Ullaskar Dutta (16 April 1885 – 17 May 1965) was an Indian revolutionary associated with

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

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 ...

of Bengal and was a close associate of Barindra nath Ghosh.

Early life

Ullaskar was born in the village of Kalikachha in the

Brahmanbaria Brahmanbaria ( bn, ব্রাহ্মণবাড়িয়া, Brāhmaṇabāṛiẏā) is a city of Bangladesh and the capital of Brahmanbaria Sadar Upazila as well as Brahmanbaria District. It is the second largest city after Cumilla i ...

district of present-day

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

in a

Baidya Baidya or Vaidya is a Hindu community located in Bengal. Baidyas, a caste ('' jāti'') of Ayurvedic physicians, have long had pre-eminence in society alongside Brahmins and Kayasthas. In the colonial era, the Bhadraloks were drawn primarily, b ...

family. His father Dwijadas Duttagupta was a member of the

Brahmo Samaj Brahmo Samaj ( bn, ব্রহ্ম সমাজ, Brahmô Sômaj, ) is the societal component of Brahmoism, which began as a monotheistic reformist movement of the Hindu religion that appeared during the Bengal Renaissance. It was one of t ...

and had a degree in agriculture from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

. After passing entrance examination in 1903, he took admission in the Presidency College,

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 ...

and his passion was for the subject Chemistry. However, he was rusticated from the college for hitting a British professor, Professor Russell, who made some derogatory comment about

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 ...

is.

Revolutionary activities

Ullaskar was a member of the

party and he became expert in bomb-making.

Khudiram Bose Khudiram Bose (also spelled ''Khudiram Basu'') (3 December 1889 – 11 August 1908) was an Indian revolutionary from Bengal Presidency who opposed British rule of India. For his role in the Muzaffarpur Conspiracy Case, along with Prafulla ...

used a bomb manufactured by Ullaskar and Hem Chandra Das in an attempt to murder the venerable magistrate, Kingsford. However, police caught many members of the Jugantar group including Ullaskar Dutta,

Barindra Ghosh 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 Bengali weekly, a revolutionary outfit in Bengal. ...

and Khudiram.

Trial and sentence

In the famous

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 India ...

, Ullaskar was arrested on 2 May 1908 and he was sentenced to death by hanging in 1909. Later, on appeal, the verdict was reduced to transportation for life and he 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 colonial government of India for the purpose of exiling criminals and political prisoners. Many ...

in Andaman.

Cellular jail

Ullaskar was subjected to brutal torture in the Cellular Jail and is said have lost his mental balance. He was set free in 1920 and he returned to Kolkata.

Later life

Ullaskar was again arrested in 1931 and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. He returned to his home village Kalikachha when colonial rule ended in 1947. After a lonely life of 10 years, he returned to Kolkata in 1957. After returning to Kolkata he married his childhood friend Lila, daughter of

Bipin Chandra Pal Bipin Chandra Pal ( bn, বিপিন চন্দ্র পাল ; 7 November 1858 – 20 May 1932) was an Indian nationalist, writer, orator, social reformer and Indian independence movement freedom fighter. He was one third of the “L ...

at that time she was a physically challenged widow woman and went to

Silchar Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is located south east of Guwahati. It was founded by Captain Thomas Fisher in 1832 when he shifted the headquarters of Cachar to Janiganj in Silchar. ...

, the district town of

Cachar District Cachar district is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. After independence the undivided Cachar district was split into four districts in Assam: Dima Hasao district (formerly North Cachar Hills), Cachar district alongsid ...

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

and spent his later life there. He died on 17 May 1965 in

Kolkata, West Bengal 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, commerc ...

.Official Report, Assam Legislative Assembly
/ref> Recently, two roads in Kolkata and Silchar were named after him.

Works

* ''Dvipantarer Katha'' (The Tale of Deportation) * ''Amar Karajiban'' (My Prison Life) (translated into English as ''Twelve Years of Prison Life'' in 1924).

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutta, Ullaskar Anushilan Samiti Revolutionaries of Bengal during British Rule 1885 births 1965 deaths Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Alumni of the University of London Anti-British establishment revolutionaries from East Bengal Brahmos Indian revolutionaries Indian prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners and detainees of British India Bengali-language writers Indian independence activists from West Bengal