The Role of South India in the Freedom Movement

The Pondicherry Chapter

On the 4th of April 1910, Sri Aurobindo landed in Pondicherry. He came here as the result of an 'Adesh' to pursue his spiritual tapasya. As he said later: 'I need some place of refuge in which I can complete my Yoga unassailed and build up other souls around me. It seems to me that Pondicherry is the place appointed by those who are Beyond.' But this did not mean, as it was then supposed, that he had retired into some height of spiritual experience devoid of any further interest in the world or in the fate of India. It could not mean that, for the very principle of his Yoga was not only to realise the Divine and attain to a complete spiritual consciousness, but also to take all life and all world activity into the scope of this spiritual consciousness and action and to base life on the Spirit and give it a spiritual meaning. Consequently, even in his retirement, Sri Aurobindo kept a close watch on all that was happening in the world and in India and actively intervened whenever necessary, but solely with a spiritual force and silent spiritual action.

His public interventions were few and far between; but he constantly followed the political situation not only in India and intervened with his spiritual force. The change is Sri Aurobindo's working is shown in the following letter to a friend written on 13 July 1911. He wrote:

Be very careful to follow my instructions in avoiding the old kind of politics. Spirituality is India's only politics, the fulfilment of the Sanatana Dharma its only Swaraj. I have no doubt we shall have to go through our Parliamentary period in order to get rid of the notion of Western democracy by seeing in practice how helpless it is to make nations blessed. India is passing really through the first stages of a sort of national Yoga. It was mastered in the inception by the inrush of divine force which came in 1905 and aroused it from its state of complete tamasic ajñanam [ignorance]. But, as happens also with individuals, all that was evil, all the wrong samskaras[imprints] and wrong emotions and mental and moral habits rose with it and misused the divine force. Hence all that orgy of political oratory, democratic fervour, meetings, processions, passive resistance, all ending in bombs, revolvers and Coercion laws.... God has struck it all down,— Moderatism, the bastard child of English Liberalism; Nationalism, the mixed progeny of Europe and Asia; Terrorism, the abortive offspring of Bakunin and Mazzini.... It is only when this foolishness is done with that truth will have a chance, the sattwic mind in India emerge and a really strong spiritual movement begin as a prelude to India's regeneration. No doubt, there will be plenty of trouble and error still to face, but we shall have a chance of putting our feet on the right path. In all I believe God to be guiding us, giving the necessary experiences, preparing the necessary conditions.1

On his arrival in Pondicherry, he was received among others by Subramaniam Bharati and Omkar Swami. He immediately went to the house of Srinivas Chettiar and remained in seclusion pursuing intensely his sadhana.

Of course, the British Government did not believe this and continued trying to harass him and others who came as refugees to Pondicherry to evade arrest. For Pondicherry had become a safe haven for many freedom fighters. The British government did everything possible to arrest them and get them deported to British India.

We reproduce here some extracts from reminiscences of those closely associated with Sri Aurobindo and from confidential notes made by the representatives of the British Government. These reminiscences will give some idea of the general mistrust that the British had about Sri Aurobindo and the continuous harassment that the political refugees had to undergo.

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From Government of India. Foreign & Political Dept., General, Conf.

B. 1914. No. 2, 1-3, 12-13. SECRET. CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE

OFFICE. NOTE ON PONDICHERRY.

Mr. Ashe, Collector of Tinnevelly District, was shot at Maniyachi, a railway junction in the district, about midday on June 17th, 1911, and died within half an hour. His assassin Vanchi alias Sankara Aiyar of Shencotta in Travancore State committed suicide a few minutes after; he was accompanied by a youth named Sankara Krishna Aiyar who ran away, but was afterwards caught and convicted.

