History of Armed revolution - List of Revolutionaries

[edit] Notable revolutionaries

• Amarendra Chatterjee
• Ambika Chakrabarti
• Ananta Singh
• Ashfaqulla Khan
• Atulkrishna Ghosh
• Aurobindo Ghosh
• Badal Gupta
• Bal Gangadhar Tilak
• Barindra Kumar Ghosh
• Batukeshwar Dutt
• Bagha Jatin
• Baikuntha Shukla
• Basawon Singh (Sinha)
• Benoy Basu
• Bhagat Singh
• Bhavabhushan Mitra
• Bhupendranath Datta
• Bhupendra Nath Sanyal
• Bhupendra Kumar Datta
• Bina Das
• Bipin Behari Ganguli
• Chandrasekhar Azad
• Dinesh Gupta
• Durga Bhabhi
• Ganesh Ghosh
• Guran Ditt Kumar
• Hem Chandra Das
• Hemchandra Qanungo
• Jatindra Nath Sanyal
• Jatindra Nath Das
• Kalyani Das
• Khudiram Bose
• Lokenath Bal
• Matangini Hazra
• Prafulla Chaki
• Pritilata Waddedar
• Pulin Behari Das
• Rajguru
• Rasbihari Bose
• Sachindra Nath Sanyal
• Sukhdev
• Surya Sen
• Taraknath Das
• Trailokya Nath Chakraborty
• Udham Singh
• Ullaskar Dutta
• Upendranath Banerjee
• Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
• Virendranath Chattopadhyay
• Yogendra Shukla
• Shyamji Krishna Varma

History of Armed revolution- Women particiption-Bimalaprativa

Bimalpratibha: Bimalpratibha Devi, wife of Dr.Charuchandra Banerjee, a physician, belonged to a very conservative and aristocratic Brahmin family in Calcutta.  She had to get over a lot of hurdles to come out in the streets to serve the country’s cause and actually left her husband and her in-laws’ family in the process.
Bimalpratibha joined the Non Cooperation movement before marriage under her father’s influence and later
acted as volunteer during the Calcutta Congress (1928). She also became close to Subhas Chandra Bose during this time. Defying her in-laws’ objections she actively joined politics and became the leading organiser of Nari Satyagraha Samiti in Calcutta during 1930. On June 22, 1930 the Samiti took out a historic procession in the Calcutta streets in defiance of Section 144 and took the police by surprise. Bimalpratibha was arrested and put behind bars for about six months. On October 2, 1931, she was arrested again in connection with a ‘dacoity’ at a farm at Canal West Road in East Calcutta. She accompanied five revolutionary activists in her family car and sped off with them after the dacoity.
But on the way they all got arrested and were later tried by a special tribunal. The deputy commissioner of police, Special Branch, dubbed Bimalpratibha as the “brain of the party.” She was however acquitted of the charge but rearrested and held as a ‘detenue’ for six years. According to one of her colleagues,
she confronted a lot of public criticism.

History of Armed Revolution -- Pritilata Waddeder

1. Pritilata Waddeder,

Pritilata Waddedar
Native name	প্রীতিলতা ওয়াদ্দেদার
Born	5 May 1911(1911-05-05) Chittagong, Bangladesh; erstwhile Bengal, British India
Died	23 September 1932(1932-09-23) (aged 21) Chittagong, Bangladesh; erstwhile Bengal, British India

Pritilata Waddedar  (5 May 1911 – 23 September 1932) was a Bengali anti-British revolutionary from what is now Bangladesh, who became a martyr for the liberation of her motherland.
Born in Chittagong on 5 May 1911, she was a meritorious student at the Dr. Khastagir Government Girls' School of Chittagong and passed the matriculation examination in the first division in 1928. She continued her education in Eden College, Dhaka and in 1929, she passed the Intermediate examinations securing the fifth place among all the candidates from Dhaka Board. Two years later, Pritilata graduated in Philosophy with distinction from Bethune College of Kolkata. In her college days, Pritilata used to visit Ramkrishna Biswas, a rebel who later was hanged. Pritilata received combat training from Nirmal Sen. He died on 10/11 June 1932.
In early 1930s, Pritilata joined Surya Sen's armed resistance movement. In 1932, Surya Sen planned an attack on the Pahartali European Club, which bore the notorious sign ‘Dogs and Indians not allowed’. He assigned Pritilata to lead a team of 10-12 men that would attack the Club on September 23, 1932. Members of the team were instructed to carry potassium cyanide with them so that in case they were caught by police they could swallow it before the arrest. Kalpana Datta, a fellow revolutionary of Pritilata said, "Surya Sen told us he does not support suiciding. But he took Potassium Cyanide from me before he went".^[1] The raid was successful but Pritilata, dressed as a man was trapped without a way of escape on that fateful night. She committed suicide by swallowing cyanide, thus ending her short endeavor in fighting for freedom of her country. Some say that Pritilata committed suicide voluntarily to convey the message that women can, and have to, sacrifice their lives for securing the freedom of India from British Colonial Rule

Shanti Ghosh (Das) devotes a whole chapter to her dilemmas concerning God which would disturb her in jail.

Though Barisal was called the "Venice of the East" and "Crop House of Bengal", the town's education sector was not strong, as it was geographically far from both Dhaka and Calcutta. Barisal Zilla School was established in 1854, but the school was not large enough to serve the rapidly growing numbers of students. To solve the problem, Mahatma Ashwini Kumar Dutta started a new school in 1884. As there was no facility of higher education, the district magistrate at that time, Ramesh Chandra Dutta, requested Mahatma Ashwini Kumar Dutta to establish a college. On June 14, 1889, Aswini Kumar Dutta founded Brojo Mohan College.
The first principal of the college was Babu Gyan Chandra Chowdhury. While Ashwini Kumar Dutta taught English and Logic, Kali Prasanna Ghosh taught History and Kamini Kumar BidyaRatna taught Sanskrit and Bengali. In 1898, BM College was transformed into a "First Grade College" from a "Second Grade College". In 1912, the college went to the Govt. management from personal management strategy. From 1889 to 1917 the regular activities of the college took place in BM School campus. The college was relocated to its own present complex in 1917.
From the very beginning the college was so dynamic and the results were very good. The teachers of that time were skilled, so Calcutta University started an Honors course in English and Philosophy in 1922, Sanskrit and Mathematics in 1925, Chemistry in 1928, and Economics in 1929. In 1928, Shirimoti Shanti Sudha Ghosh stood First class First in Honors in Mathematics from Calcutta University.
The time from 1922 to 1948 is called the "Golden Period" of the college. The governor of Bengal at that time, Sir Udbarn, once commented on BM College, "The college promises some day to challenge the supremacy of the metropolitan (Presidency) College."

