Vinayak Damodar Savarakar remains in news because of his controversial legacy for many reasons: On the one hand, the BJP and RSS portray him as ‘national hero and great freedom fighter as well as foundational ideologue of Hindutva as a cultural concept, on the other opponents accuse him of pleading before the British for his release from Cellular Jail of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and allege his implicit and indirect role in Gandhi’s assassination. Both sides advance arguments and facts in support of their position. This makes Savarakar’s legacy controversial. This Article tries to analyze the nature of Savarkar’s legacy and leaves the conclusion open to readers to make their own asessment.
Vinayak Domodar Savarkar continues to be the most controversial political ideologue of modern India for various reasons. His plea for a new form of nationalism based on idea of Hindutva; his alleged involvement in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi; his mercy petition sent to the British Government while in cellular Jail of Andaman and Nicobar Islands; his sense of history of Hindu Rashtra etc are often contested by scholars and political groups alike for years. But his patriotism as well as struggle for national liberation and political ingenuity is beyond rational criticism. Thus, reaction to Savarkar’s political activities and political ideas is highly polarized in Indian politics. In view of this, we need to make an objective assessment of Savarkar’s ideas and actions. Savarkar public life covers two distinct phases: First Phase from his birth to 1922 when he was shifted to Ratangiri jail from Cellular jail of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. In this phase, he comes as a political revolutionary committed to the cause of liberation of India by extremist political actions. The Second Phase of his pubic life beginning with 1922 till his death in 1966 is related to his missionary zeal to plead the cause of Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra. He was the President of Hindu Mahasabha during this period for a decade, which gave him a new platform to articulate his views on this core issue which became synonymous with Savarakar’s life. His implication and subsequent acquittal in 1949 in Gandhi assassination case tarnished his image as an acceptable patriot. In spite of Savarkar’s acquittal in this case the Justice Kapur Commission appointed to probe conspiracy angle of Gandhi’s assassination, concluded that it is hard to believe that Godse assassinated Gandhi without the knowledge of Savarkar. Diametrically opposite views of scholars on the political legacy of Savarkar during these two phases of his public life make him a controversial figure in India’s political history. Even his diehard supporters find it hard to reconcile these two opposite dimensions of his political legacy.
Savarkar as Revolutionary and Patriot
Savarkar was born in 1883 in Bhaghur, village in Nasik district of present-day Maharashtra in a Chipavan Brahmin family. Since his student days, Savarkar was a born revolutionary. His mission was to liberate India by revolutionary means and arms revolt. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother Ganesh Domodar Savarkar created revolutionary secret society called ‘Mitra Mela’ in 1899. It was one of the many secret societies working at that time in Bombay province. It believed in the overthrow of the British government through armed rebellion. Mitra Mela was renamed as ‘Abhinav Bharat’ in 1904 following the idea of ‘Young Italy’ formed by Giuseppe Mazzini, the Italian revolutionary who influenced Savarkar’s thought and activities in initial years. Savarkar went to London in 1906 to join law course with the assistance of Bipin Chandra Pal. In London he met another revolutionary Shyamji Krishna Verma in the India House, Which as epicenter of Indian revolutionaries in London. In England Savarkar joined the ‘Free India Society’ earlier formed by Bhikaji Kama. Initially, this society involved in academic discussion about India’s freedom, but soon it adopted revolutionary posture. Savarkar’s imagination was fired by the message of 1857 mutiny. Revolutionaries of India house including Savarkar celebrated 50the anniversary of this event. Finally, in 1909, Savarkar wrote his first book ‘The Indian War of Independence’ to celebrate the 1857 Rebellion. It was in this book that Savarkar termed 1857 Mutiny as the first war of India’s independence and praised India’s spirit of secularism as both Hindus and Muslims came together against the British during the Mutiny. The book was banned by the British government. With this event, Savarkar came in the limelight and became target of British government.
