Knowledge Nugget: Veer Savarkar — Essential facts and literary contributions that you should know

Key takeaways:

1. Born on May 28, 1883 in Bhagur, a village close to Nashik in Maharashtra, Savarkar began his journey as a Marathi poet from a very young age. He was only 12 when one of his poems was published in the journal, Jagadechhu of Pune.

2. His writings, which explore themes of religious identity, history, caste, violence, and nationalism, continue to influence ideologies and movements of right-wing organisations and political parties in India.

3. His biographers, including Sampath and Vaibhav Purandhare note Savarkar’s inclination towards books and religious texts such as the puranas and the epics since he was in class three and four. He also began composing his own poetry at the same time, many of them being about Goddess Durga.

4. His most popular poem, sagar pran talmala, made more famous by the Mangeshkar family’s rendition of it, was composed in Brighton, England. He wrote it as a conversation with the ocean, narrating to it how tormented he felt being far away from his motherland, and asking what use are the attractions of a foreign country if he is unable to be back where he actually belongs.

5. Savarkar was also inspired by bakhar, a form of historical narrative written in Marathi prose. Although occasionally prone to hyperbole, these presented historical events sequentially, not unlike in the positivist tradition of the West. Most bakhar revolve around the history of the Maratha Empire, and more specifically, the exploits of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

6. Savarkar is known to have been the first to have composed powadas or Marathi ballads in modern times and was the first to use modern imagery in powadas. Some of his earliest poetry that found public recognition were the ones he wrote for Mitra Mela, an underground revolutionary organisation founded by him and his brother Ganesh Savarkar in 1903, which later on became Abhinav Bharat Society in 1906.

7. It is also worth noting that while Savarkar is best known for his English-language work on Hindutva, he in fact wrote very little in English in comparison to the large volume of work in Marathi that he left behind. One of his important early work where he called the 1857 revolt the first war of Independence, was published in 1909 titled, The Indian War of Independence—1857.

8. Apart from the poems and plays, he wrote two novels, Kale pani (1937) and Mala kay tyache (1973), short stories like Savarkaranchya Goshti-Part one (1948) and part two (1982), Samajchitre (1959), and Andha shraddha Nirmulan Katha (1993), and a vast number of historical works.

9. He was also a journalist and the editor of a Marathi weekly magazine Shraddhanand, and a regular contributor to other newspapers and journals such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s Kesari and Kirloskar press.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, commonly known as Swatantryaveer Savarkar in Marathi language, was an Indian independence activist and politician who formulated the Hindu nationalist philosophy of Hindutva. He was a leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha. (Express archive photo)

His Journey

1. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was arrested in London in March 1910, on charges of anti-state acts and abetment of Nashik magistrate A M T Jackson’s murder. While being brought to India for trial onboard the commercial ship SS Morea, Savarkar tried to escape from custody in Marseille. SS Morea had sailed from London on July 1, 1910. It docked at Marseille a week later.

2. According to the records of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), on July 8, 1910, Savarkar, who was being closely guarded, sought permission to use the washroom. He then bolted the toilet from inside, jumped out of the ship’s porthole, and swam ashore.

3. However, Savarkar was soon apprehended by a brigadier of the French maritime gendarmerie, who handed him over to guards from the ship after mistaking him for a crew member. Savarkar’s escape, however, sparked a dispute between France and Great Britain, which was settled by the PCA.

4. Savarkar references his attempted sea escape in his Marathi biographical work Mazi Janmathep, first published in 1927. The book has been translated into English as The Story of My Transportation for Life by Prof V N Naik.

5. At the age of 28, Savarkar was sentenced to two life terms and sent to Cellular Jail in the Andamans. The prison was meant to break the most hardened of prisoners, and Savarkar also faced torture and brutality. He was released from jail in 1924 following contested “mercy petitions” and a promise to not participate in political activities.

6. A new chapter in his life started with his election as President of the Hindu Mahasabha at Ahmedabad in 1937. He continued in the role until 1943. After Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination in January 1948 by Nathuram Godse, who was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, Savarkar was tried, but was acquitted by court.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Hindu Mahasabha and RSS

1. In April 1925, the Sarvadeshak (all India) Hindu Mahasabha was formally established and all the regional organisations brought under it. In April 1921 it changed its name to Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha.

2. Under the stewardship of V D Savarkar, the Mahasabha was opposed to Gandhi’s overtures to hold parleys with Muslim League president Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Congress’ efforts to integrate Muslims. It was evidently demonstrated when it did not actively support the Indian freedom movement against British rule and boycotted the Quit India Movement officially.

3. Coomi Kapoor while commenting on Vaibhav Purandare’s book on the Hindutva hero has written that the radical reformist Savarkar and RSS chief M S Golwalkar never really got along. Savarkar did not appreciate Golwalkar’s posturing as a bearded ascetic since he felt that India’s spiritual greatness lay in the past and it could not be assumed simply on the basis of outward appearances.

4. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was formed in 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar as a platform to unite Hindus. The RSS was born not as a political party but as a cultural project to organise Hindus. Hedgewar’s innovation was the shakha: a daily one-hour gathering that combined physical training, ideological education (baudhik), and rituals of Hindu unity.

Post Read Question

Consider the following statements:

1. He was the author of Marathi weekly magazine Shraddhanand.

2. He was the long-serving president of All India Hindu Mahasabha.

3. He wrote the poem sagar pran talmala.

The description given above is associated with which of the following individuals?

(a) Keshav Baliram Hedgewar

(b) Madan Mohan Malaviya

(c) Shyama Prasad Mukherjee

(d) Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

(Sources: Poet, playwright and linguist…how Savarkar impacted Marathi, Divided over Savarkar: Once upon a time, CPI MPs, Feroze Gandhi spoke up for him, How Savarkar’s ‘The Indian War of Independence 1857’ gave a national character to the revolt, How Savarkar crafted his narrative of ‘Hindudom’)

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