Sukumar : Mitra, Sri Aurobindo’s cousin who organised his passage to Pondicherry.
... proceed towards Calcutta. He rightly concluded that he must meet Sukumar to find out what had gone wrong. Meanwhile Nagen and Suren, equally perturbed at having searched for and failed to find Sri Aurobindo, also decided that they must return to Calcutta and report to Sukumar. Nagen writes in his reminiscences: 'We went straight to Sukumar-da's house and told him what had happened. He asked me to go... have spoken earlier, to give his assistance. As regards the second part of the journey, the longer and much more risky passage, he wrote to his maternal cousin Sukumar Mitra (Krishnakumar Mitra's son), to work out the details of a plan. Sukumar was also advised that Bijoy Nag, a young follower of Sri Aurobindo, would accompany him to Pondicherry. At the same time Sri Aurobindo sent a note to Suresh ... Calcutta.' The two persons chosen by Sukumar to assist him in carrying out the plan were Nagendrakumar Guharay and Surendrakumar Chakravarty, both trustworthy Swadeshi workers from Noakhali. In later years Nagendrakumar wrote about these events and to his reminiscences he gave the title Farewell to the god. He writes: 'One day in the last week of March, Sukumar-da showed me two steel trunks in a ...
... chit-chats and merry-making. His talks used to be full of wit and humour." Her brother Sukumar recalls wistfully that in one of the Puja holidays he found Auro-dada daily practising dands and baithaks (push-ups and knee-bending exercises). "He used to treat me as though we were the same age," although Sukumar was his junior by thirteen years, "and he always repaid me in kind my childish playfulness... did not. Rabindranath Tagore composed a song for the occasion, and Narendranath Dutta, better known as Swami Vivekananda, sang at the ceremony. The Mitras had three children: Kumudini, Basanti and Sukumar. Kumudini (1882-1943) was beautiful and straightforward. She was to become one of the first two women councillors of the Calcutta Corporation. That was in 1933, the year my Page 65 ... the jail's officials." Sri Aurobindo, although his review was unsigned, was too modest to say more about his own articles! After this pleasant digression let us return to the Mitra family. Sukumar Mitra (1885-1973) was intimately associated with Sri Aurobindo's revolutionary work. He had been a messenger of the leader from a very young age, and was a repository of the stream of events of the ...
... Dupleix . Sukumar also informed Nagen that the two passengers would arrive by boat. Nagen was a little puzzled. He asked Sukumar how he would recognise the two men. Sukumar replied that he had given all the information to Suren. Suddenly it dawned upon Nagen that it was Sri Aurobindo who was to be the passenger. He asked Sukumar: "Is it not your Auroda [Sri Aurobindo] who is going?" Sukumar was surprised... all, to Colombo instead of Pondicherry. Sukumar instructed Nagen to reserve a double cabin so that the two passengers could travel together. Nagen bought the tickets and brought them to Sukumar, who asked him to keep them with him. Then on 31 March, 1910, Sukumar called Nagen and told him that he and his mess-mate Surendra Kumar Chakravarty, with whom Sukumar had already spoken, should hire a boat... house of Sukumar Mitra ¹ Cf. A. B. Purani, Evening Talks , Third Series (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1966), p. ² This was written in the early 1950's. [Ed.] Page 135 was under surveillance, especially because of Sri Aurobindo's recent stay there. The work which Sukumar had to do was difficult one. As soon as he received Motilal's letter, Sukumar called Nagendra ...
... I heard the Adesh, 'Go to Pondicherry.'" He therefore told Motilal and others about his decision. He wrote to cousin Sukumar to arrange for the voyage. Sukumar, 1. Sukumar says that when imprisoned Sri Aurobindo had given him his 'power of attorney.' Sukumar had it till the end, as Sri Aurobindo never withdrew it. Page 535 himself under constant double surveillance... was in regular contact with other revolutionaries. Especially his cousin Sukumar. The latter got a pencil-written note from his Auro-dada, a day or two after he had left Calcutta. Accordingly he sent to Chandernagore some clothes, papers and money —Sukumar was Sri Aurobindo's treasurer! 1 Three or four times a week, says Sukumar, young men came to him with messages from Auro-dada. At Chandernagore... cousin's confidence. Nagendra Kumar Guharoy, a youth of twenty, whom Sukumar knew well through his connection with the Anti-Circular Society and who had become almost like a member of the Mitra family, was roped in. Surendra Kumar Chakravarty, Nagen's hostel-mate, was to be Nagen's helper. Taking all factors into consideration, Sukumar rejected an overland, long train journey as fraught with danger. He ...
