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India House Chapter 21 - "A Man Is Dead!"

India House Chapter 21 - "A Man Is Dead!"

A failed attempt at political assassination

Lila Krishna
Jun 23, 2025
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The India House List
The India House List
India House Chapter 21 - "A Man Is Dead!"
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I think this is a good deal - the behind-the-scenes of each chapter is free to read, but the chapter itself is paywalled. That gives you something to tune in to thrice a week. And I’m glad this ‘untold history’ is reaching a thousand of you.

When I went hard into writing this novel, two tracks began to emerge as I “followed the fun” - writing scenes that would be fun to read — one of Savarkar in London, and another of Hemachandra Das in Calcutta and Paris.

I didn’t do too much research on what the Anushilan Samiti did in Calcutta. By the time this line emerged as a major one, I realized I’d be going deep into time-consuming rabbit holes if I did proper research by reading primary sources and such. I didn’t read books like I did on India House and London. I looked up stuff on the internet every now and then, just what was sufficient to advance the narrative.

This chapter was written off of Wikipedia and other such wobbly internet sources. The basic facts are backed by sources, the details seem to vary.

One version from an Auroville website:

Nirode Mullick, Subodh's cousin, offered him a thousand rupees to kill Bampfylde Fuller. Barin accepted the commission. Taking a couple of revolvers and a crude homemade bomb he went to Shillong, the summer capital of the province. It was agreed that he would complete certain preparations and then wire Hem Chandra Das of Midnapore, who had been selected as the hit-man. After receiving Barin's telegram Hem started for Shillong, only to meet Barin on his way back to the plains.

{…} When it became clear that Fuller was not coming to Rangpur, Hem and Prafulla Chaki, a new recruit from that town, went south to Naihati Junction. Guns in hand, they waited for the lieutenant-governor's train, intent to board it, break into his compartment and open fire. Fortunately for Fuller (and the young desperados) his special did not take its expected route. Disappointed, Hem and Prafulla went to Calcutta, where they told the whole story to Aurobindo. “He listened to it calmly and told us to go home.”
The unsuccessful attempt to kill Fuller was probably the first serious effort to commit a political murder in Bengal's modern history. As such it was the predecessor of dozens of attempts, some of them successful, in the decades that followed.

Sources on Hemachandra Das are few. And I can swear this website didn’t exist a year ago. Because it throws up this info I hadn’t come across before:

Hem Das, after his month-long wild-goose chase, had become disgusted with Barin and the society in general. When he got back to Midnapore he sold part of his property and bought a ticket for Marseilles. If nobody else knew how to run a revolution he would find out how to do it himself. Before leaving India he obtained letters of introduction to three radical editors working in Europe. One of them was Tilak's friend Shyamji Krishnavarma, who had helped Madhavrao Jadhav on his way to Bern.
After spending several unproductive months in Switzerland and Paris, Hem went to London where he met Krishnavarma. The two men did not hit it off. Despite his strident advocacy of Indian Home Rule, Krishnavarma was opposed to the use of force. When he learned that Hem was interested in bombs, he refused to offer him any assistance. Some of the young men at ‘India House’, Krishnavarma's student hostel, had interests similar to Hem's; but when Hem applied for a job at the hostel Krishnavarma drove him out. He returned to Paris, where he was taken up by S. R. Rana, a Kathiawari Rajput who was in the jewelry business. Rana gave Hem and his friend P. M. Bapat, a Maharashtrian who had just come over from England, enough money to start studying chemistry.

This angle of Hem trying to work at India House, my draft doesn’t cover, but the broad strokes are there, and it was exciting to write, and I hope it’s exciting to read!

Also, I seem to be focusing a lot on food here, but I’m writing about foods I’ve rarely eaten and places I’ve never been, so corrections are welcome!!

“A Man Is Dead!”

Hem woke up with a jolt as the train pulled into Burdwan junction. Next to him, Barin slept on, leaning back against the window. What time was it? The sky was starting to turn pink outside. Now it would be three more hours before they would reach Sealdah junction in Calcutta. The third-class compartment of the overnight from Dacca to Calcutta was crowded. The train would go back to Dacca during the day, and that trip was significantly less crowded. Most people preferred not to waste the whole day travelling in a hot compartment, with the smoke from the burning coal making it hard to keep the windows open.

Hem leaned against the window and tried to go back to sleep. They had to regroup in a safe house in Maniktola and head to Naihati junction, forty kilometres away. The next day was very important — Governor Fuller was coming on the 7:58 am train.

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