Darbhanga Bar Association Souvenir 2006

Luminaries of Darbhanga Bar1

Introduction

My close colleague Shri B.L. Das, an eminent advocate of Darbhanga Bar,

impressed upon me the need and utility of presenting, as a model, short life sketches of
a few of the legal luminaries of our Bar who put their stamps of talent, advocacy and
fearless integrity on their contemporaries, litigant public and alien judiciary, and so
left deep foot prints on the entire Bar and left it pulsating.
In our pre-swaraja period, this profession was treated with utmost respect and
veneration by the populace at large in general and the government in particular.
The best certificate for an officer was taken in how he had been commended
by the Bar. For sure, a judicial officer could not be remembered unless he had proved
his integrity and honesty and had practiced fair dealings with courtesy.
This privilege was the monopoly of the Bar and an evidence of its strength of
character which developed courteous fearlessness (minus flattery). The capacity to
master the facts of the case and of laws applicable to the case and then to fairly
analyse and present the same to courts was considered the hall mark of good
advocacy. Those who rose to legal eminence were, without exception, men of strong
character and unshakable integrity which entitled them to be a model lawyer. It was
strength of this kind on the basis of which a lawyer’s evidence was treated by courts
as the best evidence, commanding greater dignity than that by any public servant.

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Prepared by Pundit Govind Chowdhary, it could not be published in his life time.
 Everybody may not agree with my standards of selecting luminaries. Viewed
with different spectacles, they have justifications too. But to my mind all that entitle a
member of this profession to be arrayed in the frontline of dignitaries is not his
earnings but his grip on the law of the subject, his capacity to apply them to the facts
of his side of the case, to the merits or demerits of the opposite side, and then to meet
them squarely, presenting the same to the court in a language attractively compelling
and courteous, so measured as to impress the brain of the court with the scale of
justice on the desired side of the case.
However brilliant an advocate might have been, but if by chance he happened
to cite a ruling which, to his knowledge, is a good law, but subsequently it was over-
ruled or dissented from, he would for sure to invite cruel reprimand by the court; it
could be treated as an attempt to cheat the court, and contempt proceedings could very
well be initiated against him. It was based on the maxim - “A judge is not presumed to
be knowing law, but a lawyer is.”
Those were the times when law was acted up to in spirit, and there was no
personality who could be beyond the pale of law. Even the ordinance promulgated by
the Viceroy and Governor General of India during the Second World War (when their
very existence was at stake) debarring the High Courts from sitting in judgment in
appeals over the judgments and orders of the special courts established under the
ordinance was declared to be “ultra vires” by the (British) Chief Justice and his
brother judges on the ground that they could not be divested of the powers vested in
them by letters patent by the Royal Charter. Consequently, we have seen thousands
have been saved from gallows and various terms of imprisonments. This is a very
outstanding instance of the rule of law. The Viceroy bowed down to this outright
negation of his ordinance and overriding powers only on the considerations of law and
equity. How we wish we could have such lawyers and such judges still amongst us!
Law in our present set up seems to be losing its essence, even though covered
under attractive coats. Nobody could in those days conceive any differentiation in
criminal law on the basis of Hindus and Mohammedans castewise.

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 When I remember the pillars of our profession in this Bar during the early part
of this2 century, two figures shine outstandingly before us, but as I had not the fortune
of seeing them personally in this profession, I am dissuaded from writing much about
them, lest I may be guilty of inaccurately describing them. Stories heard of them are,
of course, there, not to fade by the onslaught of time.

Adwait Charan Ghose

Adwait Charan Ghose, commonly known as Adwait Babu, was the first of
them. He represented a poor complainant against an Englishmen accused of torturing
and mercilessly beating the complainant. The Vakil was threatened, cajoled and
coerced by scores of Indians and Europeans, but he staked his entire existence on this
case and kept up his stand at the cost of losing his European clientele. No amount of
money or English patronage and favour could dislodge him from his side, with the
result that the accused had to publicly apologies and pay fines. It is also said that he
never entertained any tout or karpardaz and insisted on bringing a junior to instruct
him. It is also said that his clients were offered food at his place free of cost and he
entertained them individually at the time they took meals. Our senior colleague Bratish
Chandra Ghose is his grand son (and from him have we heard this story).

Sri Braj Kishore Prasad

Sri Braj Kishore Prasad was the second out of them. We hear of him as a close
associate of Mahatma Gandhi and of Dr. Rajendra Prasad. He stopped his practice at
law on the call of the nation at an early age and embraced hardships and imprisonment
also.
It is said that a British Judge was in the habit of rejecting any criminal revision
petition without hearing the lawyer who was engaged to move the same. Braj Kishore
Prasad had just transferred his practice from Chhapra to Darbhanga and had not vet
established himself well in the profession. As he also never encouraged any tout and

2
Twentieth Century

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believed in fearlessly presenting his case, a client approached him to file a criminal
revision in the court of the said judge.
He drafted a petition giving compelling grounds and stood up to move the
same. But before he said anything, the rough attitude of the court was apparently
visible and his pen had started scribbling an order on the petition itself.
“Your Honour will not kindly pass any order without hearing me”, asserted he
in his usual smiling and emphatic tone.
“What! Am I bound to hear you?”, came the outburst of the court.
“Yes, Your Honour is paid to hear us and I am paid to make you hear”, pat
came the reply.
The Judge became all red and left his ijlas. After some time, Braj Kishore
Babu was called in the chamber. “Excuse me, explain your grounds”, the Judge said.
The first ground that he presented supported by an authority of the High Court
was sufficient for its admission. Thereafter the judge mended himself and began to
give patient hearing to lawyers.
Sufficient to say that when dictates of law were shown supreme respect by
both, the bench and the Bar, a courageous presentation of the case had its value. We
have the instance of our ‘Great Lakshman jee’ who argued a point of limitation for
about one hundred working days. That is an indication of the patience of the judge and
the thoroughness of the counsel. It would go against the judge if any point mooted by
the Bar in court is not alluded to in the judgment and good reasons not given for
rejecting the same. It was never open to a court to keep silent over any point having
been raised and not having been considered, it would go squarely against the judge.
In selecting the ten peers, I am basing my choice on the strength of my
personal experience with or against them. I apologize if I have omitted any deserving
lawyers from consideration.
Though not lucky enough to work with him or even to see him arguing, I had
heard of Pundit Rama Krishna Jha, reputed to be the “Master of Hindu Law”. I have
come across some original treatises of a very high order, compiled, edited and
translated by him and during our early days, we came across a voluminous ruling of

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our High Court, Savitri Thakurain Vs Sabi… that was treated as a settler on a number
of very ticklish points of Hindu Law. This was initiated, developed and brought to
completion by Rama Krishna Babu who conducted it from Bhagalpur in the high
Court at Patna. In the High Court it was argued out by the top advocate of Hindu Law
at the time, and in his two hundreds and fifty page printed judgments, Mr. Justice
Dhavale referred to him in so many connections. He also, it is said, could not tolerate
the stiff-neck attitudes of the Rajas and Maharajas and in order to keep them on their
correct stand, he had to bring them before courts and compel them to part with some
of their property.
Braj Kishore Babu joined Darbhanga Bar in the year 1916 and practiced till
1926 in which year he shifted his practice to the High Court in Patna where he
practiced till the year 1942 when he breathed his last. He was selected to preside over
the All India Hindu Mahasabha at its Sindh Sessions in the year 1933.

