Indian history · Freedom struggle · Revolutionaries

Revolutionaries of Bengal: Anushilan Samiti, Jugantar, Khudiram Bose, the Alipore Bomb Case, Bagha Jatin and Surya Sen's Chittagong Armoury Raid — Exam Notes

Bengal was the first great centre of revolutionary nationalism in India. From the secret societies formed after the 1905 partition to the Chittagong armoury raid of 1930, young men and women risked their lives against British rule. This guide arranges the organisations, actions and people in order, with the facts that exams test most often.

By PunjabExams Editorial Team · Updated 29 October 2026 · 7 min read · How we prepare guides

Why Bengal?

Several forces came together in early-20th-century Bengal: a large educated middle class, the cultural revival led by writers such as Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (whose novel Anandamath contained "Vande Mataram") and Swami Vivekananda, and, above all, anger at Lord Curzon's partition of Bengal in 1905. When peaceful Swadeshi protests were met with repression, some young people turned to secret societies.

The secret societies

The Jugantar weekly openly preached revolution; Bhupendranath Dutta was jailed as its editor in 1907. Members trained in physical fitness, gathered arms and planned attacks on unpopular officials.

Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki (1908)

Douglas Kingsford, as Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta, had given harsh sentences to Swadeshi activists. He was transferred to Muzaffarpur (Bihar).

• On 30 April 1908, Khudiram Bose (aged 18) and Prafulla Chaki threw a bomb at a carriage they believed carried Kingsford. It actually carried Mrs Kennedy and her daughter, two British women, who were killed.
• Prafulla Chaki shot himself at Mokama station to avoid arrest.
• Khudiram Bose was arrested at Waini (now Khudiram Bose Pusa station), tried, and hanged on 11 August 1908 at Muzaffarpur. He became one of the youngest martyrs of the freedom struggle, and Bengali folk songs about him ("Ekbar biday de Ma") are still sung.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak defended the young revolutionaries' motives in his paper Kesari, and was sentenced to six years' imprisonment in Mandalay for sedition (1908).

The Alipore bomb case (1908–09)

After Muzaffarpur, police raided a garden house at Maniktala (Muraripukur) in Calcutta and found a bomb factory. Aurobindo Ghosh, Barindra Kumar Ghosh and over thirty others were arrested.

• Aurobindo was defended by C. R. Das and acquitted in 1909. He later left politics and settled at Pondicherry.
• Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Ullaskar Dutt were sentenced to death, later reduced to transportation for life to the Andamans.
• Kanailal Dutta and Satyendranath Bose shot the approver Narendranath Goswami inside Alipore jail (1908) and were hanged.

Rash Behari Bose and the Delhi bomb (1912)

When the capital was moved from Calcutta to Delhi, the Viceroy Lord Hardinge made a state entry on 23 December 1912. A bomb was thrown at his elephant in Chandni Chowk; Hardinge was wounded and an attendant killed. The plan was organised by Rash Behari Bose, who escaped and later fled to Japan (1915), where he founded the Indian Independence League and helped create the INA. Basanta Kumar Biswas and three others were hanged in the Delhi Conspiracy Case.

Bagha Jatin and the Balasore battle (1915)

Jatindranath Mukherjee, called Bagha Jatin after he reportedly killed a tiger with a knife, led the Jugantar group during the First World War. The revolutionaries planned an uprising with German arms in the so-called Indo-German conspiracy. When the plan was discovered, Jatin and four companions fought a gun battle with police at Burha Balang, near Balasore (Odisha), on 9 September 1915. Jatin died of his wounds the next day.

Surya Sen and the Chittagong armoury raid (1930)

Surya Sen, known as "Masterda" because he was a schoolteacher, led the Indian Republican Army in Chittagong (now in Bangladesh).

On 18 April 1930, about 65 revolutionaries carried out a coordinated attack:

• the police armoury and auxiliary forces armoury were captured, though they failed to find ammunition;
• telegraph and telephone lines were cut and railway links disrupted;
• Surya Sen hoisted the national flag and proclaimed a provisional revolutionary government.

On 22 April 1930, the revolutionaries fought British troops at Jalalabad hill; about a dozen of them were killed. Others carried on guerrilla actions for years.

