Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Early life Savarkar was born into a Marathi Hindu Chitpavan Brahmin family on 28 May 1883 in Bhagur, a village then in the Nasik district of the Bombay Presidency of British India and now in the Indian state of Maharashtra. His parents were Damodar and Radhabai Savarkar. Savarkar had two brothers named Ganesh and Narayan, and a sister named Mainabai. He began his activism as a high school student. At the age of 12, he led fellow students in an attack on the village mosque following Hindu-Muslim riots, stating: "We vandalised the mosque to our heart's content." In 1903, in the nearby city of Nasik, Savarkar and Ganesh founded the Mitra Mela, an underground revolutionary organisation, which became Abhinav Bharat Society in 1906. Abhinav Bharat's main objectives were to overthrow British rule and revive Hindu pride. Student activist Savarkar continued his political activism as a student at Fergusson College in Pune. Savarkar was greatly influenced by the radical nationalist leader, Lokmanya Tilak. Tilak was in turn impressed with the young student and helped him obtain the Shivaji Scholarship in 1906 for his law studies in London. To protest against Bengal partition of 1905, Savarkar led foreign-clothes bonfire in India with other students in presence of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. London years In London, Savarkar got involved with organisations such as India House and the Free India Society. He also published books advocating complete Indian independence by revolutionary means. Savarkar was influenced by the life and thinking of Italian nationalist leader, Giuseppe Mazzini. During his stay in London, Savarkar translated Mazzini's biography in Marathi. He also influenced thinking of a fellow student called Madanlal Dhingra. In 1909, Dhingra assassinated Curzon Wyllie, a colonial officer. It is alleged by Mark Juergensmeyer that Savarkar supplied the gun which Dhingra used. Juergensmeyer further alleged that Savarkar supplied the words for Dhingra's last statement before he went to the gallows for the murder. Savarkar met Mohandas Gandhi for the first time in London shortly after Curzon-Wyllie's assassination. During his stay, Gandhi debated Savarkar and other nationalists in London on the futility of fighting the colonial state through acts of terrorism and guerilla warfare. Arrest and transportation to India In India, Ganesh Savarkar organised an armed revolt against the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909, and was sentenced to life imprisonment on the Andaman Islands. Around the same time Vinayak Savarkar was accused of participating in a conspiracy to overthrow British rule in India by organising murders of various officials. Hoping to evade arrest, Savarkar moved to Bhikaiji Cama's home in Paris, but against advice from his friends, returned to London. On 13 March 1910, he was arrested in London on multiple charges, including procurement and distribution of arms, waging war against the state, and delivering seditious speeches. At the time of his arrest, he was carrying several revolutionary texts, including copies of his own banned books. In addition, the British presented evidence that he had smuggled 20 Browning handguns into India, one of which Anant Laxman Kanhere used to assassinate the Nasik district's collector A.M.T. Jackson in December 1909. During the trial of Nasik Conspiracy Case 1910, government's advocate alleged that Savarkar was a moving part and inspiration behind assassination of Jackson. A Bombay court tried him in the Nasik conspiracy case and sentenced him for life-imprisonment and transported him to the notorious Cellular Jail of Andaman Island and forfeited his property. Although his alleged crimes were committed both in Britain as well as India, the British decided to try him in India. He was subsequently put on the commercial ship SS Morea with a police escort for his transport to India. When the ship docked in the French Mediterranean port of Marseille, Savarkar escaped by jumping from the ship's window, swam to the French shore, and asked for political asylum. Local French port officials ignored his pleas and handed him back to the police escort on Morea. When the French government was informed of the incident, they asked for Savarkar to be brought back to France, and lodged an appeal with the Permanent Court of Arbitration. French Case before the Permanent Court of Arbitration Savarkar's arrest at Marseille caused the French government to lodge a protest against its British counterpart, arguing that Britain could not recover Savarkar unless it took appropriate legal proceedings for his rendition. The dispute came before the Permanent Court of International Arbitration in 1910, and it gave its decision in 1911. The case excited much controversy as was reported widely by the French press, and it considered it involved an interesting international question of the right of asylum. The Court held, firstly, that since there was a