Sri Dev Suman -A Forgotten Freedom Fighter
Sri Dev Suman was born on 25 May ,1916 ,in Village Jaul in Tehri Garwal to affluent parents. The normal practise was for the family to get educated and work for the King . Inspired by Gandhi Ji ,
He declined to work for the king and started teaching village children. He went to Dehradun to complete his higher studies and started teaching in Hindu national school. He joined the freedom movement and was arrested in 1942. In 1943 , he was declared a rebel by the Tehri king and arrested on 30 December 1943. After 209 days in prison and after 84 days of fast,where he was tortured and force fed, he attained Martyrdom on 25 July 1944 . His body was thrown into the Bhilganga river and his wife came to know about his death via newspapers after 7 days.
Legacy of Sri Dev Suman through his influence on Sunder Lal Bahuguna
Sri Sunder Lal Bahuguna was deeply influenced by Gandhian values and credit for that must go to Sri Dev Suman, who Sunderlal Ji met when he was only 13 years of age. Sunderlal Ji recounts his encounter with Sri Dev Suman, “I could know about Gandhi when I was a High School student at the age of 13. My inquisitiveness to know about a strangely dressed young man, who was dressed neither like the officers of the state nor like the poor subjects with loin cloth, but was putting on white Khadi cap, Kurta, Jacket, dhoti and chappal, inspired me to chase him….He had a small box in one hand and a bag in another hand. I guessed he must be somebody like an archer, who had demonstrated his feats in archery and we were so much impressed that we left going to the school for some days and followed him. The idea came to my mind that his small box must contain something of our interest. I along with a few friends asked, what are you carrying in your small box’ He very gently replied, ‘come I will show you’. He sat under a banyan tree, opened the box and demonstrated his feat. He was spinning yarn. looking at this new wonder, we said, ‘It may take you a year to produce yarn sufficient for a shirt’, He promptly replied, “whether I get enough yarn for my shirt or not, Gandhi says that we can end the British rule and become independent, if every Indian starts spinning.”
Sunderlal Ji asked ‘What else does Gandhi say? How can a spinning wheel bring freedom’. Suman said, “if you want to know more, you can buy these small booklets.” Bahuguna spent the whole amount of six annas, which his mother had given for a week’s breakfast on three small booklets. One was by ‘Gandhi – How to achieve Swaraj’,Other was of national songs and the ‘A Word to Young Men’by Prince Kroptkin.
Suman Ji was 25 then. He had become Gandhi’s follower at the age of 15. Bahugunaji was inspired by him to become a Gandhian. “Our small group could manage to get a spinning wheel, Gandhi’s autobiography and some other books. We were cautious not to be detected, so we practised spinning and study of Gandhi’s autobiography in the cemetery,” remembers Bahuguna.
At 13 years Sunderlal Ji decided to work for the people and not the princely state,inspired by Sri Dev Suman. Sunderlal Ji was sent to Mussoorie but was arrested for leaking out the statement of Sri Dev Suman. He was put in a police lock up where he was hospitalised and later released. During his lock up Sri Dev Suman had attained Martyrdom.Sunderlal Ji went to Lahore after his release and topped the university . The Tehri police caught up with him and he escaped to Lyallpur for one year. After independence Sunderlal Ji carried out his first Satyagraha at the age of 20, undertaking a 7 day fast to protest his ban into entering Tehri. After 7 days this ban was lifted. The access to forests remained a burning issue and gave impetus to anti imperialist revolts, aimed at securing independence from the King of Tehri. Princely state of Tehri acceded to Independent India on 1 August 1949 and became a part of the State of Uttar Pradesh .
The legacy of Sri Dev Suman lived on . He became more powerful After his death and inspired the Freedom Movement in Tehri Garhwal .
