Bande Mataram

 

CONTENTS

 

Pre-content

 

 

Part One

Writings and a Resolution 1890 ­ 1906

 

India Renascent

India and the British Parliament

 

New Lamps for Old

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VIII

IX

At the Turn of the Century

Old Moore for 1901

The Congress Movement

Fragment for a Pamphlet

Unity: An open letter

The Proposed Reconstruction of Bengal

On the Bengali and the Mahratta

Bhawani Mandir

Ethics East and West

Resolution at a Swadeshi Meeting

A Sample-Room for Swadeshi Articles

On the Barisal Proclamation

 

 

Part Two

Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Bipin Chandra Pal 6 August ­ 15 October 1906

 

Bande Mataram 20-8-06

Darkness in Light 20.8.06

Our Rip Van Winkles 20.8.06

Indians Abroad 20.8.06

Officials on the Fall of Fuller 20.8.06

Cow Killing: An Englishman's Amusements in Jalpaiguri 20.8.06

 

Bande Mataram 27-8-06

Schools for Slaves 27.8.06

By the Way 27.8.06

 

Bande Mataram 28-8-06

The Mirror and Mr. Tilak 28.8.06

Leaders in Council 28.8.06

 

Bande Mataram 30-8-06

Loyalty and Disloyalty in East Bengal 30.8.06

By the Way 30.8.06

 

Bande Mataram 1-9-06

Lessons at Jamalpur 1.9.06

By the Way 1.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 3-9-06

By the Way 3.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 4-9-06

Partition and Petition 4.9.06

English Enterprise and Swadeshi 4.9.06

Sir Frederick Lely on Sir Bampfylde Fuller 4.9.06

Jamalpur 4.9.06

By the Way 4.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 8-9-06

The Times on Congress Reforms 8.9.06

By the Way 8.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 10-9-06

The Pro-Petition Plot 10.9.06

Socialist and Imperialist 10.9.06

The Sanjibani on Mr. Tilak 10.9.06

Secret Tactics 10.9.06

By the Way 10.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 11-9-06

A Savage Sentence 11.9.06

The Question of the Hour 11.9.06

A Criticism 11.9.06

By the Way 11.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 12-9-06

The Old Policy and the New 12.9.06

Is a Conflict Necessary? 12.9.06

The Charge of Vilification 12.9.06

Autocratic Trickery 12.9.06

By the Way 12.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 13-9-06

Strange Speculations 13.9.06

The Statesman under Inspiration 13.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 14-9-06

A Disingenuous Defence 14.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 17-9-06

Last Friday's Folly 17.9.06

Stop-gap Won't Do 17.9.06

By the Way 17.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 18-9-06

Is Mendicancy Successful? 18.9.06

By the Way 18.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 20-9-06

By the Way 20.9.06

 

Bande Mataram 1-10-06

By the Way 1.10.06

 

Bande Mataram 11-10-06

By the Way 11.10.06

 
 

Part Three

Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo 24 October 1906 ­ 27 May 1907

 

Bande Mataram 29-10-06

The Famine near Calcutta 29.10.06

Statesman's Sympathy Brand 29.10.06

By the Way. News from Nowhere 29.10.06

 

Bande Mataram 30-10-06

The Statesman's Voice of Warning 30.10.06

Sir Andrew Fraser 30.10.06

By the Way. Necessity Is the Mother of Invention 30.10.06

 

Bande Mataram Nov-Dec

Articles Published in the Bande Mataram in November and December 1906

 

Bande Mataram 26-12-06

The Man of the Past and the Man of the Future 26.12.06

 

Bande Mataram 31-12-06

The Results of the Congress 31.12.06

 

Bande Mataram 25-2-07

Yet There Is Method in It 25.2.07

 

Bande Mataram 28-2-07

Mr. Gokhale's Disloyalty 28.2.07

 

Bande Mataram 15-3-07

The Comilla Incident 15.3.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-3-07

British Protection or Self-Protection 18.3.07

 

Bande Mataram 29-3-07

The Berhampur Conference 29.3.07

 

Bande Mataram 2-4-07

The President of the Berhampur Conference 2.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 3-4-07

Peace and the Autocrats 3.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-4-07

Many Delusions 5.4.07

By the Way. Reflections of Srinath Paul, Rai Bahadoor, on the Present Discontents 5.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 6-4-07

Omissions and Commissions at Berhampur 6.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 8-4-07

The Writing on the Wall 8.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 9-4-07

