I
With a blanket on his head and a platter in one hand, Savarkar stood in chains before the ferocious lofty gates deco- rated with all kinds of chains, hand-cuffs, fetters, guns and bayonets. The gate creaked ! Someone whispered that Mr. Barrie was coming on. Savarkar was preoccupied and was not conscious of Barrie’s arrival. A voice roared, “ Leave him. He is not a tiger ! ” The harsh voice waked Savarkar up. Turning to Savarkar the jailer opened conversation with him.
Babrie : Are you the same man that tried to escape at Marseilles ?
Savarkar : Yes, why ?
Barrie : Why did you do it ?
Savarkar : For some reasons. One of them was to free myself from these hardships.
Barrie : But you fell into them of your own accord, is it not ?
Savarkar : True. I threw myself into them. Just so, I thought it my duty to escape from all these tribulations.
Barrie : To tell the truth, I am not an Englishman. I am an Irishman.
Savarkar : May be. Had you been an Englishman, it would have mattered little. I would not hate you because you were an Englishman. I have spent the best part of my youth in England and I am a warm admirer of many virtues of Englishmen.
Barrie : But the point is that I was an Irish revolutionary and fought for the independence of Ireland. Now I see the futility of it. Hence as a friend I may tell you that you are still yoimg and I am advanced in age. . . .
Savarkar {cutting him short) : And don’t you think that perhaps that may be the reason of the change that has
94
SAVABKAB AND HIS TIMES
come over you ? Not increasing wisdom but dwindling energy !
Babbie {scandalized) : You see, you are a barrister and I am a mere jailer. Don’t discard my advice. Murders are murders and they will never bring independence.
Savarkar : Quite so ; but why don’t you try your advice on the Sinn Feincrs ? And who told you that I was a party to violence ?
Barrie {suddenly assuming his official tone) : What I talked is against the rules. It pained me to see a youth of your great learning and fame among these criminals. I have nothing to do with your past. Mind well you are to abide by the rules. Their breach will bring on its penalty. One thing more. I may inform you that any attempt on your part at escaping from this island will be a feast to cannibals.
Savaiucar : I know Port Blair is not Marseilles !
And so ended the first passage at arms between Mr. Barrie and Savarkar.
This Barrie had attained a marvellous notoriety among the criminals and political prisoners of India. Violent, fero- cious, and stupid, he was a pot-bellied, bulky, red-skinned fellow with round staring eyes, fierce moustache, flat nose, short neck and carried a big staff in his hand. No other mediocre official ever lived long in the memory of the prisoners in the Andamans as Barrie did for the atrocities he perpetrated in his officied capacity as the jailer of the Indian Bastille. Half-ilhterate, full-blown coward, he lustily loved authority for which he fawned on his superiors and with which he tyrannised the convicts. Ignorant of intellectual pursuits his pastime was cruelty. His manner and tone ex- pressed instinctive hatred for political prisoners. He loved self-praise immensely and sometimes displayed his learning which of course consisted of a few lines of poetry and some extracts to evoke a good remark from Savarkar. His poor wife and educated daughter often emptied the vials of his villainy and the Christmas days reminded the Christian jailer at least not to return evil for good !
Savarkar fearlessly entered the ferocious jaws of the Deathland as the early Christian martyrs faced the lions in
THB INDIAN BASTILLS
95
the Coliseum of the Romans. He started his life in the Anda- mans with a salt-water bath which began and ended with the brays of the Jamadar. Then he was locked in a cell on the third floor of the yard No. 7 of the Cellular JaiL The whole floor of yard No. 7 was vacated for him. The most wicked and vicious Pathans drilled in the methods of tor- turous jail administration were posted to guard his cell. It had been a part of the policy of the British bureaucracy to utilize whenever possible the fanatic Muslim mind against the Hindu forces and fighters. At every major crisis, at every decisive event, they gave full reins to their instinctive anti- Hindu bent of mind to frustrate the plans of the Hindu leaders or torture the Hindu agitators. History is replete with such instances.
It is the characteristic of a great life that it is ever full of duties and sacrifices. The soul that suffers gets stronger and sober. The soul of a Great Man never stands still. For Great Men are the heart of humanity. Their work never ceases for a single second until the day of death. The proverbs that no pains, no gains and no gall, no glory are undying. After a deed of deathless virtue, Savarkar was also thrown into the furnace of tribulations. The more the gold burns, the brighter it shines, and greater the number of clouds, the more dazzling is the splendour of the sun when he breaks forth.
Love of one’s own country or humanity, if from within, is sublime and enduring. Patriotism or service of humanity, if from without, fades and withers. The former originates from a devotion to human progress or a belief in the sanctity of human life. The latter springs from immoral and foul personal ambition. Courage and spirit of self-sacrifice perpe- tuate true love, and self and pelf scandalize the untrue love. Savarkar belongs to the first heroic line of selfless patriots who belong not to one particular countiy but to the whole world. Savarkar was a pioneer in this line, and pioneers idealize the real ‘and the successors realize the ideal.
Savarkar’s arrival deeply stirred the whole of the Anda- mans. There was a feeling of change, freshness and life in the Andamans. To have a talk or a look at Savarkar, the world-famous revolutionary leader, visits of foreigners and
96
SAVARKAR AMO HIS TIMES
guests became a common feature in the Andamans. Ocean- going steamers, warships, mercantile ships would sojourn to give leisure to their men of authority or fame to have a talk with the illustrious Indian prisoner. They even humbly caioled Mr. Barrie for permitting them to have a look at Savarkar. Next morning after Savarkar’s arrival the Pathan warder annoxmced the coming of Mr. Barrie. Barrie appeared with his usual staff in hand, accompanied by a guest. He opened the conversation with a reference to 1857.
Barrie being struck dumb on all points his guest interfered, and said to Savarkar : “ But don’t you condemn the self- centred rebels like Nana and Tatya Tope ? ” “ Condemn ?