Priyanatha Mitra
Personified emblem of the purity and dignity of law, spotless white in dress
and bearing, thought and deed, speech and tone, our Priyo Babu was the priya (dear)
of the whole Bar without an exception, who as a matter of course and inevitable
choice, was elected as the uncontested president of our Bar Association for a long
time, a space of time as long as he was alive, after the demise of Harbans Sahay. His
undisputed seat at the head of the table in the eastern wing of the Bar Association Hall
came to be actually so venerable that it became awe inspiring, prohibiting and
preventing any member of this Bar from behaving in any undignified manner. This
awe attained such a pitch during the 1940’s that even when he was not in his seat, any
of us would not take groundnuts, how so ever keenly we became eager to take the
same. That chair always kept its prohibiting index finger pointed to any erring member
preventing all or any of us from chewing ground-nuts in the Association and render
thereby the floor of the hall dirty and exhibiting ourselves before our clientele as
bhukkhars. We must, he preached, learn how to behave in general public and
particularly before our clients and courts who will, for sure, evaluate us cheaply if we

5
reduce this hall into a sort of restaurant. And for any of us to ask a client to fetch tea or
refreshment for us in this hall or any or its rooms, it was unthinkable. In the reading
room, if any of us talked and talked a bit loudly, in our own estimation we deemed it
to be an offence, sinful and undignified and at once we visualized the atmosphere of
the pointed finger of our all white president asking us sternly to behave.
There was a special brand of reprimand in his tone which never reached other
ears even when he was chiding any of us face to face with his fatherly and preceptorly
attitude and the same brand assumed rigorous proportions when he was not physically
present before us. Would any one believe that even his contemporaries looked
sideways thrice before committing any breach of his unwrit regulations! In the din and
bustle of our present day Bar Association, it cannot even be imagined that ever there
ruled an uncrowned king who kept our heart stamped with his paternal bliss and
succeeded in raising the standard of this whole Association in the estimation of the
judiciary as well as the public in general by its dignity and manners and this
Association came to be armed with guts and dignity to stand the onslaught of any
Nadir Shah with our heads erect and eyes straight. He taught us precisely how to move
a transfer petition, an unprofitable and very difficult task for any advocate of talent
and promise, as it entailed in its train the wrath of the Court, probability of the touts to
propagate against you and risk being snubbed.
But the dutifulness impelling you to undertake this must be given the first
preference, Priya Babu would say. He precisely advised me, I remember, to couch the
petition (for transfer) in such precise language as may give vent to your apprehensions
adequately but should be so guarded as not to show an inkling of your personal
estimation or prejudices against the erring court. And while arguing out your points
before the highest court, he stressed, you must make it a point that none of your
reasoning and statements may smack of your personal vendetta or undignified
expression that my soil the dignity of your bands and gown, reducing you to the
category of a commoner and unseating you from the top pedestal of an expert, straight
and upright on your stand, without swaying to either side, or rejoicing in abuses. As a
model, he cited the following lines of Geeta to me,

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 ^^nhiks ;Fkk fuokrLFkks usaxrslksiekLerkA**
I am afraid of adding to the bulk of this volume if I enumerate such pieces of
his advice and parental upbraidings. I cannot, however, resist narrating an instance
which still paints him adequately in describing actually how truthful and dutiful he
was.
In a proceeding before a Subordinate Judge, unfortunately an exchange of a
very heated discussion developed in mutual incriminations and abusive filth. Priya
Babu represented the side which was finding support from the attitude and
observations of the court. But all along the scene, he kept his eyes embedded to the
table and scribbled in his quick hand most, if not all, of the observations and
statements made by the exchangers. Matters came to a pitch when a contempt
proceeding was initiated by the fiery-court. The fire brand advocate made complaints
before the Judge and cited as his witness his adversary Priya Babu who was also
named as witness by the Subordinate Judge in his explanations to the Judge. Now the
decision squarely rested on the statement of Priya Babu who had vanished from the
entire court precincts clearly without speaking a word to any one.
The District Judge, astern as a Roman General and as wise as Aristotle,
summoned Priya Babu to his chamber.
He appeared before the Judge punctually at the tick of the clock. The Judge
received him with respect and asked him questions eliciting answers to be recorded.
Priya Babu presented the paper in which he had scribbled all or most of the statements
made by both the court and the advocate and requested the Judge to peruse the same
which was written then and there by him and which, he was sure, would furnish
adequate answers to his questions. The judge looked into the writing, read it
thoroughly and then put only one question to him as to what impelled him to
undertake thus making of note of all the utterances. His little reply was, “My
conscience foretold me that I might be called upon to testify as a witness. Then in
order to keep me in a straight jacket and upright, I decided, this was the best method
which would not allow me to lean or sway to either side. Hence I took this note as

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fairly as possible. This will supply all the answers needed as it has not been, I swear,
recorded with any leaning on any side.”
The Judge thanked Priya Babu in glowing words and kept the note on records,
called both the Sub-Judge and the advocate to his chamber. When confronted with the
written statements allegedly made by them, both were surprised and both were candid
enough to own them.
The Judge gave both of them a bit of his mind and effected a compromise,
making both of them friends shaking hands. When the matter was over, both the
advocate and the Sub-Judge paid their respects separately at his residence, thanked and
expressed their obligations to him for representing each correctly and for being
instrumental in keeping their prestige and dignity in full. Priya Babu kept smiling all
along and restrained himself till the end from giving vent to his mind in the
Association Hall. No force could elicit from him any bit of what had transpired. The
whole Association was proud of him.
He never encouraged karpardaz at his place and for sure it can very well be
sworn by any of us this has been with him that he never had any dealing whatsoever
with any tout. I know of a villainous tout who was forbidden entrance in his office,
and who began propagating against him allegations. He smiled the whole matter away
and observed: “Let him have that satisfaction. But principles are to be followed and
followed strictly.”
In another proceeding of a professional misconduct, I was prosecuting a lawyer
and Priya Babu defended him. In my youthful heat, I grew to be more exuberant and
fiery than what was proper. In the Association Hall, he very silently came to me and
whispered into my ears, “Don’t relish your exuberance.” Nobody could know what he
said and even now, when I have retired from active practice, I am charmed with the
truth and manner of his advice.
An M.Sc. of Calcutta University of the late nineties of the last century, he was
appointed as a Munsif, but the job did not suit his temperament. So he preferred to be
the devil (minor) of his eldest brother’s office who had a roaring practice at the Bar in
Chhapra. For some time, he underwent rigorous training there and came to practice at

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Darbhanga. Outside the court, he was the model of a man, a husband, a father and,
most of all, a brother.
When the golden jubilee of his legal career was celebrated here against his
will, truly speaking, it was a sight to see. In the midst of all the jubilations, polities and
estimations by all his admirers in general and a justice of the High Court in particular,
he figured as an unmoving statue, deaf and dumb to the core, and nobody could
discern even a tinkling of any dramatics in his attitude.
I was especially attached to and enamoured of him on account of the vast store
of Sanskrit shlokas he owned and when due to his failing memory in his extreme old
age, he called upon me to supply him with the missing link and line of any shloka or
stotra, I deemed it my good luck.
A stern disciplinarian plus a very interesting convesationalist, he was at his
best when, without any previous notice, he was called upon to deliver a speech in a
literary or cultural gathering.
Though he never directly or indirectly, invited any brief, but all or most of the
big rivers flowed into the depth of his deep sea unasked. On the request of the Late
Maharajadhiraj Kameshwara Singh he drafted and re-analyzed the Kameshwara Singh
Sanskrit University Act which was adopted by the Bihar Legislative Assembly with
complete approval and he was appointed the first Pro-Vice Chancellor of the said
University by the Bihar Government.
We very well remember his calm and quiet and his god-like face when he was
boarding a special coach for Chhapra to preside over the All Bihar Laywer’s
Conference. His presidential speech spelled the same benign thoughts in a more
attractive garb. It was claimed by Chhapra Luminaries that by extending their respects
to Priya Babu they were respecting themselves as in him they found a complete
negation of ego and all embracing large-heartedness of a grandfather, as he was their
colleague earlier.
Even when Priya Babu retired from active practice, he kept coming to the Bar
Association regularly and on being asked why he undertook that pain every day, he
smilingly said, “How can I leave you, so long this body is in tact?”

