Veer Savarkar- A profile in courage

The Road To London

 1906 was the year, the All India Muslim League would be founded in Dacca. The roots though were laid by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan in 1886, through the All Indian Muhammadan Educational Conference. It was ostensibly to promote a modern, liberal education for the Muslim community in India, and it drove what was called the Aligarh Movement. The movement was so called after the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College in Aligarh, founded in 1875, which in future would become the Aligarh Muslim University. More pro-British in nature, the Aligarh movement, aimed to provide a modern, British style education to Muslims, as opposed to the more orthodox Deoband School. It also simplified the traditional writing style of Urdu, and made it to a more simple style, for the masses to understand. It was at the 1906 session of the All Indian Muhammadan Educational Conference, at Dacca, where the Muslim League would take root. It was also a response to the Congress protest against the partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon in 1905.

Amidst the backdrop of such a societal churning, and increasing polarization between Hindus and Muslims, Savarkar decided to  leave  for London in the same year. London, pne of the world's greatest cities, the den of the British lion, the very hub of the empire that controlled close to 2/3rd of the world. It was also a refuge for revolutionaries across the world, the Irish, the Russians, the Anarchists and now the Indian rebels. While ostensibly going to London for studying law, his main aim was to organize the revolution, and carry on the freedom struggle from abroad.  And for which he needed a meeting spot, a mentor, and financial support.

 All of which was provided by a genial, bearded, soft spoken gentleman with a warm smile. Shyamji Krishna Verma, born on October 4, 1857 at Mandvi, Kutch, a Sanskrit scholar heavily influenced by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, had a flourishing legal practice in India.   Losing both his parents at an early age, he was raised by his grandmother. He migrated to Mumbai later, where he learnt Sanskrit, and was a student of the Wilson High School. It was in Mumbai he met Swami Dayananda Saraswati in 1875, and was deeply influenced by his teachings. He soon began to speak on Vedic philosophy and also became the first non Brahmin to be awarded the title of Pandit in Kashi in 1877, for his prowess in Sanskrit. He studied at Ballol College, Oxfored in 1881, and later came back to India in 1885 for law practice. During his stay in England, he delivered an impressive speech on the origins of writing in India, and was made a member of the Royal Asiatic Society.

  In India he set up his legal practice at Ajmer, and also invested in cotton printing presses, there which gave him a steady income. He worked in the princely states of Ratlam, Udaipur for some time. However a rather bitter experience with a British agent in the state of Junagadh shook his faith in their rule, and he resigned in 1897. Plunging headlong into the freedom struggle, he was a close associate of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and a part of the Extremist section of Congress. After Swami Dayananda, it was Tilak who influenced him the most. He however had no faith in the Moderates tactics of petition, campaign, and felt only an aggressive resistance, could get rid of the British rule. He once again moved to England, where he would play a very significant role in the freedom struggle.