I
The Abhinava Bharat was pondering over the sentences passed upon the Maniktola revolutionaries. Babarao Savar- kar’s heroic sacrifice blazed vigorously under the sacrificial firmament. The boiling point of British reaction was reached. The zero hour had struck. And Sir Curzon Wyllie, the brain and eye of Indian affairs at the India House, fell a victim to the bullets of Madanlal Dhingra on the first night of July 1909. Along with him also fell Dr. Cawas Lalcaca, an Anglecised Parsee zealot, who tried to save the life of Sir Curzon WyUie. The fateful incident took place in the Hall of the Imperial Institute, London, at the conclusion of a meeting held to cele- brate the annual function of the National Indian Association.
Madanlal Dhingra was a manly spirit, a man who looked into his open grave ! Smartly dressed he looked like a dandy. He was a devoted follower of Savarkar and was proud of his nation. One day someone taunted him that the Japanese were the bravest people in Asia. Dhingra retorted that his Hindu Nation was nothing less in comparison. In the course of the talk, it was decided to test the mettle of Madanlal him- self. A pin was pierced through his palm. Blood flowed out profusely, but Dhingra remained unperturbed.
A few days before the Wyllie incident Dhingra had asked his leader whether the time for martyrdom had really come. Out came the epigrammatic reply from Savarkar : “ If a martyr is determined and ready that fact by itself generally implies that the time for martyrdom must have come.” Dhingra then joined a jolly club where high-placed English- men attended. He crept into their confidence. There he learnt to shoot and gained closer knowledge of men like Lord Morley, Lord Ciurzon and Sir Ciu^on Wyllie. The living symbol of racial arrogance, the Bengal culprit and the enlightened despot, Lord Curzon was Dhingra’s immediate target. A few
4
50 SAVASKAR AND HIS TIMBS
days before at a meeting he had pursued this target with the eyes of a crocodile. But the doors of the Hall were closed in his face and restless Dhingra returned and said to Savor- kar, “ The tiger has escaped ! ” Determined to avenge the misdeeds the British Government perpetrated in India, he then fell on an equally responsible man, Sir William Curzon Wyllie, with the fierceness of a lion and achieved his end ! He was arrested forthwith. Two pistols, a knife and a dagger were found on his person. After the deed, the doctors who examined the victims were astounded to see Dhingra’s pulse beating normal, for he was no common killer. Great was the strength and noblest was the soul of Madanlal. Dhingra was then put into the Brixton Jail. And proceedings against Dhingra commenced.
The incident shook London to its marrow ! Some unusual crowbar turned London upside down, as it were ! India was the subject in every British cottage, in every paper, in trains, in trams, at public squares and in markets, palaces and the British Parliament. The atmosphere became tense. Dhingra’s father wired to Lord Morley that he was ashamed to own Madanlal as his son. Even Dhingra’s brother in London publicly disowned him. Under the fiery eyes of the Britishers loyal Indians also trembled. Their holy tears overflowed. They assembled on the 5th of July in the famous Caxton Hall to condemn Dhingra. At the meeting Sir Mancherjee Bhow- nagari. Sir Aga Khan, Sir Surendranath Banerjee, Sri B. C. Pal and Sri Khaparde were loud in their denunciation. The meeting was attended by Maharajkumar of Coochbihar, Sir Dinshaw Petit, Fazalbhoy Karimbhoy, etc. Just then ‘Theodore Morrison, a member of the India Council, brought Madanlal’s brother on to the platform. MadanlaTs brother spoke sentences which were not his own. Sir Aga Khan, the chairman, then declared, “ The meeting unanimously condemns Madanlal Dhingra.” But a defying voice from the thickly crowded Hall roared, “ No, not unanimously.” ‘The chairman angrily uttered : “ Who says no ? ” Out came the reply, “ I say no.” The chairman pursued, “ Your name please.” Upon this some lost their patience and shouted, “Pull him down, drive him out ! ” In a moment Sir Mancherjee Bhownagari jumped from the platform and ran in the direction of the
THE STORM BREAKS
51
voice. The challenging voice shot back : “ It is me. My name is Savarkar.” At this the audience trembled in their joints. They feared that revolutionaries would now bomb the meet- ing. Women shrieked, non-partisans took to their heels and partisans came from words to blows. The chicken-hearted shook beneath benches and chairs ! In the heat of the passion a Eurasian swooped down upon Savarkar and struck him a blow on the forehead. Savarkar’s face was besmeared with blood. His clothes were dripping, his spectacles broken to pieces. “ With all this I say, I am against the resolution,” ho said standing as firm as a rock to maintain his opinion to the last drop of his blood. As he was saying this, Sri Tiruma- lacharya, who was standing by Savarkar, thrashed the head of the aggressor, one Mr. Palmer, and down went Palmer reeling. Sri Aiyer was about to shoot Palmer, but Savarkar winked at him and restrained him.
In the meanwhile Sir Surendranath had left the hall protest- ing against the cowardly attack on Savairkar. Sir Aga Khan also did not like the rashness of Sir Mancherjee. At last at the instance of Sir Mancherjee the police interfered, but, seeing that the truth was on Savarkar’s side, they let him go. Savarkar also let the Eurasian go ! And the meeting ended.
