Dhaka Anushilan Samiti
Dhaka Anushilan Samiti was a branch of the Anushilan Samiti founded in the city of Dhaka in November 1905. Initially a group of eighty under the leadership of Pulin Behari Das, it "spread like wildfire" throughout the province of East Bengal. More than 500 branches were opened, linked by a "close and detailed organization" to Pulin’s headquarters at Dhaka. It absorbed smaller groups in the province and soon overshadowed its parent organisation in Calcutta. Branches of Dhaka Anushilan emerged in the towns of Jessore, Khulna, Faridpur, Rajnagar, Rajendrapur, Mohanpur, Barvali, Bakarganj and other places. Estimates of Dhaka Anushilan Samiti's reach show a membership of between 15,000 and 20,000 members. Within another two years, Dhaka Anushilan would devolve its aims from the Swadeshi to the dedicated aim of political terrorism. The "Dhaka Anushilan Samiti" embarked on a radical program of political terrorism. It broke with the "Jugantar group" due to differences with Aurobindo's approach of slowly building a base for a revolution with a mass base. The Dhaka group saw this as slow and insufficient, and sought immediate action and result. It was responsible for a number of political assassinations, most notably the murder of D.C. Allen. However, it reached a temporary halt after the arrest and deportation of Pulin Das and the Barisal Conspiracy Case in 1913. Dhaka Anushilan decided not to participate in the German plot of World War I. After the war, it continued in its violent movement, and some of its members went on to form the Neo-violence group.
Anushilan Samiti
At least initially, membership was predominantly Hindus, which was ascribed to the religious oath of initiation and was unacceptable to Muslims. Each member was assigned to one or more of three roles. These included collection of funds, implementation of planned actions and propaganda respectively. In practice, however, the fundamental division was between what was conceived as "military’’ work and ‘‘civil’’ work. "Dal"s (teams) consisting of five or ten members led by a "dalpati" (teamleader) were grouped together in local "samiti"s led by "adhyakshas" (executive officer) and other officers. These reported to district officers appointed by and responsible to the central Dhaka organization. This was commanded by Pulin Das and those who succeeded him during his periods of imprisonment. "Samitis" were divided into four functional groups: violence, organisation, keepers of arms, householder department. Communications were by special couriers and were written in secret code. This practice and many others were taken from literary sources and were in part a concession to the young men’s need to act out romantic drama. Less is known about the "Jugantar" network, which took the place of the Maniktala society after Alipore Bomb case. It faced divisions similar to "Anushilan". Historian Leonard Gordon notes that at least in the period between 1910 and 1915, each group "dal" in the "Jugantar" network were separate units composed of a leader known as "dada" ("lit": elder brother), and his followers. The "dada" was also guru, tutoring those under his command, practical skills, revolutionary ideology and strategy. Gordon suggests that the dada system developed out of pre-existing social structures in rural Bengal. "Dada"s both co-operated and competed with each other for men, money and material.