The Bond Between Lokmanya Tilak and Aurobindo Ghosh - Shireesh Chitnis

Part 1

Lokmanya Tilak was the one who established the city of Pune as the political capital of Hindustan. Until India achieved independence, Pune remained at the epicentre of the freedom struggle. The role of the extremist revolutionaries in the Indian independence movement was exceptionally significant and inspiring. To dismantle the formidable power of the British, these revolutionaries orchestrated numerous armed uprisings, uniting the people and igniting the blazing flame of freedom in their hearts. From 1857 until independence, the revolutionary movement built an unparalleled legacy of valour, sacrifice, and armed struggle. Following the announcement of the Partition of Bengal in 1905, Tilak unleashed a storm against the British regime with a ferocity as if possessed. This was the most glorious period of Tilak's political life, a time when his popularity reached its zenith. It was from this era, in particular, that Pune became the primary hub of national politics, with all major decisions of the freedom movement being made from the city. During this period, Lokmanya Tilak meticulously spread disaffection against the government across the country with substantiating evidence, creating such unrest that it immensely strengthened the freedom struggle. The entire province of Bengal was united with Pune in this fight for liberty, and the leadership of Bengal was in the hands of Aurobindo Ghosh. His contribution as a political associate and friend of Lokmanya Tilak is a matter of historical record. In his preface to the book

, the great yogi Aurobindo Ghosh wrote, "The name of Lokmanya Tilak is etched in history as that of a nation-builder. As long as the nation feels pride in its past and hope for its future, his name will be remembered." Aurobindo Ghosh and Lokmanya Tilak first met at the Congress session in Ahmedabad in 1902. They began working closely from 1905, especially during the movement against the Partition of Bengal. In 1905, Lord Curzon announced the partition, which was implemented on October 16, 1905. This event triggered significant changes across many sectors. The British administration claimed the partition was for administrative convenience, but Indian nationalists saw it as a "divide and rule" policy. The partition created mistrust and tension between the Hindu and Muslim communities. While some Muslims initially supported the new province, the leadership of Tilak and Aurobindo inspired even Muslim leaders to oppose British rule. The Partition of Bengal had far-reaching consequences on nationalism, communalism, and political movements in Hindustan. Before October 16, 1905, the Bengal province included present-day West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa (Odisha), parts of Assam, present-day Bangladesh, Sylhet, Dhaka, Chittagong, and parts of Chhattisgarh. After the partition, the province was divided into two main parts: East Bengal, which included the regions of modern-day Bangladesh, Sylhet, Dhaka, Chittagong, and Assam, with Dhaka as its capital; and West Bengal, comprising West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and parts of Chhattisgarh, with Calcutta as its capital. Before this division, Bengal was the largest province in India. Following Lord Curzon's partition in 1905, intense agitations erupted across Bengal and India, with Lokmanya Tilak at the forefront. The Surat session of the Congress in 1907 was the crowning jewel of Tilak's life. On the second day of this session, a meeting of the Nationalist Party was held in a private residence, chaired by Aurobindo Ghosh. In his speech, Lokmanya Tilak unequivocally declared, "Our means and our end are the

(the four-point programme)." He stated, "We have been weakened in every respect. We have no weapons, no power, not even the strength of unity. The hope that our rulers would benevolently grant us the rights of Swaraj has been utterly extinguished. The bureaucracy is arrogant. In such a state, we have no other recourse but measures like 'Swaraj' (self-rule), 'Swadeshi' (indigenous goods), 'Boycott', and 'National Education'. If we fail to utilize these means, there will be no greater fools in the world than us. This is not a question of party or pride, but of patriotism." The anti-partition movement gave prominence to Swadeshi and national education. Aurobindo Ghosh, alongside Lokmanya Tilak, propagated extremist ideologies and led revolutionary thought and action across the nation. Both leaders were united by their radical views and their active collaboration in the freedom struggle. While Tilak championed extremist thought in the national movement against the partition, Aurobindo played a crucial role in fostering revolutionary activities, values, and organization in Bengal. Their unity gave a new and powerful direction to the fight for independence.

