Pulin Behari Das was one of the most well known Indian freedom fighters and an Indian revolutionary who fought against the British Empire in India in order to attain national independence. He significantly contributed towards the success of the Indian freedom struggle. He was also the founder of the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti and later acted as its President.
Early Life of Pulin Behari Das
Pulin Behari Das was born on 24 January 1877 in Faridpur in Bengal, erstwhile British India. He was born to father Naba Kumar Das and belonged to a middle class Bengali Hindu family. He completed his education from Faridpur Zilla School in 1894. Later he got admitted to the Dhaka College. While he was still a student there, Das worked as the laboratory assistant and demonstrator. In the year 1903, he opened an akhara at Tikatuli.
Revolutionary Activities of Pulin Behari Das
Pulin Behari Das was nominated to systematize and manage the Dhaka division of the Anushilan Samiti. He established the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti with 80 young participants. He properly organized the Samiti and formed around 500 branches in the province. He also constructed the National School in Dhaka with the objective of using the premise as a training ground for developing a revolutionary army. The students were trained with various weapons such as wooden swords, daggers, revolvers and pistols.
Pulin Behari also devised the plan to assassinate the former District Magistrate of Dhaka, Basil Copleston Allen. In the year 1908, he planned and conducted the Barrah Dacoity, which was organized in broad daylight by a group of revolutionaries at the Barrah zamindar`s residence in the district of Dhaka. Later in the same year he was detained by the British Indian Police, along with other revolutionaries namely Ashwini Dutta, Subodh Mallick, Krishna Kumar Mitra, Shyam Sundar Chakravarti and Bhupesh Chandra Nag. Pulin Behari Das was imprisoned in the Montgomery jail. He was released in the year 1910 and again started to renew the revolutionary activities to attain independence from the rule of the British Empire in India. He was again arrested in the same year along with 46 other Indian revolutionaries on charges of treason and agitation. Eventually another 44 revolutionaries were arrested by the British Indian Police and this event was known as the Dhaka Conspiracy Case.
Pulin Behari Das was transferred to the Cellular Jail where he met with revolutionaries including Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Hem Chandra Das. Later in the year 1918, he was released but was kept under house arrest and in 1919 he was completely released. He again attempted to revive his revolutionary activities with support from the Samiti. But the association was banned and the members were scattered in different regions. He refused to accept the ideologies and leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and remained determined to continue the revolutionary activities. He then established the Bharat Sevak Sangh in the year 1920. Pulin Behari Das eventually published 2 periodicals titled Swaraj and Hak Katha under the patronage of S.R. Das, in order to propagate revolutionary ideas. Later in the year 1928, Das formed the Bangiya Byayam Samiti at Mechhuabazar in Calcutta (now Kolkata).
Personal Life of Pulin Behari Das
Pulin Behari Das was married and had 2 daughters and 3 sons. Sourendra Das, his second son, successfully managed the Bangiya Byayam samiti until 2005. Pulin Behari Das died on 17 August 1949 at the age of 72 in Calcutta in the Indian state of West Bengal.