The poet Jibanananda Das taught at BM College

History of Armed Revolution - Women's partiipation;

Women participation increased in the second phase of the movement in the late 1920s. Young girls mostly from well off families, now took part in 'actions ' and began to stir the nationwith their exploits. They participated in large scale in Non-Cooperation (1921) and Civil Disobedience movemnets.
 Wife of Benimadhab Das, Sarala Devi was daughter of Madhusudan Sen, who after serving as secretary of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj at Kolkata shifted his base to Dhaka on retirement. She was actively involved in social welfare activities. He used to assist in the functioning of Sarala Punyashram an organisation she had set up for the assistance of destitute and helpless women.
Kalyani Das (Bhattacharya) and Bina Das (Bhaumik) were their daughters. Kalyani Das (1907-1983) was a leading social activist and revolutionary worker. She was one of the organisers of Chhatri Sangha and was secretary of Students’ Association. Apart from her political activities for which she went to jail, she was associated with Sarala Punyashram all her life.^] Bina Das (1911-1986) shot into prominence when she fired her pistol at the governor of Bengal, Stanley Jackson, in 1932, at the annual convocation meeting of Calcutta University. The attempt failed but she was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment.
Girls in Action :
Until the beginning of the 1930s women did not take part in any revolutionary actions.Young girls was not satisfied with their studies only. They began to establish contact with secret groups.

Imagine Kalpana is a documentary on the eminent freedom fighter Kalpana Dutta. The film traces her life and her achievements in the decade of the thirties, when Kalpana Dutta was a part of a revolutionary brigade based in Chittagong (now in Bangladesh) that defied and led an armed struggle against the British government between 1930 and 1934.
In May 1931, however, Santi Ghosh and Suniti Choudhry, two Coomilla girls , flatly asked Subhas Chandra when he came to address a students' conference whether he would like girls in action. Subhas Chandra answered in the affirmative.

History of armed Revolution;Women Participation (Nanibala- Dukaribala)

Reverence and Distance

The first phase of the Bengal revolutionary movement (1902-15) was generally marked by an absence of

women’s participation even though the ideological foundation of the movement was embodied in the image of a mother goddess, as found in the celebrated

Bande Mataram composed in 1881 by novelist Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. Later, Aurobindo also contributed to this concept. His Bhawani Mandir

pamphlet (1905) enjoined: “We cannot get strength unless we adore the mother of strength.” And Bhawani for him was “the embodiment of Infinite Energy.”4 Reverence for women permeated the entire ideology of the movement. But alongside it, male celibacy (brahmacharyaism) was also prescribed as the ideal of a revolutionary’s life. The leaders would

discourage young cadres from mixing with women. Aurobindo expelled Jatin Banerjee, his follower and one of the chief organisers of the movement, from the party on the charge of having a relation with a woman.5 According to Trailokyanath Chakravarty, a leader of the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti, there were

some attempts to recruit young girls at the initial stage but later the plan was dropped.

Nanibala - Dukaribala

Nanibala Devi, widowed in her early life, dared to communicate information to a political prisoner by meeting him in jail posing as his wife in 1915. She later sheltered some young activists connected with the celebrated German Plot mooted by Jyotindranath Mukherjee (Bagha Jyotin), the

legendary martyr in the Balasore battle (September 1915). Nanibala was finally

arrested and in jail she had to suffer inhuman physical torture (powdered third co-wife all along.

Another housewife who also suffered imprisonment during 1917 was Sindhubala Devi. She was arrested

following a police raid on her house in search of her husband. In some cases women discarded by

society as ‘fallen’ also helped the activists in one way or another. In 1907,

when the police mercilessly attacked a group of Swadeshi volunteers in a north Calcutta street, prostitutes retaliated by throwing stones at the police from rooftops.9 Kshudiram Basu, one of the first Bengal martyrs, being deserted by his family received shelter in one such woman’s house.10 Numerous other incidents of this sort remain undocumented.

History of armed Revolution-Women Revolutionaries - Sarala Devi

Sarala Devi

Often introduced as Rabindranath’s niece, Sarala deserves attention in herown right. Her mother, Swarnakumari

Devi, was the first woman delegate to a Congress session (1899). Swarnakumarialso edited the Bengali monthly,

Bharati; Sarala also was its editor for awhile.In 1902, the year which saw the birthof Anushilan Samiti, Bengal’s earliest

revolutionary group, Sarala set up agymnasium at 26 Ballyganj CircularRoad in South Calcutta. The movement

was preceded by the formation ofgymnasiums and other centres of

physical training (lathi and dagger play) at several places. These centreslater developed into secret revolutionary groups.

Sarala’s centre must have attractedwide attention because Jatin Banerjee, Aurobindo’s emissary from Baroda, met

her on his arrival in Calcutta. Aurobindo,then settled in Baroda, had sent Banerjee with the object of forming asecret group in Bengal.

In 1902 Sarala Devi also introduced Birastami, a ritualistic initiation ceremony with religious overtones, and

started Pratapaditya Utsav in 1903 onthe lines of Shivaji Utsav introduced

by B. G. Tilak in Maharastra. She also played an instrumental role in the formation of Suhrid Samiti in 1900. This was a new revolutionary organisation based at Mymensingh (now in Bangladesh).

