1
Thus Savarkar was interned in Ratnagiri where the defeated and dethroned King Theba of Burma had perished. Two weeks after this memorable event of January 6, 1924, the Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha was established ostensibly through the influence and attempts of Babarao Savarkar, but, in fact, inspired by Savarkar himself. The main object of the Sabha was to organize, consolidate and unite the Hindus into one organic whole and enable them to oppose effectively any unjust aggression ; thus while protecting their own cultural, religious and economic rights, the Hindus were to strive for the general welfare of mankind, universal compassion being the basic urge of Hinduism !
The first event of note that took place in the history of the Sanghatanist Party was the visit to Ratnagiri of Sri Shankaracharya in May 1924, during the celebration of the Shivaji Festival. The Sanghatanist Party utilised the great occasion for arousing people’s enthusiasm for the Sanghatan movement. But at this juncture plague broke out in Ratnagiri and their work was hindered. Consequently Savarkar was allowed to shift to Nasik, the city which he had transformed into the Jerusalem of Indian revolutionaries. After 19 years of glorious struggle and long incarceration Savarkar’s entry into the city was hailed with great enthusiasm by the people. As a token of their gratitude he was presented with a purse on behalf of Maharashtra. Dr. Moonje presided over the function and Sri N. C. Kelkar read out the address. Sri Shankaracharya sent his blessings on the occasion by presenting a holy garment to the great patriot. Expressing feelings of esteem, gratitude and love that Maharashtra cherished for Savarkar’s heroic fortitude, sterling patriotism and untold sufferings in the cause of freedom, the address presented to Savarkar ended with the hope that Savarkar
154 SAVAHKAR AND HIS TIMXS
would soon be a free man to carry on his mission in the country unrestricted and unhampered. Savarkar carried on his work for the uplift of the Hindu society in Nasik too. During his stay at Nasik, he rescued some Mahar Hindus from the snare of the Agakhani Mohammedans. He also visited Trimbak, Yeola and Nagar, and propagated his new Hindu Sanghatanist ideology among the people.
On his return from Nasik in the last week of November 1924, Savarkar devoted himself to public work and propaga- tion of his ideal from the platform of the Ratnagiri Hindusabha which was then, as was the Hindu Mahasabha itself, a non- political body. The late Dr. M. G. Shinde, a sincere and staunch worker and devoted Savarkarite who stood by his leader through thick and thin, was Savarkar ’s chief lieutenant. Different men for different purposes were drawn to him. Some loved him, some protected him, some spread his ideology among the people, and others worked and toiled for him.
Sri Palukaka Joshi, a devotee, copied his master’s manuscripts, his essays and dramas, articles and writings, and directed them to the proper places. The late Sri Nanai, a legal celebrity in the District, Kao Bahadur Parulekar, Rao Saheb Ranade, Sri Vishnupant Damie, Sri Wamanrao Chavan, Sri Patkar, Sri Achyutrao Malushte, Sri Narayanrao Khatu, Sri Haribhau Gandhi, Sri Dattatraya Savant, Sri Atmaramrao Salvi, Sri Keruji Mahar and a host of others were the pioneer workers in this movement launched by Savarkar.
Gradually Savarkar began to initiate the people into his new ideology through the Hindu Sabha. Afire with the new ideology the Hindus in Ratnagiri began to worship strength, consolidation, and unity. It was inevitable that such an unadulterated Hindu movement should upset the mental balance of the then peerless Gandhian pro-Muslim zealots. The breath of the movement was against the current fads and fashions in Indian pohtics passing under the good name of non-violence and truth. Worship of strength and love for the Machine age were taboo to the Gandhian faddists. Naturally the new cult of lathi irritated them much. They thought that the cult of lathi created communal dishaimony. The Muslim opposition to this cult and ideology sprung from
SOCIAL REVOLUTION 155
the fear that the resultant force would be used against them. In reply, the Savarkarian group suggested to the apostles of the self-abnegation policy to cut their own hands lest they might strike the faces of the Muslims. Servile philosophy, the child of fear complex, being not in the blood of the Sanghatanists, they did not care for the objections of the faddists, nor did they care for the opposition of the fanatics. They believed that the real leaders of the Hindus were those, who had risen even in armed revolt against injustice, aggression and tyranny in any form ! For the defence of their natural and national rights, the Sanghatanists said, they would not only use the force of lathi, but would also await the opportunity to utilise, if necessary, the fire and power of machine guns, submarines, aeroplanes and battleships.
In 1927 the question of playing music before mosque raised its ugly head in Ratnagiri too. In Turkey and many other European countries wherein Mu.slims live, there is neither ban nor objection to the playing of music in public places. That there should be an abundant and abiding respect for all creeds, faiths, and ways of life is the true key to universal happiness. But there must bo a give and take on both sides. It is the duty of the followers of every faith to accommodate, conduce and contribute to the peace and progress of the world. Here in this case even (conventionally and legally the Hindus were entitled to take their processions with music by the mosques ; still the Muslims raised objection to these Hindu rights. So the situation grew tense. The Hindus took out their procession with great pomp and preparedness amidst this tension and excitement.
The Muslims appealed to the District Magistrate for “ help He rejected their appeal in these words : “ I do not think
that an amicable settlement is possible, as the Mohammedans under the influence of some undesirable advice allege that no procession ever passed the mosque with music in the past.” The Di.strict Magistrate continued : “ It is unfortunate that the question of music before the mosque has recently been the cause of so much trouble everywhere. The duty of the Executive is clear. It is to afford protection to the peaceful enjoyment of existing rights and customs to those entitled to it without fear or favour. I, therefore, agree with the District
156 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
Superintendent of Police that Mohammedans have no grounds for making these applications.” * Obviously the struggle ended in a triumph for the Hindus. On this occasion Savarkar reiterated his views that force and fanaticism on the Muslim side would never solve this problem of music before the mosque; true understanding and due respect for the Hindu rights of citizenship on their part alone would mitigate the evil.
Soon after the decision of the authorities in the aforesaid episode, the Mushms exhibited placards in a procession declaring that they did not want Swaraj. The Sanghatanists said that Allah should read the placai-ds and grant their prayer ; for the Swaraj of the stamp of Kohat, Malabar and Gulbarga might never come into existence. The Hindus said : “ Oh ! friends, you never joined us on the platform, never accompanied us to the prisons, and never followed us to the gallows. What else will a reasonable man expect of you ? In spite of such an attitude, Savarkar every year on the days of Hindu festivals visited the Muslim and Christian quarters to promote good feelings between the Hindus and the other communities. On the occasion of the Dasara festival, accomjianied by his co-workers, Savarkar distributed “ gold leaves ” among the Muslim and Christian citizens too. But these feelings were never reciprocated. The doctrine of false humility and degraded self-respect practised by Gandhist Hindus stood at the non-Hindu doors with offers of supplicant service. And the non-Hindus loved it more than genuine goodwill and self-respect displayed by Savarkar. Due regard for self and reasonable self-love constitute the Vtacif? of virtue. A man of sense and self-respect considers so !
The first and foremost battle on the home front as such Savarkar had with the Hindu orthodoxy or the Sanatanists was over the question of mixed-caste schools in the District. The orthodox Hindus opposed the idea tooth and nail. The School Board faltered and the District Board failed in its support.
So Savarkar carried on intense propaganda in favour of mixed schools through the press and from the platform, and appealed to the District and Provincial authorities for help
1 Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha, Five-Year Report, p. 41.
SOCIAL REVOLUTION 157
against the forces of orthodoxy which denied the jxist, civic, hxuuan, and legitimate rights to the children of the imtouch- ables to sit in public schools along with the caste-Hindu children. Attention of the Government also was drawn by Savarkar to the fact that the imtouchables being as good tax-payers and citizens the touchables, their children were entitled to the benefit of al! public schools. It was also pointed out tiiat those very orthodox Hindus did not feel any qualms of conscience in allowirn t.ie Christian and Muslim children to sit with their children in the schools.
Savarkar entreated the orthodox Hindus in an appealing tone not to treat their co-religionists worse than dogs and cats. “ Can you prevent Christian children from attending public schools ? No. You dare not. You know the consequences. The British Government will speak with bullets,” he challenged. “You insult the untouchables, because they are ignorant and helpless ; but you yield to the unjust demands of the Muslims because they are aggressive. When a Mahar becomes a Muslim or a Christian convert, you treat him as your equal. But as a Mahar he will not receive the same treatment. What a shame my countrymen ! ” he thundered.
Savarkar appealed to the District Magistrate to bring the rowdy elements to book and wrote to him in a moving tone : “ I wish, sir, to enlist not only your legal protection as a Magistrate, but also your human sympathies as a gentleman, in the cause.” It may seem strange that Savarkar should have written for help to the Government of those days. But it must be noted that Savarkar is always uncompromising with untruth and injustice, and not with men and power. The breath of his ideology is the hatred of oppression in every form, not of personalities and authorities. The virility and sincerity of Savarkar in this cause ultimately triumphed. The District Magistrate saw things for himself, and wrote the following remark during one of his visits to the schools : “It is the good result of Mr. Savarkar’s lectures that the untouchable boys have been allowed to sit mixed and get their education without any invidious distinction being made in their case ! ” ^
Then came another shock to orthodoxy ! An untouchable 1 Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha, Five-Year Report, p. 150.
158 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
teacher was transferred in 1928, to a school attended entirely by caste-Hindu children ! The Sanatanists moved heaven and earth to get the order of the School Board rescinded, but to no purpose. The School Board threatened to close the school and the orthodox Hindus regained their civic sense ! The effect was tremendous and historic. Due to this victory of Savarkai’ over orthodoxy and the establishment of rival mixed-caste schools by the Hindus, and consequently for want of new converts, the American Mission working in Ratnagiri had to wind up its activities, and its chief departed in despair ! Thus ended the first battle at Ratnagiri agmnst orthodo?<y in a unique victory for Savarkar.
Shuddhi or the Reconversion movement, the main spring of Sanghatanisni, was also inaugurated by Savarkar in Ratnagiri and was coming to a head despite heavy odds. Th(' Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha fought its way inch by inch until the Hindus came to realize the Movement’s democratic sup- IX)rt to the Indian unity, Indian peace and Indian prosperity in the peculiar situation obtaining in India. Reconversion adds to the strength and forces of nationalism and decreases the forces of communalism, disruption, and disorder. The movement holds forth immense pregnant possibilities.
The Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha reconverted from the middle of 1926 and onwards several persons to the Hirfdu fold with prescribed religious ceremonials. The Christian missionaries were enraged at this ; so they warned a certain boy, who was reconverted to Hinduism, not to pass by the mission quarters lest other boys should catch the contagious idea that converts could again become Hindus ! The most difficult problem which ai’ose from this reconversion movement was the marriage problem of the reconverted persons. The Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha, in its earlj^ stage, had vigorously supported the marriage of Sri Tukojirao, Maharaja of Indore, with Miss Miller, an American lady, and even had expressed its readiness to arrange for a priest to perform the marriage ceremony. The Sabha in the beginning got two reconverted girls married to two Hindu gentlemen under the direction of Savarkar, who performed the marriage rites himself. Orthodoxy shook to its roots at this ! Later, during Savarkar’s internment, about two hundred persons were saved
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from the clutches of non-Hindu Missions. Diseased and disabled Hindu children were reared up by some Sanghatanists and were prevented from being handed over to the non-Hindu forces. The main support of money and sympathy for the work of Sri Vinayak Maharaj Masurkar, while his reconver- sion movement was going on in Goa, came from Ratnagiri, the stronghold of Savarkarism.
The reconversion movement was a war. It really aimed at bringing the senseless to their senses ! And a war with the Hindu orthodoxy was a w^u’ indirectly with the Maulavies and Missionaries. Displeased at the new movement of Reconver- sion, the Muslims and Missionaries lodged complaints against Savarkai- with the Disti-ict Magistrate, who happened to be a Muslim, charging Savarkar with creating communal disharmony and tension in the District. Out went a thundering rejoinder in the next month from the Ratnagiri Hindus into the hands of H.E. the Governor of Bombay, Sir Leslie Wilson, justifying the stand taken by Savarkar and the cause espoused by him. This neutralised and nullified the complaints of the opposite camps. Savarkar told the District Magistrate that if the movement of Reconversion created tension, why should the movement of Conversion also be not considered so ? He emphasized that if at all anybody was to be held responsible for the tension, the Missionaries and Maulavies should be held so because they had started the conversion movement first. Reconversion followed the Conversion movement. Moreover, he added that his was not an aggressive or unjust movement carried on in the far-off corners of America or Turkey. He was doing sacred work in his own country, which had been exploited in her fallen days by foreign faiths. It was a strange attitude on the part of a Government that allowed robbers to commit robberies and prohibited the owners from protecting and defending their property ! But in this unfortunate land those were the times when a politician like Mr. Mahomed Ali, who expressed his unholy desire to divide the Depressed Classes equally between Hindus and Muslims, from the Presidential Chair of the Indian National Congress, was eulogised as a patriotic and a nationalist leader ! And at the same time the Reconversion movement was decried as anti-national and a force of
160 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
reactionarism, and its leaders from Shraddhananda to Lajpat Rai, and from Moonje to Savarkar, were decried as communalists and reactionaries by those so-called rationalists and ‘ super ’-nationalists, who upheld and regarded the Khilafat Movement of a frankly reUgious and medieval colour as a glorious spectacle ! Did not Mr. Yakub Hasan, while presenting an address to Gandhiji at Madras, openly enjoin upon the Mussulmans to convert all the untouchables in India to Islam ? ’ And was he not in the eyes of the Congress more patriotic, progressive and a truer nationalist thiin Moonje or Parmananda ? To the Congressmen the Khilaiat leaders, who sent their congratulations to the Moplahs on their ‘ brave ’ fight for religion, were progressive and pati iotic leaders ! ! Can there be any nationalism worse than this kind of deceptive and disruptive nationalism ? The “ communal- ism ” of the Hindu Sanghatanists was righteous ; because it was bred in self-defence ; the “ nationalism ” of the upholders and supporters of the Khilafat was perverse, because it nourished anti-national feelings among the Muslims ! !