Tossing from side to side in his bed with a fold of wet cloth on his forehead, Savarkar at his residence dictated a letter the very night for the London Times. With its publication he silenced all the hostile criticism against him. His arguments were irrefutable when he stated that, as the case of Dhingra was sub judice, the meeting had no right to usurp the powers of the court and condemn Madanlal in advance. Moreover, he had a right to record his vote ! Thus did the historic meet- ing test the stuff of the leader of revolution and his knowledge of law ! Here one thing may be made clear. Had the meeting at the Caxton Hall sympathised with Lady Curzon Wyllie in her bereavement and done nothing else, Savarkar would have also sympathised with the poor lady. Savarkar was a poet and philosopher full of human attributes. Niranjan Pal, who was present at the meeting, dwells upon this great trait in Savarkar and observes : “ The assassination of Sir Curzon Wyllie remixids me of another great trait in Savarkar’s character, his humanity. An Indian student laughingly
52 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMBS
described how Lady Ciirzon Wyllie ran down the staircase and threw herself on the body of her husband. All this was too much for Savarkar. ‘ A wife sobs her heart out for her husband and you laugh at it ! I do not trust you — can- not ! ’ Savarkar had replied in burning indignation. It was a prophetic statement for, the very man secured the King’s pardon by giving evidence against Savarkar.” ^
When preliminary hearing of the Dhingra trial com- menced on July 10, at the Westminster Court, despite the evil advice to feign madness, Dhingra boldly asserted that he wished that the English Court of Law should sentence him to death, for in that case the vengeance of his countrymen would be all the keener. He further said ; “ Just as the Germans have no right to occupy this country, so the English people have no right to occupy India ; and it is perfectly justifiable on our part to kill the Englishman who is polluting our sacred land. I am surprised at the terrible hypocrisy, the farce and the mockery of the English people.” Dhingra made this ex tempore statement as the written statement found on liis person at the time of his arrest was suppressed by the police who said that no such statement was recovered at all. Dhingra was then committed to Sessions.
In India also there were sky-high denimciations of the deed of Madanlal. N. C. Kelkar, at one such protest meeting, asked his audience to uproot the doctrine of violence. He said it was a poisonous tree which must not be allowed to grow, even in neglected comers. Kelkar was indeed a man of elastic convictions. Afterwards, while writing the life of Garibaldi, he openly glorified the sacrifice of revolutionaries as the fertilizer of the nation ! Gokhale went one step further than Kelkar. He denoimced the whole London group of about fifty revolutionaries and insinuated that their activities would not stop imless Savarkar was arrested.
Dhingra’s Sessions trial was a formal affair. There, too, he repeated his demand that his statement suppressed by the police should be read, and offered no other defence. But the police persisted in their assxuned ignorance of the statement as in the lower Court. The Court thereupon sentenced Dhingra to death and the trial ended.
^ Niranjan Pal, The Mahratta, dated 27-5-1938.
THE STORM BREAKS
53
Newspapers now directly attacked Savarkar as the source of the tragedy. In India his relations and colleagues were persecuted. Some lost their jobs, some their property and his father-in-law heroically faced sufferings. Harsh measures were adopted to crush the Indian students. Pandit Shyamji’s Scholarship money for Spencer Lectureship was returned. The Pandit and Virendranath Chattopadhyaya lost their degrees as a result of their writings and propaganda. Though Savarkar passed the final examination of the Gray’s Inn, the Benchers of his Inn declined to confer the degree upon him. Thereupon Savarkar made an appeal to the autho- rities of the Gray’s Iim. They appointed a Committee to inquire into the affair. That Committee instituted an inquiry into the matter. Match as Savarkar was for the legal brains on the Committee and their cross-examination, nothing was proved against him though this Committee was aided by the Government of India. At last the Committee of the Gray’s Inn decided to confer the degree upon Savarkar provided he gave them a written undertaking that he would never participate in politics. Savarkar rejected their offer in toto ! Getting the degree was not his aim. His sole aim was to free his country and make it great and powerful. This barrister was not meant for conducting petty cases and amass wealth. He was the nation’s barrister. He was destined to study the case of his Fatherland and put it before the world opinion as did Mazzini and Lenin. Hindusthan knows how from the sun- shine of his youth to the golden evening of his life, he has been a loyal barrister all along defending and fighting for the absolute political Independence of India, her integrity and her honour.
Savarkar was now on the verge of physical collapse. For the last four years he had worked with a phenomenal energy. Persecution reached its climax. A yell of wrath fell on him from all quarters. As the India House was closed down just a few days before the Curzon Wyllie incident, Savarkar then resided for some days with Sri B. C. Pal. On the next day of Wyllie’s death angry crowds stormed Pal’s residence. Elder Pal told the mob that Savarkar was his guest and averted further consequences. Savarkar, however, thought it wise to leave his residence for their and his safety. Homeless, friendless,
54 SAVARKAR AMD HIS TIMES
starving, stranded and shadowed by CJ.D., he wandered from lodge to lodge and house to house for shelter. But who shelters a defeated Guru Govind Singh ? Was not the defeated Tatya Tope betrayed ? And so in a single day Savarkar had to quit two lodgings. From one of these he was ousted even at midnight ! The C.I.D. men followed his shadow. No sleep, no rest, no food ! At last a German land- lady accepted him as a boarder for some days.