9
 He was the same serene calm and quiet figure in every situation, never in a
hurry, never dull, never exuberant and never cold-like, always pulsating our hearts
with feelings of justice, equity and good conscience. The brightest flow of the majesty
of law ever lighting his being, Priya Babu had at last to leave us for Calcutta
unwillingly and while parting, he was a complete picture of:-
^^fLFku cqf)j laew<+ks czg~efu czg~efon~ czEgf.k fLFkr
%A** xhrk

Lakshman Jee
Even those who were much younger to him unhesitatingly addressed him as
“Babu Lakshman Jee” and he responded to the same so very jocularly with a sweet
mocking “Hainjee” that the whole atmosphere was sweetened. He had not a jot of
rigor about him and it was quite apparent that he had all around him established a
joyous atmosphere where seriousness or exhibition of greatness was studiously driven
away. He would neither sit quiet nor would he let any of his colleagues remain quiet
around him. It seemed as if he were actual pleasure personified. His age had no effect
on his bearing and his seniority vanished in the midst of his juniors. Talk on any topic
- he was sure to transport the audience in peals of laughter and the coated seriousness
of the subject vanished outright. Those juniors who could show original talent of
understanding, wit and humour were particularly liked by him and even though
criticized by the very seniors, he would ignore it and spend his time, when not on
ijlash, in merry making and jovialities.
Rajas and Maharajas were at that time best clients for any advocate of repute,
but Babu Lakshman Jee’s choice of accepting engagements was quite peculiar. He was
engaged by Raj Darbhanga as its permanent retained lawyer of the District Court and
in big cases he was sent by the Raj to argue all over the State. He argued out for more
than 110 days only a point of limitation before the district Judge, Purnea in a big Raj
case on fabulous fees, but at the same time did not lose sight of a poor accused in
Darbhanga Sessions where he went on taking time for a convenient date and managed
to defend him with success without accepting any fees for the adjournments taken

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until the date when the Sessions was taken up. He was at that time reputed to be the
one advocate who was equally talented on the civil side as well as on the criminal side.
Kind-heartedness was a conspicuous trait of his character and on this score he would
undertake the cases of his poor clients on a much lower scale of fees than of those of
his rich ones.
Legal eminence of B. Lakshman Jee can very well be conceived by the fact
that even though he was arguing only a limitation case as aforesaid before the Purnea
Judge, no reasoning or observations or criticism was repeated and the judge, who was
studiously on his guard, not to be swayed by the force of his language, was, it is said,
actually won over to his side and decided in his client’s favour.
I personally witnessed a scene in a Sessions Court at Darbhanga in which his
engagement could be secured only at the argument stage. So far as I remember it was a
case of an attempt to murder an European T.T.E in a running train by an accused of
Jaynagar and the cross examining lawyer had committed some mistakes in eliciting
some inconvenient and damaging answers. After the public prosecutor closed his
arguments and Babu Lakshman Jee stood up to open his arguments, the judge quipped,
“Well, B. Lakshman Jee, how are you meeting the point taken by your own side and
damaging your stand at the root?” Smilingly, the lion roared, ‘Even that has to be
judged by Your Honour according to the circumstances apparent in the case as per the
maxim, men may lie but circumstances never lie. And secondly this is a settled law on
the criminal side that even if the accused, not to speak of his lawyer, committed any
error, the judge has to consider the entire case on the circumstances, and the
prosecution has an unshared liability of establishing its own case and in fairness they
are not entitled to take undue advantages of an unintended, unpremeditated error by
his lawyer. I am sure, the learned public prosecutor will not be such a coward as to
take advantage of that”. All laughed out and then happened his arguments exposing
loopholes and patent infirmities of the prosecution’s case and the arguments were
couched in such brilliant and compelling language that the judge was obliged to find
the prosecution case not proved beyond doubt and consequently acquitted the accused.
I still remember the day when the order of acquittal from such a stiff judge was

11
announced most unexpectedly and I do remember and relish the reaction of B.
Lakshman Jee when he was given the news. “The Judge is intelligent. He has seen
through the muffles.” Everybody in the Bar took that decision to be the unequivocal
victory of his brilliant advocacy and putting.
I am told, after his graduation at law, he was appointed by the then government
as a Deputy Magistrate which office did not suit his temperament. He resigned and
came over to Darbhanga (his mother’s birth place) and reached the heights of the
profession here almost in no time.
For a number of years, he monopolized the unanimous choice of the Distt.
Judge, the Distt. Magistrate and the Divisional Commissioner to be retained as a Govt.
Pleader and Public Prosecutor, on which job he continued for three terms and then, it
is said, he refused to accept the same when it was offered to him for the fourth time. It
was long thereafter that the news of his refusal reached the ears of a few members of
the Bar and then he was pestered from all sides why he should have refused it. His
simple reply was, “Don’t you feel greater satisfaction in taking up the cause of the
poor against the Government?”
I still feel and deem myself too much of a pigmy to fathom the depths of his
greatness, but I still relish his sonorous voice presenting gems and opals in his brilliant
advocacy too strong for any judge to resist, too charming for any audience to
withstand and too pleasing and attractive for any body to adopt as a model. His loss
was never re-compensated at the Bar and I doubt whether it will ever be.

Dharnidhar Babu
As simple in dress and bearing as strong in his convictions, Dharnidhar Babu
was a towering personality of Darbhanga’s life. A nationalist to the core and
punctiliously honest to a fault, he was a tower of strength in almost every walk of
society with his free and frank heart and compelling tongue, tough on the surface but
honeyed inside.
I had my first experience of him the day I joined the Bar at Darbhanga. There
was a talk on his table of me as a new entrant in the Bar and full-throated criticism

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was leveled against me on the ground that I had left Raj Darbhanga’s service, which
gave me princely comforts and emoluments, and was foolish enough to opt for the Bar
where starvation would sure be staring me in my face. It was also whispered that the
Raj service was obtained by me on the strength and commendations of Pt.
Kapileshwar Mishra, who was in high favours of the Maharajadhiraj at the time.
Dharni Babu took it otherwise, but kept mum. Half an hour later, he had a talk with a
Bengali subordinate judge who was deprecating me in course of his talks with Dharni
Babu.
“Pandit Jee was telling me, he had so very kindly got a nice employment for a
misfortunate Brahmin young man, but he has come off. He will be now begging for a
commission or guardianship.”
God alone knows why Dharni Babu disbelieved every part of it, though he
expressed it only in his smiles. Only minutes thereafter, Pt. Gandadhar Mishra led me
to the said subordinate judge and introduced me to him in benign words. The sub-
judge reacted at once and made the same remarks happily, “you should not have left
such a good job. Pundit Jee had managed to obtain that nice job for you. You should
have at least consulted him. Now you will be roaming here and there for guardianship
and commissions.”
I lost my patience and burst out, “I will never come to you, Sir, for any
commission or guardianship. And Pundit Jee had nothing…” But Gangadhard Babu
pressed my arms, tempered my temper and observed, “Pundit Jee had no hand in it.
His father himself is respected by His Highness3.”
We came away in a huff to the Association Hall and Dharni Babu at once
caught hold of me. His numerous searching questions to me and my frank and truthful
answers to them convinced him, firstly, of a blazing fire in me and, secondly, of no
part whatsoever of Pundit Kapileshwar Mishra in my life. This was confirmed by
Gangadhar Babu, and Dharni Babu’s concern for me shone in his eyes then and there.
That very day he directed me to defend an undefended sessions trial for which he
paved my way and he booked a seat for me in a corner of his pharsh where I had
3
The Maharajadhiraj of Darbhanga Sir Kameshwara Singh