In 2010, Savarkar was arrested by the British alleged in case of murder of Nasik Collector, A. T. M. Jackson in December 1909. It was alleged that the Jackson was killed using a pistol, which was supplied by Savarkar. He was brought to India in a ship by the British government for trial and prosecution. But while the ship was at the French port Marseilles, Savarkar fled away to French territory but subsequently caught by the French Police and handed over to the British without the knowledge and permission of the higher French authorities. The British were not entitled to take back the possession of Savarkar without completing the extradition proceedings, which was not done. The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favour of the British due to the lapses on the part of the French police officials. This event is referred to as a famous case of extradition in international law.
Savarkar was tried and awarded 50 years of sentence (two sentences of 25 years running one after another) on two charges: abetment in the murder of Jackson and conspiracy against the British Emperor. He was transported to the Cellular jail of Andaman on 4 July, 2011 to serve his sentences. It is a known fact that the most condemned and fearful prisoners were sent to Cellular jail, which was also known for many tortures of prisoners by jail authorities under very harsh and inhuman conditions. It was here that Savarkar has change of heart and filed six mercy petitions in 1911, 1913, 1914, 1917, 1918, and 1920 to the British with the prayer that he should be shifted to any other jail in mainland India. In his second mercy petition submitted on 14 November, 1913, Savarkar pleaded, ‘I am ready to serve the government in any capacity they like.——– My conversion to Constitutional line would bring back all those misled young men in India and abroad who were once looking up to me as their guide’ (Bose and Pritam: 2022).These mercy petitions have brought Savarkar at the centre of controversy between his supporters and detractors. His detractors claim that Savarkar was no more a Veer (brave) as he pleaded mercy before the British government. Savarkar’s mercy petitions is compared Bhagat Singh’s similar opportunity, wherein latter remained defiant till the end of his life to the British rule in India (Noorani:2005). On the other hand, his supporters claim that these mercy petitions are the part of long-term strategy of Savarkar to get released and devote his remaining life to the cause of the nation. While the fact of mercy petition cannot be denied, yet their intent remains a bone of contention among his supporters and detractors.
Savarkar as a Champion of Hindutva
It seems that the British government accepted Savarkar’s mercy petition as he was shifted in May, 1921 from Andaman Jail to Ratangiri jail in Bombay province. Subsequently, he was freed from the jail on 6 January, 1924 by the British government with two conditions: he will not indulge in political activities; and he will not leave Ratangiri without the prior permission of district authorities. It was during his stay in Ratangiri jail that Savarkar developed his Hindu nationalist political ideology (Keer: 1966). During his stay in 1922, he came out with his new book, ‘Essentials of Hindutva’, which was renamed as ‘Hindutva: who is a Hindu in 1928 when its second edition was published. It is in this book that Savarkar elaborates and articulates his notion of Hindutva, which is a contested notion in present day India. Though Hindutva ideology is the major concern of Savarkar in his later part of life, it is not clear what caused turn around in his ideas from being secularist in early life to staunch supporter of Hindutva in later part of life. It is still debated as to what caused the taming of his revolutionary zeal against the British government and leaning towards Hindutva. The fact of Savarkar being atheist further complicates the matter. It is not clear whether it was the constraints imposed by the British or his inner conviction to cultural nationalism which cased this turn around in his ideological inclinations.