n
The question of Temple Entry for the untouchables cropped up in 1925. The orthodox quarters were alarmed. They shouted that their Religion, God and Traditions were in danger. Their religion and traditions and customs welcomed an untouchable provided he became a Mohammad or a Minto. The orthodox touched animals like bullocks and buffaloes, could endure the presence of a dog or a cat in their houses, but not the presence of their co-religionist Hindu Mahars or Hindu Bhangis though they were human beings ! ! They feared that their sacred God would be polluted by the mere sight of a Hindu Bhangi ! “ He is not God who can be desecrated ” went the epigrammatic Savarkarian reply to the orthodox. Savarkar holds that those men, who regard such inhuman faith as abhors the touch of a human being, and yet gladly touches animals like dogs and cats, are themselves a blot on humanity. It is they who are really fallen and not the “ untouchables ” ! Removal of untouchability, therefore.
J Young India, dated 8-9-1920.
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implies purification and salvation of such misguided orthodox touchables also !
Orthodoxy began to collapse under such ruthless arguments. To puU down the steel walls of orthodoxy, Savarkar started Pan-Hindu Ganesh festivals in 1925. He transformed the Ganesh Festival started by Tilak into a Pan-Hindu Festival. An untouchable was not allowed for ages within the precincts of the Hindu sanctuaries. By and by the question of temple entry was discussed wiili wisdom and vehemence during the days of Ganesh Festival The untouchables were brought into the hall of the Vithoba Temple in Ratnagiri, the most impor- tant temple in the Ratnagiri District. Then in November 1929, took place an event of far-reaching consequences. All the city was agog. The City Magistrate was present by a special order to see that the proceedings of the public meeting, held in the Vithoba Temple of Ratnagiri to decide the question of the entry of the untouchables into the Vithoba Temple, came off peacefully.
The momentous meeting began. Savarkar’s convincing speech swept away doubts, hesitation and misgivings which were lurking in the minds of the opponents.
The Magistrate himself having been carried off his feet by the force and faith of Savarkar’s speech, forgot his entity, rose and exclaimed, “ Now who and what remain to be convinced ? ” None came forward. It was a unique triumph for Savarkar. Amidst flickering opposition and deafening exclamations, the untouchables entered the Vithoba Temple of Ratnagiri, step by step, singing gracefully and gratefully the glory of “ one God, one goal, one language, one country and one Nation.” With great feelings and devotional eyes the densely crowded meeting saw the historic spectacle, the first of its kind in the history of Hindusthan ! As the age-long sufferers followed their children who climbed the steps of the temple one by one, singing the song, their hearts throbbed, and eyes glowed. The song was specially composed in Marathi by Savarkar himself for the occasion ! It read :
The Impurity of ages is gone Scripture-born stamp is tom The age-long struggle is ended
u
162
SAVARKAB AND HIS TIMES
The net of enemies shredded The slave of ages hoary !
Now is a brother in glory !
The Bhageshwar Temple in the Ratnagiri Fort was also declared open to all Hindus at a meeting held under the chairmansliip of Shrimat Shankaracharya, the religious head of the Hindus. Sri Shankaracharya was garlanded on the occasion by a Hindu Bhangi as the representative of the Ratnagiri Hindus. The scene was reminiscent of the first Shankaracharya, who had embraced centuries ago a pantheist untouchable while returning from his bath in the Ganges !
A Pan-Hindu band was trained and it replaced the non-Hindu bands. The Hindu band attended festivals and functions. Women of Ratnagiri performed to the shock of Maharashtra and Hindusthan their Haldi-Kumkum ceremony on a Pan-Hindu basis. During the Pan-Hindu Ganpati festivals a Bhangi Hindu sang Vedic hymns and Gayatri Mantrarn, the sacred privilege enjoyed so far by the Brahmins alone. The incident echoed throughout India. The Times of India, Bombay, styled it as a sacrilegious prize. The event resounded through some London papers too ! On another occasion a Bhangi family needed a priest for a marriage ceremony. The Mahar Hindus being the Brahmins of the Bhangis, their priest declined to perform the ceremony. The Hindu Sabha thereupon sent a Brahmin priest, and he performed the ceremony.
Soon the movement gained gi’ound and grew gradually popular. While the struggle for opening temples to the untouchables was forging ahead, Savarkar was thinkin g of having a Pan-Hindu Temple with a view to giving an impetus to the temple entry movement. He held that the youths trained in the new ideology would throw open the doors of the remaining temples to the untouchables when they would become trustees of the temples. So he approached Seth Bhagoji Baloji Keer, the famous temple-builder of Maha- rashtra, who fervently believed that Savarkar’s inspiration was God’s call ! He summarily and spontaneously silenced Savarkar’s opponents by telling them that Savarkar’s name was Vinayak and Vinayak was the name of God Ganapati ! In
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deference to Savarkar’s wishes Seth Bhagoji built in February 1931 a magnificent temple known as the Patit Pavan Temple in Ratnagiri wherein aU Hindus irrespective of caste could assemble for prayers. This was an epoch-making achievement of Savarkarian movement. This monumental Pan-Hindu temple was the fust to stand in the history of Hindusthan open for Pan-Hiudu worship, Pan-Hindu functions and Pan-Hindu propaganda. An event of new hope, new era, new light, and new history !
The opening ceremony of the temple came off on a grand scale. Acharyas, Slianharacharyas, pundits and patriots declared Ratnagiri a place of pilgrimage. In fact, as one speaker then put it, Ratnagiri became the new Kashi of the re-awakened, purified and unified Hindudom where a Hindu scavenger acted as a priest, persons from the so-called Depressed Classes delivered Kathas, Mahars read the sacred Gita, Brahmins garlanded and bowed themselves before these priests and kathekaries ; and Brahmin youths conducted a Pan-Hindu Hotel. Indeed, the Patit Pavan Temple came to be the university of the Pan-Hindu Movement.
