Page:Ramtanu Lahiri, Brahman and Reformer - A History of the Renaissance in Bengal.djvu/184

 Babu Krishna Kesor Ghosh. ” Jagadananda Mukerji. ” Peari Chand Mitra. ” Shambhunath Pandit. ” Debendranath Tagore, Secretary. ” (afterwards Raja) Digambar Mitra, Assistant Secretary.

The British Indian Association proved a mighty lever in raising the social and political importance of Bengal. Its power was felt as soon as it was organised. Government was impressed with the fact that Indian gentlemen, of the highest rank in society, had united to make their wants known to their rulers, and to defend the rights of the people, and that it could no longer trifle with the feelings of their subjects. These in their turn perceived that they had a strong force to fight for them. So it may with truth be said that every class of men in Calcutta watched the work of the association with keen interest and hopeful hearts. None had ever before this stood by the poor and the oppressed, but now there was a powerful body to advocate their cause. The British Indian Association was formed on 31st October 1851.

We now return to our hero. We have seen that he was transferred from Krishnagar to Burdwan in April 1851. Here the hand of persecution was raised against him for his having cast off the Brahmanical thread. The orthodox Hindus hated him for this, and pronounced him an outcast. They succeeded in depriving him of the services of the washerman and the barber. He could not find even one from the lowest castes to do the menial work of the house. He himself had to shop, cut wood for fuel, and do other work of the kind, and his wife had to cook, clean the utensils, and sweep the house. He bore these privations