Part 2

The freedom fighter and great yogi, Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, was born on August 15, 1872. There were no Bengali servants in his household; his father, Krishnadhan, was thoroughly Anglicized in his ways. The family spoke English and, when necessary, Hindi. Krishnadhan enrolled Aurobindo and his two elder brothers in a school heavily influenced by European culture. Aurobindo was an enthusiastic and intelligent child. His upbringing was entrusted to a missionary, Mr. Drewett, and his wife, under whose tutelage he became proficient in Latin. In his spare time, he read the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, and the poetry of Keats and Shelley. After the Drewetts moved to Australia in 1885, Aurobindo was admitted to St. Paul's School in London, where he was introduced to Greek and made astonishing progress in this great ancient language. In 1889, at the young age of 17, Aurobindo won a scholarship of £80 per annum for Classics at King's College, Cambridge. He subsequently excelled in all his examinations at the college. At the age of 21, in 1893, Aurobindo returned from England to Baroda. The ruler of Baroda, Sayajirao Gaekwad, had successfully fought to keep his state independent, taking the battle up to the Privy Council in England. Baroda was not a vassal state of the British. It was a large and progressive state, and Sayajirao Gaekwad was determined to model it on European principles of knowledge and modernity. He introduced sweeping reforms and brought immense modernization to his state. Upon arriving in Baroda, Aurobindo learned his mother tongue, Bengali. After serving in various capacities in the Baroda state, he became the Vice-Principal of Baroda College. His deep admiration for the Irish freedom struggle and the French Revolution ignited in him a yearning for India's independence. Between 1893 and 1905, he wrote for various newspapers. It was in Baroda that he also learned Marathi and Gujarati. The Partition of Bengal in 1905 produced a new wave of leaders, and among them was Aurobindo Ghosh. The anti-partition movement marked his public entry into political agitation, drawing him towards the cause of national freedom. He became an associate of Lokmanya Tilak and an active participant in the national movement, quickly rising to become one of India's foremost leaders. His primary mission at the time was to publicly declare that the goal of India's political program was "complete and absolute independence" and to write about it relentlessly in the newspapers. For the anti-partition movement, Aurobindo left Baroda for Calcutta, where he became the principal of the newly established National College. At the Calcutta Congress session in 1906, he proclaimed the goal of "India's complete independence" and emphasized the need to build a national party under Tilak's leadership. He had been expressing his political views in the Bombay-based paper

since 1893. He started the Bengali daily

and also wrote for Bipin Chandra Pal's English daily,

, serving as its editor for a time. These two papers conveyed his lofty and fierce nationalist sentiments to the public, kindling the flame of freedom in their minds. In 1907, he was arrested for articles in

, but the charges against him could not be proven. Aurobindo's contribution was pivotal in making Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's song "Vande Mataram" from the novel

a source of inspiration for the freedom struggle across Hindustan. The daily

had completely transformed India's political ideology. To propagate his ideas, Aurobindo also ran two weeklies:

in English and

in Bengali. While he was a promoter of the revolutionary movement in Bengal, the British government implicated him in a case, and he was imprisoned for a year in 1907. Aurobindo was deeply influenced by the philosophies of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Swami Vivekananda. He was also in contact with the "Lal-Bal-Pal" trio of extremist leaders: Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal. Aurobindo's younger brother, Barindra Ghosh, was known as an extremist revolutionary until the very end. The Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta, Kingsford, was infamous for giving harsh sentences to political offenders. He had punished editors and printers of nationalist newspapers severely. In one case, he sentenced a fifteen-year-old boy to be flogged, an act that caused discontent even among the British. The then Secretary of State for India, Lord Morley, was also shocked by some of Kingsford's judgments. He wrote to the Viceroy, Lord Minto, "I am becoming greatly concerned about the severe sentences being passed for sedition. We must maintain order, but inhumane punishments are not the way. Such sentences, in fact, drive people towards the path of the bomb." Due to Kingsford's brutal tendencies, the revolutionaries of Bengal decided that he must be eliminated for his misdeeds, which would also serve as a lesson to other officials. Following the example of revolutionary heroes like Vasudeo Balwant Phadke and the Chapekar brothers, the decision was made to send Kingsford to his death. A bomb was sent to him by post, but he did not open the parcel and thus survived. Later, Kingsford was transferred from Calcutta to Muzaffarpur. Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki were sent to assassinate him there. However, the bomb they threw hit the wrong carriage, killing Mrs. and Miss Kennedy instead. Khudiram Bose was arrested on May 1, 1908, while Prafulla Chaki shot himself with a revolver upon being cornered. Khudiram Bose was tried and hanged. Unsatisfied, the British government, in an attempt to get to the root of the conspiracy, arrested 26 members of the revolutionary organization 'Jugantar'. Although Aurobindo Ghosh was not a member, he was implicated because his writings were a source of energy for the revolutionaries. The main charge against them was that after the Partition of Bengal in 1905, the accused had conspired to wage war against the British government by propagating sedition through 'Jugantar' and had amassed weapons and established a widespread system for making bombs to pressure the government through violence. Other charges included attempting to blow up the train carrying Lieutenant-Governor Sir Andrew Fraser, throwing a bomb at the house of the Mayor of Chandannagar, firing at the District Magistrate of Dhaka, Mr. Allen, and sending Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki to assassinate Kingsford. One of the accused, Narendranath Goswami, turned approver during the inquiry. Based on his information, eight more people were arrested. However, Goswami did not live to benefit from his treachery; Kanailal Dutta and Satyendranath Bose killed him in the Presidency Jail hospital. Dutta and Bose were later tried and hanged. All the evidence was consolidated, and the surviving accused were put on trial. The hearing began on October 19, 1908, before the Additional Sessions Judge of Alipore, Mr. Beachcroft. The renowned legal expert Eardley Norton was the public prosecutor. Initially, B. Chakravarti and K.N. Chaudhuri were Aurobindo's lawyers. As Aurobindo was living a life of voluntary poverty, a fund was raised for his defense, but it soon ran out, and both lawyers withdrew from the case. The brilliant lawyer Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das then came forward to defend Aurobindo and worked tirelessly. For about ten months, Chittaranjan Das devoted all his time to Aurobindo's case. Not only did he not take any fees, but he also had to sell his horse-drawn carriage and take out personal loans to cover the expenses. By the time the trial ended and Aurobindo was acquitted, Chittaranjan Das was in debt of about ₹50,000. After 126 days of proceedings and examining over two hundred witnesses, Justice Beachcroft delivered his verdict on May 6, 1909. He remarked, "Had Chittaranjan Das not argued the case so effectively, the act of sending a great man to the gallows would have been committed by my hands!" However, he sentenced Aurobindo's brother, Barindra Kumar, and another accused, Ulhaskar Dutt, to death. Chittaranjan Das appealed against this sentence before a bench comprising Chief Justice Sir Lawrence Jenkins and Justice Carnduff. His skillful arguments resulted in both sentences being commuted to life imprisonment. The statement Aurobindo Ghosh made during this trial was as follows: "If it is a crime to state the goal of independence, then I admit I have committed that crime. I have never denied it. For this, I have sacrificed all opportunities in my life. It is for this that I came from Baroda to Calcutta. For this, I have lived and worked. It was the only thought in my mind when awake, and it was my dream when asleep. If this is my crime, there is no need to bring witnesses here to prove it. I stand here, and I have committed this crime. You can put me in chains for it, you can throw me in prison, but you will never be able to make me deny this crime. I dare to say that advocating for the goal of independence is not a crime in the eyes of the law. As for the other charges against me, there is no evidence, and these allegations are completely inconsistent with my thoughts and writings." After this event and his acquittal, the British government began preparing for another case against him, and the possibility of his re-arrest was high. The British considered Aurobindo's presence in society a threat, fearing he would continue to inspire the freedom struggle. Sister Nivedita, a revolutionary herself, had advised him that it was dangerous to remain in British India. Consequently, in 1910, with the help of his friends, Aurobindo Ghosh took refuge in the French colony of Chandannagar. At that time, the British government had issued a warrant for his arrest. On April 4, 1910, he left Chandannagar and travelled nearly 1600 kilometres by train to reach the French settlement of Pondicherry. As Pondicherry was a French colony, he was safe from British authority. It was during this period that Lokmanya Tilak was arrested in 1908 on charges of sedition and sentenced to six years of rigorous imprisonment in the penal colony. He was serving his sentence in the Mandalay Jail in Burma (now Myanmar). Feeling the void of Tilak's leadership and fearing that the British would imprison him permanently, Aurobindo Ghosh decided to retire from politics and public life. At the time, he was accused of fleeing to French-controlled Pondicherry to evade re-arrest. To this, he issued the following clarification in the

: "I have come to Pondicherry to attain perfection in my yoga practice. It should be noted that the warrant I am accused of evading was issued after I had already reached Pondicherry." Pondicherry became his land of action (

) and his land of spiritual practice (

).