... change the boat at Dumurtala Ghat and to ferry him from there to the steamer Dupleix. Other arrangements would be made, said Motilal, by Sukumar Mitra. He also said that Sukumar would be present at the Calcutta ghat. "Motilal wrote another letter to Sukumar Mitra at Calcutta informing him of Sri Aurobindo's intention of going to Pondicherry and also telling him that Sri Aurobindo wanted him to... man who was to accompany him... "As soon as he got Motilal's letter, Sukumar called Nagendra Kumar Guha Roy, a nationalist worker of Noakhali, to the Sanjivani office and gave him two (steel) trunks and asked him to take them to the mess where he was living. Nagendra jocularly asked whether they contained bombs. Sukumar asked him not to bother about the contents, but keep the trunks with him... Aurobindo probably in the last week of February, asking him to go to Pondicherry and arrange for Sri Aurobindo's stay there. Page 346 The preparation for Suresh's departure was made by Sukumar Mitra, Krishna Kumar Mitra's son and Sri Aurobindo's cousin. Suresh started by train from Calcutta on the 28th and reached Pondicherry on the 31st March. We quote below a few lines from A.B. Purani's ...
... there some friends were thinking of sending me to France. I was thinking what to do next. There I heard the Adesh [command] to go to Pondicherry."² At the end of March Motilal Roy sent word to Sukumar Mitra at Calcutta about Sri Aurobindo's intended departure for Pondicherry. Towards the end of the same month Moni (Suresh Chakravarty) received a note from Chandernagore telling him to go to Pondicherry... on addressed to Srinivasachari was given to him. He walked to the Howrah station and took his seat in the second class. He was dressed as an Anglo-Indian. Saurin Bose, Mrinalini Devi's cousin and Sukumar Mitra, Krishna Kumar's son, were on the platform to see him off. They gave him his second class ticket and Rs. 30 in cash. He reached Pondicherry on the 31st. Some people thought then – and even ...
... a mess ." Sukumar adds bitterly, "My paternal aunt was a devout Hindu widow. Despite our protests, the police entered her room. She had to throwaway all the cooked food and had to go without food." One month after the above episode, once again the police raided 6 College Square. This time the raiding party was led by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police himself. He asked Sukumar to hand over... had received from overseas, including those from British Members of Parliament. When Sukumar brought him the packet of letters, he was made to stand against a wall with an admonition not to move. The thoughtful police had brought a woman with them to guard the ladies of the house. "The next day," narrates Sukumar, "a representative from the Englishman came to in quire about thesearches. He came to... the police are legendary. The Calcutta police were no exceptions to the average policemen. "An English policeman accompanied by several constables came and showed my father a search warrant," says Sukumar. "I asked the English officer, 'Why do you want to search the house?' He replied, 'We want the Karmayogin magazines.' I then said, ' If we give you those, you won't search th e house and Page ...
... from public view. "The sudden disappearance of Arabindo," wrote his cousin Sukumar, "and being without any news of him for a very long time, his uncles and aunts and others at Deoghar, particularly Arabindo's maternal grandmother, Rajnarain Bose's wife, were stricken with anxiety." The family's worry found expression in Sukumar Mitra's article in the Bengali monthly Basumati. "They wrote us letters... it per the editor of the Statesman or of the Englishman. There is no need to await a reply in these cases." Sukumar specifies that six police spies were always in duty in front of their house, one of them being equipped with a bicycle! The police would follow Arabindo Babu or Sukumar whenever they went out. The police also kept copious notes of the visitors to their residence. One such report on... letters in Calcutta for Arabindo's news, but we were unable to tell them anything about him." Sukumar, one of the key players in that crucial period, naturally knew all about Sri Aurobindo's movements, but he was bound by his promise not to divulge anything about his cousin. Indeed, not a word did he whisper to anyone, not even to his father, about the dramatic events of 31 st March, when his cousin had ...