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occasions to observe him closely. The number of his juniors was staggering and most
of his cases were referred to him through his Congress4 association which meant
unduly taking his time with little or no payment of fees at all. Paying clients flocked to
him in a number, but those Congress associates overwhelmed him and left him with no
time or respite. But marvelous was the patience of Dharni Babu who referred his
paying clients to his immediate juniors and devoted more of his time and energy for
those non-paying ones.
Dharni Babu’s quick wit and prompt replies were exemplary. Once when he
was dining with Mahatma Gandhi (whose close associate he came to be prior to the
Non-cooperation Movement), he finished his meal very quickly. The Mahatma
remarked, “you take your food very quickly, Dharni Babu, not good for your health.”
At once Dharni Babu quipped, “You are my leader, not my doctor”. Everybody
burst in laughter.
An English Judge became annoyed with his dress and the manner in which he
wore it. His very simple and cheap khadi pyjama and a khadi sirwani over a khadi
kurta, all not well laundered, and all not well buttoned, and his cap not fixed, and in
the gusto of his many arguments and talks, shifting its position from above the tip of
his nose to exactly right-turn above his ear, and he himself all along oblivious of his
cap’s shifting, shirawani being loose or without buttons, and almost discoloured and
loose half-shoe at times slipping out of his foot actually presented a very queer sight.
Through his Bench Clerk, the English Judge sent word to him giving vent to his
feelings and at once our Dharni Babu replied, “All my earnings belong to the Nation,
as a servant I am entitled to my barest necessities.” The Judge thereafter became one
of his devotees.
As the secretary of the Bar Association, he once found a pleader of about
twenty years practice, defaulting on payment of his membership subscription for more
than three to four years. Ordinarily his name should have been struck off the rolls but
by over sight it had continued. The pleader was called, confronted and commanded to
pay the amount. He expressed his inability on the ground of his having no money,
4
Indian National Congress, then leading India’s freedom movement

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“But you have a fair practice”, Dharni Babu countered, “your earning is not such that
may justify your not paying one rupee a month to your Association which gives you so
many facilities. No, no, don’t make lame excuses. You have to pay!”. The pleader
insisted, “Actually I have no earning and the little that I get is not even sufficient to
meet the food of my family”. Dharni Babu was not at all impressed. At once he made
an offer. “All right, you attend my office from 7 a m to 10 a m and 7 p m to 9:30 p m,
from today I will see you get the amount”. Now the gentleman had no way to escape
and he consented.
When he was leaving his residence to come to Dharni Babu’s place, he left
word with his men that he was going to him and reached there about half an hour late
for which he was reprimanded and was given a seat in the corner of his verandah.
“But you have to earn you bread”, and so he was given the task of hunting
rulings on a point. Hardly had he turned his attention to the various digests when a
client came in search of him and Dharni Babu caught the client, became aware of his
case and realized Rs. 4/- on account of the pleader’s remuneration, called the pleader
to attend to his client and take help from him, if he needed. The client was very
jubilant as he obtained the services of a very senior legal wizard for so little to pay to
his own pleader. So within fifteen says he made up the default by deducting only a
fourth of what the pleader earned from his own as well as Dharni Babu’s client and
then released him from regular attendance.
When presiding over his table in the Association Hall, his favourite subjects of
discourse were Valmiki Vs. Tulsidas, Kalidas Vs. Shakespeare, Lord Byorn Vs
Padmakar and Raskhan, Braj Bhasha Vs. Maithily, etc., and his discussions provoked
us to add heat to our stand and exactly that was what he wanted and, by his tactful
observations kept alive and went on increasing heated discussion for days together. If
any of us lost patience, he laughingly goaded us to further discussions relishing the
same all the while.
He had about five or six daughters but no son. Some pundit advised him to go
to the Mother Ganga and beg her for the boon of a son. He went to Simariya Ghat and
begged for the boon in chest-deep water. Luckily, he was favoured with the boon and

15
the son was named Gangadhar. Subsequently, when anybody told him to go to the
Mother Ganga again, he flatly refused saying,
^^lcdqN [kqnk ls ekax fy;k rqedks ekax djA**
“Once I begged of her, she gave me her boon. No second begging.” A fixed
pole on matters of principle, he never joined practice till the end of his life once he
resolved to quit practicing at the Bar on the 9th of August, 1942 in protest against the
atrocities perpetrated by the British Government.
His voluntarily retiring from the Bar was actually felt by all at heart and I am
still doubtful if I can, in any one else, come across such a big store of apt quotations
in various languages ready on the tongue to suit the occasion.
What marked him out amongst all his contemporaries was his honest frankness
plus cent per cent integrity with superiority complex.
Never lacking in respecting others’ opinion and always condescending to hear
the same as patiently as he could, he would give out his mind irrespective of how
towering his adversary might be. He would not care much for the forms and traditional
polish of the aristocratic mannerisms adopted or initiated by the rising stars of the Bar.
Rather, at heart, he was a rebel, voicing his feelings against it, whenever he found an
occasion; but away from the rigours of his duties, his actual real self was exposed, as
tender as a mother and as caressing as a grand-father. May God rest him in everlasting
peace!

Pandit Kapileshwar Mishra

Rising from the poverty of dust and reaping the fruit of his labour, a towering
personality rose from the earth-root gathering around it all the glow of legal eminence
on the well-laid-foundations of accumulated vast wealth. That was Pundit Jee whom
everybody knew and addressed as such. A Sanskrit scholar with the credit of having
passed only the pleadership examination of Bihar, he joined the Darbhanga Bar and
started his practice in the year…
A man of no assumptions and habituated to live a very plain and simple life
without any bit of show and pomp, he marked himself out as a tapaswi with all his

16
natural traits of tolerance, abstinence and self-restraint that even a Yogi found difficult
to practice. All these penances shot him out in the legal firmament as the most
painstaking lawyer posted with up to date rulings on any topic. This reputation, when
he had barely crossed his five years barrier, began to show its results and by another
few years he was the retained lawyer of the Raj Darbhanga and so many other rich
zamindars who were best pay-masters of the age. How soon he built up his practice
with name and fame and as a result how soon a mansion rose in the sky were actually
matters of wonder. His bad health kept constantly impeding him, but he did never
allow the same to stand between his labour and duties. He even ignored the pains of
his ailments on the altar of his duties with the result that immense riches followed his
industry and Pundit Jee came to secure a permanent place amongst the few Kothi -
purchasing magnates.
Never extravagant and showy, Pundit Jee believed in economy of words. He
practiced the art of expressing too much in too few words coated with his sweet and
humble bearing and manners and this earned him affection and esteem of all the
courts. On the civil side, he went on rising and began to be engaged by litigant public
all over the State to represent their causes in different district courts. Subsequently, his
indifferent health and unwillingness to undertake cases outside the district of
Darbhanga sent the scale of his fees rocketing high and during those days the highest
fees commanded by a lawyer of repute rested at the foot of Rs. 55/- per day (and only
a very few could command it), Pundit Jee demanded Rs.110/- per day, besides
consultation fees, etc. His engagement continued for months together on such a high
scale of fees, and, I hear, once the famous Hassan Imam insisted that in arguing out a
big appeal on behalf of Raj Darbhanga he needed the assistance of “the Pundit” most.
I had occasions to appear with or against him and all his adversaries had to
keep themselves ready for meeting his last minute surprise attacks by citing authorities
of the Privy Council reported through “Indian Appeals” of which he was said to be the
master. On Hindu Law, his Sanskrit scholarship claimed the top and the code of civil
procedure was on the tip of his tongue. He believed not in the attractiveness of the
language, but in mastering the technicalities of the concerned court and prepared

