Wadder, Waddar or Waddedar: Late revolutionary Pritilata's 86-year-old surname mystery

KOLKATA: Approximately 86 years after her death, one of India’s firebrand revolutionaries was awarded a posthumous degree by the Calcutta University.
On July 26, the duplicate graduation certificate and marksheet of Pritilata Waddedar was handed over to two officials of the Bangladesh High Commission by the Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University. However, the certificate spelt Pritilata’s surname as Waddar.
This certificate was issued by Hassan Suhrawardy on March 25, 1933. Pritilata had joined Masterda Surya Sen’s group in the 1930s. During that time, she was brought in because women would not be suspected when they couriered weapons. In In June 1932, she along with Masterda, escaped from the Dhalghat encounter in which revolutionary Nirmal Sen had lost his life.
In September 1932, Waddedar had led a team of fighters in an attack on the Pahartali European Club in Chittagong, which had proudly displayed a sign reading “Dogs and Indians Not Allowed”. Pritilata, disguised as Punjabi, had torched the club, killing a British woman and injuring 11 others. During the assault, she had sustained a bullet injury. While being trapped by police, she committed suicide by consuming potassium cyanide.
That was on September 23, 1932.
A few months back, in February that year, another revolutionary - Bina Das - had tried to shoot the then governor Stanley Jackson in the senate house of Calcutta University. But, the attempt had failed and Das was imprisoned. While still being the vice chancellor, Suhrawardy had received his knighthood immediately after having saved Jackson’s life. “It is an irony that the protector of the colonialists is forced to give a degree to the girl who led the charge in bringing the colonialists down,” said Bedabrata Pain, who directed “Chittagong” that had Pritilata in a pivotal role.
On Thursday, Md Mofakkharul Iqbal, first secretary (press), Deputy High Commission for Bangladesh, received the certificate from CU vice chancellor Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee. Also present at the ceremony was Bangladesh Deputy High Commission’s counsellor Jamal Hussain. “It was a historic moment. Earlier on, a member of the Birkannya Pritilata Trust had wanted to take the certificate. But the Calcutta University authorities had said that they would prefer to hand it over to the Bangladesh government,” Iqbal said.

Graduation certificate of Pritilata
The “Waddar” spelling in the certificate – different from Waddedar - was noticed by Iqbal too. Interestingly, Pritilata’s matriculation certificate from Dr. Khastagir Government Girls’ School that was issued by University of Calcutta on June 14, 1928, and is available online spells her surname as Wadder. “In Bangladesh, all our government records mention her spelling as Waddedar. When we had asked Calcutta University officials about the “Waddar” spelling, the pro vice chancellor told us that it is the spelling in the university records and that’s what they will follow,” Iqbal added. Repeated calls and messages to the vice chancellor and pro vice chancellor of Calcutta University went unanswered.

Marksheet of Pritilata
Pain, who used the Waddedar surname in “Chittagong”, finds this spelling issue “rather puzzling”. “In all the accounts and conversations with revolutionaries of that time, she was referred to as Waddedar. Even plaques in Bangladesh honouring her use the Waddedar spelling. I had met revolutionary Benode Bihari Chowdhury who was part of the Chittagong uprising. He had referred to Pritilata as Waddedar,” Pain said.

Matriculation certificate of Pritilata
According to Tapati Sengupta, the former head of department of history at Loreto College who had delivered the Pritilata Waddedar Memorial Lecture in 2007 at Jadavpur University, the original surname of the Waddedars was Dasgupta. “Waddedar was derived from the official title of Wahededar. It was conferred upon one of the ancestors of the family by a Nawab of Bengal. In a file preserved at the Bethune College on Pritilata, we find her signing her surname as Wadder. In one document, she has also signed in as Prity Wadder. In her suicide note, she had signed her name as Pritilata Wadder. The college’s official documents curiously spelt her surname as Waddar. Perhaps, it was an oversight,” Sengupta said.

Calcutta University vice chancellor Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee handing over the graduation certificate to Md. Mofakkharul Iqbal and Jamal Hussain of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission
Was it to hide her identity that multiple spellings were used? Pain doesn’t rule that out. “Or perhaps, it was a genuine confusion over an uncommon last name. Mine is spelt alternately by many from Paine, Pune to pine when it is only Pain,” the director said.
The controversy over her surname may remain unresolved but not her contribution. As Pain said, “Whether it is Waddedar or Wadder, history will remember Pritilata – a young woman of 21 – in the front ranks of the revolutionaries of India.”