An important member of the conspiracy named Nilakanta Aiyar alias Omkar Swami, who absconded to Benares but eventually gave himself up in Calcutta, threw a great deal of light on what had happened. His first statement was made to the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Calcutta, who had no previous knowledge of any of the facts, and it was afterwards repeated in Madras. In his statement he admitted that he used to travel about in the company of Sankara Krishna Aiyar, the youth who was with Vanchi Aiyar at the time of the murder, and that he had met Vanchi Aiyar himself frequently. The most important part of his statement was that relating to Pondicherry. He said he was there for fifteen days at the end of November, 1910, and the beginning of December, and that V.V.S. Aiyar came there at that time, but he did not see him. He again passed through Pondicherry in January, 1911, and after going home returned there in February and stayed four or five days. "At this time," he says, "Vanchi Aiyar came to see me at Pondicherry in connection with the publication of my books. He stayed there three or four days; every day he used to go and see V.V.S. Aiyar. I also met V.V.S. Aiyar at this time. I did not go with Vanchi Aiyar. V.V.S. Aiyar advocated violence and assassination to free the country. I asked him what his aim was; he said violence is the best method in the present state of the country, young men should be induced to violence. No one else was present when I saw V.V.S. Aiyar. V.V.S. Aiyar's idea was that Europeans in India should be assassinated, that the country had been quiet too long. He said many nationalists were working for India in America, England, France and Switzerland." At another place he explains that he was asked to go and see V.V.S. Aiyar by two young men of Pondicherry named Nagaswami Aiyar and Balu alias Balkrishna Aiyar; the former was already known as one of Aiyar's associates, and was seen going to Maniyachi junction the day after the murder.

Nilakanta added that he quarrelled with Vanchi Aiyar in February 1911, and that the latter accused him of being a spy and threatened to shoot him. Thereupon he left Pondicherry and after wandering about in various places reached Benares at the end of April. Having heard of the murder he came down to Calcutta on the 28th June, and after a few days' consideration wrote a letter to the Commissioner of Police. Nilakanta was convicted of complicity in the crime and sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment.

At the end of May, 1911, and again a few days before the murder, two revolutionary leaflets appeared in Tinnevelly, Madura and other places, the first entitled "A Friendly Word to the Aryans" and the second "Oath of Admission into the Abhinav Bharat Society". They both purported to be printed by the "Feringhi Destroyer Press", both referred to a prophecy of Vyasa that "the white empire will be destroyed between the

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years Nandana and Andana", and they contained many other points of resemblance. Internal evidence therefore suggested that they came from the same source. Again the second leaflet was all about the Abhinav Bharat (New India) Society. This was the name given by V.D. Savarkar to the secret revolutionary society started by him in Nasik and continued in London and Paris. When it is remembered that Aiyar was V.D. Savakar's right hand man in London and Paris the inference is that the leaflet about the society was issued by him. Any doubt that both the leaflets emanated from Aiyar's gang in Pondicherry was removed by the fact that when the one entitled "A Friendly Word to the Aryans" was shown to Nilakanta Aiyar he pointed out, without the slightest hesitation, that it was printed in two different types which were, except for the headings, the only two types possessed by the Dharma office in Pondicherry; further that the composition was irregular and evidently not the work of a professional printer, and that the invocation at the end had been used by V.V.S. Aiyar on former occasions.

It appears, therefore, that V.V.S. Aiyar brought to Pondicherry the name, and with it the principles, of the Abhinav Bharat Society, and that the Pondicherry gang issued the revolutionary leaflets which appeared before the murder of Mr. Ashe, and were largely, if not entirely, responsible for the murder. It will be remembered that the murder of Mr. Jackson, Collector of Nasik, on December 1st, 1909, a crime precisely similar in character and execution was carried out by the Nasik branch of Savarkar's Abhinav Bharat Society. The evidence of the connection of the Pondicherry gang with the Ashe murder was so strong that warrants for complicity in it were issued against V.V.S. Aiyar.

Aurabindo Ghose, who came to Pondicherry early in 1910, is not known to have associated much with V.V.S. Aiyar at first. In February 1911 he wrote to the Hindu of Madras a letter published in the issue of that paper dated February 24th in which he complained of the attentions of people he believed to be detectives, and said, "I am living in entire retirement and see none but a few local friends and the few gentlemen of position who care to see me when they come to Pondicherry."

