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{{EngvarB|date=September | {{Short description|Indian revolutionary (1884–1958)}} | ||
{{Use dmy dates|date=September | {{EngvarB|date=September 2022}} | ||
{{ | {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} | ||
{{More citations needed|date=August 2022}} | |||
{{Infobox person | {{Infobox person | ||
| name = Taraknath Das | | name = Taraknath Das | ||
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| caption = | | caption = | ||
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1884|6|15}} | | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1884|6|15}} | ||
| birth_place = Kanchrapara, [[24 Parganas]], [[Bengal]], British India | | birth_place = [[Kanchrapara]], [[24 Parganas]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]] | ||
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1958|12|22|1884|6|15}} | | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1958|12|22|1884|6|15}} | ||
| death_place = New York City | | death_place = [[New York City]], [[USA]] | ||
| occupation = | | occupation = Revolutionary | ||
| nationality = [[British Raj|India]]n | | nationality = [[British Raj|India]]n | ||
| organization =[[Jugantar]] | |||
| spouse = Mary Keatinge Morse | | spouse = Mary Keatinge Morse | ||
}} | }} | ||
{{Anushilan Samiti}} | {{Anushilan Samiti}} | ||
'''Taraknath Das''' (or '''Tarak Nath Das''' | '''Taraknath Das''' (or '''Tarak Nath Das'''; 15 June 1884 – 22 December 1958) was an Indian revolutionary and internationalist scholar. He was a pioneering immigrant in the west coast of North America and discussed his plans with [[Tolstoy]], while organising the Asian Indian immigrants in favour of the Indian independence movement. He was a professor of [[political science]] at [[Columbia University]] and a visiting faculty in several other universities. | ||
==Early life== | ==Early life== | ||
Tarak was born at Majupara, near [[Kanchrapara]], in the [[24 Parganas]] district of [[West Bengal]]. Coming from a lower-middle-class family, his father Kalimohan was a clerk at the Central Telegraph Office in [[Calcutta]]. Noticing the flair of this brilliant student with the pen, his headmaster encouraged him to appear in an essay contest on the theme of patriotism. Impressed by the quality of the paper by a school boy of sixteen years, one of the judges, the Barrister P. Mitter, founder of the [[Anushilan Samiti]], asked his associate Satish Chandra Basu to recruit the boy. On passing his Entrance Examination with very high marks, in 1901, Tarak went to Calcutta and got himself admitted to the well-known General Assembly's Institution (now [[Scottish Church College]]) for university studies. In his secret patriotic activity, he found full support from his elder sister Girija. {{Citation needed|date=February | Tarak was born at Majupara, near [[Kanchrapara]], in the [[24 Parganas]] district of [[West Bengal]]. Coming from a lower-middle-class family, his father Kalimohan was a clerk at the Central Telegraph Office in [[Calcutta]]. Noticing the flair of this brilliant student with the pen, his headmaster encouraged him to appear in an essay contest on the theme of patriotism. Impressed by the quality of the paper by a school boy of sixteen years, one of the judges, the Barrister P. Mitter, founder of the [[Anushilan Samiti]], asked his associate Satish Chandra Basu to recruit the boy. On passing his Entrance Examination with very high marks, in 1901, Tarak went to Calcutta and got himself admitted to the well-known General Assembly's Institution (now [[Scottish Church College]]) for university studies. In his secret patriotic activity, he found full support from his elder sister Girija. {{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} | ||
==Genesis of a mission== | ==Genesis of a mission== | ||
To stir Bengali enthusiasm, commemoration of the achievements of [[Raja Sitaram Ray]], one of the greatest Bengali Hindu heroes, was introduced as a festival, in addition to [[Shivaji]]. In the early months of 1906, [[Bagha Jatin]] or [[Jatindra Nath Mukherjee]] was accompanied by Tarak when the former was invited to preside over the Sitaram Festival at [[Mohammadpur Upazila|Mohammadpur]] in [[Jessore (city)|Jessore]], the ancient capital of [[Bengal]]. On this occasion, during a closeted meeting around Jatin were present, in addition to Tarak, Shrish Chandra Sen, Satyendra Sen and Adhar Chandra Laskar: all the four, one after the other, were to leave for higher studies abroad. Nothing was known about the object of this meeting till in 1952 when, during a conversation, Tarak spoke of it. Along with specific higher education, they were to acquire military training and knowledge of explosives. They were especially urged to create a climate of sympathy among people of the free Western countries in favour of India's decision to win freedom.