Fatigued and fagged out, Savarkar soon went to Brighton, a seaside English town, for a change. It was here sitting by the side of Niranjan Pal on the beach that in overwhelming emotions filled with helplessness and hopelessness in a foreign land, the deserted youth sobbed his glorious moving poem “ Take me O Ocean ! Take me to my native shores. Tliou promised me to take me home. But thee coward, afraid of thy mighty master, Britain, thou hast betrayed me. But mind my mother is not altogether helpless. She will complain to sage Agasti and in a draught he will swallow thee as he did in the past.” Several front rank poets and first-rate literary men of Maharashtra have regarded this poem as an unparalleled poem on patriotism. Foremost amongst them is the chief disciple of Gandhiji, Acharya Kaka Kalelkar, who described it as an inscription on the Marathi language.^ Acharya Atre, a front rank playwright and journalist, recently commented in his address at a literary Conference at Indore that every lofty idea in this pathetic song represented a specimen of great life and great poetry ! Thirty years after, describing the mov- ing incident at Brighton, Niranjan Pal remarked : “It has been my supreme good fortune to have met and known almost all the great patriots and personalities of modern India, but I have yet to know of a patriot who loved his Motherland as dearly as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.” "
Even at Brighton Savarkar had an urgent feat to accom- plish. It was the publication of Dhingra’s suppressed state- ment before he was hanged. Savarkar, therefore, called his comrade, Gyanchand Varma, to Brighton and arranged for giving publicity to Dhingra’s written statement which had been suppressed by the police. Two days gone, and Dhingra
1 Kaka Kalelkar. The Pratibha. dated 15-1-1936.
-Niranjal Pal, The Mahratta. dated 27-5-1938.
THESTORMBREAKS 55
would jcm eternity. Savarkar, therefore, resolved that Dhingra must see the statement published. Accordingly Savarkar got the copies of Dhingra’s statement printed and Varma posted them from Paris to different American and Irish’ papers. It was difficult to find an English paper to publish the statement. But an Irishman working as an assistant editor on the Daily News undertook the job and inserted it in his paper during the night shift. The statement then exploded on the morning of the 16th August throughout London as a bombshell ! The C.I.D. and police officers were sure it would never be published. It was in their possession. But they were outwitted and the statement entitled “ Chal- lenge ” flashed throughout the world. The statement of Dhingra read as below :
“ I admit, the other day, I attempted to shed English blood as an humble revenge for the unhuman hangings and depor- tations of patriotic Indian youths. … I believe that a nation held in bondage with the help of foreign bayonets is in a per- petual state of war. Since open battle is rendered impossible to a disarmed race, I attacked by surprise ; since guns were denied to me, I drew forth my pistol and fired.” The state- ment proceeds : “ As a Hindu, I feel that a wrong done to my country is an insult to God.” It concluded : “ The war of independence will continue between India and England so long as the English and Hindu races last (if this present un- natural relation does not cease).”
This was the statement which Dhingra said he did not remember fully and a copy of which the police had secured at Dhingra’s residence and another on his person. They had no idea that there were more copies in existence. How could Savarkar get a third copy and send it with Varma for being circulated and published all over the world ? Some papers like the London Times openly spoke out their ininds by saying that someone must have put these words into Dhingra’s mouth ! It was clear beyond doubt that the author of the statement was the leader himself !
Savarkar saw Dhingra in the Brixton Jail on July 22. He said to Madanlal, “ I have come to have your Darshan.’* On hearing the tribute to his sacrifice, glee played over his face and grateful tears appeared in his eyes. Dhingra’s last wish
56 SAVARKAB AMD HIS TIMES
was that be shoiild be burnt in conformity with Hindu rites, that no non-Hindu should touch his body, that his clothes and articles should be sold and the money should be donated to the National Fund ! Is death more fearless than Madanlal ? How many such peerless jewels has a slave coimtry to dedicate for propitiating the Goddess of Freedom ?
Delighted at the frustration of the police plan, Dhingra embraced gallows on August 17, 1909. His last words as explained in the statement were, “ My wish is that I should be bom again of the same Mother and that I should die the same death for her again.” His dead body was not handed over to the London Hindus. Still Varma performed the funeral obsequies and got his head tonsmed according to Hindu rites in honour of the great soul ! Long live Dhingra for the intense love of his coxmtry ! They never die who fall in a great cause ! He fell with faith in his mission and in the destiny of his countrymen and love for his Motherland.
Dhingra’s deed thrilled the entire world. Huge placards from Irish papers paid glowing tributes to Dhingra : ‘* Ireland honours Madanlal Dhingra who was proud to lay down his life for the sake of his country.” Only men like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, however, who were then in London seemed to be unconcerned with the momentous deed. Later in life he has ‘ observed Gandhian Monday ’ over this thrilling episode even in his ‘ Autobiography
The storm raised by Dhingra did not immediately subside. Comments continued for a long time.
