Barindra Kumar Ghosh or Barindra Ghosh, or, popularly, Barin Ghosh (5 January 1880 – 18 April 1959) was an Indian revolutionary and journalist. He was one of the founding members of

Jugantar Jugantar or Yugantar ( bn, যুগান্তর ''Jugantor''; lit. ''New Era'' or ''Transition of an Epoch'') was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence. This association, like Anushi ...

Bengali weekly, a revolutionary outfit in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. Barindra Ghosh was a younger brother of

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

Early life

Barindra Ghosh was born at

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, near London on 5 January 1880 although his ancestral village was

Konnagar Konnagar is a town and a municipality of Hooghly district in the state of West Bengal in India. Konnagar has a railway station that connect with Howrah. It is under Uttarpara police station in Serampore subdivision. It is a part of the area co ...

Hooghly District Hooghly district () is one of the districts of the Indian state of West Bengal. It can alternatively be spelt ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli''. The district is named after the Hooghly River. The headquarters of the district are at Hooghly-Chinsura (''C ...

of present-day

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

.Bandyopadhyay, Amritalal, ''Rishi Aurobindo'', 1964, Biswas Publishing House, p. 6 His father, Dr. Krishnadhan Ghosh, was a physician and district surgeon. His mother Swarnalata was the daughter of the

Brahmo Bengali Brahmos are those who adhere to Brahmoism, the philosophy of Brahmo Samaj which was founded by Raja Rammohan Roy. A recent publication describes the disproportionate influence of Brahmos on India's development post-19th Century as unpar ...

religious and social reformer, scholar

Rajnarayan Basu Rajnarayan Basu ({1826–1899) was an Indian writer and intellectual of the Bengal Renaissance. He was born in Boral in 24 Parganas and studied at the Hare School and Hindu College, in Kolkata, Bengal. A monotheist at heart, Rajnarayan Basu c ...

. Revolutionary and a spiritualist in later life,

Aurobindo Ghosh Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

was Barindranath's third elder brother. His second elder brother,

Manmohan Ghose Manmohan Ghose (19 January 1869 – 4 January 1924) was an Indian poet and one of the first from India to write poetry in English. He was a brother of Sri Aurobindo. Background Manmohan Ghose was born the son of Dr. Krishna Dhan Ghose by his ...

, was a scholar of English literature, a poet and professor of English at

Presidency College, Calcutta Presidency University, Kolkata (formerly known as Presidency College, Kolkata) is a second major public state aided research university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of best colleges when Presidency College was affili ...

and at

Dhaka University The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...

. He also had an elder sister named Sarojini Ghosh. Barindranath attended school in

Deoghar Deoghar (pronounced ''Devaghar'') is a major city in Jharkhand, India. It is a holy sacred place of Hinduism. It is one of the 12 ''Jyotirlinga''s sites of Hinduism (Baidyanath Temple). The sacred temples of the city make this a place for pil ...

, and after passing the entrance examination in 1901, joined

Patna College Patna College is a constituent state aided College of Patna University which is established in 1863 during the British Raj, is one of the oldest colleges in the state of Bihar, India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in science, ...

. He received military training in

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

. During this time, (late 19th century – early 20th century) Barin was influenced by Aurobindo and drawn towards the revolutionary movement.

Revolutionary activities

Barin came back to

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

in 1902 and started organising several revolutionary groups in Bengal with the help of

Jatindranath Banerjee Jatindra Nath Banerjee (Niralamba Swami) (19 November 1877 – 5 September 1930) was one of two great Indian nationalists and freedom fighters – along with Aurobindo Ghosh (Sri Aurobindo) – who dramatically rose to prominence between 1871 ...

. In 1906, he started publishing ''

'', a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

weekly and a revolutionary organization named

soon followed. Jugantar was formed from the inner circle of

Anushilan Samiti Anushilan Samiti ( bn, অনুশীলন সমিতি, , bodybuilding society) was an Indian fitness club, which was actually used as an underground society for anti-British revolutionaries. In the first quarter of the 20th century it su ...

and it started preparation for armed militancy activities to oust British from Indian soil. Barin and Jatindranath Mukherjee alias

Bagha Jatin Bagha Jatin (; ) or Baghajatin, born Jatindranath Mukherjee (); 7 December 1879 – 10 September 1915) was an Indian independence activist. He was the principal leader of the Jugantar party that was the central association of revolutionary i ...

were instrumental in the recruitment of many young revolutionaries from across Bengal. The revolutionaries formed the Maniktala group in

Maniktala Maniktala is a residential area of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district, West Bengal, India. Etymology The tomb of Manik Pir is located in lane near Maniktala crossing. Some people say, the neighbourhood is named after Manik Pir. Others say, M ...