Sarala, however, differed with Jatin Banerjee and other organisers over the question of dacoity as a fundraising means and kept away from Anushilan Samiti.1 This is probably the reason why

intelligence reports on secret societies during this period make little mention of her role. One list of clubs and samitis connected with the Swadeshi movement (1905-11) includes Sarala Devi’s “Fencing Club”, obviously a reference to her Ballyganj gymnasium. Sarala’s association with the movement actually ended with her marriage in 1905 to Rambhaj Dutta, a Punjabi Arya Samajist. After marriage Sarala left

Bengal; however, she continued with her social activities and set up Bharat Stri Maha Mandal around 1910-11 to spread education among women. One reason for Sarala’s interest in revolutionary politics is revealed in a quote from her memoir Jivaner Jharapata. What pained her most was the “cowardice- the blot on Bengal’s forehead”. Hers was an attempt to “wipe it off” (p. 136). Sarala during this time

wrote a hard-hitting article Bilati Ghusi Banam Deshi Kil (Foreign Blows vs Native Fists, Bharati/ Asar 13lOb, June- July 1903). In the article she gave an account of various cases of Indians’

History of Armed Revolution --Nivedita and Aurobindo (contd-12)

Sister Nivedita's Story
Swami Vivekananda expired in 1902. Vagini Nivedita, on that year, happened to meet Aurobindo in Baroda. Nivedita helped the Freedom struggle of India in different forms. She also actively participated  in the secret organisation of Aurobindo.

How a fiery Irish school teacher, inspired by Swami Vivekananda, helped liberate India.

"When a great man has prepared his workers, he must go to another place, for he cannot make them free in his own presence. I am nothing more for you. I have handed over to you the power that I possessed; now I am only a wandering monk."

With these stirring words, the mighty colossus, Swami Vivekananda, sent his great disciple, Sister Nivedita, into the battlefield of India's freedom struggle. She was to seek not only political freedom, but freedom of the spirit as well.
Born on October 28, 1867, at Dungannon in Ireland, Miss Margaret Noble, as she was known in her youth, belonged to a family of Irish freedom fighters. A school teacher by profession, she came under the spell of Swami Vivekananda following his epoch making appearance at the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions at Chicago.
Five years later, she traveled with him to India. There she was initiated on March 25, 1898, and given the name Nivedita, "the dedicated." While touring India with Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita, as she was known, saw with her own eyes the appalling conditions of ignorance, poverty and disease into which India was pushed by the alien rule. Her Irish blood boiled. As her first and foremost task in awakening the Hindu nation, she took up the cause of women's education and, with the blessings of Mother Sarada Devi, opened her school for girls in Calcutta in 1898.
In 1899, Nivedita accompanied Vivekananda to England and America to raise funds for her school. When she returned to England, she found the agents of British imperialism engaged in a vile propaganda campaign against Swami and her. On her return to India in 1902, she addressed a meeting of youth in Madras and gave her rousing call to them to fight for freedom. The British government immediately blacklisted her. Though she plunged into nationalist activities with the blessings of Vivekananda, her action created anxiety in the Ramakrishna Mission circle.
Immediately after the passing of Swami Vivekananda in 1902, she was asked to leave the mission. Soon she undertook a tour of the country to give shape to her plans. Nivedita met Sri Aurobindo at Baroda and persuaded him to come to Calcutta and take up the leadership of the nationalist and revolutionary forces in Bengal. Her school became a haven for patriots, revolutionaries, scientists, artists and journalists inspired by her thoughts and actions. "If the dry bones are beginning to stir, it is because Sister Nivedita breathed the breath of life into them," said Dr. Rash Bihari Ghosh, about her influence on the young patriots in India's freedom struggle. Her powerful pen stirred the hearts of Indian youth through her stories and editorials in patriotic journals.
When Sri Aurobindo fell to the wrath of the British, it was Sister Nivedita who persuaded him to go into safe exile in Pondicherry, a French territory.
Nivedita was not merely a patriot and revolutionary, but also a visionary and saint. She wrote on "Aggressive Hinduism," but not as that of a bully over a weakling. She spoke of the aggression and victory of character and spiritual power over human frailties and mundane interests, making the world a better place to live in. Her Cradle Tales of Hinduism is a gentle, nonviolent rendering of Hinduism's classic stories. In her vision, she saw Mother India guiding the destiny of a world to be full of peace and harmony.
The enormous strain of her work affected her health. She suffered an attack of blood dysentery in October, 1911. Sensing her end, she wrote her will and left her possessions to the Ramakrishna Mission to be used for her school.
On October 13, at about 7:00 am, Nivedita chanted the Upanishads, "Lead us from the unreal to the Real. Lead us from darkness to Light. Lead us from death to Immortality," and breathed her last.
Today, in distant Darjeeling, there stands a memorial inscribed with these
words: "Here repose the ashes of Sister Nivedita, who gave her all to India."
Sister Nivedita , Indian Freedom Fighter
Sister Nivedita was an Anglo-Irish social worker, writer, teacher and disciple of Swami Vivekananda. It was he who gave her the name Nivedita that means `one who is dedicated to God`. She was not satisfied in the faith she was born and brought up but was influenced by the culture of India. So she found that her mission in life was to serve India through the emancipation of women through education. She worked to improve the lives of women of all castes. Her position as a westerner with Hindu credentials enabled her to say and do many things for Indians.
Margaret Noble was the childhood name of Sister Nivedita. She was known by that name before she was taken into the Ramakrishna order. She was born in Dungannon in Co-Tyrone on 28 October 1867. Her father, John Noble was a distinguished preacher and the minister of the Weslyan Church. She was her father`s favorite child and accompanied him when he visited the poor. Both her parents were associated with the Irish Home Rule Movement and were active participants. After her father`s death, she and her sister were sent to Halifax College for their education. She was deeply interested in music and natural sciences. She took up to teaching at the age of seventeen. She was deeply influenced by the new ideas of education of Pestalozzi and Froebel.
Nivedita was a multi faceted woman. She was interested in arts, literature and in humanity. Her important literary works are The Master as I saw him, Travel Tales, Cradle Tales of Hindus-tan and many other writings. She was a prolific writer and kept a diary. She was a regular contributor to Modern Review and other journals. She promoted pan-Indian nationalist views both in her writings and in public meetings. She worked selflessly and with dedication and her name can never be forgotten by Indians. As a youngster she was full of doubts and uncertainties about certain fundamental ideas in her religion. Though an Irish born, she loved India. It was then that she heard of Swami Vivekananda`s arrival in London. It was at Lady Margesson`s home that she met him for the first time. She was invited to attend a talk by the Swami and was spellbound by his personality. She admired his eloquent speech and deep knowledge in Vedas. His mission to redeem his people from poverty and misery attracted her. She desired to join in Swami`s mission.
At first Vivekananda was doubtful whether she could face the problems she has to encounter once she comes to India in the midst of the superstitious mass of half naked men and women who hated the whites. He wrote to her all the difficulties she has to face once she comes to India. Knowing all these difficulties she was ready to come to India. She came in 1896 with the mission to enlighten the people of India and persuade them to understand India and how they are exploited by foreign domination and tyranny.