You see, I am a prisoner. I can’t freely discuss these points here. If you stop me in the middle and try to lower the pres- tige and honour of my nation, it will be a sheer act of cowardice,” replied Savarkar with a distinct note in his voice. Barrie granted Savarkar’s request and allowed him to discuss freely. “ I know,” said Savarkar, “ You are feeling the embers. This is a discussion on vital points in history and I will do it freely at any cost. It is sheer cowardice to bear silently vile attacks on one’s national honour.” He proceeded,
“ The Government had appointed a committee to investigate the so-called atrocities of this nature. It pronounced its verdict ‘ that those descriptions were baseless ’ and were invented by the wily brains of the British soldiers.” The flame of righteous pride in Savarkar’s heart was fanned. The hero was justifying the deeds of heroes. With a rise in his voice he said, “ You describe Nana Sahib and Tatya Tope as self-seekers. For, Nana wanted to be king and Tatya wanted to attain glory. But is it not also true that Victor Emmanuel wanted to be King, Washington had an eye to the president- ship and Garibaldi craved for greatness ? The fact is that they all fought for their national independence. None should decry them. And as for the massacres at Cawnpore, they were an answer to the terrible atrocities and the wholesale burning of villages committed by the British troops approach- ing Cawnpore.” Barrie’s guest was silenced. The conversa- tion ended.
Before Savarkar’s arrival the revolutionaries of Maniktola case, Savarkar’s brother Babarao with Wamanrao Joshi, some
THE INDIAN BASTILLE 97
editors from Allahabad and some other political prisoners were rotting in the cellular jail of the Andamans. Out of the first group three had received sentences for life transportation for having waged war against the King Emperor and others were short-termed prisoners. Defeated valiant fighters of ‘ 1857 ’ were the first and foremost champions to face the hellish fire of the Andamans. Stricken in age, one of the sxirviving warriors of ‘ 1857 ’ congratulated Savarkar on his having continued the War of Independence. After the heroes of ‘ 1857 ’ came the fighters of Wasudeo Balv/ant. Thus the sacrificial fire was kept burning from 1857 to 1910 in the Andamans and continued to do so by patriots and martyrs who were transported to the Andamans in subsequent years.
The coming of Savarkar brought better days for the political prisoners in particular and convicts in general. Hitherto no discrimination was made there between political and ordinary prisoners. Barrie and his fawning dogs ran amock. Barrie’s word was law, his dogs’ barkings were its arms. A man of little education, Barrie compensated for his inferiority complex by his harsh voice, bullying nature, crooked ways, and dull wits. His rough life had taken off the edge of his sense so much so that he utterly failed to distinguish between truth and falsehood. In his zest to rule the convicts with a heavy hand he proved to be worse than the English officials. Indeed the hot sand is more scorching than the sun itself. He called the revolutionaries bombthrowers, damned rascals and put the letter ‘ D ’ around their neck describing them as “ dangerous ” characters ! His attitude towards the ordinary convicts was lenient, but towards revolutionaries inexorably severe. He violently abused the prisoners in general and causelessly harassed them. Even with this sort of harassment, uptU now the political prisoners had failed in giving a united fight to curb the unjust rule of Barrie. Their condition was very miserable.
The revolutionaries had to undergo unbearable physical tortures. They were yoked to the oil-mill. And the working on the oil-mill demanded such hard labour that it squeezed the life out of even the hardened and seasoned convicts, and they trembled at its sight. The oil-miU was, therefore, aptly regarded as the friend of suicide. Prisoners had to turn its
98 SAVARKAR AND HIS TZMBS
handle horizontally for hours together without even a slight break. They had to take their meals and drink water, while the oil-mill was in motion lest the quota of the oil might fall far below the expectation. But even with such hard labour full measure of the required quota could never be fulfilled by even the strongest prisoner. Their hands bled, hearts ached, heads whirled. They fell in dead faints. When they revived, round and round they had to go again in excruciat- ing agony. Prisoners were sent to water closets in a file of eight or ten and they had to rush out without finishing the natural functions at the whim of the warder or were dragged out in that state too. It was an offence to answer the call of nature except during the scheduled time of morning, noon and evening. If any political prisoner felt the necessity to do so at odd hours, he did it in his cell in the small pot or on the walls of his cell and bribed the scavenger with a pinch of tobacco to get it cleared or else he was punished for this unavoidable natural call by being put into standing-handcuffs from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 12 noon to 5 p.m. During these punishment hours if he could not check his natural calls, he would answer them in that hanging condition. Political prisoners were not given as much leisure or rest as is given even to the beasts of burden for answering nature’s calls or other natural functions. Educated persons were used as beasts of burden and illiterate persons were given clerical work. Pathans, warders and petty officers gulped down the .share of the prisoners’ food and milk. What is more, the doctors followed the diagnosis of the jailer !
The right of writing letters home was deprived even if any prisoner broke the file at the time of meals, or talked with his neighbour. Prisoners were forced to take their meals in soaking rains or in the scorching sim. The duration of time for meals depended not on the clock, but on the crowing of the warder. None could ask for more food, nor eat less. If surplus was thrown away, the prisoner was made to bring it back and eat it up !
Sometimes the prisoners had to drink water with a squeez on their noses. So dirty was its smell. Some political prisoners were made to do odd jobs at the residence of the officers, to clean streets and to draw carts of the officers. To
THE INDIAN BASTILLE
99
relieve taemselves from the insufferable hard labour prisoners ate some harmful herbs or took some other drastic medicine that brought on diarrhoea or vomits of blood or high fever. Some pretended stark madness covering their faces even with stools. Their last refuge was suicide, the sure guide, friend and saviour, a consummation devoutly to be wished ! Thus it will be seen that cellular jail machine was more soulless and dreadful, more devilish and dehumanising than any other terrific jail machine under the sun of Bastille notoriety or the Fortress of Peter and Paul in Czarist Russia of evil name.
