01The bomb of 30 April 1908
Douglas Kingsford, as Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta, had sentenced young Swadeshi workers to flogging, and the Anushilan circle marked him for death. When he was transferred to Muzaffarpur as district judge, Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki followed him. On the evening of 30 April 1908 they threw a bomb into a carriage leaving the European club; it carried not Kingsford but Mrs Kennedy and her daughter, who were killed. Prafulla shot himself at Mokama when the police closed in. Khudiram was caught at Waini station the next morning, tried at Muzaffarpur and hanged in the jail there on 11 August 1908. The jail is now named after him, and Waini station is Khudiram Bose Pusa.
02Tilak’s sentence and Gandhiji’s arrival
The Muzaffarpur bomb echoed far. Tilak’s articles in Kesari on it led to his trial for sedition and six years in Mandalay. Nine years later, on 10 April 1917, Gandhiji came to Muzaffarpur by night train on his way to Champaran, and was received by Professor J. B. Kripalani and his students; from here he went on to Motihari and the enquiry into the indigo planters that began his work in India. Vaishali, the old Licchavi city, lies about thirty-five kilometres to the south-west.
The life of this place
- 30 April 1908Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki throw the Muzaffarpur bomb.
- 11 August 1908Khudiram is hanged in Muzaffarpur jail.
- 10 April 1917Gandhiji reaches Muzaffarpur on his way to Champaran.
