The Role of South India in the Freedom Movement

Appendix

Two letters from Sri Aurobindo on the Second World War

1. You have said that you have begun to doubt whether it was the Mother's war and ask me to make you feel again that it is. I affirm again to you most strongly that this is the Mother's war. You should not think of it as a fight for certain nations against others or even for India; it is a struggle for an ideal that has to establish itself on earth in the life of humanity, for a Truth that has yet to realise itself fully and against a darkness and falsehood that are trying to overwhelm the earth and mankind in the immediate future. It is the forces behind the battle that have to be seen and not this or that superficial circumstance. It is no use concentrating on the defects or mistakes of nations; all have defects and commit serious mistakes; but what matters is on what side they have ranged themselves in the struggle. It is a struggle for the liberty of mankind to develop, for conditions in which men have freedom and room to think and act according to the light in them and grow in the Truth, grow in the Spirit. There cannot be the slightest doubt that if one side wins, there will be an end of all such freedom and hope of light and truth and the work that has to be done will be subjected to conditions which would make it humanly impossible; there will be a reign of falsehood and darkness, a cruel oppression and degradation for most of the human race such as people in this country do not dream of and cannot yet at all realise. If the other side that has declared itself for the free future of humanity triumphs, this terrible danger will have been averted and conditions will have been created in which there will be a chance for the Ideal to grow, for the Divine Work to be done, for the spiritual Truth for which we stand to establish itself on the earth. Those who fight for this cause are fighting for the Divine and against the threatened reign of the Asura.

July 29th, 1942.

Sri Aurobindo

2. What we say is not that the Allies have not done wrong things, but that they stand on the side of the evolutionary forces.5 I have not said that at random, but on what to me are clear grounds of fact. What you speak of is the dark side. All nations and governments have been that in their dealings with each other,— at least all who had the strength and got the chance. I hope you

are not expecting me to believe that there are or have been virtuous governments and unselfish and sinless peoples? But there

is the other side also. You are condemning the Allies on grounds that people in the past would have stared at, on the basis of modern ideals of international conduct; looked at like that all have black records. But who created these ideals or did most to create them (liberty, democracy, equality, international justice and the rest)? Well, America, France, England—the present Allied nations. They have all been imperialistic and still bear the burden of their past, but they have also deliberately spread these ideals and spread too the institutions which try to embody them. Whatever the relative worth of these things— they have been a stage, even if a still imperfect stage of the forward evolution.

(What about the others? Hitler, for example, says it is a crime to educate the coloured peoples, they must be kept as serfs and labourers.) England has helped certain nations to be free without seeking any personal gain; she has also conceded independence to Egypt and Eire after a struggle, to Iraq without a struggle. She has been moving away

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steadily, if slowly, from imperialism towards co-operation; the British Commonwealth of England and the Dominions is something unique and unprecedented, a beginning of new things in that direction: she is moving in idea towards a world-union of some kind in which aggression is to be made impossible; her new generation has no longer the old firm belief in mission and empire; she has offered India Dominion independence—or even sheer isolated independence, if she wants that,—after the war, with an agreed free constitution to be chosen by Indians themselves. . . . All that is what I call evolution in the right direction—however slow and imperfect and hesitating it may still be. As for America she has forsworn her past imperialistic policies in regard to Central and South America, she has conceded independence to Cuba and the Philippines. . . . Is there a similar trend on the side of the Axis? One has to look at things on all sides, to see them steadily and whole. Once again, it is the forces working behind that I have to look at, I don't want to go blind among surface details. The future has to be safeguarded; only then can present troubles and contradictions have a chance to be solved and eliminated. . . .

