50. V.D. Savarkar. Hindutva , p. 71.
51. Ibid., pp. 71–72.
52. Ibid., pp. 81.
53. In the wake of the communal mobilization of Muslims after the Morley–Minto Reforms and the birth of the Muslim League, a need was felt for establishing a national organization to represent Hindus and their interests. This finally took shape in 1915. It was named Sarvadeshik Hindu Sabha (later Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha in 1920) and met at Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela under the leadership of Maharaja Manindrachandra Nandi of Kasim Bazar. Several important personalities such as Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Swami Shraddhanand and Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru attended the conference. The goals of the new organization were: 1. To promote greater union and solidarity amongst all sections of Hindu community and to unite them as closely as parts of one organic whole; 2. To promote education among members of the Hindu community; 3. To ameliorate and improve the condition of all classes of the Hindu community; 4. To protect and promote Hindu interests wherever and whenever it may be necessary; 5. To promote good feelings between the Hindus and other communities in India and to act in a friendly way with them and in loyal co-operation with the government; 6. Generally to take steps for promoting religious, moral, social, educational and political interests of the community.
54. M.J. Akbar. India: The Siege Within: Challenges to a Nation’s Unity ( New Delhi: Roli Books, 2017), p. 306.
55. Janaki Bakhle. ‘Country First? Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966) and the Writing of Essentials of Hindutva ’. Public Culture 22.1(2010): pp. 149–86. Emphasis mine.
Chapter 12: The Interpretation of Thoughts
1. V.D. Savarkar. Savarkar Samagra , Vol.7, pp. 76–84 (translated by the author).
2. Ibid. pp. 33–46.
3. Ibid., pp. 433–45.
4. Marathi article in the May 1934 Issue of the magazine Manohar , sourced from the Savarkar Smarak, Mumbai; original translation by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha published for The Mint dated 20 March 2016.
5. V.D. Savarkar. Savarkar Samagra , Vol. 3, pp. 496–517 (translated by the author).
6. In this undated interview to a Marathi journalist, Vinayak spoke about the virtues of modern cinema. Published in his book Vividha Lekha or Various Essays . Translation of the original Marathi piece by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha published for The Mint dated 20 March 2016.
7. V.D. Savarkar. My Transportation for Life , http://savarkar.org/en/pdfs/My-Transportation-for-Life-Veer-Savarkar.pdf , pp. 374–75.
8. Ibid., p. 368.
9. First-hand account by Vinayak on the namaz and bhajans in V.D. Savarkar. My Transportation for Life , http://savarkar.org/en/pdfs/My-Transportation-for-Life-Veer-Savarkar.pdf , p. 369.
10. V.D. Savarkar. My Transportation for Life , http://savarkar.org/en/pdfs/My-Transportation-for-Life-Veer-Savarkar.pdf , p. 369.
11. Ibid., p. 378
12. F# 143-K (d)/1928: ‘The Indian Stability Commission, 1923: Movements of a subversive character: 1) Communism, 2) Press and Platform (revolutionary)’, Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai.
13. A. Montgomerie, Secretary to the Government of Bombay, Home Department, Resolution #724, Bombay Castle, 4 January 1924. F# 60-D (e)/l923-24, Home (Special): ‘Convict (Life): Release of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’, Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai.
14. 60-D (e)/1923-24, Home (Special). Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai.
15. Ibid.
16. V.D. Savarkar. My Transportation for Life , http://savarkar.org/en/pdfs/My-Transportation-for-Life-Veer-Savarkar.pdf , pp. 382
17. Ibid., p. 383.
Appendix IV
1. An article by Vinayak Savarkar that appeared in Volume 1 of The Talwar magazine from Berlin, April–May 1910. EPP 2/22, India Office Library, London.
2. Possibly means Deshbhakt Gokhale. A reference to Gopalkrishna Gokhale.
Acknowledgements
T his book has been the result of several years of painstaking research, wading through an ocean of extant documents. Several people assisted in the course of this rewarding journey and to all of them I express my sincere thanks.
I owe my heartfelt gratitude to Mr Ranjit Vikram Savarkar, chairman of the Swatantryaveer Savarkar Rashtriya Smarak in Mumbai. As the grandnephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, he has a legacy to carry forward and he, the Smarak and its affable members have been doing just that, with aplomb. I have enjoyed numerous conversations over delectable Maharashtrian meals with the exuberant Mr Savarkar on a wide range of subjects related to the protagonist of this book. Ever ready to share the wealth of information that the Smarak houses and a rational thinker in the tradition of his ancestors, Mr Savarkar’s enthusiasm has been infectious. His assiduous and sincere team of silent workers, in particular Mr Dhananjay Balkrishna Shinde, deserve my utmost gratitude for making documents available to me at short notice.
I am deeply honoured and obliged to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), New Delhi, for offering me a senior research fellowship for the years 2018–20, to facilitate this research. Mr Shakti Sinha, director of the NMML, has been an inspiring presence and a sounding board in the course of this work.