pattern of collaboration between the two countries regarding the possibility of Savarkar's escape in Marseille and there was neither force nor fraud in inducing the port authorities to return Savarkar to them, the British did not have to hand him back to the French for the latter to hold rendition proceedings. On the other hand, the tribunal also observed that there had been an "irregularity" in Savarkar's arrest and delivery over to his police escort. Trial and sentence Arriving in Bombay, Savarkar was taken to the Yervada Central Jail in Pune. The trial before the special tribunal was started on 10 September 1910. One of the charges on Savarkar was the abetment to murder of Nasik Collector A. M. T. Jackson. In July 1911, Savarkar was transported to Port Blair and imprisoned in Cellular Jail. Prisoner in Andaman . Clemency petitions 1911 Savarkar applied to the Bombay Government for certain concessions in connection with his sentences. However, by Government letter No. 2022, dated 4 April 1911, his application was rejected and he was informed that the question of remitting the second sentence of transportation for life would be considered in due course on the expiry of the first sentence of transportation for life. A month after arriving in the Cellular Jail, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Savarkar submitted his first clemency petition on 30 August 1911. This petition was rejected on 3 September 1911. 1913 Savarkar submitted his next clemency petition on 14 November 1913 and presented it personally to the Home Member of the Governor General's council, Sir Reginald Craddock. In his letter, he described himself as a "prodigal son" longing to return to the "parental doors of the government". He wrote that his release from the jail will recast the faith of many Indians in the British rule. Also, he said 1917 In 1917, Savarkar submitted another clemency petition, this time for a general amnesty of all political prisoners. Savarkar was informed on 1 February 1918 that the clemency petition was placed before the British colonial government. In December 1919, there was a Royal proclamation by King George V. The Paragraph 6 of this proclamation included a declaration of Royal clemency to political offenders. In view of Royal proclamation, Savarkar submitted his fourth clemency petition to the British colonial government on 30 March 1920, in which he stated that This petition was rejected on 12 July 1920 by the British colonial government. After considering the petition, the British colonial government contemplated releasing Ganesh Savarkar but not Vinayak Savarkar. The rationale for doing so was stated as follows Savarkar signed a statement endorsing his trial, verdict, and British law, and renouncing violence, a bargain for freedom. Ratnagiri years under restrictions On 2 May 1921, the Savarkar brothers were transferred from Andaman to mainland India with Vinayak being sent to a jail in Ratnagiri, and Ganesh to Bijapur Jail. During his incarceration in Ratnagiri jail in 1922, Vinayak wrote Essentials of Hindutva that formulated the political ideology of Hindutva. Ganesh Savarkar was unconditionally released from jail in 1922. On 6 January 1924 Vinayak was released, but was restricted to Ratnagiri District. Soon after his release, he shifted his work towards Hindu nationalism. The colonial authorities provided a bungalow for him and he was allowed visitors. He also received a pension of 60 rupees a month from the British government. Nathuram Godse, who later assassinated Gandhi, met Savarkar for the first time as a nineteen-year-old in 1929. Savarkar became a prolific writer during his years of restricted freedom in Ratnagiri. His publishers, however, needed to have a disclaimer that they were wholly divorced from politics. Savarkar remained restricted to Ratnagiri district until 1937. At that time, he was unconditionally released by the newly elected government of Bombay presidency. Leader of the Hindu Mahasabha Savarkar as president of the Hindu Mahasabha, during the Second World War, advanced the slogan "Hinduise all Politics and Militarise Hindudom" and decided to support the British war effort in India seeking military training for the Hindus. When the Congress launched the Quit India movement in 1942, Savarkar criticised it and asked Hindus to stay active in the war effort and not disobey the government; he also urged the Hindus to enlist in the armed forces to learn the "arts of war". Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar's leadership organised Hindu Militarisation Boards which recruited armed forces for helping the British in World War 2. He assailed the British proposals for transfer of power, attacking both the Congress and the British for making concessions to Muslim separatists. Soon after independence, Syama Prasad Mukherjee resigned as vice-president of the Hindu Mahasabha dissociating himself from its Akhand Hindustan (Undivided India) plank, which implied undoing partition. Opposition to Quit India Movement Under Savarkar, the Hindu Mahasabha openly opposed the call for the Quit India Movement and boycotted it officially. In Bengal, Hindu Mahasabha joined the Krishak Praja Party led Progressive Coalition ministry of Fazlul Haq in December 1941. Savarkar appreciated the successful functioning of the coalition government. Due to lack of evidence, Savarkar was arrested under the Preventive Detention Act. However Badge's testimony was not accepted as the approver's evidence lacked independent corroboration and hence Savarkar was acquitted. In the last week of August 1974, Mr. Manohar Malgonkar saw Digamber Badge several times and in particular, questioned him about the veracity of his testimony against Savarkar. former editor of Kesari and then editor of "Tarun Bharat", who presided over the function, gave information of a conspiracy to kill Gandhi, about which he professed knowledge six months before the act. Ketkar was arrested. A public furor ensued both outside and inside the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and both houses of the Indian parliament. Under the pressure of 29 members of parliament and public opinion the then Union home minister Gulzarilal Nanda appointed Gopal Swarup Pathak, M. P. and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India as a Commission of Inquiry to re-investigate the conspiracy to murder Gandhi. The central government intended on conducting a thorough inquiry with the help of old records in consultation with the government of Maharashtra. Pathak was given three months to conduct his inquiry; subsequently, Jevanlal Kapur, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India, was appointed chairman of the commission. The commission's reinvestigation saw Savarkar's secretary and bodyguard to have testified that Savarkar met with Godse and Apte right before Gandhi was killed. The commission was provided with evidence not produced in the court; especially the testimony of two of Savarkar's close aides – Appa Ramachandra Kasar, his bodyguard, and Gajanan Vishnu Damle, his secretary. The testimony of Mr. Kasar and Mr. Damle was already recorded by Bombay police on 4 March 1948, but apparently, these testimonies were not presented before the court during the trial. In these testimonies, it is said that Godse and Apte visited Savarkar on or about 23 or 24 January, The arrest of Savarkar was mainly based on approver Digambar Badge's testimony. The commission did not re-interview Digambar Badge. On 22 November 1957, Raja Mahendra Pratap moved a bill in Lok Sabha to recognise the service to the country of people like Vir Savarkar, Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Bhupendranath Datta. But the bill was defeated with 48 votes favouring it and 75 against it. This bill was also supported by communist leader like A. K. Gopalan. Death On 8 November 1963, Savarkar's wife, Yamunabai, died. On 1 February 1966, Savarkar renounced medicines, food, and water which was termed as prayopavesha (fast until death). Before his death, he had written an article titled "Atmahatya Nahi Atmaarpan" in which he argued that when one's life mission is over and the ability to serve society is left no more, it is better to end the life at will rather than waiting for death. His condition was described to have become as "extremely serious" before his death on 26 February 1966 at his residence in Bombay (now Mumbai), and that he faced difficulty in breathing; efforts to revive him failed, and was declared dead at 11:10 a.m. (IST) that day. Prior to his death, Savarkar had asked his relatives to perform only his funeral and do away with the rituals of the 10th and 13th day of the Hindu faith. Accordingly, his last rites were performed at an electric crematorium in Bombay's Sonapur locality by his son Vishwas the following day. There was no official mourning by the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee or the central government in Delhi during the time of his death. No minister from the Maharashtra Cabinet paid homage to Savarkar. The political indifference to Savarkar has also continued after his death. After the death of Nehru, the Congress government, under Prime Minister Shastri, started to pay him a monthly pension. == Political views ==

Hindutva In contrast with Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo, who were "men of religion" who introduced reforms in the society and put Hinduism in front of the world, Savarkar formulated an extreme form of Hindu nationalism. During his incarceration, Savarkar's views began turning increasingly towards Hindu cultural and political nationalism, and the next phase of his life remained dedicated to this cause. In the brief period he spent at the Ratnagiri jail, Savarkar wrote his ideological pamphlet, Essentials of Hindutva. In this work, Savarkar promotes a farsighted new vision of Hindu social and political consciousness. Savarkar began describing a "Hindu" as a patriotic inhabitant of Bharatavarsha, venturing beyond a religious identity. According to