Veer
Savarkar- the thought
Abstract - Veer Savarkar's personality is an integral mixture
of three very different traits revolutionary, poet, and intellectual reformer.
It is generally held that Savarkar’s life was a tragedy because he was too far
ahead of his time. But during the last two three decades condition in the
country is changing rapidly. The paper discusses these three traits of veer
Savarkar and shows how this dynamic person is not just an individual but a
thought that can change and guide our society.
Keywords – Veer Savarkar,
revolutionary, poet, writer, reformer.
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Veer Savarkar- the thought
Mr. Barack Hussein Obama the first African-American
President of USA in his presidential address (2009) says -
‘We
are in the midst of a season of trails....Yet the story
of America is one of adversity, reconciliation in the face of discord, and we
know that there is purpose for everything under heaven. ....this legacy is not simply a birthright, it
is a glorious burden!’
A nation that has been in existence for just two
centuries considers its history as a glorious burden! And we, who are the inheritors of a
timeless civilization, feel history to be a burden. Friends, I strongly feel
that it is time to redefine and rewrite history. In redefining and rewriting
history from an Indian Perspective, we need to look at Savarkar's concept of
history and his writing of history, which includes facets of human life-
material, moral and spiritual, and not just dates.
Veer
Savarkar's personality is an integral mixture of three very different traits
revolutionary, poet, and intellectual reformer. It is generally held that Savarkar’s
life was a tragedy because he was too far ahead of his time. But during the last
two- three decades condition in the country is changing rapidly. Thoughts
of Savarkar, which were yesterday rejected because they were thought to be too
radical, are today finding growing acceptance. Savarkar's prophetic words, I shall prove a Prophet, are proving
true. The time has come for Savarkar The
Thought. It is a gentle breeze today but it will be a tornado tomorrow. The
paper focuses on Savarkar as a writer and the thoughts and philosophy that
originated from his various writings.
Swatantrya-Veer
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was born in 1883, which is 134 years ago. Today he is remembered
as one of the foremost revolutionaries of the Indian struggle for independence. He
had a multifaced personality. He was not only a fearless revolutionary but also
a great orator and a writer with an unparalleled literary gift for prose and poetry.
From his school days, Savarkar was a
voracious reader. He had a sharp penetrating intellect and an excellent memory.
His literary contribution includes newsletters, articles translation works,
historical and biographical novels, and poems. He went to Pune in 1902 and was a
student of Fergusson College. At this junction of his life, he was greatly
influenced by Tilak and Mr.S.M.Paranjape. In 1906 he was awarded a scholarship
and left for London. From London, he started sending newsletters to Marathi
papers at home. A published collection of these newsletters runs into 122
printed pages. He also wrote articles in Gaelic
America published by Irish patriots in New York. These articles were
translated in Germany, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Russian.
Savarkar was a revolutionary, an outstanding orator, and an enthused historian. Well, it would be right to say that, he was a maker
of history as well as a writer of it, who used history as a means of national
awakening. G.S.Sardesai, the famous historian of Baroda, once said to Savarkar himself, ‘We are after all just narrators of history, but you are a real maker of
history’. He was a historiographer who could use history for guiding the
nation. His writing of history is not just a collection of facts and dates, not
an intellectual dissection or distortion of the past events, but his approach
to history is positive and creative and Indian. The Indian educator, Madura, says –
‘We
have had the Muslim view; the European view; the Missionary view and yet no Hindu view. Mr.
Savarkar's dramatic presentation serves as a healthy antidote’.
Savarkar
wrote books like Joseph Mazini (Biography of an Italian
revolutionary), 1857 Che Swantantra Samar (The first
Independence struggle of India of 1857), Shikhancha Itihas (History
of the Sikhs), Mazi Janmathep (A narration of his jail term in
the Andamans), Sanyast Khadga (a play), Kaala Pani (Black
Water), Mala Kay Tyache (What is it to me), Hindutva: Who
is a Hindu? and Gomantak. Savarkar’s three plays include
Usshaap, Sanyastakhadga, and Uttarkriya.
They are notable for their dialogues and dramatic content. Savarkar also wrote three books on history.
They are The Indian War of Independence 1857, Hindu padpaadshaahi, and Six
Glorious Epochs. These books disclose his deep learning and insight into the history, desire for detail, and inspirational but well-researched content.
No doubt his first important book was 1854: The First Indian War of Independence.
This book proved to be a work that
inspired the whole nation. His pen was like a Sword. He penned his 1857,
sitting right in the lion's den i.e. in London. This book was a history bomb that aimed to blast the
enemy. In
this book, for the first time, we see an Indian approach to history. The events
of 1857, which were called Mutiny by
the English historians were given the name of freedom struggle by Savarkar. His
'1857', literary became a gospel of revolution. Finding it impossible to get
the original Marathi text printed anywhere in India or outside, because of the
ban by the British Government it was translated into English and was smuggled
out. Thanks to Savarkar the sense of Mutiny
was itself changed. The change of value is the first thing that comes to mind
when we think about Savarkar's approach to history. However, it is our tragedy
that it took us 50 years, to change the word Mutiny in our history textbooks. For the same reason, he wrote The History of the Sikhs. He wanted to
make the Sikh soldiers in the British Indian Army conscious of their duty towards
their motherland. His objective in writing history was to inspire his people.