Writing about this prison life, Savarkar said : “ Life in a jail for good, for evil, is a unique chance. Man can never go out of it exactly as he came in. He goes out far better or far worse. Either more angelic or more fiendish. Fortunately for me, my mind has so quickly adapted itself to the changes in circumstances. It seems so strange that a nature so restless and active, roaming over continents, should so quickly feel quite at home in a cell hardly a dozen feet in length. And yet one of the kindest gifts of Providence to Humanity is this plasticity, this adaptability of the human mind to the ever changing environments of life.” * To become your own friend you must retire into your own inner self and cultivate the friendship of the conscience, the God in you. A yogin in action can exercise such a tremendous control over his senses. Savarkar had conquered his senses and acclimatized himself to the new change. His mind climbed the tower of human imagination and saw the vastness of the universe dissolving its identity into Him. “ When early in the morning and late in the evening,” he wrote from the cellular jail, “ I try a bit of Pranayam and then pass insensibly into a sweet sound sleep — Oh how calm and quiet is that rest, so calm that when I get up in the morning, it is long before I can realize again that I am in a prison cell lying on a wooden plank. All the conunon aims and allurements of mankind having receded far, the conscience is perfectly pleased with itself with the conviction of having served under His Banner and served to some purpose. A calm, sweet equanimity is left with my soul and it lulls my mind in an intense peace.” ^
J Savarkar, An Echo from Andamans, p. 18.
•Ibid., p. 18.
100 SAVASKAR AND HIS TIMES
Here is a lively description of the daily life in the Cellular jail in Savarkar’s words. “ I get up in the morning when the bell goes on at 5 a.m. At its sound I feel as if I had entered a higher college for a higher study. Then we do our work of rigour till 10 a.m. While my hands and feet are automatically doing the given task, my spirit avoiding all detection is out for a morning trip, and across the seas and oceans, over hills and dales, it roams sipping only pleasant things and things noble, like a bee among flowers. Then I compose some new lines. Then we dine and at 12 noon work again. From 4 p.m. comes rest, reading, etc. This is the usual round of life here.” The master artist in Savarkar further described the vivid picture in a Voltarian satire. He added : ” In a prison what happens on the first day, happens always, if nothing worse happens. In fact, it seems to be the essence of prison discipline to avoid all novelty, all change. Like specimens and curios in a museum, here we are each exactly in the same place and same position, belted and labelled with the same numbers with more or less dust about us. . . . We get up early, work hard, eat pimctually at the same place and the same amount and kind of food prepared with the same matchless prison skill and medical care.” He concluded : “ Almost every night, I tell you, I break the jail and out by dale and down and by tower and town go on romping till I find some one of you — some one who somewhere had been held close to my bosom ! Every night I do it but my beneficent jailers take no notice of it. You have only to wake up in the jail, that is all they say ! ” * Solitary monotony for twelve years in a cell ! This is a clue to the introversion that clung to Savarkar in later life and made him disinclined to mix freely with people and personalities.
II
For the first fortnight Savarkar was closed in a solitary cell. Then he was given the work of chopping the barks of cocoanuts with a heavy wooden mallet. His hands bled, swelled, ached and the coir was blistered with blood. In order to frighten Savarkar into submissiveness, Barrie displayed the wrath of his power by reviling his co-sufferers in his presence.
1 Savarkar, An Echo from Andamans, p. 39.
THE INDIAN BASTILLE 101
Barrie’s one aim was to impress upon Savarkar that he was not a political prisoner, but an ordinary criminal. The jailer always tried to dishearten and frighten him by riveting his eyes to the ticket on his breast showing imprisonment for half a century. But with cdl his resourcefulness Barrie could not overpower or overawe Savarkar. His personality, his fame and his courage had outgrown the pale of Barrie’s mind, men and power.
The case of other political prisoners was quite different. With sunken heads they bore humiliations and were mortally wounded in their feelings, when Barrie spurred them with loathing. Savarkar consoled his co-sufferers and breathed life into them. He cheered them. He said that though they were helpless in those days, yet a day would dawn when statues would be erected to their memory in the very jail. Future generations would make a pilgrimage to that place saying, “ Here dwelt for years the patriots of our land, the flesh of our flesh, the spirit of our spirit that fell in the cause of freedom.” He added that their sufferings, their wounds and their struggle would be fruitful in the end.
And thirty-two years later Nctaji Subhas Bose of the Indian National Army hoisted over Port Blair the flag of indepen- dence on December 30, 1943, honoured the memory of the Indicin revolutionaries by saluting the cellular jail and re- named Andamans as “ Shaheed Island ” in memory of the martyrs. The wheel of destiny had turned. In a press interview in November 1943, Netaji said : “ Most of the political prisoners sentenced to penal servitude for conspiracies to overthrow the British Government, — and there have been hxmdreds of them, — ^were locked up in this Island. Like the Bastille in Paris, which was liberated first during the French Revolution, setting free political prisoners, the Andamans, where our patriots suffered much is the first to be liberated in India’s fight for independence.” ’ Savarkar’s prophecy came true to a letter !
Subhas Bose was not a degenerated man to disparage the noblest sacrifice of the heroes of the Andamans. He knew that their prison life had only one class. That was facing death in every form at every moment. Not fruits but frowns,
- Jat Hind, published by Amritlal Prabhashankar, p. 74.
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BAVARRAll AKO HIS TIMES
not cosy beds but wooden planks galled them. There they rolled in dark, damp, dirty, dingy cells. Every hour of theirs they passed in moving, mournful and moanful misery. Their food was half-cooked, soiled, filled with drops of sweat and often seasoned with pieces of reptiles or white dead worms. They toiled like horses and worked as bullocks ! The climate sapped their vitality and life. Under the strain and stress of extreme physical rigours some of them showed signs of mental aberration and collapsed into insanity. They underwent these poignant trials for the very liberation of their Motherland. Had they worked safely enough to save their skin, had they loved a life of peace, pelf and position, they would have attain- ed it easily for some of them were sufficiently rich or eminently gifted with rich brains. Subhas knew this and so he honoured them first.