For Savarkar, Hindutva is an ethnic, cultural and political identity, which describes the quality of being a Hindu or Hinduness. According to Savarkar, Hindus are those persons who consider India to be the land in which their ancestors lived, as well as the land in which their religion originated: In other words, Hindus are those whose fatherland and holy land is India or Indian Territory (Elst: 2001). Savarkar and atheist and carefully avoided describing Hindutva as a religious concept. However, his elaboration of the criteria as who is Hindu is fraught with serous lapses which go against the modern notion of Indian secularism. For example, the fundamental problem is how to reconcile the requirement of two criteria of Fatherland and Holy land in case of those Indian religious communities whose religions were born outside India. The members of Muslim and Christian communities belong to this category. Even if Indian Christians and Indian Muslims consider India as their fatherland, they cannot deny the fact that India is not their holy land. In final analysis, only persons belonging to those religions which were originated in India are Hindus as they possess the quality of Hindutva. In this framework, the persons profession, Hindu, Sikh, Jain or Buddhist faith have the quality of Hindutva. Savarkar’s notion of Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra got traction during his association with Hindu Mahasabha from 1937 to 1943 as its President. During this period, Savarkar popularized the term Hindutva (Hinduness), earlier coined by Chandranath Basu to create a collective “Hindu” identity as an essence of Bharat or India (Misra: 1999). During this period, Savarkar emerged as a leading exponent of Hindu Mahasabha and its ideology (Encyclopedia Britannica: 2019) so much so that the evils of British government and its rule became secondary consideration for him. During the WWII, Savarkar not only opposed Quit India Movement, 1942, but also called for Hindus to support British war efforts actively.
Savarkar’s idea of Hindutva has invited heated political debate and political controversy in view of the interpretation of democratic and secular credentials of India by political groups active in Indian political process. Savarkar’s supporters describe ‘Hindutva’ as a cultural concept, denoting the unity and distinct cultural style of all persons living in India. Here the Hindutva is described as a geo-cultural concept. The most potent positive element in Hindutva idea is its proximity with the cultural unity of India, which is fractured by caste divide. Savarkar was highly critical of casteism in Indian Society as went against his grand narrative of Hindutva. In his essay titled ‘Seven Shackles of the Hindu Society’, Savarkar remarked, ‘One of the most important components of such injunctions of the past that we have blindly carried on and which deserves to be thrown in the dustbins of history is the rigid caste system’ (Smapath: 2018). It is because of this reason that Savarkar criticized Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism as a fruitless exercise. But, on the other hand, Savarkar’s detractors and opponents find Hindutva essentially as a religious concept, with serious communal connotations, which has potential to threaten the secular fabric of Indian Polity. Savarkar is gone but his contested legacy lives on. Savarkar’s celebrated biographer Vikram Sampath (2019) has divided his biography ‘Savarkar’ into two parts: First part titles as ‘Echoes from the Forgotten Past: 1883-1924; and Second part titled as ‘A Contested Legacy: 1924-1966’. Sampath, which otherwise supports Savarkar’s mercy petition as a shrewd strategy, terms his Hindutva as a contested legacy in India. A thin line of contradiction appears in Savarkar’s idea of Hindutva on the one hand and his zeal to reform India society of casteism and superstition. According to Soutik Biswas (2021), Savarkar was also a man of contradictions. On the one hand he was an outspoken political voice for the Hindus (Hindutva). On the other, he was a rationalist, who opposed Hindu superstition, the caste system, and worship of the cow – a sacred animal for the Hindus.
Savarkar’s Analysis of Indian History/ What are Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History?
Savarkar has his worldview of Indian history as per the requirement of his main idea of Hindutva. His historical sense may be understood by his last book, ‘Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History’ which was first published in Marathi in 1964, just two years before his death. According to Savarkar, though our Puranic texts are a magnificent treasure of our ancient literature , our knowledge , our glorious deeds and our grandeur and wealth, but they cannot be considered as part of history of India’s national life as he remarked, ‘Hence, I propose to set aside the consideration of the ‘Pauranic times’ in the present context. For the ‘Glorious Epochs’, that I am going to refer to, and dilate upon, belong not so much to the Pauranic times, as to the historic periods of our national life’. Accordingly, Savarkar traces India’s national history with the establishment of Maurya Empire in 3rd Century BC.