Prohibition of one caste from dining with another was the keystone upon which the arch of the caste system mainly rested. Savarkar decided to strike a fatal blow at this keystone. He contemplated inter-caste Pan-Hindu dinners. As usual orthodox Hindus opposed the idea vehemently. Savarkar, however, silenced their learned spokesmen by throwing at their faces extracts from their own scriptures and Holy Works that sang that God Krishna dined with Vidura, a son born of a maid-servant, and that their great Brahmin Rishi, Durvasa, dined along with his numerous disciples at the Pandavas’ who were Kshatriyas ! Yet, it was not easy to hold a Pan-Hindu dinner. The movement developed gradually from private quarters to public places. And then came off the first public Pan-Hindu dinner popularly known all over India as Sahahhojan, in a theatre in 1930. This was the acid test to know who were the real seasoned reformers and who were seasonal. What a horrifying event it was in the eyes of old traditions ! Upto this time even the beggars recoiled from touching the food of the Pan-Hindu dinner. Mahars refused to eat with the Bhangis
164 SAVARKAK AND HIS TIMES
and Bhangis with the Dhors. The Depressed Classes desired to eat with the caste-Hindus but not with the different sub-classes from amongst themselves. Onlookers thronged to see the neo-function, and Ratnagiri was the subject of headlines all over India.
In its “ current topics ” the Times of India, Bombay, writing on the subject, observes in its issue of December 9, 1930 : “ This all-caste dinner was celebrated in a unique manner — a manner that has given deep offence to Nationalist Congressmen, who are mostly believers along with Mr. Gandhi in foiur watertight castes by birth. For, at Ratnagiri some enthiisiastic reformers, who regarded caste system as the bane of Hinduism, held an all-caste dinner which was attended by Brahmins, Banias, Chambhars, Mahars and Bhangis ! ” Styling it as a bold creed, the writer goes on : “ What is still more interesting, the spirit of this splendid essay in practical reform, Mr. V. D. Savarkar, delivered a speech in which he flung into the teeth of orthodoxy the daring credo of his party.
‘ From today I shall not believe in highness or lowness of caste. I shall not oppose the intermarriage between the highest and lowest castes. I shall eat with any Hindu irrespective of caste. I shall not believe in caste by birth or by profession and henceforth I shall call myself a Hindu only — ^not Brahmin, Vaishya, etc.’ ”
Savarkar incessantly preached : “ Eat with anybody. Eat anything that is medically fit and clean. That does not deprive you of yoiu: religion. Remember the root of religion is not the dish or the stomach, but the heart, soul and the blood ! ” The names of those persons, who took part in the all-caste dinners, were published in newspapers to the surprise and shock of their orthodox relations !
The first week of the opening ceremony of the Patit Pavan Temple saw the biggest of such Pan-Hindu Dinners in India. The reactions to the Pan-Hindu dinner were tremendous. Acharyas took to their heels and saints went head over heels. Cow-worshippers thou^t it beneath their dignity to honour human beings and eat with men who were their co-religionists ! There were some who did everything else for the movement, but declined to eat with all classes. Their heads agreed, but hearts disagreed ! At last their dilemma was solved, when
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Savarkar, who held that social reforms settled down more permanently if they were effected with full consideration and conciliation, accepted a compromise which allowed the no-changers to take their dinner by sitting not in the line with the revolutionary reformists, but in another row facing them. Orthodoxy clamoured and raised a hue and cry in the city ! Rumours were afloat in the neighbouring villages that the all-caste dinner would cost the reformers dear and that a rift was visible in the ranks of the reformers.
When the beggars saw lawyers, leaders, Divans, merchants, doctors, big and respectable men of all castes sharing food in a commimion, they, too, expressed their willingness to accept the Pan-Hindu food which they had declined to accept on the previous occasion ! But now Savarkar would not offer them the food unless they also sat in one and the same row irrespec- tive of castes. And ultimately they did so ! At last Pan-Hindu sense and mentality came to stay. Karmaveer V. R. Shinde, a great social reformer of the Deccan, rejoiced to see what his D. C. Mission aimed at was both preached and practised in Ratnagiri. Overwhelmed with grateful tears, he acclaimed Savarkar as the real Patit Pavan of the Hindus, the saviour of the fallen and trodden. It was a noble appreciation and correct assessment of a great achievement ! Some leaders, who witnessed the practical reforms, called Savarkar Sanghatanacharya — ^Master-brain at organisation — and others described him as their Skankaracharya, the supreme head of New Hinduism !
Every revolution has its convulsions and revelations. Defeated at all other points orthodox Hindus and non-Hindus now threatened Savarkar’s life. In many families dissensions arose. Unpleasant words were said and heard between sons and fathers, wives and husbands. Harsh gestures were exchanged between friends, and estrangement rankled amongst relations. Newly married girls were forbidden to see the faces of their reformist parents, brothers or relatives. A married girl in one case perished in her illness despite her father’s fervent entreaties to her father-in-law to send her to him for medical treatment. The father of the girl was asked to withdraw his support and devotion to Savarkarian ideology, but he did not yield !
166 SAVARKAB AND HIS TIMES
Half-hearted reformists were trapped and they repented in sack-cloth and ashes. If some one from Savarkar’s camp f(‘U ill, whispers and vilification would attribute the illness oi- misfortune to God’s wrath ; and Savarkar would retort that even his cat was still unaffected. All the while Sax’arkaj- infused courage into the minds of Iris followers with his undying dictum: “Reform implies always a minority, custom means a majority. Have undeviating faith in your mission and courage of conviction, and you will successfully overcomo the forces of reactionaries ! ”
III
This was the model moulded in a District-wid<’ movemejil of Savarkarian Revolution which echoed throughout Hindu- .sthan and had its reverberations even in the London papers. Savarkar succeeded where prophets, philosophers and emperors had failed. A man who had to rot for fourteen youthful years in the most dreadful jail and again was interned for over another thirteen years in Ratnagiri and was forbidden to participate publicly or privately in any political activities, had worked this miracle. All this happened a c-on.siderable time before Gandhiji made the Harijan uplift one of the chief planks of his activities !