For us the question does not arise. We made it plain in a letter which has been made public that we did not consider the war as a fight between nations and governments (still less between good people and bad people) but between two forces, the Divine and the Asuric. What we have to see is on which side men and nations put themselves; if they put themselves on the right side, they at once make themselves instruments of the Divine purpose in spite of all defects, errors, wrong movements and actions which are common to human nature and all human collectivities. The victory of one side (the Allies) would keep the path open for the evolutionary forces: the victory of the other side would drag back humanity, degrade it horribly and might lead even, at the worst, to its eventual failure as a race, as others in the past evolution failed and perished. That is the whole question and all other considerations are either irrelevant or of a minor importance. The Allies at least have stood for human values, though they may often act against their own best ideals (human beings always do that); Hitler stands for diabolical values or for human values exaggerated in the wrong way until they become diabolical (e.g. the virtues of the Herrenvolk, the master race). That does not make the English or Americans nations of spotless angels nor the Germans a wicked and sinful race, but as an indicator it has a primary importance. . . .

The Kurukshetra example is not to be taken as an exact parallel but rather as a traditional instance of the war between two world-forces in which the side favoured by the Divine triumphed, because the leaders made themselves His instruments. It is not to be envisaged as a battle between virtue and wickedness, the good and the evil men. After all, were even the Pandavas virtuous without defect, quite unselfish and without passions? . . . Were not the Pandavas fighting to establish their own claims and interests—just and right, no doubt, but still personal claims and self-interest? Theirs was a righteous battle, dharmyayuddha, but it was for right and justice in their own case. And if imperialism, empire-building by armed force, is under all

circumstances a wickedness, then the Pandavas are tainted with that brush, for they used their victory to establish their empire,

continued after them by Parikshit and Janamejaya. Could not modern humanism and pacifism make it a reproach against the Pandavas that these virtuous men (including Krishna) brought about a huge slaughter that they might become supreme rulers over all the numerous free and independent peoples of India? That would be the result of weighing old happenings in the scales of modern ideals. As a matter of fact such an empire was a step in the right direction then, just as a world-union of free peoples would be a step in the right direction now,—in both cases the right consequences of a terrific slaughter. . . . We should remember that conquest and rule over subject peoples were not regarded as wrong either in ancient or mediaeval or quite recent times, but as

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something great and glorious; men did not see any special wickedness in conquerors or conquering nations. Just government of subject peoples was envisaged but nothing more—exploitation was not excluded. The modern ideas on the subject, the right of all to liberty, both individuals and nations, the immorality of conquest and empire, or such compromises as the British idea of training subject races for democratic freedom, are new values, an evolutionary movement; this is a new Dharma which has only begun slowly and initially to influence practice,—an infant Dharma which would have been throttled for good if Hitler succeeded in his "Avataric" mission and established his new "religion" over all the earth. Subject nations naturally accept the new Dharma and severely criticise the old imperialisms; it is to be hoped that they will practise what they now preach when they themselves become strong and rich and powerful. But the best will be if a new world-order evolves, even if at first stumblingly or incompletely, which will make the old things impossible—a difficult task, but not absolutely impossible.

The Divine takes men as they are and uses men as His instruments even if they are not flawless in virtue, angelic, holy and pure. If they are of good will, if, to use the Biblical phrase, they are on the Lord's side, that is enough for the work to be done. Even if I knew that the Allies would misuse their victory or bungle the peace or partially at least spoil the opportunities opened to the human world by that victory, I would still put my force behind them. At any rate things could not be one hundredth part as bad as they would be under Hitler. The ways of the Lord would still be open—to keep them open is what matters. Let us stick to the real, the central fact, the need to remove the peril of black servitude and revived barbarism threatening India and the world, and leave for a later time all side-issues and minor issues or hypothetical problems that would cloud the one all-important tragic issue before us.

Sri Aurobindo

3. 9. 1943

THE CRIPPS STORY

The Mother's remarks on the Cripps Proposal

"What is it all about?" P said that one person argued that Cripps' offer would not be accepted by the Indian leaders. The Mother felt amused and inquired, "Why?" By then She had sat on the chair that was in front of Her. It was a very unusual and mteresting scene; the Mother, stiII in Her beautiful Japanese kimono just out of the bath, didn't seem to care to change Her dress, and was more interested in the arguments against the acceptance. Then She began to talk with a very calm and distinct voice. One could see that She who had entered a few minutes ago had been transported somewhere else and the voice was coming from that plane. . . .

