বাংলা 
English 
At some time in the early years of the twentieth century, the people of Kaya village in Kushtia grew terrified. A huge tiger had been spotted in the nearby forest. In fear of the beast no one dared venture out on the roads even in daylight - let alone at night. The tiger began frequently killing the village's cattle and goats, and the villagers were at their wits' end.
Kaya village had just one gun, and it belonged to Phanibhushan Babu. To protect the lives and property of the village, he resolved, staking his own life, to kill the tiger. Around that time young Jatindranath had come to visit his maternal uncle's home from Krishnanagar. Hearing that his cousin Phanibhushan was going to kill the tiger, Jatindranath grew eager to go along with him. Everyone at the uncle's house forbade Jatindranath to go - after all, there was only one gun; how could Jatindranath go unarmed? What if the tiger attacked him? But Jatindranath listened to no one. Deciding that going empty-handed would not do, he took up a dagger and set out after midday with his cousin Phanibhushan to hunt the tiger.
The search for the tiger began. Phanibabu and Jatindranath made their way to the middle of a large field near the forest at the edge of the village. Jatin kept watching the field all around, while Phanibhushan stood at one corner of it with his gun trained. The villagers, standing beside the forest, played musical instruments. After a while the tiger emerged from the very direction where Jatin was standing. At the sight of it the villagers began to flee in terror. Phanibhushan took aim at the tiger and fired, but the bullet flew past the tiger's head. Far from being wounded, the tiger grew all the more frenzied and pounced upon Jatin.
Caught in the attack, Jatin clamped the tiger under his left armpit and, bearing down with all his strength on the animal's head, began striking it with his dagger. The tiger, for its part, tried with all its might to bite Jatin. The man-and-tiger struggle went on. The tiger's claws tore Jatin's whole body to shreds, and it sank its teeth into his knee as well. But Jatin knew that unless he killed the beast there was no escape for him, and so he fought on for his life. On the other side Phanibhushan tried again and again to shoot the tiger and kept failing - in the way Jatin and the tiger were rolling about together, a bullet could just as easily strike Jatin's body. After nearly ten minutes of this struggle, Jatin killed the tiger and himself collapsed to the ground unconscious.
The dead tiger and the unconscious Jatin were carried home. After being seen by a village doctor, Jatin recovered somewhat, but nearly 300 wounds were found on his body. Seeing his condition, the doctor urged that he be taken to Calcutta at once. Jatin's eldest maternal uncle, Hemantakumar, was then practising medicine in Calcutta, and Jatin was sent to him. Seeing his nephew's perilous state, Hemantakumar placed him in the care of Lieutenant Colonel Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikari, a celebrated surgeon of Calcutta in those days. Even this eminent doctor all but gave up hope of saving Jatindranath and restoring him to full health. Jatin recovered somewhat after about a fortnight, but gangrene set in his leg, and the doctor decided to amputate it.
But thanks to the desperate efforts of Jatin's uncles and the doctors' skilled treatment, both his legs were saved in the end. Doctor Suresh Prasad Sarbadhikari was amazed by Jatin's heroism and indomitable self-confidence and honoured him with the name 'Bagha Jatin'. To the world, Jatindranath Mukhopadhyay thus became 'Bagha Jatin'.
