Tag: Bombay


  • Savarkar: Burning Manusmriti, Fighting Untouchability

    The fight against untouchability has been a cornerstone of India’s social and political reform movements, and one of the most significant contributors to this cause was Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar. Among the most symbolic actions taken by him in this struggle was the public burning of the Manusmriti, an event that not only captured public…

  • Savarkar’s Arrival in London, 1906

    On 9 June 1906, Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar departed Bombay aboard the S.S. Persia, embarking on a voyage that would decisively shape both his intellectual trajectory and his role in the Indian nationalist movement. While framed outwardly as a student’s pursuit of legal studies in England, the journey was imbued with deeper significance: it marked…

  • Into the Enemy’s Camp: Savarkar’s Voyage

    On 9 June 1906, Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar embarked from Bombay aboard the steamer S.S. Persia. While the immediate purpose of this journey was formally described as pursuing higher studies in England, its deeper significance lay elsewhere. For Savarkar, this was not merely a student’s sojourn abroad but a deliberate and strategic entry into the…

  • Young Savarkar & the Bhagur Mosque Incident

    In the late 19th century, India was a country simmering with tensions—political, religious, and cultural. The British colonial regime‘s policy of divide and rule had deepened communal divisions. Against this backdrop, a teenage Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar, growing up in the village of Bhagur near Nashik, encountered one of the first defining moments of his…

  • The Free India Society: Savarkar’s Revolutionary Vanguard in London

    As soon as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar established himself in London, he founded the Free India Society in 1906. The organization became a crucible of revolutionary thought and action at the heart of the British Empire. Publicly open but ideologically radical, the Society was modeled after Giuseppe Mazzini’s Young Italy and served as the overseas face…

  • Savarkar’s Abhinav Bharat and the Dream of a New India

    In 1904, a young Vinayak Damodar Savarkar stood solemnly before a portrait of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and proposed a bold and electrifying idea. He renamed his earlier organization, Mitra Mela, to Abhinav Bharat – meaning “New India” – a title that soon echoed as a threat in the corridors of British power, not just in…