Savarkar

As the intellectual fountainhead of the ideology of Hindutva, which is in political ascendancy in India today, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is undoubtedly one of the most contentious political thinkers and leaders of the twentieth century. Accounts of his eventful and stormy life have oscillated from eulogizing hagiographies to disparaging demonization. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between and has unfortunately never been brought to light. Savarkar and his ideology stood as one of the strongest and most virulent opponents of Gandhi, his pacifist philosophy and the Indian National Congress. An alleged atheist and a staunch rationalist who opposed orthodox Hindu beliefs, encouraged inter-caste marriage and dining, and dismissed cow worship as mere superstition, Savarkar was, arguably, the most vocal political voice for the Hindu community through the entire course of India's freedom struggle. From the heady days of revolution and generating international support for the cause of India's freedom as a law student in London, Savarkar found himself arrested, unfairly tried for sedition, transported and incarcerated at the Cellular Jail, in the Andamans, for over a decade, where he underwent unimaginable torture. From being an optimistic advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity in his treatise on the 1857 War of Independence, what was it that transformed him in the Cellular Jail to a proponent of 'Hindutva', which viewed Muslims with suspicion? Drawing from a vast range of original archival documents across India and abroad, this biography in two parts-the first focusing on the years leading up to his incarceration and eventual release from the Kalapani-puts Savarkar, his life and philosophy in a new perspective and looks at the man with all his achievements and failings.

The story is told. The curtain has been brought down on it. Two life-sentences have been run. And I have brought together my recollections of them within the cover of this book. They are narrated in brief and put together within the narrowest. When I came into this world, God sent me here possibly on a sort of life-sentence. It was the span of life allotted to me by time to stay in this ‘prison-house of life’. This story is but a chapter of that book of life, which is a longer story not yet ended. You can finish reading the book in a day, while I had to live it for 14 long years of transportation. And if the story is so tiresome, unendurable and disgusting to you, how much must have been the living of it for me! Every moment of those 14 years in that jail has been an agony of the soul and the body to me, and to my fellow convicts in that jail. It was not only fatiguing, unbearable and futile to us all, it was equally or more excruciating to them as to me. And it is only that you may know it and feel the fatigue, the disgust and the pain of it as we have felt it, that I have chosen to write it for you. —Excerpts from this book This is the story of Swatantrayaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar—a great revolutionary, politician, poet and seer who tried to free India from the British yoke! British policy was to torture and persecute the political prisoners/revolutionaries so that they would reveal the names of all their colleagues or go mad or commit suicide. My Transportation for Life is a firsthand story of the sufferings and humiliation of an inmate of the infamous Cellular Jail of Andamans, the legendary Kala Paani. The physical tortures inside the high walls were made all the more insufferable by the sickening attitude of the men who mattered—the native leaders back home. This is a running commentary on the prevalent political conditions in India and a treatise for students of revolution. It is a burning story of all Tapasvis who were transported to Andaman.

If India looks forward to its 75th year of Independence, it is also looking at 75 years of the country's partition. Perhaps the biggest human tragedy of the twentieth century, it was marked by unparalleled violence that was suppressed by interested parties for their own political and ideological reasons. In the analysis of the real factors that led to Partition lies the lesson to protect India's unity and integrity, as exemplified by the relentless but unsuccessful attempt by Veer Savarkar to prevent the birth of Pakistan. Arguably the greatest symbol of India's national integration, Savarkar's warnings on the threats to India's security have come true in the past seven decades. Veer Savarkar: The Man Who Could Have Prevented Partition uncovers Savarkar, the thinker and the father of India's national security who has shown the best possible pathway towards one nation that rises above religious, caste and regional feelings. It also proves the falsity of charges levelled against Savarkar from time to time and exposes the motives behind them. It reveals, for the first time, the manner in which the Narendra Modi-led government has implemented Savarkar's national security and diplomatic vision. This book presents a true account of the tragic story of India's partition and Savarkar's efforts to prevent it. Authors Uday Mahurkar and Chirayu Pandit present several new facets of Savarkar which are unknown to the country. They bring out how Savarkar presented the first-ever robust defence and diplomacy doctrine for independent India. It is based on deep research and offers rare lessons on fighting divisive forces for creating the ideal of united India.

Vinayak Damodar Sarvarkar popularly known as Veer Sarvarkar has a unique place in the annals of history. Controversy surrounds his name. Some consider him to be one of the greatest revolutionaries in the freedom struggle of India while others think of him to be a communalist. However; there is no doubt that he was a freedom fighter; who not only fought for his country but also evoked feelings of patriotism in fellow citizens through his writings. His biography is an eye-opener for it depicts the trials and tribulations of a person; who was sentenced to 50 years of hard imprisonment in the Cellular Jail of Andaman and Nicobar Islands; also called the ‘Kala Pani’. From his prison cell; he sent his poems to the mainland; memorized by the prisoners who were released. An inspiring biography of a true nationalist.

Great leaders of the past century dominated Indian political scene for a decade or two. But Savarkar's name shines brightly from 1900 to 1966. Ganghiji said, 'No independence without Hindu-Muslim unity.' But Pakistan was created. When the late Prime Minister Nehru chided the Hindu nationalists for advocating Hindu Raj, Savarkar said, 'The choice, therefore, is not between two sets of personalities but between two ideologies, not Indian Raj or Hindu Raj but Muslim Raj or Hindu Raj, Akhand Hindustan or Akhand Pakistan.' He knew Savarkar personally and wrote his biography in Marathi. The English version 'Veer Savarkar, Father of Hindu Nationalism' has been done now. Savarkar's biography enables the reader to understand the politics of the last century.

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