1
Savarkar passed his Mati’iculation Examinatiou in Decem- ber 1901, and left Nasik for Poona in January 1902. What was the state of Poona ? Exactly a year before Poona had lost Mahadeo Govind Ranade, India’s foremost torchbearer of learning and light. Ranade was a great social reformer, a towering scholar, an ardent patriot, a renowned thinker, an eminent economist and an exemplary judge. He was the foremost torchbearer of a new age, and wished to build a social structure conforming to the demands of fresh ideas. Though not strictly a Congressman his word was law in every annual session of the Indian National Congress of his day. His political ideal for India was, in his own words : “ A federated India distributed according to nationahties and subjected to a common bond of connection with the Imperial Power of the Queen-Empress of India.” * Sri R. P. Paranjpe had just returned from England with a dazzling success in his academic career. Gokhale was about to leave the Fergusson College and enter upon a political career. Tilak was becom- ing a formidable leader. Shivrampant Paranjpe was a domi- nating figure with his magic pen and marvellous oratory.
As to the political state of India, the Congress was the spokesman. From its inception upto 1906 the Moderates dominated the Congress. Its stalwarts, from Surendranath Banerjee to Pherozeshah Mehta and Gokhale, believed with Ranade in the inscrutable “ dispensation of Almighty God for the unification of our peoples and the permanence of British Rule in India.” *
Savarkar joined the Fergusson College, Poona, in January 1902. Poona was then the living heart, and the Fergusson College, the Harrow of Maharashtra, in traditions and in producing historic personalities. As soon as Savarkar was in
1 Ganesh & Co., Publishers, Madras, The Indian Nation Builders, p. 8.
ajbid., p. 74.
16 fSAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
the College, he directed his attention to sowing the seeds of revolutionary doctrines in the fountain-head of Maharashtra. On the eve of his departure for Poona in a send-off at Nasik he had expressed the hope that at Poona he would inspire the pick of Maharashtrian youth with revolutionary thoughts and spread the revolutionary tenets through them over all the Districts of Maharashtra.
A youth of power and purpose, Savarkar could easily make his mark in the college. His fellow-students could not but feel the impact of his striking personality. His qualities of head and heart were great. He had entered Poona with a .stock of reading, a gift for waiting, and a genius for oratoi-y such as few students of this century possess. He was much advanced in classical, historical and political literature. Even the profes- sors who turned up their noses at his extreme political vie\vs could not help praising him. As a member of the college residency it was convenient for him to gauge his fellow- students and gain their confidence. Soon a Savarkar group was formed. This band of purposeful youths captured almost all departments of the college institutions from the Dining Club to the Library. It was a patriots’ group, studious, thoughtful, sober, aspiring and yet greatly obliging.
The group started a hand-written weekly named the Aryan Weekly, in which Savarkar often VTote illuminating articles on patriotism, literature, history and science with ease and elegance. Some of the thought-provoking articles from this weekly found their way even into local weeklies and news- papers of Poona. One of those brilliant articles of Savarkar was “ Saptapadi ” in which he had dealt with the seven stages of evolution that have to be gone through by a subject nation. He had studied all the dramas of Kalidas and Bhavabhuti and in one essay he brilliantly compared and contrasted Kalida.s with Bhavabhuti with remarkable originality. His professor highly praised him for this illuminating essay. Of the English poets, Scott, Shakespeare and Milton influenced him much. Milton’s Paradise Lost almost fascinated him. He had learnt by heart some of its cantos. Later on, he used blank verse metre for a part of his epic poetry. His essay on the Ramayana and the Iliad similarly evoked appreciative remarks for his erudition from Prof. Patwardhan.
