Savarkar

by Vikram Sampath

39. Ibid., p. 124.

  40. S.S. Setlur and K.G. Deshpande, A Full and Authentic Report of the Trial of the Hon’ble Mr. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, B.A., LLB at the Fourth Criminal Sessions 1897 , Appendix D, p. 40.

  41. V.D. Savarkar, Savarkar Samagra , Vol. 1, p. 182.

  Chapter 3: The Birth of a Revolutionary

  1. For more on Nashik’s past, see Gautami , a collection/souvenir of articles by several scholars published by the Itihas Samshodhan Mandal of Nashik and Tryambakeshwar. It states that in the mythical krita yuga Nashik was known as Padmapura. During the Ramayana period, the demons Khara, Dushana and Trishara were believed to have been killed by Lord Rama here. That is how the city got the name Trikantak. During the time of Lord Krishna, it was known as Janmasthan and later became known as Dandakaranya (p. 21). It passed under the Satavahana emperor Gautamiputra Satkarni (AD 106–30) who occupied it from the Kshatrapas in the second century. In the seventeenth century, Shivaji erected several forts all over Nashik, which the British later destroyed. His guru, Saint Ramdas, had done penance at Takli near Nashik (p. 53). In 1766, Peshwa Madhav Rao I started a mint here (p. 22). During Aurangzeb’s time the name of the town was changed to Gulshanabad. Till 1869, Nashik was part of the Ahmednagar district. In 1869, the British formed a separate Nashik district, and on 19 April 1888 Captain Bridge occupied Nashik (p. 22). It used to be a famous industrial town for centuries.

  2. This battle took place on the night of 4 February 1670 on the fort of Sinhagad, near Pune, between Shivaji’s commander Tanaji Malusare and Uday Bhan Rathod, the fort keeper under Jai Singh I, who was a chief in the Mughal army. The gallant war and martyrdom of Malusare wrought the fort for the Marathas and is part of Maharashtra’s brave folklore.

  3. Thomas Frost. The Secret Societies of the European Revolution, 1776-1876. Vols 1 & 2. London: Tinsley, 1876, Vol. 1, p. xi.

  4. V.D. Savarkar. Savarkar Samagra , Vol. 1, p. 224.

  5. Waman Krishna Paranjpe, Kal Karte Shivaram Panth Paranjpe Jeevan , 1st ed. 1945 (published by R.S. Deshpande), p. x.

  6. Savarkar makes a reference to this episode regarding the pandits of Kashi in his memoir Savarkar Samagra , Vol. 1, p. 240.

  7. For more details about the Chiplunkars and their association with Jawhar state, see V.S. Joshi. Kranti Kallol (Bombay: Manorama Prakashan, 1985).