Her first days in Calcutta were spent in sight-seeing and meeting English friends and making acquaintance of Sir Jagadish `and Lady Bose and Sir Jagadish`s sister Lavan-yaprabha Bose, Aurobindo Ghosh, Sarala Ghosal and the Tagores. Bose`s method of encouraging girls` education in both rural and urban Calcutta appealed to her very much. Nivedita, also had to encounter finan-cial difficulty. Her friend, Mrs. Bull helped her from time to time, solved this difficulty. She was dauntless in her service of the sick during the plague and cholera epidemics in Calcutta. Her vast circle of friends, English and Indian, included journalists like Nevinson, Ramananda Chatterjee, Radcliffe; artists like Nandalal Bose, Abanindaranath Tagore; poets` like R.abindranath Tagore; archaelogists like Havell; scholars like Ananda Coomaraswamy and many other names well known in our history. They sought her advice on various subjects and found her an intelligent, widely read person whose advice always stimulated their enthusiasm and inspired them.

She was hopeful that India and England would work together jointly and achieve harmonious development. She was thoroughly disheartened seeing the conditions under which people lived and the wrongs done to them by the British rulers. It was at the stage when her sympathies were being gradually identified with the political aspirations of the people of India, she felt, that she should leave the Rama Krishna order formally and continue only as of the Rama Krishna (not the order). Her friends in the order allowed it and so she continued without being a formal member. She was unhappy at the treatment meted out to Jagdish Chandra Bose and his scientific discoveries. There was an anti-Bose atmosphere in England among the scientists. Nivedita deplored this tendency.

The Bose`s were her great friends. She travelled with them in England, India and the Continent. In fact she died when she was spending her holidays with them in Darjeeling. She left her mortal remains on 7 October 1957 to be cremated according to Hindu rites. Sister Nivedita`s contribution towards India is unforgettable and she will eternally live in the heart of all Indians.

History of Armed Revolution -- Bal Gangadhar Tilak (contd-11)

Extract from an article written Sabysachi Bhattacharya

I will begin with the story of Tilak’s contact with Vivekananda. Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1857-1920) was senior to Vivekananda by

half a dozen years and at their first encounter in Bombay in 1892, Tilak was quite unaware of the momentous importance of that meeting. As you probably know, Vivekananda, in pursuit of his plan to travel all over India up to Cape Comorin as a mendicant, passed through many parts of Maharashtra. In April to September 1892 he visited Bombay, Mahabaleswar, Pune, Kolhapur, Belgaum, and Indore. Some of the letters Vivekananda wrote in 1892 provide a sketchy idea of his itinerary. These letters have been collected in The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda,
vol. VIII.1 This was at a time when he was not yet famous. Fame came to him next year when he went to the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. In 1892 he was a little known sannyasi, hosted by various local landlords and this picture comes out clearly in the reminiscences Tilak recorded in January 1934 in Vedanta Kesari. About the year 1892, i.e., before the famous
Parliament of Religions in the World’s Fair at Chicago, I was once returning from Bombay to Poona. At the Victoria Terminus a Sannyasin entered the carriage I was in. A few Gujarati gentlemen were there to see him off. They made the formal introduction and asked the Sannyasin to reside at my
house during his stay at Poona. We reached Poona, and the Sannyasin remained with me for eight or ten days. When asked about his name he only said he was a Sannyasin. Vivekananda seemed to be keen at that time to be anonymous. Incidentally, at this time Vivekananda sometimes used another
name, Sacchidananda. There is at least one document signed by him under that name SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S IMPACT ON B. G. TILAK AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT
2010 Bulletin of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture 365 same Sannyasin and expressed his regret at not being able to visit Poona then. This lost letter from Vivekananda to Tilak must have been written between 1896 and 1899, the period between his two visits to USA. Tilak says that police search in his home led to the destruction of this letter from Vivekananda. The last contact between Tilak and Vivekananda took place in 1901. ‘During one of the Congress sessions at Calcutta’, Tilak recalls, ‘I had gone with some friends to see the Belur Math of the Ram[a]krishna Mission. There Swami Vivekananda received us very cordially. In the course of the conversation Swamiji happened to remark somewhat in a jocular spirit that it would be better if I renounced the world and took up his work in Bengal while he would go and continue the same in Maharashtra. “One does not carry,” he said, “the same influence in one’s own province as in a distant one.Tilak’s meeting with Vivekananda
Tilak says this meeting with Vivekananda took place during a Congress session in Calcutta without mentioning a date. Now, there were two such sessions in Calcutta, one in 1896 and the other is 1901.
My guess is that Tilak met Vivekananda during the 1901 Calcutta session of the Congress because I infer from dates of his letter that during the earlier session of 1896 Vivekananda was out of Calcutta.
To sum it up, from the time when Vivekananda was an unknown itinerant sannyasin in 1892, till 1901, the year before his death, Tilak had fleeting contacts with him. The relationship between these two

thinkers was more in the domain of ideas than its terms of personal contacts and conversation. No letter between them has survived. Tilak’s name does appear in Vivekananda’s correspondence occasionally,