Part 3

On December 12, 1911, largely due to the actions of the extremist revolutionaries, the Partition of Bengal was annulled. The eastern and western parts of Bengal were reunited. The Bengali-speaking districts were brought together again. Assam was made a separate province, and Bihar and Orissa were separated from Bengal to form another province. Before the partition, Bengal was the largest province in India, including Bihar, Orissa, Assam, and present-day Bangladesh. After being divided, it was finally reunified in 1911, with Bihar, Orissa, and Assam becoming separate states. The capital of British India was shifted from Calcutta (Kolkata) to Delhi on December 12, 1911, an announcement made by King George V at the Delhi Durbar. Aurobindo Ghosh's younger brother, Barindra Kumar Ghosh, was released from prison in 1920 under a general amnesty. He resumed his career in journalism in Calcutta. Later, he left journalism and established an ashram in Calcutta. In 1923, he went to Pondicherry to be with his elder brother and guru, Aurobindo Ghosh, who had founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram there. While Aurobindo was deeply influenced by spirituality and sadhana, Barindra was a disciple of Thakur Anukulchandra. Barindra Kumar Ghosh returned to Calcutta in 1929 and took up journalism again. After Lokmanya Tilak's death, Aurobindo Ghosh wrote an obituary titled "A GREAT MIND, A GREAT WILL." There existed a remarkable bond between Aurobindo and Tilak, and Aurobindo also penned a long article portraying Tilak's character. He held Tilak in the highest esteem and, after his passing, explicitly refused any suggestion that he should claim Tilak's place, stating that there was no one who could fill his shoes. Aurobindo wrote extensively about Tilak and his contribution to the freedom movement, beyond just the obituary. He wrote the preface to the 1917 publication of Lokmanya Tilak's articles and speeches. The day India gained independence coincided with Aurobindo Ghosh's 75th birthday. On August 14, 1947, the message he gave was broadcast from All India Radio, Tiruchirappalli. Aurobindo Ghosh passed away on December 5, 1950. His Samadhi was built in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram on December 9, 1950. The goal of Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga was to realize the highest peak of the Supermind and to bring about its descent into the material existence. His contribution to India's freedom struggle from 1905 to 1910 is unforgettable. Aurobindo wrote many books, among which

, a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, and

, a 24,000-line epic poem, are testaments to his extraordinary genius. This epic was his inner voice. Aurobindo later became immortalized as the great yogi, Sri Aurobindo. The renowned French philosopher Romain Rolland, who wrote a short book critiquing Mahatma Gandhi and his values, said of Aurobindo Ghosh, "Aurobindo Ghosh is the most complete synthesis of the genius of Asia and the genius of Europe. He was a poet, a humanitarian patriot, and a philosopher." In those days, many efforts were made to bring a great soul like Aurobindo back into politics. Lala Lajpat Rai was the first to try. Then, in 1920, inspired by Lokmanya Tilak, Barrister Joseph Baptista made an attempt. In 1922, Chittaranjan Das tried to persuade him to return to politics. After Chittaranjan Das's death in 1925, the people of Bengal requested that he enter politics to fill the void. In 1928, Rabindranath Tagore met him and said, "Bengal awaits your command." Later, Mahatma Gandhi himself sent his son Devdas to Aurobindo in an attempt to convince him to return to politics, but all these efforts were in vain. Today, we often say that the new generation lacks role models. But neither they nor we seem to know where to find these ideals. Against this backdrop, the new generation must read and preserve the history of the freedom struggle. The individuals from that struggle shine like the light of consciousness in a clear sky, a light powerful enough to illuminate all our lives. The following lines by the African American poetess Frances Watkins Harper aptly apply to the warriors of the freedom struggle:

खिळून राहतील बघणाऱ्यांच्या नजरा, सारे स्तंभित होतील, गर्वोन्नत अन भव्य स्मारके नकोत माझी मरणानंतर, एकच इच्छा, एकच तळमळ, हृदयी आता दाटून येते, कुशीत यावे मरण भूमीच्या गुलाम कोणी नसतील जेथे! They asked for nothing more than this. The bond between Lokmanya Tilak and Aurobindo Ghosh, and Pune's status as the political capital of India's freedom struggle, are matters of great pride for us Maharashtrians, and their significance is etched in history.

- Shireesh Chitnis

Secretary, Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad, Pune

(This article is the translated version of the original article

लोकमान्य टिळक आणि अरवद घोष यांचा अनुबंध

written by

Shireesh Chitnis

published in the Sahitya Chaprak Diwali Ank 2025 ) https://youtu.be/qHpbl2Kqu5U