Thousands of people accompanied Deshbandhu's funeral cortege to the burning ground at Keoratala crematorium in Calcutta. The mass gathering and the manner in which people paid their last respects to this beloved leader, whom many described as "the uncrowned king of Bengal", evoked a feeling in Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) who penned a couplet that has immortalised the person to whom these words were offered : "এনেছিলে সাথে করে মৃত্যুহীন প্রাণ / মরণে তাহাই তুমি করে গেলে দান" (Enechhile sathe kore mrityuheen praan/ Marane tahai tumi kore gele daan..) [You had brought with yourself a life-without-an-end/As you depart, you donate the same.."].

Chittaranjan Das  pronunciation (help·info) (C. R. Das) (Bengali: চিত্তরঞ্জন দাশ Chittorônjon Dash), popularly called Deshbandhu (Friend of the Nation), (5 November 1869 – 16 June 1925), was a leading Indian Politician, a prominent Lawyer, an Activist of the Indian National Movement and founder-leader of the Swaraj (Independence) Party in Bengal during British occupation in India.

He is generally referred to by the honorific Desh Bandhu meaning "Friend of the nation". He was closely associated with a number of literary societies and wrote poems, apart from numerous articles and essays. He married Basanti Devi (1880 - 1974) and had three children, Aparna Devi (1898 - 1972), Chiraranjan Das (1899 - 1928) and Kalyani Devi (1902 - 1983). Basanti Devi also plunged into the freedom movement and was the first woman to court arrest with her sister-in-law Urmila Devi in Non Cooperation movement in 1921. Her warmth and affection for everyone was legendary and she held the position of a matriarch in the freedom fighters fraternity. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose used to regard her as 'Ma'.

Das family of Durga Mohan was a family of lawyers. Durga Mohan's eldest son Satya Ranjan passed matriculation from Emmanuel College and was at Middle Temple during 1883-1886, followed by Chitta Ranjan Das, Durga Mohan's brother's son, during 1890-1894. Satish Ranjan Das (1891-1894), Jyotish Ranjan Das and Atul Prasad Sen (1892-1895) followed their suit.

Chittaranjan Das was actively involved in the activities of Anushilan Samiti. When Pramatha Mitter organised the Samiti as its President to produce hundreds of young firebrands who were ready to sacrifice their lives for the cause of the Nation, Chittaranjan became his associate. Anusilan Samiti was maintained by P. Mitter with the assistance of Chittaranjan Das (1894), Haridas Bose (1895), Suren Haldar (1900) and Jnanendra Nath Roy (1901).

Daughter: Aparna Debi (1898 - 1972), Kalyani Debi (1902 - 1983)

In the historic trial of the Alipore bomb case in 1908, Chittaranjan Das, the defense counsel of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, made this last statement after a eight day long deliberation:

Chittaranjan Das emerged as a distinguished Bengali poet, when, during the troubled days of National movement, he published the first two volumes of his collection of poems titled "Malancha" and "Mala". In 1913 he published "Sagar Sangeet" (The Songs of the Sea). Sri Aurobindo was in Pondichery and when he was in dire need of financial support. Chittaranjan offered him one thousand rupees as a token of his support for an English translation of the poem, a few verses of which are given below:

He was a leading figure in Bengal during the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1919-1922, and initiated the ban on British clothes, setting an Example by burning his own European clothes and wearing Khadi clothes. At one time, his clothes were tailored and washed in Paris and he maintained a permanent laundry in Paris to ship his clothes to Calcutta. He sacrificed all this luxury when he became attached to the Freedom Movement.

He brought out a newspaper called Forward and later changed its name to Liberty to fight the British Raj. When the Calcutta Municipal Corporation was formed, he became its first mayor. He was a believer in non-violence and constitutional methods for the realisation of national independence, and advocated Hindu-Muslim unity, cooperation and communal harmony and championed the cause of national education. He resigned his presidency of the Indian National Congress at the Gaya session after losing a motion on "No Council Entry" to Gandhi's faction. He then founded the Swaraj Party, with veteran Motilal Nehru and young Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, in 1923, to express his uncompromising opinion and position .

Chittaranjan's health did not recover. On 16 June 1925 he died with a severe fever. A special arrangement was made to bring his cortege by train to Calcutta.

Chittaranjan Das was born in a well-known Baidya-Brahmin Das family of Telirbagh, Bikrampur, Dhaka in Bengal, now part of Munshiganj District of Bangladesh. Bikrampur has a long historical and cultural trail since many centuries. In 12th Century it was the capital of Ballal Sena and Lakshmana Sena, Kings of Sena dynasty and since then considered as an important seat of learning and culture of Eastern India.