A Nil-admirari Admirer 9.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 10-4-07

Pherozshahi at Surat 10.4.07

A Last Word 10.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 11-4-07

The Situation in East Bengal 11.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 11-23-4-07

The Doctrine of Passive Resistance 11 ­ 23.4.07

I. Introduction

II. Its Object

III. Its Necessity

IV. Its Methods

V. Its Obligations

VI. Its Limits

VII. Conclusions

 

Bande Mataram 12-4-07

The Proverbial Offspring 12.4.07

By the Way 12.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 13-4-07

By the Way 13.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 16-4-07

The Old Year 16.4.07

Rishi Bankim Chandra 16.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 17-4-07

A Vilifier on Vilification 17.4.07

By the Way. A Mouse in a Flutter 17.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-4-07

Simple, Not Rigorous 18.4.07

British Interests and British Conscience 18.4.07

A Recommendation 18.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 19-4-07

An Ineffectual Sedition Clause 19.4.07

The Englishman as a Statesman 19.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 22-4-07

The Gospel according to Surendranath 22.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 23-4-07

A Man of Second Sight 23.4.07

Passive Resistance in the Punjab 23.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 24-4-07

By the Way 24.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 25-4-07

Bureaucracy at Jamalpur 25.4.07

Anglo-Indian Blunderers 25.4.07

The Leverage of Faith 25.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-4-07

Graduated Boycott 26.4.07

Instinctive Loyalty 26.4.07

Nationalism, Not Extremism 26.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 27-4-07S

hall India Be Free? The Loyalist Gospel 27.4.07

The Mask Is Off 27.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 29-4-07

Shall India Be Free? National Development and Foreign Rule 29.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 30-4-07

Shall India Be Free? 30.4.07

 

Bande Mataram 1-5-07

Moonshine for Bombay Consumption 1.5.07

The Reformer on Moderation 1.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 2-5-07

Shall India Be Free? Unity and British Rule 2.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 3-5-07

Extremism in the Bengalee 3.5.07

Hare or Another 3.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 6-5-07

Look on This Picture, Then on That 6.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 8-5-07

Curzonism for the University 8.5.07

Incompetence or Connivance 8.5.07

Soldiers and Assaults 8.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 9-5-07

By the Way 9.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 10-5-07

Lala Lajpat Rai Deported 10.5.07

 

 

Bande Mataram 11-5-07

The Crisis 11.5.07

Lala Lajpat Rai 11.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 13-5-07

Government by Panic 13.5.07

In Praise of the Government 13.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 14-5-07

The Bagbazar Meeting 14.5.07

A Treacherous Stab 14.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 15-5-07

How to Meet the Ordinance 15.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 16-5-07

Mr. Morley's Pronouncement 16.5.07

The Bengalee on the Risley Circular 16.5.07

What Does Mr. Hare Mean? 16.5.07

Not to the Andamans! 16.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 17-5-07

The Statesman Unmasks 17.5.07

Sui Generis 17.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 20-5-07

The Statesman on Mr. Mudholkar 20.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 22-5-07

The Government Plan of Campaign 22.5.07

The Nawab's Message 22.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 23-5-07

And Still It Moves 23.5.07

British Generosity 23.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 24-5-07

An Irish Example 24.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 25-5-07

The East Bengal Disturbances 25.5.07

Newmania 25.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 27-5-07

The Gilded Sham Again 27.5.07

National Volunteers 27.5.07

 

 

Part Four

Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo 28 May ­ 22 December 1907

 

Bande Mataram 28-5-07

The True Meaning of the Risley Circular 28.5.07

Cool Courage and Not Blood-and-Thunder Speeches 28.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 29-5-07

The Effect of Petitionary Politics 29.5.07

The Sobhabazar Shaktipuja 29.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 30-5-07

The Ordinance and After 30.5.07

A Lost Opportunity 30.5.07

The Daily News and Its Needs 30.5.07

Common Sense in an Unexpected Quarter 30.5.07

Drifting Away 30.5.07

 

Bande Mataram 1-6-07

The Question of the Hour 1.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 4-6-07

Regulated Independence 4.6.07

A Consistent Patriot 4.6.07

Holding on to a Titbit 4.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-6-07

Wanted, a Policy 5.6.07

Preparing the Explosion 5.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 6-6-07

A Statement 6.6.07

Law and Order 6.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 7-6-07

Defying the Circular 7.6.07

By the Way. When Shall We Three Meet Again? 7.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 8-6-07