In April, 1912, his associates were a certain Surendra [Saurindra] Nath Bose, who acted as his secretary, and two other Bengali suspects named Bejoy Kumar Nag of Khulna, and Nalini Kanta Sirkar alias Gupta. They were said to be practising yog under Arabindo Ghose and worshipping the Goddess Kali,

On 15th August, 1912, a meeting was held at the house of Arabindo Ghose, in celebration, it is believed, of his 40th birthday. The meeting was attended by V. V. S. Aiyar, C. Subramania Bharati, a well-known writer of sedition, against whom a warrant is out for complicity in the murder of Mr. Ashe, and a few other revolutionaries. During the proceedings five pictures were garlanded with flowers, namely those of (1) the goddessKali, the patron saint of the Bengal revolutionary movement, (2) Bharat Mata, the personification of Mother India, (3) B.G. Tilak and (4) and (5) Khudiram Bose and Profulla Chaki, the two young Bengalis who threw the bomb which killed Mrs. and Miss Kennedy at Muzaffarpur in April, 1908. It was remarked that Arabindo Ghose was now in closer touch with V. V. S. Aiyar and his dangerous gang.

Enquiries made in 1913 showed that there had been no recent unusual activity amongst the suspects here. Their European correspondence is conducted through the French post-office. Madame Cama and V. V. S. Aiyar correspond regularly, and she would have no difficulty in sending him the automatic pistols which she is rumoured to have done on two occasions in the last two years. He is known to have asked her to send him a number of books on military subjects, including Clausewitz's

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standard book on war. The absurdity of Aiyar's studying strategy and tactics at the present stage of the movement he aspires to lead is apparent, but the fact indicates his state of mind and that he dreams of an armed revolution. Copies of the Bande Mataram are regularly sent out by Madame Cama. According to a report received from Paris as recently as August 1913 she sends 50 copies to Pondicherry.

V.V.S. Aiyar has naturally taken care to maintain good relations with the French authorities. On the evening of July 5th, 1913, a meeting was held by V.V.S. Aiyar near the house of the suspect Srinivasa Achari. About 150 people were present, including some 14 refugees from British India. Aiyar said that wherever the British went they oppressed the people, and recently the high officials, by misleading members of Parliament, had succeeded in passing new laws which were against the interests of India. The police had also harrassed the people; 30 or 40 people had been unnecessarily arrested and were now being prosecuted in Barisal. It was for this reason that he and Arabindo Ghose and the others had had to leave British India and settle in French territory. They were tired of British law. They had received better treatment in French territory, and the French officers were very kind and courteous. He had received a letter from his friend Shyamaji Krishnavarma in Paris to say that the new Governor of Pondicherry would leave Paris in October next, and he appealed to Arabindo Ghose to prepare an address of welcome. It is stated that Arabindo agreed to do this, and the report indicates that Arabindo Ghose and V.V.S. Aiyar continue to be on good terms.

The interest known to be taken by the British Government in Pondicherry affairs has encouraged some local men to come forward with exaggerated and false reports. The most notorious false informer is named Mayoresin, but there are others, and information received from Indian informers in Pondicherry has to be received with more than the usual caution.

C.R. ClevelandDDirector of Criminal Intelligence.

List of the Anarchists, Political Suspects of Pondicherry, and Their Associates CONFIDENTIAL No. 160/8.8.12

Notes on Pondicherry

1. Personal

I attach "A", a copy of the latest revised list of extremists in Pondicherry with my instructions as to their surveillance. The only addition to the inner ring which consists of Arabindo Ghose and his five (four) satellites, V.V.S. Aiyar, Srinivasa Chari, Bharathi, Nagaswami and Ramaswami, is T.S. Srinivasamurthi, whose history is given in para 86 of our current Secret Abstract.

2. Habits

The party is still comparatively quiet, but there are signs of renewed activity which broke forth especially at the time of T.S. Srinivasamurthi's arrival in Pondicherry. V.V.S. Aiyar has been, and is, busy composing a History of India, and has finished an epitome of the Ramayana, and Bharathi has been with Nagaswami as his amanuensis, composing further patriotic poems. We have copies of some of these recent compositions but they have steered clear of anything seditious. They have been more ready to go out to Dramas and entertainments and are, as a rule, received with a good deal of honour and given prominent seats at these places. When suitable lines occur in plays, I understand that they are very obviously spoken at the

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extremists, who quite acknowledge them. They are still in correspondence with Madame Cama, D.S. Madava Rao, M.P. Tirumala Chari and still receive, to the address of others, The Indian Sociologist and Bande Mataram and a recent post brought them a copy of the July Liberator.

