Madhusudan Das was born on 28 April 1848 in the village of Satyabhamapur which is 20 kms away from Cuttack. He took birth in a rich and well to do family of Choudhury Raghunath Das and Parbati Debi. At the time of his birth, his parents named him Gobindaballabh. Later they changed his name to Madhusudan. Now he is popularly known as Utkal Gourav.
Education :
Madhusudan Das had his primary education in the village high school where he learned all subjects, including Persian. After his primary education he went to Cuttack High School and completed his secondary education there. Later he went to Calcutta for fifteen years to pursue his MA and BL degrees. After completing his degrees in MA and BL, he returned to Orissa. He was the first graduate, MA and BL of Orissa.
Contribution towards State and Nation:
Madhusudan Das worked hard for the social, political and economical uplift of people of Eastern India. He rendered his admirable service to the nation as a very successful lawyer, social reformer and patriot. He was also an excellent orator in Oriya, English and Bengali. He wrote a number of poems and articles in Oriya and English to arouse sense of patriotism in people. He gave away all his earnings generously for the higher education of poor children.
He became a widower at the age of thirty one. Having no family responsibility at that time, Madhusudan Das dedicated himself for the work of nation. He fought against the British rule and started a revolution named “Desha Mishra Andolan”. He took up with the British High Command and the result was the formation of a separate state in 1933.
Last Years :
He was a very generous person and spent his huge property earned from his legal practices in the well being of people of Orissa. Death: Utkal Gouav Madhusudan Das died at the age of 85, on 4th February 1934. By the time of his death, he had spent all his property in the well being of people of Orissa and declared himself insolvent. His immense contribution towards the state and nation would be admired forever.