In Andaman jail, he used to keep notes by scratching
with a nail on the walls of his cell. All this soul – enthralling poems runs
into some 13,500 lines. In one of his poems Saagara he writes –
‘I
miss the love of the mango tree, the flowers in my garden back home the
blossoming creepers and the blooming rose… I feel desolate…
Oh
Ocean, I am pining for her… Take me back to my motherland
Oh
Ocean, I am pining for her…’
In Jayostute
(Victory to you!) he writes -
‘Death
for your, oh motherland, is life and life without you is death’
At this time this is a literary truth. Savarkar lived
the poem.
No doubt his legacy in form of some of his poems will
always motivate generations to come. After his release from prison, Savarkar
wrote about his experience in jail in the book titled My Transportation for life,
the book no doubt is a classic deserving an honored place in world literature.
While he was serving his term of imprisonment in the
Ratnagiri Jail, he wrote Hindutwa a
book born out of his deep meditation and thinking of many long years of
observing the society. Here in this book, he has traced the glorious history of
the term Hindu right from Vedic
times. He convincingly and with solid proof, shows how the term Hindu was used both by the ancient
Hindus and contemporary foreigners to mean the Hindu Rashtra and not a Hindu
community as it is mistakenly or maliciously used today.
After his conditional release from prison at Shirpur -
Ratnagiri, he wrote his famous book Hindu
Pad-Padashshi. This book stands apart. Savarkar himself in the forwarding
to this book says that, the Maratha movement transcends the limits of
provinciality and that it deserves Pan-Hindu importance and treatment. Later
on, after Independence, he wrote his famous Bharateeya
Jtihasted Saha Soneri Pane in Marathi. The book has been translated into
Hindi (Lokhitt Parashan Uttar Pradesh), English (Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History), and other languages. This
book was written with the purpose of infusing pride in the Hindu psyche and dispersing
the defeatist psychology drilled into our minds by foreign historians.
In the first four chapters of Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History, Savarkar explores the myth
that Alexander was the world conqueror as he could not even cross the western
border of India. While in the fifth Glorious Epochs the diabolic nature of the
two-pronged religious-political aggression of the Muslims is explained at great
length along with its ultimate downfall and the persistence of the Hindu
warriors and the Hindu society in spite of the atrocities of the Muslim rulers.
While in the Sixth Glorious Epoch Christian domination under the British
leadership is shown to have met its end. Savarkar never spares
them. He blames them for their acts and for not understanding the events
happening around them in their proper perspective. He knew that the foreign
Historians were misguiding the nation and the politicians were also doing the
same.
Dr. R.C.Majumdar in his History and Culture of the
Indian People in his preface to the VI- volume The Delhi Sultanate(1960) says
–
‘The
real and the effective means of solving a problem is to know and understand
the facts that give rise to it, and not to ignore them by hiding the head,
ostrich-like into the sands of fiction.’
This insight Savarkar had. He could not close his eyes
to the way Hindu interests were sacrificed by our national leaders for
appeasing the minorities. Dr. Majumdar further says-
‘A
fear of wounding the susceptibilities of the sister community and historians,
and not only prevents them from speaking out the truth but also bring down
their wrath upon those who have the courage to do so’.
From the age of eighteen to eighty, Savarkar had been
writing on history. But he was neither a mere compiler of historical accounts
for the students nor was he interested in fixing dates and places and such
other details, as the research scholars in history generally are. He was
essentially a commentator of history, throwing new light or adding new insight
to particular happenings and characters of history. But yet he never
perverted nor did he tamper with the historical facts. He accepted the proven
historical facts as they were. He studied them carefully, understood their
antecedents and values, and developed a deep insight to it. He looked upon
history as a trustworthy friend and guide for future course of action.
Savarkar's views on How to read and write history- particularly by a Hindu Sanghatanist are
in Marathi. Here he advises the reader to take a broad sweep of historical
account right from the earliest times to the present day, to understand
carefully how the Aryans spread over the whole of India, assimilating different
cultures into a single all India Hindu culture. In his opinion, the writing or reading of
history should not become dry, unresponsive, valueless, and emotionless. The history he feels should be looked upon as a great panorama of life, which should thrill
us, chill us as the occasion demands. The ultimate aim of a historian, he
believes is to give value-based historical perspectives to a historical event,
a perspective that is befitting the majority and its sentiments and culture.
Consequently, in a nutshell, we can conclude that
Savarkar believed in a value-based Historical approach. Arun Shourie in his Eminent Historian (1998) tells the same.
We should not allow any more mischief with our history. The great philosopher
Arnold Toynbee says –
‘Today we are living in the transitional chapter of the world's history,
but it is already becoming clear that a Western beginning will have an Indian
ending if it is not to end in the
self-destruction of the human race’
I
would like to conclude with Savarkar's lines –
‘Those historians who deny this basic fact of history are fooling
themselves and are also fooling others. They have yet to learn the real history.’
112(1967, Organizer).
Accordingly, history written by political motive
should be rewritten, redefined, and rediscovered with a spiritual reality and
splendid ideas which coalesce into a common identity. Savarkar was a warrior, a
reformer, a philosopher and a writer, a multi-faced person. This
multidimensional person is not an individual, but thought, that will guide
the Hindu society for years to come.
References
-
Prakashan, Lucknow,1989.
2. Bharatia Itihas Kaa
Veekruticaran by R.P.Sharma,Hindu Writers Forwm,New
Delhi,2007
Veer Savarkar -A Profile of a
Prophet by J.D.Joglekar
Print ISSN 2349-5138
impact factor 3.215
volume 5, Issue 1, Jan-March, 2018.