Sharma, Savarkar's celebration and justification of violence against [British] women and children in his description of the Mutiny of 1857, "transformed Hindutva into the very image of Islam that he defined and found so intolerably objectionable". Scholars, historians and Indian politicians have been divided in their interpretation of Savarkar's ideas. A self-described atheist, Savarkar regarded being Hindu as a cultural and political identity. He often stressed social and community unity between Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains, to the exclusion of Muslims and Christians. Savarkar saw Muslims and Christians as "misfits" in the Indian civilisation who could not truly be a part of the nation. He argued that the holiest sites of Islam and Christianity are in the Middle East and not India, hence the loyalty of Muslims and Christians to India is divided. Focusing his energies on writing, Savarkar authored the Hindu Pad-pada-shahi He also wrote and published a collection of poems, plays and novels. He also wrote a book named Majhi Janmathep ("My Life-term") about his experience in Andaman prison. Hindu orthodoxy He was an ardent critique of a number of Hindu religious practices he saw as irrational and viewed them as a hindrance to the material progress of the Hindus. He believed that religion is an unimportant aspect of "Hindu identity". He was opposed to the caste system and in his 1931 essay titled Seven Shackles of the Hindu Society, he wrote "One of the most important components of such injunctions of the past that we have blindly carried on and which deserves to be thrown in the dustbins of history is the rigid caste system". However, in 1939, Savarkar assured that his party Hindu Mahasabha won't necessarily support entry of the untouchables into temples. Savarkar said, "Thus the Party will not introduce or support compulsory Legislature regarding Temple Entry by the untouchables etc. in old temples beyond the limit to which the non-Hindus are allowed by custom as in force today." Constitution of India Savarkar in his book, "Women in Manusmriti", he wrote: "The worst about the new constitution of Bharat is that there is nothing Bharatiya (Indian) about it. Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worship-able after Vedas for our Hindu Nation and which from ancient times has become the basis of our culture-customs, thought and practice. This book for centuries has codified the spiritual and divine march of our nation. Even today the rules which are followed by crores of Hindus in their lives and practice are based on Manusmriti." B. R. Ambedkar, Chairman of the committee that drafted the Constitution of India, criticised Manusmriti as responsible for caste system in India. Fascism In a speech on "India's foreign policy" before about 20,000 people in Pune on 1 August 1938, Savarkar stated that "India's foreign policy must not depend on 'isms'" and that Germany had the right to adopt Nazism and Italy to Fascism; such systems were suited to their national conditions and had contributed to their strength and consolidation. Savarkar criticised Nehru for denouncing Germany and Italy, proclaiming that "crores of Hindu Sanghatanists in India [..] cherish[ed] no ill-will towards Germany or Italy or Imperial Japan." He defended Germany's position on Czechoslovakia, stating that Germany was justified in uniting Austrian and Sudeten Germans under its rule and that "the Germans under the Czechs wanted to join their kith and kin in Germany". As World War II become imminent, Savarkar had initially advocated a policy of neutralism centered on India's geostrategic equations but his rhetoric grew coarser with time and he expressed consistent support for Hitler's policy about Jews. In a speech on 14 October, it was suggested that Hitler's ways be adopted for dealing with Indian Muslims. On 11 December, he characterised the Jews as a communal force. Next March, Savarkar would welcome Germany's revival of Aryan culture, their appropriation of Swastika, and the "crusade" against Aryan enemies; it was hoped that German victory would finally invigorate the Hindus of India. These speeches circulated in German newspapers with Nazi Germany even allotting a point-of-contact person for engaging with Savarkar, who was making sincere efforts to forge a working relationship with the Nazis. Eventually, Savarkar would be gifted with a copy of Mein Kampf. In 1941, Savarkar supported the settlement of Jews in Palestine, in what he believed would defend the world against Islamic aggression. In his letter dated 19 December 1947, Savarkar celebrated "the establishment of the independent Jewish State in Palestine on moral as well as political grounds" while adding that "the Jewish people bear no political ill-will towards Hindudom". It remains unknown whether Savarkar withdrew his support for Nazi Germany after the Holocaust became common knowledge. He said: In the 1940s, the two-nation theory was supported by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Savarkar. Savarkar