Baji Rout – The Child Martyr

We are celebrating our 78^th Independence day today. Our freedom was got after centuries of arduous struggle and sacrifice of innumerable people of all ages and strata of the society. Of those who gave up their precious lives  for the cause of freedom, many are remembered today but a greater number of people remain lesser known. This is the story of one such child martyr who braved the British at the tender age of twelve.  His name was Baji Rout.

Baji Rout was born in the village of Nilkanthpur of the Dhenkanal district of present-day Odisha on 5^th October 1926 to Hari Rout and Rania Devi. He lost his father when he was very young and his mother earned a paltry living by de-husking rice. His father used to be a boatman in the Brahmani river and Baji also followed his profession even though he was only eleven years old.

During the colonial rule, British allowed certain feudal states of Odisha region to be ruled by the native rulers. The Gadajatas were one of them. There was totally no interference from the British in the internal matters of such states. The only relationship the British had with such rulers was collection of revenue periodically. To keep the relationship smooth and please the British, the native rulers went to any extent. For paying tribute to the British the poor were fleeced by the king by taking  compulsory contributions from them, excessive taxes levied on essential items like salt, coconut, betel leaves and kerosene, meagre or no wages to labourers who constructed their palaces and so on.  

Dhenkanal was then ruled by King Sankar Pratap and his brother Nrusinga Pratap.  Nrusinga was building a grand palace with hundred rooms at Jatan Nagar nearby and the  labourers  from Dhenkanal were grossly underpaid and worked in pitiable conditions. The other actions mentioned in the previous paragraph added to their woes.

One day, when Baji asked his mother to add salt in the food she was cooking, did he come to know that they could not afford salt because of the double tax on salt. Living in a coastal state, they could not afford salt – what a pitiable situation! Further, the constant refrain he heard among the village folk on the various atrocities of the king with the sole intention to please the British agitated him greatly. He wanted to do something about it, but he was only a boy of eleven years, what could he do?

Over a period of time, this unrest and the anger against the ruling disposition and the British had churned out a ‘Praja Mandal movement’ which was gaining prominence in Dhenkanal. Bold youth who were part of this movement like Baishnav Charan Pattanaik (or Veer Baishnav) and Hara Mohan Pattanaik aroused the people with their fiery speeches. They reminded them of their rights as natives, to the resources of the land and the sea. Once, Baji happened to pass by a gathering which was being addressed by Baishnav. Hearing his speech made Baji more resolute to do something for our motherland. He started attending Praja Mandal meetings regularly. After a while, he met Baishnav and expressed his wish to do something meaningful. Baishnav was  in the process of starting the ‘Banar Sena’(Monkey Army) where children could be involved and was too happy to take Baji in.

The children of the Banar Sena were trained to spy on the British soldiers and the king’s men. They pretended to do odd jobs in the camps of British and brought back valuable information.

“Join the Banar Sena Baji!” said Baishnav to an elated Baji. He also arranged for training for Baji to get physically fit.

Baji’s joining the Banar Sena and spending more time on dangerous pursuits troubled Rania Devi. “Please stick to your job of ferrying passengers across the Brahmani, Bajiya”, she would say. “The king’s men and British are dangerous. Please don’t get into their way!”. But Baji would dismiss her words. “If we do not fight for our rights who will ma?” he would ask. He was always supported by his maternal uncle.

Now, the Praja Mandal movement was  getting stronger by the day with more people joining the movement. The king, finding it hard to suppress them, started using brutal force to control them. Villages were looted in the nights and houses razed down by the king’s elephants.  This was going on unabated till the people’s discontent reached its peak.

On September 12, 1938, more than fifty thousand people surrounded the king’s palace and there was utter chaos. Of course, many were arrested and would later be tortured. So, the leaders of the Praja Mandal convinced the people to go back  so that the protests could be organized in a better manner. But a clearly rattled King Sankar Pratap called for help from the other feudal rulers like him and the British. The other rulers were afraid that they might be also dethroned by this same Praja Mandal. So they sent two hundred armed soldiers to help Sankar Pratap. The British, also sent a platoon of two hundred soldiers from the “King’s own Scottish Border” regiment. They arrived at Dhenkanal on 20^th September 1938 and from then on for a period of three months, there Praja Mandal leaders were constantly hounded, in addition to numerous arrests and killings by the soldiers. The work of Banar Sena in spying became more important now as information had to be conveyed on time.