3. Circumstances

Without being absolutely on their last legs they are distinctly in straitened circumstances. V.V.S. Aiyar and Arabindo Ghose are both changing their houses from motives of economy. Bharathi has the greatest difficulty in getting his poems printed at all and a Pondicherry press does not charge prohibitive rates. T.S. Srinivasamurthi has practically nothing and if A.G. does lend the others money (he has lent Srinivasa Chari money), he takes extra-ordinarily good care that he gets it back sharp, even if his young men have to wait all day for it. Local support is forthcoming; I know of one Chetty who gives Rs. 3/- a month but it is not lavishly paid, and the older folk have set their faces very strongly against their sons associating with the extremists. V.V.S. Aiyar has been importing sham jewels which D.S. Madava Rao sends him, and is trying to export skins and poppadams and so make a bit of money by trade. Arabindo Ghose of course has money which he gets through the banks, and his Bengalis spend their time in a reading room and are apparently shining lights at the local games clubs, football and hockey especially, as far as I hear, being their favourites.

4. Noteworthy Events

The arrival of T.S. Srinivasamurthi created a prompt impression. As his history is given in the Abstract I need not go into details regarding him. The effect of his arrival on the others was, however, an outburst of social activity; my impression of him is that he is a blustering youth but very shallow. He was the first new man for months that had openly gone about with the extremists and after his arrival, there was a constant succession of picnics and dinner parties, meetings at Bhamalaya (a press where the extremists meet), visits to A.G. and so forth. I was rather afraid, and, if I may guess, I think that they thought that they had got another like Nilakanta Aiyar, who carried the message of sedition to Tinnevelly, or like Vanchi the assassin. And we were very watchful. But he has toned down wonderfully; my information is that the others are down on him as his continually dodging of our party in Pondicherry has made them more active than ever and the others have suggested that he should leave but he replies "I dare not, I have given the police so much trouble that they will break my bones". And I hear that he has never been allowed to see Arabindo Ghose at all, a privilege which is carefully preserved for the worthy. He knew Bharathi and others in Madras, and he had spent most of his money in his native village; a warrant was out against him for evading the plague regulations and in consequence of this he bolted to Pondicherry. The warrant is now in the hands of the special party Inspector and he will be arrested the moment he steps across the Frontier, unless he gets away unbeknownst to us; he will get a good fright when he is arrested and he may give us certain information. I may be mistaken but I don't think he is really dangerous.

A possible future event is the arrival of M.P. Tirumala Chari, lately in Constantinople. I have already reported this to the Director of Criminal Intelligence in my D.O. letter No. 706 dated 20th July 1912. I have informed Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, Rangoon and Colombo and all these ports have his photograph and description. The

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Commissioner of Police has a case against him absolutely ready if he does fall into our hands.

5. Summary

As far as I can see, the extremists are marking time. We have discovered no lectures and nothing like drills or revolver practice going on and no emissaries are being sent out. V. V. S. Aiyar, Arabindo Ghose and Bharathi are busy with literary work. Srinivasa Chari seldom goes out and the younger ones amuse themselves in their own way. But it is no time to give up any of our vigilance. I regard V.V.S. Aiyar as very determined character and a capable originator; Arabindo Ghose is important as he commands general respect and Srinivasa Chari is fairly steadfast; Bharathi is a much more disreputable character but has gone too far to retreat and must go on with it. A curious air of expectancy seems to pervade the party. Arabindo Ghose says in reply to a friend that he will not go back to Bengal as there will be trouble there shortly and the police will be sure to attribute it to him if he is back; Bharathi writing to a friend in Natal says that all their bad times and troubles are past; for some reason I have not yet fathomed, they think 1915 to be the year of trouble. I can see no connection between them and any centre in Madras City. But I do not know how far the wires are pulled from Bengal through Arabindo Ghose and his party. But they will certainly require a longer subsidy if they are to be really active.