17
exhaustive notes which nobody other than himself followed. The same note gave him
such a sequence and exhaustive list of overruled and dissented from cases on the point
that even very senior advocates shuddered citing a ruling against him. Here a
remarkable trait that could be found on his face was that it remained completely blank
and his adversary, while making out his point, had no inkling from his demeanor
whether the points raised by him were holding good. I observed this characteristic
excellence in him and this was sufficient to shake the confidence of his adversary. But
at the same time, he would never cite a ruling unless he read it three times patiently
and thoroughly.
The only extravagance that could be seen in him was that every year in long
vacation he made it a point to visit a hill station of his choice where he stayed for near
about a month and where from he returned replenished and reinvigorated.
Till the end of his life he remained the pet figure of the Maharajadhiraj Sri
Kameshwar Singh of Darbhanga and it was under his kind patronage that he continued
to be the Secretary of the All India Maithili Mahasabha for life.

Babu Saryu Kant Jha

Rising from his grass-root position and depending entirely on his right hand
and keen intellect coupled with self-restraint, Babu Saryu Kant Jha was one of the
very few who outstandingly made his mark not only in the academic eminence of the
time, but came to a top point in legal eminence as well. His extra-ordinarily tall
personality with his brilliant hold over so many languages and his scholarly advocacy
plus the capacity to analyze and scrutinize the points made his presence felt at once in
any court. In his honest effort to do full justice to all cases that he was briefed with for
the day, he could be seen running from court to court, panting and pulsating with extra
heat of life and it was a wonder how he remembered every detail of the instant case
that he was required to argue there. So very quick to grasp and so very fluent and
compellingly impressive in his advocacy, he had no equal. In order to keep himself
abreast with his over-briefed files and in his eagerness to put every one of them at its
best, he cared little for his health, with the result that before he reached the summit of

18
his life, he was rendered incapable of firmly standing on his feet. His over industrious
nature and his utmost honest efforts not to let any client return from his office
crestfallen cost him his life at the age of 55. But within this very short space of time,
he rose to be a personality to be reckoned with, like the length and breadth of the vast
expanse of the river Tilyuga. He accumulated a lot and left the management of all his
accumulation in the hands of others, as he could never find respite from his briefs. I
am afraid to note that the number of briefs at his command has not up till now been
equalled and in his massive big double storied building, he could be found on the floor
of his verandah deeply buried in his numerous files that taxed every inch of his body
and every ounce of his blood.
He was severely criticized for not even finding time to attend to invitations,
and it was so never out of spite or show of ego, but due to his eagerness not to fail the
interests of his client. He apologized for him failure to keep his appointments. Over
food, he had no time either to be sweet or sour, rude or polite as, it was said, even in
his dreams on bed, he used to make out his points very assiduously before various
courts.
He would never think of dancing attendance on Rajas and Maharajas. Judges
and Collectors and I have personally seen a Raja Saheb of the time staying with him in
the upper story of his building and he finding little or no time to properly attend on
him. A number of instances, I know, of his having advanced money to his colleagues,
senior as well as junior, and most of them lapsing. He had no time or breath even to
demand the same, and where is the honesty left to think of any moral obligation to pay
off the loan even when he was bed ridden and preparing to depart from this world!
I had occasion to see him fretting and fuming, specially when the Court was
found to be too dull to follow the fineness of his point and his other clients were
hanging on his head pestering him in their eagerness to take him to other courts to
attend to their cases. Such were the sights to see! He would pray for time when such
uphill tasks came his way and when called at the end of the working day, he would
enter the court’s chamber to thoroughly convince the Court of his point.

19
 It can very well be imagined what his state of health might have been when he
returned to his residence to find his verandah full of hundreds of litigants. This told
upon his health and any amount of medical treatment could not save him. First of all
he was forced to take voluntary retirement at the age of fifty one but even that proved
futile and he passed away at the age of 56 in the year 1945.
A Pundit out and out, hurriedly chanting his everyday path, later on he
devoted more of his time to the studies of Puranas and Shastras but the flames of life
were sinking low and low at last to be snuffed out.
He was a type of himself, dedicated to plain living and high thinking with
“heart within and God overhead.”

Pt. Gangadhar Mishra

Dedicated to public and charitable institutions and running them with the zeal
and endeavour of a missionary and feeding them from his own pocket till these
institutions came of age, Gangadhar Babu also proved to be a type of himself. Starting
his career from almost zero, he built for himself a flaring-fame, both at law and public
causes at large and there can hardly be found a patron who has conceived, initiated
and nurtured so many institutions. The establishment of Mithila College, the first
private college of Bihar, was an outcome of his brain-wave and tact and sweet tongue
which collected him a band of dedicated workers and patron financiers like the reputed
Chandradhari Babu whose kingly benevolent donation brought the college to its
present shape.
To start the first law college beyond Patna and to attach the same to function
with the Mithila College was the creation of his brain, and its completion, of his
talents. Even up till now, both of these colleges bear the stamp of Gangadhar Babu in
as much as they have been raised to be constituent colleges. Though Gangadhar Babu
left this world rather early in life, yet even at his last breath his anxiety for the college
was eloquent. But B.K. Biswas, a senior colleague of his, relieved him of his worries
by announcing in his presence that he would denote the deficit amount to the tune of
rupees ten thousand. The glow of pleasant relief that painted his face in his last

20
moments on hearing of this sufficiently speaks of his sentiments with respect to this
college which was treated as his eldest son so long as he lived.
Ashtang Ayurved Mahividyalaya was another of his creations which he
nurtured with his affection.
It was he who for the first time conceived of a lawyer’s conference firstly at
the state level, and, then, at the national level. This conception of bringing the lawyers
of the entire country under one fold materialized and found full shape soon after, but
he kept himself behind the scene, injecting the Conference with his life-blood and
introducing others to be heroes of the show. This first conference was without doubt
the fore-runner of the All India Lawyer’s Conference which is proving considerably
strong till today.
Possessing an imposing personality with scholastic M.A., L.L.B and
Kavyatirtha degrees, Gangadhar Babu earned for himself a fame as a poor man’s
advocate. But his reputation rose to such a pitch that most of the landed magnates of
the place, including Maharajadhiraj came to be his clients and in no time, he not only
amassed a lot but attained a height which was respected and cared for by courts as
well as public. Till the end, he cared more for his poor clients and this attitude towards
the common man marked him out as a luminous star not to be out shown by any other
in the firmament.
He joined the Bar in the year…, with a below the average start and within ten
years of his practice, he could be observed pulsating the life blood of so many public
and charitable institutions. Hundreds of students who were studying outside
Darbhanga found support at his hands, and he did not hesitate even for a moment in
going in for loans to feed his creations.
I very well remember the day when he mooted his idea of a lawyer’s
conference of the state level to be invited at Darbhanga. He studiously avoided
bringing himself to the forefront, though he met the bulk of its expenditure. We saw
the greatness of his head and heart when he suggested and proposed the name of Priya
Babu to be the chairman of the Reception Committee. Another member then quipped,
“Where will you yourself be?” Actually he acted and remained till the end, the

