Mokshadacharan Samadhyayi - Student Life

Student Life

Born about 1874, Mokshada Charan was son of Shyama Charan Khasnabis of Paikpara, Dhaka district, now in Bangladesh. He spent long years in Benares to have a genuine schooling in the Sanskrit classics and the Vedic texts. G.C. Denham of the Central Criminal Intelligence Department noted: "The position of Benares as a centre of revolutionary activity is very similar to the position which it holds in the religious life of the Hindu inhabitants of India.". He mentioned it as a retreat for political refugees and, since the visit of B.G. Tilak in 1900, followed by the issuing of the Kalidas newspaper, Benares became a congenial spot for seditious activities.

Several amongst the Bengalis in Benares were connected with the revolutionary movement in Kolkata, principally through a certain Suranath Bhaduri, son of Somnath Bhaduri: a curious character, who was ultimately concerned in the conspiracy in Kolkata and afterwards seems to have attempted to sell the information to the authorities.

Somnath was "one of the pioneers of nationalism" in Benares and, in the Bengali year 1309 (1902–03) he published a book called Gangajal, found with Mokhoda at the time of his first arrest at Benares. It conveyed revolutionary lessons under the guise of religion. The writer, addressing the god Sri Krishna says, "The mlechas (untouchables, an abusive term for non-Hindus, here used for foreigners) are carrying away to their own country the riches and intelligence of India, and the Vedas (sacred books) and the religion of India are being trampled under the feet of foreign nations. Wilt thou come and uproot the mlechas and make India free?" To this Sri Krishna replies, "I have come, descending upon India. The auspicious hour is here; in my name advance boldly like heroes." The reference here is to the promise of Sri Krishna contained in a passage in the Bhagavad Gita; Suranath had a good deal to do with the adoption of this verse as the motto of the seditious Yugantar ('Epoch's End') newspaper of Kolkata. Mokhoda was Suranath’s associate.

Shortly before the publication of the Yugantar from Kolkata, early March 1906, Mokhada’s friend Preonath Karar of Serampore (later known as Sri Yukteswar Giri) reached Benares and, with the help of Hrishikesh Kanjilal of the Kolkata Anushilan Samiti and Suranath, convened a public meeting as well as a meeting of the pundits: by quotations from the Hindu Astrology and Astronomy, it was announced that the sinful Iron Age was over and it was now the dawn of Yugantar or the dvapar-yuga (sic!). Hrishikesh undertook a tour of pilgrimage to proclaim the advent of the New Age and incite the sannyasis (roving monks) in a rebellion against the English.