She said something to this effect: "One should leave the matter of the Cripps' Offer entirely in the hands of the Divine, with full confidence that the Divine will work everything out. Certainly there were flaws in the offer. Nothing on earth created by man is flawless, because the human mind has a limited capacity . Yet behind this offer there is the Divine Grace directly present. The Grace is now at the door of India, ready to give its help. In the history of a nation such opportunities do not come often. The Grace presents itself at rare moments, after centuries of preparation of that nation. If it is accepted, the nation wiII survive and get a new birth in the Divine's consciousness. But if it is rejected the Grace wiII withdraw and then the nation wiII suffer terribly, calamity wiII overtake it. "Only some months ago, the same Grace presented itself at the door of France, immediately after the fall of Dunkirk, in the form of ChurchiII's offer to her to have joint Nationality with England and fight the enemy. Sri Aurobindo said that it was the right idea and it would also have helped His work immensely. But France could not raise

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herself above the ordinary mind, and rejected it. So the Grace withdrew and the Soul of France has gone down. One doesn't know when the real France wiII be up again.

"But India with her background of intense spiritual development through the ages, must realise the Grace that is behind this offer. It is not simply a human offering. Of course its form has been given by the human mind, and it has elements of imperfection in it. But that does not matter at all. Have faith in the Grace and leave everything to the Divine who will surely work it out. "My ardent request to India is that she should not reject it. She must not make the same mistake that France has done recently and that has plunged her into the abyss. "

As soon as She had finished speaking She hurried back to Her dressing room, without a word or a look at anybody. Later, on the same day, the first of April, 1942, when She returned from the Prosperity after the distribution, She disclosed that Sri Aurobindo had already sent a telegram to Sir Stafford, and the latter had reciprocated very heartily, and both the telegrams were being put on the notice board by Nolini. We then read the messages and were very much encouraged. But the next day or the day after it, the Congress announced that it had rejected the offer. The Mother was quite unperturbed; She only said, "Now calamity will befall India.

RESOLUTION OF THE CONGRESS WORKING COMMITTEE

The Working Committee have given full and earnest consideration to the proposals made by the British War Cabinet with regard to India and the elucidation of them by Sir Stafford Cripps.

These proposals, which have been made at the very last hour because of the compulsion of events, have to be considered not only in relation to India's demand for independence but more especially, in the present grave war crisis, with a view to meeting effectively the perils and dangers that confront India and envelop the world.

Congress has repeatedly stated, ever since the commencement of the war in September 1939, that the people of India would line themselves with the progressive forces of the world and assume full responsibility to face the new problems and shoulder the new burdens that had arisen, and it asked for the necessary conditions to enable them to do so to be created. The essential condition was the freedom of India, for only the realisation of present freedom could light the flame which would illuminate millions of hearts and move them to action.

At the last meeting of the All-India Congress Committee, after the commencement of the war in the Pacific, it was stated that: "Only a free and independent India can be in a position to undertake the defence of the country on a national basis and be able to help in the furtherance of the larger causes that are emerging from the form of war."

The British War Cabinet's new proposals relate principally to the future, upon the cessation of hostilities. The Committee, while recognising that self-determination for the people of India is accepted in principle in that uncertain future, regret that this is

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fettered and circumscribed and that certain provisions have been introduced which gravely imperil the development of a free and united national government and the establishment of a democratic state. Even the constitution-making body is so constituted that the people's right of self-determination is vitiated by the introduction of non-representative elements.

The people of India have, as a whole, clearly demanded full independence, and Congress has repeatedly declared that no other status except that of independence for the whole of India could be agreed to or could meet the essential requirements of the present situation.

The Committee recognise that future independence may be implicit in the proposals, but the accompanying provisions and restrictions are such that real freedom may well become an illusion.