<ref>''Sadhak biplabi jatindranath'', [abbrev. ''jatindranath''], by [[Prithwindra Mukherjee]], West Bengal State Book Board, 1990, pp. 442–443</ref> | To stir Bengali enthusiasm, commemoration of the achievements of [[Raja Sitaram Ray]], one of the greatest Bengali Hindu heroes, was introduced as a festival, in addition to [[Shivaji]]. In the early months of 1906, [[Bagha Jatin]] or [[Jatindra Nath Mukherjee]] was accompanied by Tarak when the former was invited to preside over the Sitaram Festival at [[Mohammadpur Upazila|Mohammadpur]] in [[Jessore (city)|Jessore]], the ancient capital of [[Bengal]]. On this occasion, during a closeted meeting around Jatin were present, in addition to Tarak, Shrish Chandra Sen, Satyendra Sen and Adhar Chandra Laskar: all the four, one after the other, were to leave for higher studies abroad. Nothing was known about the object of this meeting till in 1952 when, during a conversation, Tarak spoke of it. Along with specific higher education, they were to acquire military training and knowledge of explosives. They were especially urged to create a climate of sympathy among people of the free Western countries in favour of India's decision to win freedom.<ref>''Sadhak biplabi jatindranath'', [abbrev. ''jatindranath''], by [[Prithwindra Mukherjee]], West Bengal State Book Board, 1990, pp. 442–443</ref> In 1931, following a visit to Italy, he wrote "''fascism stands for liberty with responsibility and it is opposed to all forms of license. It gives precedence to Duty and Strength, as one finds in the teachings of the Bhagvad Gita''."<ref>{{cite journal|author=Das, Taraknath|date=June 1931|title=New Italy and Greater India|journal=The Modern Review|pages=644–650}}</ref> | ||
==Life in North America== | ==Life in North America== | ||
Disguised as a monk under the name of Tarak Brahmachari, he left for [[Madras]] on a lecture tour. After [[Swami Vivekananda]] and [[Bipin Chandra Pal]] he was the first person in the region who raised such a passion by his patriotic speeches. Among young revolutionaries he particularly inspired [[Nilakantha Brahmachari]], [[Subrahmania Shiva]] and [[V. O. Chidambaram Pillai|Chidambaram Pillai]]. In 1905, he went to Japan to escape persecution by British authorities. However, the [[Meiji period|Meiji]] government started cracking down on liberation movements after they renewed a treaty with the British.<ref>{{Cite book|title=American Crossroads : Pacific Connections : The Making of the U.S.-Canadian Borderlands (1)|last=Chang|first=Kornel|publisher=University of California Press|year=2012|isbn=9780520271692|pages=121–122}}</ref> On 16 July 1907, Tarak reached [[Seattle]]. After earning his livelihood as a farm-worker, he was appointed at the laboratory of the [[University of California, Berkeley]], before enrolling himself as a student. Simultaneously, qualifying as translator and interpreter of the American Civil Administration, he entered the Department of Immigration, [[Vancouver]], in January 1908. There he witnessed the arrival of [[W. C. Hopkinson|William C. Hopkinson]] (1878–1914) of the [[Calcutta]] Police Information Service, appointed as Immigration Inspector and interpreter for Hindi, Punjabi and [[Gurumukhi]]. During seven long years, until his assassination (by a [[Sikh]]), Hopkinson was required to send detailed and regular reports to the [[British Raj|Government of India]] about the presence of such student radicals as Tarak, and monitor a group of pro-British Sikh informants headed by Bela Singh.<ref>James Campbell Ker, ''Political Trouble in India'',[abbrev. ''Political''], 1917, 1973, pp. 247, 251</ref> | Disguised as a monk under the name of Tarak Brahmachari, he left for [[Madras]] on a lecture tour. After [[Swami Vivekananda]] and [[Bipin Chandra Pal]] he was the first person in the region who raised such a passion by his patriotic speeches. Among young revolutionaries he particularly inspired [[Nilakantha Brahmachari]], [[Subrahmania Shiva]] and [[V. O. Chidambaram Pillai|Chidambaram Pillai]]. In 1905, he went to Japan to escape persecution by British authorities. However, the [[Meiji period|Meiji]] government started cracking down on liberation movements after they renewed a treaty with the British.<ref>{{Cite book|title=American Crossroads : Pacific Connections : The Making of the U.S.-Canadian Borderlands (1)|last=Chang|first=Kornel|publisher=University of California Press|year=2012|isbn=9780520271692|pages=121–122}}</ref> On 16 July 1907, Tarak reached [[Seattle]]. After earning his livelihood as a farm-worker, he was appointed at the laboratory of the [[University of California, Berkeley]], before enrolling himself as a student. Simultaneously, qualifying as translator and interpreter of the American Civil Administration, he entered the Department of Immigration, [[Vancouver]], in January 1908. There he witnessed the arrival of [[W. C. Hopkinson|William C. Hopkinson]] (1878–1914) of the [[Calcutta]] Police Information Service, appointed as Immigration Inspector and interpreter for Hindi, Punjabi and [[Gurumukhi]]. During seven long years, until his assassination (by a [[Sikh]]), Hopkinson was required to send detailed and regular reports to the [[British Raj|Government of India]] about the presence of such student radicals as Tarak, and monitor a group of pro-British Sikh informants headed by Bela Singh.<ref>James Campbell Ker, ''Political Trouble in India'',[abbrev. ''Political''], 1917, 1973, pp. 247, 251</ref> | ||
