Suresh Chandra Chakravarti = Moni
Photo Collection
Information
(12 December 1891 – 28 April, 1951). In 1901, at the age of sixteen, he came in contact with Sri Aurobindo. His elder brother Prafulla Chakravarti was an active member of Barindra’s group and took part in several attempts to assassinate lieutenant-governor of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam Bampfylde Fuller (1854-1935) and lieutenant-governor of Bengal Andrew Fraser (1848 – 1919).
Moni accompanied Sri Aurobindo to Chandernagore and met him in Pondicherry. More details on these events are here:
One evening in February 1910, probably the fifteenth of the month, Sri Aurobindo went to his office of Karmayogin and Dharma at 4 Shampukur Lane in Calcutta. At around 8.00 p.m., Ramchandra Majumdar, member of the newspaper staff, entered. He told Sri Aurobindo he had received information emanating from a high police official about a soon-to-be-issued warrant: in a day or two the office would be searched and Sri Aurobindo arrested. Then Sri Aurobindo had adesha “Go to Chandernagore”. Sri Aurobindo acted immediately. He simply left the office and set out for the bank of the Ganges. He was led there by Ramchandra, a resident of the area, and followed by his cousin Biren Ghose and Sureshchandra Chakravarti. The four walked in silence. In order to elude the policemen who always shadowed their movements, but who this night were happily inattentive, Ramchandra followed a tortuous path through the twisted lanes of north Calcutta. They stopped nowhere, but proceeded directly to the river. After about fifteen minutes they reached a ghat on the Ganges, apparently one of those located south of Bagbazar Ghat. Here Ramchandra called out to a boatman. After the usual negotiations, Sri Aurobindo, Biren and Sureshchandra stepped from the ghat into the vessel — one of those wooden country-boats that used to ply the river. The three passengers bid farewell to Ramchandra, who stayed behind. No one else was there to see Sri Aurobindo off. The boat at once set sail and proceeded straight to Chandernagore, where it arrived before dawn. Arrangements for Sri Aurobindo’s stay were made that morning and Biren and Suresh returned to Calcutta.
Moni was sent by Sri Aurobindo to Pondicherry in March 1910 to arrange for their stay here. He arrived in Pondicherry four days before Sri Aurobindo, on 31 March 1910. The ship S. S. Dupleix arrived in Pondicherry at 4 p.m. on April 4, 1910. Sri Aurobindo got down with Bijoy Kumar. They were met by Srinivasachari, C. Subramania Bharati (revolutionary Tamil poet), Suresh Chandra Chakravarti and Shankar Chetty. They made straight in a horse-cart for Shankar Chetty’s house in Comoutty (Comty) Chetty Street. Here four men (Nolini, Moni, Saurin Bose, Bijoy Kumar) stayed with Sri Aurobindo as members of his household from April 1910 till October 1910 in absolute privacy. Lived in a small way. Some money was sent by friends from Baroda and Madras (casual). Sri Aurobindo did not accept them as his pupils (sadhakas) but taught them Greek, Latin and French. Moni, along with Nolini, earned a reputation in Pondicherry as an excellent football player.
Moni was a poet and the author of more than a dozen books in Bengali. Except for brief visits to Bengal, he remained in Pondicherry until his death.
Sri Aurobindo often refers to him as “My” and “M” in the Record of Yoga.
Photos
Bibliography
In Bengali
Chakravarty, Suresh Chandra (1891-1951)
Smrtikatha
• .— 1962.- 374 p. 19 cm.