The complete ignoring of ninety millions of people in the Indian States, and their treatment as commodities at the disposal of their Rulers, is a negation both of democracy and self-determination. While the representation of an Indian State in the constitution-making body is fixed on a population basis, the people of the State have no voice in choosing those representatives, nor are they to be consulted at any stage while decisions vitally affecting them are being taken. Such States may in many ways become barriers to the growth of Indian freedom, enclaves where foreign authority still prevails, and where the possibility of maintaining foreign-armed forces has been stated to be a likely contingency and a perpetual menace to the freedom of the people of the States as well as of the rest of India.

The acceptance beforehand of the novel principle of non-accession for a Province is also a severe blow to the conception of Indian unity and an apple of discord likely to generate growing trouble in the Provinces, and which may well lead to further difficulties in the way of the Indian States merging themselves into an Indian Union. Congress has been wedded to Indian freedom and unity and any break of that unity especially in the modern world when peoples' minds inevitably think in terms of ever larger federations would be injurious to all concerned and exceedingly painful to contemplate. Nevertheless the Committee cannot think in terms of compelling the people of any territorial unit to remain in an Indian Union against their declared and established will. While recognising this principle, the Committee feel that every effort should be made to create conditions which would help the different units in developing a common and co-operative national life. Acceptance of this principle inevitably involves that no changes should be made which would result in fresh problems being created and compulsion being exercised on other substantial groups within that area. Each territorial unit should have the fullest possible autonomy within the Union consistently with a strong National State.

The proposal now made on the part of the British War Cabinet encourages and will lead to attempts at separation at the very inception of the Union and thus create great friction just when the utmost co-operation and goodwill are most needed. This proposal has been presumably made to meet the communal demand, but it will have

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other consequences also and lead politically reactionary and obscurantist groups among the different communities to create trouble and divert public attention from the vital issues before the country.

Any proposal concerning the future of India must demand attention and scrutiny, but in to-day's grave crisis it is the present that counts and even the proposals for the future in so far as they affect the present. The Committee necessarily attached the greatest importance to this aspect of the question and on this ultimately depends what advice they should give to those who look to them for guidance. For this the present British War Cabinet's proposals are vague and altogether incomplete, and there would appear to be no vital changes in the present structure contemplated. It has been made clear that the defence of India will in any event remain under British control. At any time Defence is a vital subject; during war-time it is all-important and covers almost every sphere of life and administration. To take away Defence from the sphere of responsibility at this stage is to reduce that responsibility to a farce and nullity, and to make it perfectly clear that India is not going to be free in any way and her Government is not going to function as a free and independent Government during the pendency of the war.

The Committee would repeat that the essential fundamental prerequisite for the assumption of responsibility by the Indian people in the present is their realisation as a fact that they are free and are in charge of maintaining and defending their freedom. What is most wanted is the enthusiastic response of the people, which cannot be evoked without the fullest trust in them and the devolution of responsibility on them in the matter of Defence. It is only thus that even in this grave eleventh hour it may be possible to galvanise the people of India to rise to the height of the occasion. It is manifest that the present Government of India, as well as its Provincial agencies, are lacking in competence and are incapable of shouldering the burden of India's defence. It is only the people of India, through their popular representatives, who may shoulder this burden worthily. But that can only be done by present freedom and full responsibility being cast upon them. The Committee are, therefore, unable to accept the proposals put forward on behalf of the British War Cabinet.

(Transfer of Power 1942-7, Vol.1, Cripps Mission, January - April 1942, edited by Nicholas Mansergh and published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1970, reprinted in India by Vikas Publications, Delhi, pp745 - 48)