Longden

5/8/12 D.I.G. Police, Railway & C.I.D., Madras

From Reminiscences of Srinivas Achari. National Archives of India. Private Papers Collection. History of the Freedom Movement B 34/2.

The next attempt was to tease us through the Pondicherry Government itself either by influencing the local authorities or by bringing pressure upon them from France. One fine morning the Pondicherry Government issued an order that all foreigners in the French Establishments should register themselves in the police; and the newcomers should do so within 24 hours of their arrival, stating the purpose of their visit and the time they intend to stay. The British police had a strong suspicion that one Madasami, a staunch Nationalist in Tirunelveli Dist. and who had disappeared after the murder of Ash[e], was hiding in Pondicherry. By finding him out they thought they could easily implicate us in the murder. They tried their best to find him, and this police registration may[have] be[en] an attempt to know whether any of his relatives are coming and going. Whether they succeeded or not we had to get ourselves registered according to the rules. We knew that these pinpricks were all due to the stay of the British Indian secret police in Pondicherry.

From Nolini Kanta Gupta, Reminiscences (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1959) 55.

Now let me say a few nice things, about some good people, for such people too had their abode here in Pondicherry. At the very outset I should speak of the Five Good Men. It is quite possible that there was a law in French India that applied to foreigners. But now the law was made stringently applicable to refugees from our own country. It was laid down that all foreigners, that is, anyone who was not a French citizen, wanting to come and stay here for some time must be in possession of a certificate from a high Government official of the place from where he came, such as

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a Magistrate in British India, to the effect that he was a well-known person and that there was nothing against him; in other words, he must be in possession of a "good-conduct" certificate. Or else he must produce a letter to the same effect signed by five gentlemen of standing belonging to Pondicherry. I need hardly say that the first alternative was for us quite impossible and wholly out of the question. We chose the second line, and the five noble men who affixed their signatures were these: (1) Rassendren (the father of our Jules Rassendren), (2) De Zir Naidu, (3) Le Beau,

(4) Shanker Chettiar (in whose house Sri Aurobindo had put up on arrival),(5) Murugesh Chettiar. The names of these five should be engraved in letters of gold. They had shown on that occasion truly remarkable courage and magnanimity. It was on the strength of their signatures that we could continue to stay here without too much trouble.

THE HOUSE SEARCH INCIDENT OF APRIL 1912

From Nolini Kanta Gupta, Reminiscences (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1969) 44-45.

At one time, they [the British authorities] made up their minds that Sri Aurobindo should be kidnapped in a car with the help of one of the chiefs of the local "bandes". We had to patrol all night the house in which Sri Aurobindo lived, lest there should be a sudden attack. I gather the ringleader behind this move showed repentance later and said that to act against a holy man and yogi was a great sin and that a curse might fall on the evildoer himself.

Nevertheless, force having failed they now tried fraud. An attempt was made to frame a trumped-up charge at law. Some of the local "ghouls" were made to help forge the documents — some photographs and maps and charts along with a few letters — which were to prove that we had been engaged in a conspiracy for dacoity and murder. The papers were left in a well in the compound of one of our men, then they were "discovered" after a search by the police. The French police had even entered Sri Aurobindo's residence for a search. But when their Chief found there were Latin and Greek books lying about on his desk, he was so taken aback that he could only blurt out, "Il sait du latin, il sait du grec!" — "He knows Latin, he knows Greek!" — and then he left with all his men. How could a man who knew Latin and Greek ever commit any mischief?

In fact, the French Government had not been against us, indeed they helped us as far as they could. We were looked upon as their guests and as political refugees, it was a matter of honour for them to give us their protection. And where it is a question of honour, the French as a race are willing to risk anything: they still fight duels in France on a point of honour. But at the same time, they had their friendship, the entente cordiale, with Britain to maintain, and it is this that got them into a dilemma.

From A.B. Purani, Life of Sri Aurobindo (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1978) 149-50.