In the middle of August 1911, Savarkar was yoked to the oil-mill, the hardest task, the greatest test and the severest pain the cellular life witnessed. The jail superintendent called Savarkar and said he would not give him that work again if he did it for two weeks. This severest turn of dealing with prisoners was a result of the strong remarks of an officer from Calcutta, the then Capital of the Government of India, to the effect that the prisoners in the Andamans were treated considerately. That visit gave a handle to Barrie to play havoc in the Andamans. Barrie deliberately reminded Savarkar of the fifty years’ rigorous sentence and promised him help if he did not refuse to do the work. Heartless as he was, he unkindly remarked that Savarkar was promoted from Coir to Kolu — the oil-mill ! This promotion or rise in the status, curiously enough, was upheld by the Bombay Univer- sity which informed Savarkar only a day before he was harnessed to the oil-mill that his B.A. degree was cancelled. There was nothing strange that a University in a slave country should kill its child for its own exi.stence.
As for the remembrance of 50 years’ imprisonment Savarkar was used to it now, as an artillery soldier is used to the terrific booming.
The barrister thus began to move around the oil-mill like a bullock. His body ached, muscles writhed with pain, stomach turned and mouth parched, for the prisoner was not
THE INDIAN BASTlIiLE 103
even given more than a certain quantity of water. Moved by the sight, some political prisoners helped him secretly. There was even healthy rivalry among them for washing his clothes secretly. Savarkar was overwhelmed with their feelings. In turn he would sometimes wash their clothes without their knowledge and they sincerely entreated him not to do so.
Savarkar felt that his great powers that would have enriched the destiny of the country were wasting away. Disgustful of dying a slow, painful death, and that too unobserved, his mind drove him to the thought of suicide. In such a state suicide becomes a deed of self-respect ! For a while he was fascinated with the idea and greedily looked to the upper side of the window of the cell from where many mounted on to heaven by means of rags tightened to their necks ! Dusty and deadly fatigued, one day he reeled against the vrall sur- rounding the oil-mill and fell in a faint. When he revived, things around him became gradually visible and intelligible to him one by one ; he knew by and by who and where he was, and he picked himself up with great effort for work ! For some time mind routed reason. Defeated reason again joined battle. It said, “ What an ego ! You never craved for name, fame and glory. You wished to suffer most for humanity. You attained it. What of your abilities and intelligence ! There was a time when there were no Himalayas ; there will be a time when they will not be there. Even the sun in the universe has an unsteady position. He will be pricked one day like a bubble and still the universe will go on. Therefore, if you want to die, do not die a cowardly death by suicide, but die valiantly.” ’ Reason inspired courage into the mind and it plumed its feathers, soaring, and singing again.
The first secret note Savarkar got was from Hotilal Varma. The note dashed against the inside wall of the cell with a stone. The sound occasioned a great hubub. Warders from below ran upstairs and searched Savarkar and his cell, but in vain. When they were gone, he took it out from the innermost delicate part of the body and read it ! In it Hotilalji had informed Savarkar that there was a division among the Bengali revolutionaries. It was a fact that some
1 Savarkar, Mazi Janmathep, p. 131.
IM SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
of them could not stand the sufferings and turned informants and lackeys. In others the conscience was not yet dead. They told their colleagues to put an end to their lives since life had been made impossible for them due to severe agonies. Savarkar felt sympathy for the past services and sacrifices of those heroic souls who had turned informants. Their tortured body became untrue to their faith and trampled upon the soul. Yet, he held that none had the right to criticise them but those who had suffered more than they. Those who decided to live under any circumstances avoided tortures by being lackeys and spies of Barrie. Those who despised a life of dishonour preferred death to living as traitors to the cause and the country. There were few who considered life worth living till it did not go against their principles.
m
Savarkai resolved to resort to agitation within the four corners of law in the Andamans to secure the privileges of political prisoners for his comrades and to compel the jail authorities to give physical and cultural amenities to political prisoners. With that aim in view he first devoted his mind to the education of the political prisoners. The revolutionaries were all youtlis. Some of them had chosen this life owing to their daring, noble and selfless disposition. Some of them had vague and hazy notions about the fundamental principles of the revolutionary struggle, its aims and its methods. Savarkar decided to driU and steel them in those fundamentals which gave them a solid base of knowledge of Political science, of Economics, and of Constitutional Law. The contact began at the oil-mill, or at the work of chopping the bark. Besides, education was imparted through the top of the windows and holes at the bottom of the walls of the cells; on the occasion of transfer of cells, going to and coming from the jail office and through a secret service of private notes.
This movement needed books. And books were a red rag to Barrie. On Sundays prisoners got books. Every evening they also got books, but each his own. Exchange of books was dealt vdth seriously. For this breach of discipline offenders would hang in hand-cuffs for a period of four days.
THE INDIAN BASTILLE 105
The chief obstacle in the way was Barrie’s terrible ignorance and his loathing for books. To his ignorant mind books containing words like “ nation,” “ coxintry ” “ patriotism ”, drove men to acts of violence. And books on theosophy, he held, made them mad ! Barrie, perhaps, forgave a prisoner for any trifling offence or a glaring breach, but never did he tolerate the sight of a book or a slate ! Savarkar cheered his co-sufferers by telling them the stories of heroes from the mythology and history. In jail not a scrap of paper was tolerated. A tiny piece of lead hidden in hair or in the cavity of mouth would amount to a crime and would bring severe punishment. The cell of Savarkar was raided even twic2 or thrice a week during the first six or seven years. Illegible writing on the walls was considered a wilful damage to Gov- ernment property.
The task of educating his co-prisoners was difficult. At the beginning even the educated prisoners treated this new move with scant respect cind the illiterate fled from it. Pointing out the then confusion in New China due to want of constitu- tioned experts, and the disorderliness in new Iran for want of economists and accountants, Savarkar impressed upon the revolutionaries that for conducting a Government efficiently they should also have Gokhales, Dutts or Sir Madhavraos among them having mastery over the knowledge of Constitu- tional Law, Science of Economics and Politics. In their present lot they could do nothing better than store this knowledge in order to equip themselves better for the future work, struggle and action, as some of them were short-termed prisoners and would soon be free. For Savarkar held that knowledge without action was lame and action without knowledge was bhnd. To him knowledge that did not issue in any tangible action was like a tree without fruit !