Mr. W. S. Blunt, author of Secret History oj the English Occupation of Egypt, wrote about his interview with Mr. Lyne Stevens, the Doctor Royal friend. Blunt says : “ He talked about the Dhingra assassination, which seems to have at last convinced his Royal friends that there is something wrong about the state of India. People talk about political assassi- nations as defeating its own end, but that is nonsense, it is just the shock needed to convince selfish rulers that selfish- ness has its limits of imprudence. It is like that other fiction that England never 3delds to threats. My experience is that when England has her face well slapped she apologises, not before.” ^ Blunt further wrote in his Diaries that no Christian
^ W. S. Blunt, My Diaries, Part II p. 276.
THE STORM BREAKS 57
marlyr ever faced his judges more fearlesdy or with greater dignity and remarked that the day of Dhingra’s execution would be regarded as one of martyrdom in India for generations.^
Lloyd George expressed to Winston Churchill his highest admiration of Dhingra’s attitude as a patriot. Chiuchill shared the same views and quoted with admiration Dhingra’s last words as the finest ever made in the name of patriotism. They compared Dhingra with Plutarch’s immortal heroes.* Lala Hardayal wrote in the first issue of the Bande Mataram, started by Madame Cama ; “ In times to come, when the British Empire in India shall have been reduced to dust and ashes, Dhingra’s monuments will adorn the squares of otu: chief towns, recalling to the memory of our children the noble life and noble death of one who laid down his life in a far-off land for the cause he loved so well.”
And what kind of Swaraj was Dhingra’s ideal for which he sacrificed his life ? The Abhinava Bharat unequivocally proclaimed times without number its ideal of Swaraj in these words : “ India must be independent ; India must be united ; India must be a republic ; India must have a common language, and a common script. That script is Nagari, that language is Hindi. That Repubhc is that national form of Government in which the sovereign power — whether it be exercised by a Monarch or by a President, matters not much — crests ultimately and uncompromisingly in the hands of the Indian people.” ® The leader of Abhinava Bharat always repeated : “ Before you destroy anything you must know what you are going to construct in its place.” He had fully dwelt on the constitutional problem in his speeches and writ- ings. His study in political science and constitutional law was far advanced.
In his famous leaflet addressed to the Indian Princes under the title, ‘ Choose O Indian Princes ! ’ he states : “ Whether the head of the Imperial Government of the Indian Nation be a President or a King depends upon how the revolution develops itself. . . . The Mother must be free, must be one and
1 W. S. Blunt, My Diaries, Part JI, p. 288.
3 Ibid., p. 288.
® Chitra Gupta, Life of Barrister Savarkar, p. 68.
58 SAVARRAR AND HIS TIMES
United, must make her will supreme.” The leaflet voices a Warning to the Princes that the newly bom nation would call them to accoimt for their deeds and misdeeds and swearing by the blood of Dhingra, it thunders : “ Choose whether you shall be the first of the nation’s fathers or the last of the nation’s tyrants.” And the leaflet concludes with a threat : “When the mightiest of empires is trembling at the very birth-pangs of this revolution, you, weak as you are, cannot hinder its onward march or smother its birth any more than you can change the force of gravitation or the rotundity of the earth.” ^ ,
It was a year before this momentous period that the leader of the Abhinava Bharat had tried to contact the Prime Minister of Nepal, then in London, and had appealed to him in a letter written in Dhingra’s blood to play the Victor Emmanuel. Next day the representative of the Prime Minister sent his message to the representative of the Abhi- nava Bharat that “ God’s will shall prevail ! ”
n
In Savarkar one finds the unique combination of the bravery of Arjun and the poetry of Vyas. His pen was as powerful as his tongue. He was the leader of a revolutionary move- ment and a great literary power as well. He wielded both pen and pistol with equal command. Scarcely did a leader of any other revolutionary movement strike terror into the hearts of his enemies with his pen and pistol as he did. It is no wonder that his writings and ballads impressed effec- tively his personality on the Indian Revolution and inspired soldiers and patriots to fight the cause of freedom — from Rajaji to Roy, from Hardayal to Bhagat Singh, from Rajan to Kher, from Kanhere to Gogate and from the Ghadr to the I.N.A. !
It will, therefore, be appropriate to narrate the history of his inspiring books and writings at this jimctime. During the first six months of his London life, Savarkar translated the autobiography of Mazzini into Marathi. This was the first book to enjoy an uncommon popularity in Maharashtra. It was so dearly loved that leading papers and leading men in
1 Quoted in S. L. Karandikar’s Savarkar-Charitra, pp. 317-18.
THESTORMEREAKS 59
Maharashtra extolled it to the skies and it was taken out- in procession by young and old devotees. Even Sir Valentine Chirol described this book as the Nationalist Textbook.^ Savarkar’s Mazzini natxirally was the first victim of the Indian Press Act. The book was mostly loved for the introduction of the Indian Mazzini, expounding the great mission of the Italian patriot. The fiery propaganda and the burning patriotism of this immortal introduction captivated the minds of the people so much that, though it was suppressed by the Government, patriotic youths learnt it by heart and repeated the twenty-five pages c>f its inspiring introduction word by word ! The book was restored in 1946 after having suffered proscription for forty years.
