Heartfelt Tribute to Dase Apane on His Birth Anniversary…
“Let my body dissolve into the soil of this country,
Let countrymen march ahead over my back,
And wherever the path of Swarajya deepens,
Let my flesh and bones fall there” – Utkalmani Pandit Gopabandhu Das
Today marks the 144th birth anniversary of Utkalmani Pandit Gopabandhu Das. Warm greetings to all on this special occasion. He was a freedom fighter, poet, and writer—an inspiring figure of his era. Gopabandhu Das was also the founder of the daily newspaper Samaja and the Satyabadi magazine.
Just 6.5 km to the left of Patanaikia Chhak on the Bhubaneswar–Puri National Highway lies Suaando, the birthplace of Gopabandhu Das.
Pandit Gopabandhu Das was born on October 9, 1877, in Suaando village of Puri district, to father Daitari Das and mother Swarnamayee Devi. After the death of his mother, he enrolled in Puri District School in 1893. There he met his teacher Muktiar Ramachandra Das, from whom he imbibed the spirit of public service.
During an outbreak of cholera, Gopabandhu founded the Puri Seva Samiti to serve the affected people. Risking his own life, he, along with his companions, engaged in caring for patients, maintaining sanitation, and even conducting funeral rites.
At the young age of 12, he was married to Apatei Devi, but he continued his studies even after marriage. After completing his matriculation in Puri, he joined Ravenshaw College in Cuttack. During his time there, he lost his father. It was also the time when there was a movement to eliminate the Odia language from schools.
In protest, Gopabandhu formed the Kartavya Bodhini Samiti, strongly opposing the conspiracy to wipe out Odia. He proclaimed, “A person or a nation’s identity is in its language. Language is the heartbeat of a nation.”
With the help of Ramachandra Das, he organized the first session of Utkal Sammilani at Rambha. In 1903, at the call of Utkal Gourav Madhusudan Das, Gopabandhu actively participated in Utkal Sammilani. Around that time, he lost his first child. Despite all personal losses, he passed his B.A. in 1904 and went to Calcutta to study law.
There, moved by the plight of Odia laborers, he founded the Odia Shramika Sangha and a night school for them. During this time, he also lost his second child. On the same day he received the news of passing his law exam, he also learned about the death of his wife.
Despite these sorrows, he never strayed from his mission. His contribution to the formation of a separate Odisha province was monumental. Alongside Acharya Harihar Das, Pandit Godabarish Mishra, Pandit Krupasindhu Mishra, and Pandit Nilakantha Das—the famous Pancha Sakha—he vowed on the sands of the Bhargavi River near Maa Tarini Temple to dedicate his life to the upliftment of Odisha and its people.
They went on foot to the Bakula forest in Satyabadi and established the Satyabadi Bana Vidyalaya, a “man-making” school. From this school, the national independence movement in Odisha was spearheaded.
Between 1918 and 1920, Odisha was struck by flood, famine, drought, and epidemics. Deeply moved, Gopabandhu distributed rice and flattened rice (chuda) and engaged himself in humanitarian work.
At the inspiration of Madhusudan Das, he was elected as a member of the Bihar–Odisha Legislative Council from 1917 to 1921. In 1921, he became the first President of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee.
Later, the Pancha Sakha built the permanent Satyabadi School, and its legacy is preserved even today in the form of the original thatched-roof structure within the school campus.
When Mahatma Gandhi visited Puri, Gopabandhu’s legacy inspired the establishment of the Gopabandhu Daridra Narayan Seva Sangha on 24 November 1929, near Kaduwa Chhak in Satyabadi. Here, students were taught vocational skills like spinning and weaving khadi.
The selfless servant of the people, Odisha’s jewel Gopabandhu Das, passed away on June 17, 1928, at the campus of Satyabadi Vidyalaya—his karmabhoomi. His final rites were performed in the Bakula forest, and in the years following, memorials for him and his four companions were established there, known as the Pancha Sakha Smruti Pitha.
Though his mortal journey has ended, Gopabandhu Das continues to inspire generations with his ideals of selfless service. His four companions lovingly called him “Dase Apane”, a name by which he is still fondly remembered and revered by the people of Odisha.