With [[Pandurang Sadashiv Khankhoje|Pandurang Khankhoje]] ([[B.G. Tilak]]'s emissary), Tarak founded the Indian Independence League. Adhar Laskar arrived from Calcutta with funds sent by Jatin Mukherjee (also known as [[Bagha Jatin]]), permitting Tarak to start his journal ''Free Hindustan'' in English, as well as its [[Gurumukhi]] edition, ''Swadesh Sevak'' ('Servants of the Motherland') by [[Guran Ditt Kumar]] who came from Calcutta on 31 October 1907. ''Free Hindustan'' has been claimed by Constance Brissenden as "the first South Asian publication in Canada, and one of the first in North America." They were assisted by Professor Surendra Mohan Bose, who was an expert in explosives. Through regular correspondence, personalities like [[Tolstoy]], [[Hyndman]], [[Shyamji Krishnavarma]], [[Madame Cama]] | With [[Pandurang Sadashiv Khankhoje|Pandurang Khankhoje]] ([[B.G. Tilak]]'s emissary), Tarak founded the Indian Independence League. Adhar Laskar arrived from Calcutta with funds sent by Jatin Mukherjee (also known as [[Bagha Jatin]]), permitting Tarak to start his journal ''Free Hindustan'' in English, as well as its [[Gurumukhi]] edition, ''Swadesh Sevak'' ('Servants of the Motherland') by [[Guran Ditt Kumar]] who came from Calcutta on 31 October 1907. ''Free Hindustan'' has been claimed by Constance Brissenden as "the first South Asian publication in Canada, and one of the first in North America." They were assisted by Professor Surendra Mohan Bose, who was an expert in explosives. Through regular correspondence, personalities like [[Leo Tolstoy]], [[Henry Hyndman]], [[Shyamji Krishnavarma]], and [[Madame Cama]] encouraged Tarak in his venture. Described as "community spokesman", he had established Hindustani Association in [[Vancouver]] in 1907. {{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} | ||
Fully conversant with existing laws, Tarak served the needs of his compatriots, most of whom were illiterate migrants from the Punjab region. In Millside, near [[New Westminster]], he founded the Swadesh Sevak Home, a boarding school for the children of the Asian Indian immigrants. Apart from that, this school also held evening classes on English and mathematics, and thus helped the immigrants to write letters to their families or to their employers. This also helped them in fostering greater awareness of their duties towards India and their rights in their adopted homeland. There were about two thousand Indians, mostly Sikh, on the west coast of Canada and North America. The majority worked in agriculture and construction. After an initial setbacks, these Indian farmers succeeded in obtaining a bumper crop of rice in California in the early 1910s, and a good number of them worked on the building of the [[Western Pacific Railway]] in California, along with indentured immigrants from China, Japan, [[Korea]], [[Norway]] and Italy.<ref>''Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America''</ref> Radicals like Tarak mobilised the Indian community to retaliate against anti-Indian violence and politics of exclusion.<ref>''The History of Metropolitan Vancouver'', by Constance Brissenden, Harbour Publishing</ref> | Fully conversant with existing laws, Tarak served the needs of his compatriots, most of whom were illiterate migrants from the Punjab region. In Millside, near [[New Westminster]], he founded the Swadesh Sevak Home, a boarding school for the children of the Asian Indian immigrants. Apart from that, this school also held evening classes on English and mathematics, and thus helped the immigrants to write letters to their families or to their employers. This also helped them in fostering greater awareness of their duties towards India and their rights in their adopted homeland. There were about two thousand Indians, mostly Sikh, on the west coast of Canada and North America. The majority worked in agriculture and construction. After an initial setbacks, these Indian farmers succeeded in obtaining a bumper crop of rice in California in the early 1910s, and a good number of them worked on the building of the [[Western Pacific Railway]] in California, along with indentured immigrants from China, Japan, [[Korea]], [[Norway]] and Italy.<ref>''Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America''</ref> Radicals like Tarak mobilised the Indian community to retaliate against anti-Indian violence and politics of exclusion.<ref>''The History of Metropolitan Vancouver'', by Constance Brissenden, Harbour Publishing</ref> | ||
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==From Berlin to Kabul== | ==From Berlin to Kabul== | ||