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Message of 15^th August

August 15th is the birthday of free India. It marks for her the end of an old era, the beginning of a new age. But it has a significance not only for us, but for Asia and the whole world; for it signifies the entry into the comity of nations of a new power with untold potentialities which has a great part to play in determining the political, social, cultural and spiritual future of humanity. To me personally it must naturally be gratifying that this date which was notable only for me because it was my own birthday celebrated annually by those who have accepted my gospel of life, should have acquired this vast significance. As a mystic, I take this identification, not as a coincidence or fortuitous accident, but as a sanction and seal of the Divine Power which guides my steps on the work with which I began life. Indeed almost all the world movements which I hoped to see fulfilled in my lifetime, though at that time they looked like impossible dreams, I can observe on this day either approaching fruition or initiated and on the way to their achievement. I have been asked for a message on this great occasion, but I am perhaps hardly in a position to give one. All I can do is to make a personal declaration of the aims and ideals conceived in my childhood and youth and now watched in their beginning of fulfilment, because they are relevant to the freedom of India, since they are a part of what I believe to be India's future work, something in which she cannot but take a leading position. For I have always held and said that India was arising, not to serve her own material interests only, to achieve expansion, greatness, power and prosperity,— though these too she must not neglect, —and certainly not like others to acquire domination of other peoples, but to live also for God and the world as a helper and leader of the whole human race. Those aims and ideals were in their natural order these: a revolution which would achieve India's freedom and her unity; the resurgence and liberation of Asia and her return to the great role which she had played in the progress of human civilisation; the rise of a new, a greater, brighter and nobler life for mankind which for its entire realization would rest outwardly on an international unification of the separate existence of the peoples, preserving and securing their national life but drawing them together into an overriding and consummating oneness; the gift by India of her spiritual knowledge and her means for the spiritualisation of life to the whole race; finally, a new step in the evolution which, by uplifting the consciousness to a higher level, would begin the solution of the many problems of existence which have perplexed and vexed humanity, since men began to think and to dream of individual perfection and a perfect society.

India is free but she has not achieved unity, only a fissured and broken freedom. At one time it almost seemed as if she might relapse into the chaos of separate States which preceded the British conquest. Fortunately there has now developed a strong possibility that this disastrous relapse will be avoided. The wisely drastic policy of the Constituent Assembly makes it possible that the problem of the depressed classes will be solved without schism or fissure. But the old communal division into Hindu and Muslim seems to have hardened into the figure of a permanent political division of the country. It is to be hoped that the Congress and the nation will not accept the settled fact as for ever settled or as anything more than a temporary expedient. For if it lasts, India may be seriously weakened, even crippled: civil strife may remain always possible, possible even a new invasion and foreign conquest. The partition of the country must go,—it is to be hoped by a slackening of tension, by a progressive understanding of the need of peace and concord, by the constant necessity of common and concerted action, even of an instrument of union for that purpose. In this way unity may come about under whatever form—the exact form may have a pragmatic but not a fundamental importance. But by whatever means, the division must and will go. For without it the destiny of India might be seriously impaired and even frustrated. But that must not be.

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Asia has arisen and large parts of it have been liberated or are at this moment being liberated; its other still subject parts are moving through whatever struggles towards freedom. Only a little has to be done and that will be done today or tomorrow. There India has her part to play and has begun to play it with an energy and ability which already indicate the measure of her possibilities and the place she can take in the council of the nations.

The unification of mankind is under way, though only in an imperfect initiative, organised but struggling against tremendous difficulties. But the momentum is there and, if the experience of history can be taken as a guide, it must inevitably increase until it conquers. Here too India has begun to play a prominent part and, if she can develop that larger statesmanship which is not limited by the present facts and immediate possibilities but looks into the future and brings it nearer, her presence may make all the difference between a slow and timid and a bold and swift development. A catastrophe may intervene and interrupt or destroy what is being done, but even then the final result is sure. For in any case the unification is a necessity in the course of Nature, an inevitable movement and its achievement can be safely foretold. Its necessity for the nations also is clear, for without it the freedom of the small peoples can never be safe hereafter and even large and powerful nations cannot really be secure. India, if she remains divided, will not herself be sure of her safety. It is therefore to the interest of all that union should take place. Only human imbecility and stupid selfishness could prevent it. Against that, it has been said, even the gods strive in vain; but it cannot stand for ever against the necessity of Nature and the Divine Will. Nationalism will then have fulfilled itself; an international spirit and outlook must grow up and international forms and institutions; even itmay be such developments as dual

or multilateral citizenship and a voluntary fusion of cultures may appear in the process of the change and the spirit of nationalism losing its militancy may find these things perfectly compatible with the integrity of its own outlook. A new spirit of oneness will take hold of the human race.

