Pritilata Waddedar

Pritilata Waddedar was born in a middle-class Bengali Baidya Brahmin family on 5 May 1911 in Dhalghat village in Patiya upazila of Chittagong (in present day Bangladesh).^[6][7][8] The family originally held the surname Dasgupta; Waddedar was a title conferred to an ancestor of the family. Her father Jagabandhu Waddedar was a clerk in the Chittagong municipality, and her mother Pratibhamayi Devi was a housewife.^[3][9] Pritilata was the second of six children, and had an elder brother Madhusduan, and four younger siblings–Kanaklata, Shantilata, Ashalata and Santosh. She was nicknamed Rani.^[9] Jagabandhu tried to arrange the best possible education for his children, and got Pritilata admitted to the Dr. Khastagir Government Girls' School in Chittagong.^[10] Pritilata was a meritorious student in school,^[11] and arts and literature were her favourite subjects.^[12] A teacher in the school, whom students affectionately used to call Usha Di, used stories of Rani Lakshmibai to inspire nationalism in her students. Kalpana Datta, a classmate of Pritilata, wrote in the biography Chittagong Armoury Raiders– "We had no clear idea in our school days about our future. Then the Rani of Jhansi fired our imagination with her example. Sometimes we used to think of ourselves as fearless...".^[13] She passed out of school in 1928 and got admitted to the Eden College in Dhaka in 1929. In the Intermediate examinations, she stood first among all students who appeared in that year's examination from the Dhaka Board.^[14][10] As a student in Eden College, she participated in various social activities. She joined the group Sree Sangha, headed by Leela Nag, under the banner Deepali Sangha (Dipali Sangha).^[14]

Pritilata graduated in philosophy with a distinction from the Bethune College in Calcutta.^[15] However, her degree was withheld by the administration of the Calcutta University. In 2012, she (and Bina Das) were conferred their certificates posthumously.^[16] After completing her education in Calcutta, Pritilata returned to Chittagong. In Chittagong, she took up the job of headmistress at a local English medium secondary school called Nandankanan Aparnacharan School.^[14][10][17]

An injured Pritilata was trapped by the colonial police, and she consumed potassium cyanide to evade capture.^[3][18] The police found her body the next day, and found a photograph of Ramkrishna Biswas, some bullets, a whistle, some leaflets, and a draft plan of the attack. She had a suicide note with her, where she had penned down the objectives of the Indian Republican Army of Chittagong branch. In the letter, along with the names of Surya Sen and Nirmal Sen, she had also mentioned about her experience of meeting Ramkrishna Biswas in the Alipore Jail.^[21]

During the post-mortem examination, it was found that the bullet injury was not life threatening and her cause of death was ruled as cyanide poisoning.^[20] The chief secretary of Bengal sent a report to British authorities in London. In the report it was written that Pritilata:^[25]

had been closely associated with, if not actually the mistress of, the terrorist Biswas who was hanged for the murder of Inspector Tarini Mukherjee, and some reports indicate that she was the wife of Nirmal Sen who was killed while attempting to evade arrest at Dhalghat, where Captain Cameron fell.

Bangladeshi writer Selina Hossain calls Pritilata an ideal for every woman.^[26] The Birkannya Pritilata Trust (Brave lady Pritilata Trust) was established to promote the life and achievements of her, and commemorates her birthday annually.^[27][28] Her great-grandniece is British journalist and activist, Ash Sarkar.^[29]

In 2012, a bronze sculpture of Pritilata Waddedar was erected in front of the Pahartali Railway School, adjacent to the Pahartali European Club.^[30][31] The last section of the Sahid Abdus Sabur Road leading to Mukunda Ram Hat of Boalkhali upazila in Chattogram has been named as Pritilata Waddedar Road.^[32] Educational institutions named after her include Pritilata Waddedar Mahavidyalaya in Panikhali, Pritilata Waddedar Primary School in Chattogram, and Khantura Pritilata Shiksha Niketan schools in Gobardanga.^[33] There are halls and buildings named after her at Jahangirnagar University, Kalyani Government Engineering College, National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, and University of Chittagong.^{[citation needed]}

• 
  Bust at Pritilata Waddedar primary school, Chattogram
• 
  Statue at Maidan, Kolkata
• 
  Bust at the place of her death
• 
  Pritilata Shohid Minar
• 
  Pritilata Hall, University of Chittagong
• 
  Pritilata Hall, Jahangirnagar University

• Jatindra Nath Das – Indian revolutionary (1904–1929)