Savarkar fought out the problem of books despite the opposi- tion of Barrie and ultimately secured the Superintendent’s permission to store books. It was mutually arranged that every prisoner should ask his relative to send books at a particular time so that every month they received a parcel of new books. Still Barrie would have his say. He blackened some pages or tore away those pages of the books which he considered objectionable. *1116 idea of a library appealed to
106 SAVARKAR AMD BIS TIMES
European officers also and they deposited their books in the library. Some prisoners were entrusted with the work of maintaining the library. At first the criminals avoided Bade Babu’s (as Savarkar was called by them) literacy campaign. Soon some of them saw its utility and joined ; others who fled from him were sometimes awarded scholarships, in the currency of the Andamans, a pinch of tobacco, and were won over. The effect was visible. Many completed some course and were appointed Munshis — clerks. Criminals abated in their fury and became more docile. They read religious books with great devotion. Many leaimt to read papers and when they could do so their joy knew no bounds !
V/ith the growth of the literacy movement the library also began to gicw. It swelled with complete works of Spencer, Shakespeare, Mill, Vivekananda, Ramkrishna ; great works of Gibbon, Emerson, Macaulay, Carlyle, Tolstoy, Nietszche, Rousseau, Voltaire and Tagore. The Library also contained Plato’s Rrptihlic, Thomas Moor’s Utopia, Rousseau’s Contract, Wilson’s State, works of Great Mahratta and Bengali Poets ; Bengali, Hindi, Marathi Weeklies and Monthlies ; Modern Review and Indian Review’. It was in the Andamans that Savarkar drank deep at the fountain of Bengali literature. Though he b.ad composed a poem on the Nobel Prizeman, Ral)indranath Tagore, he was of opinion that Bankimchandra, Roy and Madhusudan were equally great in sweep, imagina- tion and rhythm.
But the books that appealed to him most were Yogavashistha and the Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis. The spell of the latter was so irresistible that he gladly received it as a gift from a European officer on his return journey from the Indian Bastille. The energy and patience of Savarkar were inexhaustible ! Savarkar taught the criminals and his colleagues with the endurance, insistence and love of a loving teacher. To some of the dull criminals he had to give the alphabetic lesson for over twenty times before his perseverance could boar fruit. The criminals read religious books and newspapers wdth great interest. Everyone was now anxious to secure nows about Hindusthan and making propaganda for her cause ! At the time of Savarkar’s departure the library contained about 2,000 books. The object of the
THE IHDIAN BASTILLE 107
campaign was fulfilled. The cent per cent illiteracy amongst the convicts was changed into sixty per cent literacy when Savarkar left the Andamans.
But none of his propagandistic moves aroused so vigorous an opposition and such widespread misunderstanding as did his great efforts for investing Hindi with the importance of the Lingua Franca of India. That Hindi should be the Lingua Franca of India was one of the important creeds of the Abhi- nava Bharat. The Abhinava Bharat had declared this times without number. Savarkar struggled hard to imprint upon the minds of his colleague.? and co-prisoners the importance of Hindi. Struggle, storm, sparks, conviction and spell are the characteristics of Savarkarian movements. They are the fate of evex’y pioneer, precursor and prophet. Savarkar appealed to his colleagues to call for books on Hindi. He taught them Hindi. He insisted that every prisoner should learn his main provincial language and Hindi as the national language. Madrasis and Bengalis were averse to it and adversely criticised Savarkar’s stand. They even suspected that Savarkar wanted to kill their mother-tongues under the guise of a National Language. If somebody wished to bestow gifts in memory of the celebration of any good day or event, Savarkar persuaded him to give Hindi books. Savarkar answered his critics that he never persuaded any one to purchase Marathi books and asked them whether he wanted to kill Marathi also. Not less violent was the opposition from the British Officers. They knew Urdu and therefore they opposed the introduction of Hindi and Nagari and more so because it was a cause propagated by Savarkar. Hence they feared that either it would enormously increase his influence or would develop into a menace in some respects ! This latter suspicion was mooted and fomented by the Muslims in the Andamans too !
In this cause the Arya Samajists helped him, as Swami Dayananda, their prophet, was the first and foremost leader to champion the cause of Hindi with Nagari script, as the Lingua Franca of India. Dayananda wrote his books in Hindi. Savarkar’s respect for Dayananda was high. He got the Satyartha Prakash read by his colleagues and co-prisoners. He regarded the great work of Dayananda as a fearless and
108 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
farmidable exposition that teaches and implants the noble ideals of Hindu culture, elucidating the importance of Hindu religion as the national religion of Hindusthan. Savarkar explained to his colleagues how Hindi had been the national tongue, an all-India language of the sadhus and merchants, princes and pilgrims from Rameshwar to Badrinath, from Puri to Dwarka ever since the days of Prithviraj.
Before this the second language of the jail office of the Cellular Jail or the Andamans was Urdu and the posts of Munshis had been occupied by persons from Upper India who were educated in Urdu. Letters, reports and applications to and from the Andamans were written in Urdu ! After a long struggle Savarkar persuaded the prisoners to write their letters in the provincial languages or conveniently in Hindi and to write their complaints, answers, or applications in Hindi so that the necessity and urgency of Nagari-knowing Munshis should be felt increasingly. The effect was tremendous. Formerly ninety per cent of the letters from and to the Andamans were in Urdu, a few years after the arrival of Savarkar the tables were turned and the ratio was in the reverse order. Some distinguished prisoners from the Punjab, who had composed their poetry in Urdu, got themselves accustomed to the Nagari Hindi and re-wrote their poems in Hindi !