In 1914, he was admitted as a Research Fellow at the [[University of California at Berkeley]]. Tarak passed his M.A. examination and started his PhD dissertation on International Relationship and International Law, while joining the teaching staff of that university. He later earned his PhD degree from the [[University of Washington]] in [[political science]]. To have a greater freedom of action, in that year he also acquired American citizenship. With the help of professors like [[Robert Morss Lovett]], Upham Pope, Arthur Rider at [[UC Berkeley]] and [[David Starr Jordan]] and Stuart of [[Palo Alto]] (of [[Stanford University]]), Tarak established the East India Association. He was invited by the International Students' Association as a delegate of the American universities. He had already been informed about the Indo-German Plan and in January 1915, met [[Virendranath Chattopadhyay]] in Berlin. For that meeting, [[Maulavi Barkatullah|Barakatullah]] and Hardayal also arrived in Berlin. They all formed a close group to accompany [[Raja Mahendra Pratap]] in his Kabul expedition. {{Citation needed|date=February | In 1914, he was admitted as a Research Fellow at the [[University of California at Berkeley]]. Tarak passed his M.A. examination and started his PhD dissertation on International Relationship and International Law, while joining the teaching staff of that university. He later earned his PhD degree from the [[University of Washington]] in [[political science]]. To have a greater freedom of action, in that year he also acquired American citizenship. With the help of professors like [[Robert Morss Lovett]], Upham Pope, Arthur Rider at [[UC Berkeley]] and [[David Starr Jordan]] and Stuart of [[Palo Alto]] (of [[Stanford University]]), Tarak established the East India Association. He was invited by the International Students' Association as a delegate of the American universities. He had already been informed about the Indo-German Plan and in January 1915, met [[Virendranath Chattopadhyay]] in Berlin. For that meeting, [[Maulavi Barkatullah|Barakatullah]] and Hardayal also arrived in Berlin. They all formed a close group to accompany [[Raja Mahendra Pratap]] in his Kabul expedition. {{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} | ||
In April 1916 the ''Shiraz-ul-Akhbar'' of [[Kabul]] reproduced a speech by Tarak from a [[Constantinople]] paper : it praised the work of the German officers busy training the Ottoman army and the intrepidity and bravery of the Turks. He pointed out that it was Germany and Austria who declared war and not the Allies, and that their reason for doing so was to purify the earth of the brutal atrocities practised on mankind by their enemies, and to save the unfortunate inhabitants of [[India]], [[Egypt]], [[Persia]], [[Morocco]] and Africa from the English, French and Russians who had forcibly seized their countries and had reduced them to slavery. Tarak stressed the point that [[Turkey]] entered the war not only to defend her own country and to maintain her liberty, but also to put new life into 300 million Muslims, and to establish the Afghan state on a firmer basis, one that would act as a link with 350 million Indians, both Hindus and Muslims, as its supporters and helpers. (''Political'', p. 304) | In April 1916 the ''Shiraz-ul-Akhbar'' of [[Kabul]] reproduced a speech by Tarak from a [[Constantinople]] paper : it praised the work of the German officers busy training the Ottoman army and the intrepidity and bravery of the Turks. He pointed out that it was Germany and Austria who declared war and not the Allies, and that their reason for doing so was to purify the earth of the brutal atrocities practised on mankind by their enemies, and to save the unfortunate inhabitants of [[India]], [[Egypt]], [[Persia]], [[Morocco]] and Africa from the English, French and Russians who had forcibly seized their countries and had reduced them to slavery. Tarak stressed the point that [[Turkey]] entered the war not only to defend her own country and to maintain her liberty, but also to put new life into 300 million Muslims, and to establish the Afghan state on a firmer basis, one that would act as a link with 350 million Indians, both Hindus and Muslims, as its supporters and helpers. (''Political'', p. 304) | ||