The Sikh front also absorbed Savarkar’s mind. He learnt Gurumukhi, read all the religious and important original writings such as the Acli Granth, the Panth Prakash, the Surya Prakash, Vichitra Natak by the Gurus and other works on Sikhism, and issued many pamphlets. His pamphlet, named “ Khalsa ” and many others issued in Gurumukhi rained into the hands of Sikh soldiers, making them conscious of their duty and of the coming storm, and educating them for the cause of Freedom. This did not escape the notice of the Gov- ernment of India.
Savarkar was a great pamphleteer. His brilliant leaflet ‘ O Martyrs’ stirred the sleeping embers of patriotism in the hearts of both soldiers and patriots. He wrote in a moving tone : “ For the war of 1857 shall not cease till the revolution arrives, striking slavery into dust, elevating liberty to the throne. . . . No, a revolutionary war knows no truce, save liberty or death ! . . . But, O glorious Martyrs, in this pious struggle of your sons, help ! . . . Whisper unto us the nobility of such an alliance of Religion and Patriotism, the true religion which is ever on the side of patriotism, the true patriotism which secures the freedom of religion ! . . . With limited means you sustained a war, not against tyranny alone, but against tyranny and treachery together.” -
After describing the noble war of Italian Independence in Etirope, Savarkar invoked the warriors of 1857 to deliver his
- Sir Valentine Chirol, Indian Unrest, p. 146.
2 Quoted in S. L. Karandikar’s Savarkar-Charitra, pp. 213-15.
60 SAVAREAR AND HIS TIMES
message through their own mighty words and mighty deeds. His aim in writing his book on 1857 was to in^ire his people with a biuning desire to rise again and wage a second success- ful war for the liberation of their Motherland. For achieving that goal, he always stressed the need for carrying politics and patriotism into the military forces of India.
Savarkar read at the India House heaps of original letters, numerous documents and several hxmdred books and all important references in the British Museum regarding 1857. He also read Rajanikant’s Sepoys^ Mutiny in the Bengali language. After incessant study and industry, he wrote in Marathi his famous work. The First Indian War oj Indepen- dence of 1857. The manuscript came to India and went back to Paris, for no press dared publish it in India. The C.I.D. carried simultaneous surprise raids on several printing houses in Maharashtra for the manuscript, but failed. As the publication of his book in Marathi became difficult, some brilliant members of the Abhinava Bharat in London trans- lated the manuscript into English. The agents of Scotland Yard succeeded in smuggling away through their agent a chapter of the original manuscript and thus the British and Indian Governments came to know of the coming book. The British C.I.D. .slyly described the book as revolutionary, explosive and seditious. The two Governments were so much terror-stricken and became so much nervous that they proscribed the book hurriedly which they admitted Wcis not even published ! This book of Savarkar was the first book of its kind in the treasury of world literature that was pro- scribed before it saw the light of day ! Unique honour to the author who stands unparalleled in this respect in the domain of the literary world. Savarkar took up the challenge and held the two Governments to caustic ridicule in the British, American and European Press ! Even some of the British papers resented the shameless attitude of their Government.
There was after this a hot pursuit and intellectual fight for some time between Scotland Yard and the London Abhi- nava Bharat for preventing the publication on one side and accomplishing its publication on the other. At last Savarkar eluded the police and the C.I.D., and succeeded in getting the
THE STOBM BREAKS 61
book printed in Holland in 1909, though the British C.I.D. Intervened in this afiair in France and Germany.
Equally romantic was the history of its distribution and circulation ! The book reached India, America, Japan and China wrapped in specially printed covers bearing fictitious names such as ‘ Pickwick Papers ’ and ‘ Scott’s Works ’ and was sold at a fabulous price at times of Rs. 300 for a copy. English- men distributed copies of the book among their friends as a rare gift ! Mr. Mahomed Ali obtained it on loan from Sir Charles Cleveland ! European authors and historians read the work with great interest. The work became the talk of the world and since then it has gone through several editions in various languages.
Echoes and effects of tlie great work were visible in 1914. It inspired the second war of Indian Independence in 1914. All the leaders of the Ghadr party who had launched the Komagatamaru RebeUion had read the book with a religious zeal, and had drawn undying inspiration from the work. More tremendously did it influence the third war of Independence imder the lead of Netaji Subhas Bose in 1943. The names of the battalions and divisions, songs and slogans, spirit and inspiration of the I.N.A. were derived from this holy book of Savarkar. Mr. K. F. Nariman wrote in “ The Savarkar Special ” of the Free Hindusthan Weekly, Bombay : “ The
idea of the I.N.A. and particularly the Rani of Jhansi Regi- ment seems to have originated from Veer Savarkar’s proscrib- ed publication on the great 1857 Revolution and Mutiny.” Writing about it in the same number of the Free Hindvsthan, Sri G. V. Subbarao, editor of Goshti, Bezawada, said : “ If
Savarkar had not intervened between 1857 and 1943, I am sure that the recent efforts of the I.N.A. would have been again dubbed as an ignoble mutiny effectively crushed by the valiant British-ciun-Congress arms and armlessness ! But thanks to Savarkar’s book, Indian sense of a * Mutiny ’ has been itself revolutionised. And not even Lord Wavell, I suppose, can now call the Bose effort a Mutiny ! The chief credit for this change of values must go to Savarkar and to him alone. And that is why I call him the sun of our Indian firmament.” In between these two wars of Independence the book has inspired innumerable martyrs and patriots who
62 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
called it the Gita of the revolutionaries. Sardar Bhagat Singh published this Gita in India for funds and propaganda. It was also published in the German language in 1942 by the Friends of India Society in Germany.