21
throbbing heart of the whole show, studiously avoiding to come to the front of the
show and all the office bearers, from Chairman to a member, turning to him for
guidance and inspiration.
I can never forget how he, being so close to the Maharajadhiraj personally
could not bear a slighting attitude, left his retainership outright by intimating the same
to him and never alluding to this afterwards. The result was apparent. His
engagements came to be more in demand and he attained the pinnacle of his glory
when after the retirement of Dharni Babu, he was the one choice on both civil and
criminal sides to lead a side with equal efficiency.
Nobody saw him ever quarreling with any body, rather at that time curl of
smile never disappeared from his face and that was his one excellence that won
anybody to his side. So many European Kothiwallas were his clients and it would be
very difficult for any body to keep his Indian clients quite satisfied when an
Englishman came to the office in connection with a case and it was heartening to see
how tactfully he managed both the races who were quite antagonistic to each other.
Once Mr. Parr of Harisinghpur Kothi, the most paying client of his office, came
unannounced and took his seat on a chair in a back row. The Englishman entered the
hall without even making a pretension of sound and Gangadhar Babu could not notice
him, say for about five minutes, as he was almost buried in his files. Honest to the core
and absolutely minus any pretensions, Gangadhar Babu noticed him, expressed his joy
through his pair of eyes and with a bit of greeting questioned him, “Is it very urgent?”
“Not very”, came the honest reply, “Orright, Thank You”
“No, thanks are your dues from me. I am paid to be your retained lawyer.”
“Never mind, then positively at 1:30 p m to day? Where?”
“In the Bar Association consultation chamber. Thank you for accepting an
inconvenience.”
The aged English patron was more impressed by his frankness and when in the
afternoon he was leaving after consultation, the old peer blessed him, “I am proud of
you, Gangadhar.” And both parted company smiling as good friends. A fiery
Congressman was awaiting his turn impatiently that morning and was planning in his

22
mind to confront Gangadhar Babu with his partial reception to the Englishman if he
took up his matter, leaving the matters of all those Indians unattended. But marking
his tactful behaviour, he showered his applause. But Gangadhar Babu’s ears were
equally unmindful of censures or praises.
I am reminded of another similar occasion. Gangadhar Babu had just come to
the Association Hall from ijlas after arguing out a difficult case and was rather tired
and taking his usual seat under the fan. An old retained Mokhtar of the Raj came
almost running and panting to him, “The Saheb is waiting for you in his car. Come,
come at once, he is calling you.”
“Which Saheb?”, though smiling, he could not mask his annoyance.
“Harvey Saheb, Raj Manager!”, was the startled reply.
“Well, my good Mokhtar Saheb”, Gangadhar Babu ejaculated, “then why does
he not come here!” Gangadhar Babu again became cold.
“For you, to call him here!”, Mokhtar Saheb was aghast staring at him and
almost not believing what his ears had heard. Unmindful of the state of mind of his old
Mokhtar Saheb, Gangadhar Babu sent for the “Saheb” through the orderly peon of the
Bar Association. The Saheb came staggering to where he was sitting and before the
Saheb could speak a word to him, Gangadhar Babu asked, “Is there any sanction for
this consultation by your Law Department? I don’t remember to have received any
such sanction letter.”
“Can’t sanction be obtained later?”
“Sanction should precede consultation. Well, I am sorry.”
The bureaucrat retraced his footsteps as militarily as be had entered and the
entire Association Hall burst into peals of laughter. Gangadhar Babu was the only
person not to join them in their hilarious laughter. Of course, it was a fitting reply to
his (the Englishman’s) audacity.
After the death of Pt. Kapileshwar Mishra, he continued to be the Secretary of
the All India Maithili Mahasabha till his death which office he justified by his deeds
and thoughts and it was his talent that gave the institution a building with
accommodation for August guests who happened to visit Darbhanga.

23
 In a civil matter, Late Mahabir Prasad, the then Advocate General of Bihar,
appeared before the District Judge of Darbhanga on behalf of a rich Mahantha and the
public was represented by Gangadhar Babu to oppose him which task he executed
with grace and efficiency. He received the unequivocal applause of the general public
at large.
In large heartedness and the spirit of self-sacrifice, he was almost on the
summit and from what I have seen of him personally, I feel, he is the one luminary of
this Bar who can be a model on all considerations.
I remember a sessions trial in which my family was interested in the accused
side and Gangadhar Babu was my father’s ultimate choice. The touts and Karpadazes
pressed my father to engage other seniors, but he stuck to his choice and Gangadhar
Babu took up the brief. I was asked to read out the brief to him when he found time
(never before 9 p m), but some portions of the police diaries he made me read out
twice and thrice and not believing what I read out to him, he read those portions
himself very minutely. Next day he verified the same with the original and became
assured. After a few days, when the case was taken up, it was found with dismay that
he cross-examined prosecution witnesses very meagerly and some witnesses he did
not cross-examine at all. A tout made a hell of this and my father also was visibly
shaky.
Gangadhar Babu, cross-examined the Investigation Officer and brought certain
circumstances on the record based on his findings and admissions. He did not examine
any defense witness.
The Sessions Judge (Reputed Rang Lal Banerjee) did not call upon him to
argue and after hearing the public prosecutor and eliciting the opinion of the assessors,
he acquitted all the accused.
I can hardly describe the suspense and foreboding that invaded our side of the
parties so long the judgment was to be delivered and there was nobody on our side
who did not lament the choice of lawyer selected to defend those accused. But when
their clean acquittal was announced, believe it, we actually did not expect it and my

24
father had to satisfy himself by getting the information confirmed by the junior of the
public prosecutor.
Gangadhar Babu was not there to hear the judgment himself and when my
father and others came to him, he smilingly told them, “I knew it, there could not be
any other judgment”, and on my father’s query, he explained to him that it was based
on circumstantial evidence and the police findings negated the inference. “Then why
make a show of lengthy cross-examination and burden the records to linger the
hearing of the case and get your fees for more days? I also knew what the touts told
you. But I had to be honest to my duties and to the court who is strictly honest and
judicious.”
I have no words to adequately express the relief and joy that thrilled our side
and the esteem for the advocate rose still higher in our minds.
This was the excellence of the man. May he rest in peace!

Babu Braj Behari Singh

As stern and strictly upright in his character and equally honest and industrious
in his duties, Braj Behari Babu rose to an eminence as a civil side-lawyer by dint of
his talents. When I joined the Bar in the thirties, he was as simple and unassuming as
in the sixties and part of seventies when he had not even a breathing spell of time to
spare in the midst of his roaring practice. He had hardly any breath and patience to
care for his dress or even for his food. All that concerned him was his briefs and the
courts. He would never lend himself to any other side-venture beside the one he was
dedicated to.
Juniors shuddered to accept any brief as his assistant as he was a relentless and
hard taskmaster, and if he did not come up to what the seniors required of him, he had
little or no chance. Only those few could make a mark in his office who had patience
enough to devote the days and nights only in hunting out rulings and authorities with a
particular reference to those over-ruled or dissented from. He would never consent to a
hurried consultation and after he had prepared a case thoroughly. It was impossible to
dislodge him from courts, he never attempted to conceal any ruling that went against

