ShondaLemos at 07:17, 11 January 2026

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{{short description|Indian politician, poet, author and leader of the Bengali Swaraj Party (1870–1925)}}
{{redirect|Deshbandhu}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Chittaranjan Das
| image = Chittaranjan Das 2.jpg
| alt =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1870|11|5}}
| birth_place = [[Calcutta]], Bengal, British India<ref name="DNB">{{Cite ODNB|title=Das, Chittaranjan}}</ref><ref name="Brit">{{Britannica|152020|Chitta Ranjan Das}}</ref>
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1925|6|16|1870|11|5}}
| death_place = [[Darjeeling]], Bengal, British India
| other_names = ''Deshbandhu''
| alma_mater = [[Middle Temple]]
| occupation = Freedom fighter, politician, [[lawyer]], educationist, author, poet
| years_active =
| notable_works =
| party = {{ubl | [[Indian National Congress]] (Before 1923) | [[Swaraj Party]] (1923–1925) }}
| movement = [[Anushilan Samiti]]<br />[[Indian Independence movement]]
| spouse = [[Basanti Devi]]
| children = 3
}}
'''Chittaranjan Das''' (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925), popularly called '''''Deshbandhu''''' (friend of the country), was a Bengali freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the [[Indian independence movement|Indian Independence Movement]] and mentor of [[Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose|Subhas Chandra Bose]]. He was the founder-leader of the [[Swaraj Party]] in undivided [[Bengal]] during the period of [[British Raj|British Colonial rule]] in [[India]]. His name is abbreviated as '''C. R. Das'''.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://theprint.in/theprint-profile/deshbandhu-chittaranjan-das-freedom-fighter-who-became-a-lawyer-after-failing-ics-exam/250126/|title='Deshbandhu' Chittaranjan Das, freedom fighter who became a lawyer after failing ICS exam|publisher=[[ThePrint]]|access-date=19 June 2021|archive-date=30 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730063100/https://theprint.in/theprint-profile/deshbandhu-chittaranjan-das-freedom-fighter-who-became-a-lawyer-after-failing-ics-exam/250126/|url-status=live}}</ref>
He was closely associated with a number of literary societies and wrote poems, apart from numerous articles and essays.

==Early life==
Chittaranjan Das was born on 5 November 1870 to a well-known Bengali Hindu [[Baidya]] family in [[Calcutta]] but his family originally form the village named Telirbagh, situated in present-day [[Tongibari Upazila]] of the Munshiganj ([[Bikrampur]]) district of Bangladesh.<ref name="DNB"/><ref name="Brit"/><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Choudhary |first1=Ratnadeep |date=19 June 2021|title=Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das|website=theprint.in|url=https://theprint.in/theprint-profile/deshbandhu-chittaranjan-das-freedom-fighter-who-became-a-lawyer-after-failing-ics-exam/250126/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730063100/https://theprint.in/theprint-profile/deshbandhu-chittaranjan-das-freedom-fighter-who-became-a-lawyer-after-failing-ics-exam/250126/ |archive-date=30 July 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Saraf|first=Nandini|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALkwBQAAQBAJ|title=The Life And Times Of Deshbandhu Chittranjan Das|date=1 January 2013|publisher=Prabhat Prakashan|isbn=978-81-8430-213-4|page=20|language=en|access-date=27 July 2022|archive-date=5 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705054342/https://books.google.com/books?id=ALkwBQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Family ==

Das family were members of [[Brahmo Samaj]]. Chittaranjan was the son of Bhuban Mohan Das, and nephew of the Brahmo social reformer [[Durga Mohan Das]]. His father was a solicitor and a journalist who edited the English church weekly, ''The Brahmo Public Opinion''. Some of his cousins were [[Atul Prasad Sen]], Satya Ranjan Das, [[Satish Ranjan Das]], [[Sudhi Ranjan Das]], [[Sarala Roy]] and [[Abala Bose|Lady Abala Bose]]. His eldest grandson was [[Siddhartha Shankar Ray]] and his grand daughter is [[Judge|Justice]] Manjula Bose.<ref name=sen>{{citation |last=Sen |first=Rathindra Nath |year=1989 |title=Life and times of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das |publisher=Northern Book Centre |isbn=978-81-8511-955-7}}</ref>

He married [[Basanti Devi]] (1880–1974) and had three children, [[Aparna Devi]] (1898–1972), Chiraranjan Das (1899–1928) and Kalyani Devi (1902–1983).

