The Intellectual Roots of India's Freedom Struggle (1893-1918)

Most people believe India's struggle for independence to have begun with Mahatma Gandhi. Little credit goes to the proof that this call for a mass movement did not arise out of a void. For the past century and more, historians have overlooked the phase of twenty-five years of intense creative endeavour preceding and preparing for the Mahatma's advent. The reason for this systematic omission has been the fundamentally radical nature of the revolutionary programme put to practice by Indian leaders of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Jugantar was diametrically distinct from the dream of non-violence floated by the Mahatma and the Congress.Very well documented with inputs from Indian, European and American archives, the present study carefully straightenes out the origins – philosophical, historical and religious and intellectual, so to say – of Indian nationalism. From Rammohun to Sri Aurobindo, passing through Marx and Tagore, the full set of ideological views has been analysed here. Unknown up to this day, the sustained focus in this volume on the outlook and the activities of these revolutionaries inside India and abroad brings home the ‘very sophisticated understanding of the contemporary political reality'that made their leader Jatindranath Mukherjee, the ‘right hand man'of Sri Aurobindo, the very emblem of an epoch and its aspirations.Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Table of Contents 6 List of Illustrations 10 Foreword 12 Abbreviations 14 Introduction 16 I. The Genesis of Nationalism in India 62 I.1. Ideas they Defended 62 1. The Pioneer: Rammohun Roy (1772-1833) 62 2. After Rammohun (1833-1857) 70 I.2. The First Clash of Interests 73 Karl Marx, the Observer (1857-1860) 73 I.3. The Bard of Patriotism 80 Mahatma Rajnarain Basu (1826-1899) 80 I.4. The Quest of the National Soul 86 Swami Dayanand (1824-1883) 86 I.5. The Motherland, a Cult 92 Bankimchandra Chatterjee (1838-1894) 92 I.6. The Soul of Militant Nationalism 101 Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856-1920) 101 I.7. The Poet of Patriotism 106 Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) 106 I.8. Patriotism as Religion 113 Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) 113 I.9. Patriotism, a Synthesis 125 Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) 125 II. The Thinker in Action 139 II.1. Jatin Mukherjee (1879-1915) and the Bengali Society 139 II.1.1. From the Gorai to the Ganga 139 II.1.2. Meetings in Calcutta 151 II.1.3. A Foretaste of Insurrection: 1905 167 II.1.4. Violence, an Antidote 176 II.1.5. His Majesty’s Prison 193 II.1.6. Secret Revival 204 II.2. Revolutionaries Abroad 212 II.2.1. In England 212 II.2.2. In France 218 II.2.3. In Germany 228 II.2.4. In the United States 234 II.2.4a. Taraknath Das (1884-1958) 234 II.2.4b. Ghadar, the Revolutionary Formation 244 II.3. The Enemy’s Enemy: First World War 251 II.3.1. Bengal Fireworks 251 II.3.2. Balasore: Baptism of Blood 262 II.3.3. Letters of Jatin Mukherjee 294 II.4. Consequences 303 II.4.1. In the Far East 303 II.4.2. In Europe 311 II.4.3. In the USA 325 II.4.4. In India: Gandhi Steps In 356 III. Conclusion 384 III.1. Facing the Extremist Perspective 386 III.1.1. Tagore and Gandhi 386 III.2. The Last of the Prophets 413 IV. Annexe 418 IV.1. Introduction 418 IV.2. ‘The Pioneers’ by Rabindranath Tagore 418 IV.3. Tagore on Jatin Mukherjee 419 IV.4. Jatin Mukherjee (1879-1915) by M.N. Roy 421 Glossary 426 Bibliography 430 Index 468 "Most people believe India's struggle for independence to have begun with Mahatma Gandhi. Little credit goes to the proof that this call for a mass movement did not arise out of a void. For the past century and more, historians have overlooked the phase of twenty-five years of intense creative endeavour preceding and preparing for the Mahatma's advent. The reason for this systematic omission has been the fundamentally radical nature of the revolutionary programme put to practice by Indian leaders of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Jugantar was diametrically distinct from the dream of non-violence floated by the Mahatma and the Congress. Very well documented with inputs from Indian, European and American archives, the present study carefully straightenes out the origins--philosophical, historical and religious and intellectual, so to say--of Indian nationalism. From Rammohun to Sri Aurobindo, passing through Marx and Tagore, the full set of ideological views has been analysed here. Unknown up to this day, the sustained focus in this volume on the outlook and the activities of these revolutionaries inside India and abroad brings home the 'very sophisticated understanding of the contemporary political reality' that made their leader Jatindranath Mukherjee, the 'right hand man' of Sri Aurobindo, the very emblem of an epoch and its aspirations. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka"--Provided by publisher Most people believe India's struggle for independence to have begun with Mahatma Gandhi. Little credit goes to the proof that this call for a mass movement did not arise out of a void. For the past century and more, historians have overlooked the phase of twenty-five years of intense creative endeavour preceding and preparing for the Mahatma's advent. The reason for this systematic omission has been the fundamentally radical nature of the revolutionary programme put to practice by Indian leaders of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Jugantar was diametrically distinct from the dream of non-violence floated by the Mahatma and the Congress.0Very well documented with inputs from Indian, European and American archives, the present study carefully straightenes out the origins - philosophical, historical and religious and intellectual, so to say - of Indian nationalism. From Rammohun to Sri Aurobindo, passing through Marx and Tagore, the full set of ideological views has been analysed here. Unknown up to this day, the sustained focus in this volume on the outlook and the activities of these revolutionaries inside India and abroad brings home the `very sophisticated understanding of the contemporary political reality' that made their leader Jatindranath Mukherjee, the `right hand man' of Sri Aurobindo, the very emblem of an epoch and its aspirations