V.D. Savarkar

From Taranaa Tarang

V. D. Savarkar was a brave freedom fighter and also a scholar. He idolized Shivaji Maharaj and was in awe of how Shivaji, with his astuteness and valour fought against the Moguls. He dedicated his life to a similar fight to drive the British out of the country. He deemed the knowledge of weapons necessary for this struggle and worked towards gaining it. Inspired by Lokmanya Tilak, Chaphekar brothers and other freedom fighters from Maharashtra, he organized several revolts against the British regime in his youth.

Savarkar not only studied the examples of brave Indian personalities, but also gathered knowhow about Ireland’s struggle for freedom against England and other ongoing struggles in Europe too. He realized very early in life that the best way to influence a big mass of people is through the pen and communicated his studies and thoughts to the people through very potent literature. He went to England to become a Barrister, but parallely formed a group of Indian freedom fighters there and was involved in production of bombs. He was arrested for his activities in England and put on a ship to be sent to India for imprisonment. Savarkar was aware that his activities would be limited in prison and when the ship was fairly close to the shores of France, he escaped through a narrow pipe from the lavatory of the ship and swam despite several wounds in the salty water to reach the shore, where he planned to seek political asylum, whereby the British couldn’t arrest him on a foreign shore. But the French police were confused by the act and the British officials seized the opportunity to arrest him again and brought him to India.

He was imprisoned in Andaman and subjected to severe cruelties there. He not only carried himself bravely through this, but also his literary genius was at it’s potent best. He did not have pen and paper to write, so he carved his poetry on the walls on the prison. The stay in prison took heavy toll on his health and after many revolts for his release, the British finally released him from Andaman after he gave a written assurance that he wouldn’t participate henceforth in any political movement.

During the period from 1921-1937, he performed a very significant job on the social and literary front. His beliefs were radically different from those of most others of his time. He never believed in the caste and creed system among the Hindus and did not accept any norms that could not stand the test of science and logic. He argued that cow is not a God, but a very useful animal and said that Hinduism was drowning not in the sea but in the baseless beliefs of it’s caretakers.

He wrote several strong and socially sensitive pieces of literature. His naaTyageet “paravashataa paash daivee jyaanchyaa gaLaa laagalaa” became very popular as did his poems “ne majasi ne parat maatrubhumilaa” (written on the English shore) and “jayostute shree mahanmangale shivaaspade shubhade”.

Savarkar entered politics in 1937 and was affiliated to the Hindu Mahasabha, but his philosophy was radically opposite from that of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi was a peace-lover to the core, while Savarkar had asked “raNaaveeN swaatantrya koNaa miLaale” (has anyone acquired freedom without fighting on a battlefield) in one of his poems. Thus some of his detractors projected him as a “Gandhi-hater”. He believed that the activities of the Muslim league were detrimental to the unity of the country and it’s freedom struggle and was thus even labeled as being against the Muslims. But Savarkar’s concept of a Hindu was very different. To him, anyone dwelling in the land from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal and from the Himalayas to the Indian Ocean and believing in protecting it’s sovereignty was a Hindu. He had no business with whether someone was born in a Hindu home or a Christian, Muslim or Parsi one. When the second World War started, Gandhi opposed the participation by Indians in the war. Savarkar on the other hand reasoned that this was a great opportunity for Indians to learn tricks of warfare. The two were driven towards a common end but the means were very different. Savarkar’s beliefs very driven more by science and practicalities and hence was widely opposed by his own countrymen given the era he lived in.

When the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (who was opposed to India’s freedom and had said that the Indian leaders were unfit to govern in a democracy) passed away, the Indian Government stopped work for a day, but when Savarkar passed away in 1966, not a single representative from the then Congress-led Government turned up for the funeral.

Lord Krishna justified to Arjuna the war against his cousins. He professed “titikshava”, asking him to face all good and bad things in life with calmness and an attitude of forgiveness rather than a love for happiness and hatred towards sorrow. Savarkar lived this teaching from the Bhagvad Geeta. In spite of being overlooked by his own countrymen, he always fought for the ideals that drove him. There is a belief that it’s the body that dies, the soul is immortal. Drawing an analogy from it, it seems like Chhatrapati Shivaji was reborn first as the first Baajirao Peshwa, then as Vasudeo Balwant Phadke and then finally rested in the body of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar…