Aravinda Ackroyd Ghosh
|
Date of Birth |
: |
August 15, 1872 |
Date of Death |
: |
Dec 5, 1950 |
Place of Birth |
: |
Calcutta |
Aravinda Ackroyd Ghosh was born on August 15, 1872, in Calcutta. His
father, Dr. Krishnadhan Ghosh, a civil medical officer in Bengal, added
the middle name Ackroyd because a Miss Ackroyd, a visitor from England,
was present at his birth. His mother, Swarnalata Devi, was the daughter
of nationalist Rajnarayan Bose. Aravinda's father attained his M.D. from
the University of Aberdeen in England. By the time Krishnadhan returned
to India, he was so westernized that he vowed to bring his children up
as Englishmen.
Aravinda and his brothers were admitted to a special
school in Darjeeling, in 1877, which was meant only for English
children. For two years the boys were taught by Irish nuns of the
Loretto Convent School. In 1879, the children were taken to England. The
two elder boys were admitted to a school, while Aravinda, who was just
seven years old, was left in the care of Rev. W. H. Drewett and his wife
in Manchester. The Drewetts were to tutor Aravinda. Aravinda learned
English and Latin from the Reverend, and history, geography, arithmetic
and French from Mrs. Drewett. Aravinda became fond of reading and made
full use of the personal library of the Drewetts. After five years of
comfortable living in Manchester, when the boys moved to London, their
remittances from Dr. Ghosh started dwindling. Aravinda continued to
excel in his studies despite difficulties. He carried away prizes for
the classics--classical literature in particular. He won the Butterworth
prize for literature, the Bedford prize for history and a scholarship
at St. Paul's. While in the King's College at Cambridge, Aravinda was
awarded a senior classical scholarship of 80 pounds per annum, in
addition to a stipend as a candidate of the Indian Civil Service.
Aravinda passed the Classical Tripos examination in the first class with
distinction and passed in the open competition for the Indian Civil
Service in 1890. He cleared the periodical examination and the medical
examination but failed to appear for the horse-riding test which was
compulsory for entering the Indian Civil Service. Aravinda returned to
India on January 1893 aboard the S.S. Carthage. Just before Aravinda set
foot in India, his father died of heart failure. He was only 21 and
did not even possess proper qualifications. He accepted a post promised
by Sayaji Rao Gaekwad of Baroda when he was in England, with a fixed
salary of Rs. 200. He was first appointed in the survey settlement
department, and later in the department of stamp and revenue. Often he
served as the Gaekwad's personal secretary and prepared the Gaekwad's
speeches and wrote the communiques between Baroda State and the Indian
Government. In 1900, Aravinda accepted the post of professor of English
at Baroda College and also taught French as a part-time professor.
Aravinda married Mrinalini, daughter of Bhupal Chandra Basu, in 1901.
Aravinda was 29 years old at the time of marriage while Mrinalini was
only 14. The two had very little time to spend with each other since
Aravinda lived in Baroda, and Mrinalini remained in Calcutta. Aravinda
deeply loved his wife and was always regular in writing letters to her.
His letters to her were published as a book called "Letters to
Mrinalini." Mrinalini was initiated by Ma Sarada, saintly wife of Sri
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa of Dakshineshwara, seeking spiritual refuge.
Mrinalini died of influenza in 1918 in Calcutta at the age of 31. In
one of his letters to Mrinalini, Aravinda mentioned his three beliefs.
First, he believed that whatever he had: talent, virtue, high
education-all belonged to God. Second, he wished to come face to face
with God. Third, in his own words, "Others look upon India , their
country, as a mass of matter, a number of fields, plains, forests,
mountains, and rivers and nothing more." He believed his nation to be
his own mother. He adored her and worshipped her. He saw the entire
nation at his door, seeking shelter and help in attaining freedom from
foreign shackles. Initially, Aravinda's political activities were
limited to Baroda, but they soon extended to Maharashtra, Gujarat and
Bengal. He learned Marathi and Gujarati and taught himself Sanskrit. He
studied Bengali under litterateur Dinendra Kumar Roy. Ghosh's goal was
to capture the public through writing. He made an extensive study of
Indian literature and papers on the Indian freedom struggle. Armed with
fluency in Marathi, Gujarati and Bengali, he then transcribed his views
in papers like the Indu Prakash, Bande Mataram, Dharma, and Karma Yogin.