In the colony of free citizens this constant propaganda for Nagari and Hindi took root and the ceremonial invitation cards began to appear in Hindi. From the conversations of Hindus the similes and metaphors describing the Arabic environ- ments disappeared by and by. It has been Savarkar’s bold and constant stand for the last forty years that Urdu should be preserved for Muslims, but it should not be allowed to replace or dominate Hindi in any field on any account. The propaganda and importance of the Lingua Franca appealed even to the officers who were secretly tutored in Hindi. It was through Savarkar’s efforts and pressure that a Girls’ School was started in the colony but he could not annihilate the teaching of Urdu in Boys’ Schools as his departure came off suddenly ! Savarkar held that if the importance and future of the Andamans was to be increased usefully in reference to the safety and predominance of Hindusthan and Hindu
THE INDIAN BA:STXI.LB 109
ctilture, Hindi and Nagari should be made compulsory in the Andamans.
The significance of this farsighted move can now be imagin- ed and appreciated. Long before any leader of prominence ever since the days of Dayananda dreamt of its importance or entered the field, Savarkar was the only outstanding Hindu leader who strove in right earnest from 1906 to invest Hindi with the power and prestige of the National Language. On the vital problems of nation building he has been ever out- spoken, uncompromising and prophetic as none else could be. The Nagari Pracharini Sabha was, of course, toiling in the field, but slogans fail in the field, if guns are not in the fsjre- front. It was after forty-three years since the days of the Abhinava Bharat’s declaration that the nation accepted Hindi with the Devanagari script as the Lingua Franca of Free Hindusthan !
IV
In the meantime troubles were coming to a head in the Andamans. The boldest among the prisoners resolved to launch upon a strike to vindicate their rights. The strike was marked by many incidents. Calm, sturdy and of good family, one Punjabi revolutionary was yoked to the oil-mill. Having worked till 10 a.m. he took his bath and meals calmly regard- less of the words of abuse poured by the petty officers to make him work. The situation grew rather intolerable. The pot- bellied jailer with the staff in his hand appeared on the scene. The prisoner told him that he was chewing his food scientific- ally. Barrie threatened him with punishment, but he did not yield.
Such rebellious prisoners were kept on rice-gruel, and in order to weaken the strength of their minds doses of quinine or some drastic purgative were forced down their throats. That tortured their physique and aggravated their agonies. Despite these insufferable tortures this valiant revolutionary did not yield. At last Barrie came to terms. After four days’ regular work he was relieved of the hard labour. As a result of this strike, the political prisoners were sent outside for work in deference to their demands. There they did some
110 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
odd jobs, but one and all refused to draw carts of officers and
re-asserted their dignity.
Savarkar’s elder brother was one of the most unbending prisoners. The jailer and his dogs tried every method and measure to torture him. Unfortunately some maladies worsened the trouble. He was seized now and then with a splitting headache, typhoid and cholera, but not a drop of medicine was given to him. He groaned frightfully with pain. Still he was made to chop the shell of cocoanuts. In the closed cell he helplessly passed his watery motions upon the rubbish and threw it outside when the door opened. For such unavoidable breach he was often hung in hand-cuffs in a painful state, his bowels purging and his urine passing the while ! What man has made of man ! Yet this brave man of steel frame worked at the oil-mill with all his might and in spite of his agonies, but never did he yield to humiliation nor did he do a dishonourable act to purchase a sigh of relief. For good many days the two brothers were not allowed to have even a glimpse of each other. When Savarkar enquired of the officers about the severe illness of his elder brother he was told to speak for himself. They said rules forbade them to disclose his whereabouts to a prisoner or to speak about his health ! In the end secret sympathies worked and Babarao caught sight of his brother. Seeing his younger brother after years, he burst out: “Tatya, how do you happen to be here ? ” That direct query pierced Savarkar’s heart. He was about to speak, but the brothers were suddenly pulled asunder. Subsequently a secret note to his brother from Babarao lamented. “The belief that you were carrying on the fight for the liberation of our Motherland enlivened my heart and lightened my tortures. Who will carry on your work ? Your gifts and powers will now go to waste.” The reply from Savarkar went in a consolatory tone : “ My abilities and powers have stood the grim test. The glory of it is that what I preached I practised and fell fighting in the forefront. It is also a righteous duty to suffer tortures rotting in the cell with curses from those for whom we fell. For the achievement of the final victory, these sighs, sufferings and sacrifices in the cells are as necessary as is the fighting with the blare of the trumpets of ^ory.”
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To alleviate the tortxures and to blunt the edges of the cruel claws of the administration, the political prisoners headed by Savarkar, began to think out ways and means. It was neces- sary to bring pressure upon the administration from without. British officers who ruled in the land of Death depended upon each other for company and comforts. They played, they danced, they enjoyed themselves together and naturally their interests did not clash in the administration. Hence a com- plaint against one was never paid heed to by another ! It was, therefore, necessary that the leaders in India should know something of those terrible tortrires. But hov/ to bell the cat was the question. At last Hotilalji Varma dared and did it. His secret letter to Surendranath Banerjee giving the details of the jail life in general reached the Bengal leader ihrough secret channels. Surendranath published it in his under the signature of Hotilalji with the numbers of his id! and chawl ! It was a veritable bombshell. On hearing this Barrie ran to the cells like a man scorched by embeis. He roared at Hotilal : “ Stand up at once. You are a rank rascal,” said he in a voice of thunder. Barrie told Savarkar about the mischief of Hotilal and falsely added that the Press in which the Bengali was printed was confiscated.
Everybody in the Andamans was always anxious to get a scrap of news about the happenings in the Motherland beyond the ocean. New-comers were, therefore, alway.s i cccived with utmost cordiality for the sake of news. News also filtered and was circulated through many other channels. A brave son of a great leader of the Punjab serving a term in a prison in the Punjab wrote a letter to Savarkar on the back of the ticket of a convict. The fellow brought it to Savarhar undetected. Sources of foreign news were the rubbish papers at the water closets of the British officers, old soiled wrapping papers of pins, nails and other articles. Many prisoners lost their privilege of working outside the jail for bringing in pieces of newspapers but the news agency worked unabated. Political prisoners secretly shared their bread with those devoted and daring messengers. Barrie gaped and was dumbfounded to know the futility of suppressing news. He often told the superintendent that even if the devil was appointed jailer it would be impossible for him to stop news
112 SAVAHKAB AND HIS TIMES
going to those bomb-throwers. Sometimes on his night rounds Barrie heard messages transmitted by the political prisoners to one another from one end of the jail to the other through some peculiar sounds of the chains. If at all the illiterate warders suspected something, the political prisoners told the warders that they were muttering prayers in their mind to the tune of chains ! This Andaman’s wireless was introduced in Nagari by Babarao Savarkar.