  8. This was carried out by Vishnu Pant Chhatre, whom Trimbak Bapuji brought into service as the ADC to the raja.

  9. Dhananjay Keer. Veer Savarkar (Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1950), p. 13.

  10. S.G. Malshe (ed.). Savarkarancha Aprasiddha Kavita (Bombay: Marathi Samshodhan Mandal, 1969), pp. 13–14.

  11. V.S. Joshi. Kranti Kallol , p. 69.

  12. Son of Dadasaheb Khaparde, a close associate of Tilak.

  13. V.S. Joshi. Kranti Kallol , p. 68.

  14. Ibid., p. 69.

  15. Vividha Gyana Vistaar , Edition no. 34, pp. 85–94.

  16. V.D Savarkar. Savarkar Samagra , Vol. 1, p. 295.

  17. V.S. Joshi. Kranti Kallol , p. 76.

  18. Y.D. Phadke. Lokmanya Tilak aani Krantikarak (Bombay: Srividya Prakashan, n.d.), p. 63.

  19. Dhananjay Keer. Veer Savarkar , 1950, p. 22.

  20. Savarkar Samagra Vangmaya , Vol. 1, p. 148.

  21. An honorific given to a scholar of history.

  22. Dhananjay Keer. Veer Savarkar , p. 16.

  23. D.N. Gokhale. Krantiveer Babarao Savarkar , Vol. 2, p. 46.

  24. Vishwas Vinayak Savarkar. Athavani Angarachya , 3rd ed. (Pune: Snehal Prakashan, 2001), p. 140.

  25. EPP 1/46 ‘Card with portrait and text of Oath of Abhinava Bharat’, India Office Records (British Library, London).

  26. D.N. Gokhale. Krantiveer Babarao Savarkar , Vol. 2, p. 79.

  27. Ibid.

  28. Y.D. Phadke. Lokmanya Tilak aani Krantikarak , pp. 56–57.

  29. The complete list of places where Abhinav Bharat centres mushroomed was mentioned in the police inquest of Vinayak’s maternal cousin Balwant Ramakrishna Barve—Satara, Murtijapur, Poladpur, Harne Bunder, Umargaon, Kalyan, Bhiwandi, Thane, Vasai, Pen, Dahanu, Bhayander, Amhednagar, Baroda, Indore, Calcutta, Nagpur, Bhingar, Sholapur, Belgaum, Kolhapur, Dondaicha, Poona, Khed, Chinchwad, Dhule, Igatpuri, Ratnagiri, Bombay, Jalgaon, Panvel, Karad, Yeola, Aurangabad, and Erandol. See Y.D. Phadke. Lokmanya Tilak , p. 53.

  30. He was a goldsmith and banker (sowcar ) who administered the oath to Anant Laxman Kanhere who later assassinated Jackson. Post-trial, Tonpe’s entire property, including several kilograms of gold and silver, were confiscated by the British and never returned to the family. His descendants continue an unsuccessful struggle to include Tonpe’s name in the hallowed list of freedom fighters of the country.

  31. His brother was one of the Tilak followers who helped Tilak and Kakasaheb Khadilkar in their unsuccessful attempt of starting the Nepal Arms Factory.

  32. V.M. Bhat. Abhinav Bharat athava Savarkaranchi Krantikari Gupta Sanstha (Mumbai: G.P. Parchure Prakashan Mandir, 1950), p. 32.

  33. V.D. Savarkar. Savarkar Samagra , Vol. 1, pp. 292–94.

  34. Ibid., p. 294.

  35. Ibid., pp. 299–300

  36. S.R. Vartak. Bhaartiya Swatantryache Ranazunzar , n.d., pp. 39–40; Y.D. Phadke. Lokmanya Tilak aani Krantikarak , p. 66; D.N. Gokhale. Krantiveer Babarao Savarkar , Vol. 2, p. 52.

  37. Wacha to Naoroji, 16 February 1901 (Naoroji Papers, National Archives of India, New Delhi).

  38. Curzon to Hamilton, 18 November 1900, Curzon Papers, MSS EUR F 111/159, India Office Records, British Library, London.

  39. Gokhale to Natesan, 19 May 1904; Gokhale to Krishnaswami Iyer, 11 July 1904 and 2 August 1904, Gokhale Papers, Reel 5, National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  40. Ray and others to Gokhale, 27 December 1905, Gokhale Papers, Reel 3, National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  41. Hindustan Review , October–November 1905, p. 355.

  42. T.N. Sareen. Japan and the Indian National Army (Delhi: Agam Publication, 1986), p. 1; For an overall impact of the war on Indian psyche, see also K.P. Dua. The Impact of the Russo-Japanese War (1905) on Indian Politics (Delhi: S. Chand and Co., 1966).

  43. Chitragupta. Life of Barrister Savarkar (Madras: B.G. Paul & Company Publishers, 1926), pp. 23, 126–27. See also, Waman Krishna Paranjpe. Kal Karte Shivaram Panth Paranjpe Jeevan , 1st ed. (Published by R.S. Deshpande, 1945).

  44. V.S. Joshi. Kranti Kallol , pp. 81–82.

  45. Waman Krishna Paranjpe. Kal Karte Shivaram Panth Paranjpe Jeevan , 1st ed., p. 127.

  46. Great-grandfather-in-law of contemporary Indian politician Prakash Ambedkar.

  47. Vishwas Vinayak Savarkar. Athavani Angarachya , 3rd ed., p. 90.

  48. Y.D. Phadke. Lokmanya Tilak aani Krantikarak, p. 64.

  49. V.S. Joshi. Kranti Kallol, p. 85.

  50. B.G. Tilak. Bal Gangadhar Tilak: His Writings and Speeches (Madras: Ganesh and Co., 1922), pp. 49–50.

  51. G.D. Karve and D.V. Ambekar (eds). Speeches and Writings of Gopal Krishna Gokhale Vol. 2 (Poona: Asia Publishing House, 1966), pp. 196–97.

