28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar born in Bhagur, British India, was an Indian poet, lawyer, politician, writer and pro-independence activist. Savarkar is considered to be the intellectual founder of Hindu Nationalism. He is the author of “Hindutva” (1923), a book which explains what it means to be a Hindu. “Hindutva” is considered to be one of the most influential works that shaped Hindu Nationalism, it has influenced many nationalists and revolutionaries in India. He was described as an extremist, revolutionary, anarchist, terrorist and a militant nationalist and has greatly influenced these groups in India and other places. His early writings had a wide audience of anarchists, nationalists, anti-imperialists, revolutionaries, socialists, Nazis and Fascists alike. He was also an atheist, but none the less identified as an Hindu and was a known spiritual and a believer in mysticism.
Savarkar was a revolutionary figure who played a major role in framing Indian national identity as a Hindu national identity. He was involved in liberation movements since the age of sixteen. He was involved in Mitra Mela, a Hindu movement in Pune and Nasik. He founded the secret anti-colonial society Abhinav Bharat. His focus on writing the history of revolutionaries has inspired many young Indian men to become revolutionaries themselves. His work, “The Indian War of Independence of 1857” (1909), glorified the revolutionaries, even Muslims, in an attempt to recruit more people to his cause. This book was later banned by the British Government, but it was still published secretly.
Savarkar was involved in the assassinations of two British Colonial Officials and he was also responsible for circulating bomb-making instructions among his colleagues, which he learned from a revolutionary that was involved in the Russian revolution of 1905. From these events, it is evident that Savarkar was central for promoting political violence against colonial oppressors and in popularizing the concept of an Indian national identity based on a Hindu platform.
His concept of national identity was to create a nation of India that included Hindu’s, Jain’s, Buddhist’s and Sikh’s, while excluding the Christians (British and converts) and Muslims. Later on he became the president of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, A Hindu chauvinist party, which was highly anti-Muslim. Many sources claim that he transformed from a revolutionary that was willing to work with Muslims to a Hindu Nationalist who was an anti-Muslim, during his imprisonment by the British.
He is alleged to have played a central role of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, for the person that assassinated Gandhi was Nathuram Godse, a member of Hindu Mahasabha and an editor of a daily newspaper, which Savarkar had invested in. Due to this, he was under suspicion and after the assassination of Gandhi, he was put on a trial, but he was not found guilty. After this, he was forced to agree to not get involved with politics, and he was mostly forgotten until 1980s, where his ideology started to have a greater impact on politics. Now, he is being remembered by many Hindu nationalists as an important figure and he was even paid tribute by the Indian Prime minister.
Savarkar died in 26 February 1966 at the age of 82, he stopped eating for he believed that his mission in life was over and decided to die. Savarkar is seen as a key figure in the anti-colonial movement in India and has greatly influenced anti-colonial and anti-imperialist sentiments among the Indian population. Even though he was in jail for 10 years, he did not give up on his dream of an independent India and consistently worked towards his goal. He was at odds with Gandhi, for he believed that India can only be independent through a violent revolution and actively encouraged and created political violence. His idea of Hindutva has influenced many Indians and is still used in Indian politics today. In conclusion Savarkar was known for his idea of Hindutva, Hindu nationalism and the Indian independence movement.
Jaan Parekh
Works Cited
1. Pincince, John. “On the verge of Hindutva: V.D. Savarkar, revolutionary, convict, ideologue, c. 1905–1924.” Dissertations Publishing, 2007. ProQuest
2. Chaturvedi, Vinayak. “ A Revolutionary’s Biography: The Case of V. D. Savarkar.” Postcolonial Studies, vol. 16, no. 2, June 2013, pp. 124–139. ProQuest, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2013.823257.
3. Nandy, Ashis. “ A disowned father of the nation in India: Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and the demonic and the seductive in Indian nationalism.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, vol. 15, no. 1, 2 Jan. 2014, pp. 91–112. ProQuest, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649373.2014.882087.
Other Relevant Reading
1. Hindutva
2. The Indian War of Independence of 1857
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