The Strength of the Idea 8.6.07

Comic Opera Reforms 8.6.07

Paradoxical Advice 8.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 12-6-07

An Out-of-Date Reformer 12.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 14-6-07

The Sphinx 14.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 17-6-07

Slow but Sure 17.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-6-07

The Rawalpindi Sufferers 18.6.07

Look on This Picture and Then on That 18.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 19-6-07

The Main Feeder of Patriotism 19.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 20-6-07

Concerted Action 20.6.07

The Bengal Government's Letter 20.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 21-6-07

British Justice 21.6.07

The Moral of the Coconada Strike 21.6.07

The Statesman on Shooting 21.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 22-6-07

Mr. A. Chaudhuri's Policy 22.6.07

A Current Dodge 22.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 24-6-07

More about British Justice 24.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 25-6-07

Morleyism Analysed 25.6.07

Political or Non-Political 25.6.07

Hare Street Logic 25.6.07

The Tanjore Students' Resolution 26.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-6-07

The Statesman on Mr. Chaudhuri 26.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 27-6-07

"Legitimate Patriotism" 27.6.07

Khulna Oppressions 27.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 28-6-07

The Secret Springs of Morleyism 28.6.07

A Danger to the State 28.6.07

The New Thought. Personal Rule and Freedom of Speech and Writing

28.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 29-6-07

The Secret of the Swaraj Movement 29.6.07

Passive Resistance in France 29.6.07

By the Way 29.6.07

 

Bande Mataram 1-7-07

Stand Fast 1.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 2-7-07

The Acclamation of the House 2.7.07

Perishing Prestige 2.7.07

A Congress Committee Mystery 2.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 3-7-07

Europe and Asia 3.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 4-7-07

Press Prosecutions 4.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-7-07

Try Again 5.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 9-7-07

A Curious Procedure 9.7.07

Association and Dissociation 9.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 11-7-07

Industrial India 11.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 13-7-07

From Phantom to Reality 13.7.07

Audi Alteram Partem 13.7.07

Swadeshi in Education 13.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 15-7-07

Boycott and After 15.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 16-7-07

In Honour of Hyde and Humphreys 16.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-7-07

Angelic Murmurs 18.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 19-7-07

A Plague o' Both Your Houses 19.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 20-7-07

The Khulna Comedy 20.7.07

A Noble Example 20.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 22-7-07

The Korean Crisis 22.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 25-7-07

One More for the Altar 25.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-7-07

Srijut Bhupendranath 26.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-7-07

The Issue 29.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 30-7-07

District Conference at Hughly 30.7.07

Bureaucratic Alarms 30.7.07

 

Bande Mataram 6-8-07

The 7th of August 6.8.07

The Indian Patriot on Ourselves 6.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 7-8-07

Our Rulers and Boycott 7.8.07

Tonight's Illumination 7.8.07

Our First Anniversary 7.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 7-8-07

To Organise 10.8.07

Statutory Distinction 10.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 12-8-07

Marionettes and Others 12.8.07

A Compliment and Some Misconceptions 12.8.07

Pal on the Brain 12.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 13-8-07

Phrases by Fraser 13.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 17-8-07

To Organise Boycott 17.8.07

The Foundations of Nationality 17.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 20-8-07

Barbarities at Rawalpindi 20.8.07

The High Court Miracles 20.8.07

The Times Romancist 20.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 21-8-07

A Malicious Persistence 21.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 23-8-07

In Melancholy Vein 23.8.07

Advice to National College Students [Speech] 23.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 24-8-07

Sankaritola's Apologia 24.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-8-07

Our False Friends 26.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 27-8-07

Repression and Unity 27.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 31-8-07

The Three Unities of Sankaritola 31.8.07

 

Bande Mataram 3-9-07

Eastern Renascence 3.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 12-9-07

The Martyrdom of Bipin Chandra 12.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 14-9-07

Sacrifice and Redemption 14.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 20-9-07

The Un-Hindu Spirit of Caste Rigidity 20.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 21-9-07

Caste and Democracy 21.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 25-9-07

Bande Mataram Prosecution 25.9.07

Pioneer or Hindu Patriot? 25.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 26-9-07

The Chowringhee Pecksniff and Ourselves 26.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 28-9-07

The Statesman in Retreat 28.9.07

The Khulna Appeal 28.9.07

 

Bande Mataram 4-10-07

A Culpable Inaccuracy 4.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-10-07

Novel Ways to Peace 5.10.07

"Armenian Horrors" 5.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 7-10-07