History of Armed Revolution --Bal Gangadhar Tilak (contd-10)

Lokmanya Tilak –, was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer and independence fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called the great leader "Father of the Indian unrest". He was also conferred with the honorary title of Lokmanya, which literally means "Accepted by the people (as their leader)". Tilak was one of the first and strongest advocates of "Swaraj" (self-rule) in Indian consciousness. His famous quote, "swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!" is well-remembered in India even today

The Hon. Bal Gangathur Tilak, the editor of the Poona native journal, the Kesari, is one of the native journalists who have been prosecuted by the Indian Government, for 18 months rigorous imprisonment in 1897 for publishing seditious articles in the Press. When Mr. Tilak was brought up at the police court, the utmost interest was taken in the case by all sections of the population, but especially by the Hindoos.

"Mr. Tilak and his printer, Keshar Mahdeo Bal, were, after a long hearing, committed for trial. Application was made in the High Court for release on bail. The case was heard by the Hon. Budrudin Tybyee, a Mahomedan, who granted the application. The decision was received by the crowd outside the court with loud cheers, and then Mr. Tilak, as he drove away, met with an enthsiastic welcome. Rabindranath Tagore participated in the collection of fund for this trial. Modern History Sourcebook: Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920): Address to the Indian National Congress, 1907 The Indian National Congress was created by a group of English-speaking urban intellectuals in 1885. The original "moderate" leadership was soon more "militant" group, led by Bal GangadharTilak (1856-1920), which demanded "Swaraj [self-rule] for India. What follows is an excerpt from Tilak's address to Indian National Congress in 1907 calling for boycott of British goods and resistance to British rule. Two new words have recently come into existence with regard to our politics, and they are Moderates and Extremists. These words have a specific relation to time, and they, therefore, will change with time. The Extremists of today will be Moderates tomorrow, Just as the Moderates of today were Extremists yesterday. When the National Congress was first started and Mr. Dadabhai's views, which now go for Moderates, were given to the public, he was styled an Extremist, so that you will see that the term Extremist is an expression of progress. We are Extremists today and our sons will call themselves Extremists and us Moderates. Every new party begins as Extremists and ends as Moderates. The sphere of practical politics is not unlimited. We cannot say what will or will not happen 1,000 years hence - perhaps during that long period, the whole of the white race will be swept away in another glacial period. We must, therefore, study the present and work out a program to meet the present condition. It is impossible to go into details within the time at my disposal. One thing is granted, namely, that this government does not suit us. As has been said by an eminent statesman - the government of one country by another can never be a successful, and therefore, a permanent government. There is no difference of opinion about this fundamental proposition between the old and new schools. One fact is that this alien government has ruined the country. In the beginning, all of us were taken by surprise. We were almost dazed. We thought that everything that the rulers did was for our good and that this English government has descended from the clouds to save us from the invasions of Tamerlane and Chingis Khan, and, as they say, not only from foreign invasions but from internecine warfare, or the internal or external invasions, as they call it. . . . We are not armed, and there is no necessity for arms either. We have a stronger weapon, a political weapon, in boycott. We have perceived one fact, that the whole of this administration, which is carried on by a handful of Englishmen, is carried on with our assistance. We are all in subordinate service. This whole government is carried on with our assistance and they try to keep us in ignorance of our power of cooperation between ourselves by which that which is in our own hands at present can be claimed by us and administered by us. The point is to have the entire control in our hands. I want to have the key of my house, and not merely one stranger turned out of it. Self-government is our goal; we want a control over our administrative machinery. We don't want to become clerks and remain [clerks]. At present, we are clerks and willing instruments of our own oppression in the hands of' an alien government, and that government is ruling over us not by its innate strength but by keeping us in ignorance and blindness to the perception of this fact. Professor Seeley shares this view. Every Englishman knows that they are a mere handful in this country and it is the business of every one of them to befool you in believing that you are weak and they are strong. This is politics. We have been deceived by such policy so long. What the new party wants you to do is to realize the fact that your future rests entirely in your own hands. If you mean to be free, you can be free; if you do not mean to be free, you will fall and be for ever fallen. So many of you need not like arms; but if you have not the power of active resistance, have you not the power of self-denial and self-abstinence in such a way as not to assist this foreign government to rule over you? This is boycott and this is what is meant when we say, boycott is a political weapon. We shall not give them assistance to collect revenue and keep peace. We shall not assist them in fighting beyond the frontiers or outside India with Indian blood and money. We shall not assist them in carrying on the administration of justice. We shall have our own courts, and when time comes we shall not pay taxes. Can you do that by your united efforts? If you can, you are free from tomorrow. Some gentlemen who spoke this evening referred to half bread as against the whole bread. I say I want the whole bread and that immediately. But if I can not get the whole, don't think that I have no patience. I will take the half they give me and then try for the remainder. This is the line of thought and action in which you must train yourself. We have not raised this cry from a mere impulse. It Is a reasoned impulse. Try to understand that reason and try to strengthen that impulse by your logical convictions. I do not ask you to blindly follow us. Think over the whole problem for yourselves. If you accept our advice, we feel sure we can achieve our salvation thereby. This is the advice of the new party. Perhaps we have not obtained a full recognition of our principles. Old prejudices die very hard. Neither of us wanted to wreck the Congress, so we compromised, and were satisfied that our principles were recognized, and only to a certain extent. That does not mean that we have accepted the whole situation. We may have a step in advance next year, so that within a few years our principles will be recognized, and recognized to such an extent that the generations who come after us may consider us Moderates. This is the way in which a nation progresses, and this is the lesson you have to learn from the struggle now going on. This is a lesson of progress, a lesson of helping yourself as much as possible, and if you really perceive the force of it, if you are convinced by these arguments, then and then only is it possible for you to effect your salvation from the alien rule under which you labor at this moment.

