ABSTRACT
Sarala Devi discovered the greatest slur on Bengalis was their cowardliness, and she was determined to erase this stigma. Many Bengalis in the past were accomplished in the martial art of the lathis (a bamboo or wooden pole), but their inactivity over generations had rendered them sluggish and placid. Many young men regularly called on her. It was often alleged that some of them could be secret agents of the police, but that never deterred her. She was well aware that in her mission for the upliftment of the young people she may have to lay out money with no expectation of ever getting it back. Sarala planned to re-introduce the celebration of Birashtami starting with Bengali mothers. It was necessary to indoctrinate them with the ideals of motherhood that produced and nurtured brave and heroic sons. They also set up a code of how to conduct the Birashtami festival. From then observation of Birashtami gained rapid currency in Bengal.
