Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Indian pro-independence activist,lawyer, politician, poet, writer, playwriter and publisher.

Date of Birth: 28-May-1883

Place of Birth: Bhagur, Maharashtra, India

Date of Death: 26-Feb-1966

Profession: writer, poet, politician, playwright, revolutionary, philosopher, prosaist, freedom fighter

Nationality: India

Zodiac Sign: Gemini


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About Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

  • Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (pronunciation ; 28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966), commonly known as Swatantryaveer Savarkar or just Veer Savarkar ("brave" in his native Marathi language), was an Indian independence activist, politician, lawyer, and writer who formulated the Hindutva philosophy.As a response to the Muslim League, Savarkar joined the Hindu Mahasabha and popularized the term Hindutva (Hinduness), previously coined by Chandranath Basu, to create a collective "Hindu" identity as an essence of Bharat (India).
  • Savarkar was an atheist and also a pragmatic practitioner of Hindu philosophy.
  • He advocated for validating religious myths and blind faith against the test of modern science.
  • In that sense, he also was a rationalist and reformer. Savarkar began his revolutionary activities as a high school student and continued to do so at Fergusson College in Pune.
  • He and his brother founded a secret society called Abhinav Bharat Society.
  • When he went to the United Kingdom for his law studies, he involved himself with radical organizations such India House and the Free India Society.
  • He also published books advocating complete Indian independence by revolutionary means.
  • One of the books he published called The Indian War of Independence about the Indian rebellion of 1857 was banned by the British authorities.
  • In 1910, Savarkar was arrested and ordered to be extradited to India for his connections with the revolutionary group India House. On the voyage back to India, Savarkar staged an attempt to escape and seek asylum in France while the ship was docked in the port of Marseilles.
  • The French port officials however handed him back to the British in contravention of international law.
  • On return to India, Savarkar was sentenced to two life terms of imprisonment totalling fifty years and was moved to the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
  • While in prison, Savarkar wrote several mercy petitions to the British, pleading for a release in return for serving the British interests.
  • Savarkar served ten years of his prison sentence before being released in 1921 after signing a plea for clemency that required him to renounce revolutionary activities.
  • After release, he was eventually moved to Ratnagiri in the present day state of Maharashtra, where he stayed until 1937. After 1937, he started travelling widely, becoming a forceful orator and writer, advocating Hindu political and social unity.
  • Serving as the president of the Hindu Mahasabha political party, Savarkar endorsed the idea of India as a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation) and opposed to the Quit India struggle in 1942, calling it a "Quit India but keep your army" movement.
  • He became a fierce critic of the Indian National Congress and its acceptance of India's partition.
  • In 1948 Savarkar was charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, however he was acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.
  • Savarkar resurfaced in the popular discourse after the coming of the BJP into power in 1998 and again in 2014 with the Modi led BJP government at the center.

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