Mitra Mela

The martyrdom and sacrifice of the Chapekar brothers, was the spark Savarkar had been seeking. Having closely followed the trial and hanging of the Chapekar brothers, he could not stop himself from being emotionally overwhelmed, at their sacrifice. These men had given their lives for the country, it should never be allowed to go in vain. And he would ensure that, by taking forward the struggle, the Chapekar brothers had started. A struggle to get rid off the oppresive British rule, that was trampling the rights and lives of ordinary Indians under their boots.

He bowed before their kuldevta, Bhavani, and took the oath. The year was 1899, and he was just 16 years then.

"Oh Divine mother, for the freedom of my beloved motherland, I shall wage an armed struggle against the evil British ruling our country. In this war against British oppression, either I shall emerge victorious like Chattrapati Shivaji did against another invaders, the Mughals. Or I shall offer my own life for the country, like my Chapekar brothers".

Shivaji Maharaj, vowed to liberate his people from the Mughal rule when he was just sixteen. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was 25, when he plunged into political agitation, after college. His inspiration Mazinni, entered politics when he was seventeen.  Tatya, followed their footsteps, entering the freedom movement at such a tender age.

Tatya composed a ballad on the Chapekar brothers, to aroue the feelings of nationalism in his friends.

It was not an easy vow to take, the deadly plague that had struck Pune, had spread it's tentacles into his family. He still remembered his father, stricken by it, lying on the bed, asking

"The plague shall take away my life soon, but what shall become of my children then?"

Savarkar managed to keep himself calm, even in the midst of such a grave personal crisis, a trait that would enable him to get through even harsher periods, like what he suffered at Cellular Jail. Though Savarkar put in his best efforts , with the help of the local physician, it was in vain, as his father succumbed to the deadly disease, and his uncle a few days later. His younger brother, was taken to the hospital, where his elder brother Baba Rao took care. However Baba Rao himself became a victim of the plague, and it was too harsh a blow, for some one who had already lost his father to the dreaded epidemic.With the family patriarch having passed away, it was left to Baba Rao, now to shoulder the burden. And that is how he had ended up in Nasik.

As Savarkar pondered over the vow he had taken, he realized, it had to be backed up with action, else it would be totally meaningless. And he began to gather his friends around, Mhaskar, Page, Datar, Vartak, Govind Kavi to discuss the future course of action. The discussion led to the formation of the Rashtrabhakta Samuha a secret society, that would propagate and carry out armed revolt against the oppresive British rule. While the Rashtra Bhakta Samuha was more of a shadowy organization, Savarkar felt the need for another organization to carry out their activites in public. And that led to the formation of the Mitra Mela, which apart from Savarkar, had Mhaskar, Page, the Datar brothers as it's members. The Mitra Mela functioned like any other organization with weekly meetings, debate and discussion on various topics. Savarkar's forte was politics and revolution, and he had a single point theme, in most of his talks.

"Our objective is independence, and the means is through armed revolution".

Mitramela was founded right in the year, the world was beginning to take a step into the 20th century. Shivaji Jayanti was the first major festival celebrated by Mitra Mela, and then followed by the Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav. The festivals became an occassion for the Mitra Mela to spread revolutionary thoughts among the masses, through the songs composed by Govind Kavi. It spread the message of revolution, bowed to the Goddess of Liberty, and soon caught the imagination of the common people of Nashik. The Ganesh Utsav in 1901, was on a larger scale now, and the songs by Govind Kavi had an electrifying impact on the masses. The thoughts of Savarkar expressed in the weekly Mitra Mela meetings were given a beautiful poetic form by Kavi. And with a profusion of young lads in the ranks of the Mitra Mela, who could sing those songs composed by Kavi beautifully, the nationalist fervor caught on among the masses. The spark that was ignited by the martrydom of the Chapekar brothers was now spreading like a wildfire.

And from the historic city of Pune, Bal Gangadhar Tilak's clarion call to the masses, was awakening the long dormant spirit of the suppressed people. Savarkar realized, that if Mitramela had to make a larger impact, it would have to increase it's presence. With the rising nationalist tide, in Maharashtra, the time was ripe for Mitra Mela to expand. With Nashik now affected by plague, Savarkar shifted to his maternal uncle's home in Kothur. He opened a new branch of the Mitra Mela here with the help of Tatya and Balwant Rao Barve. The Barves were a prominent Zamindari family in Kothur, and in the past, one of the women in their family was married to the Peshwa.

