Pritilata Waddedar

{{Infobox person

| name = Pritilata Waddedar

| image = Original Archived photo of Pritilata Waddedar.jpg

| image_size =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|5|5|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Patiya, Eastern Bengal and Assam, British India (now Chattogram, Bangladesh)

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1932|9|24|1911|5|5|df=yes}}{{cite book |author=Kalpana Dutt |year=1979 |title=Chittagong Armoury raiders: reminiscences |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wcoBAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Peoples' Pub. House |page=53}}

| death_place = Chittagong, Bengal Province, British India (now Chattogram, Bangladesh)

| death_cause = Suicide by consuming potassium cyanide

| father = Jagabandhu Waddedar

| mother = Pratibha Devi

| relatives = Ash Sarkar (great-great-niece)

| known_for = Pahartali European Club attack (1932)

| alma_mater = Bethune College

| other_names = Rani (nickname)

| occupation = School teacher

| nationality = British Indian

| signature = Signature of Pritilata.jpg

}}

Pritilata Waddedar (5 May 1911 – 24 September 1932){{cite book |author=Kalpana Dutt |year=1979 |title=Chittagong Armoury raiders: reminiscences |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wcoBAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Peoples' Pub. House |page=53}}{{cite news |date=5 May 2011 |title=Pritilata's 100th birthday today |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=184343 |newspaper=The Daily Star |access-date=18 December 2012}} was a Bengali revolutionary nationalist who was influential in the Indian independence movement.{{cite news|title=Pritilata Waddedar (1911–1932) |url=http://www.newstoday.com.bd/index.php?option=details&news_id=51162&date=2012-01-25 |newspaper=News Today |access-date=18 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120126141408/http://www.newstoday.com.bd/index.php?option=details&news_id=51162&date=2012-01-25 |archive-date=26 January 2012 }}{{cite news |date=22 March 2012 |title=After 80 yrs, posthumous degrees for revolutionaries |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/After-80-yrs-posthumous-degrees-for-revolutionaries/articleshow/12364819.cms |newspaper=The Times of India |access-date=18 December 2012}} After completing her education in Chattogram (formerly Chittagong) and Dhaka (formerly Dacca), she attended Bethune College in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). She graduated in philosophy with distinction and became a school teacher. She is praised as "Bengal's first woman martyr".{{cite web |url=https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/8-reasons-it-s-time-bollywood-made-a-biopic-on-pritilata-waddedar-bengal-s-first-woman-martyr-250573.html |title= 8 Facts About Pritilata Waddedar - Bengal's First Woman Martyr|work= The Times of India|date= 13 February 2016|access-date=14 March 2022 }}{{cite web |url=https://bangladeshpost.net/posts/pritilata-waddedar-bengal-s-first-woman-martyr-451 |title= Pritilata Waddedar: Bengal's First Woman Martyr |date=25 April 2019 |website=Bangladesh Post |access-date= 14 March 2022}}

Pritilata joined a revolutionary group headed by Surya Sen. She is known for leading fifteen revolutionaries in the 1932 armed attack{{cite book |author=Geraldine Forbes |author-link=Geraldine Forbes |year=1999 |title=Women in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA140 |series=The New Cambridge History of India |volume=IV.2 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=140–141 |isbn=978-0-521-65377-0}} on the Pahartali European Club,{{cite web |url=http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr98/fe0898/f1808989.html |title=Remembering the Legendary Heroes of Chittagong |publisher=NIC |access-date=6 January 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://www.clatgyan.com/downloads/Independence-CLATGyan.pdf |title=Indian Independence |access-date=5 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119062342/http://www.clatgyan.com/downloads/Independence-CLATGyan.pdf |archive-date=19 November 2012 |url-status=dead }} during which one person was killed and eleven injured. The revolutionaries torched the club and were later caught by the colonial police. Pritilata committed suicide by cyanide. Her suicide was preplanned. She had a suicide note or a letter with her, where she had penned down the objectives of the Indian Republican Army, Chittagong Branch. In the letter, along with the names of Masterda Surya Sen and Nirmal Sen, she had also mentioned about her experience of meeting Ramkrishna Biswas a number of times in the Alipore Central Jail. Ramkrishna Biswas was waiting his execution by hanging by the British and Pritilata used to meet him in the alias of his cousin sister.{{cite book |author=Craig A. Lockard |date=1 January 2010 |title=Societies, Networks, and Transitions: A Global History: Since 1750 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVvnrsaIgA8C&pg=PA699 |publisher=Cengage Learning |pages=699– |isbn=978-1-4390-8534-9 |access-date=18 December 2012}}