History of Armed Revolution--Lotus and dagger - Aurobindo Ghose (contd-9)

 Aurobindo formed the secret society —"Lotus and Dagger" — while in England.

This is not correct. The Indian students in London did once meet to form a secret society called romantically the "Lotus and Dagger" in which each member vowed to work for the liberation of India generally and to take some special work in furtherance of that end. Aurobindo did not form the society, but he became a member along with his brothers. But the society was still-born. This happened immediately before the return to India and when he had finally left Cambridge. Indian politics at that time was timid and moderate and this was the first attempt of the kind by Indian students in England. In India itself Aurobindo's maternal grandfather Raj Narayan Bose formed once a secret society — of which Tagore, then a very young man, became a member, and also set up an institution for national and revolutionary propaganda, but this finally came to nothing. Later on there was a revolutionary spirit in Maharashtra and a secret society was started in Western India with a Rajput noble as the head and this had a Council of Five in Bombay with several prominent Maharatta politicians as its members. This society was contacted and joined by Aurobindo somewhere in 1902-3.

Aurobondo wrote an essay, titled New Lamps for Old, published in 'Induprakash' an weekly magazine of Bombay, analysing in detail the activity of the then Congress asked it to open for the people and working class of India.He wrote another article in 1894, titled "Bankim Chndra Chattopadhyay analysing the thoughts of Bankim Chandra for the youths and intellectuals of Bengal.

He inducted jatindranath Bandyopadhyay to form Anushilan samity in which Pramatha Nath Mitra was the President, Aurobindo Ghose and Chittaranja das as vice-president, and  Surendra Nath Thakur as general secretary.

At the end of nineteen century, the cooperation between the revolutionary of Bengal and that of Maharashtra was increased. In 1897, Tilak was arrested for expressing some opinion against British  Administration.

When Aurobondo took the leadership of Anushilan Samity, he conducted the activities of the organisation both openly and secretly. Rabindranath Thakur had close contact with this open section of the organisation and he participated in several meetings of Anushilan Samity.

History of armed revolution against British Rule (contd-8)

Anushilan Samiti (Bengali: অনুশীলন সমিতি "Self-Culture Association", meaning to follow the teachings of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee) was an armed anti-British organisation in Bengal and the principal secret revolutionary organisation operating in the region in the opening years of the 21st century. This association, like its offshoot the Jugantar, operated under the guise of suburban fitness club. The members were committed towards the path of armed revolution for independence of India from British rule. Kolkata and, later, Dhaka were the two major strongholds of the association. However, the group succeeded in penetrating rural Bengal and

Political activities began taking an organised form in Bengal at the beginning of the 20th century. By 1902, Calcutta had three societies working under the umbrella of Anushilan Samity, a society earlier founded by a Calcutta barrister by the name of Pramatha Mitra. These included Mitra's own group, another led by a Bengalee lady by the name of Sarala Devi, and a third one led by Aurobindo Ghosh- one of the strongest proponents of militant nationalism of the time. The Anushilan Samiti had Sri Aurobindo and Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das as the vice-presidents, Suren Tagore the treasurer. Jatindra Nath Banerjee (Niralamba Swami), Jatindra Nath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin), Bhupendra Nath Datta (Swami Vivekananda's brother), Barindra Ghosh younger brother of Aurobindo Ghose, were among other initial leaders. By 1906, the works of Aurobindo and his brother Barindra Ghosh allowed Anushilan Samity to spread through Bengal. The controversial 1905 partition of Bengal had a widespread political impact: it stimulated radical nationalist sentiments in the Bhadralok community in Bengal, and helped Anushilan acquire a support base amongst of educated, politically conscious and disaffected young in local youth societies of Bengal. The Dhaka branch of the Anushilan Samiti was formed by Pulin Behari Das, who was once a teacher in the Dhaka Government College and, later, a founding headmaster of 'National School' (Dhaka), along with his followers, in 1906. He, like Barindra Ghosh, believed in a highly centralised one-leader organisation. Under their leadership, respectively in Dhaka and elsewhere, in a spirit of a boastful showdown, Anushilan Samiti slowly adopted untimely terrorism programmes during the first decade of 20th century, with 1905 Partition of Bengal acting as a major catalyst. The Dhaka branch of Anushilan was led by Pulin Behari Das and spread branches through East Bengal and Assam.^[9] Aurobindo and Bipin Chandra Pal, a Bengali politician, began in 1907 the radical Bengali nationalist publication of Jugantar (Lit:Change), and its English counterpart Bande Mataram. Among the early recruits who emerged noted leaders where Rash Behari Bose, Jatindranath Mukherjee, and Jadugopal Mukherjeehad branches all over Bengal and also other parts of India.
Satish Chandra  Basu was a student of General Assembly Institution ( At present Scottish Church College). Gourhari Mukherjee established an Excercise Club for the students. Satish Chandra was one of the members of the club. He selected a place for excercise in the college compound.  As a result he secured strong hold amongst the students. That was in the year 1901. Which was ultimately converted to Anushilan Samity. The word " Anushilan" had been coined from the novel of Bankim Chandra.
In 1902, 24th March Anushilan Samity was formally inaugurated in Calcutta at a meeting presided over by Pramatha Nath Mitra. He became the first president of the organisation.'
In 21 Madan Mitra Lane, there was an Excercise Club of the Samity and its office was in a house near its excercise club. In 1905, office was shifted to 49 Cornwllis Street, Calcutta.  

History of armed revolution against British Rule (contd-7)

Swami Vivekananda had strong influence on the youths of India at the end of the nineteenth Century. In Chicago and in Western countries Vivekananda acted as an ambassador of India to propagate India's cause of future. His speeches in different parts of India roused the youths to uplift their humanity and to stand against all ills. Vivekananda had thrown a new idea about the development human society.  