Bhagur, the hometown of Savarkar was next, where he motivated his childhood friends to join the revolution against the British rule. The Mitramela opened it's new branch here, after Savarkar duly administered the oath to his friends, in the presence of Goddess Bhavani. Next was Trimbakeshwar, from where the sacred Godavari begins it's journey. One of the Dvadasa Jyotirilinga Kshetras, with a unique three faced Shiva Linga, on which were carved the faces of Shiva, along with Vishnu and Brahma. It was in such a holy land, sanctified by the Godavari and the Jyotirlinga, that the branch of the Mitra Mela was established. He also had a personal bond with the holy town, his sister married into a family living there. With the help of Anna Phadke, the brother in law of Baba Rao, and some other youngsters, Savarkar established the Mitra Mela branch in the holy town. 

So what drew people to Savarkar? What made so many young men follow his line of thinking? Yes he was an excellent orator, could rouse the audience, but mere speeches do not really motivate the people. Savarkar was brilliant, had a vast knowledge, but he also possessed something more- Character. He was no empty preacher, this was a man who walked the talk, who practiced what he preached and led by example. More than his erudition and knowledge, it was his character and integrity that made people follow him, not just now, but also in his later years. And when it came to reading, Savarkar was voracious, he just about read every book he could lay hands on. He read the entire Story of Nations, a historical series originally in English, that was later published in Marathi by then Baroda state. From the ancient civilizations of Babylon, Assyria to the medieval Moorish Empire in Spain and the Ottomans, he read every book he could get his hands on. He was inspired by Mazinni and Garibaldi, the architects of Italian unification movement, whose biographies he read on. In Marathi he read the entire works of Moropant, as well as the Kavya Sangrahas and Kavye Itihas. Basically he literally read all the works he could lay his hands on at the Nashik City Library.

But Savarkar did not content himself with just reading the books, he took notes from them, studied them thoroughly. He maintained a collection of all his notes in Sarvasarasangraha. And he did not restrict this to himself, he insisted that all his followers and associates read thoroughly too. He made a mandatory list of reading for all members of the Mitramela, which had around twenty five titles. These books were primarily on revolution, biographies of leaders like Napoleon, works of Swami Vivekananda, and on Indian history. Apart from this, articles in the Kal magazine, under the title, "Young Italy" about European Revolutionary Societies too were read out, in the Mitramela weekly meetings.

Kal magazine went a long way in shaping Savarkar's thoughts, especially the fiery writings of Shivrampant Paranjpe, which inculcated the revolutionary feelings in him. He was so much an admirer of Kal, that he would promptly defend it's provocative tone to any who objected about it. For Savarkar, his guru was Paranjpe, only for being inspired thought wise though, he was still not ready for action. Revolution was still in it's nascent phase in Maharashtra, Phadke had died in an Aden prison, the Chapekar brothers were hanged, and Savarkar was still in his teens. The onus of leading the armed revolt had now fallen on Savarkar, and he had to do it more often than not by himself. It was but natural, that Savarkar's provocative thoughts on revolution would not be easily acceptable to many, to the extent that some called him wild and a loose cannon.

Yet his guru Paranjpe, understood the depth of feelings Savarkar had, and supported him all the way. After Paranjpe, if there was any one else whom Savarkar had veneration for, it was whom he called his Guru's Guru- Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He felt that the revolutionaries had done what they could to translate Tilak's policies into action. He best summed up the relation they had with Tilak, whom he would later meet in Pune

"We are the sappers for Tilak. He was the hilt, while we revolutionaries were the steel blade. The hilt can never be the blade, while the blade can flash only with the help of the hilt".

In effect what he meant was that both Tilak and the revolutionaries needed each other. The latter had a solid foundation on the ideology of Tilak, while his thoughts were actually put into action by them. For Savarkar, Tilak was the Shivaji of their generation, reborn, his political soul belonging to that of the great Marathas and Peshwas. Though Tilak believed in political reform and constitutional methods of agitating for independence, his heart and soul, was more stepped in the warrior ethos of the Marathas. The revolutionaries did not totally reject actions like petitions made by moderate faction or by protest or boycott of foreign goods. They felt that in a way these were needed for public awakening. Yet their belief was simple, only armed revolt could liberate the nation from the bondage of British rule.

But how does one fight the mighty British, with their huge army and police force?

And Savarkar had a two word answer for this- Abhinav Bharat.