Chandra Kanta Chakravarty (my grandfather’s elder brother) was born on 11 April 1877, in Goila, Barisal.1 From his youth, he believed India’s freedom could only be achieved through a well-organised revolution, not constitutional methods. The Boer War and Japan’s 1904 victory over Russia inspired his conviction that Asian nations could challenge Western powers.
During the Swadeshi Movement (1905), Chakravarty travelled to Midnapore and other towns to instil self-respect and self-determination. Facing arrest for his speeches, he briefly went into hiding before rejoining nationalist politics. As a Congress delegate at the 1907 Surat session,2 he sided with the militant nationalists during the party split. Reminiscing about the split, he narrates the following incident in his book, New India:
The Congress Session began in the noon time with about 300 delegates of whom about 200 were nationalists, majority of whom had bamboo sticks lying at their feet. Ferozshah Mehta,3 Chairman of the Reception Committee after a short speech, asked Rash Behari Ghose4 to deliver his presidential address. Rash Behari Ghose stood up with his printed speech. Tilak stood up and said that election of the President must be by the votes of the delegates. Ferozshah Mehta and some members of the Reception Committee, who were sitting on the dais with the President and some distinguished members of the Congress, shouted Tilak to sit down. But Tilak stood firm and said he would not sit down before presidential election is conducted by voting. Then Mehta asked the President to speak. As Ghose continued to speak despite loud protests, a slipper hit Ghose’s lips. Ghose was stunned. This sparked off chaos. The Moderates left the pavilion in confusion. The Nationalists (known also as Extremists) remained. Within a few minutes Mehta brought some police officers with constables who asked the delegates and visitors to clear off.
Next day in another place under the presidency of B. G. Tilak,5 the nationalists had their session which lasted for two days. It was a splendid occasion for me to come in close connection with some Indian revolutionary leaders. We reviewed our procedures of plans and arranged codes of communication. After the session was over, Aravinda Ghose,6 Syamasunder Chakravartti7 and myself came to Baroda and stayed at the house of Deshpande.8
In his youth, he took the perilous task of making bombs – knowing each spark could claim his life – yet undeterred in his quest for freedom. Narrating such experiences in his book, here is an account from his book, New India:
When I reached Calcutta, I learned that Hem Kanongoe9 had already returned with a formula for making bombs. He also required pig-iron shells with grooves inside. Handing me a packet of circulars to be distributed later, he asked for my help. By chance, I met my cousin, Bijoya Bhattacharjee, and entrusted the packet to her for safekeeping.
I then left for Kulti, where the Iron and Steel Works of Martin & Co. was located. Through a foreman, I had several shells cast to my specifications. Carrying them in a handbag, I went straight to Hem Kanongoe’s house in North Calcutta – only to be told by his daughter that police had raided the home around 3 a.m., arrested him, and taken him away. Realising the danger, I left immediately. While crossing the Howrah Bridge, I dropped the handbag into the river, watching it sink with a splash.
A friend soon informed me that two days earlier, a bomb had been thrown in Muzaffarpur, prompting widespread midnight searches across Calcutta and many arrests. His wife offered me shelter for a few days, even promising to sleep at the doorway so that no one could enter without waking her.
Krishna Kumar Mitra10 warned that the police were actively seeking me, and advised me to leave the city. After spending a few hours in a theatre for the first time in my life, I boarded a night train to Lahore. Sardar Ajit Singh11 and Sufi Amba Prasad12 welcomed me warmly.
The Sikhs and Hindus of Punjab struck me as people of rare character – transparent in their hearts, childlike in simplicity, impulsive yet daring, and loyal to the core. The young men brimmed with patriotic fervour. While in Lahore, I read in the newspapers that a warrant had been issued for my arrest, and there was a handsome reward for my capture. The police raided all my family homes at night, including my ancestral house at Goila in Backerganj District, East Bengal, which became a ritual for the next twelve years – troops surrounding the house at night and riding away in the morning.
After Khudiram Bose’s13 bomb attack in 1908, Chakravarty left India, and lived in Europe and the US, and associated himself with Vinayak Damodar Savarkar at India House14 in London. In America, he condemned British rule at academic forums and built links with Germany during World War I.
In December 1915, he visited Germany. At that time, Heramba Lal Gupta15 was the Indian agent of Germany in America. But as a result of the visit of Chakravarty to Germany, the German government considered him as the head of the Indian conspiracy in America in place of Gupta. He returned back to New York in 1916. In 1917 he was arrested for violating the US Neutrality Act,16 he served three months in prison and paid a $5,000 fine.
Returning to India in 1924, Chakravarty declined C. R. Das’s17 invitation to join the Congress, and remained an independent thinker. A polymath, Chakravarty authored about 80 books on medicine, politics, history, education, and more. Though unaffiliated with any party, he remained committed to India’s unity and progress.
Notes :
1 This article has been based on Chandra Kanta Chakravarty’s writings. His personal narratives are excerpts from his book, New India (n.d.)
2 Annual session of the Indian National Congress held in Surat, Gujarat, in December 1907, marked a dramatic split between the Moderates (led by leaders like Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Rash Behari Ghose) and the Extremists (led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Lala Lajpat Rai). The clash over control of the party and its policy towards the British culminated in physical altercations, forcing adjournment. This division weakened the Congress in the short term but reflected the intensifying demand for assertive political action.
3 Prominent early leader of the Indian National Congress and a key figure of the Moderate faction, and also known as the ‘Lion of Bombay’, Ferozeshah Mehta (1845–1915) was a skilled lawyer and civic leader, who helped to establish the Bombay Municipal Corporation. He advocated constitutional reforms, cooperation with the British administration, and gradual self-government and opposed the militant nationalist line at the Surat session, siding with the Moderates.