  52. Waman Krishna Paranjpe. Kal Karte Shivaram Panth Paranjpe Jeevan , p. 128.

  53. Dhananjay Keer. Veer Savarkar , p. 21.

  54. V.M. Bhat. Abhinav Bharat athava Savarkaranchi Krantikari Gupta Sanstha , p. 49.

  55. V.D. Savarkar. Savarkar Samagra , Vol. 1, pp.302–04.

  56. Agamya Guru was also known as Nirvikalpa Yogendra and Laataswamy. He was a Kashmiri Saraswat Brahmin and a graduate from Punjab University. He had also worked as sub-judge previously. He made a first public appearance in Calcutta on 11 June 1905 after a tour of Europe, the US and Japan. He was the Duke of Manchester’s guru. He was rumoured to have an affair and a live-in relationship with a married European lady, Mrs Stanard. He started an ashram at Umbargaon for the translation of the Vedas. But having come under British surveillance for some of his speeches and activities, he was expelled from there and this was when he made his way to Poona on 17 February 1906 (Source: Y.D. Phadke.
Lokmanya Tilak aani Krantikarak , p. 65.)

  57. Dhananjay Keer. Veer Savarkar , pp. 24-25; Jaywant D. Joglekar. Veer Savarkar: Father of Hindu Nationalism , 2006, p. 43.

  58. For reference to Agamya Guru’s imprisonment, see Dhananjay Keer. Veer Savarkar , pp. 24–25.

  59. Sedition Committee Report 1918 (Government of India Publication of 1918), p. 5.

  60. Testimony of Hari Narayan Pimple Khare; Savarkar Case; Trial and Conviction; Question of extradition in case of failure at the Hague, 9 December 1910 to 23 February 1911; IOR/L/PJ/6/1069, File No. 778, British Library, London.

  61. Y.D. Phadke. Shodh Savarkarancha (Bombay: Shrividya Prakashan, 1984), p. 1.

  62. Dhananjay Keer. Veer Savarkar , p. 25.

  63. Report of A. Montgomerie, Savarkar Case; Trial and Conviction; Question of extradition in case of failure at the Hague , 9 December 1910 to 23 February 1911; IOR/L/PJ/6/1069, File No. 778, British Library, London.

  64. Gaelic American was a prominent Irish-Catholic newspaper owned and operated by the Irish nationalist John Devoy who was a supporter of the Indian independence movement, and occasionally reprinted excerpts from the Indian Sociologist in the Gaelic American. Holding a position at his newspaper provided good ‘cover’ for an aspiring India House plant. R.V. Comerford. ‘Devoy, John (1842-1928),’ in Lawrence Goldman (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

  65. Nicholas Owen. The British Left and India: Metropolitan Anti-Imperialism, 1885–1947 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 67.

  66. Indian Sociologist, January 1905. British Library, London.

  67. A.M. Shah. ‘The Indian Sociologist, 1905-14, 1920-22’. Economic and Political Weekly 41.31 (2006), p. 3437.

  68. Now 65 Cromwell Avenue, London N6.

  69. V.D. Savarkar, Shatruchya Shibirat (Utkarsh Prakashan, 2019), p. 38.

  70. Letter from Rana to Shyamji, 12 November 1905, Indulal Yagnik. Shyamji Krishna Varma: Life and Times of an Indian Revolutionary (Bombay: Laxmi Publication, 1950), pp. 152–53.

  71. The fact that the scholarships did not come free but were on a repayment basis has been seldom revealed. It is mentioned in a note by Sir Curzon Wyllie; Foreign Department, Internal-B, May 1906, #308; National Archives of UK, London.

  72. Dhananjay Keer. Veer Savarkar , p. 25.

  73. Letter from Tilak to Shyamji, Kesari Wada, Poona.

  74. Letter Courtesy Savarkar Smarak, Mumbai.

  75. During a trial in an English court in 1919 where he sued Sir Valentine Chirol for libel but lost, Tilak was hauled up for recommending a revolutionary like Vinayak. This is when he revealed that the first letter of recommendation had come from an anglophile such as Wrangler Paranjpe. V.S. Joshi, Kranti Kallol , p. 99.