THE RISING LEADER 17
Savarkar often gave scholarly talks on the history of the world, the revolutions in Italy, Netherlands, America and gave his colleagues an idea of the stress and struggle those countries had to undergo for winning back their lost freedom. The young Demosthenes in Savarkar had captivated students and professors. On important occasions and at the main func- tions in the college all flocked to hear his stirring speeches. One day he delivered a lecture on the history of Italy under the chairmanship of Principal Raj wade. He was mightily pleased with Savarkar s range of knowledge and his oratorical gifts although he disliked Savarkar’s reference to modern politics. In an article the late Sri Gopal Govind Mujumdar, alias ‘Poet Sadhudas’, has very well described Savarkar’s hold on the college environments. In 1903, at the opening of the new session of the college a meeting was held in the college hall. Prof. Bhanu w£is in the chair. After the introductory speech of Prof. Bhate, Savarkar in his black coat and black cap rose amidst a deafening applause. He reminded his audience of the glorious past and his speech bewailed the loss of freedom. A wave of emotion swept over the audience. His speech infused courage into the craven- hearted and fired them all with the spirit of patriotism moving every one to tears. Then the chairman rose and with a grave face threw a wet blanket over the excited feelings. He said : “ Yoimg men, you need not take Savarkar seriously ! He is a Devil ! ” In those days a fearless, patriotic and brilliant youth of independent nature was described in this manner. In his college days Tilak, too, was known as a Devil ^ and the Blunt ! Poor Prof. Bhanu ! His bookish knowledge could not distinguish a deliverer from a devil.
The Savarkar Group dressed alike, used swadeshi, took an evening stroll together, and carried discussions in old temples and in the hearts of hills about their problems and plans. At the same time the group never failed to attend to the prescribed course of studies. They took care of their moral, physical and intellectual developments. Out of the armoury of this group sprang a host of literary and political figures who served the cause of Indian freedom. They believed in energy and endurance and not in enjoyment. Their ideal of life was not J A. W. Marathe, Lokamanya Tilak (Marathi), p. 12.
2
18 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
cricket Their goal was survival of the fittest ! Yet Savarkar was not without his lighter moments and at times enjoyed them fully. He played an important part in a Shakespearian play staged by the Fergussonians.
In the public activities of Poona also Savarkar took a prominent part. His relations with Shivrampant Paranjpe, the most popular orator and brilliant editor of the Kal, were of a very cordial nature. While a high school student he was occasionally in correspondence with Paranjpe. Once student Savarkar had expressed his desire for being given a job of a sub-editor, or even that of a compositor in the office of the Kal just to enable him to have university education. But the proposal, it seems, was dropped partly for want of an encouraging reply or owing to the promised help by Savar- kar’s father-in-law. Savarkar first saw Paranjpe in Poona in 1902. Paranjpe’s revolutionary ideas were neai’er to the aim of Savarkar. Although the mould of their fervid patriotism was the same, it stemmed from different souls. Savarkar’s thoughts were deep-rooted, unbending and powerful and had a broader base and a wider range than those of Paranjpe.
On important occasions young Savarkar saw Tilak whose association with the revolutionaries was a legend. Tilak ’s superb insight had sensed the stuff of which Savarkar was made. Savarkar, by this time, was an acknowledged leader of youths.
n
A change in the political tone was coming on with the growing tension. A new spirit of self-reliance began to gain ground. Tilak was turning the eyes of India from the British public to the Indian masses for her own salvation. Stimulated by these feelings Lala Lajpat Rai appealed to Indians to become arbiters of their own destiny. Inspired by the epoch- making victory of Asiatic Japan over European Russia, Surendranath Banerjee encouraged the people with these words : “ The sun has risen in the East. Japan has saluted the rising sun. That sun, in its meridian splendovtr, will pass through our country.” ^ Gokhale characterised the partition
^ Ganesh & Co., Publishers, The Indian Nation Builders, p. 93.
THE RISING LEADEB 19
of Bengal as a cruel wrong inflicted upon our Bengali brethren. The love of country and the feeling of united India was rising. Simultaneously, the Swadeshi movement was also gaining ground.
The opposition to the partition of Bengal was coming to a head by October 1905. The partition of Bengal awakened the dormant forces of nationalism and the sleeping embers of communalism. As it was a move to counter the politically dominant Hindus by a creation of an Eastern Bengal, Hindus opposed and Muslims supported it ! Strangely enough, the fate of Bengal has indeed not been a covetable one throughout the last two centuries. Bengal was the stronghold of the Mogul Empire. Bengal was the keystone of the arch of the British Empire. Bengal has been the grazing ground for con- versions and communal riots. Bengal has recently been the foxmdation of a Muslim Sovereign State !