As most of the attacks by the soldiers of the king  and the British were conducted by the night, the ghats by the banks of the river also had to be guarded during the nights. The members of the Praja Mandala and Banar Sena were involved in the same. On the fateful night of October 10, 1938, five days after Baji’s twelfth birthday, it was Baji’s turn to keep an eye on the ghats.

When Baji took leave of his mother after dinner that night, it was pitch dark outside. Heavy rain clouds had gathered and it was terribly windy and cold.

“Why can’t you take a day off  Bajiya?” she said lovingly stroking his head.

Baji shook his head. “No Amma! I will never forsake my duty” he said.

“It is so dark outside. Take the lantern and go” said Rania Devi.

“There is only one lantern in the house. How will you manage if I take it away? I will find my way” said Baji.

“Take it and go Bajiya” said Rania Devi. “If you are intent on bringing light to our nation, I can afford to manage one night in the dark.”

She did not have the slightest inkling that the light of her life was going away forever. Taking the lantern and braving the heavy wind and drizzle, Baji reached the Nilkanthpur ghat which was about two kilometres from Bhuban village.

After the uprising in September 1938, the king had arrested Hara Mohan Pattanaik but Baishnav Charan was elusive and was still roaming free. The soldiers could not elicit any information on his whereabouts also. Late in the night of 10^th October 1938, they had information that Baishnav was hiding in Bhuban village. But when they came to arrest him, they could not find him anywhere. They tortured the villagers, arrested few of them and even killed few of them in the process. Finally, they came to know that Baishnav had escaped and swam across the river to go to the villages on the other bank.

Furious, the British officer and the king’s soldiers stomped out of the village and ran to the nearest ghat which was Nilkanthpur in the hope of getting a boat and crossing the Brahmani. By this time some villagers had come to the ghat and Baji had learnt what had happened. He was even more alert. The wind velocity was increasing and so were the raindrops and in the dark night, he could see the figures of the British officer along with his men coming towards the ghat.

Soon, they were there looking around for a boat and they spotted Baji.

“Come on, take the boat out. We have to cross the river”  said a soldier in a gruff tone.

Baji stood like a stone with a cold look in his eyes.

“Are you deaf?” asked another soldier. “We have to cross the river. Quick!”

Now the British officer was getting impatient. “How much do you want? We will give you double your price. Take the boat..” he said.

Baji looked at him in the eye and said in a defiant tone “I will not take out the boat. This boat of mine belongs to the Praja Mandala and I will not let you enemies to use my boat. Bow down to the demands of the Praja Mandala first!”

The officer and the soldiers were livid with rage, at the audacity of Baji.

“Hey you! Who do you think you are speaking with heh? We will kill you if you don’t take out the boat now” said one of the soldiers.

Baji remained stubborn and refused once again. The soldier who threatened Baji immediately hit Baji on the head with the butt of his rifle. Baji’s skull cracked and he collapsed, his head bleeding profusely. But Baji’s resolve was strong as steel. Opening his eyes after a few minutes, Baji dragged himself to the boat and took a conch he usually kept with him. He blew the conch with whatever energy was left in him. The British officer could just not tolerate the nerve of this young lion Baji, that he straightaway fired rounds at him, snuffing away the young flame from this world.

Hearing the sound of the conch blown by Baji, the villagers rushed to the ghat in great numbers carrying fire torches. By the time they reached, the British had taken the boat  and started moving. When they saw the angry crowd, knowing that they would not be able to handle them, they fired more rounds on them causing the deaths of six more young men Laxman Malik, Fagu Sahoo, Hrushi Pradhan and Nata Malik, Raghu Nayak and Guri Nayak.

This atrocious act of theirs shook the country’s conscience and was widely condemned. The martyrs were cremated with utmost honour with thousands of people mourning the country’s child martyr.

Baji Rout had become immortal.

Jai Hind!!