Savarkar’s approach to untouchability, the age-long cor- roding current of evil, and his potent remedy and method foj- its abolition were as rational and constructive as they were fearless, fundamental and far-reaching. There had been in the past rationalists like Agarkar, and institutions like the Arya Samaj, the Brahmo Samaj and the Prarthana Samaj working for that cause. Later, there followed also the great personality of Gandhiji in the field. There were some showy, touchy, and fashionable learned men who expressed lip sympathy in spotless diction for the Depressed Classes in order to please and show the ruling bosses their radical views ! But Savarkar’s angle of vision fundamentally differed from those of such institutions and personalities. Western ideas of Equality, Fraternity and Liberty dominated the motives of the rationalist group led by Ranade. Revolt against orthodox Hin- duism and re-orientalization of Hinduism were the objects of
SOCIAL REVOLUTION 167
the Arya Samaj ; electicisra was the aim of the Brahmo Samaj and Prarthana Samaj. Agarkar was an unbridled rationalist, a lonely giant. He had no genius for constructive work. The Arya Samajists compromised their prophet’s .stand by mixing their identity with the Gandhian principles, lost sight of its political impact, and lost their vitality, fervour, and firmness ! Though Gandhij.i believed in the caste system, he wanted to remove untouchahility. But his Harijan movement was any- thing but Hindu, though tb money for the cause came mainly from the Hindus
Gandhiji never raised his Little finger against the pro.sely- tizing greed of the Maulavies and Missionaries and observed reticence about it ! But even then it was his fortune that he received wreaths for his work for the Depressed Classes while Savarkar faced the wrath of all non-Hindu missionaries ! Like all positive and powerful reformers, Savarkar wielded the force, construction and hammer of Luthei- ! And a Luther is not born for laurels. Savarkar ’s one aim was to purge Hinduism of its most baneful superstitions and orthodox bigotry. His reformative zeal did not aim at the denunciation of Hinduism. He strove for its revival in the light of modern times and to ensure its survival. That was why ho was offensive inside and defensive outside. He aimed at moulding the different castes of the Hindus into a classless Hindu society in which all Hindus would be by birth socially, eco- nomically and p>olitically equal ! Rational, nationalistic and revolutionary in outlook, his ideology was as deep-rooted as it was far-reaching, and looked to the prosperity and peace of the Hindu society, Hindu life, Hindusthan and ultimately universal welfare. His was not the work of a fashionable reformer, or a showy rationalist, or a wordy humanist. His was a mission for a great cause for the emergence of Hindu- sthan as a world power to play her destined part in the comity of nations.
Two decades ago he admonished the Hindus to break off the seven shackles that hindered the progress of the Hindu society. He fought for temple entry, popularised Pan-Hindu dinners, naturalised Shuddhi-reconversion, anniliilated the belief in highness and lowness of birth, favoured intercaste marriages, and ridiculed the injunctions on caste-ridden
168 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
vocations and sea-voyage. The power and faith of the Savar- karian movement depended for its vitality and goal upon the elixir of Shuddhi and Science which hold the key not only to Indian peace and prosperity, but also to the destinies of the Middle East and Far East, the one-time tributaries of Hindu life ! In one of his songs he visualized that the Hindus after achieving freedom would liberate all subject nations under the sun, and would help them establish love, equality and peace for the progress of humanity. And it was towards this end that all his Sanghatanist movement was directed. Savarkar preached and worked for the abolition of untouchability with imparalleled success when few of his great contemporaries were thinking of the removal of the untouchability, and a majority of them had not gauged its significance.
Restricted in his activities, shadowed by spies, Savarkar thus shelled one of the strongest holds of the Hindu orthodoxy in India. For this signal achievement he applied the battery of his oratory, poured in his volcanic energy, utilized the fund of his resourceful erudition and the flow of his volcanic pen. He used platform, press, examination centres, theatres, circus- tents, festivals, fares and functions for popularizing the Move- ment, and whipped the people into a revolt. The forces of conservatism and orthodoxy tottered before his powerful personality, and the bees that had nestled in the barriers of the caste system tried to fling their poisonous stings into his body, but failed. For, every Luther is born with an impene- trable armour !
The revolution in the Ratnagiri District was an unparalleled success; so much so that Karmaveer Shinde, hearing the news of Savarkar’s unconditional release in May 1937, remarked that had Savarkar’s activities been restricted to social revolution only, he would have banished untouchability altogether from the face of India within five years. Worthy was the glowing tribute and noble appreciation made by a writer in a special issue of Dr. Ambedkar’s Janata that Savarkar’s service to the cause of the imtouchables was as decisive and great as that of Gautama Buddha himself. Sri Kakasahib Barve, his contemporary, and President, Maha- rashtra Provincial Harijan Sevak Sangh, in his Presidential Address at a Conference at Sangli, in July 1945, expressed
SOCIAL RBVO’UTION 169
the view that had Savarkar continued his intense work in the cause of the removal of untouchahility, his contribution would have given a tremendous impetn’T to the movement !
Thus it can be seen that the itality of Lord Buddha, who raised a revolt against untouc^ ability, the virility of Shivaji, who purf osefully hammered j!s corners that lay in his way, the vigour of Dayananda, who strove to bury it, are aU crys- tallized in the revolutionar’ philosophy of Savarkar whose approach to the problem xc; predominantly political and fundamentally social.
IV
Savarkar’s propaganda was not one-sided. With a batch of his workers, he visited the slums and squalid dens, hamlets and hills, villages and towns where the untouchables lived. This batch studied their ways of living, taught them cleanli- ness, guided them, and worshipped with them. They took the Chambhars into the quarters and temples of the Mahars and the Bhangis into the quarters and temples of the Dhors.
The discussions and debates with opponents over the burn- ing problem of Shuddhi-Reconversion and Hindu organisation stormed and abated. Stirring speeches and moving appeals would go on till early dawn. The next morning saw Savarkar in another village and so his propaganda went on. Savarkar was then in the best of his health. Men of wealth, distinction and status followed him climbing zig-zag distances and dales with cheer. In fact, all the Indian leaders, whose names are connected with the removal of untouchability, have not seen as many quarters of the untouchables as Savarkar has done. The suppressed humanity watched and sat far into the night with bewilderment and hope, and crowded for the darshan of Savarkar, the Saviour of the fallen Hindus, who opened to them the gates of the Temples of God, Man and Light !
Savarkar also attended and presided over the conferences of the .so-called untouchables. In June 1929 he was received with great ovation at Malvan in the southern part of the Ratnagiri District, where he presided over the Conference of the Depressed Classes of the Konkan Division. The Confer- ence sang Vedic hymns in a body. Savarkar distributed the
170 SAVARKAB AND HIS TIMES
sacred threads among the so-called untouchable Hindus and declared amid great applause : “ A battle royal has been raging for the last seven generations over the right of studying the Vedas, Here are the Vedas, Here is the sacred thread. Take these two. Is that all ? Even non-Hindus read the Vedas, Why should not the Hindu Mahars read them ? The feud over this problem was a useless task. Let us expiate the sins we committed. We are all responsible for our political subjugation. That is the past. Now let us declare on oath that we shall rectify our past blunders and win back our weal, wealth and glory.’’ Sri P. N. Rajbhoj, a volatile leader of the Depressed Classes from Poona, who was present at the Con- ference, observed : “ I was really sceptical of the Savarkarian movement at the beginning. My contact and discussions with Barrister Savarkar and my personal observation have thoroughly convinced me of its far-reaching effect. I am extremely rejoiced to declare that this famous leader of the political revolutionaries is also an out and out social revo- lutionist ! ”
Another notable Conference was held in the Patii Pavan Temple at Ratnagiri just after the temple was opened during the last week of February 1931, under the aegis of the D.C. Mission led by Karmaveer V. R. Shinde. This was the Mis- sion’s Sixth Annual Session and Wiis presided over by Savarkar. All the workers and leaders of the D.C. Mission and other leaders of the so-called Depressed Classes were thrilled to survey the achievement of this Savarkarian move- ment. One after another they acknowledged gratefully that their dreams were brought into reality by Savarkar in Ratna- giri. They repeated that if the atmosphere of Ratnagiri captivated all the parts of India, there would be no untouch- ability left in the land.