By now Savarkar had developed into a prominent figure in the political and social gatherings and meetings of Poona and had won the heai’ts of the public of Poona. Acharya Kaka Kalelkar ^ tells us that Savarkar’s stirring eloquence was a great attraction to the public of Poona in those days. Savarkar and his group were ardent promoters of Swadeshi and staimch opponents of the pai’tition scheme. Tilak had made the par- tition of Bengal an all-India issue. Savarkar resolved to unfurl the banner of boycott of foreign goods ; for boycott and Swadeshi were the obverse and the reverse of one and the same coin ! Representing the student at one meeting he, therefore, suggested that they should make a bonfire of foreign clothes. Sri N. C. Kelkar was in the chair. Shivram- pant Paranjpe who was also present at the meeting supported Savarkar. Savarkar also saw Tilak who was out of Poona on the day of the meeting. Tilak, too, agreed, but on one con- dition. He insisted that at least the heap of clothes should be a huge one. Savarkar readily took the task upon himself. With his moving oratory he provoked the people to the deed and with a cartful of clothes the procession started wending its way along the Reay Market and proceeded to the open fldid across the Lakdi Pool. Tilak joined it at the termination. At the conclusion of the procession Tilak opined that the 1 Kaka Kalelkar, The Pratihha, dated 15-1-1936.
20 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
dothes should be burnt there and speeches should be made somewhere else. But Savarkar reasoned, “Then why this procession ? We could have sent clothes here and made speeches at the Reay Market. In fact, glowing speeches should be delivered before the burning heap ! That will have a deep impression on the minds of the people,” he argued. Tilak cared m^re for youthful vigour and so he agreed. The meeting then commenced around the glowing heap. Tilak thimdered ; Paranjpe opened the vials of his satire and his speech became more scorching than the fire itself. As ordained by Tilak the youths left tlie place after the fire was completely extinguished. Later on when N. C. Kelkar remarked that economically the bonfire was a waste, Savarkar gently retorted that the spark it would light would be mentally and morally more valuable and lasting.
Thus Poona had the first bonfire of foreign cloth in India I Its flames whirled high up in the sky and the noise echoed throughout the length and breadth of India. Hatred of British domination was rising and Savarkar added fuel to the fire of hatred. In his later life Kelkar often mentioned that the speeches made in those days by Savarkar left an indelible imprint on his memory for a good many years. Even the police reporters were enamoured of his gift of the gab. Describing Savarkar ’s speech at the Sarvajanik Sabha in Poona one reporter says : “ It was so dexterous ! so tri- umphant ! He is at the most twenty-two, but he is already an accomplished orator of an enviable rank.”
The flames of the bonfire also scorched the heads of the Fergusson College. These fearless views and deeds of Savarkar were fiery enough to burn their relations with the Bombay University. The leading part played by this fiery youth in the bonfire affair turned their moderate heads, and R. P. Paranjpe, the then Principal, fined Savarkar Rs. 10 and expelled him from the college residency. Two crosses now glorified Savarkar’s lion-like chest. He was the first Indian leader to make a bonfire of foreign cloth in India and the first Indian student who was rusticated from a Government-aided institution. The reaction was wide and virulent. Tilak de- nounced this action on the part of the college authorities and declared ; “ They are not our Gurus.” Almost all patriotic
THE RISING LEADER 21
papers condemned this unwise step taken by the college authorities. A wave of indignation passed all over Maha- rashtra. Sympathy and money poured in. Savarkar paid the fine from the fund and donated the balance towards the Industrial Fimd known as the Paisa Fund.
In one respect this incident is significant, for it marked the fight between two coming ideologies which continued in Indian politics for years to come. Gandhiji from South Africa criticised the bonfire, as, even for twenty years thereafter, he hugged the belief that boycott movement had its roots in hatred and violence. And Gandhiji was not far away from his Guru in this opinion. Gokhale said in his Presidential Address at the Benares Congress in 1905 : “ It is well to remember that the term ‘ boycott ’, owing to its origin, has got unsavoury associations, and it conveys to the mind before everything else a vindictive desire to injure another. Such a desire on our part, as a normal feature of our relations with England, is of course out of the question.”
The Moderates tried, but failed in winning over Savarkar to their side. Savarkar had great regard for Gokhale’s great talents and profound patriotism, but he differed from him fundamentally and temperamentally as well. The feelings and opinions of the professors, who were mostly Moderates, about Savarkar were mingled with awe and aversion. For their part they respected his intellectual powers, admired his fervid oratory, but detested his revolutionary views. One of them, Prof. Patwardhan, foretold that Savarkar was bound to be a great demagogue. Time has its revenge. Thirty-eight years later presiding over the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of his disciple Savarkar, Sir R. P. Paranjpe said with pride : “ In his younger days as I knew him, Savarkar was marked by a keen intellect, fervid eloquence, great fluency in writing and magnetic personality. I remember his patriotism was intense, but as is natural to young men, it was based entirely on strong emotions not much regulated by cold reason.”
