The Brave Live Beyond Grave Poem by Bipin Patsani

(Paika Bidroh in Odisha (1817)

The brave, not scared of graves,
live beyond and awaken us
in their arousing inspiring waves.

Buxi did not beg for mercy,
nor did opt for it Jai Rajguru,
the defiant Diwan of Khordha Garh
who led the first phase of the rebellion
with his trusted band of lions
against the imposing oppressive Company Rule.


The disgruntled Minister and his men took to arms
as they felt betrayed just one year after
the British won reigns of the region
from the Marathas in eighteen hundred three.
Steadfast the Paikas stood in their mission
and they were in no mood to accept and give in
to the dominance of Firingies as they called them.
The British betrayal of agreement with their boy King,
Mukunda Deb-II, their breach of trust in matters
of money along with their dirty designs of extortions
enraged the Minister and his brave men.

With the same spirit of holding their head high
and dying for dignity as they did in days of yore
in Kalinga War, not leaving the battle field,
not retreating till the last drop of blood
in their veins flowed,
the Paikas loyal to their King
and his dauntless minister,
came forward responding to all their Sardars' calls.

They stormed the British at Khordha,
killed whom they found,
while many of them fled for their life.
Khordha won, the rebels headed for Cuttack
and captured Barabati in their round.

Many a cause have gone with the wind,
many wars lost, betrayed by treacherous mind.
Had it not been for human greed of a traitor,
some wicked informer who sold secrets to the white,
the English could not have returned to Khordha Garh
in the dark and deep woods around Barunei Hills
and held captive the boy King Mukunda Deb,
leading to the confiscation of his territory.
The noble minister had to surrender for his King's safety
and as he refused to compromise,
refused to beg for mercy,
he was taken far away from his soil to Midinapur jail
and tied to the branches of a banyan tree,
he was torn wantonly apart in Bengal
as the branches were set free.

II

The oppression continued year after year
and so did the exploitation of money lenders
and public discontent.
The stringent law made many Paikas landless
as they lost control of their tax free land
they had been enjoying since time immemorial,
they knew not whence.
Even Buxi Jagabandhu Bidyadhar,
the brave General, deprived of his property,
was made a pauper in a sense.
The Sunset rule that deprived many of their lands
if they failed to pay before Sunset
hugely imposed taxes required to be paid in silver
and not in cowrie currency
that was in practice for years and years, and dismissal
of rights of the coastal people to manufacture salt,
all these were enough to incite the angry Odia Paikas
to assemble again in the dense woods of Barunei Hills,
plan strategies and be ready to assault the oppressors.

The rage of the Paikas blazed again to a new high
and they gathered at Barunei Peeth with war cry.
The King was in captivity, the Minister was martyred,
but the fight for freedom from foreign rule continued
and they were bent on avenging the brutal way
the Company Bahadurs had got rid of Jai Rajguru.
Nothing seemed impossible in the eye of the General
and his trusted lieutenants: Pindiki Bahubalendra,
Madhav Ch. Rautaray, Krutibas Patsani, Mirhaidar Ali,
Daleis, Dalabeheras, the brave tribesmen and all.

'So what if our Gajapati is not here among us?
Not by rank, each one of us owe the responsibility
of defending the honour of our holy land.
Jai Jagannatha, Jai Maa Barunei, ' echoed the call.
Such spirit Buxi ignited in the mind of each rebel.

The simmering discontent that had fanned the fire
had its volcanic eruption spreading far and wide
in the eighteen seventeen Paika Bidroh of Odia Pride.

Banapur burned, burned Ghumusar, Ranapur,
Kandhamal, Khordha, Kanika, Kujanga, Cuttack,
Dhenkanal, Anugul, Rangeilunda, Ganjam,
Dashapalla, Sambalpur, Pipili, Puri and many more.
The posts of the White Sahibs were torched,
Post Offices burnt, Police Stations were set on fire
and treasury looted at Banapur and somewhere.
Some of their officers fled in fear, some died.
Khordha Garh, the epicenter of such Quake,
the seedbed of Bidroh near Barunei Hills,
and the fierce fight at Gangapada and other places
like Lumbei where many native officers they killed,
the white whimper shook, their confidence crumbled
so much so that they chose to take to their heels
until more troops came to their rescue from Madras
and The Company managed its authority to reestablish
with the help of some greedy informers and traitors.

Some rebels, safe in their strongholds, continued guerilla war.
A tough time their swordsmen gave to the British
as gave their archers in a series of uprisings and attacks.

The age old trick the white whales adopted,
some more greedy informers they hired
and were able then to settle the score.

Combing operations in next ten years follow,
more and more rebels get caught,
pushed into jail and many are hung in gallows.

Brave Krutibas Patsani,
sold to the enemy by treachery of his own,
was sent to the Cellular jail.
Traitor Charan Patanaik was thrown into fire
by the angry restless rebels.
Bahubalendra was martyred
and so was Madhab Ch. Rautaray
and some more men of valour.

Buxi kept planning his moves,
safe at his stay, not known where.
He was there for some time, some say,
at far flung Kural in the hospitality
of an ancestor of Dinamani Paikaray,
whom the Kandhas obeyed and honoured.

War is not mindless suicide of soldiers
who jump into the pits of death
like moths drawn and falling into fire.
Love and care for his loyal soldiers
is the sign of a brave and brilliant commander.
In his compassionate concern for his brave fighters
whom Buxi did not want to suffer more in hidings,
he came out that his men may breathe free and feel fine.
So he embraced the four walls of a Cell in Cuttack Jail
where he breathed his last in eighteen twenty nine.

Though the flame was subdued
it did not kill the fire within.
Ignited minds, not happy with the yoke,
raised the fire of protest in frequent uprisings
keeping the warmth alive, more resistance to evoke.

Buxi shines as an image of courage.
Against oppression and injustice,
he is the spark that ignites outrage.

III

Pity be to them
who far from being honest and alert,
ready to raise their voice whenever they see
human values subside
and injustice prevailing everywhere around,
they boast only of their racial bravery in the past
and feel great, while all kinds of exploitation
and nuisance run free under their nose
by their own people and most often
with the patronage of those whom they choose.
Be it of home or foreign,
no rule, no colour in the name of national honour
be allowed to make people so much handicaped,
that helpless, they would take things for granted
and embrace little favours
with their gloomy dispassionate applause.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Note: This is my humble attempt to depict a great historical event in Odisha, The Paika Bidroh of 1817, that occurred around my place on the foot of the Barunei Hills and quickly spread across most of Odisha before being put down by the Company Forces. It is now declared to be the First Indian Armed Movement to gain Independence replacing the previous view of the first one being the rebellion of 1857. The Paika Rebellion Memorial has been built by the Union Ministry of Culture over ten acres of land near Barunei Hills. Its foundation stone was laid by Ramnath Kovind, Honourable President of India, on 7 December 2019. Since the task is difficult for a poem to cover everything in detail, I am not sure if I have done justice to the epoch making event. Some history mixed with folklore and a little bit poetry is what my approach is here. I am indebted to different websites for the data used. The message is more important than the chronology of events.