Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

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Lore & Background

Savarkar was born into a Marathi Hindu Chitpavan Brahmin family on 28 May 1883 in Bhagur, a village in the Nasik district of the Bombay Presidency of British India. 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 Nasik, Savarkar and his brother Ganesh founded the Mitra Mela, an underground revolutionary organisation, which became Abhinav Bharat Society in 1906. Savarkar was greatly influenced by the radical nationalist leader Lokmanya Tilak, who helped him obtain the Shivaji Scholarship in 1906 for his law studies in London. To protest against the Bengal partition of 1905, Savarkar led a foreign-clothes bonfire in India with other students in the presence of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. In London, Savarkar associated with India House and was involved in anticolonial political activities. He translated Giuseppe Mazzini's biography into Marathi and influenced fellow student Madanlal Dhingra, who assassinated Curzon Wyllie in 1909. It is alleged by Mark Juergensmeyer that Savarkar supplied the gun Dhingra used and the words for Dhingra's last statement. Savarkar met Mohandas Gandhi for the first time in London shortly after the assassination, and Gandhi debated Savarkar on the futility of terrorism. In 1910, Savarkar was arrested in London on charges including procurement and distribution of arms, waging war against the state, and delivering seditious speeches. At the time, he was carrying several revolutionary texts, including copies of his own banned books. Evidence showed he had smuggled 20 Browning handguns into India, one of which Anant Laxman Kanhere used to assassinate Nasik district collector A.M.T. Jackson in December 1909. A Bombay court tried him in the Nasik conspiracy case and sentenced him to life imprisonment, transporting him to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and forfeiting his property. Savarkar escaped from the ship SS Morea in Marseille, France, swimming to the French shore and asking for political asylum, but local French port officials handed him back to his police escort. The French government protested, and the dispute went to the Permanent Court of International Arbitration in 1910, which ruled in 1911 that the British did not have to return Savarkar to France, though noting an 'irregularity' in his arrest. On 30 August 1911, a month after arriving in the Cellular Jail, Savarkar submitted his first clemency petition, which was rejected. He submitted another on 14 November 1913, describing himself as a 'prodigal son' longing to return to the 'parental doors of the government' and stating, 'I am ready to serve the government in any capacity they like.' He was released in 1924 after writing a series of mercy petitions. According to historian A. Devare, Savarkar 'virtually ceased' his criticism of British rule after release. He remained restricted to Ratnagiri district and prohibited from political activity until 1937. After 1937, Savarkar travelled widely, becoming a prominent orator and writer advocating Hindu political and social unity. In his 1937 Ahmedabad presidential address, he described Hindus and Muslims as 'two nations in the main' in India, a position interpreted by scholars as an expression of the two-nation theory. The Hindu Mahasabha under his leadership endorsed the idea of India as a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu nation). In 1939, after the Indian National Congress resigned, the Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar formed alliances with the All-India Muslim League and other non-INC parties to form governments in many states. Savarkar boycotted the Quit India Movement, writing a letter titled 'Stick to your Posts' and recruiting Indians for the British war effort. In 1948, he was tried for alleged involvement in the conspiracy to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi but was acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence.

Reader's Guide

Savarkar's significance lies in his formulation of Hindutva, which became a foundational ideology for Hindu nationalism in India. His early revolutionary activities, including founding the Abhinav Bharat Society and his association with India House, marked him as a radical anticolonial figure. However, his later shift away from criticizing British rule after his release from the Cellular Jail, and his advocacy for Hindu political unity, including his articulation of the two-nation theory, made him a controversial figure. His support for the British war effort during World War II and his boycott of the Quit India Movement set him against the mainstream Indian National Congress. His legacy is complex: revered by Hindu nationalists as a patriot and ideologue, while criticized by others for his communal views and alleged involvement in Gandhi's assassination (for which he was acquitted). The Permanent Court of Arbitration case regarding his arrest in Marseille also highlights his international legal significance.

Did You Know?

• At age 12, Savarkar led fellow students in an attack on a village mosque following Hindu-Muslim riots, stating: 'We vandalised the mosque to our heart's content.'
• Savarkar was measured as a 5 ft 2.5 in (1.59 m) slender man during his trial on 10 February 1911.
• In his 1913 clemency petition, Savarkar described himself as a 'prodigal son' longing to return to the 'parental doors of the government' and offered to serve the British government in any capacity.
• Savarkar escaped from a ship in Marseille by jumping from the ship's window and swimming to the French shore, asking for political asylum, but was handed back to British police by local French port officials.
• The Permanent Court of International Arbitration ruled in 1911 that Britain did not have to return Savarkar to France, though noting an 'irregularity' in his arrest.