Paranjpe is only a great mathematician statesman. And an extraordinary personality like Savarkar lies beyond the pale of the general enunciation of his theorem as put in the last line of his speech. Indeed if there is any great revolu- tionary leader worth the name in the history of revolutions
22 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
whose emotions are regulated by cool reason, it is Savarkar. This can be proved by citing occasions on which he bridled the emotions and thoughtless daring plans of his lieutenants. Moreover, if you are to be a leader of action or revolution, you must raise your reason to a certain pitch of emotion. Otherwise your reason will forget that you have to lead, leap and lift and will rust !
While these turbulent and tumultuous days were rolling by, Savarkar’s B.A. Examination was fast approaching. As was always customary with him, he studied day and night at the fag end of the year, made up all the studies in the last two months, appeared for the examination and to the joy and jubi- lations of the public came out successful. Congratulations from all parts of Maharashtra were showered upon him. It was not his personal triumph only. It was also the success of the youth movement and the advancing tide of nationalism.
In the meanwhile Savarkar the prolific writer was coming to the front. His famous ballads on Tanaji and Baji Prabhu, the heroes of the Maratha history, were penned during this period. The ballads were proscribed, but they attained the popularity of folk songs in Maharashtra during the last four decades until at last they were restored in Free India. His lyric of patriotism, his inspiring songs of heroes, his ballads and hymns thrilled clubs and kitchens, schools and choruses and meetings, and he was hailed as a bard of Freedom or a rebel poet. His famous poem on Widowhood of Hindu ladies dealt severely with unjust customs and cruel traditions, and brought out a very touching picture of the child widow, attacking the brutal desires of old bridegrooms.
The charm of the poem was so irresistible that even men like Kaka Kalelkar remember it today. In this poem one finds the seeds of the great social reformer in Savarkar. The poem won the prize in the competition for which it was meant, the other rival sharing half the prize. “ What is everlasting in this world ? ” Savarkar asks in another poem. He sings ;
“ The sun sets, the sea ebbs. All things rise and fall.’* In this Savarkar hinted at the sure downfall of the British Empire. That there is an end to everything is an eternal truth.
During the same period Savarkar wrote many memorable
THE RISING LEADER
23
articles and brilliant essays. Among the important essays ranks, “ Why should we celebrate the festival of historic personalities ? ” This was a prize article. In this thought- provoking and brilliant essay one is impressed by his pro- found thinking, the historical deductions he has arrived at, and the sweep of his originality. He concludes his essay in a grand peroration : “ Why, then, should the historical func- tions be celebrated ? To pay our national gratitude we owe to those heroic souls. They should be celebrated as a mark of reverence and remembrance of the immense good those benevolent men have done to the world, because they have sacred sanction of ancient traditions. They are the clouds which shower the nectar of instruction. They are the monu- ments of virtues. They are the chemicals that act as an incen- tive to human thoughts and feelings. They are the preceptors who impart virtuous instruction to the youths. They are the living history of the deeds of noble heroes. Functions in their honour should be celebrated because of this. There are so many advantages and definitely no disadvantages. Especially we, Hindus, should take to these functions for emerging out of the present degraded state which was the result of want of self-respect and dutifulness. For, that is the only easy and sure path to the prosperity of the nation.”
Savarkar wrote brilliant prose. His imagination soared high up in the sky on the wings of an eagle. It aspired to emulate the loftiness of the Himalayas. It visualised “ the Himalayas towering above the roof of the world to see whether there was any other country under the sun as captivating as Hindu- sthein. Elated at not finding on earth an equal of Hindusthan, he opened the apartments of the heavens. But there, O Aryan Land, instead of finding your equal, he found something else. Enamoured of the snow-clad peaks of the Himcdayas, the nymphs and the virgin attendants of the Gods clung to his neck and deserting the capital of Indra, they lived with him.” “ The diamonds and jewels,” proceeds Savarkar, “ O, Aryan Mother, you have preserved for us in the mines can easily crowd to overflowing a ship made of this vast world.”
