Durga Mohan Das

Durga Mohan was born in a well-known Baidya family at Telirbagh, Bikrampur, Dhaka in Bengal, now part of Munshiganj District of Bangladesh. Bikrampur has a long historical and cultural trail since many centuries. In 12th Century it was the capital of Ballal Sena and Lakshmana Sena, Kings of Sena dynasty and since then considered as an important seat of learning and culture of Eastern India.[1]

Durga Mohan's father Kashiswar was a government pleader in the court of Barishal, presently in Bangladesh. Kashiswar had three sons, Kali Mohan, Durga Mohan and Bhuban Mohan, and all of then became practicing lawyer at Calcutta High Court.

Durga Mohan lost his mother early in life. He attended an English school at Barisal, where his father practiced law. Subsequently, he won a junior scholarship to Hindu College, Calcutta, then under the University of Calcutta. He resided at his uncle Bireswar Dash's house at Kalighat. After studying for a year at Kolkata, he went to Dhaka and returned to Presidency College with a senior scholarship.[2]

As a student of Presidency College he was greatly influenced by Edward Cowley, a professor of history and an erudite Sanskrit scholar. Many of the students frequented the residence of the deeply christian Cowley to discuss religious matters. Some of them were influenced by Cowley's deep faith, with one of Durga Mohan Das's friends, Bhagaban Chandra Chatterjee even converting to christianity. Durga Mohan Dash was also swayed for a period. He brought his child-wife, Brahmamoyee to the house of a christian priest, in order that she could also understand the christian faith before he finally decided to convert. That led to his being turned out of the house of Bireswar Das.

At that time he had passed the licentiate examination in law and had started practising at Kolkata but that was not enough to keep him going in the city and so he shifted to Barisal.

His elder brother Kali Mohan Dash, who later became a famous lawyer of Kolkata High Court, then used to practice in Barisal. He provided him shelter and gave him some books of Theodore Parker. His elder brother asked him to read the books before deciding about his religion. On reading the books he changed his opinion and instead of converting to Christianity, joined the Brahmo Samaj.

He got together his friends and established a Brahmo Samaj at Barisal. In order to enlighten devotees, he invited Brahmo preachers from Kolkata to visit Barisal and deliver lectures. Education of women was top priority. He organised many functions and festivals. Soon, Barisal became a great centre of Brahmo activity.

In the course of time, the great controversy about remarriage of widows engulfed entire society and Durga Mohan Das plunged forward into that movement. He and his friends publicly promised to organise remarriage of widows. He offered financial support to such couples because they had to undergo severe social boycott. He even went to the extent of getting his young widowed step mother married to a friend of his. That brought in opposition from entire society. His earnings dwindled because people boycotted him but he remained steadfast in his mission. There were few people, other than Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar who have contributed so much to the cause of remarriage of widows. Mention may be made of another person in East Bengal who had also contributed substantially to this cause - Braja Sundar Mitra.

It was during this period that the sons of Raj Chandra Roy, zemindar of nearby Lakhutia, joined the Brahmo Samaj and strengthened the movement. One day they took their wives with them to the residence of the English commissioner. That created such a sensation that it reverberated beyond Barisal, across Bengal and became a talking point in Kolkata society, because that was an age when women of respectable families never came out in public from the inner precincts of their houses. Later, the noted Brahmo reformer Nibaran Chandra Mukherjee married into this family. That happened to be a great social event in those days.

Around 1870, Durga Mohan Dash shifted to Kolkata High Court. Dwarakanath Ganguly, the great champion of women's emancipation, had already shifted from Dhaka to Kolkata with his newspaper Abalabandhab. There were other young men such as Rajaninath Roy, who were clamouring for reforms within the Brahmo Samaj. Till then women used to sit in the Brahmo Samaj behind a screen. The reformists started bringing their wives into the open. That immediately caused some confusion but ultimately they won the day. Brahmo Samaj allowed women to sit in the open.

When Miss Annette Akroyd opened a boarding school for girls in Kolkata, Durga Mohan Dash assisted her financially and admitted his daughters in the school. The school was later merged with Bethune School and his daughters were amongst the earlier batches to pass out of that school.

It was during that period that his wife died.

Being an outright reformist he sided with such people as Sivanath Sastri, Ananda Mohan Bose, Sib Chandra Deb, and Umesh Chandra Dutta for the establishment of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in 1878. He extended substantial financial support for the new organisation and served as its president.

He went to England in 1888 and returned with illness. All his three sons had qualified as barristers and his daughters were married. He led a rather lonely life. He married a widowed daughter of Kali Narayan Gupta of Dhaka. However, old age had caught on and he died on 19 December 1897.

Chittaranjan Das was son of his brother Bhuban Mohan Dash. Amongst his children the more renowned were Satish Ranjan Das, Sarala Roy and Abala Bose. Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee was his great grandson on his daughter's side.

After Durga Mohan Das's first wife Bhramamoyee Devi's death, he married a highly respectable widow lady Hemantasashi Sen, daughter of a renowned Brahmo social reformer Kali Narayan Gupta of Dhaka. Hemantasashi Sen's only son by her first husband was noted music composer and songwriter Atul Prasad Sen.

Shastri, Shibnath. (1903). রামতনু লাহিড়ী ও তৎকালীন বঙ্গসমাজ (Ramtanu Lahiri O Tatkalin Banga Samaj) in Bengali,S. K . Lahiri & Co, Calcutta.

Sengipta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali, (ed) সংসদ বাঙালি চরিত্রাভিধান (Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan) - a biographical dictionary in Bengali. (2002). Sishu Sahitya Samsad Pvt. Ltd. Kolkata.