Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar(ⓘ), Marathi pronunciation: [ʋinaːjək saːʋəɾkəɾ]; 28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Indian politician, activist and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while confined at Ratnagiri in 1922.[2][3][4] He was a leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha.[5][6] The prefix "Veer" (meaning 'brave') has been applied to his name by his followers.[7]
"Savarkar" and "Veer Savarkar" redirect here. For the 2001 Indian film, see Veer Savarkar (film). For the biography, see Savarkar (book). For The 2024 film, see Swatantrya Veer Savarkar (film).
Veer
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
28 May 1883
26 February 1966 (aged 82)
British Indian (1883-1947)
Indian (1947-1966)
Veer Savarkar
Swatantryaveer
Politician, activist, writer
Ganesh Damodar Savarkar (brother)
Savarkar began his political activities as a high school student and continued to do so at Fergusson College in Pune.[8] He and his brother founded a secret society called Abhinav Bharat Society. When he went to the United Kingdom for his law studies, he involved himself with organizations such as India House and the Free India Society. He also published books advocating complete Indian independence by revolutionary means.[9] One of the books he published called The Indian War of Independence about the Indian Rebellion of 1857 was banned by the British colonial authorities.[10]
In 1910, Savarkar was arrested by the British government and was ordered to be extradited to India for his connections with India House. On the voyage back to India, Savarkar staged an attempt to escape from the steamship SS Morea and seek asylum in France while the ship was docked in the port of Marseilles. The French port officials however handed him back to the British government. On return to India, Savarkar was sentenced to life terms of imprisonment totaling fifty years and was moved to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He was released in 1924 by the British officials after he wrote a series of mercy petitions to the British.[11] He virtually stopped any criticism of the British regime after he was released from jail.[12]
After being released from his restriction to Ratnagiri district in 1937, Savarkar started traveling widely, becoming a forceful orator and writer, advocating Hindu political and social unity. In his Ahmedabad addressal, he supported Two-nation theory.[13] The Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar's leadership endorsed the idea of India as a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation).
In 1939, the ruling Indian National Congress resigned en masse over Britain declaring India a belligerent in World War II. The Hindu Mahasabha under Savarkar formed alliances with the Muslim League and other non-Congress parties to form government in many states. Subsequently, Congress under Gandhi's leadership launched the Quit India Movement; Savarkar boycotted the movement,[14] writing a letter titled "Stick to your Posts" and recruiting Indians for the British war effort.[15] In 1948, Savarkar was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi; he was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.
Savarkar
Arrest and Return of Savarkar (France v. Great Britain)
24 February 1911
Accused of crime, evading arrest
M. Beernaert, president, elected by panel
Louis Renault
Earl of Desart
G. Gram
Alexander de Savornin Lohman
Unanimous panel
Life and career
Early life
Savarkar was born on 28 May 1883 in the Marathi Hindu Chitpavan Brahmin family, to Damodar and Radhabai Savarkar in the village of Bhagur, near the city of Nashik, Maharashtra.[16][17] He had three other siblings namely Ganesh, Narayan, and a sister named Maina. Savarkar began his activism as a high school student.[8] When he was 12, he led fellow students in an attack on his village mosque following Hindu-Muslim riots, stating: "We vandalized the mosque to our heart's content."[18][19] In 1903, in Nashik, Savarkar and his older brother Ganesh Savarkar founded the Mitra Mela, an underground revolutionary organization, which became Abhinav Bharat Society in 1906.[20] Abhinav Bharat's main objectives were to overthrow British rule and reviving Hindu pride.[21]
Books
He wrote 38 books in English and Marathi,[150] consisting in many essays, two novels called Moplah Rebellion and the Transportation,[151] poetry and plays, the best-known of his books being his historical study The Indian war of independence, 1857 and his pamphlet Hindutva: Who Is a Hindu?.[152]