Kamala Das Gupta (11 March 1907 – 19 July 2000) was an Indian

freedom fighter A freedom fighter is a person engaged in a struggle to achieve political freedom, particularly against an established government. The term is typically reserved for those who are actively involved in armed or otherwise violent rebellion. Termi ...

from

Bengal region Bengal ( ) is a historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Bengal proper is divided between the modern- ...

Early life

Das Gupta was born in 1907, to a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Baidya Baidya or Vaidya is a Bengali Hindu community located in the Bengal region of Indian subcontinent. A caste (''jāti'') of Ayurvedic physicians, the Baidyas have long had pre-eminence in society alongside Brahmins and Kayasthas. In the coloni ...

family of

Bikrampur Bikrampur (lit. City of Courage) was a historic region and a sub-division of Dhaka within the Bengal Presidency during the period of British India. Located along the banks of the Padma River (a major distributary of the Ganges), it was a sign ...

Greater Dhaka Greater Dhaka (''Bengali'': বৃহত্তর ঢাকা) is the Megalopolis including and surrounding the Bangladeshi capital city of Dhaka, which has grown into one of the world's largest megacities, and shows a very rapid rate of expans ...

, now in Bangladesh; the family later moved to Calcutta, where she got a Master of Arts degree in history from

Bethune College Bethune College is a women's college located on Bidhan Sarani in Kolkata, India, and affiliated to the University of Calcutta. It is the oldest women's college in India. It was established as a girls' school in 1849, and as a college in 1879. ...

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

Revolutionary activities

Nationalist ideas were current among the young people in Calcutta she met at university, and she was filling with a strong desire to take part in the freedom struggle. She tried to quit her studies and enter

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ru ...

Sabarmati Ashram Sabarmati Ashram is located in the Sabarmati suburb of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, adjoining the Ashram Road, on the banks of the River Sabarmati, from the town hall. This was one of the many residences of Mahatma Gandhi who lived at Sabarmati (Gujar ...

, but her parents disapproved. Finishing her education, she became friends with some members of the extremist

Jugantar Jugantar or Yugantar ( ''Jugantor''; lit. ''New Era'' or ''Transition of an Epoch'') was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence. This association, like Anushilan Samiti, started in the g ...

party, and was quickly converted from her original Gandhism to the cult of armed resistance. In 1930, she left home and took a job as manager of a hostel for poor women. There she stored and couriered, bombs and bomb-making materials for the revolutionaries. She was arrested several times in connection with bombings but was released every time for want of evidence. She supplied

Bina Das Bina Das (24 August 1911 – 1986) was an Indian revolutionary and nationalist from West Bengal. Biography Participation in India's freedom struggle Das was a member of '' Chhatri Sangha'', a semi-revolutionary organisation for women in Ko ...

with the revolver that she used to try to shoot Governor Stanley Jackson in February 1922, and was arrested also on that occasion, but released. In 1933 the British finally succeeded in putting her behind bars. In 1936 she was released and placed under house arrest. In 1938 the

Party aligned itself with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

, and Kamala also transferred her allegiance to the larger party. Thenceforth she became involved in relief work, especially with the Burmese refugees of 1942 and 1943 and in 1946–1947 with the victims of communal rioting. She was in charge of the relief camp at

Noakhali Noakhali District (), historically known as Bhulua (), is a Districts of Bangladesh, district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in Chattogram Division. It was established as a district in 1821, and officially named Noakhali in 1868. The distr ...

that Gandhi visited in 1946. She worked for women's vocational training at the Congress ''Mahila Shilpa Kendra'' and the ''Dakshineshwar Nari Swabalambi Sadan''. She edited the women's journal ''Mandira'' for many years. She authored two memoirs in Bengali, ''Rakter Akshare'' (In Letters of Blood, 1954) and ''Swadhinata Sangrame Nari'' (Women in the Freedom Struggle, 1963).

Death

She died on 19 July 2000 in Kolkata.

Early life

Revolutionary activities

Death

References

Further reading