25
his cause, but dealt with them more studiously, distinguishing the points of law and of
facts. And after he had softened the rigours of law against his cause, he pounced with
his ace-cards as a panther upon the other side’s cause and got his point. He did not
have any ruffle with any court and that was only due to his characteristic honesty both
to the courts and to his briefs.
In a Samastipur Court, his very big bundle of books had preceded him and the
litigant public expected a big fat lawyer of extra-tall statures with flowing silk dress,
band and gown to appear behind it. But lo! What was their disappointment to find
such an unassuming man in rather such coarse dress addressing the court. But when he
succeeded in creating interest in the mind of the court by unveiling layers of
finenesses, all supported by up to date authorities, everybody there felt a glow
admiring his way of putting each point and then proving the same with settlers on the
subject. He was punctiliously honest and then believed by courts as nobody could ever
expect that he would bluff anybody. He was incapable of ever bluffing anybody
whatsoever.
Once he was very much sore and annoyed with me and I could not anticipate
any reason. When he came back from the ijlas, he made it a point to see me and to
reprimand.
“You are my senior”, I told him.
“Never mind”, he insisted, “I will invite sins if a Brahmin offers his pranam to
me, being a non-Brahmin?”
“Not in the least”, I became bold, “give me a chance to convince you of my
stand on the authority of Geeta.”
“Geeta?” He burst out. “Have you read Geeta? And at this age?”
“Sir, and most of them I remember word by word”
“I have also read ‘Geeta’ and so many times. How do you think of convincing
me on the score of Geeta…?”
I was now bolder, ^^;ks eka i’;fUr loZua loZpef;i’;fr**
“What does it convey?”

26
 “One who sees me in every being and every being in me… !” I explained but
he was still annoyed with me.
“How does it entitle me to accept your ‘pranam’ and be such a devil as to bless
you?”
He burst out in a laughter and all the consternation was quieted. He again
asked me smiling, “So you claim to be a devotee of Geeta and find god in me?”
“Yes, every bit of you…” I ejaculated.
“Then, I ask you never to respect it, pranam.”
He went away satisfied that he did at last succeed in defeating a junior rebel.
During the fifties of this century, a common term came to be used figuratively “four-
twenty.” “Oh! You seem to be a great four-twenty” and this incriminating expression
became popular as an idiomatic expression.
Braj Behari Babu did not follow what the term connoted. So one day he
enquired of a junior what it meant actually. All those present there laughed out and
explained to him what it actually meant and connoted.
The symbolical meaning of the word impressed him and some times he took
pleasure in using the term.
He was out and out a “Kshtriya”, as the best and highest characteristic of the
term was literally found true in him ^^;q)kspkI;iy;ue** never showing his back
in the battle (even of words).
Adored by lawyers having thirst for diving deep in law and by court craving
justice to be actually and substantially administered, Braj Behari Babu has left a void
perhaps not to be filled at all. To my mind the quoted Sanskrit literary piece very
squarely fitted him:
^^vfC/yaf/kr ,o okuj eVks
fdURoL; xEHkhjrkA
ek ikrkefueXu ihoj ruq%
tkukfueUFkkpy%AA**

27
 The Legendary Great Hanuman jumped over the ocean but could he fathom its
depth? Was its depth not only touched and churned by the lean and thin unassuming
Manthachal alone?
We had constituted a “Sanskritic Gosthi” of which, after greatest persuasion,
he consented to be the president. But very rarely he could find time to come and ever
attend its functions. It so happened that the then Chief Justice had consented to preside
over one of its special sessions and the Maharajadhiraj of Darbhanga was to
inaugurate it. With his approval, all arrangements were made and programme fixed up,
but it was buried in his files. Braj Behari Babu forgot every thing clean. Some of my
colleagues pointed out to me that I should remind him of the entire programme and
prepare him for heading the Committee that will receive the Chief Justice at the
Railway Station fairly early, before 6:30 a m, and for garlanding the august guest. I
laughed at it as I felt he could not forget it. Yet pressed by my friends and colleagues,
I approached him on the eve of the function and, to my dismay, I found that he had
really completely forgotten about the special function of the Goshthi. When I told him
that the function would take place the following day where Chief Justice was to
preside over the function and the Maharajadhiraj would inaugurate it and he was to
deliver the welcome address, he expressed his helplessness. “I have an important case
tomorrow, and I have not even seen the brief for the same”, he said. “Well, no court
will sit tomorrow”, I assured him, “since the Chief Justice is coming here. The
District Judge himself will be there at the railway station to receive him and will be
accompanying him through the day. So you need not worry on that account”, I added.
“Then, what are you asking me to do?”
“Prepare a welcome address and be ready to receive the Chief Justice in the
morning.”
“Why don’t you deliver the welcome address?”
“Responsibilities of this magnitude can not be entrusted to juniors.”
“Al right, then, you will have to take the responsibility of having a welcome
address written and framed, I will only read it aloud and present it to the Chief
Justice.”

28
 “But you must be ready at four in the morning to come to the railway station. I
will come here to take you along and then by five in the morning we should be at the
station. Remember you can tomorrow return to your residence only by mid-night.”
“Do me another favour, please”, Braj Behari Babu said.
“What?”
“Write this four o’clock – five o’clock morning business on a piece of paper
and stick it to my door.”
I did as directed.
How the rest of the following day passed is another story that may be told
some other time. But the following day when Priya Babu complimented Braj Behari
Babu on the well-organised function of the Goshthi, “from the Welcome address to
the Vote of Thanks”, Braj Behari Babu could no longer hold himself. Pointing to me,
he said, “I was just His Master’s Voice5, parroting out words that were given to me.
These compliments belong elsewhere.” Everyone burst out laughing.
I ran into Braj Behari Babu one day in Baidyanath Dham6. He obviously was
delighted to see me, and after usual greetings told me that he was inviting me to his
residence in Baidyanath Dham for a Brahmin Bhojan that day. “What would you like
to have?”, he asked me. I told him what I liked. “But you are a Barhmin, I can not
give you siddhann”7.
“Then why did you ask me what I liked !”, I retorted.
“Fine, you have vanquished me.” He gave me a sumptuous feast to my taste
and appetite, and concluded it with many generous helpings of choicest mishtann of
Baidyanath Dham.
Once Shree B L Das, then a lawyer with only about or less than five years
practice at law, wanted to consult Braj Behari Babu on a point of law. When he
approached Braj Behari Babu, he was asked to come to his office at two in the
afternoon. “At two clock?”, Shree Das asked in a voice of disbelief. It was summer

5
The name of a company that manufactured and sold pre-recorded wax discs of popular songs to be
played upon gramophones.
6
Also known as Deoghar.
7
boiled grains.

29
time and the courts sat from seven thirty in the morning to twelve thirty in the
afternoon. Braj Behari Babu understood the discomfort of the young lawyer and with a
smile on his lips said, “All right, come at three!”.
Shree Das had the joy of his life when one day he found Braj Behari Babu
supporting his interpretation of a point of law against that of another advocate, many
years his senior. It so happened that one day Shree Das was taking dictation from a
senior lawyer, but at a particular point he felt that his senior’s interpretation of that
point of law was erroneous. Gathering courage, he said so to his senior, but the senior
was arrogant and rebuked him and asked him to continue taking dictation and mind his
business. But Das was not to be easily put down and insisted and suggested that they
should consult Braj Behari Babu and take his opinion. The client also readily agreed
for this, and they went to Braj Behari Babu. He heard them both and then, after a
minute’s silence, said that he thought that the interpretation of Shree Das was the only
correct interpretation of that point of law.
Braj Behari Babu heard even young lawyers with utmost attention and respect,
as if he were listening to some colleague many years his senior, and if he found any
good point in their opinion he readily accepted the same giving credit to the youngster
for it. We do not have another person in the legal fraternity like Braj Behari Babu
amidst us now!