4 A veteran nationalist leader, Moderate politician, and twice president of the Indian National Congress (1907 at Surat; 1918 at Delhi, Rash Behari Ghose (1845–1921) was known for his eloquence and legal acumen; he attempted to mediate between the Extremists and Moderates at Surat but failed. His presidency symbolised the Congress’s continued adherence to constitutional agitation after the split.
5 Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856–1920) was a Maharashtrian nationalist, social reformer, and one of the most prominent leaders of the Extremist faction in the Congress. Known as ‘Lokmanya’, Tilak believed in direct action, swadeshi, boycott, and the use of mass agitation to challenge British rule. His slogan ‘Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it’ became iconic. At Surat, he was at the centre of the confrontation with Moderates.
6 Sri Aurobindo (1872–1950) was a philosopher, yogi, poet, and revolutionary nationalist. Before becoming a spiritual leader at Pondicherry, he was a leading voice in the Extremist movement alongside Tilak. An advocate of complete independence, militant resistance, and national education, his writings in Bande Mataram influenced the ideological direction of the movement. Though not a delegate at Surat, his political ideas were closely aligned with the Extremists’ stance in 1907.
7 Syamasundar Chakravarti (1877–1932) was a Bengali nationalist and associate of Aurobindo Ghose. He participated in revolutionary activities in Bengal and contributed to nationalist journalism. Known for his involvement in the Swadeshi movement and later in educational reforms, he is less prominently documented than major leaders, but was connected with the militant nationalist network during this period.
8 Likely refers to Vishnu Ganesh Deshpande (V.G. Deshpande), a revolutionary nationalist from Maharashtra who had links with Baroda (Vadodara) as part of the larger extremist network. He was associated with Tilak’s circle and with revolutionary activities in Western India, Baroda being a hub for anti-British plotting due to its semi-autonomous princely status.
9 Hem Chandra Das Kanungo) (1871–1951), was a Bengali revolutionary associated with the Anushilan Samiti. In 1907 he travelled to Paris to learn bomb-making from Russian revolutionaries, returning with a detailed manual. He set up a clandestine bomb factory at Maniktala, Kolkataand co-designed the Calcutta Flag (1906) with Sachindranath Bose. Arrested in the Alipore Bomb Case (1908) and sentenced to life transportation to the Andamans, he was released in 1921.
10 Krishna Kumar Mitra (1852–1936) was a Bengali nationalist, social reformer, and journalist; editor of the influential weekly Sanjibani, and advocate of Swadeshi, boycott, and national education during the anti-partition movement (1905–08). He opposed colonial economic exploitation and supported the Extremists’ methods while maintaining an ethical reformist outlook. He was also active in the Brahmo Samaj and was a strong voice in the public sphere against British repression.
11 Sardar Ajit Singh (1881–1947), a Punjabi nationalist and uncle of Bhagat Singh, was the leader of the Pagri Sambhal Jatta movement (1907) protesting against colonial agrarian laws. Deported without trial to Mandalay in Burma, he later escaped and spent decades in exile in Iran, Turkey, and Europe, liaising with Ghadar Party and other overseas revolutionaries. He returned to India in 1947, just before independence.
12 Sufi Amba Prasad (1858–1917) was a Punjabi nationalist, journalist, and revolutionary known for his fiery oratory and anti-British writings. He went into exile in Iran in 1909, becoming a key link between Indian revolutionaries abroad and regional anti-imperialist forces. He collaborated with Ghadar activists and helped train Indian revolutionaries in guerrilla tactics. He died in Shiraz during World War I.
13 Khudiram Bose (1889–1908), a teenage revolutionary from Bengal, was executed at age 18 for his role in the Muzaffarpur bomb attack (intended for a British magistrate but killing two British women). Member of the Jugantar group, he became a martyr figure in the nationalist imagination, symbolising youthful sacrifice and defiance against colonial authority.
14 Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883–1966), was a Maharashtrian nationalist and intellectual who, while studying in London, became a central figure at India House, a hostel for Indian students that doubled as a revolutionary hub. He advocated armed struggle, celebrated the 1857 revolt as India’s First War of Independence, and published nationalist literature. Allegedly involved in supplying pistols used in political assassinations, he was arrested in 1910 and sentenced to two life terms in the Andamans.
15 Heramba Lal Gupta (1881–1950?) was a Bengali revolutionary active in the United States and Japan. Member of the India House network and later associated with the Ghadar Party, he played a prominent role in the Indo-German Conspiracy during World War I, attempting to arrange arms shipments to India. His activities intersected with multiple international revolutionary networks.
16 Refers to the prosecution of Indian revolutionaries in the United States for conspiring to overthrow British rule while the US was officially neutral in World War I. Involved members of the Ghadar Party and German diplomats were accused of plotting armed uprisings in India and violating US neutrality laws by aiding Germany against Britain. Trials in San Francisco (the Hindu–German Conspiracy Trial) exposed the global scale of Indian revolutionary activity.
17 Chittaranjan Das, nationalist leader and founder of the Swaraj Party, was arrested in 1924 along with other Bengal leaders for alleged involvement in anti-government conspiracies. His imprisonment highlighted the colonial government’s distrust of constitutional opposition leaders. Das used the opportunity to consolidate support for his party and remains remembered as a charismatic advocate for civil liberties.
What a commendable life journey..!! So so well articulated, collected, presented and brought under the light.. feel so lucky to get to know the aura and the persona of this brave soul..🙏🏼😇👏🏼👏🏼👌🏼👌🏼