Well, there is no dearth of brave mothers in India. It is read and heard about many great men that their character was shaped by their mothers. But writer Sudhir Vidyarthi has written the stories of mothers of great sons who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the country in ‘Bidaya De Ma!’ The name has been saved in a very interesting way in the book.
The title of the book is very serious in itself. Actually, this is not a name but an excerpt from a song sung in Bengali on the martyrdom of Shaheed Khudiram –
“Climb the gallows like this, see, Indians… bid farewell to me once and look at me.”
This teenager, who was martyred for the freedom of Mother India at the age of just 18, had left his mother at a very young age. But martyr Khudiram Bose considered his elder sister Aparupa as his mother. Later, Khudiram also accepted a Muslim woman who gave him shelter as his mother. This woman also loved him in the same way. After getting the news of death sentence, she even came to the jail to meet him, but the jail administration did not allow her to meet Khudiram.
‘Biday De Ma!’ published from Rajpal & Sons. The stories of mothers of 12 martyrs have been compiled in the book. Although almost all the stories in it are interesting and readable, but reading the letters between Netaji Subhash Chand Bose and his mother reveals the intellectual level of Netaji and his mother. While Netaji’s mother Prabhavati Devi tried to provide all kinds of facilities to her son, Subhash Babu also seems to have completely expressed the ideological turmoil arising in his mind to his mother. Not only this, he also considered Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das’s mother Basanti Devi as his own mother. He has also written letters to Basanti Devi.
‘Farewell ma!’ In the book, the author has also collected many facts from his research. He has also very well discussed the destitute life of the mothers of many great patriots after their martyrdom. Especially the story of Ramprasad Bismil’s mother has been depicted very poignantly. After Bismil was hanged, his younger brother died of TB. The father also passed away after some time and the mother had to face a situation of great deprivation.
Even Jagrani Devi, mother of Martyr Azam Chandrashekhar Azad, was living in poverty. The famous writer of that time, Pandit Banarsidas Chaturvedi tracked down Mata Jagrani and got her condition published in the newspaper. After this, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru helped him financially. Also, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh governments started giving them pension.
‘Farewell ma!’ The mothers of immortal martyrs mentioned in the book include Ramprasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Sachindranath Bose, Sukhdev, Manindranath Banerjee, Sohan Singh Bhakna, Rajkumar Sinha-Vijay Kumar Sinha (revolutionary brothers), Pratap Singh Barhath, Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose and Khudiram Bose are included. Certainly the book is worth reading and collecting.
Book: Farewell Ma!
Author: Sudhir Vidyarthi
Publisher: Rajpal & Sons
Tags: Books, Hindi Literature, Hindi Writer, Literature, review
FIRST PUBLISHED: May 12, 2024, 08:01 IST