One thing more and of tremendous significance. In 1902 Savarkar had written in the Kal one essay which he concluded with a prophetic vision. He stated therein : “ Hindus are
24 SAVARKAB AND HIS TIMES
responsible for the poverty and disorderliness of Hindusthan. But if they ever desire to attain prosperity, they must remain as Hindus.” This deep-rooted, farsighted and fundamentally original characteristic of Savarkar’s outlook differentiated him from Tilak and Shivrampant Paranjpe.
in
Savarkar’s secret organisational work had not stopped during those days. While at college he had convened in 1904 a meeting of some two hundred selected members of the Mitra Mela. In an atmosphere fUled with grandeur and religiosity, the name of the Revolutionary Party was changed from the Mitra Mela to the Abhinava Bharat. Now the paiiy girded up its loins to extend its political and revolutionary activities and influence, spread its net all over India, and assume the responsibility of a revolution on an all-Bharat scale.
After passing his B.A. in December 1905, Savarkar went to Bombay to study law. He had already passed his first LL.B. in 1904, in Poona. In Bombay he organised youths from different colleges. He had also propaganda meetings in chawls. Sri Bal Gangadhar Kher, who later became the first Premier of Bombay under the 1935 Government of India Act, was one of those youths who came under the influence of the leader of the Abhinava Bharat. Kher was an initiate of the Abhinava Bharat. It was in Poona that Sri J. B. Kripalani, an ex-President of the Indian National Congress, was initiated into the Abhinava Bharat while he was a student in the Dec- can College. Hundreds of youths now joined the organisation.
While in Bombay Savarkar contributed to the Vihari, a local Marathi Weekly and made it the mouth-piece of the Abhinava Bharat. Its circulation grew by leaps and bounds, like its fiery sister weekly, the Yugantar of Bengal. Savarkar was now the acclaimed leader of the revolutionary movement which had spread almost all over Maharashtra. So he was invited to deliver speeches at public meetings, festivals and functions in Maharashtra. A brilliant young man with a black cap, short-collared coat, square jaws, presentable forehead, prominent cheek-bones, leader Savarkar was an energetic and
THE RISING LEADER 25
magnetic figure. The propaganda and popularity of the revolutionary leader rose rapidly and his arrest seemed inevitable. Rumours about his arrest were afloat in Nasik, Poona and Bombay, but they proved to be false.
During his stay in Bombay Savarkar was one day called by the students of Poona to interview a person named Agamya Guru. Savai’kar went to Poona for the purpose. But in a few minutes the interview terminated. The Agamya Guru was as abstruse as his name. But more ridiculous was the invention of the C.I.D. that traced Savarkar ’s inborn spring of inspiration to the recluse. Poor creatures ! they knew not that mathematics and mahatmatics never go together !
About this time news came to India that Pandit Shyamji Krishna Varnia, then resident of London, offered scholarships for Indian students desiring to study in Europe. Savarkar revolved the idea in his mind. The scholarship being insufficient he first approached his father-in-law in the matter. He made sure of some help from him and applied for one of the scholarshif’S with recommendations of Tilak and Shivram- pant Paranjpe. Giving a brief sketch of his career Savarkar proceeds in his application : “ Independence and Liberty I look upon as the very pulse and breath of nation. From my boyhood, dear sir, uptc» this moment of my youth, the loss of Independence of my country- and the possibility of regaining it form the only theme of which I dreamt by night and on which I mused by day.” Tilak’s recommendation runs as follows. ” When there is such a rush like that, it is no use recommending any one particularly to your notice. But, still, I may state, among the applicants there is one Mr. Savarkar from Bombay, who graduated last year and whom I know to be a spirited young man very enthusiastic in the swadeshi cause so much so that he had to incur the displeasure of the Fergusson College authorities. He has no mind to take up Government service at any time and his moral character is very good.” Pandit Shyamji Krishna Vai’ma agreed. Signing an agreement before Tilak, Savarkar received a sum of Rs. 400 through him as the first instalment of the Shivaji Scholarship which Pandit Varma awarded to him. Shivaji and Savarkar were thus grouped together by Shyamji.
26 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
Savarkar made preparations for the voyage. On the eve of his departure for liondon he was given a send-off at a big public meeting in Nasik. He bade farewell to his wife and his son named Prabhakar. Amidst an atmosphere filled with various dreams of Savarkar’s futvure greatness his relations, his comrades and devotees gave him in Bombay a hearty send- off on June 9, 1906, and the steamer Persia, left Bombay on her great voyage with the prince of Indian Revolutionaries on her deck for the consummation of his great vision, great aim and great deeds.