| Neelakantha Das, popularly
known as Pandit Neelakantha and one of the makers
of modern Orissa, was born on 5 August 1884 in
village Sriramchandrapur in Puri district. He
came of a middle-class conservative Brahmin family.
His grandfather was a Tahsildar in government
service. His father, Ananda Das, looked after
his landed property. Neelakanth married Radhamani
Devi in 1905. She was the daughter of Harihara
Rath at Puri.
Neelakantha has his early education, in the
traditional way, in the village Pathsala till
he was eight. Then he studied in the Middle
Vernacular School and later at the Puri Zilla
School, from where he matriculated. Graduating
from the Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, he went
to Calcutta for M. A. and Law. He took his M.A.
in 1911 and returned to Orissa, where he joined
the famous Satyabadi School, founded by Gopabandhu
Das, as a teacher.
Among those who influenced Neelakantha in
his early days were Gopabandhu Das, Godavarish
Misra, Acharya Harihar Das and Pandit Krupasindhu
Misra. In later days he came in close contact
with Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru and other
eminent all- India leaders. His mind was also
deeply influenced by the epics and the Hindu
scriptures, specially the Gita. He would recite
the Gita everyday after bath.
As a teacher in the Satyabadi School, Neelkantha
found full scope for the implementation of his
ideas on education and social reform. He was
a strong moralist, strict disciplinarian and
a staunch advocate of national education. It
was no small sacrifice for a youngman to decline
offers of more profitable jobs and to dedicate
himself to the cause of education and social
reform. Along with the other members of the
Satyabadi group, he challenged the existing
evil practices and superstitions in Hindu society,
quoting Hindu scriptures and religious code
in support of his contention.
His scholarship was so profound that few could
controvert his arguments. Though a strong supporter
of Hinduism, he was liberal in his religious
outlook and had respect for other religions.
He appreciated western education as the main
factor for bringing cultural enlightenment and
scientific outlook in India. But he wanted to
adopt it to Indian conditions, with a strong
nationalist bias, and that was the ideal he
pursued through the Satyabadi School. He was
also a great social worker and went round the
villages with his students to attend to cholera
patients, cholera epidemic being then quite
frequent in the Puri district.
In 1918, at the invitation of Sir Asutosh Mookherjee,
he joined the Calcutta University Post-Graduate
Department as a Lecture in Oriya and Comparative
Philosophy. He great scholar and made remarkable
contributions to Oriya language and literature.
During the Non-Cooperation Movement, Neelakanth
returned from Calcutta, and along
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with Gopabandhu Das
and others he carried the message of Non-Cooperation
Movement to the mass in Orissa.
He organized numerous meetings and demonstrations
and delivered stirring speeches. In 1923 when
Mathama Gandhi visited Orissa Neelakantha Das
accompanied him in his tour. For his nationalist
activities Neelakantha could imprisonment three
times, in 1923, 1932 and 1933.
After the withdrawal of the Non-cooperation Movement,
Neelkantha joined the Sawaraj Party. For two decades
he was a member of the Central Legislative Assembly.
For some time was the General Secretary of the
Swarajist Party in the Assembly, with Pandit Motilal
Nehruits leader. For two terms he was the President
of the Orissa Provincial Congress Committee after
the death of Gopabandhu Das.
In 1940 he left the Congress on account of differences
with the Congress attitude to the Second World
War, and in 1941 he formed a Coalition Government
with the Muslim League in Orissa. He also worked
as a leader of the National War Front to help
the Government in their war efforts. After independence
he became the leader of the Independent People’s
Party in the Orissa Legislative Assembly. In 1957
he was elected Speaker of the Assembly.
Apart from his political activities and social
work, Neelakantha Das will be remembered as a
great and versatile scholar. Among his publications
may be mentioned: ‘Atma Jivani’, ‘Bhaktigatha’,
‘Pranayini’, ‘Konarak’, Kharavela’,
‘Dasa Naik’, Pilanka Gita’, ‘Pilanka
Ramayana’, ‘Pilanka Mahabharata’,
‘pilanka Bhagabata’, ‘Samskruta
O samskruti’, ‘Oriya Vyakarana’,
etc. his interests were varied, covering Religion,
Philosophy, History, Archaeology and Philology.
After independence, he was the first President
of the National Academy award for his autobiography.
His introduction to his Oriya ‘Commentary
of the Bhagabat Gita’ is a very learned thesis
on ancient Indian culture and civilization. He
was also a reputed journalist and edited a monthly
literature magazine, the Nababharata, from 1933
to 1945. He also edited a daily of the same name.
For some time he was the editor of the Samaj and
the Seva as well.
He was the Chairman of the Utkal University Committee
whose recommendations led to the establishment
of the University. In 1955 he was appointed Pro-Chancellor
of the University. The Utkal University conferred
upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature.
In 1960 he was awarded the title of Padmabhusan
by the President of India.
Neelkantha Das was a versatile genius, a politician,
a social reformer, a scholar, an educationist
and a poet. He will be long remembered as one
of the makers of modern Orissa.
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