Early life

File:MatriculationPritilata.jpg

Pritilata was born in a middle-class Bengali Baidya Brahmin family on 5 May 1911{{Cite web |date=13 February 2016 |title=8 Facts About Pritilata Waddedar - Bengal's First Woman Martyr |url=https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/8-reasons-it-s-time-bollywood-made-a-biopic-on-pritilata-waddedar-bengal-s-first-woman-martyr-250573.html |access-date=28 February 2022 |website=The Times of India |language=en-IN}}{{cite news |title=A fearless female freedom-fighter |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/rising/2004/09/05/switch.htm |work=Rising Stars |access-date=18 December 2012}} in Dhalghat village in Patiya upazila of Chittagong (now in Bangladesh).{{cite news |title=Pritilata's birth anniversary observed at CU |url=http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-05-06http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newagebd.com%2Fdetail.php%3Fdate%3D2012-05-06&nid=9340%23.UQfx-33LdRx |url-status=dead |newspaper=New Age |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130129160031/http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-05-06http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php%3Fdate=2012-05-06&nid=9340%23.UQfx-33LdRx |archive-date=29 January 2013 |access-date=19 December 2012}} Waddedar was a title conferred to an ancestor of the family who originally had the surname Dasgupta. Her father Jagabandhu Waddedar was a clerk in the Chittagong Municipality. Her mother Pratibhamayi Devi was a housewife.{{cite news |date=5 May 2011 |title=Agnijuger Agnikanya Pritilata |url=http://blog.bdnews24.com/ruman11/15681 |newspaper=BDNews |language=bn |access-date=19 December 2012}} The couple had six children – Madhusduan, Pritilata, Kanaklata, Shantilata, Ashalata and Santosh. Pritilata was nicknamed Rani. Jagabandhu tried to arrange the best possible education for their children. He got Pritilata admitted in Dr. Khastagir Government Girls' School of Chattogram. Pritilata was a meritorious student.{{cite book|title=Pritilata|year=2008|publisher=Prometheus er pothe|page=15|language=bn}} A teacher in the school, whom students affectionately used to call Usha Di, used stories of Rani Lakshmibai to inspire nationalism in her students. Kalpana Datta, a classmate of Pritilata, writes in the biography Chittagong Armoury Raiders– "We had no clear idea in our school days about our future. Then the Rani of Jhansi fired our imagination with her example. Sometimes we used to think of ourselves as fearless...".{{cite book |author=Kalpana Dutt |year=1979 |title=Chittagong Armoury raiders: reminiscences |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wcoBAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Peoples' Pub. House |page=46}} Arts and literature were Pritilata's favourite subjects.{{cite book |author=Manini Chatterjee |year=1999 |title=Do and die: the Chittagong uprising, 1930–34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQhuAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Penguin Books |page=180 |isbn=978-0-14-029067-7}} She passed out of Dr. Khastagir Government Girls' School in 1928 and in 1929, got admitted to the Eden College, Dhaka. In the Intermediate examinations, she stood first among all students who appeared in that year's examination from the Dhaka Board.{{cite web |url=http://www.towardsfreedom.in/site/Pritilata_Waddedar |title=The Fire-Brand Woman Of Indian Freedom Struggle. |publisher=Towards Freedom |access-date=18 December 2012}} As a student in Eden College, she participated in various social activities. She joined the group Sree Sangha, headed by Leela Nag, under the banner Deepali Sangha (Dipali Sangha).{{cite book |last=Amin |first=Sonia |year=2012 |chapter=Waddedar, Pritilata |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Waddedar,_Pritilata |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh}}

= In Calcutta =

To pursue higher education, Pritilata went to Calcutta (now Kolkata) and got admitted to the Bethune College. Two years later, she graduated in philosophy from the college with a distinction.{{cite book |author=S. S. Shashi |year=1996 |title=Encyclopaedia Indica: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wv0vAQAAIAAJ |publisher=Anmol Publications |page=135 |isbn=978-81-7041-859-7}} However, her degree was withheld by the Calcutta University administration. In 2012, she (and Bina Das) were conferred their certificates of merit posthumously.

= As a school teacher =

After completing her education in Calcutta, Pritilata returned to Chittagong. In Chittagong, she took up the job of headmistress at a local English medium secondary school called Nandankanan Aparnacharan School.{{cite news |date=31 January 2009 |title=CCC plans to house 2 girls' schools in commercial complex |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=73697 |newspaper=The Daily Star |access-date=18 December 2012}}

Revolutionary activities

= Joining Surya Sen's revolutionary group =

{{quote box |quote = "Pritilata was young and courageous. She would work with a lot of zeal and was determined to drive the British away."

|source =Binod Bihari Chowdhury, a contemporary revolutionary |align = right |width = 35% |border =

|fontsize = |bgcolor = #c6dbf7}}

Pritilata decided to join the Indian independence movement. Surjo Sen had heard about her and wanted her to join their revolutionary group.{{cite news |title=A Long Walk to Freedom |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/magazine/2010/02/03/cover.htm |work=Star Weekend Magazine |publisher=The Daily Star |access-date=18 December 2012}} On 13 June 1932, Pritilata met Surjo Sen and Nirmal Sen in their Dhalghat camp. A contemporary revolutionary, Binod Bihari Chowdhury, objected that they did not allow women to join their group. However, Pritalata was allowed to join the group because the revolutionaries reasoned that women transporting weapons would not attract as much suspicious as men.