A great book is always bom of the brain and heart of a great author and its greatness depends on the personality which gives life to it. In this respect Savai’kar belongs to the line of Rousseau, Voltaire and Mazzini. They are master- minds. Their type forms a dififerent category. They are gi’eat precursors of the coming storm, proclaimers of a new age and originators of a revolution. To them literature is not a mere ornament or entertainment for court life. Their literature bums with a mission for making free citizens out of virtual slaves. Their books are more dangerous than bombs. Their books are as decisive as battles ! Rousseau’s Emile was burnt, princes and potentates quailed before Voltaire and the Gov- ernments of two countries suppressed Savarkar’s book even before it had been published ! Rousseau, Voltaire and Savarkar are not to be measured along with common authors !
This world-famous brilliant and moving work is a story of hvunan emotions, passions and aspirations. The sweep of the author’s narration is vivid and irresistible. The work reveals the author’s rare gift as a poet-historian in action. ’Writing about this book of Savarkeu", Sir Valentine Chirol in his Indian Unrest has commented that it is “ a very remarkable history of the Mutiny combining considerable research with the grossest pei-version of facts and great literary power with most savage hatred ! ” ^ Deduct Chirol’s venomous poison and the uncommon beauty and grandeur of the book will glow in its splendour ! That is why Sir Valentine Chirol in his India Old and Neto depicts Savarkar with a loving hatred :
“ Savarkar, one of the most brilliant apostles of a later school of revolt.” ^ Reviewing the great work, Sri P. K. Atre, a typical Maharashtrian author and journalist opined that Maha- rashtra did not produce a greater genius than Savarkar ever since the great Dnyaneshwar.
The book continued to be proscribed for thirty-eight years. Owing to the pressure of public opinion the Congress
^Sir Valentine Chirol, Indian Unrest^ p. 149.
*Sir Valentine Chirol, India New and Old, p. 85.
THE STOBM BREAKS 63
Government released the book for publication when its mission was almost fulfilled. The romantic story of the book is not, however, yet complete. The original manuscript of this book was in those stormy days of its birth sent to safe custody. Mr. D. Y. Coutchino, a staxmch member of the Abhinava Bharat, escaped to Portugal during those hectic days with the manuscript through his influence at the Portuguese Embassy and thence to America. Facing great difficulties and dangers as an Indian revolutionary, he treasured it as a monumental document for over thirty-eight years in Washington where he is a professor in a college, and returned it to Savarkar after India became free and independent. India lost another great book by Savarkar. That is the History of the Sikhs which Savarkar had finished in 1909. The manuscript of the book was sent to India for publication but was gulped down by the Indian Post Office in the transmission. It will be a great deed of national importance, if the Government of India or the Bombay Government, whichever may be in charge of the book, restores the manuscript. The reason why Savarkar’s books were proscribed or gulped down was that Savarkar was to the British Government what Krishna was to Kaunsa or Shivaji to Aurangzeb. The Government’s one obsession was to crush ruthlessly whatever emanated from Savarkar’s brain. “ Savarkar ” had become synonymous with “ sedition ”. The British Government of India must have, however, found that the Ganges was Savarkar’s inspiration, martyr’s blood was his ink and bones of heroes were his pen ! The Ganges swept away the British-make dams, the ink reddened the pages of history and the pen immortalized the names of martyrs and patriots, and damned the traitors for ever !
m
After Dhingra’s martyrdom threats grew louder. Clouds hung heavier. Winds blew with a terrific speed. The storm was coming on. Due to over-exertion, Savarkar’s health was visibly impaired. Friends prevailed upon him to take rest in Paris where he was ultimately taken for a change sometime in January 1910. In Hindusthan his followers, comrades and relations were persecuted, prosecuted, executed or exiled into
64 SAVASKAR AND HZS TIMES
the darkest Andamans. His elder brother was sent^ced to transportation for life. His terrific transportation was avenged by a spirited and lion*hearted youth named Anant Elanhere. He shot dead Mr. A. M. T. Jackson, the then Collector of Nasik, in the Vijayanand theatre of Nasik. Kanhere died on the gallows with his two fearless comrades Deshpande and Karve on the last day of the year 1909.