The Vanity of Reaction 7.10.07

The Price of a Friend 7.10.07

A New Literary Departure 7.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 8-10-07

Protected Hooliganism -A Parallel 8.10.07

Mr. Keir Hardie and India 8.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 11-10-07

The Shadow of the Ordinance in Calcutta 11.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 23-10-07

The Nagpur Affair and True Unity 23.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 29-10-07

The Nagpur Imbroglio 29.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 31-10-07

English Democracy Shown Up 31.10.07

 

Bande Mataram 4-11-07

Difficulties at Nagpur 4.11.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-11-07

Mr. Tilak and the Presidentship 5.11.07

 

Bande Mataram 16-11-07

Nagpur and Loyalist Methods 16.11.07

The Life of Nationalism 16.11.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-11-07

By the Way. In Praise of Honest John 18.11.07

 

Bande Mataram 19-11-07

Bureaucratic Policy 19.11.07

 

Bande Mataram 2-12-07

About Unity 2.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 3-12-07

Personality or Principle? 3.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 4-12-07

More about Unity 4.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 5-12-07

By the Way 5.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 6-12-07

Caste and Representation 6.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 12-12-07

About Unmistakable Terms 12.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 13-12-07

The Surat Congress 13.12.07

Misrepresentations about Midnapore 13.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 14-12-07

Reasons of Secession 14.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 17-12-07

The Awakening of Gujarat 17.12.07

 

Bande Mataram 18-12-07

"Capturing the Congress" 18.12.07

Lala Lajpat Rai's Refusal 18.12.07

The Delegates' Fund 18.12.07

 
 

Part Five

Speeches 22 December 1907 ­ 1 February 1908

 

Speeches 13-1-08

Our Experiences in Bengal 13.1.08

 

Speeches 15-1-08

National Education 15.1.08

 

Speeches 19-1-08

The Present Situation 19.1.08

 

Speeches 24-1-08

The Meaning of Swaraj 24.1.08

 

Speeches 26-1-08

Swadeshi and Boycott 26.1.08

 

Speeches 29-1-08

Bande Mataram 29.1.08

 

Speeches 30-1-08

The Aims of the Nationalist Party 30.1.08

 

Speeches 31-1-08

Our Work in the Future 31.1.08

 

Speeches 1-2-08

Commercial and Educational Swarajya 1.2.08

 

 

Part Six

Bande Mataram

under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo with

Speeches Delivered during the Same Period 6 February ­ 3 May 1908

 

Bande Mataram 6-2-08

Revolutions and Leadership 6.2.08

 

Speeches 12-13-2-08

Speeches at Pabna 12 ­ 13.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 18-2-08S

waraj 18.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 19-2-08

The Future of the Movement 19.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 20-2-08

Work and Ideal 20.2.08

By the Way 20.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 21-2-08

The Latest Sedition Trial 21.2.08

Boycott and British Capital 21.2.08

Unofficial Commissions 21.2.08

The Soul and India's Mission 21.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 22-2-08

The Glory of God in Man 22.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 24-2-08

A National University 24.2.08

 

Bande Mataram 3-3-08

Mustafa Kamal Pasha 3.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 4-3-08

A Great Opportunity 4.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 5-3-08

Swaraj and the Coming Anarchy 5.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 7-3-08

The Village and the Nation 7.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 10-3-08

Welcome to the Prophet of Nationalism 10.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 11-3-08

The Voice of the Martyrs 11.3.08

Constitution-making 11.3.08

What Committee? 11.3.08

An Opportunity Lost 11.3.08

A Victim of Bureaucracy 11.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 12-3-08

A Great Message 12.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 13-3-08

The Tuticorin Victory 13.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 14-3-08

Perpetuate the Split! 14.3.08

Loyalty to Order 14.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 16-3-08

Asiatic Democracy 16.3.08

Charter or No Charter 16.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 17-3-08

The Warning from Madras 17.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 19-3-08

The Need of the Moment 19.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 20-3-08

Unity by Co-operation 20.3.08

The Early Indian Polity 20.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 21-3-08

The Fund for Sj. Pal 21.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 23-3-08

The Weapon of Secession 23.3.08

Sleeping Sirkar and Waking People 23.3.08

Anti-Swadeshi in Madras 23.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 24-3-08

Exclusion or Unity? 24.3.08

How the Riot Was Made 24.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 25-3-08

Oligarchy or Democracy? 25.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 26-3-08

Freedom of Speech 26.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 27-3-08

