(Late) Sri Agadhu Mahapatra(1907-1987)- A Short Profile (Late) Sri Agadhu Mahapatra was born in 1907 (April) to Sri Sudarshan Mahapatra and Bulimani Devi, at Village-Pratap Purushottam Pur, Puri. His formal education was restricted to class-“Vernacular” (equivalent to class ‘upper-primary’ as known these days) since he was constrained to take up the full responsibility of looking after the Family at a very young age of 14 years due to the demise of his father and the mental imbalance of his elder brother. However, he was able to educate himself in Sanskrit at the “Chandrasekhar-Pathshala,” located in the village. Around that time he was inspired to join the “Utkal Sammilani”, primarily due to the influence of his mentor-“Pracharak-Ananta Mishra”. Thus began his initiation to the movement for a greater cause, i.e. the separate identity for the Orissa-state even at that young age. The visit of Mahatma Gandhi to Orissa in 1921 provided the further impetus to propel him to join the National cause through participation in the non-cooperation movement and other prescribed organisational work at the grass-root level. Later on, he became a full-time worker (“Satyagrahi”) of the National Congress after the “Lavana Satyagraha” movement of 1930 and remained deeply involved in the National-Freedom and Satyagraha Movement throughout the period till the country achieved independence in 1947. During this period spanning more than 25 years and at his prime youth, he underwent imprisonment for more than 4 years at various jails including the ones at Puri, Khurdha, Cuttack, Berhampur, Patna, Hazaribagh, Naini, Bijayawada and Bundel-khand. He had to work under assumed name and domicile in order to spare his family the torture and payment of fines/penalty for his involvement in the freedom movement. In recognition of his dedication, he was appointed as the (Honorary) President of the Congress Committee for the Puri (Sadar) unit then known as the “7th Union” and worked in this capacity from 1930 up to 1947. In this responsibility, his duties included equitable distribution of controlled-commodities, issue of special permits to the needy and the destitute besides organisational work of recruiting volunteers and conduct of meetings. After independence, he was offered the post of “Parliamentary-Secretary” under the ‘Biswanath Dash-ministry’ but he refused the assignment following in letter and spirit, the instruction of Gandhiji to all congress-workers to shun public office-of-profit as well as to resign from the primary membership of the Congress-party. Accordingly, in strict compliance of Gandhiji’s wish as published in the “Harijan”(16-08-1947), he severed all links with the Congress party and lived in utter penury thereafter, but never compromising with the Gandhian-principles and ideals. In the mean time, he decided to shift residence to Puri profoundly saddened by the premature death of three of his children in quick succession at the village. During this period of adversity, the only means of his subsistence consisted of the produce from his paternal property in the village supplemented by private tuitions and clerical work at Puri till he was persuaded to apply for the “Freedom Fighters’ Samman-Pension” instituted by the Govt. of India and the Govt. of Orissa in the year 1972-73. Very reluctantly he agreed and was bestowed with the award from both the Governments. At Puri, his talent as teacher and a Sanskrit scholar of excellence was soon recognised. After his wife’s death in 1982, he entirely devoted his time to retrieve rare texts and manuscripts in Sanskrit and joined religious discourses often held in the premises of the temple of Lord Jagannath. During this period, he translated “Srimad Bhagvad Gita” and the “Yoga-Bashistha”- Text from Sanskrit to Oriya-verse in the “Nabakhsyari-Chhanda” and completed several other scholarly work. He breathed his last at Puri in the year 1987(July). Throughout his life, Sri Agadhu Mahapatra was the epitome of high moral principles, integrity, honesty, scholarship and service to humanity with humility. As such, he continues to inspire his family and friends as a beacon.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 16:40:46 +0000
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