Some individuals are indeed different from the rest of the population. These are individuals who because of their intellectual gift end up opening avenues for a generation of men and women. A rare breed of them are also humble and down to earth who do not flaunt any arrogance because of their very foundation of multi-dimensional capabilities. You may call them gifted or you may even call them a legend if their impact was worthy enough towards society. But time is cruel and so is the society which often ends up forgetting some of such masters over the course of time. One such legend was The Honourable Justice Dwarkanath Mitter.
An erudite individual
This is not a figment of the imagination and neither a movie plot, though the course of events in his life might convince a reader to think of it as one. Justice Dwarkanath Mitter had the most humble of origins as he was born in the village of Augunshi in Bengal to Baboo Hurro Chunder Mitter and his wife. His father was a small-time law agent who practised as a 'Mukhtear' in the Hooghly courts. Having received his initial education in the village pathshala or local school, he was soon accepted as a student of the Hooghly Branch School which still exists. After a successful stint in the institution, he made his way to the Hooghly College, which is now known as the Hooghly Mohsin College. Throughout his student years, he was known as an erudite individual who had won a number of scholarships and medals and one who impressed immensely with his exceptional command over History, English and Mathematics. It has been stated in his biography, 'Life of the Honb'le Justice Dwarkanath Mitter' by his childhood friend Dinabandhu Sanyal that he could read an entire volume of Alison's 'History of Europe' in a day and could recollect complete sentences from the book thereafter. Another such incident is mentioned with Gibbon's 'Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.' His essays written in his student years were often regarded by experts and scholars as being comparable to that of a student of Oxford. It is also mentioned that as a student he greatly admired Shakespeare, Shelly, Robert Burns and Alexander Pope, alongside being a learned reader of the published speeches of the great minds of that time. He was also gifted in Chess and could play the Tabla. One individual whom he admired greatly was none but Emperor Napolean, whose print hung in his house in Dwarkanath's later years while he made a name as a successful jurist.
Support from Raja Ram Mohan Roy's son
A big turning point in his early life was a boat accident in which he lost his siblings and the resulting grief soon led to an early demise of his beloved father whom he would often silently observe. This incident followed by a later incident where he was turned away after waiting an entire day for a job interview changed his perspective towards life. To an extent, the following hardships and insults brought out the fighter in him and the short-statured and dark-complexioned Dwarkanath was never the same. After a brief stint in Presidency College from where he dropped out and after a phase of clerkship, the young Dwarkanath Mitter ended up acquiring his law diploma with flying colours. This was also some years before the establishment of the Calcutta High Court. The combination of events led him to a career that made him financially pretty strong and also respectable in society. Among his early admirers, he had the support of the eminent pleader and jurist Ramaprasad Roy, the younger son of the legendary Raja Ram Mohan Roy. 'Life of the Honb'le Justice Dwarkanath Mitter' by Dinabandhu Sanyal mentions in the bottom of page number fifty-four of the book that Ramaprasad Roy was the first Indian to be proposed as a Judge of the newly founded Calcutta High Court but he died before things could materialize. The young Dwarkanath also found the encouragement of The Honourable Shambhu Nath Pundit, the first Indian to take the position and oath of a High Court Judge and it was him whom Dwarkanath would eventually succeed in 1867. He was also appreciated by Sir Barnes Peacock, the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. Around that time he was earning about Rupees 50,000 per annum as a lawyer and was living a comfortable life in Bhowanipore in an old and sprawling estate, which he had procured for a princely sum and had spent another considerable amount to put together a library of English and French books along with various astronomical instruments. This library with over one thousand volumes of French work, Waverley novels, also boasted of works of poets like Longfellow and other greats. Among them 'Queen Mab' by Shelly was one of his favourites. He was a Comtist and he also kept the paper cutting of this piece printed sometime in the 'Blackwood's Magazine' mentioning this forgotten fourteen-year-old hunting tracker named Kedar who while accompanying an Anglo-Indian hunter, had himself hunted a big cat with nothing but a hunting knife while himself perishing in the adventure. Considering the age of Kedar, he was probably one of the youngest big cat hunters ever in the history of mankind, being far younger than even Sher Shah Suri or the later example of Bagha Jatin in Bengal. This incident of Kedar greatly influenced Justice Dwarkanath.
The Lawyer
There is enough testimonial that as a lawyer on many occasions he stood up for the poor and vehemently represented their cases while not charging a penny in return. He also donated graciously for various charitable endeavours where his contributions would often outmatch even that of some Maharajas. He even helped the founding of schools, dispensaries and even instituted prizes for students. The erudite jurist was well versed as a Historian and his literary knowledge was vast. A gifted mathematician, this polymath also wrote quite a few articles on Analytical Geometry for the 'Mookerjee's Magazine' and also published some translation works. He was also involved with the social upliftment of the changing society of Bengal but all this took a drastic turn when he was suddenly diagnosed with throat cancer at a rather young age, probably caused as a consequence of long hours spent while smoking the hookah which he often enjoyed while spending time in his library.
This disease finally brought an end to a small but highly accomplished life. Survived by his mother, second wife, son(Surendronath), daughter(Bhoovun) and son in law(Upendra Dutt), the great polymath breathed his last in his native village at 4 PM, on the 25th of February, 1874. He had already paved the path for a generation of jurists who would go on to succeed him in his honourable position. His friends like Justice Unoocool Mookerjea and Justice Sir Romesh Chunder Mitter among others kept his legacy alive but nothing could compensate for the loss of such a soul as his, whose death was mourned by many and sent ripples all across the legal and intellectual corridors in India and abroad. In all of his obituaries, he was rightly indicated by various magazines and journals including the ‘Hindoo Patriot’ as one of the brightest minds of Bengal of his time.
