Autobiography of Nilakantha Das - XVI

This is the 16th and penultimate blog in the series of recapitulation in my own words portions of Pandit Nilakantha Das's Biography in Odia. Enjoy...

DEBUNKING THE MYTHS

-----------------------------------------

Nilakantha Das was a maverick but progressive person, piquant and at odds with the prevalent superstitions of the time. He has devoted an entire chapter to this, clearing the aura of BHAKTIKA MITHYA or devotional lies attributed to famous personalities.

One of them was about UTKALAMANI (The Jewel of Odisha) Gopabandhu Das. Sri Lingaraj Mishra wrote this sometime in 1950s when a statue of Utkalamani was inagurated in Cuttack - When Gopabandhu's only son was laying on death bed in 1904, he got the news about the devastating floods in Odisha.

Bidding adieu to his son at his bedside, Gopabandhu said - "so many sons of my country are perishing. I have to serve them, even if I have to leave my son on his death bed", before proceeding to flood impacted areas to serve the impacted folks.

Then poet Radhamohan Gadanayak wrote a long poem eulogizing Gopabandhu on this. No question about our beloved Utkalamani's unflinching dedication and commitment towards social service, but this was simply a devotional lie spread by his BHAKTs (devotees). 

Nilakantha Das has kept the records straight on this by providing detailed facts with timelines. Lingaraj Mishra who wrote this popular anecdote didn't know Gopabandhu before 1921. The later was never involved in serving people in flood or draught affected areas until the year 1908 when he formed the "Young Utkal Association". It was good 4 years after 1904 when the claim of him abandoning his sick son to serve the calamity stricken people was made.

Per Pandit Das who knew Gopabandhu from close quarters - Utkalamani was not a stoic person, rather he had a soft, caring heart. Nilakantha had seen in his own eyes, in presence of Late Sadashiv Mishra (a famed teacher in Puri Jilla School) the death of Gopabandhu's infant son in the arms of his wife. Needless to say, the parents were inconsolable. He was his only son and there was no flood during that time.

Another devotional lie was Gopabandhu after his son's death and before the great flood of 1908 was a saffron clad Sanyasi (yogi) roaming across the nation. That was also nowhere close to truth. Had these facts were not disclosed by Sri Nilakantha Das, these urban legends would never have been debunked and turned to gospels.

 (MY CONCLUDING BLOG FOLLOWS, AS I READ 📖 FURTHER)