Bihar at 13:34, 18 November 2025

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{{Short description|Indian Marxist revolutionary}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Manmath Nath Gupta
| image = Manmath Nath Gupta.jpg
| birth_date = 7 February 1908
| birth_place = [[Varanasi|Benares]], [[Benaras State]], [[British India]]
| death_date = 26 October 2000<br>(aged 92)
| death_place = Delhi, India
| party = [[Communist Party of India]]
}}
'''Manmath Nath Gupta''' (7 February 1908 – 26 October 2000) was an Indian [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist]] [[Revolutionary movement for Indian independence|revolutionary]] writer and author of autobiographical, historical and fictional books in Hindi, English and [[Bengali language|Bengali]]. He joined the [[Indian independence movement]] at the age of 13 and was an active member of the [[Hindustan Republican Association]]. He participated in the famous [[Kakori train robbery]] in 1925 and was imprisoned for 14 years. On release from jail in 1937, he started writing against the [[British Raj|British government]]. He was sentenced again in 1939 and was released in 1946 just a year before India's independence in 1947. He has written several books on the history of the Indian struggle for independence from a revolutionary's point of view, including ''They Lived Dangerously – Reminiscences of a Revolutionary''. He was also the editor of the Hindi literary magazine ''Aajkal''.

==Early life==
Manmath Nath Gupta was born to Veereshvar Gupta on 7 February 1908 at [[Benaras]] in [[Benaras State]] of [[British India]]. His grandfather Adya Prasad Gupta was an original resident of [[Hooghly district|Hugli]] district in [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] who had migrated from there in the year 1880 and settled in [[Uttar Pradesh]] at [[Benares]]. Manmath got his early education in [[Biratnagar]] of [[Kingdom of Nepal|Nepal]] where his father was posted as a school headmaster. Since his father got a job later in the Banaras, Manmath was admitted in [[Kashi Vidyapeeth]] for his further studies.

==First imprisonment==
Manmath Nath Gupta joined the Indian nationalist movement as early as the age of 13 years. In 1921, he was distributing pamphlets in the Gadolia area of [[Benares]] calling for a boycott of the reception of the [[Edward VIII|Edward, Prince of Wales]] by the [[Maharaja]] of Benares. When a police officer approached him, he stood his ground instead of running away. During the court proceedings, he told the judge, "I will not cooperate with you" He was jailed for three months.after he was even tortured in jail for distributing pamphlets.

==Chauri Chaura==
He joined the [[Indian National Congress]] as a volunteer worker and went from village to village spreading the message of the Congress. He was dissatisfied with the slowness of the work and its inability in producing any short-term results. When [[Mahatma Gandhi]] called off the [[Non-cooperation movement (1919–22)|Non-cooperation movement]] after the [[Chauri Chaura incident|incident at Chauri Chaura]] in 1922, Gupta was severely disappointed with the Congress and Gandhi.

==Hindustan Republican Association==
He joined the [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association|Hindustan Republican Association]], a group of young revolutionaries whose aim was to end the British rule of India, by violent means if necessary. "We were called revolutionaries but we were just ordinary people ready to sacrifice our lives for our country", he once said. He also introduced [[Chandrasekhar Azad]] to the association. In his book ''They Lived Dangerously'', he recalls an incident in which Azad nearly shot him.

<blockquote>"Chandrasekhar Azad was learning how to load and unload a [[Mauser]] pistol. He had learned how to load and unload many other brands of revolvers and pistols, but this was a new make. He had liked it more than other brands. He went on with his work and I began to read something. Suddenly seized perhaps by the warmth of the machine, which he had come to adore during the last half an hour, he aimed the empty pistol—empty according to his knowledge—towards me and said, 'Be on your guard, I am going to shoot you.' Before I could say anything he had pulled the trigger and bang whizzed the bullet that had remained inside the barrel without his knowledge. Fortunately for us Azad was not yet the marksman that he was destined to be later on. Although he had fired from a close range, the bullet had missed my head by two inches and had buried itself in the wall. Imagine the consternation of Azad. He thought he had shot me through. I informed him that he had missed me. This, however, did not console him. He was almost in tears. With great difficulty I pacified him."</blockquote>

==Kakori conspiracy==
The [[Kakori train robbery]] was the turning point in his life. On 9 August 1925, ten revolutionaries including Manmath Nath Gupta stopped a train near [[Kakori]] and looted the government treasury travelling in it. A passenger named Ahmed Ali was killed in this action by the bullet fired by Manmath. He was arrested along with all other revolutionaries and tried for this incident in the court, but being a teenager at that time, he was not sentenced to death. Instead, he was sentenced for 14 years' rigorous imprisonment. When he was released in 1937 he started writing against the British Government. He was again arrested in 1939 and imprisoned for life. He also spent some time in the [[Cellular Jail]] in [[Andaman Islands|Andaman]].
[[File:Manmathnath_gupta.jpg|thumb|manmathnath gupta]]