The spiritual gift of India to the world has already begun. India's spirituality is entering Europe and America in an ever increasing measure. That movement will grow; amid the disasters of the time more and more eyes are turning towards her with hope and there is even an increasing resort not only to her teachings, but to her psychic and spiritual practice. The rest is still a personal hope and an idea and ideal which has begun to take hold both in India and in the West on forward looking minds. The difficulties in the way are more formidable than in any other field of endeavour, but difficulties were made to be overcome and if the Supreme Will is there, they will be overcome. Here too, if this evolution is to take place, since it must come through a growth of the spirit and the inner consciousness, the initiative can come from India and although the scope must be universal, the central movement may be hers.

Such is the content which I put into this date of India's liberation; whether or how far or how soon this connection will be fulfilled, depends upon this new and free India.

VO Chidambaram Pillai serialised Tilak's biography in the 1930s in a Colombo Tamil magazine. Here is a look at the relationship between the two men in the light of the new sources and correspondence between them. The article carries the facsimile of a letter VOC wrote to Tilak in 1914, being published for the first time. VOC's close relationship with Tilak awaits detailed documentation and an interpretative narrative.

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Forgotten narrative

VOC's Tilak biography, titled Bharata Jothi Sri Tilaka Maharishiyin Jeeviya Varalaru, was serialised in the Sunday supplement. Nineteen instalments, published between May 1933 and October 1934, could be recovered. It's not clear why it was published intermittently and is incomplete. The narrative stops with Tilak's return to India in late 1919 after his abortive attempt to sue Sir Valentine Chirol for defamation. Tilak died some months later on 1 August 1920. Tilak's biography by his illustrious disciple—for, VOC refers to Tilak always as Guru—is an interesting document. Its recovery provides the context for reconstructing the relationship between teacher and disciple.

In a memoir on Tilak written in English in 1927, VOC recollects that he had begun to follow Tilak's writings from as early as 1893. There's evidence to show that he had been elected a delegate to the Congress session of Madras (1898) and Tilak too had attended it. But their meeting apparently did not take place. The tryst was delayed by a decade.

Curzon's infamous partition of Bengal set afire the Swadeshi movement with its programme of native industry, boycott of foreign goods and national education. While Swadeshi enterprise across India was limited to such tokenisms as making candles and bangles, in Tuticorin it took the spectacular form of running nothing less than a steam shipping company—an enterprise that propelled VOC, until then a modest pleader in the local court, to national attention. VOC had galvanised the local merchants to launch the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in late 1906 and gave the British shipping company a run for its money. The Swadeshi Company ran steamers between Tuticorin and Colombo and VOC spent considerable time in Colombo raising share capital and organising the company. Probably it was this connection that led to his later association with Virakesari.

By then he was closely aligned to the Extremist faction of the Congress led by Tilak. VOC's efforts to buy two steamships took him frequently to Bombay. Yet, somewhat surprisingly, a visit to Pune, Tilak's hometown, never materialised.

The Moderates' attempt to sideline the Extremist was increasingly getting desperate. And the stage was set in Surat, the venue of the Congress in December 1907, for a showdown. VOC wired to Tilak and Aurobindo proposing Lala Lajpat Rai for the presidentship of the Congress. In the event, Rash Behari Ghosh, the Calcutta moderate was set to take the presidential chair. All the while Tilak had tried to avoid the inevitable split. But the Moderates' sly attempts to tamper with the letter and spirit of resolutions passed in the precedingCalcutta session of the Congress was the last straw. The Congress conference ended in pandemonium with blows exchanged and chairs and shoes thrown. Tilak proposed a committee of one member each from both factions from every province to effect a compromise. VOC was Tilak's handpicked choice from the Madras presidency, and he was also nominated Secretary of Tilak's new party. There was little doubt that VOC was the spearhead of the nationalist movement in the South.