Surya Sen was betrayed and captured in February 1933, tortured and hanged on 12 January 1934 at Chittagong jail along with Tarakeswar Dastidar.

Women in the Chittagong group

• Pritilata Waddedar led an attack on the Pahartali European Club on 24 September 1932 and took cyanide to avoid capture — among the first women martyrs of the revolutionary movement.
• Kalpana Datta (Joshi) was arrested with Surya Sen's group and sentenced to transportation for life; she was later released and became a communist leader.

Other Bengal revolutionaries

The British response

• Explosive Substances Act (1908) and Newspapers (Incitement to Offences) Act (1908).
• Defence of India Act (1915) during the war.
• Large-scale detention, and transportation to the Cellular Jail, Port Blair, completed in 1906.

Exam traps

• Muzaffarpur bomb (30 April 1908) — Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki; target Kingsford.
• Alipore bomb case — Aurobindo acquitted, defended by C. R. Das.
• Delhi bomb on Hardinge (1912) — Rash Behari Bose.
• Chittagong armoury raid — 18 April 1930, Surya Sen; Jalalabad hill battle on 22 April.
• Pritilata Waddedar — Pahartali club, 1932.

Key points to remember

• Anushilan Samiti (1902), Jugantar (c. 1906).
• Khudiram Bose hanged 11 August 1908; Prafulla Chaki died at Mokama.
• Bagha Jatin — Balasore, 1915.
• Surya Sen (Masterda) — Chittagong, 18 April 1930; hanged 12 January 1934.
• Binoy–Badal–Dinesh — Writers' Building, 1930 → B. B. D. Bagh.

Practice questions

1. Q1. Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki threw a bomb at Muzaffarpur in 1908 intending to kill:

   • (a) Lord Curzon
   • (b) Douglas Kingsford
   • (c) Lord Minto
   • (d) Charles Tegart
   Show answer

   Answer: (b) Douglas Kingsford — They targeted magistrate Douglas Kingsford, but killed two British women instead.

2. Q2. In the Alipore bomb case, Aurobindo Ghosh was defended by:

   • (a) Motilal Nehru
   • (b) C. R. Das
   • (c) Bhulabhai Desai
   • (d) Tej Bahadur Sapru
   Show answer

   Answer: (b) C. R. Das — Chittaranjan Das secured Aurobindo's acquittal in 1909.

3. Q3. The Chittagong armoury raid was led by:

   • (a) Rash Behari Bose
   • (b) Bagha Jatin
   • (c) Surya Sen
   • (d) Barindra Kumar Ghosh
   Show answer

   Answer: (c) Surya Sen — Surya Sen (Masterda) led the raid on 18 April 1930.

4. Q4. Pritilata Waddedar led an attack on the:

   • (a) Writers' Building
   • (b) Pahartali European Club
   • (c) Alipore jail
   • (d) Dhaka police station
   Show answer

   Answer: (b) Pahartali European Club — She led the attack in September 1932 and took cyanide.

5. Q5. Which revolutionary planned the bomb attack on Lord Hardinge in Delhi in 1912?

   • (a) Rash Behari Bose
   • (b) Sachindra Nath Sanyal
   • (c) Bagha Jatin
   • (d) Ullaskar Dutt
   Show answer

   Answer: (a) Rash Behari Bose — Rash Behari Bose organised the attack in Chandni Chowk.

6. Q6. Dalhousie Square in Kolkata was renamed B. B. D. Bagh after:

   • (a) Bagha Jatin, Barin Ghosh and Dinesh Gupta
   • (b) Binoy Basu, Badal Gupta and Dinesh Gupta
   • (c) Bina Das, Bagha Jatin and Dinesh Gupta
   • (d) Bhagat Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt and Durga Bhabhi
   Show answer

   Answer: (b) Binoy Basu, Badal Gupta and Dinesh Gupta — Binoy, Badal and Dinesh attacked the Writers' Building in December 1930.

Frequently asked questions

When was Khudiram Bose hanged?

On 11 August 1908, at Muzaffarpur, aged 18.

Why was Surya Sen called Masterda?

Because he worked as a schoolteacher ("master").

What happened at Jalalabad hill?

On 22 April 1930, Chittagong revolutionaries fought British troops there; about a dozen revolutionaries were killed.

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