Page:The Modern Review (July-December 1925).pdf/112

98 These qualities and others indicated in previous paragraphs made him the leader of men that he was.

Musalmans are a powerful minority in India. They form the majority in Bengal. An Indian leader, and particularly a Bengali leader must sincerely desire to bring out the public spirit of the Moslem community and earnestly endeavour to persuade that community to hitch that public spirit to the wagon of the national movement. Mr. C. R. Das tried to do this according to his lights, even at the risk of becoming unpopular with his Hindu countrymen. Perhaps, with the sole exception of Mahatma Gandhi, no Hindu leader enjoyed the confidence of the Musalmans to a greater extent than Mr. Das.

Though born in a Brahmo family and brought up and married as a Brahmo, Mr. Das had become a Vaishnava of the Bengal School. This, as we have said, suited his emotional temperament best. Whether the Brahmo Samaj, to which he originally belonged, was also to any extent responsible for this reaction in him, is more than we can say. His Vaishnavism was one cause of his popularity with his Hindu countrymen: but it would not be right to say or suggest that he became a Vaishnava for the sake of popularity. Though from a Brahmo Hindu he had become a Vaishnava Hindu, socially he remained progressive. He was in favour of intercaste marriage, and acted up to his principles in the marriage of his daughters. Needless to say, he never observed orthodox restrictions as regards interdining or untouchability.

The People of Calcutta Waiting at the Sealdah North Station for the Arrival of the Dead Body of Deshabandhu Das

He occupies a niche in the temple of literary fame in Bengal as a poet, and was fond of music, particularly kirtans. He helped in starting institutions for widows and orphans.