Several leaders of 20th Century India and philosophers have acknowledged Vivekananda's influence. The first governor general of independent India, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, said "Vivekananda saved Hinduism, saved India." According to Subhash Chandra Bose, Vivekananda "is the maker of modern India"^[135] and for Mohandas Gandhi, Vivekananda's influence increased his "love for his country a thousandfold." National Youth Day in India is held on his birthday, January 12.
Swami Vivekananda is widely considered to have inspired India's freedom struggle movement. His writings inspired a whole generation of freedom fighters including Subhash Chandra Bose, Aurobindo Ghose and Bagha Jatin.Vivekananda was the brother of the revolutionary freedom fighter, Bhupendranath Dutta. Subhash Chandra Bose, one of the most prominent figures in Indian independence movement said

“

I cannot write about Vivekananda without going into raptures. Few indeed could comprehend or fathom him even among those who had the privilege of becoming intimate with him. His personality was rich, profound and complex... Reckless in his sacrifice, unceasing in his activity, boundless in his love, profound and versatile in his wisdom, exuberant in his emotions, merciless in his attacks but yet simple as a child, he was a rare personality in this world of ours

”

Aurobindo Ghose considered Vivekananda as his spiritual mentor.

“

Vivekananda was a soul of puissance if ever there was one, a very lion among men, but the definitive work he has left behind is quite incommensurate with our impression of his creative might and energy. We perceive his influence still working gigantically, we know not well how, we know not well where, in something that is not yet formed, something leonine, grand, intuitive, upheaving that has entered the soul of India and we say, "Behold, Vivekananda still lives in the soul of his Mother and in the souls of her children Anandamath (Bangla: আনন্দমঠ Anondomôţh. First English publication title: The Abbey of Bliss) is a Bengali novel, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterji and published in 1882. Set in the background of the Sannyasi Rebellion in the late 18th century, it is considered one of the most important novels in the history of Bengali and Indian literature. Its importance is heightened by the fact that it became synonymous with the struggle for Indian independence from the British Empire. The novel was banned by the British. The ban was lifted later by the Government of India after independence. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (Bengali: বঙ্কিমচন্দ্র চট্টোপাধ্যায় Bôngkim Chôndro Chôţţopaddhae) (27 June 1838  – 8 April 1894) was a famous Bengali writer, poet and journalist. He was the composer of India’s national song Vande Mataram, originally a Bengali and Sanskrit stotra personifying India as a mother goddess and inspiring the activists during the Indian Freedom Movement. Bankim Chandra wrote 13 novels and several ‘serious, serio-comic, satirical, scientific and critical treaties’ in Bengali. His works were widely translated into other regional languages of India as well as in English. Bankim Chandra was born to an orthodox Brahmin family at Kanthalpara, North 24 Parganas. He was educated at Hoogly College and Presidency College, Calcutta. He was one of the first graduates of the University of Calcutta. From 1858, until his retirement in 1891, he served as a deputy magistrate and deputy collector in the Government of British India. Bankim Chandra is widely regarded as a key figure in literary renaissance of Bengal as well as India. He is still held to be one of the timeless and brightest figures of not only Bengal, but also of the entire literati of India. Some of his writings, including novels, essays and commentaries, were a breakaway from traditional verse-oriented Indian writings, and provided an inspiration for authors across India. When Bipin Chandra Pal decided to start a patriotic journal in August 1906, he named it Vande Mataram, after Bankim Chandra's song. Lala Lajpat Rai also published a journal of the same name

Haindava Keralam - global community of dedicated Hindu Keralites with a peace mission

Haindava Keralam - global community of dedicated Hindu Keralites with a peace mission

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar-part-1/19

History of armed revolution against British Rule (contd-6)

On his return to India in 1893, he joined the service of the Baroda Estate. The period of stay in Baroda, from 1894 to 1896, was significant in several ways for Sri Aurobindo. It was here that he started working for India's Freedom, behind the scenes.He perceived the need for broadening the bse of the  movement and for creating a mass awakening.He went to Bengal and Madhyapradesh, contacted the secret groups working in this directiom, and became a link between many of them. He established close contact with Lokmanya Tilak and Sister Nivedita. He arranged for the military training of Jatin Banerjee ( Bagha Jatin) in the Baroda army and then sent him to organise the revolutionary work in Bengal.
He was stirred by the writings of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and became an advocate of violent revolution against the British rule. His planning  of secret societies of in Maharashtra and Bengal created a terror among the British officers. He started a daily "Jugantar".
Aurobindo joined Bipin Chandra Pal in running another daily  "Vandemataram" This reflected his edeas of revolutionary activities in the editorials of Vandemataram and "Karmayog".
In Puna, he became the President of the secret organisation founded by Thakur Saheb.The members of the Secret organisation of Maharashtra used to go to different places of Bombay, Puna,  Berar and Madhyapradesh to report about the different revolutions and to organise different revolutionary groups.In Wardah, "Aryabandhab Samaj was the main centre of revolutionary activities. Tilak was one of the leaders of this organisation.This organisation had influence on the whole of Maharashtra state. In the state of Nizam the revolutionary activities was also spread. Sadasib Nilkantha Joshi ( Baba Saheb) had important role in the organisation.
At the same time, revolutionary organisation also developed in Maharashtra. In 1872, Vasudeo Balwant Phadke, a Marathi Brahmin, devoted himself for the cause of mother land and formed a secret organisation..but he was arrested in 1879 and acquitted for revolutionary activities against the King and executed for life imprisonment. He died in the jail being attacked in TB on 17th Feb 1883. He organised low caste ordinary men . After his death, in 1895, the two brothers of Chapekar ( damodar and Balkrishna). In 1897, the two brothers killed a high British official and were hanged by the British. Their sacrifice inspired the revolutionries of Maharashtra.