In July 1912 some secret service men threw a tin containing seditious literature into the well of V.V.S. Aiyar's house. As the British agents could not openly act in French territory, they employed Mayuresan, a French Indian, to complain against Bharati and other patriots, alleging that they were engaged in dangerous activities and that, if a search of their house was made, proof of the complaint would be found. He had not mentioned Sri Aurobindo by name but as Bharati, V.V.S. Aiyar and Srinivasachari

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were friends of Sri Aurobindo, the French government included his name on a list of those whose houses were to be searched.

But the scheme of the secret agents fell through, because the tin came up from the well when V.V.S. Aiyar's maid-servant drew water. Bharati went to Sri Aurobindo immediately and asked his advice. Sri Aurobindo told him to inform the French police and to ask them to come and see the tin to find what it contained. The French government took charge of the tin and found that it contained seditious pamphlets and journals. On some there was the image of Kali and some writing in Bengali. The suspicion was supposed to be created that all these refugees were carrying on correspondence with Shyamji Krishna Varma, Madame Cama and other leaders of the revolutionary movement in Europe and were trying to hatch an Indian conspiracy with their help.

The investigating magistrate who came to search Sri Aurobindo's house was one M. Nandot, who arrived with the chief of police and the public prosecutor. He found practically no furniture in the house, only a few trunks, a table and a chair. On opening the drawers of the table he found only books and papers. On some of the papers Greek was written. He was very much surprised and asked if Sri Aurobindo knew Greek. When he came to know that he knew Latin, Greek and other European languages, his suspicion waned, yielding place to a great respect for Sri Aurobindo. He invited Sri Aurobindo to meet him in his chambers later and Sri Aurobindo complied with his request.

Mayuresan, threatened with a charge of making a false complaint, disappeared from Pondicherry and took refuge in British India.

Extract from letter by Sri Aurobindo to Motilal Roy 3 July 1912 (Sri Aurobindo, Supplement (1973), 427).

Other difficulties are disappearing. The case brought against the Swadeshis (no one in this household was included in it although we had a very charmingly polite visit from the Parquet and Juge d'Instruction) has collapsed into the nether regions and the complainant and his son have fled from Pondicherry and become, like ourselves "political refugees" in Cuddalore. I hear he has been sentenced by default to five years imprisonment on false accusation, but I don't know yet whether the report is true. The police were to have left at the end of Pondicherry but a young lunatic (one of Bharati's old disciples in patriotism and atheism) got involved in a sedition-search (for the Indian Sociologist of all rubbish in the world!) and came running here in the nick of time for the police to claim another two months' holiday in Pondicherry. However, I think their fangs have been drawn.

THE INCIDENT OF BIREN ROY

Extract from Nolini Kanta Gupta, Reminiscences (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1969), 52-53.

The British Indian police set up a regular station here, with a rented house and several permanent men. They were of course plainclothes men, for they had no right to wear uniform within French territory. They kept watch, as I have said, both on our visitors and guests as well as ourselves. Soon they got into a habit of sitting on the pavement round the corner next to our house in groups of three or four. They chatted away the whole day and only now and again took down something in their notebooks. What kind of notes they took we found out later on, when, after India had

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become independent and the French had left, some of these notes could be secured from the Police files and the confidential records of Government. Strange records, these: the police gave reports all based on pure fancy, they made up all sorts of stories at their sweet will. As they found it difficult to gather correct and precise information, they would just fabricate the news.

Nevertheless, something rather awesome did happen once. We had by then shifted to the present Guest House. There were two new arrivals. One was a relative of Bejoy's, Nagen Nag, who had managed to get away from his family and had come to stay here on the pretext of a change of air for his illness. The other was a friend and acquaintance of his who had come with him as a companion and help; his name was Birendra Roy.