==Education==
[[File:Middle_Temple_by_Thomas_Shepherd_c.1830.jpg|thumb|right|[[Middle Temple]] – A sketch by Thomas Shepherd; c.1830]]

The Das family of Durga Mohan was a family of lawyers. Durga Mohan's eldest son Satya Ranjan matriculated at [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]] and was at [[Middle Temple]] during 1883–1886, followed by Chitta Ranjan Das, Durga Mohan's brother's son, during 1890–1894. Satish Ranjan Das (1891–1894), Jyotish Ranjan Das and Atul Prasad Sen (1892–1895) followed suit.<ref>{{citation |editor-last=Sturgess|editor-first=H.A.C.|year=1949|title=Register of Admissions to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. From the Fifteenth Century to the Year 1944 – Volume II (1782–1909)|publisher=London: published for the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple by Butterworth & Co.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-5.01.pdf|title=Middle Temple|website=hosted.law.wisc.edu|access-date=2 September 2017|archive-date=28 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180728132012/http://hosted.law.wisc.edu/wordpress/sharafi/files/2010/07/Middle-5.01.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

In London, Das befriended [[Sri Aurobindo|Sri Aurobindo Ghosh]], [[Atul Prasad Sen]], and [[Sarojini Naidu]], among others, and together they promoted [[Dadabhai Naoroji]] in the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British Parliament]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/remembering-chittaranjan-das-on-his-97th-death-anniversary-know-lesser-known-facts-about-deshbandhu/|title=Remembering Chittaranjan Das on his 97th death anniversary: Know lesser-known facts about 'Deshbandhu'|publisher=[[The Free Press Journal]]|access-date=22 September 2022|archive-date=22 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922161338/https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/remembering-chittaranjan-das-on-his-97th-death-anniversary-know-lesser-known-facts-about-deshbandhu/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Career==
===Law career===
[[File:Barrister_Chittaranjan_Das_in_1909.jpg|thumb|Barrister Chittaranjan Das in 1909 while defending Sri Aurobindo in [[Emperor v. Aurobindo Ghosh and others|Alipore bomb case]]]]
[[File:Alipore_Bomb_Case_1908-09_Trial_Room_-_Alipore_Sessions_Court_-_Calcutta_1997_1.jpg|thumb|Alipore Bomb Case 1908–09 Trial Room at Alipore Sessions Court, Kolkata]]
In 1894 Das gave up his law practice, and went into politics during the non-cooperation movement against the British colonial government.<ref>{{citation |last=Muktiprana |first=Parivrajika |year=1960 |title=Bhagini Nividita |page=298}}</ref> He again took up the brief, and successfully defended [[Aurobindo Ghosh]] on charges of involvement in the [[Emperor v. Aurobindo Ghosh and others|Alipore bomb case]], in 1909. In his Uttarpara speech, Sri Aurobindo acknowledged that Das broke his health to save him.

In the Alipore bomb case in 1908, Chittaranjan Das as defence counsel for Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, made this closing statement:

{{blockquote|My appeal to you therefore is that a man like this who is being charged with the offences imputed to him stands not only before the bar in this Court but stands before the bar of the High Court of History and my appeal to you is this: That long after this controversy is hushed in silence, long after this turmoil, this agitation ceases, long after he is dead and gone, he will be looked upon as the poet of patriotism, as the prophet of nationalism and the lover of humanity. Long after he is dead and gone, his words will be echoed and re-echoed not only in India, but across distant seas and lands. Therefore I say that the man in his position is not only standing before the bar of this Court but before the bar of the High Court of History. The time has come for you, sir, to consider your judgment and for you, gentlemen, to consider your verdict.<ref>{{citation|last=Dasgupta|first=Hemendranath |year=1994|chapter=Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das|title=Chittaranjan Das|editor-first=Verinder|editor-last=Grover|publisher=Deep & Deep Publications|isbn=978-81-7100-568-0|page=236}}</ref>
}}

===Political career===

Chittaranjan Das was actively involved in the activities of [[Anushilan Samiti]].<ref>{{citation |last1=Mukhopadhyay|first1=Haridas |last2=Mukhopadhyay|first2=Uma|year=1960 |title=Swadeshi Andolan O Banglar Nayayug|page=155}}</ref> When Pramatha Mitter organised the Samiti as its president to produce hundreds of young firebrands who were ready to sacrifice their lives for the cause of the Nation, Chittaranjan became his associate. Anushilan Samiti was maintained by P. Mitter with the assistance of Chittaranjan Das (1894), Haridas Bose (1895), Suren Haldar (1900) and Manabendra Nath Roy (1901).<ref>{{citation |last=Dutt|first=Bhupendra Nath |title=Viplabee Pramatha Nath|journal=Biplabee Bangali|date= 23 December 1960}}</ref>

He was a leading figure in Bengal during the [[Non-Cooperation Movement]] of 1919–1922, and initiated the ban on British-made clothes, setting an example by burning his own European clothes and wearing [[Khadi]] clothes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/chittaranjan-das-14469-2016-06-16|title=Remembering Chittaranjan Das: 10 inspirational facts about 'Deshbandhu'|publisher=[[India Today]]|access-date=23 September 2022|archive-date=23 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220923090401/https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/chittaranjan-das-14469-2016-06-16|url-status=live}}</ref>
He brought out a newspaper called ''Forward'' and later changed its name to ''Liberty'' as part of his support for various anti-British movements in India. When the [[Calcutta Municipal Corporation]] was formed, he became its first mayor.