Tomorrow's Meeting 27.3.08

Well Done, Chidambaram! 27.3.08

The Anti-Swadeshi Campaign 27.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 28-3-08

Spirituality and Nationalism 28.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 30-3-08

The Struggle in Madras 30.3.08

A Misunderstanding 30.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 31-3-08

The Next Step 31.3.08

 

Bande Mataram 1-4-08

India and the Mongolian 1.4.08

Religion and the Bureaucracy 1.4.08

The Milk of Putana 1.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 2-4-08

Swadeshi Cases and Counsel 2.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 3-4-08

The Question of the President 3.4.08

The Utility of Ideals 3.4.08

Speech at Panti's Math 3.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 4-4-08

Convention and Conference 4.4.08

By the Way 4.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 6-4-08

The Constitution of the Subjects Committee 6.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 7-4-08

The New Ideal 7.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 9-4-08

The Asiatic Role 9.4.08

Love Me or Die 9.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 10-4-08

The Work Before Us 10.4.08

Campbell-Bannerman Retires 10.4.08

 

Speech 10-4-08

United Congress [Speech] 10.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 11-4-08

The Demand of the Mother 11.4.08

 

Speech 12-4-08

Baruipur Speech 12.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 13-4-08

Peace and Exclusion 13.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 14-4-08

Indian Resurgence and Europe 14.4.08

Om Shantih 14.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 18-4-08

Conventionalist and Nationalist 18.4.08

 

Speech 20-4-08

Palli Samiti [Speech] 20.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 22-4-08

The Future and the Nationalists 22.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 23-4-08

The Wheat and the Chaff 23.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 24-4-08

Party and the Country 24.4.08

The Bengalee Facing Both Ways 24.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 25-4-08

The One Thing Needful 25.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 29-4-08

New Conditions 29.4.08

Whom to Believe? 29.4.08

By the Way. The Parable of Sati 29.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 30-4-08

Leaders and a Conscience 30.4.08

An Ostrich in Colootola 30.4.08

By the Way 30.4.08

 

Bande Mataram 2-5-08

Nationalist Differences 2.5.08

Ideals Face to Face 2.5.08

 

 

 

Part Seven

Writings from Manuscripts 1907 ­ 1908

 

The Bourgeois and the Samurai

The New Nationalism

The Mother and the Nation

The Morality of Boycott

A Fragment

 

 

Appendixes

 

Appendix One

 

Incomplete Drafts of Three Articles

Draft of the Conclusion of "Nagpur and Loyalist Methods"

Draft of the Opening of "In Praise of Honest John"

Incomplete Draft of an Unpublished Article

 

 

Appendix Two

 

Writings and Jottings Connected with the Bande Mataram 1906 ­ 1908

"Bande Mataram" Printers & Publishers, Limited.

Draft of a Prospectus of 1907

Notes and Memos

 

 

Appendix Three

 

Nationalist Party Documents

 

 

Appendix Four

 

A Birthday Interview

 

NOTE ON THE TEXTS

Part Six

 

Bande Mataram

 

under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo

 

with Speeches Delivered during the Same Period

 

6 February ­ 3 May 1908

 

After returning from Maharashtra in February 1908, Sri Aurobindo resumed his duties as chief editorial writer of the Bande Mataram. He wrote regularly for the journal over the next three months; during the same period he was occasionally called on to deliver speeches in Calcutta and other places in Bengal. Some of these speeches were published in the Bande Mataram . They are reproduced here at the date of their delivery and not the date of publication.

On 2 May 1908 Sri Aurobindo was arrested in connection with the revolutionary activities of his brother Barindrakumar Ghose and others. He remained in Alipore jail from 5 May 1908 to 6 May 1909, when he was acquitted and released. The Bande Mataram, edited during his imprisonment by his colleagues, ceased publication in October 1908, when it was suppressed by the British government under the provisions of the Press Act of 1908.     

