Tag: Hinduism
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When we think of the modern Ganesh Chaturthi festival (Ganeshotsava), one name inevitably comes to mind: Bal Gangadhar (Lokmanya) Tilak, who in the 1890s transformed it from a private household ritual into a public celebration of unity and resistance against colonial rule. But what about Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar? Despite organizing a Pan-Hindu Ganesh Utsav…
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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…
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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…
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Savarkar’s Coding of Hindutva; Metacode Rashtra, Part 5; Code Territorium (4/6); Codeelement Des, Indivisibility of the Territory (1/3) When Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar spoke of nationalism, he did not imagine it in narrow or regional terms. Instead, he envisioned a pan-Indian nationalism that stretched across the entire subcontinent—bounded naturally by the Himalayas in the north…
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Economic Dimension of Hindutva, Part 7; Savarkar’s Economic Principles (3/13) India’s economic foundation has long been rooted in agriculture, with rural communities playing a pivotal role in the nation’s progress. Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar, a visionary thinker and nationalist, recognized the indispensable contribution of the peasantry and the working class. He believed that empowering these…
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Political Dimension of Hindutva, Part 8 The political ideas of Vinayak (Veer) Damodar Savarkar cannot be clearly assigned to a specific model of governance. However, with the transformation of British India into the independent Indian Union, democratic concepts increasingly became the focus of his thinking. In his final work, Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History,…
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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…
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Political Dimension of Hindutva, Part 7 Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar’s political-religious vision is deeply rooted in an archaic worldview. A key element in his concept of an ideal governance structure for Hindus is the idea of “Hindu leadership through a strong hand.” This theme is recurrent throughout his writings, particularly through his admiration of the…
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Savarkar’s Philosophy & Worldview , Part 7; Savarkar’s Agnosticism, (3/4) In the ongoing exploration of Vinayak Damodar (Veer) Savarkar’s agnosticism, one of the most intriguing and misunderstood concepts is his use of the term Punyabhu or Punyabhumi, often translated as “Holy Land.” This term has sparked significant debate, with both critics and supporters often misinterpreting…
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On the night of June 22, 1897, two British officials — Walter Charles (W.C.) Rand, Plague Commissioner of Pune, and Lieutenant Charles Egerton Ayerst, his military escort — were assassinated by Indian revolutionaries Damodar and Balkrishna Chapekar.The attack, carried out on Ganeshkhind Road (now Senapati Bapat Road), became one of the earliest and most symbolic…