At this juncture an attempt was made on the life of the Viceroy, Lord Minto, at Ahmedabad where a bomb was thrown by someone from the revolutionary party. As a result of the proceedings arisen out of this, Savarkar’s younger brother Narayanrao Savarkar was arrested. All this news fell heavily on Savarkar. He now prepared himself to stand at the scene and save their persecution. Friends in Paris entreated him not to return to London as news had filtered into their ears that a warrant for his arrest was awaiting him in London. His friends said to him, “As a general, you must remain behind to lead. The danger is around you.” But “ No,” said Savarkar, “ I cannot see the persecution of my colleagues and followers. As a leader, I must face the music.” To preach with life and not with mere lips, Savarkar left Paris. He started to save his soul and lose his life. He loved the former better. He was made of the stuff of mart 5 rrs. And martyrdom can be a religion only with a few and not with the whole party. His decision was as courageous as Shivaji’s to go to Agra. And Shivaji started for Agra again !
It was Sunday, the 13th of March 1910. The train reached Victoria station, London. Here had come the much dreaded Savarkar at last, thought the London Police. The long accumulated fury burst on him. No sooner did he step out of the train than the policemen cried out : “ Here he is ! Here he is ! ” And they arrested him. Perinben Captain, who accompanied him, was let alone. The shadow of death was galloping after him. In the eyes of the policemen he read ruin. The day of his glory had come. The end also had come with a crash. But who knew then that his end was the beginning of the end of the British Empire ?
Savarkar was arrested imder a telegraphic warrant from the Bombay Government under the Fugitive Offenders Act of 1881. The warrant was granted by the Bow Street Court
THBSTOBUBRBAKS 65
on February 22, 1910. The charges against birn were as under : —
(1) Waging Mrar or abetting the waging of war against His Majesty the King Emperor pf India ;
(2) Conspiring to deprive His Majesty the King of the sovereignty of British India or a part of it ;
(3) Procuring and distributing arms and abetting the murder of Jackson ;
(4) Procvu-ing and distributing arms in London and waging war from London ;
(5) Delivering seditious speeclies in India from January to March 1906 and in London from 1908 to 1909.” ^
An Empire’s laws and system of justice are always soiled by the blood of the martyrs. Savarkar went to England for study under a regular passport from the Indian Government and now he was arrested as a fugitive offender ! In 1910 he was arrested in England for the speeches he made in India in 1906 ! What a marvel this British process of law !
England has been the Mother of exiles. The knights-errant of hberty have foimd shelter in England. Here is an impres- sive roU-call : Mazzini, Marx, Garibaldi, Kossuth and Lenin. If Savarkar had been content to conceal his unbounded hatred of slavery and to pass as a reveller and degree-seeker, there would have been ample scope for his brilliant genius and flight of imagination. But no such pretension was possible for him. So the mother of exiles did not receive him well. The boast that England was the training ground for the patriots of the world was reduced to a farce. It was true only in the sense that England sheltered patriots only of those coimtries over which their Balance of Power politics hung. It was not a shelter for fearless freedom-loving Indian patriots whose coimtry’s fate England had sealed ! The British took Savarkar to be a Nanasahib sworn to overthrow their yoke, a Guru Govind Singh in disguise or a Shivaji ready to foster a rebeUion. So his life was a peril to the imperialists !
Gallows now stared Savarkar in the face. A terrible vengeance was let loose on his followers. These ardent patriots said they had come out to set their cotmtry free. And
- Guy A. Aldred, The Herald of Revolt, October 1912.
5
^ SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
their leader in a befitting manner stood up at the peril of his life to practise what he preached.
After the arrest Savarkar was taken into Bow Street Police custody. He was now certain about the terrible fate that would befall his family. In order to soften the severe blow he wrote his last will and testament and sent it through his solicitors to his noble sister-in-law, Shrimati Yashodabai, Babarao’s wife, whom he had no chance to meet this side of the grave. The testament represents the enormous stress of emotion under which he was reeling. His family was plunged in an irretrievable sorrow. His little son had just passed away ! The eldest brother Babarao was sentenced to trans- portation for life, the younger brother was in jail and he him- self in the Brixton jail. So liis memory to the family was fragrant. His glorious promise and the sudden separation became the theme of their sorrow. This touched him to the core. He expounded in his poetic will the noble and sublime ideal for which the family had fallen. He reminded liis sister ; —
“We will work and die in defence of Righteousness ; thus had we pledged our words. Behold, the test has come, we enter the flames. We have kept our word. . . . We dedicated to Thee (Motherland) our thoughts ; our speech and our eloquence we dedicated to Thee, O Mother ! My lyre sang of Thee alone, my pen wrote of Thee alone. . . . Thy cause is holy ! Thy cause I believed to be the cause of God ! and in serving it I knew I served the Lord ! . . . These are thy ideals ! Thou art hero’s better half ! be thy life as supremely heroic. . . . Good- bye, dear Vahini, Good-bye. . . . Convey my best love to my wife and this : —