He was a believer in non-violence and constitutional methods for the realisation of national independence, and advocated [[Hindu-Muslim unity]], cooperation and communal harmony and championed the cause of national education. He resigned his presidency of the [[Indian National Congress]] at the [[Gaya, India|Gaya]] session after losing a motion on "No Council Entry" to [[Gandhi]]'s faction. He then founded the Congress-Khilafat [[Swaraj Party]], with [[Narasimha Chintaman Kelkar]] and veteran [[Motilal Nehru]].<ref name="Guha 2018 202">{{Cite book |last=Guha |first=Ramchandra |title=Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World |publisher=Penguin Allen Lane |year=2018 |isbn=978-0670083886 |pages=202}}</ref> Other prominent leaders included [[Huseyn Suhrawardy|Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy]], [[Birendranath Sasmal]], [[Jatindra Mohan Sengupta]] and [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] of Bengal,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=S. N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hssXP1hBYscC&dq=Birendranath+Sasmal+swaraj+party&pg=PA191 |title=History of the Freedom Movement in India (1857-1947) |date=1997 |publisher=New Age International |isbn=978-81-224-1049-5 |language=en}}</ref> Vithalbhai Patel and other Congress leaders who were becoming dissatisfied with the Congress. In May 1923, at [[All India Congress Committee|AICC]] meet in Bombay, Das was able to get majority support for his policy of council entry, with 96 members voting in favour, and 71 against.<ref name="Guha 2018 202"/>

===Poet===
Chittaranjan Das emerged as a distinguished Bengali poet, when, during the troubled days of National movement, he published the first two volumes of his collection of poems titled "''Malancha''" and "''Mala''". In 1913 he published "''Sagar Sangeet''" (The Songs of the Sea). Sri Aurobindo was in [[Puducherry (city)|Pondichery]] and when he was in dire need of financial support. Chittaranjan offered him one thousand rupees as a token of his support for an English translation of the poem, a few verses of which are given below:<ref>{{citation |last=Saraf|first=Nandini |year=2013 |title=The Life and times of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das|publisher=Ocean Books Pvt Ltd|place=Delhi |isbn=978-81-8430-213-4}}</ref>

{{block indent|1=<poem style="font-size:90%; line-height: 2.0em;">
'''Songs of the Sea'''
I
O thou unhoped-for elusive wonder of the skies,
Stand still one moment! I will lead thee and bind
With music to the chambers of my mind.
Behold how calm today this sea before me lies
And quivering with what tremulous heart of dreams
In the pale glimmer of the faint moonbeams.
If thou at last art come indeed, O mystery, stay
Woven by song into my heart-beats from this day.

Stand, goddess, yet! Into this anthem of the seas
With the pure strain of my full voiceless heart
Some rhythm of the rhythmless, some part
Of thee I would weave today, with living harmonies
Peopling the solitude I am within.
Wilt thou not here abide on that vast scene,
Thou whose vague raiment edged with dream haunts us and flees,
Fulfilled in an eternal quiet like this sea’s?
II
I lean to thee a listening ear
And thy immense refrain I hear,
O Ocean circled with the lights of morn.
What word is it thou sing’st? what tune
My heart is filled with, and it soon
Must overflow? What mystical unborn
Spirit is singing in thy white foam-caves?
What voice turns heaven to music from thy waves?
III
Long gazing on this dawn and restless sea,
My heart is moved with a strange minstrelsy.
Tranquil and full and slow that music’s sound
Or a chant pitiful, tender and profound.
At times its passing fills my heart with tears.
Maddened it runs and maddening him who hears.
What spirit lives and laughs and weeps in thee?
What thought is here that cries eternally?
I know not, but a trembling sweet and strong
Has taken my every limb touched by thy song,
O infinite Voice, O Soul that callst to me,
As I look on this luminous dawn and on the sea!
...
</poem>}}

Chittaranjan started a monthly journal named Narayana, and many eminent writers such as [[Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay|Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay]], [[Bipin Chandra Pal]] and Hariprasad Shastri contributed their writings in the journal.<ref name=sen/>