  76. Dhananjay Keer. Veer Savarkar , p. 26

  77. Translation of a report submitted by Waman Narhar Dani, Constable 3rd Class, Buckle No. 739 of Nasik City to Chief Constable Nasik regarding speeches made by Vinayak Rao Sawarkar. Savarkar Case; Trial and Conviction; Question of extradition in case of failure at the Hague , 9 December 1910 to 23 February 1911; IOR/L/PJ/6/1069, File No. 778, British Library, London.

  78. Ibid.

  79. V.S. Joshi, Kranti Kallol , p. 104; Y.D. Phadke, Lokmanya Tilak aani Krantikarak , p. 66.

  80. V.S. Joshi. Kranti Kallol , p. 104.

  81. V.D. Savarkar. Shatruchya Shibirat , pp. 22–23; V.M. Bhat, Abhinav Bharat athava Savarkaranchi Krantikari Gupta Sanstha , p. 51.

  82. D.N. Gokhale. Krantiveer Babarao Savarkar , Vol. 2, p. 51.

  83. Report of Constable Vithal Dattatraya, Buckle No. 493, to Chief Constable of Nasik. Savarkar Case; Trial and Conviction; Question of extradition in case of failure at the Hague , 9 December 1910 to 23 February 1911; IOR/L/PJ/6/1069, File No. 778; British Library, London.

  84. Smallpox is called ‘Devi’ in Marathi.

  85. V.S. Joshi. Kranti Kallol , p. 105.

  86. V.D. Savarkar. Shatruchya Shibirat , p. 1.

  Chapter 4: Inside the Enemy Camp

  1. ‘Indian Students at Cirencester College’, 1908, Public and Judicial Department, IOR/L/PJ/6/897 3787, British Library, London.

  2. S.N. Banerjea. The Nation in the Making: Being the Reminiscences of Fifty Years of Public Life (London: Oxford University Press, 1925), p. 26.

  3. V.D. Savarkar. Inside the Enemy Camp. http://savarkar.org/en/encyc/2018/3/23/Download-section.html

  4. Ibid.

  5. Ibid.

  6. Accessed online from http://savarkar.org/mr/pdfs/savarkaranchi-kavita-mr-v002.pdf .

  7. Sir Valentine Chirol. Indian Unrest (London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd, 1910), pp. 348–49.

  8. Harindra Srivastava. Five Stormy Years: Savarkar in London (New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1983), p. 12.

  9. Shompa Lahiri. Indians in Britain: Anglo-Indian Encounters, Race and Identity, 1880-1930 (London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 2000), p. 5.

  10. Ibid., p. 4.

  11. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, An Autobiography, or, the Story of My Experiments with Truth (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1996), p. 66.

  12. Ibid., p. 67.

  13. Lord Morley, Secretary of State for India and a Liberal leader.

  14. V.D. Savarkar. Newsletters from London . http://satyashodh.com/Savarkar%20Newsletters1A.htm#one

  15. Retired ICS officer, one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress.

  16. V.D. Savarkar. Newsletters from London . http://satyashodh.com/Savarkar%20Newsletters1A.htm#two

  17. Lala Har Dayal Private Paper, List No. 77, Acc. No. 427, National Archives of India, New Delhi; ‘History Sheet of Har Dayal of Delhi’, prepared by The Director of Criminal Intelligence, Government of India, Judicial and Public Department, Home Proceedings. Vol. 817, 2507/07, India Office Library, London; Lala Lajpat Rai. Young India: An Interpretation and a History of the Nationalist Movement from Within (New York: B.W. Heubsch, 1916), p. 195; Dharm Vir, ‘Dr. Har Dayal’, Punjab’s Eminent Hindu s, edited by N.B. Sen (Lahore: New Book Society, 1953), p. 57

  18. ‘History Sheet of Har Dayal of Delhi’, prepared by The Director of Criminal Intelligence, Government of India, Judicial and Public Department, Home Proceedings. Vol. 817, 2507/07, India Office Library, London.

  19. Sir Michael Francis O’Dwyer. India As I Knew It (London: Constable & Company, Ltd., 1925), p. 185.

  20. See newsletters of the Ghadr Party: ‘The Wickedness Practiced by English Missionaries’, 7 April 1917, and ‘The West Endeavouring to Christianize the East’, 15 April 1917.