With the same heartlessness Barrie once informed Savarkar that his friend Hardayal was due to come to the Andamans. After many secret anxious inquiries Savarkar learnt that Hardayal had, in fact, given a slip to the Government of U.S.A. Barrie also once told Savarkar that his brother Narayanrao was expected in the Andamans as a result of the bomb thrown at Lord Hardinge in Delhi ! The word Savarkar was synonymous with sedition and sedition became synonymous with Savarkar ! Even the Chief Commissioner told Savarkar that he had met Babu Surendranath Banerjee on board the steamer and the latter had inquired after the health of Savarkar. Savaikar had nothing but high regard for Surendranath Banerjee. He paid tributes to the imcrowned king of Bengal for the word of encouragement he sent through a German Military Officer-prisoner and the sympathy and help he rendered to the patriots in the cellular jail.
In 1911 there were rumours afloat in the Andamans that all political prisoners were to be released in memory of the Delhi Dvwbar. Expectations became rife ; rumours rained. Though sceptical of his release, a wave of sensation passed through Savarkar’s body when he heard everyone saying, “Barrister Babu, you are to be released.” The day dawned. Excepting Savarkar and a Bengali political prisoner all were given remission of a month per year. All that Savarkar got was potato-rice. And the cells were again enveloped in utter disappointment.
At times when in good humour Barrie would of him.tiplf break shocking news to Savarkar. One day in 1915 Barrie told Savarkar that G. K. Gokhale was dead. Savarkar paid glowing tributes to the memory of the great patriot. Hearing the glowing tributes paid by Savarkar to the selfless service
THE INDIAN BASTILLE 113
and profound patriotism of Gokhale, Barrie was talfAii aback and he noted in his diary that though the Maharashtrians differed outwardly they were one at heart ! Hardayalji had the same experience about Mahratta leaders.
Savarkar was very anxious to know if India had made any progress with the royal event. He learnt that the settled fact was unsettled ; the partition of Bengal was annulled. Savarkar was happy and said to his colleagues : “ Once a man is convinced that quinine roots out Malaria, he will take it whenever he gets an attack of Malaria.” The capital of India was about to be transferred to Delhi as foretold by Savarkar, but he said that from the standpoint of liistory, culture, politics and geography, Ujjain should be the proper place for the capital of India. December 23, 1912, was the day for the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi. The state entry of Lord Hardinge, the Governor-General of India, in oriental splendour, was greeted with a terrific bomb at the famous Chandni Chowk. Lord Hardinge was wounded while riding in the silver Howdah upon an elephant. The man behind Hardinge who held the state umbrella was killed. Hardinge fainted from loss of blood and his wounds took some months to heal. It seemed that the royal proclamation could not pacify the revolutionaries. They were grappling as before with the British power for the liberation of the Mother- land.
Among the most heroic sufferers in the Andamans that put up a brave fight to undermine the rigid and rapacious jail administration of the Cellular Jail and to break the speU of terror was one Indu Bhushan Roy. Stout, sturdy and spirited, he was sentenced to transportation for 10 years in the Manik- tola case. Indu Bhushan soon fell ill and was thrown into his cell. And instead of giving medicine, Barrie yoked him to the oil-mill. With deadly pale face, Indu walked with great effort and great pain. Savarkar tried to console him by bringing his own severest lot to his attention and cheered him up. But to no purpose. Next morning Indu Bhushan was a stiff block, his tongue drawn out, his legs hanging loosely. Barrie hushed up the note which Indu had suspended on his chest and stated that Indu’s death was the outcome of in- sanity. Savarkar challenged this statement and persisted in
t
114 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
f alling Barrie that it was an outcome of the extreme physical hardships of jail life. Upendranath Banerjee of Alipore case was also harnessed to the oil-mill. His whole frame ached and his mental condition grew so much pitiable that a sympathetic word would move him to tears. Ullaskar Dutt of Alipore case whom the judge described as a noblest youth was a witty, fearless and good-hearted type of humanity. When he was tortured with electric shocks, Ullaskar moaned, raved and pitieously groaned. He was then transferred to the mental hospital and thence to Madras and was afterwards released.
After the tragedy of Ullaskar, Barrie asked Savarkar when he would go mad. Savarkar replied angrily, “ Perhaps after you go mad ! ” At this juncture a note from Savarkar dis- cussing the policy of an immediate strike was seized and Savarkar was punished by putting him in standing hand-cuffs. Crook as he was, Barrie managed to get Savaikar’s note in Modi read by a Bengali as if it were written in Bengali ! Savarkar appealed to the Superintendent to look into the truth and see whether the chit was in Bengali. The truth came out and Barrie was severely reprimanded. The second time Savarkar was hung in hand-cuffs was for his note asking somebody to bring news. Barrie unkindly joked with Savar- kar in standing hand-cuffs, “ What is this about ? ”
“ Postage ! ” replied Savarkar. “ It has rather cost you much,” said Barrie. Savarkar answered back pungently, “Not at all ! In your ca.se you have to pay subscription for news- papers plus postage. We get news free of subscription. Only this sort of postage we have to pay half-yearly or so ! ”
The third in the line of martyrs was Nani Gopal, a Bengali revolutionary of good family. As he was yoked to the oil- mill, he gave up all work, observed silence, abandoned jail apparel, and gave up food. The Superintendent decided to flog him. Savarkar warned Barrie that if they shed his blood the revolutionaries would definitely retaliate. MAanfimp , thrilling news about Indu Bhushan and Ullaskar appeared in the Indian press. The officers were alarmed. Consequently there was a sudden roimd-up in the Andamans. Rumours had it that the revolutionaries were planning to bomb the Cellular Jail ! Strict measures were adopted. Thorough search was taken in every cell and in the settlement also.