= Inspiration from Ramkrishna Biswas =

Surjo Sen and his revolutionary group decided to kill Mr. Craig, Inspector General of Chittagong. Ramakrishna Biswas and Kalipada Chakravarty were assigned for this task. But they mistakenly killed SP of Chandpur and Tarini Mukherjee instead of Craig. Ramakrishna Biswas and Kalipada Chakravarty were arrested on 2 December 1930.{{cite book |author=Reva Chatterjee |year=2000 |title=Netaji Subhas Bose |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6Dw3W9ubLkC&pg=RA2-PT151 |publisher=Ocean Books |pages=2– |isbn=978-81-87100-27-0}} After the trial Biswas was ordered to be hanged until death and Chakravarty to be exiled to Cellular Jail.

The family and friends lacked the amount of money required to travel from Chittagong to Alipore Jail of Calcutta. Since at that time Pritilata was staying in Kolkata, she was asked to go to Alipore Jail and meet Ramkrishna Biswas.

= Activities in Surya Sen's group =

Along with the revolutionary group of Surya Sen, Pritilata took part in many raids like attacks on the Telephone & Telegraph offices and the capture of the reserve police line. In the Jalalabad battle, she took the responsibility to supply explosives to the revolutionaries.

= Pahartali European Club attack (1932) =

File:Euclub.jpg

In 1932, Surjo Sen planned to attack the Pahartali European Club which had a signboard that read "Dogs and Indians not allowed".{{cite news |title=80th death anniversary of Pritilata observed |url=http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-09-25&nid=24889%23.UfIdvWfancc |url-status=dead |newspaper=New Age |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130725180819/http://www.newagebd.com/detail.php?date=2012-09-25&nid=24889%23.UfIdvWfancc |archive-date=25 July 2013 |access-date=18 December 2012}} Surjo Sen decided to appoint a woman leader for this mission. Kalpana Datta was arrested seven days before the event. Because of this, Pritilata was assigned the leadership of the attack. Pritilata went to Kotowali Sea Side for arms training and made the plan of their attack there.

They decided to attack the club on 24{{cite book |author=Kalpana Dutt |year=1979 |title=Chittagong Armoury raiders: reminiscences |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wcoBAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Peoples' Pub. House |page=53}} September 1932. The members of the group were given potassium cyanide and were told to swallow it if they were caught.

On the day of the attack, Pritilata dressed herself as a Punjabi male. Her associates Kalishankar Dey, Bireshwar Roy, Prafulla Das, Shanti Chakraborty wore dhoti and shirt. Mahendra Chowdhury, Sushil Dey and Panna Sen wore lungi and shirt.

They reached the club at around 10:45 PM and launched their attack. There were around 40 people inside the club then. The revolutionaries divided themselves into three separate groups for the attack; the building was set alight before they started shooting into it. In the club, a few police officers who had revolvers started shooting. Pritilata incurred a single bullet wound. According to the police report, in this attack, one woman with a surname of Sullivan died and four men and seven women were injured.

File:Sahid Srimati Pritilata Waddedar.jpg

Death

File:EuclubattackFolok.jpg

An injured Pritilata was trapped by the colonial police. She swallowed cyanide to avoid getting arrested. The next day, the police found her body and identified her. On searching her dead body, the police found a few leaflets, photograph of Ramkrishna Biswas, bullets, whistle and the draft of their plan of attack. During the post-mortem it was found that the bullet injury was not very serious and that cyanide poisoning was the cause of her death.{{cite book|last=Pal|first=Rupamay|title=Surjo Sener Sonali Swapno|year=1986|publisher=Deepayan|location=Kolkata|page=162}}

The chief secretary of Bengal sent a report to British authorities in London. In the report it was written that Pritilata:Fortnightly Reports on Bengal, for the second half of September 1932, GOI Home Poll F. No. 18/1932 as quoted in {{cite book |last=Chatterjee |first=Manini |year=1999 |title=Do and Die: the Chittagong uprising, 1930-34 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=284 |isbn=978-0-330-53629-5}}