One day, this Birendra suddenly shaved his head. Moni said he too would have his head shaved, just because Birendra had done it. That very day, or it was perhaps the day after, there occurred a regular scene. We had as usual taken our seats around Sri Aurobindo in the afternoon. Suddenly, Biren stood up and shouted, "Do you know who I am? You may not believe it, but I am a spy, a spy of the British police. I can't keep it to myself any longer. I must speak out, I must make the confession before you." With this he fell at Sri Aurobindo's feet. We were stunned, almost dumbfounded. As we kept wondering if this could be true, or was all false, perhaps a hallucination or some other illusion — māyā nu matibhramo nu — Biren started, again, "Oh, you do not believe me? Then let me show you." He entered the next room, opened his trunk, drew out a hundred rupee note and showed it to us. "See, here is the proof. Where could I have got all this money? This is the reward of my evil deed. Never, I shall never do this work again. I give my word to you, I ask your forgiveness...." No words came to our lips, all of us kept silent and still.

This is how it came about. Biren had shaved his head in order that the police spies might spot him out as their man from the rest of us by the sign of the shaven head. But they were nonplussed when they found Moni too with a shaven head. And Biren began to suspect that Moni, or perhaps the whole lot of us, had found out his secret and that Moni had shaved on purpose. So, partly out of fear and partly from true repentance, for the most part no doubt by the pressure of some other Force, he was compelled to make his confession.

After this incident, the whole atmosphere of the house got a little disturbed. We were serious and worried. How was it possible for such a thing to happen? An enemy could find his entry into our apartments, an enemy who was one of ourselves? What should be done? Bejoy was furious, and it was a job to keep him from doing something drastic. However, within a few days, Biren left of his own accord and we were left in peace. I hear he afterwards joined the Great War and was sent to Mesopotamia with the Indian army.

From Nolini Kanta Gupta, Reminiscences (Pondicherry. Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1969), 45-46.

In addition to force and fraud, the British Government did not hesitate to make use of temptation as well. They sent word to Sri Aurobindo which they followed up by a messenger, to say that if he were to return to British India, they would not mind. They would indeed be happy to provide him with a nice bungalow in the quiet surroundings of a hill station, Darjeeling, where he could live in complete freedom and devote himself to his spiritual practices without let or hindrance. Needless to add, this was an ointment spread out to catch a fly and Sri Aurobindo refused the invitation with a "No, thank you."

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THREATENED DEPORTATION TO ALGERIA

Afterwards came a more serious attack, perhaps the one most fraught with danger. The First World War was on. India had been seething with discontent and things were not going too well abroad on the European front. The British Government now brought pressure on the French: they must do something drastic about their political refugees. Either they should hand them over to the British, or else let them be deported out of India. The French Government accordingly proposed that they would find room for us in Algeria. There we could live in peace; they would see to our passage so that we need have no worry on that score. If on the other hand we were to refuse this offer, there might be danger: the British authorities might be allowed to seize us forcibly.

I can recall very well that scene. Sri Aurobindo was seated in his room in what was later called "Guest House", Rue François Martin. We too had come. Two or three of the Tamil nationalist leaders who had sought refuge in Pondicherry came in and told Sri Aurobindo about the Algeria offer and also gave a hint that they were agreeable. Sri Aurobindo paused a little and then he said, in a quiet clear tone, "I do not budge from here." To them this came as a bolt from the blue; they had never expected anything like this. In Algeria there would be freedom and peace, whereas here we lived in constant danger and uncertainty. But now they were helpless. Sri Aurobindo had spoken and they could hardly act otherwise. They had no alternative but to accept the decision, though with a heavy heart.

From Reminiscences of Srinivas Achari. National Archives of India. Private Papers Collection. History of the Freedom Movement B 34/2.

When the Pondicherry Government and especially the ruling class were in this perturbed state of mind [due to the war and in particular to the presence of the German battleship Emden off Pondicherry] it was but natural for them to ask us, perhaps at the instigation of the [British] Indian Government, to be ready to go to their North African colonies if required. Each one of us gave his own answer with a general request to kindly put it as a last resort if our other terms are not acceptable. So far as I remember this was our last correspondence with the Pondicherry Government. We lived there afterwards for five or six years without any trouble like the other citizens of the town. The British secret police stayed there a year or so without giving us any trouble except that of following us at some distance. We began to lead a peaceful quiet life, each one of us attending to our own work.

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