The Indic Academy and Mr Hari Kiran Vadlamani have been pioneering a renaissance and resurgence of a new cultural and historical narrative of India. I am extremely thankful to them for reposing faith in me and funding my research in the United Kingdom.
This book would not have been embellished with its rich details ferreted out from the rarest of sources with the skill that only a detective can possess, but for the untiring efforts of Dr Subodh Naik in Mumbai. A passionate fan of Savarkar, his zeal that this story deserved to be told and told interestingly, propelled me through several phases of self-doubt. Watching him get teary-eyed every time he spoke about his hero was deeply moving.
My friend Akil Bakhshi went through several drafts of this manuscript with a fine-toothed comb and weeded out numerous inconsistencies that naturally creeps in while painting a picture as vast as this. Being an avowed Savarkar-baiter, his inputs were all the more critical, given that I know that this work would be up for public dissection by both naysayers and die-hard fans of Savarkar. I do hope at the end of several readings of the drafts, Akil’s opinion of the man he loathed, has changed, even if marginally!
I am also grateful to my friend Kanad Mandke and cousin Vishnu Madhusudan for reading several chapters of the book and providing their invaluable feedback; to Smt. Shefali Vaidya for assisting me in translating some Marathi works; to Mr Nitin Apte, Mr Adinath Mangeshkar and Mr Francis Neelam for valuable information, and to Mr Sanjay Anandaram and Mr Aniruddh Joshi for providing wide contacts; to Smt. Shobhaa De, dear friend and celebrated author–columnist, for being there for the book and for me at crucial points in this journey.
I was fortunate to find Savarkar fans in every city and town that I visited in the course of my research trips. They opened their treasure trove of documents and information with a generosity that I am immensely thankful for. Dr Vasudev Godbole in Bedford (the UK) has been a torchbearer of Savarkar’s legacy in Britain for decades now. Meeting him and enjoying a lovely meal of Maharashtrian poha and ginger tea with him and his affectionate wife was extra special in an alien country. Dr Rashida Iqbal at the Cellular Jail (Port Blair), Mr Sanket Kulkarni in London and Mr Raja Pundalik in Nashik were great sources of support for my research. I am extremely thankful to them all.
Several institutions where I researched have been kind and forthcoming with their support. My sincere thanks to them all (in no particular order) and their staff: The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi; the Swatantryaveer Savarkar Rashtriya Smarak, Mumbai; The National Archives of India, New Delhi; The Maharashtra State Archives, Mumbai; the Deputy Inspector General’s Office, Mumbai; The British Library, London; The Bombay High Court; The National Archives of the United Kingdom, Kew; Bow Street Court Records, London; the Cellular Jail, Port Blair; the Kesari Wada Tilak Trust, Pune; and the Savarkar Memorial, Nashik.
My sincere thanks to t
he eminent professors, authors and scholars who consented to review the work prior to its publication: Prof. Francis Robinson, Prof. Faisal Devji, Prof. Sugata Bose, Prof. Amitabh Mattoo, Prof. Makarand Paranjpe, Prof. Lavanya Vemsani, Prof. Meenakshi Jain, Prof. Saradindu Mukherji, Imam Mohamad Tawhidi, Governor Tathagatha Roy, Lord Meghnad Desai, Mr Sanjeev Sanyal, Mr T.V. Mohandas Pai, Mr Ashok Malik and Mr Shekhar Gupta.
A huge personal tragedy in the midst of my research—the sudden demise of the person who mattered the most in my life, Smt. Nagamani Sampath, my mother—halted this journey indefinitely. During the early phase of this sojourn, she was the sounding board whom I consulted on structuring the work. Being daunted by the gigantic nature of the subject, I had confided in her my diffidence in carrying this forward. ‘While climbing Mount Everest, do not look or think about the peak. Take small, baby steps and soon you will see yourself at the top’—these wise words from her have been my guiding talisman. She was to be my ‘research assistant’ in this project, but destiny sadly seemed to have had other plans. As I struggled to cope with this loss, if there is someone I owe my total gratitude and love, it is my father Sampath Srinivasan who lovingly tended me back to action. My aunt Roopa Madhusudan, uncle Madhusudan, Jayanthi Akka, Nirmal aunty, Srilakshmi aunty, dear friends Ashish Arora, Karan Arora, Madhu Natraj, Sulini Nair, Sheelaa Bajaj, Somedutta Ray, Rajib and Bandana Sarma, Avijit Choudhary, Vatsala Hali, Arjun Singh Kadian and Nikhil Khurana among others have been pillars of strength through these difficult times. I am profusely indebted to them all for their benign and comforting presence, as I am to beloved Leo, for bringing back cheer in my life!
I am very thankful to my publishers Penguin Random House India and Meru Gokhale for reposing faith in me and this work. I owe my sincere thanks to my friend and editor Premanka Goswami for diligently editing this work and planning the entire production schedule, as also to Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri for copy-editing the volume with such finesse.
Most importantly, I am grateful to the Divine, without whose grace, not a single word could have been written.
THE BEGINNING
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Savarkar Page 73