 


Bande Mataram


{ CALCUTTA, February 6th, 1908 }


Revolutions and Leadership

 

Among many of those who are our leaders, there is a feeling of resentment against Nationalists because there is so little recognition of their past services, so strong a disposition to find fault with their actions and question their authority. It is asked of us whether we are going to upset all authority, disregard discipline and overthrow the natural pre-eminence of men who have long worked for their country. This question is the expression of an inevitable feeling of personal pique forced from them by the sense of exasperation which the loss of prestige and power cannot fail to create. If we answer this question at all, it is because it takes its stand on points of general importance instead of appearing in its native character of personal feeling. The authority of a political leader depends on his capacity to feel and express the sentiments of the people who follow him; it does not reside in himself. He holds his position because he is a representative man, not because he is such-and-such an individual. To take the position that because he has led in the past therefore his word must be law so long as he lives, is to ignore the root principles of political life. His past services can only give him the claim to be regarded as a leader in preference to others so long as he voices the sentiments of the people and keeps pace with the tendencies of the time. The moment he tries to misuse his position in order to impose his own will upon the people instead of making their will his own, he forfeits all claim to respect. If he has fallen behind the times, his only course is to stand aside; but to demand that because he is there and wishes to remain, the march of the world shall wait upon his fears and hesitations is to make a claim against which the reason and conscience of humanity rebels.   

 

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What the Moderate leaders ask is that the immense revolution which has begun in India, shall ask for their permission before it chooses its course or rolls forward to its great goal. Like so many Canutes they set their chairs, Presidential or other, on the margin of the tide of Nationalism and looking over the stormy waters command them to respect their thrones and stay the upsurging wrath of their billows so that their robes may not be drenched by the spray. It is a vain and fantastic demand. This tide was not created by any human power, nor can any man impose on it a limit or a bourne. As well ask the thunderbolt to respect the tallest oaks or the avalanche to regulate the line of its descent so that ourselves may go safe, as ask this tremendous revolution to obey the will of the insignificant individuals whom chance has lifted to a momentary eminence. Nationalism is itself no creation of individuals and can have no respect for persons. It is a force which God has created, and from Him it has received only one command, to advance and advance and ever advance until He bids it stop, because its appointed mission is done. It advances, inexorably, blindly, unknowing how it advances, in obedience to a Power which it cannot gainsay, and everything which stands in its way, man or institution, will be swept away or ground into powder beneath its weight. Ancient sanctity, supreme authority, bygone popularity, nothing will serve as a plea.

It is not the fault of the avalanche if it sweeps away human life by its irresistible and unwilled advance; nor can it be imputed as moral obliquity to the thunderbolt that the oak of a thousand years stood precisely where its burning hand was laid. Not only the old leaders but any of the new men whom the tide has tossed up for a moment on the crest of its surges, must pay the penalty of imagining that he can control the ocean and impose on it his personal likes and desires. These are times of revolution when tomorrow casts aside the fame, popularity and pomp of today. The man whose carriage is today dragged through great cities by shouting thousands amid cries of "Bande Mataram" and showers of garlands, will tomorrow be disregarded, perhaps hissed and forbidden to speak. So it has always been and   

 

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none can prevent it. How can such-and-such a barrister, editor, professor whom his personal talents have brought forward for a time, say to Revolution, "Thou shalt be my servant" or to Chaos, "I will use thee as the materials of my personal aggrandisement"? As the pace of the movement is accelerated, the number of those who are left behind will increase. Men who are now acclaimed as Extremists, leaders of the forward movement, preachers of Nationalism and embodiments of the popular feeling will tomorrow find themselves left behind, cast aside, a living monument of the vanity of personal ambition. The old leaders claim eternal leadership because they have rendered services— some few eloquent speeches or well-written petitions, to wit; but before we are much older, those who are serving their country by personal suffering and self-sacrifice will find that they too must not presume on their services. Only the self-abnegation which effaces the idea of self altogether and follows the course of the revolution with a childlike belief that God is the leader and what He does is for the best, will be able to continue working for the country. Such men are not led by personal ambition and cannot therefore be deterred from following the will of God by personal loss of any kind.

Revolutions are incalculable in their goings and absolutely uncontrollable. The sea flows and who shall tell it how it is to flow? The wind blows and what human wisdom can regulate its motions? The will of Divine Wisdom is the sole law of revolutions and we have no right to consider ourselves as anything but mere agents chosen by that Wisdom. When our work is done, we should realise it and feel glad that we have been permitted to do so much. Is it not enough reward for the greatest services that we can do, if our names are recorded in History among those who helped by their work or their speech or better, by the mute service of their sufferings to prepare the great and free India that will be? Nay, is it not enough if unnamed and unrecorded except in the Books of God, we go down to the grave with the consciousness that our finger too was laid on the great Car and may have helped, however imperceptibly, to push it forward? This talk of services is a poor thing after all. Do we serve the   

 

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Mother for a reward or do God's work for hire? The patriot lives for his country because he must; he dies for her because she demands it. That is all.  

 

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