A third Conference was held on April 26, 1931. It was the Ratnagiri District Somavanshiya Mahar Conference. Savar- kar presided over it. It was attended by hundreds of Mahars from all corners of the District. The Mahars had poured in the city as they heard that ‘ Pandhari ’ was shifted to Ratna- giri where they were allowed to enter the temple and worship God — an unbelievable thing for them — a thing for which they had pined for ages !
SOCIAL REVOLUTION
171
Savarkf r\s teachings and message to the untouchables were appealing. He asked them to live a simple life, and to shed their inherent inferiority complex. He admonished tlien) : ‘^Y(air weakness is worse than the wickedness of the caste Hindus. For your own welfare you must also sufTcr with fortitude and faith. You want rights, but you are not prepared to pay the price. Be men. Know that you arc men. If some- one .scolds you for your proximity on the public road, tell him that the public road is not the property of his father. Do not abandon your occunations. Stick to thon and improve them. Every occupation has its value. Live a dean and temperate life. Never disown your fathers, saints, and blood. Do not observe untouchability among yourselves. Always treat with equality and kindness all the sub-castes amongst your own so-called Depressed Classes. That is also your duty. Forget it not ! ’’
Savarkar sounded a warning to the extremist leaders of the so-called untouchables in particular, who wished to have Brahmin girls in marriages for untouchable youths. Savarkar considered this view to be mistaken, extra^‘agant, and un- justifiable. To break off the barrier of caste system, he observexi, in respect of marriages did not mean compulsory and forced marriages. According to him many things besides caste governed matrimonial alliances. “ If a Hindu girl,” he wrote, “ selects as her husband any Hindu youth who does not belong to her caste or vice ver.sa and if the couple is other- wise fit for matrimony the marriage should not be condemned, nor the couple be regarded as outcast on that account alone ! ” As for the marriage of a Hindu with a non-Hindu, he was opposed to it if it took place without bringing the partner into the Hindu fold. According to him such a precaution was necessary for the collective good of the Hindu Nation.
Savarkar’s love of Hindu religion was not narrow-minded either. He said : “ When a non-Hindu worships or a Moham- medan merges into humanity melting his religious libido, the Hindus, too, shall dissolve their separate entity.” “ Till then,” Savarkar observed, ‘^it is necessary that the Hindus should be within their bonds. It is against the creed of humanity itself, if we ignore stark realities of life.”
172 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
To the so-called caste Hindus his piece of advice was that they should be prepared to adopt even the pursuit of sweepers. There should be no monopoly in any field. He advised the non-Brahmins to administer to their own religious and sacramental life themselves and told them that there was no need of an authorised intermediary between them and God. “ The moment you resolve not to invite the Bhat (Brahmin) to perform religious functions, Bhatshahi collapses like a pack of cards,” he wrote. Learning and expounding the scriptures or sacerdocy should not be the monopoly of one particular class. Prestige and authority should be justified by individual achievement and not by caste, he opined. Priests, irrespective of caste, should be certified as are our doctors, asserted Savarkar.
V
Savarkar’s life in Ratnagiri was full of other activities also. It was in Ratnagiri that the famous Pan-Hindu anthem vras composed by him and was first sung. Ratnagiri is the birth- place of the Pan-Hindu Flag which was first flown by Sri Ramananda Chatter jee. President of the All-India Hindu Mahasabha at its Surat session in 1929, and was ultimately adopted by the All-India Hindu Mahasabha as the Pan-Hindu Flag at Lahore in 1936. It was the Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha that remembered and sent its grateful homage to Nepal then the only Independent Hindu Kingdom in the world and appealed to her to make her arm stronger for the sake of Hindudom. It was the Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha again that declared Nagari script and Sanskritised Hindi to be the National Script and Lingua Franca of Hindusthan !
Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha did a tremendous work in the cause of Swadeshi also. Savarkar and his colleagues visited the market places, lanes and by-lanes, and sent children selling and propagating Swadeshi articles as hawkers do. Savarkar himsdf saw individually every shop-keeper, entreated and insisted on the purchase of Swadeshi goods like soap, sugar, bangles, paper and many other articles of Indian make. One can easily imagine what amount of humiliation, exhausting patience and personal pecuniary loss Savarkar must have
SOCIALREVOLUTION 173
undergone at the hands of insolent, illiterate and even so- called progressive but unpatriotic countrymen !
It was again Savarkar who attracted with great persuasion the Hindus to the trade of Bed-making. To that end he him- self learnt the art of carding cotton with the carding-bow. He then induced Hindu youths to follow the vocation and thus the Ratnagiri Hindus had beds prepared by Hindus.
The most vociferous and effective was the movement launched for the purification of the Marathi language. The question had been agitating great minds for decades. But it was left to Savarkar to crown the movement with triixmph.
Shivaji had set up a committee to compile a Dictionary of pure Marathi words. The Rajyavyavdharkosh was compiled by Raghunath Pandit and others appointed by Shivaji the Great. The rise of the English Language added to the difficul- ties of Marathi which had been, to a great extent, already influenced by the Urdu and Persian languages. A nation must keep its mother tongue alive, its cherished heritage un- defiled, its values and cotmotation unaffected. In the life of every nation the problem of purification of its language does arise. There has been a growing desire for the original and native forms of mother-speech in England too. Stating that there should be as much reverence and affection for one’s native tongue as for the country and home, Frank H. Callan, author of Excellence in English, observes : “ As we naturally and rightly resent and stand against all foreign incursions that may injure and corrupt the land of our birth and the scene of our infancy and childhood, desiring nothing so much as to preserve their integrity and familiar attractiveness, so in like manner we ought to guard nothing more jealously than the primitive purity and individuality of our language.” ^
Mr. Callan tells us that Defoe was against Latinized syntax and style of Elnglish. Swift employed his genius to resist Gaelic foreign tendencies in English prose. Gibbon was saturated with French; Johnson gave undue preference to Latin; and Carlyle was full of German constructions. All the three, says Callan, impeded the movement.^ Lamb played an important role in the purification of the English language and Dryden
1 Frank H. Callan, Excellence in English, p. 370.
2 /bid., p. 383.
374 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
and Shakespeare were pure English writers. So was Newman.
Ireland’s great movement for the revival and resurrection of her mother tongue and its purification is too well-known.