==After independence==
In 1946, he was released from imprisonment; just one year before India gained independence on 15 August 1947.<ref>Asharani Vohra ''Swadhinta Senani Patrakar'' Pratibha Pratishthan' New Delhi page-239</ref> He became a prolific writer, producing about 120 books in Hindi, English, and Bengali. In his book ''They Lived Dangerously'' he narrates the life of revolutionaries how they saw and reacted to the various events in [[Indian independence movement]]. This often presents an alternative point of view to the commonly accepted account. Speaking of the [[Chauri Chaura]] incident, he said, "India would have attained independence in 1922 but for Gandhi's bungling, as many competent writers have said, there is no doubt that on this occasion Gandhi had failed badly." He became a member of the [[Communist Party of India]] (CPI) and remained active in the political and social movements.

He joined the Indian [[Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)|Ministry of Information and Broadcasting]] and edited the [[Planning Commission (India)|Planning Commission]]'s prestigious publications, including ''Yojna''. He was also the editor of ''Bal Bharti'', a children's magazine, and ''Aajkal'', a Hindi literary magazine.

Manmath Nath Gupta was also present as an Indian delegate in the ''International Symposium on India and World Literature (IWL)'' at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 27 February 1985 which was organised by the Department of Modern European Languages, University of Delhi. He was much pleased when a paper on his leader titled as ''Pt. Ram Prasad 'Bismil': A Warrior of Pen & Pistol'' was placed before the delegates.

==Death on Diwali==
His last interview on television was telecast in India on 19 December 1997 from [[DD National]] Channel in a 20-minute documentary entitled ''Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna''. In this interview Manmath Nath Gupta, confessed the mistake he made on 8 August 1925 when he fired the Mauser accidentally and a passenger was killed in the [[Kakori train robbery]]. Because of his mistake, 4 revolutionaries including his beloved leader [[Pandit Ram Prasad Bismil]] were hanged. He also expressed regret for not also being given a death sentence, because of his young age.

Manmath Nath Gupta died in the night of the Indian festival of [[Diwali]] on 26 October 2000 at his residence in [[Nizamuddin East]] New Delhi. He was 92 and very active right up to his death.

==Selected bibliography==
*Chandrasekhar Azad
*They Lived Dangerously – Reminiscences of a Revolutionary (1969)
*Bhartiya Krantikari Andolan Ka Itihas (Revised: 1993)
*History of the Indian Revolutionary Movement (English version of above: 1972)
*Gandhi and His Times (1982)
*Bhagat Singh and His Times
*Aadhi raat ke atithi (Guests at Midnight)
*Congress ke sau varsh (Hundred Years of the Congress)
*Din Dahare (In Broad Daylight)
*Sar par kafan bandh kar (With My Funeral Shroud as My Turban)
*Toram Phoram
*Apane samaya ka surya Dinkar (The sun of his times: [[Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar']])
*Shahadatnama (Declaration of Martyrdom)

==See also==
*[[Kakori Conspiracy]]
*[[Ram Prasad Bismil]]
*[[Chandrasekhar Azad]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20001028/nation.htm#21 Obituary in The Tribune]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927035630/http://www.dailypioneer.com/archives/secon33.asp?cat=%5Cpulse5&d=Pulse&t1=jan1501 Obituary in the Daily Pioneer]
*[http://www.literaryzone.com/blog/?p=3 A review of ''They Lived Dangerously''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205734/http://www.literaryzone.com/blog/?p=3 |date=3 March 2016 }}

==External links==
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=6Gw9AAAAMAAJ They lived dangerously: reminiscences of a revolutionary]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=kEluAAAAMAAJ Gandhi and his times]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=R9UgAAAAMAAJ History of the Indian revolutionary movement]
*[https://books.google.com/books?id=98gBAAAAMAAJ Bhagat Singh and his times]
{{Indian Revolutionary Movement}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Manmath Nath}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:Revolutionary movement for Indian independence]]
[[Category:Revolutionaries from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Writers from Varanasi]]
[[Category:Hindustan Socialist Republican Association]]
[[Category:Indian political writers]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India politicians from Uttar Pradesh]]

Manmath Nath Gupta - Revision history

Bihar at 13:34, 18 November 2025