... the night of 31 March 1910. Motilal wrote to Sukumar Mitra (Krishna Kumar Mitra's son, and Sri Aurobindo's cousin) and Amar Chatterji of Uttarpara asking them to make the necessary arrangements. Everything had to be done in secret, for there was an oppressive air of suspicion everywhere, and police spies were posted at even the unlikeliest places. Sukumar Mitra therefore decided to work through safe... finding him, they quickly returned to the riverside and waited there. On learning that Nagen and Surendra had failed to contact Sri Aurobindo, Sukumar directed that the trunks should be brought back from the ship to his house. When Nagen came with the trunks, Sukumar asked him to take them back to riverside, as he had learned that Sri Aurobindo was waiting there in a carriage. This time there was no mistake... Sri Aurobindo to proceed to Pondicherry in advance and make some arrangements for his stay - had left Calcutta by train on 28 March. He had disguised himself as an Anglo-Indian, and was seen off by Sukumar Mitra and Saurin Bose (Mrinalini's cousin). He carried with him a letter of introduction to Mandayam Srinivasachariar, a sterling Nationalist, who was bringing out India, Vijaya, Karmayogi and Bala ...
... Mother's Chronicles - Book Five 54 The Karmayogin Sukumar Mitra had gone to Agra to see if he could do something for his father, Krishna Kumar Mitra, held a prisoner in the Agra Fort from December 1908. So he was not at home to welcome his cousin when he was released from Alipore Jail. Upon his return he found his Auro-dada at home in N°6... Dharma? B. G. Tilak was writing his Gita-Rahasya in the undisturbed quiet of Mandalayjail in Burma. But Sri Aurobindo was living with his aunt and family, amidst constant comings and goings. Here is Sukumar Mitra to tell us. "In deep absorption he wrote or typed articles for the weeklies in the first-floor sitting room while, in the same room, somebody played the gramophone, or others talked loudly, and ...
... Labour leader, James Keir Hardie (1856-1915), also a member of the House of Commons. Keir Hardie had visited India at the height of the Nationalist Movement. During his father's incarceration Sukumar had written to several English friends including the above two, describing the plight of his father in the Agra jail. K.K. Mitra, along with eight others, among whom were Subodh Mullick, Shyam Sundar... rosogolla, kochuri, singara) and other Bengali food items." When in 1911 his book, The Awakening of India 1 —highly appreciated by the Nationalist Indians—was published, he offered one copy to Sukumar. It was then, towards the end of 1909, and there at the College Square house, that Ramsay MacDonald had met Sri Aurobindo. They talked long. During their conversation MacDonald asked him, "What ...
... A ghat in Calcutta in the 1900s 1. Ghat : harbour, quay, wharf, moorings. Page 529 within ten or fifteen minutes. Next day when Ram babu went to inform Sukumar of Sri Aurobindo's sudden departure, he told him that they had gone straight to Ahiritola Ghat. On arriving at the ghat, Ram babu hailed one of the boatmen and asked him if he would take a fare... was asked to go to Pondicherry to arrange a house for Sri Aurobindo ; attached was an introductory letter to a Revolutionary of Pondicherry. Moni's friend , the bearer of the note, told him that Sukumar and Saurin would make all the necessary arrangements for his travels. Thus Moni left Calcutta on 28 March and reached Pondicherry in the early hours of 31 March. That was also the day when Sri Aurobindo ...
... had worked with me. Suresh, or Moni as we called him, was sent to Pondicherry straightaway so that he might make all the necessary arrangements for my stay there. In the meantime, my maternal cousin Sukumar, who was at Calcutta, was asked to prepare for our journey by boat to Pondicherry. Naturally, all these preparations were made in utmost secrecy. There were five or six young men whom I trusted fully ...
... Minto-Morley Reforms, 240ff, 261, 340ff, 348,362, 364 Mistral, Gabriel, 515 Mitra, Krishna Kumar, 229,317, 343, 408 Mitra, Sisirkumar, 9, 12, 25fn, 324, 578, 774fn Mitra, Sukumar 374 Mitter, Barrister P., 62ff, 282 Moonje, B. S, 263,266fh, 269,528-9, 530; 531,706,727 Morley, John, 205, 237, 240ff, 259-60, 295, 305, 364, 365, 368, 389 MOTHER ...