 Vasudeo Balwant Phadke  (4 November 1845 – 17 February 1883) was an Indian revolutionary and is widely regarded as the father of the armed struggle for India's independence. Phadke was moved by the plight of the farmer community during British Raj. Phadke believed that ‘Swaraj’ was the only remedy for their ills. With the help of Kolis, Bhils and Dhangars communities in Maharastra, Vasudev formed a revolutionary group called as Ramoshi. The group started an armed struggle to overthrow the British Raj. The group launched raids on rich English businessmen to obtain funds for their liberation struggle. Phadke came into limelight when he got control of the city of Pune for a few days when he caught the British soldiers off guard during one of his surprise attacks  

The Chapekar brothers alternatively spelt as Caphekar or Chaphekar (Marathi चाफेकर), Damodar Hari, Balkrishna Hari (also called Bapurao) and Vasudeo Hari (also spelt Wasudeva or Wasudev) belonged to Chinchwad, then a village, near the former Peshwa capital Pune, in the state of Maharashtra, India.
In late 1896, Pune was hit by bubonic plague; by the end of February 1897, the epidemic was raging, with a mortality rate twice the norm, and half the city's population having left.
A Special Plague Committee was formed, under the chairmanship of W. C. Rand, an Indian Civil Services officer, and troops were brought in to deal with the emergency. The measures employed included forced entry into private houses, examination of occupants, evacuation to hospitals and segregation camps, removing and destroying personal possessions, and preventing plague cases from entering or leaving the city. By the end of May, the epidemic was under control.
On 22 June 1897, the Diamond Jubilee of the coronation of Queen Victoria, Rand, the Special Plague Committee chairman and his military escort Lt. Ayerst were shot while returning from the celebrations at Government House. Both died, Ayerst on the spot and Rand of his wounds on 3 July. The Chapekar brothers and two accomplices were charged with the murders in various roles, as well as the shooting of two informants and an attempt to shoot a police officer. All three brothers were found guilty and hanged, an accomplice was dealt with similarly, another, then a schoolboy, was sentenced to ten years' rigorous imprisonment.

This action of Chaphekar brothers was the first reaction of Indian revolutionaries against British atrocities in India during plague epidemic and was first political murder in Indian freedom struggle

History of armed revolution against British Rule (contd-5)

The revolutionary movement for the independence of a country is often less-highlighted aspect of the Indian Independence movement -- movement of the underground revolutionary factions. The groups believing in armed revolution against the ruling British fall into this category.
The revolutionary groups were mainly concentrated in Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Orissa, Bihar, Uttarpradesh and Punjab.
There are two theories of the Independence Movements of a country against the ruling class. One of which is, i) maximum sacrifice by the minimum number of persons, and the other, ii) minimum sacrifice by the maximum number of persons of a country. The first one is obviously armed revolution.
In Bengal :
Rajnarayan Basu , in 1861, developed the idea of revolution within the minds of the youth of Bengal. Rajnarayan Basu was the the grandfather of the famous revolutionary Aurabindo Ghose. He became the president of the first secret revolutionary organisation, Sanjibani Sabha of which Jyotirindranath Tagore was the main organiser. Rabindranath Tagore was the youngset member of the organisation. The founders of this organisation were inspired from the activities of the revolutionaries of Italy, specially Mazzini and Russia. Indian revolutionaries were also inspired by the revolutionaries of Ireland.The articles published in the monthly magazine, "Aryadarshan" edited by Jogendranath Vidyabhushan in 1874 was also the source of inspiration of the youth revolutionaries.
With the death of his mother in 1875, Rabindranath passed into the guardianship of Jyotirindranath and his wife Kadambari Devi (1858-84)-both of whom, more than any others, helped his adolescent aspirations come into full flowering. This was the time when he was enrolled as the junior-most member of a short-lived secret society modelled after Mazzini’s Carbonari and named Sanjivani Sabha, of which Rajnarain Bose was the President.

Hence, under the leadership of Jyotirindranath and Rajnarayan Basu,   Sanjibani Sabha, a secret revolutionary one, was formed in Tagore's house. The sittings were held in a tumble down building in an obscure Calcutta lane. Its proceedings were shrouded in mystery. In fact, there was nothing in their deliberations or doings of which Govt or people needed to be afraid. Even Rabindranath became a member. Rabindranath wrote a song for this organisation, "Eksutre Bnadhiyavhi Sahasrati Jiban".

History of armed Revolution against British rule (contd-4)

Wahhabi Movement:

The Wahabi movement was a part of freedom struggle of India as it offered a serious threat to British supremacy in the 19th century. Ir lasted for quite a large period.The movement was led by one of the ex-military commander of Holkar named Syed Ahmed Barelbi (1786-1831) who was greatly influenced by the teaching of Abdul Wahab of Arabia.and the preaching of Delhi saint Wallulah He lodged war against those coming from other countries and occupied their motherland.The farmers of Bengal Bihar and artisans of the cities and small business man came forward at his response. They also wanted to establish the social justice within the country.. After being driven out of Bihar they gathered in tribal areas of Pashtoons. There Syed Ahmed lost his life in the fight between Sikh and Wahhabi. In 1831, 3-4 thousand armed Wahhabi occupied a small city at Barasat and proceeded to Calcutta . But the gatherings was dispersed after stiff fighting.The movement was mainly concentrated in Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai..

Pharaji movement was a branch of Wahabi Movement whose leader was Hazi Sariyat.This was a farmers movement of medieval era. In 1852 these movements got wide support from the army. The British took up brutal measures during the period 1863-1865

Vasudeo Balwant Phadke (Marathi: वासुदेव बळवंत फडके  pronunciation (help·info)) (4 November 1845 – 17 February 1883) was an Indian revolutionary and is widely regarded as the father of the armed struggle for India's independence. Phadke was moved by the plight of the farmer community during British Raj. Phadke believed that ‘Swaraj’ was the only remedy for their ills. With the help of Kolis, Bhils and Dhangars communities in Maharastra, Vasudev formed a revolutionary group called as Ramoshi. The group started an armed struggle to overthrow the British Raj. The group launched raids on rich English businessmen to obtain funds for their liberation struggle. Phadke came into limelight when he got control of the city of Pune for a few days when he caught the British soldiers off guard during one of his surprise attacks.

Historian Dr. Amalendu De , recently wrote a long essay titled , " Role of revolutionary movement in the early years of the struggle of Indian Independence". In this essay he mentioned struggle of Vasudeo Balawant Phadke.