declared on 15 August 1943, in Nagpur: Savarkar not only talked of Hindudom, Hindu Nation and Hindu Raj, but he wanted to depend upon the Sikhs in the Punjab to establish a Sikhistan. Savarkar assured the Sikhs that "when the Muslims woke from their day-dreams of Pakistan, they would see established instead a Sikhistan in the Punjab." Savarkar further instigated the Sikhs by claiming that Sikhs previously occupied Afghanistan when they were not many and now there are millions of Sikhs. Muslims Since his time in jail, Savarkar was known for his anti-Muslim writings. Historians including Rachel McDermott, Leonard A. Gordon, Ainslie Embree, Frances Pritchett and Dennis Dalton state that Savarkar promoted an anti-Muslim form of Hindu nationalism. Savarkar saw Muslims in the Indian police and military to be "potential traitors". He advocated that India reduce the number of Muslims in the military, police and public service and ban Muslims from owning or working in munitions factories. Savarkar criticised Gandhi for being concerned about Indian Muslims. In his 1963 book Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History, Savarkar says Muslims and Christians wanted to "destroy" Hinduism. In his 1963 book Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History, Savarkar advocated the use of rape as political tool. He accused Muslim women of actively supporting Muslim men's atrocities against Hindu women, Savarkar wrote that young and beautiful Muslim girls should be captured, converted and presented to Maratha warriors to reward them, stating that the Muslim ruler Tipu Sultan had similarly distributed Hindu girls among his warriors. He further wrote: As per Sharma, based on Swami Ramdas's teaching, Savarkar justifies the killing of countless British women and children in 1857. Sharma has translated some passages from "Savarkar Samgraha" which is originally in Savarkar's native language into English to give examples. On page 202 of Volume 5, Savarkar Samgraha, in his native language, Savarkar writes (translated by Sharma): When some men, women and children were killed in the Ganga river, Savarkar describes this as a "celebration" of the anniversary of plassey on page 196. In Kanpur, when 150 children and women were killed he quotes unemotionally as per Sharma in his native language that "the butchers entered Bibigarh ..and sea of white blood spread all over." In another incident on 16 May, Savarkar describes the fate of English women and children as follows: == Legacy ==

He is known among his followers by the honorific prefix Veer meaning "brave", a qualification which has been questioned by others. He has also been called "one of the most divisive figures in Indian politics" and "the most controversial Indian political thinker of the twentieth century." The airport at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar's capital was renamed Veer Savarkar International Airport in 2002. One of the commemorative blue plaques affixed on India House fixed by the Historic Building and Monuments Commission for England reads "Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, 1883–1966, Indian patriot and philosopher lived here". The Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Naranpura, Ahmedabad, was named after him. • A commemorative postage stamp was released by government of India in 1970. • A portrait of Savarkar was unveiled in the Indian Parliament in 2003. • The Shiv Sena party has demanded that the Indian Government posthumously confer upon him India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena chief, while reiterating this demand for Bharat Ratna in 2017, has also suggested that a replica of the prison cell where Savarkar was imprisoned should be built in Mumbai and the youth should be educated about Savarkar's contribution towards the 'Hindu Rashtra' and the Indian freedom struggle. In 1926, two years after the release of Savarkar from the prison, a biography titled "Life of Barrister Savarkar" and authored by a certain "Chitragupta" was published. A revised version was published in 1939 with additions by Indra Prakash of the Hindu Mahasabha. A second edition of the book was published in 1987 by Veer Savarkar Prakashan, the official publisher of writings by Savarkar. In its preface, Ravindra Vaman Ramdas deduced that, "Chitragupta is none other than Veer Savarkar". • The Marathi and Hindi music director and Savarkar follower, Sudhir Phadke, and Ved Rahi made the biopic film Veer Savarkar, which was released in 2001 after many years in production. Savarkar is portrayed by Shailendra Gaur. • The 2015 Indian Marathi-language film What About Savarkar?, directed by Rupesh Katare and Nitin Gawde, depicted the journey of a man's revenge against those who have disrespect Savarkar's name. • The 2024 Indian Hindi-language film Swatantrya Veer Savarkar directed, co-written, co-produced and acted by Randeep Hooda depicted the life journey of Savarkar. Books He wrote 38 books in English and Marathi. ==Notes==