sacrifice like yours stand out like a beacon and guiding light for those who care for Hindustan. VandeMataram. Jai Hind.

  3. Vijay Ahuja says:

    I salute you, Khudiram Bose. He gave the supreme sacrifice at such age for a cause and if I compare it with myself or today’s youth, we are not even aware of our existence, leave alone the vision and a spirit to do something for the country. Even after 100 years, your story is still a lesson for the whole country. Humble Thanks in gratitude for providing us the freedom.

  4. M says:

    Ms. Priya VK Singh,

    I am going to share the poem with credits. Please comment and let me know if you and/or your son disapprove.

  5. Malavika says:

    Since this is a blog to keep memories of our heroes and civilizational memories alive I am posting an excerpt from an article by Kanchan Gupta:

    “There were two reminders via Twitter on Saturday morning. The first, rather unusual (it’s no longer fashionable to recall the heroic deeds of those who rebelled against the subjugation of India by foreigners) reminder was about Khudiram Bose, a young lad barely 18 years old, who embraced the noose on August 11, 1908, with an ode to the motherland on his smiling lips. His accomplice, Prafulla Chaki, too had preferred death over slavery. The sacred memory of Khudiram Bose, Prafulla Chaki and countless other revolutionaries of Bengal has long been erased from the national consciousness, as has been the memory of many others who shaped the destiny of this nation.”

    ….

    “The other reminder came from a self-flagellating Hindu given to peddling fiction as fact in order to demonstrate his ‘secular’ credentials. On August 11, 1947, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, in his speech to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, memorably said, “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this state of Pakistan…” That single line is recalled every August 11, year after year, to foist the memory of Jinnah as a staunch secularist who would be appalled by the pitiful sight that is Pakistan today, his moth-eaten dream that has turned into a blood-soaked nightmare”

    “More importantly, the Great Calcutta Killing marked the beginning of Jinnah’s ‘direct action’. The massacre at Noakhali, the depredations inflicted on Hindus and Sikhs in the North-West Frontier Province”

    http://dailypioneer.com/columnists/item/52193-august-is-a-month-of-many-memories.html

  6. Priya VK Singh says:

    M, thank you fora asking. Please go ahead. Thanks.

  7. v.c.krishnan says:

    Dear Sir,
    Today we have new Khudirams in the form of Ramdev and Anna; The only difference is we LAUGH at them because they have no CROWDS. If Khudiram had waited for crowds he would not have this wonderful poem written nor would he been a Martyr.
    VCK

  8. B Shantanu says:

    Placing this link here for the record: FORGOTTEN LIBERATORS: KHUDIRAM BOSE by Shwetank Bhushan Singh