Written By Ojas Koneripura (Grade 10)
It was on 9th June, Vinayak proceeded to Bombay from Poona to go to England on the ship of S.S Persia. Savarkar was given a tearful adieu by Babarao Savarkar (his elder brother), his wife Yamuna and their 18-month-old son Prabhakar (born in 1905, a month before the bonfire event). On 26th July 1906, Savarkar was admitted to the Gray’s Inn for his legal studies. He was accommodated in the ‘India House’ in London, which was established by Shyamji Krishna Verma. He was living with students and some eminent personalities like Madame Bhikaji Rustom Cama. Apart from her, the place accommodated V.VS Aiyar, Lala Har Dayal, Senapati Bapat, Madanlal Dhingra, M.P.T. Acharya, Virendranath Chattopadhyay. During his stay in London, there is a record of a conversation, rather a short and a heated one, between Vinayak and M.K. Gandhi, who was residing in London too, for his studies. There were spies who had been deployed near the India House to monitor the activities of the residents inside, especially of those of Vinayak, as his revolutionary activities had already activated the antennas of the British and they wanted to restrict his actions against the Crown, here in England. Savarkar promoted his organisation Abhinav Bharat among the members of the India House, which did get many likeminded and revolutionary ideas together. His life in London, hitherto restricted, did not stop him from doing activities which was not in the interest of the Crown. His actions were stated as seditious which got him into immense trouble.
Savarkar called for an armed rebellion and rejected the non-violent movements of Gandhi. He was majorly responsible and tagged as a terrorist for his actions of bomb making and exporting the bomb making manuals and weapons like guns and pistols from London to India, just so that the Indians could try and drive away the British from their motherland through a violent and a bloody struggle. Savarkar’s actions were often termed as seditious.
After the 50th anniversary of the 1857 Mutiny (which Savarkar named it as the ‘First War of Independence’) on 10th May, 1907, Savarkar wanted to bring to light the freedom struggle taken up by the warriors of India to drive away the settling British forces. He also wanted to give limelight to the unity and brotherhood between the Hindus and the Muslims which was very much prevalent and one of the main factors for the strong opposition in the revolt of 1857. Savarkar planned on documenting the achievements and the happenings of the revolt. The main intention for him to write this book was to give India a tale of history of her own, to change the narrative of history from the colonial state to a nationalistic state. The book after completion was smuggled to India in boxes with fake bottoms. Back at home, the book was widely read and circulated quickly and was also successful in calling for the unity between Indians irrespective of religion. The British without any delay, tagged this work as seditious as they suspected another rebellion from the natives after reading this book. Fake bottom boxes were used extensively by Savarkar to smuggle bomb making manuals and guns to Indians in India.
It was through one of these guns, a young man, Laxman Kanhare, just 17 years old, shot ‘Pandit’ Jackson, a British collector in Nashik. This case was somehow tracked down to Savarkar, and he was unfortunately brought to court, trialled, and was sentenced to 2 lifetimes (50 years) of imprisonment from 1910 to 1960, in the dark land of ‘Kaala Pani’ or the ‘Black Waters’ in the Andamans. In July, 1910, Savarkar was to be transported to India from London and then towards Andamans. He was transported in the ship, S.S Morea. On 8th July, early in the morning at 6:15 a.m., Savarkar was led to the lavatory where he was lucky enough to plan his escape. The porthole of the ship was half open, and the lean physique of Savarkar could wriggle through the 12-inch diameter of the porthole and finally leap into the ocean, exceptionally executing a daring escape right under the nose of the British, to swim to the shores of Marseilles, which came in the jurisdiction of the French. He tried to get himself in the possession of the French authorities, but the French policemen present at the scene thought this weak man was a thief and was trying to escape being caught and arrested. They laughed and giggled at Savarkar’s condition as they happily handed him over to the exhausted British officials, who had followed suit. He was then brought back into the S.S. Morea, and now the supervision was double fold. Savarkar was then on Indian soil, kept in a small prison for a small amount of time and then finally transported for life to the Andamans, where the inhumane tortures have been described by himself, in his book ‘The Story of My Transportation for Life’.
When Savarkar was loaded on a steamer that would take him to the Andamans from Madras, he was put in the ground floor of that steamer. He narrates in his book on how he suffered from bronchitis in London, which left its traces which eventually made his breathing difficult in congested and narrow places. During his first week in his cell, Savarkar had to cleanse himslef by bathing. The first time he poured the water on himself, he felt a strange sensation which made him shut his eyes and his body felt like it was burning all over. He then figured out that from now on he had to do all his chores with the usage of sea water as the water of Andamans could only afford to be salty. Strict rules bound the prisoners and the political prisoners (category Savarkar was placed into). The political prisoners were divided and put into different places, and if their talks with any other excited the slightest of suspicions to the British, handcuffs were put on them, and they were subjected to all kinds of punishment which they had to endure completely.
Due to the badly cooked food, that contained the dirt of the soil, insects and pests, the sweat of the cooks who were themselves affected with many skin diseases, the ailment of diarrohea and disentry could not be controlled. When one was suffering with this problem and was also handcuffed and made to stand for days together, he could not attend the call of nature then and there, if he did, he would be punished with beatings equivalent to death.
It was finally on January 5th, 1924, after 14 horrendous years in jail, Savarkar was released from the Kaala Pani of the Andamans, but was still restricted with some rules. He was not supposed to get involved in any political movement, if found to be so, on the grounds of sedition he would be again imprisoned in the Andamans till his sentence ended, but the chains of imprisonment clinged around his withered life as he was kept under house arrest for the next 13 years in Ratnagiri. After his release he was under house-arrest and was to reside only inside the boundary and the jursidiction of Ratnagiri, and if found to be outside the said border, he would be seriously punished. His life would now go onboard to a whole new journey where he figures out that to keep this country alive, the establishment of a country housing nationalists is a must to drive away the exploitative English.
Thus, with 27 long years of imprisonment in one of the most inhumane hell-holes and a fraction of it under house arrest, Savarkar was finally released from house arrest in 1937. His ideology of ‘Hindutva’ took to the skies as many supported his idea of driving the British through violent means, as non-violence did nothing much except uniting Indians for a short amount of time. His achievements though brushed under the carpet, his legacy reverberates in the pages of history, waiting to be uncovered, and his story waited to be sung with all glory. He was accused in the case of the murder of Gandhi in 1948, but was proven innocent in 2018. Savarkar died by fasting to death in 1966, aged 83, as his undying spirit of resilience, patriotism and nationalism, still continue to inspire the young generations of India. His story hasn’t gotten the justice it ought to get, and the whole nation owes an appolagy for such an act. His saga has more to it, just not possible to accommodate everything in this article, but surely his unappreciated past and his vexed legacy are going to be finally noticed to its full extent in the years to come.
Featured Image Courtesy – My India My Glory