In India the flag of the momentous movement of purification of the language was unfmded by Savarkar. Savarkar was against Urduised and Persianised Hindi or Marathi, as they eliminated Marathi and Hindi synonyms and impoverished the Marathi and Hindi Languages. He, therefore, launched a movement for the purification of the Marathi language. Battles were joined on the issue. After an untiring cainpaigi^ the rational and national importance was realized and some of the opponents turned into its supporters. Some spineless ones conceded the principle, but fastidiously liiggled about tlie details. Some came to respect it, and still a few croak against it.
But the Maharashtra Literary Conference at its Jalgaon Session accepted the principle of purification of the Marathi language. Dr. Patwardhan, D.Lit., a great Marathi poet, was first enamoured of foreign woixls. But when he was convinced of the righteousness of Savarkar’s stand, he re-wrote his poetry in undefiled Marathi ! Such was the glow of Savar- kar s movement. New words were coined. Dictionaries oi pure Marathi words to substitute Urdu and Persian words were compiled and published by Bhide Guruji and Dr. Pat- wardhan. The words gained ground and public sanction. The critics, too, unwittingly influenced by the psychology, are helping the movement by using the new words, and thus the purification of Marathi has come to stay.
Savarkar did not stop here. His movement was essentially an All-India urge. Hence he suggested that all those, who stood for pure Hindi and for the preservation of the purity of the Indian languages, should meet in an All-India Confer- ence to devise ways and means, and launch a nation-wide movement for the purity of the Hindi and other languages. Savarkar also suggested reforms in the Devanagari script and reduced it to fifty-six letters for the convenience of the press. In respect of the Nagari script, he made an appeal to all provincial newspapers to print in every issue at least two columns of matter in their provincial languages in the Nagari
SOCIAL REVOLUTIOK 175
script. If all the provincial languages of India are printed in the Nagari script, what immense cohesion, understanding and advancement will be achieved ! It is said that Dr. Ambedkar holds the same view on the subject. It has been the charac- teristic of great Maharashtrians that they never disagreed on fundamentals, although they might have differed in degree. Tilak, Gokhale, Kelkar and Ambedkar all exhibited ultimate unity in essentials and liberty in non-essentials. Their objects were one, though their means at times differed. The movement of the i/^rification of language scored its triumph when Hindi wiJi’ Devanagari script was adopted by the Constituent Assonibl> of India as the Lingua Franca of India in preference to Hindusthani, another name of Urdu.
Savarkar’s stay in Ratnagiri attracted several pundits and patriots of all-India fame. One of the early visitors to Savarkar in Ratnagiri was the great founder of the R.S.S., Dr. K. B. Hedgewar. Tlie interview took place in 1925 at Shirgaon, a village on the outskirts of Ratnagiri. Savarkar’s monumental work Hindutva giving ideas of the fundamentals of Hindu Nationalism and Hindu State had just appeared on the scene and captivated and inspired many great brains and great hearts. Before starting the volunteer organisation known as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Dr. Hedgewar had a long discussion with Savarkar over the faith, form and future of the organisation. A great Hindu leader and an unbending upright nationalist, Dr. Hedgewar wanted to conserve and dir€?ct the energy of Hindu youths towards all- round uplift of the Hindu Nation. After the collapse of the Non-co-operation Movement of Gandhiji and the fiasco of the Khilafat Movement, the country lay prostrate and chaos and confusion reigned in the student world. In the wake of this confusion and in consultation with Savarkar and others, Hedgewar decided to build up an organisation to supply the Hindu society with power and pillars.
During his visit to Bombay in September 1924, Savarkar came across Maulana Shaukat Ali. The Muslim leader paid glowing tribute to Savarkar for his patriotism and sacrifice, but he said that he disliked Savarkar’s Hindu Sanghatan ideology, and wished that it should be stopped. Thereupon
176
SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
Savarkar asked the Muslim leader to stop his Khilafat Move- ment first if he wanted him to stop Hindu Sanghatan Move- ment. Shaukat Ali replied that the Khilafat Movement was the breath of his nostrils. Savarkar told him that as long as there were separate organisations for the Muslims and the movement of conversion was carried on by them, so long the movement of Hindu Sanghatan and the propaganda for re- conversion would go on unabated. Then the Muslim leader told Savarkar that the Muslims had many other countries and they would leave India, if inevitable. Savarkar at once answered back, “ O quite freely. Why do you wait ? The Frontier Mail is daily running towards that direction ! ” Shaukat Ali was now quite nervous. While taking Savarkar’s leave, he cut a joke to make up the loss he suffered in argu- ments with Savarkar. With a bitter tone he said he was a giant and Savarkar was a dwarf and that he could punch Savarkar easily. “ Here,” said Savarkar sharply, “ I am not disinclined to accept your challenge ! Come on ! You know Shivaji was also a dwarf before the giant Afzulkhan. They had a meeting ! And everybody knows what was the history afterwards.” The Muslim leader lost his face and stepped out.
Here is one of the most important interviews Savarkar had during his internment. Gandhiji saw Savarkar in March 1927 at the latter’s residence in Ratnagiri. It was after nearly eighteen years that Gandhiji was now meeting his old oppo- nent of London days. However of different stamps, the great ones recognise great forces. The real object of Gandhiji was to see whether the revolutionary volcano was now extinct, or a spent force, or still burning. During the course of the interview, Gandhiji told Savarkar with a pleasant smile that he would have stayed with Savarkar in Ratnagiri, the birth- place of Tilak, and the abode of Savarkar, for a day or two had his programme been not already fixed. Savarkar replied that he would have also been glad to entertain him, but agreed that Gandhiji should go on with his great mission of arousing the nation’s enthusiasm for the Freedom Movement, as Gandhiji was fortunately free to do so. Then the problem of Shuddhi was discussed and the conversation between the two leaders ran as follows : —
Savarkar : Well, what are your views on Shuddhi ?
SOCIAL REVOLUTION 177
Gandhiji : To me the view that a man loses his religion is absurd.
Savarkar : In a way you are right. But as our caste system and tradition have laid down that under certain circumstances a man loses his religion, it is necessary to set the matter right by adopting such remedies and rites as would enable us to restore the reconverted man to his society. Wliat is the harm in doing such a thing ? Both the society and the new-comer thei’eby get mental satisfaction.
Gandhiji : I have no ol»jeotion. It will do no harm if you have .such a ceremonj’. But although I believe in recon- version of a person, who was forcibly or deceitfully converted to an alien faith, I am not for reconversions of persons whose ancestors have changed faiths decades ago. Nor do I uphold the conversions of persons from other religions. Because I believe that it is better to die while observing one’s own religion than to embrace other religion. None should be persuaded to change his or her faith. It should be left to the will of the person.
Savarkar : Yes, after weighing carefully what is good for the betterment of one’s own happiness, a man should decide the means. ‘That is freedom of thought. The mes- sage of Hinduism is practical as well as spiritual, passive as well as active. It says on the one hand that it is better to die under the domain of one’s own religion, and on the other, that it is better to transform the world into an Ai’yan Religion.