==Death==
{{Gallery
|align=right
|width=160|File:Chittaranjan_Das_1925.jpg|Chittaranjan Das with cane in hand, and Mahatma Gandhi on the Hill Cart Road near Kakjhora, Darjeeling in 1925
|File:Residence_of_Deshbandhu_Chittaranjan_Das_in_Darjeeling.jpg|Residence of Chittaranjan Das in Darjeeling West Bengal
|File:Funeral_procession_of_Chittaranjan_Das.JPG|Chittaranjan's funeral procession in 1925
}}
In May 1925, Chittaranjan's health was failing.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Mehra |first1=Parshotam |title=A Dictionary of Modern Indian History, 1707-1947 |year=1985 |chapter=Chittaranjan Das (Deshbandhu) (1870- 1925) |encyclopedia=A Dictionary of Modern Indian History: 1707 - 1947 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=190 |isbn=978-0-19-561552-4}}</ref> He went to Darjeeling to recuperate, staying at Sir [[Nripendra Nath Sircar|N. N. Sircar]]'s house "Step Aside". [[Mahatma Gandhi]] visited him and stayed with him for some days. Gandhiji wrote,
{{blockquote|''When I left Darjeeling I left much more that I had ever thought before. There was no end of my affection for Deshbandhu and my warm feeling for such a great soul.''<ref>{{citation |last=Kripalani |first=Sucheta |year=1994 |chapter=C.R. Das: Tribute to the Memory of a Great Patriot|title=Chittaranjan Das: Political Thinkers of Modern India|editor-first=Verinder|editor-last=Grover|publisher=Deep & Deep Publications|isbn=978-81-7100-568-0|page=294}}</ref>}}

The funeral procession in Calcutta was led by Gandhi, who said:{{blockquote|Deshbandhu was one of the greatest of men... He dreamed... and talked of freedom of India and of nothing else... His heart knew no difference between Hindus and Muslims and I should like to tell Englishmen, too, that he bore no ill-will to them.<ref>{{citation|last=Gandhi|first=M. K.|year=1924|title=Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi|place=New Delhi|publisher=Publications Division Government of India|volume=27|page=250|url=http://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-literature/collected-works-of-mahatma-gandhi-volume-1-to-98.php|access-date=27 September 2017|archive-date=12 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012091343/http://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-literature/collected-works-of-mahatma-gandhi-volume-1-to-98.php|url-status=live}}</ref>|author=|title=|source=}}

===Memorials===
[[File:Chittaranjan Das 1965 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|Das on a 1965 stamp of India]]
* [[Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute]] of Kolkata had its humble beginning in the year 1950 when the ''Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital'' was founded in the premises of ''Chittaranjan Seva Sadan''. A few years before his death Chittaranjan gifted this property including his house and the adjoining lands to the nation to be used for the betterment of the lives of women.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cnci.org.in/hospital/hospital_main.html |title=Who we are |website=Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute |access-date=27 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929000413/http://www.cnci.org.in/hospital/hospital_main.html |archive-date=29 September 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Chittaranjan Avenue]], the main thoroughfare of Kolkata connecting [[North Kolkata]] with Central Kolkata, it was formerly known as Central Avenue.
* [[Chittaranjan]], a town located in the Paschim Bardhaman district near Asansol. It is located at the border of Bengal and Jharkhand. It is famous for housing the legendary Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.
* [[Chittaranjan Locomotive Works]], the largest locomotive manufacturing unit in the whole world.
* [[Chittaranjan College]], a bachelor arts and science government college located in the historic College Street district of North Kolkata.
*''[[Chittaranjan Park]]'', home to large Bengali community, originally EPDP Colony in South Delhi was named after Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das during 1980's
*[[Deshbandhu College for Girls]], a women's college on Rashbehari Avenue in South Kolkata, established in 1955 and affiliated to University of Calcutta, is named honouring his legacy.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{wikisource-inline}}
*{{commons-inline}}
*{{Wikiquote-inline}}
* {{Banglapedia|Das,_Chitta_Ranjan|Chitta Ranjan Das}}
* {{Internet Archive author}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=37616| name=Chittaranjan Das}}
* {{OL author|10398A}}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/003705}}

{{Indian National Congress Presidents}}
{{Indian independence movement}}
{{Das family}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Chittaranjan}}
[[Category:1869 births]]
[[Category:1925 deaths]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:People from Munshiganj District]]
[[Category:Das family (Telirbagh)]]
[[Category:Anti-British establishment revolutionaries from East Bengal]]
[[Category:Indian barristers]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Indian National Congress]]
[[Category:People from Bikrampur]]
[[Category:Mayors of Kolkata]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian lawyers]]
[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in India]]

Chittaranjan Das - Revision history

ShondaLemos at 07:17, 11 January 2026