Sundari Mohan Das

Sundari Mohan Das (17 December 1857 – 4 April 1950) was the founder principal of the Calcutta National Medical College, in Calcutta, India. He was born in Sylhet on 17 December 1857. He took his M.D. degree from Calcutta Medical College. Formerly he was Principle Emeritus of the National Medical Institute and Chittaranjan Hospital, Calcutta; President of the Indian Medical Association, Bengal Branch; Chairman of the Standing Health Committee; Calcutta Corporation; Chairman Nursing and Mandatory Examination Board; Chairman Eden.... committee Nursing Council's Bengal; Chairman Board Of Directors Universal Drug House Pvt. Ltd. A marble statue of Dr. Sundari Mohan Das was unveiled by Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, Chief Minister of West Bengal on 15 January 1956 at Calcutta National Medical College

Birth The paternal home of Late Dr. Sundarimohon Das was in the village of Dighli, in the Sylhet District, now in Bangladesh. He was born in Sylhet on 17 December 1857. It was the time when the first war of Independence against British Rule - the Sepoy Mutiny- was raising its head all through India. He was born on the very day when the mutiny broke out at Latu, a village on the Eastern Border area of the district of Sylhet, then under British occupation.

On getting the news of the mutiny at Latu, many families started on evacuation from Sylhet town by boat and Sundarimohan's mother, who was in her sixth month of pregnancy, was also among the evacuees. Sundarimohan was born on one of such boats before the mature time. The newborn baby was so delicate that he had to be put in a cotton basket and there was great doubt whether the child would survive long.

His father Swarup Chandra Das (also known as Dewan Swarup Chand) had been serving as a Dewan in the Sylhet Collectorate which at that time was under Dacca Commissariat. Later Swarup Chandra was promoted and transferred to Calcutta as Head Dewan of Kalighat. Gabindapur and Sutanuit which were, during that period, under East India Company.

Education Sundarimohan's school education started in Sylhet. He passed the entrance examination from the Sylhet Government Pilot High School. After passing his examination Sundarimohan came to Calcutta (modern Kolkata) to prosecute his further studies. He passed his F.A. Examination from the Presidency College. He took his M.B. degree from the Calcutta Medical College. He was a good scholar all through his educational career and earned scholarship starting from the lowest school stage up to the stage in the Calcutta medical college. . He was aided in this work by Dr. K. S. Roy and Dr. SR. C. Sengupta. Sundarimohan gave up his lucrative private practice, so that he might devote his whole time and energy to his new institution. He served as the Principal of this institution without taking any remuneration except conveyance expenses. The National Medical Institute became the Calcutta National Medical College — one of the foremost medical institutions of the country.

It was in the hospital of the National Medical Institute that Sundarimohan died on 4 April 1950. He had expressed his wish before his death that after his death, his body would be the property of his students and it would be utilised for teaching them dissection and anatomy. The hospital authorities, however, could not fulfil his last wish.

Composition Sundari Mohan Das had also started composing songs during Swadeshi Movement Period. Altogether, he composed about 300 songs. Rabindranath Tagore, while coming and staying in Calcutta, would visit Sundari Mohan's place at least twice or thrice a week to hear his devotional songs (mostly "Kirtans"). He was a regular writer mainly on the subject of public health affairs. His books "Saral Dharti Siksha & Susra Bidya" written in easy Bengali for junior nurse training and midwife training reared a generation of Nurse and Midwife in Bengal, Assam, and Orissa, providing the helpless girls and widows from the middle class and backward poor families with opportunity of employment and honourable life social services. His last great literary works was his unpublished autobiography.