, Kolkata. It was a secret place where they started manufacturing bombs and collected arms and ammunition. Following the attempted killing of Kingsford by two revolutionaries Khudiram and Prafulla on 30 April 1908, the police intensified its investigation which led to the arrest of Barin and Aurobindo Ghosh on 2 May 1908, along with many of his comrades. The trial (known as the

Alipore Bomb Case ''Emperor vs Aurobindo Ghosh and others'', colloquially referred to as the Alipore Bomb Case, the Muraripukur conspiracy, or the Manicktolla bomb conspiracy, was a criminal case held in India in 1908. The case saw the trial of a number of Indi ...

) initially sentenced Aurobindo Ghosh, Barin Ghosh and Ullaskar Datta to death. However, the sentence was reduced to life imprisonment, by Deshbandhu

Chittaranjan Das Chittaranjan Das (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925), popularly called ''Deshbandhu'' (Friend of the Nation), was an Indian freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian independence movement and founder-leader of the Swar ...

and Barin was deported to the

Cellular Jail The Cellular Jail, also known as Kālā Pānī (), was a British colonial prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The prison was used by the British Raj, colonial government of India for the purpose of Penal transportation, exiling crimina ...

Andaman Andaman may refer to: * Andaman Islands * Andaman Sea * ''Andaman'' (1998 film), a Kannada-language film * ''Andaman'' (2016 film), a Tamil-language film * ''Andaman'' (2021 film), a Hindi-language film See also * Andaman and Nicobar Islands ...

in 1909 along with other convicts. In the

, Barin Ghosh was locked up beside

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (), Marathi pronunciation: �inaːjək saːʋəɾkəɾ also commonly known as Veer Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966), was an Indian politician, activist, and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalis ...

& he successfully managed to flee

in 1915. But British caught Barin Ghosh again from

Puri Puri () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state capital of Bhubaneswar. It is als ...

after

Balasore Balasore or Baleswara is a city in the state of Odisha, about north of the state capital Bhubaneswar and from Kolkata, in eastern India. It is the largest town of northern Odisha and the administrative headquarters of Balasore district. It i ...

Battle with Bagha Jatin.

Release and later activities

Barin Ghosh successfully escaped from

& was the only freedom fighter to do so in 1915. He was hiding in

during Battle of

, where Bagha Jatin fought the British. Barin Ghosh was caught again from Puri & sent to

Andaman. He was kept under Solitary confinement for 5 long years. During a general amnesty in 1920, Barin was released and returned to Kolkata to start a career in journalism. Soon he left journalism and formed an ''

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or a ...

'' in

. He published his memoirs "The tale of my exile - twelve years in Andamans". In 1923, he left for

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

where his elder brother

had formed the

Sri Aurobindo Ashram The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is a spiritual community (ashram) located in Pondicherry, in the Indian territory of Puducherry. The ashram grew out of a small community of disciples who had gathered around Sri Aurobindo after he retired from ...

. He was influenced by Aurobindo towards spirituality and Sadhana. Barin returned to

in 1929 and again took up journalism. In 1933 he started an English weekly, ''The Dawn of India''. He was associated with the newspaper ''

The Statesman A statesman or stateswoman typically is a politician who has had a long and respected political career at the national or international level. Statesman or Statesmen may also refer to: Newspapers United States * ''The Statesman'' (Oregon), a n ...

'', and in 1950, he became the editor of the Bengali daily ''

Dainik Basumati ''Dainik Basumati'' was a Bengali daily published from Kolkata by the Basumati Corporation Limited. It was first published on 6 August 1914 and stopped its publication in 2003. History In 1881, Upendranath Mukhopadhyay started the Basumati Sah ...

''. Around this time he got married. He died on 18 April 1959.

Works

The following are books by Barindra Ghosh: * ''Dvipantarer Banshi'' * ''Pather Ingit'' * ''Amar Atmakatha'' * ''Agnijug'' * ''Rishi Rajnarayan'' * ''The Tale of My Exile'' * ''Sri Aurobindo'' Other books *Barindrakumar Ghosh, ''Pather Ingit'', Calcutta, 1337 ( Bengali year). *Upendra Nath Bandyopadhyaya, ''Nirbasiter Atmakatha'', Calcutta, 1352 ( Bengali year). *RC Majumdar, ''History of the Freedom Movement in India'', II, Calcutta, 1963.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghosh, Barindra Kumar Anushilan Samiti Revolutionary movement for Indian independence Revolutionaries of Bengal during British Rule 1880 births 1959 deaths Indian newspaper editors 20th-century Indian journalists Indian revolutionaries Indian prisoners sentenced to death Indian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners and detainees of British India Indian independence activists from West Bengal