Gandhiji ; The aim of both of us is the same. We both strive for the glory of Hinduism and Hindusthan.
Gandhiji was now doubly sure that the faith and fire in Savarkar was unaffected even by the tortures and tribula- tions of the jail life in the Andamans. This was the last talk between Gandhiji and Savarkar. Though Savarkar was released afterwards in 1937, and made a whirlwind propa- ganda through the length and breadth of India as the leader of the Hindu Mahasabha, no occasion arose for a meeting between the two leaders.
Dr. Ambedkar, who had been to Ratnagiri in connection with a law suit, had a talk with Savarkar. Savarkar had
12
178 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
arranged for a public meeting, but on a telegraphic message from Bombay, Dr. Ambedkar left for Bombay. Young leaders of the spirit and heroic stamp of Sri Achyutrao Patwardhan showed deep regard for Savarkar. During the blooming days of the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930 he discussed some points with Savarkar. When the yoimg khadi-clad leader doubted the possibility of regaining Independence by an armed rising, Savarkar asked the charkha-general, “ Then friend, teU me how you are going to win back the indepen- dence by charkha ! ”
Senpati Bapat’s visit to Ratnagiri was memorable. Though Bapat had been to Ratnagiri to preside over the Ratnagiri District Political Conference, he refused to attend any work regarding the Conference before he had paid his respects to Savarkar. And Bapat clung to Savarkar as devotionally as Bharat embraced Ramachandra in the exile. Bapat then opened the book of his life before his leader since the days of his voluntary exile and the transportation of his leader, Savarkar. It was in Ratnagiri that Sri N. C. Kelkar agreed with Savarkar and promised to introduce part of Savarkar’s reforms in the Devanagari script, and well did he fulfil his promise when he started his new Monthly, Sahyadri. Dr. Moonje, too, paid a visit to Ratnagiri. His regard for Savarkar approached reverence. Some years after he even told a Viceroy that to him Savarkar was next to Shivaji. Bhai Parmananda’s visit to Ratnagiri was more of a personal character than a public one. Savarkar’s right-hand man of London days, Sri V. V. S. Aiyer, met him in Ratnagiri after fifteen years. Sri Gyanchand Varma of London fame, Sri Sachindranath Sanyal, Sri Nani Gopal of Andaman fame, Sri G. V. Mavlankar, now Speaker of the Indian Parliament, Dr. Madhavrao Patwardhan, D.Lit., Dr. Ketkar, encyclopaedist of Maharashtra, too, paid their respects to Savarkar at Ratnagiri.
The Chitpavan (Brahmin) Vidyarthi Sahayyak Sangh requested Savarkar to address their annual meeting. Savarkar told them that he could not join an institution, which stood purely for a particular caste. He added that he would accept their invitation provided they adopted a change in their constitution to the effect that in the absence of a worthy
SOCIAL REVOLUTION 179
Chitpavan Brahmin student, any deserving Hindu student would be awarded the scholarship. They did so and Saveirkar agreed. Once at Malvan, a town in the southern part of the District, one ‘ Humanist ’ asked him whether he would like to be a member of his ‘ Human Religion ! ’ A broad-minded Hindu as he was, he replied in ihe affirmative, and asked if there was really such a force as ’ Human Religion ’ under the sun when a State like Russia invested with a universal urge was extending its frontiers and desiring to bomb the workers of other coimtries. Savarkar always likes to be a realist rather than a man of clouds even at the risk of being branded as a communalist.
Among the other leaders, who visited and interviewed Savarkar in Ratnagiri, the only man who impressed Savarkar most was Dr. Ketkar. That is why while paying an obituary tribute to Dr. Ketkar’s memory in the literary circle at Ratnagiri in 1937, Savarkar marvelled at the fathomless brains in the small skull of the Doctor ! A lion alone stops at a lion !
Mr. Yusuf Meher Ali then in the shell of Socialism saw Savarkar in Ratnagiri and to his bewilderment Savarkar took him to the inside of the Patit Pavan Mandir, the Pan-Hindu temple. It was no wonder that rationedist Savarkar should do so.
The visit of the President of the All-India Gurkha League, Sri Thakur Chadan Singh, to Ratnagiri along with a represen- tative of the Royal Family of Nepal was most rousing and thrilling. It was the outcome of the contact established by the Ratnagiri Hindu Sabha with Nepal. It was significant that it was the Maharashtrian statesmanship that viewed the importance of Nepal on the political and physical map of India with great concern. It is well-knoAvn now that Tilak had deputed his heutenant Kakasahib Khadilkar to Nepal in 1903 to open an arms factory there. Khadilkar began his work under the guise of some mercantile pursuit, but his project was scented by the British Government, and Khadilkar was compelled to return to Poona without accomplishing his object.
It was very strange that the Congress, which fought for Turkey’s Khilafat and sent a few bottles of medicine to Chiang Kai Shek in China and a few bushels of grain to Communist Spain, should deliberately neglect Nepal, a State so much
180 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
interested in India’s destiny and geographically, religiously and culturally a part and parcel of India. Nay, the Congress- ites consider^ it nothing less than a foreign State.
The importance and impact of the Gurkha leader’s visit to Ratnagiri did not escape the British Government’s vigilance. Savarkar was asked by the Home Department, Bombay, to submit his explanation and to communicate the speech he made at the time of the reception of the Gurkha leader. He did it and nothing came out of it. However, Savarkar was finally warned that his explanation was not satisfactory and that any further breach of the conditions imposed upon him would compel Government to make him undergo the remain- ing period of his transportation — ^about 37 years, if he referred to politics publicly or privately ! Government demanded similar explanations from Savarkar on many other occasions. Every speech of Savarkar was reported to the Home Depart- ment, Bombay, through the District Magistrate. On important occasions Savarkar dictated the summary of his important speeches to the District Magistrate as a precaution. The mere word ‘ Swaraj ’ or ‘ Raj ’ in his article or speech was highly resented by the British Government and many a time he was threatened with dire consequences. To return to the Gurkha leader’s visit. The Gurkha leader was tremendously impres- sed by Savarkar. Hearing and seeing Savarkar, the Gurkha leader said : “ I have now come to realise what Napoleon must have been ! ”
And indeed Napoleon and Savarkar, the inveterate enemies of the British Empire, suffered the greatest humiliation and mental and physical torments at the hands of the British Power than any other adversary of the British Power which squandered crores on Napoleon and lakhs on Savarkar to crush their undying personalities to a slow tortiuous death. But undaunted, heroic and invincible as both these heroes were, they worked and struggled with wrath and righteous- ness for the downfall of the British Empire. In fact, Savarkar had the fortime to see the sun set on the British Empire and in the end his country free and independent !