... might not be able to save you this time.' But not the slightest hint of all that he had done to save my life, not even incidentally. Whether in word or in deed, I have never seen such control." Sukumar Mitra, in his article on Sri Aurobindo in Page 144 Basumati, mentions that at one time Usha, a cousin of theirs (daughter of Sukumari, Rajnarain's third daughter) was ill with fever ...
... medicines and to pray to God. They did it and the son was cured. I know this as a fact. Madhavrao himself showed me the telegram." But more frequently he would cite the case of his cousin Kumudini. Sukumar recalls that Sri Aurobindo was very fond of her and wrote a poem on her birthday; he had presented her with a coloured photograph of his. "As for prayer, no hard and fast rule can be laid down," Sri ...
... Illustrations Page Frontispiece, From old issues of The Modern Review (courtesy Patrice Marot) 23 , 54, 214 , 425, 475, 557 12 Krishna Dhan Ghose, from Sukumar Mitra's article on Sri Aurobindo in Basumati, Phalgun 1358 38 Bankim Chandra Chatterji 59 Sarojini Ghose (courtesy Sri Lab Kumar Bose and the late Sri Nirmal Ranjan Mitra) 66 ...
... within a week or so. It is Martin's house over on the other side of the street just near to the Governor's. It is also to be the headquarters of the Review & the Society, at least for the present. Sukumar has not yet sent the garden-money but I presume he will do so before long. I have received Rs 400 of the Rs 600 due to me from another quarter & hope to get the remainder by August. With the garden ...
... received by next August. We have also the clothes & shoes,—but for myself only the slippers are useful as the shoes are too large. I have written to Saurin about the garden money & he says he has asked Sukumar to send it. But I have received nothing as yet. If I get this money and the remaining 200 from Das, that will be Rs 1100 in hand. With 100 more and 130 on account of the old rent, say Rs 250 altogether ...
... father-in-law Bhupal Chandra Bose, in Mott's Lane, Calcutta (Sri Aurobindo's statement in the Bande Mataram Case [September 1907]; testimony of Subodh Chandra Mullick in the same case; deposition of Sukumar Sen in the Alipore Bomb Case; a signed document put in as evidence in the same case [Exhibit 77/2] giving Sri Aurobindo's address on 17 October 1906 as 25/5/1 Mott's Lane). Several other sources mention ...
... news in code that Sri Aurobindo was in Pondicherry. The gentleman had come to give this information assuming that Mitra must be very anxious about his safety. This shows how well the secret was kept: Sukumar Mitra, who had taken a leading part in arranging Sri Aurobindo's departure, had evidently not told his own father about it. In May 1910, Motilal Roy sent a man, Sudarshan, to inquire about Sri Aurobindo's ...
... for your permission. Here are the items we would present: 1. Chorus: Our Mother of the universe. Lyrics by Robi Gupta. Singers: Amarendra, Anugata, Hamsa, Manindra, Minoti, Nandita, Smriti, Sukumar, Swadhin, Runu, Rajarshi. 2. Savitri: English recitation. Who: recitation. Directed by Amita. Voices: Amala, Hema, Rina, Sunita, Bulbul, Munnu, Nanda, Samata, Abhijit Gupta, Ananda Reddy, Siddharth ...
... 1905-10 came to be known by its twin movement: Swadeshi and Boycott. And Sri Aurobindo it was who had pushed secretly for the adoption of this idea of boycott through his Nameso, K.K. Mitra —cousin Sukumar being the go-between —for Sri Aurobindo was still in Baroda service. On 13 July, a few days after the Government's final decision to partition Bengal had been announced, K.K. Mitra had in his Sanjibani ...
... arrangement by which the burden of my expenses may be shifted off your shoulders until I am able to make my own provision." To Saurin, Sri Aurobindo wrote a letter in June about money matters. "Sukumar has not yet sent the garden-money but I presume he will do so before long. I have received Rs. 400 of the Rs. 600 due to me from another quarter & hope to get the remainder by August. With the garden ...
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