His writing became the ideal for the Indian youth. He called on the
young to serve the nation as "karmayogins." He wanted the youth to
devote all their energies toward freeing Mother India. He told the youth
that, "if you will study, study for her sake; train yourself body and
mind and soul for her service; work so that she may prosper; suffer so
that she may rejoice." Ghosh formed secret revolutionary societies
which enveloped Bengal. He asked members of these secret societies to
take a solemn oath to "secure the freedom of Mother India at any cost."
He stoked the fire of revolution by organizing a huge rally on November
9, 1905, in Calcutta. In the meantime, the Bande Mataram, a paper Ghosh
edited, won the praise and admiration of all. The British, in an effort
to curb the growing dissent, prosecuted the Bande Mataram and arrested
Ghosh, who was charged with propagating sedition. The British resorted
to caning anyone chanting "Bande Mataram". Aravinda was acquitted for
lack of proof. Ghosh was again arrested and put in jail in the Lal Bazar
police station on May 5, 1908 as an undertrial prisoner for what came
to be known as the Alipore bomb conspiracy. An attempt on Lord
Kingsford's life, a presidency magistrate in Calcutta known for his
harsh and prejudiced verdicts against Indians, was made by
revolutionaries. The attempt went awry when the bomb intended for Lord
Kingsford landed in the carriage of two English ladies. Both the ladies
died. Ghosh had often proposed the use of an open rebellion to attain
freedom. His secret societies practiced bomb making along with the study
of revolutionary literature and the Gita. Ghosh's brother, Barin,
opened a center in Ghosh's Maniktala Gardens residence in Calcutta.
Following the bombing, Ghosh's residence was raided on May 2, 1908.
Barin was arrested along with his associates. Ghosh was arrested at his
Grey Street residence.
What began was a grueling trial in which Ghosh was defended by the
renowned Calcutta lawyer Chittaranjan Das. Ghosh exhibited his
abhorrence for terrorist style militant resistance. He had propagated
the idea of an open armed revolt. In his statement, Ghosh said, "The
whole of my case before you is this. It is suggested that I preached the
idea of freedom to my country which is against the law, I plead guilty
to the charge. If it is an offence to preach the idea of freedom, I
admit I have done it. I have never disputed it... I felt I was called
upon to preach to my country to make them realize that India had a
mission to perform in the comity of nations." Ghosh denied having
engineered the attempt on Lord Kingsford's life, declaring the act as
being against everything he stood for. Due to Chittaranjan Das's
professional defense, Ghosh was acquitted.
On his release from jail, Ghosh came out a changed man. He seemed
confident that India would attain her freedom. He now decided to devote
his life to the liberation of the whole of the human race. On the advice
of some friends, like Sister Nivedita, disciple of Swami Vivekananda,
Ghosh left British India and moved to French Pondicherry on April 4,
1910 to avoid confrontation with the British.
Ghosh came to be known as Sri Aurobindo to the world. Aurobindo
completed his "Savitri", which he began writing in 1899 and published in
1954. Besides the "Savitri", Sri Aurobindo compiled numerous treatise
on the Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita. His "Life Divine", "The
Superman", and "Ideal of Human Unity" are fine examples of work done in
simple prose. In addition, his literary criticisms, poems, and plays
made Sri Aurobindo a litterateur of the highest order. Sri Aurobindo was
a master of Yoga which he believed would develop the "higher principles
of life" which remain hidden within every individual. He felt humanity
could attain perfection little by little through conscious preparation
and effort. On Independence Day, Sri Aurobindo's message to the nation
was, "August 15, 1947 is the birthday of free India. It marks for her
the end of an old era, the beginning of a new age. But we can also make
it by our life and acts as a free nation, an important date in a new age
opening for the whole world, for the political, social, cultural and
spiritual future of humanity." Sri Aurobindo died on December 5, 1950
in Pondicherry.