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Free people and prisoners alike were harassed. Bar-fetters, hand-cuffs, standing hand-cuffs, penal diet, solitary confine- ment and all sorts of punishments were imposed. Savarkar was told that he would never be allowed to work outside, though according to rules he ought to have been released long ago from the Cellular Jail to settle on the island. It was certified that his conduct was exemplary, but his past was dangerous ! !
Barrie was now wild with rage. He ordered all poUtical prisoners not to speak in English as he thought their talk in English raised them high in the eyes of the ordinary criminals. At once a rebel rose and said in Hindi that because the jailer asked questions in English they answered in English and added that political prisoners were not so much enamoured of Enghsh. He further retorted : “ It is true that we have not become one with the English tongue and shamelessly enough forgotten our language. Look at our jailer, he is an Irishman, but does not know a word of his mother-tongue ! ” Barrie was scandalized. In a fit of paroxysm he bragged out : “ You Indians, you are our slaves.” A bold voice shot back, “ Your slaves ! What are you ? You are a child of a slave of the British Empire. We are slaves of the British Elmpire and not yours ! Moreover, we have been striving at the risk of our necks to overthrow the foreign yoke while you are calling that empire your own, the empire which has enslaved your Motherland and what is worse, you are living on the crumbs of loaf that are thrown before you ! ” Upon this all the prisoners burst into shrieks of uncontrollable laughter to the great scandal of the jailer ! The order was changed imme- diately. He ordered the political prisoners not to speak again in Hindi !
The protests in the press, the questions in the Imperial Council, the growing volume of public opinion and the thril- ling stories of the Cellular Jail brought pressure upon the Government of India and the Home Member, Sir Reginald Craddock, paid a visit to the Andamans in 1913. Some selected political prisoners were called for interview. A few were told that they deserved a more grievous fate. Others were told that their past was dangerous. The interview with Savarkar took a shrewd turn.
116 SAVARKAB AND HIS TIMES
Craddock ; Savarkar, what a pitiable condition you have thrown yourself in. I have read your writings. If your intellectual powers had worked in the proper direction, any highest post of authority in India would have been conferred upon you. But you chose this line !
Savarkar ; But it is up to you now to save me these tribu- lations. I learn Gokhale’s Bill demanding compulsory education has come up for consideration in the Council. If such opportunities are offered to us, almost all from our fold will prefer peaceful methods.
Craddock : How do you know that ? Do you also know the whereabouts of your comrades and lieutenants ?
Savarkar : How can I ? I am here in a solitary cell. But we know each other’s views. It is a sin to follow the path of violence when it is possible to make progress in a peaceful way. Such were my views when we worked in the revolutionary camp. Such were theirs. Perhaps they may be thinking likewise.
Craddock : Not at all ! They are still proclaiming the battle cry in your name in India and in America.
Savarkar ; I know about it from you. How can I prevent them from using my name ?
Craddock : We will consider the advisability if you are prepared to write to them about your present views.
Savarkar : Of course, I shall willingly do it. But that letter must be written by me independently, otherwise it will be of no use !
Craddock : The letter must go through us !
Savarkar : Then it will mean to them that it was an extraction !
Craddock : We can’t allow it.
Savarkar : I can’t help it.
Craddock (staring a bit) : Well then, what are your grievimces ?
Savarkar began to tell the tale of trials. The Chief Com- missioner intervened. “ But you aU have conspired and acted dangerously. If Russians had ruled India, they would have transported you to Siberia or shot you dead.” He added that political prisoners should be grateful to the British Govern- ment for having treated them so considerately.
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Savabkar : In that case the Russians would not have dis- armed us. Peoples of Siberia can be generals. Had it been possible for us to bear arms, the story of the over- throw of the Mogul empire would have been repeated !
CKADDOCac : What if you had rebelled against the ancient Indian Kings. They would have trampled you under the feet of elephants.
Savarkar : They would have ! In days gone by in Eng- land a man was also dragged along the street for commit- ting theft and was beheaded. But it is not so now. The thing is that this advanced stage is the result of the efforts of both the camps. If rebels were trampled under ele- phant’s feet, they also, when successful, used to behead a king like Charles I. Times are changed. Both camps have improved their methods ! It is a sign of progress. You frankly tell us that you are not guided by any rules and we will prepare ourselves for that also !
Craddock came and went. Yet, Nani Gopal had not taken food. Forty-five days had glided by. Some political prisoners went on a sympathetic fast and thus the third strike began. Savarkar awaited his home letter, but it was not handed over to him as Dr. Savarkar had written to him that Keir Hardie had compared Irish and Indian revolutionaries in his speech in Parliament and remai’ked that ‘ British Government had harshly crushed Savarkar.’ Savarkar knew this through his secret source and then joined the strike. From the first he was averse to a hunger strike and wasting energy. But Nani Gopal’s life was in danger. He, therefore, declined to take food and asked for an interview with Nani Gopal. Nani Gopal and Savarkar were allowed to meet. Nani Gopal broke his fast when he knew that Savarkar had gone on a sympathetic fast. Mirzakhan, the notorious pocket edition of Barrie, proudly told Savarkar that Nani was a brave disciple of Savarkar and his courage befitted a Pathan and not a Hindu ! Savarkar answered in a Savarkarian way. He said, “Had Nani been a Pathan he would have like a fawning dog licked the dust at the feet of Barrie ! The fact is that had all the Pathans been brave and all the Hindus not brave, your Pathan or Mogul Empire would not have been .smashed by the Hindus ! ”
118 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
The years rolled by and at last came the news that the Government of India had decided to bring back the termed convicts to Indian jails. Those undergoing life terms were to be released from jail to settle on the island, if their conduct was satisfactory. While in prison they were to be given better class food and clothes and after five years they were to bo allowed to cook their own food with a little money to easen their life !
Thus pressure from without and struggle from within slackened the rigours and rigid rules of the Deathland !