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The months following VOC's return from Surat were full of intense nationalist activity. The Swadeshi shipping enterprise grew from strength to strength. VOC led a major strike in the European-owned cotton Coral Mills of Tuticorin. Swadeshi meetings with fiery nationalist speeches, probably for the first time in the Tamil language, led to widespread nationalist mobilisation. Colonial ire was turned on the nationalists. VOC and his colleagues were arrested on 12 March 1908, which in turn led to an insurgent uprising in Tuticorin and Tirunelveli.

Evidently the guru was following his disciple's exploits, for, Tilak's English weekly Mahratta regularly reported the events in far-off Tirunelveli. By the time a draconian double life sentence was imposed on VOC in July 1907, Tilak himself was jailed. While VOC languished in prison for the next four and a half years (on a reduced sentence on appeal) Tilak was transported to Mandalay (Burma).

Not surprisingly, the two lost touch during their imprisonment. Barely a few days after Tilak's release, VOC wrote from his Mylapore home on 19 June 1914. Addressing Tilak as 'Respected Brother' he congratulated him on his release. He offered condolences on his wife's death and expressed the desire to meet him in a month or two. After enquiring about his intellectual output during the prison years, he signed off 'obediently' with the words 'I prostrate before you and offer my namaskarams to your holy feet'. VOC's deep respect for Tilak is palpable.

VOC's promised visit did not materialise for many months. VOC arrived in Pune on the day of Gokhale's death (19 February 1915) and spent a week with Tilak as his house guest. The two deliberated on how to use the ongoing First World War to India's benefit, and in this connection Tilak even discussed a secret message from Indian revolutionaries abroad. Such was his trust in his disciple.

When Tilak launched his All India Home Rule League in 1916, VOC took an active part in it, organising and conducting meetings in Chennai. However Tilak's close association with Annie Besant caused some friction, with VOC neither being able to overrule Tilak's advice nor stopping his campaign against her. The struggle within the labour movement between VOC and the Besant-ites took on bitter propositions.

Tilak's critical attitude to the Montagu-Chelmsford reform proposals were faithfully echoed by VOC. When Tilak canvassed the senior leader C Vijayaraghavachari's support for the Bombay special Congress session (August 1919), he specifically stated: "I have fully explained my position to Mr Rajagopalachary and Mr Chidambaram Pillai and they will be able to give you further explanations..."

Tilak invited some Congress luminaries after the Bombay special session to Pune and VOC was among the invitees to discuss the future course of action. When VOC rose to spoke he was "loudly cheered". Motilal Ghose, the venerated editor of Amrita Bazar Patrika, who was present on the occasion, expressed his desire to see the hero of Swadeshi days and warmly hugged VOC.

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Momentous times

Tilak's case against Chirol and his campaign for Home Rule in England consumed the next fourteen months, months that were momentous. The passing of the Rowlett bills and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, and Gandhi's conversion of the nationalist movement into a mass movement signalled the end of the Tilak era. The Calcutta special Congress's endorsement of Gandhi's non-cooperation programme was only a fait accompli. And in an event pregnant with symbolism, Tilak had breathed his last barely weeks before theCalcutta session. Tilak's followers were deeply demoralised. VOC resigned from the Congress on his return from Calcutta. While many of his Maharashtra disciples—GS Khaparde, BS Moonje and others—drifted into Hindu communalism, the germ of which was very much in Tilak's ideology, VOC's politics kept clear of it. He continued to play a part in the nationalist movement, labour movement, the non-Brahmin movement and the social reform movements.

When VOC died 18 November 1936 no obituary or tribute failed to mention his closeness to Tilak.

AR Venkatachalapathy is a historian and Tamil writer. chalapathy@mids.ac.in

This article is based on the introduction to his forthcoming edition of Tilaka Maharishi by VO Chidambaram Pillai (Kalachuvadu Publications, Nagercoil).

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2010/01/17/stories/2010011750250400.htm

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