Tarak returned to California in July 1916. After that he set out for Japan with the project of a vast study on ''Japanese Expansion and its Significance in World Politics''. This study appeared as a book in 1917 with the title, ''Is Japan a menace to Asia ?''. The foreword of this book was written by the former Chinese Prime Minister [[Tang Shaoyi]]. In collaboration with [[Rash Behari Bose]] and Herambalal Gupta, he was about to leave on a mission to Moscow, when Tarak was called back to appear in the infamous [[Hindu German Conspiracy Trial]]. The [[all-white jury]] accused him as "the most dangerous criminal" and it was proposed to withdraw his American citizenship and surrender him to the British police. On 30 April 1918, he was sentenced to twenty-two months in [[United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth|Leavenworth federal prison]]. {{Citation needed|date=February | Tarak returned to California in July 1916. After that he set out for Japan with the project of a vast study on ''Japanese Expansion and its Significance in World Politics''. This study appeared as a book in 1917 with the title, ''Is Japan a menace to Asia ?''. The foreword of this book was written by the former Chinese Prime Minister [[Tang Shaoyi]]. In collaboration with [[Rash Behari Bose]] and Herambalal Gupta, he was about to leave on a mission to Moscow, when Tarak was called back to appear in the infamous [[Hindu German Conspiracy Trial]]. The [[all-white jury]] accused him as "the most dangerous criminal" and it was proposed to withdraw his American citizenship and surrender him to the British police. On 30 April 1918, he was sentenced to twenty-two months in [[United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth|Leavenworth federal prison]]. {{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} | ||
==Academic career== | ==Academic career== | ||
After his release in | After his release in 1920, Tarak married his long-time friend and benefactress [[Mary Keatinge Morse]]. She was a founding member of the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] and the [[National Woman's Party]]. With her, he went on an extended tour of Europe. He made [[Munich]] his headquarters for his activities. It was there that he founded the India Institute, that awarded scholarships to meritorious Indian students who pursued higher studies in Germany. He maintained a close contact with [[Sri Aurobindo]], and pursued inner spiritual discipline. On his return to the United States, Tarak was jointly appointed as the professor of [[political science]] at the [[Columbia University]] and a Fellow of the [[Georgetown University]]. With his wife, he opened the resourceful Taraknath Das Foundation in 1935, to promote educational activities and to foster cultural relations between the US and Asian countries. {{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} | ||
==The Tarak Nath Das Foundation== | ==The Tarak Nath Das Foundation== | ||
Currently, this foundation awards grant money to Indian graduate students studying in the United States, who have completed or are about to complete one year of graduate work, and are working towards a degree. There are Tarak Nath Das funds at about a dozen universities in the States. Only the fund at [[Columbia University]], called the '''Mary Keatinge Das Fund''', has a fairly significant amount of money in it and the income is used to fund lectures and conferences on India. Other participatory universities are the [[University of Pittsburgh]], [[New York University]], the [[University of Washington]], the [[University of Virginia]], [[Howard University]], [[Yale University]], the [[University of Chicago]], the [[University of Michigan]], the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]], [[American University]], and the [[University of Hawaii at Manoa]]. {{Citation needed|date=February | Currently, this foundation awards grant money to Indian graduate students studying in the United States, who have completed or are about to complete one year of graduate work, and are working towards a degree. There are Tarak Nath Das funds at about a dozen universities in the States. Only the fund at [[Columbia University]], called the '''Mary Keatinge Das Fund''', has a fairly significant amount of money in it and the income is used to fund lectures and conferences on India. Other participatory universities are the [[University of Pittsburgh]], [[New York University]], the [[University of Washington]], the [[University of Virginia]], [[Howard University]], [[Yale University]], the [[University of Chicago]], the [[University of Michigan]], the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]], [[American University]], and the [[University of Hawaii at Manoa]]. {{Citation needed|date=February 2022}} | ||
==Later life== | ==Later life== | ||
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[[Category:Indian academics]] | [[Category:Indian academics]] | ||
[[Category:Indian revolutionaries]] | [[Category:Indian revolutionaries]] | ||
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]] | [[Category:Bengali Hindus]] | ||
[[Category:Scottish Church College alumni]] | [[Category:Scottish Church College alumni]] | ||
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[[Category:Hindu activists]] | [[Category:Hindu activists]] | ||
[[Category:Columbia University faculty]] | [[Category:Columbia University faculty]] | ||
[[Category:New York University faculty]] | |||
[[Category:Norwich University alumni]] | [[Category:Norwich University alumni]] | ||
[[Category:American people of Bengali descent]] | [[Category:American people of Bengali descent]] | ||