That it was certainly not blindness that goaded us on to this path ! No ! we entered it under the full blaze of the searching light of Logic, History and Human Nature : knowing full well that a Pilgrim’s Progress leads through the valley of Death, we took up our Cross and deliberately followed Him,”
Savarkar was produced at the Bow Street Police Court on March 14, 1910. After some postponements, on April 20, the
XHB STORM BBSAKS 67
Magistrate refused to release him on baiL Upon this Savarkar was transferred from Bow Street Police Custody to Brixton jail, wherein he had a famous friend. There an Englishman by name Guy A. Aldred was also undergoing imprisonment for having published Shyamji Krishna Varma’s fiery paper, Indian Sociologist, suppressed by the British Government. Aldred was the first Briton to suffer imprisonment for the cause of India’s freedom ! Strangely enough, he had appeared in the same dock, in the same court, before the same Magistrate and had faced the same Chief Inspector of Police, Mr. McArthy, and Mr. S. A. T. Rowlatt, Junior Counsel to the Treasury, who later achieved notoriety in India. Savarkar’s comrades saw him in the Brixton jail. Writing about his last meeting with Savarkar in Brixton jail, Niranjan Pal states : “ I asked Savarkar why he ignored our warnings and pleadings and left Paris knowing full well that a former comrade had turned an approver and a warrant for his arrest was awaiting in London.” Pal adds ; “ Therefore, had Savarkar wished it, he could easily have remained in safety and comfort in the French Capital as other Indian revolutionists were doing in those days. Instead he came to London to be arrested, because, he told me, standing behind the iron-bars of Brixton Prison, his shoulders were broad enough to bear the conse- quences. He had the courage of his conviction.” ^
On May 12 the Magistrate gave his decision that Savarkar should be sent to India for trial. Mr. Vaughan, counsel for Savarkar made an application for a writ of Habeas Corpus. The appeal made against the decision of the Bow Street Court and this Habeas Corpus application were discussed on June 2 and 3 before the Divisional Court. The Chief Justice upheld the decision of the Bow Street Court. Once again an appeal was made against this decision to the Coiut of Appeal. But the Chief Justice Vaughan Williams upheld the decision of the Divisional Court and sympathetically handed Savarkar over to the Indian Government which imder a special ordinance had created a Special Tribunal in India for Savarkar’s trial. Mr. Justice Coleridge dissented from sending Savarkar to India but his decision was waived as a minority view.
1 Niranjan Pal, The Mahratta, dated 27-5-1938.
68 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
In the meanwhile, somewhere in May 1910 Irish and Indian revolutionaries also attempted at rescuing Savarkar while he was an imdertrial prisoner. They lay in ambush awaiting the police van which carried the illustrious prisoner to the Court and back to the Prison. But it seems that the plan leaked out and the police van which they waylaid turned out to be a vacant one ! For Savarkar had been taken by a different route. Savarkar’s other comrades also struggled heroically for his release. Someone had thought out a plan of impersonating Savarkar in his cell, but failed. They paid their loyal homage to their leader. Savarkar was now on the eve of being extradited to India. Therefore he thought it his loving duty to bid farewell to his comrades in England and on the Continent. This farewell is a masterpiece of patriotism, humanism and duty ! It is an illustration of great poetry, great ideas, great vision and great life ! It is as follows : —
The Farewell
“ Whose heart to heai t by silken ties is knit Of friendship sweet, that sweeter grows by far, Partaking of Godly Sacrament of Mother’s creed divine : Oh friends ! Farewell ! as tender and fresh As the morning dew that wakes the fragrance Friends adieu ! adieu ! !
God-appointed Duty
We part to play our God-appointed parts Now pent and nailed to burning Rocks, now tossed On surging waves of Fame ; now seen now lost Or humble or exalted — ^wherever posted by the Lord Of Hosts, yet posted best, as if alone it was The mission of our life thus there to act.
Historic Stage
As in some oriental play sublime.
All characters, the dead as well as living In Epilogue they meet
Thus actors we innumerable all once more shall meet
THE STORM BREAKS
69
On History’s copious stage before the great Applauding audience of Hmnanity That would with grateful cheer fill hill and dale Till then Oh loving friends, Farewell ! Farewell !
Humaotty to Guide
Wherever may my humble ashes lie In the Andaman’s sad brook whose weeping course Add to its dreariness a tongue or stored by Ganga’s Sacred crystal stream in which the stars Their midnight measures dance —
They will be stirred with fire and glow When Victory’s trumpet, blasts proclaiming ‘ Shree Ram has crowned his chosen people’s brow With laurels golden green ! The evil spirit is cast Away and chased back to the deep from whence It first arose ! and Lo ! She lordly stands,
Our Mother Ind, a beacon light Humanity to guide. Oh martyred saints and soldiers, do awake !
The battle is won which you fought and fell !!
Till then Oh loving friends, farewell ! farewell !
Sacrifice a Law
Watch sleeplessly the progress of our mother And learn to count it, not by so much work Done or tried, but by how much they suffered.
What sacrifice our people could sustain !
For work is chance but sacrifice a law ;
Foundation firm to rear a mighty Dome Of Kingdoms new and great !
But only great if their roots be in martyr’s ashes laid Thus work for Mother’s glory till God’s breath Be rendered back, the Godly mission done —
A martyr’s wreath or victor’s crown be won ! ! ” ^
The British Government thus gave a sigh of relief, like the ferocious Aurangzeb, at having trapped Shivaji at last ; and they shipped him off.
1 Savarkar, An Echo from Andamans.