  21. Balshastri Hardas. Armed Struggle for Freedom: Ninety Years War of Independence, 1857-1947 (Poona: Kal Prakashan, 1958), p. 191.

  22. Ibid., p. 196.

  23. Sedition Committee Report, 1918, p. 61 (Secret Report published by the Government of India in 1918).

  24. Indian Sociologist , Vol. III, October 1907, p. 38.

  25. Chandra Chakraberty. New India and its Growth and Problems (Calcutta: Vijoyakrishna Brothers, 1951), pp. 25–26.

  26. Virendranath Chattopadhyay Private Papers, PA Acc. No. 236, National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  27. Chandra Chakraberty. New India and its Growth and Problems , pp. 25–26.

  28. Shripad Shankar Navare. Senapati (Bombay: Mauj Prakashan, 1976), p. 30.

  29. The Mahratta , 27 May 1938.

  30. Shripad Shankar Navare. Senapati , p. 28.

  31. A pleader drafts pleas in a court of law on behalf of his/her client.

  32. R.A. Padmanabhan, V. V. S. Aiyar (New Delhi, 1980), p. 12.

  33. M.P.T. Acharya. Reminiscences of an Indian Revolutionary . Edited by B.D. Yadav (New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1991), p. 12.

  34. M.P.T Acharya. The Mahratta , 27 May 1938.

  35. ‘History Sheet of Madame Bhikaji Cama’, prepared by the Criminal Intelligence Office, August 1913, No. 61. A.C. Bose. Indian Revolutionaries Abroad: 1905-1927. Select Documents . New Delhi: Northern Book Centre, 2002, p. 64.

  36. Extracts from Hi
story Sheet of Madame B.R. Cama; Bombay Police Commissioner’s Office File No. 3218/H; Bulu Roy Chowdhury. Madame Cama: A Short Life Sketch (New Delhi: People’s Publishing House, 1977); India Office Records: MSS EUR F341/108.

  37. Bulu Roy Chowdhury. Madame Cama: A Short Life Sketch , p. 6–7.

  38. R.C. Majumdar. History of the Freedom Movement in India (Calcutta: Firma K.L Mukhopadhyay, 1962), p. 235.

  39. Chitragupta. Life of Barrister Savarkar . Madras, 1926, p. 66.

  40. Ibid., p. 67.

  41. For more see, Gita Srivastava. Mazzini and His Impact on the Indian National Movement. (Allahabad: Chugh Publications, 1982).

  42. S.N. Banerjea. The Nation in the Making: Being the Reminiscences of Fifty Years of Public Life ( London: Oxford University Press, 1925), p. 40.

  43. V.D. Savarkar. Inside the Enemy Camp . http://savarkar.org/en/encyc/2018/3/23/Download-section.html

  44. Ibid.

  45. Joseph Mazzini. Life and Writings of Joseph Mazzini . New ed., 6 vols (London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1890).

  46. V.D. Savarkar. Inside the Enemy Camp . http://savarkar.org/en/encyc/2018/3/23/Download-section.html .

  47. Ibid.

  48. ‘Opinion of the Honourable Advocate General in Regard to the Preface to a Translation of Joseph Mazzini’s Autobiography’, Judicial Department (Confidential) Proceedings, October 1907, pp. 31–34, Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai.

  49. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. My Experiments with Truth . http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/gandhiexperiments.pdf

  50. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi , Vol. 1 https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-literature/mahatma-gandhi-collected-works-volume-1.pdf (also mentioned the same in a speech in Bombay in 1896).

  51. Ibid., Vol. 8. https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-literature/mahatma-gandhi-collected-works-volume-8.pdf

  52. Ibid., Vol. 5. https://www.gandhiashramsevagram.org/gandhi-literature/mahatma-gandhi-collected-works-volume-5.pdf.

  53. Harindra Srivastava. Five Stormy Years: Savarkar in London , p. 29.

  54. Notes from the Criminal Intelligence Department. Stevenson-Moore’s note dated 13 January 1909. Home (Political A) February 1909, #204: ‘Interception of the Khalasa (Khalsa) series of pamphlets’, National Archives of India, New Delhi.