According to Savarkar, the six glorious epochs of Indian history are (Savarkar/Godbole:1971):
1. The reign of Chandragupta Maurya, ably assisted by Chanakya (and the Maurya dynasty in general up to Asoka, who has been excluded)
2. The reign of Pushyamitra Sunga
3. The reign of Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya
4. The reign of Yahodharma who fought against the Huns
5. The age of the magnificent Marathas who got rid India of Muslim domination
6. The freedom struggle against the British rule
The casual perusal of the above list of six glorious epochs of Indian history gives hint about Savarkar’s sense of Indian history. He is concerned with India’s valour and fight against foreign aggressors be it Greeks, Huns, Mughals or the British. As and when India has stood against the foreign aggression, it is termed as glorious era of national history. Like his idea of Hindutva, Savarkar treats Indian history as a history of India’s fight against foreign aggression. The secularists may not like the exclusion of Mughal era from his historical scheme Hindutva Watch: 2019). For Savarkar it was not a glorious period as India was subjugated by the foreign rulers. In nutshell, Savarkar has identified six glorious epochs on the basis of India’s cultural and political rejuvenation beginning with the Mauryan era. Like his idea of Hindutva, his sense of history is also attacked by his opponents on the basis of syncretic and secular cultural ethos of India. Yet, Savarkar continues to be celebrated as a champion of cultural nationalism in India.
Conclusion
No doubt, Savarkar contuse to be controversial and polarizing figure of India as far as hi legacy is concerned. Savarkar’s legacy can be broadly divided into two parts. The first part of his legacy is concerned with his public life as a political revolutionary, who devoted major part of his life to confront the British rule in a missionary zeal. His conviction and imprisonment for more than a decade is the testimony to his patriotism and revolutionary legacy. However, in the second part of his life, he passionately developed, articulated and advocated his ideology of Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra through the platform of Hindu Mahasabha and elsewhere. His implication in Gandhi assassination case marks yet another milestone in his life. Though he was acquitted in this case by the court due to lack of evidence against him, this even tarnished his image beyond repair. His legacy of Hindutva, Hindu Rashtra and cultural nationalism continues to evoke polarized reactions across India’s present political spectrum. He is praised by certain political groups for his Hindu nationalism, but at the same time he is criticized as a threat to India’s secular political fabric. In spite of his controversial and polarizing ideas, Savarkar’s ideas are likely to continue to occupy centre stage in the political discourse in India. Savrakar will always invite critics but he will also invite supporters as his ideas has deep moorings in Indian society and culture, which has resurfaced in new form many times in the national history India.
REFERENCES
Biswas, Soutik (2021) Savarkar and Gandhi: Why Indians are debating a Mercy Plea From 1911. BBC. Available At: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-58875066
Bose Shohini and Purnendu Pritam (2022) Story behind Savarkar’s ‘Mercy Petitions’ from Cellular jail: Claim Vs Facts. The Quint, 10 January, 2022. Available At: https://www.thequint.com/videos/story-behind-vd-savarkars-mercy-petitions-from-cellular-jail-claim-vs-fact#read-more
Elst (2001) Decolonizing the Hindu Mind: Ideological development of Hindu Revivalism. Rupa and Company, p.140.
Encyclopedia Britannica (2019) Vinayak Domodar Savarkar: Hindu and Indian Nationalist. Available At: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vinayak-Damodar-Savarkar
Hindutva Watch (2019) Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History: V. D Savarkar. Available At: https://hindutvawatch.org/six-glorious-epochs-of-indian-history-vd-sawarkar/
Keer, Dhanajaya (1966) Veer Savarkar. Bombay Popular Prakashan.
Misra, Amalendu (1999) Savarkar and the Discourse on Islam in Pre-Independent India. Journal of Asian History, Vol. 33 no.2, pp. 142-184. Available At: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41933141
Noorani, A. G (2005) Savarkar’s Mercy Petition. Frontline, 08 April, 2005. Available At: https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/savarkars-mercy-petition/article64919933.ece
Sampath, Vikram (2019) Savarkar (biography in two parts). Penguin, India Viking.
Sampath, Vikram (2018) Savarkar wanted to smash caste system, cooked Prawns, and did not worship the Cow. The Print, 10 December, 2018.
Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar (Marathi Edition: 1964 and English Edition, 1971) Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History. The English Edition was translated by S. T Godbole. Bal Savarkar Publishers, Bombay. Available At: https://savarkar.org/en/pdfs/6_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History.pdf
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