Baji Rout: India’s Youngest Martyr

Baji Rout was a boatman’s son from Odisha. He was shot dead by police at the age of twelve.

He had refused to ferry them across a river. His small act of defiance made him one of India’s youngest martyrs.

1Who was Baji Rout?

He was born into a very poor boatman’s family.

• He was born on 5 October 1926 at Nilakanthapur.
• The village lay in Dhenkanal, which was then a princely state.
• He was the youngest son of the boatman Hari Rout and Rania Devi.
• His father died when he was still a child.
• His mother then supported the family by grinding and husking paddy.
• The family lived by the Brahmani river.
• His village stood on the river bank, in what is now Odisha.
• Boats were their trade, so the river was part of daily life.
• The family was poor, and his mother worked hard to feed the children.
• Such families knew the cost of rule by a distant prince and his officials.
• This background explains why a boatman’s son felt the cause so personally.

2What was the Banar Sena?

It was a children’s force inside a larger movement.

• Baji joined the Banar Sena, the monkey army of the Prajamandal.
• The Prajamandal movement worked in the princely states.
• It asked for responsible government and basic civil liberties.
• It drew its inspiration from the Indian National Congress.
• Princely states were ruled by their own kings under British overlordship.
• The Congress mostly worked in British India, so local groups carried the cause in the states.
• Children could carry messages and watch for danger.
• Police were less likely to suspect a child.
• Baji volunteered for night duty on the river bank.
• His task was to watch the Brahmani and warn the workers of any police movement.
• Such watch duty was risky work for a boy so young.
• Many children in the Banar Sena worked as lookouts and message carriers.

3What happened at the ghat?

A police party tried to cross the river at night.

• The date was 11 October 1938.
• The place was Nilakanthapur Ghat, near Bhuban.
• Baji was keeping watch there that night.
• The police ordered him to ferry them across the Brahmani river.
• He refused.
• The police shot him.
• He died on the spot at the age of twelve.
• He had not committed any crime.
• His only offence was refusing to help.
• Few martyrs in India died at such a young age.
• His story shows that ordinary children also joined the struggle.
• The police order was simple: ferry us across. His answer was a plain no.

4What happened after his death?

The boy’s body became a symbol.

• His remains were taken to Pithapur, the base of the leader Bhagawati Charan Panigrahi.
• A large procession was held in Cuttack.
• He was cremated at Satichaura in Cuttack.
• The death of a child shocked people across Odisha.
• It strengthened the Prajamandal cause in the princely states.
• Odia people began to call him a martyr.
• The procession in Cuttack was a public show of grief and anger.
• His body was cremated, and the day became a landmark in the Prajamandal story.
• He is often named among the youngest martyrs of the freedom struggle.

5How is he remembered?

Odisha has kept his name alive in many ways.

• The poet Sachidananda Routray wrote a famous poem called “Baji Rout”.
• Routray won the Jnanpith Award.
• A short documentary film, “Baji Rout: India’s Freedom Fighter”, tells his story.
• A national football tournament, the Baji Rout Cup, was inaugurated on 3 November 2022.
• Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated it.
• Rajasthan United won the first edition.
• A sports event is a fitting tribute, since Baji was only a boy.
• The tournament carries his name across the whole country.
• Portraits of the boy are common in Odisha, including the 2002 AIDSO portrait above.

6What are the exam traps?

Several young martyrs are tested together, so keep them apart.

• Baji Rout was twelve when he was shot.
• He was shot dead by police. He was not hanged.
• Khudiram Bose was hanged at eighteen. See Khudiram Bose.
• Kanaklata Barua was shot at seventeen. See Kanaklata Barua.
• Hemu Kalani was a teenager from Sindh. See Hemu Kalani.
• The Banar Sena belonged to the Prajamandal, not to the Quit India movement.
• The key date is 11 October 1938. The key river is the Brahmani.
• The key place is Nilakanthapur Ghat in Dhenkanal.
• His death came in 1938, well before the Quit India movement of 1942.
• Do not confuse him with adult martyrs such as Matangini Hazra.
• For the state, see Odisha.