{{blockquote|had been closely associated with, if not actually the mistress of, the terrorist Biswas who was hanged for the murder of Inspector Tarini Mukherjee, and some reports indicate that she was the wife of Nirmal Sen who was killed while attempting to evade arrest at Dhalghat, where Captain Cameron fell.}}

Influence

File:Pritilata Half statue.jpg

Bangladeshi writer Selina Hossain calls Pritilata an ideal for every woman.{{cite news |date=1 June 2011 |title=Contribution of Pritilata recalled |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=188097 |newspaper=The Daily Star |access-date=18 December 2012}} A trust named Birkannya Pritilata Trust (Brave lady Pritilata Trust) has been founded in her memory. Pritilata's birthday is celebrated by the trust in different places of Bangladesh and India every year. The trust considers her to be "a beacon of light for women".{{cite news |date=26 September 2012 |title=A beacon of light for women |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=251218 |newspaper=The Daily Star |access-date=18 December 2012}} The last end of Sahid Abdus Sabur Road to Mukunda Ram Hat of Boalkhali upazila in Chittagong has been named as Pritilata Waddedar Road.{{cite news |date=18 December 2012 |title=Road named after Pritilata in Ctg |url=http://www.thenewnationbd.com/newsdetails.aspx?newsid=4347 |newspaper=The New Nation |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130203234257/http://www.thenewnationbd.com/newsdetails.aspx?newsid=4347 |archive-date=3 February 2013 |access-date=18 December 2012 |url-status=dead }} In 2012, a bronze sculpture of Pritilata Waddedar was erected in front of the Pahartali Railway School, adjacent to the historical European Club.{{cite news |date=2 October 2012 |title=Pritilata's bronze sculpture to be installed in port city |url=http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=252027 |newspaper=The Daily Star |access-date=20 August 2015}}{{cite news |date=3 October 2012 |title=Pritilata's memorial sculpture unveiled in Ctg |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=252261 |newspaper=The Daily Star |access-date=20 August 2015}}

Waddedar's great-grandniece is British journalist and activist, Ash Sarkar.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/05/relatives-terrorist-past-women-politic-british-bengal|title=My great-great-aunt was a terrorist: women's politics went beyond the vote|last=Sarkar|first=Ash|date=5 February 2018|work=The Guardian|access-date=12 July 2018|language=en}}

=Legacy=

Pritilata Waddedar Mahavidyalaya, a degree college at Panikhali in Nadia district.
Pritilata Shaheed Minar
Pritilata Hall, University of Chittagong
Pritilata Hall, Jahangirnagar University
Pritilata Waddedar Primary School, Chittagong
Pritilata Chhatrinivas, a girl's hostel of Kalyani Government Engineering College, Nadia, West Bengal
Khantura Pritilata Shiksha Niketan (Boys' (H.S.), Girls' (H.S.) and Primary section), three schools, Gobardanga, West Bengal, India
Pritilata Waddedar hall of residence (girls hostel) in National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, West Bengal, India

= In popular media =

2010 Bollywood movie Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey was based on Chittagong Uprising where Vishakha Singh played the character of Pritilata.{{cite news |title=Young rebels |url=http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/young-rebels/451001/ |newspaper=Business Standard |access-date=18 December 2012}}{{cite news |title=The veer Konna of Chittagong |url=http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101201/jsp/entertainment/story_13240594.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304131506/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101201/jsp/entertainment/story_13240594.jsp |url-status=dead |archive-date=4 March 2016 |newspaper=The Telegraph|location=Kolkota |access-date=19 December 2012}}
In 2012, the Hindi film Chittagong was released based on the uprising. Vega Tamotia played the role of Waddedar.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.screenindia.com/news/manoj-bajpayee-back-in-the-limelight/640489/ |title=Manoj Bajpayee, back in the limelight |magazine=Screen India |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120910203026/http://www.screenindia.com/news/manoj-bajpayee-back-in-the-limelight/640489/ |archive-date=10 September 2012 |access-date=18 December 2012 |url-status=dead }}
In 2018, Kiran Sonia Sawar delivered a monologue Waddedar in 'Pritilata', a short film in the BBC series "Snatches: Moment's From Women's Lives" to mark the hundredth anniversary of women's suffrage and as part of the 'Hear Her' season. The film was written by Tanika Gupta
A Bangladeshi film is in production starring Pori Moni .

Gallery

File:Pritilata.jpg|Statue at Maidan, Kolkata

File:Bust of Pritilata Waddedar.JPG|Bust of Pritilata

File:Pritilata Shohid Minar.jpg|Pritilata Shohid Minar

File:Pritilata Hall at University of Chittagong (04).jpg|Pritilata Hall, University of Chittagong

File:Pritilata-hallju.jpg|Pritilata Hall, Jahangirnagar University