Babu Palat Lal

A type, all by himself, was perfectly exemplified by Palat Babu, who lived the
life of an ascetic and astute tapaswi, extravagantly spending ninety-nine percent of his
fabulous earnings over Sadhus, Mahatmas and Charitable purposes. He lost his wife at
a very early period in his career and thereafter he dedicated himself heart and soul to
the cult of “Siya Rama”. He made it a point to find “Siya Rama” in everybody strictly
adhering to the line of Goswami Tulsi Das:
^^fl;k jkee; lHk tx tkuhA**

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 Thereafter he began to address everybody as “Siya Rama” and so he himself
began to be addressed as “Siya Rama”, till after a few years, he was known only as
“Siya Rama”.
This side of his person developed to such an extent that his nature turned out to
be that of an innocent boy in all walks of life with the result that a number of
scoundrels invaded his office on false pretexts, prevailed upon him to draft and argue
out cases and swallow the entire or the major portion of his fees themselves. In his
name, hundreds were charged as fees and only due to delicacy and extra sweetness of
his nature, he never exposed them either to the clients themselves who paid or to the
courts. As a civil side lawyer, he was in demand all over the state, but due to his very
sweet temper and nature and large-heartedness, he let the scoundrels swallow the
lion’s share. This could not be abated even when his only son, himself quite capable,
joined the Bar and began his practice. The son tried to control the realization of his
father’s fees, but the wolves, who had been tasting his blood, succeeded in thwarting
the efforts of the son when Palat Babu himself went to the extent of informing him
untruly that he had already realized the same and spent it. The son knew the
acceptance to be untrue, but as he himself remained very much devoted to his father,
he had no alternative but to keep quiet.
His reputation as the Master of Hindu Law spread far and wide. I have seen
him arguing out a civil suit for months, but the major portion of his earnings (that
actually came to his hands) went towards feeding and meeting the idiosyncrasies of
the garbed sadhoos. When he was informed with sufficient proof that some of them
were mere thugs, his pet reply would be to let it pass!
But the matter did not rest there. Even when he had no money with him, he
could be seen going in for loans to feed others here, there and everywhere (though he
himself lived only on milk and fruits for almost the last fifty years of his life, without,
in the least, impairing his agility or efficiency). Anybody could just inform him of his
having eaten nothing, and he melted like butter, and then be it road side or railway
station, while walking or going anywhere or sitting and working in difficult files, he
lost his balance completely and could never maintain his equilibrium unless he had fed

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them sumptuously. It mattered not a bit if he had to beg, borrow or steal (steal from
the drawers of his son). This characteristic, call it his strength or weakness, sent him
rocking so high that, to my knowledge, he occupied that summit alone, though all his
dear and near ones and all his well-wishers dissuaded him from treading that path. At
times he would chant like an innocent child-
^^tks ?kj Tkkj; vkiuk py; geksjs lkFk**
In thousands, he was pauper, and even in lacs he continued to remain the same.
When he was nearing seventy, we learn that by a decree of the court, he was installed
as a Mahanth8 of a big monastery, i.e. “Sthan Ku… in the District of Champaran
owning hundreds of bighas of land. He undertook its management besides his
profession. He built a temple for Ram Lakhan Janki Jee and Hanumanjee there. Soon
afterwards, we heard that a lot of its property had been sold for good consideration
and good portions of it went to the Raj-Bhog9 of the deity and, thus, feeding the
assemblages of bhukkhhars10.
For his person, not even a rupee out of that could be spent and for persons of
his son and grandsons, not even a gram. They were denied access in the sthan. But
even then he continued to remain the same, as simple and innocent as a child,
everything coming his way, flowing towards the one big channel, “Siya Rama”, and
his Daridra Narayans11. This was his craze and this was his bliss. This was his sole
object and solace and this was his emancipation.
A Master of Arts of the early times of the present century as well as an
Acharya of Sanskrit Sahitya, he had most of the Upnishad and the Dharma Shastra on
the tip of his tongue. His Sanskrit eloquence was charming like that of an expert, he
used such simple words and expressions in his Sanskrit speeches that anybody
knowing Hindi well could follow it easily.

8
usually a senior monk who heads a monastery.
9
The main meal
10
The hungry and glutton
11
The pauper gods

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 He had acquired specialties in translating and interpreting the original Sanskrit
texts in matters of Hindu Law and Courts were as if being taught by a professor word
by word linking the joints and explaining the same explicitly.
His engagements were so numerous that it was well nigh impossible to keep up
with them. Particularly when a court seemed reluctant to accommodate him, his
juniors had the hell at times, and, actually, one felt wonder of wonders how “Siya
Rama” managed any case from going unattended and unmoved.
Of course, he never took undue advantages of the court, but impelled by his
utter innocence and godly simplicity, the courts themselves gave him advantages
which others could never aspire for. He would never disbelieve anybody who supplied
household stuffs, fuels or milk, to his household. The poor daughter-in-law had to face
very taxing times when she found that they were “extending their tails like
Hanumanjee” to inordinate length. By the time she could raise her protests, the culprits
were off and when he was given to know how he had been defrauded, he would show
his utter dismay and promise he would never pay them anything the next month. But
again the same story repeated itself, and our “Siya Rama” looked askance without
mending matters.
Once an assemblage of about fifty “very learned scholars” was arranged in our
Association Hall under the presidentship of the Late Babu Chandhari Singh and as
chairman of the reception committee Siya Rama delivered his address in Sanskrit
extempore. In course of the same, he admitted all the different Darshans
(philosophies) in such a simple and convincing manner, weaving all of them in his
Bhaktiyoga12 that people had difficulty believing that even amongst lawyer’s there
existed such a pundit in its very true and technical sense of the term. Besides the
learned ones, the president himself expressed his “pride” to find such a ratna13
amongst us.

12
The Yoga of devotion
13
jewel

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 This was our Siya Rama, an incarnation of celebrity and dedication complete,
superb in his presentations and quite fatherly when occasions of any extra-expenditure
came our way.
So long as he lived, sumptuous dishes of sweets could be seen being
distributed in our Association, not only amongst the members of the Bar, but also
amongst a good number of children on the 26th of January and 15th of August. Hardly
anybody would leave our Association hall without his belly full of sweets. Nobody
knew how the cost was met. Feeding all in general and feeding the poor in particular
were his hobby and to believe this, one could observe the glow of utmost inner joy
illuminating his face when he was supervising such a feast and pressing partakers to
take more and more and still more. He would even ignore if anybody kept stealthily a
few sweets in his pocket to carry them home for his children.
In my life, I have never come across anybody of his type. By his passing away,
we have not only lost a great Pundit and Advocate, but we have lost the essence of
humanity that would raise us to divinity and peace. Peace unto him!
His erudition and legal bearing was recognized in the entire state. In the early
sixties he was to argue a case in the Hon’ble High Court at Patna in which ticklish and
complicated points of Hindu Law were involved. The presiding Judge held adverse
view but slowly and steadily he supplemented his arguments with original texts of the
Manusmriti, etc, and he did not rest till the Judge was fully convinced of his point of
view. This case proceeded for several months and when thereafter he came back, on
query from a colleague that he must have amassed a good fortune, his immediate reply
was that he had not a single farthing left and whatever he had earned had already been
spent.
Once Sri B.L. Das was engaged for taking dictation of a plaint from him but
due to incessant interruption from various sides it was difficult to devote any time at
his place. So it was arranged that Siya Rama should be confined in a room to give
dictation but, so after giving dictation of a few lines, he used to snore for more than 10
to 15 minutes. But when he woke up, he continued dictating without asking for the
previous link, even though he had dictated only half the sentences. He used to

34
complete it with the same ease and eloquence, in the best of language with full sense
as usual. Such was the intelligence of our Siya Rama!

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