Khudiram Bose

Khudiram Bose was a boy of 18 years when he threw the bomb in Muzaffarpur which immortalised him as “the first Indian to use any dangerous product of modern science” against the British. In this short life, he hardly had the opportunity to do things which could have given any historian to write at length about him. So barring some details of his early life at Medinipur we do not have much information about his personal life. But, as they say, a life’s story does not begin with birth and ends with his death. Khudiram life was a very long life. He remains still alive in the memory of all those who love the land of his birth the way a child loves his mother.

Family background

Khudiram was born on 3 December in 1889 at a village, Habibpur, not very far from Midnapur town of Bengal. His grandfather, Ramdhan Basu, had five sons: Trilokyanath, Kamalakanta, Dwarkanath, Iswarchandra and Taraprasad. Khudiram was the son of Trilokyanath Basu. His mother , Lakshmipriya Devi, was the daughter of Dukhiram Das of Kalagram village of Keshpur thana. His father, Trilokyanath was a Tehsildar (revenue collector) in Narajol Raj estate.

Trilokyanath and Lakshmipriya Devi had three daughters- Aparupa, Sarojini and Nanibala. Their two sons died- one after the birth and the other when he was six years of age. They desperately wanted a son. According to a biographer of Khudiram who had the opportunity to talk to many of his childhood friends and relatives, the mother prayed to Goddess Kali in a Siddheshwari Kali temple near the house for three days. On the third night, goddess Kali appeared in her dream and said to the mother that soon she will give birth to a child. That child would not live for long but he would be remembered forever.

When Laksmipriya Devi gave birth to a son, it was decided that the newly born boy should be ‘sold’ to avoid premature death. As per the customs of those days, he was ‘purchased’ by his sister by offering 3 mutho khudi (rice). As he was taken up by offering khudi he was named Khudiram.

Khudiram survived but he could not enjoy the love of his parents for long. At the age of six he lost both his parents one after another. His mother died first. After few months his ailing father also expired. Khudiram’s father had remarried two weeks before his death.

Khudiram was lucky that he had a loving elder sisiter Aparupa Devi. He was very close to his elder sister and he remained dependent on Aparupa Devi throughout his life. Now he was completely dependent on his sister who brought him up like a mother at her home in Hatgachhia village where she had been married. Khudiram joined a village school . Later, he was admitted to Hamilton School at Tamluk in 1901. At Hamilton School he impressed everyone with his remarkable courage and capacity to bear pain with dignity. Once he had climbed to a big Badam tree. He jumped from the tree. His clothes were torn and he was badly hurt but, when he faced the teacher, he stood erect and he showed no sign of any pain on his face.

In another incident, which showed he was a soft at heart, he was gracious enough to pardon a class friend who had caused him trouble. While he was reading a book in the reading session, one of his classmates thrust in a pencil around his rectum through a hole in the desk. Khudiram bore the pain during the class but later, blood started coming out of the wound and his friends reported the incident to the teacher. Furious teacher was about to hit the culprit when Khudiram stopped him.

Khudiram’s childhood friends had narrated many stories which indicate that he possessed remarkable courage and he cared little about his personal safety. He had no fear of death, a feature which enable him years later to smile when he was sentenced to death for his historic act. Even in his school days he showed this trait of his character. His friends told his biographer that he was not afraid of even poisonous snakes. Often he used to catch a snake, played with it and then released it.

Two years later he was admitted in Midnapur Collegiate School where he studied up to the 3rd class, equivalent to the present day class VIII standard. He was a boy who could not bear injustice and it is said that even at school level he stood against injustice of all sorts and he did not hesitate to avenge unjust conduct, whoever might be its victims.

About Khudiram’s school life, it is not very well known out side Bengal that he was a very committed social worker. When Cholera broke out in Tamluk town and people were apprehensive to go close to its victims he selflessly nursed patients very earnestly without bothering much about his own health.
In one of those days, when four-five Cholera deaths were common almost daily, nobody dared to go to the ghat in late night where dead bodies were put on fire. A tree was considered particularly dangerous as many spirits dwell on that, thought Khudiram’s friends. To test his mental strength Khudiram’s friends challenged him to go and touch that dreaded tree in late night. To check whether he did that in real or not, his friends waited to see. In the night, Khudiram dared to go and pluck a branch of tree. Later, when his friends went and confirmed that he had actually done that he was hailed as a hero.

In another incident Khudiram showed that he had extraordinary strength to endure pain. A teacher challenged students to show their physical strength by hitting a table with force as many times as possible. Everybody retired after hitting the table 6-7 times. Khudiram hit more than thirty times. Later, his friends found out that his hand was bleeding. Khudiram, however, did not show any sign of pain on his face.

He was meritorious but he took little interest in his studies. He, however, was always loved and admired by his friends who appreciated his courage. He was also more sensitive towards swadeshi loving people. In 1903, one of his school friends Phani Bhushan Ghosh entered in the school in a swedeshi dhoti. He was ridiculed by his friends. But, Khudiram appreciated Phani Bhushan and he embraced him. After Khudiram’s appreciation other friends realised their mistake and they all hailed his bold action. Even at this age of 14 Khudiram could show such maturity.