Mother's Chronicles - Book Five

50

In the Alipore Jail

"Mr. Aravinda Ghose and a few other persons have been acquitted in the Alipore bomb case," wrote the Daily Hitavadi, a Calcutta journal, in its edition dated May 9, 1909, "and it is not unlikely that one or two more will be acquitted on appeal. Mr. Beachcroft, the Judge, has openly said that but for Aravinda's complicity in the case, it would not have taken such a long time to come to an end. This means that the case was dragged on for such a long time, because the prosecution tried to prove Aravinda guilty by stretching and twisting what was only light and flimsy evidence. The police and Counsel for the prosecution always knew that it would be difficult to prove the guilt of Aravinda and some of his companions in the case. Knowing all this, the police have for one year made these seventeen accused persons rot in hajut [jail], suffering solitary confinement and submit to the ignominy of being handcuffed like mean thieves and dacoits......." The hearts of the other co-accused in the Court ached —'rebelled' says Upen —to see their 'Chief being led handcuffed to the lavatory across the road at midday.

Page 459

The way the government machinery had gone about this case evoked great disgust in the country. "There are very few Bengalis who are held in such high respect as Aravinda Ghose is," went on the Daily Hitavadi. "In education, talent, intelligence and character, he is honoured not only in Bengal, but in all India. Although he has many opponents in the field of political polemics, yet none is unwilling to give him the honour he deserves. Such a man the police arrested quite carelessly and with a joyous mind made him rot in hajut for nearly a whole year without collecting sufficient incriminating evidence against him."

Sri Aurobindo was arrested on 2 May 1908 and released on 6 May 1909.

Sri Aurobindo had decided to take up charge of the Bengali daily Navashakti, and just on 30 April —the day of the failed attempt on Kingsford's life—had moved with his family —wife, sister and aunt Lajjabati—from his rented house in Scott's Lane, to the newspaper office at 48 Grey Street. Abinash Bhattacharya lived on the ground floor while the family occupied the first floor.

It was there, just two days later, that before daybreak, while Sri Aurobindo was still sleeping, the police charged up the stairs, revolver in hand, and arrested him. He was taken to the police station along with two others, Abinash and Sailen, and allowed to have a bath and lunch. Thence to Lai Bazar, where the accused were in lock-up for about three days, and kept on a starvation diet; no bath, just a wash, no change of clothes either. After this the prisoners, now swelled in number,

Page 460

were taken to Alipore Jail. After four days they had a bath, and a change of clothing—prison uniforms — before entering their cells. There Sri Aurobindo remained for a year during the magistrate's investigation and the trial in the Sessions Court at Alipore.

And how did the prisoners fare in the Jail ?

When Sri Aurobindo was released he was interviewed by newspaper reporters. Here is one report from the Sanjibani of the 13^th May:

"At the lock-up, my morning meal consisted in dal khichuri (pulse and rice boiled together); in the afternoon I had muri (fried or puffed rice). There was no arrangement for a bath. A European Sergeant used to give me a share of bread and tea off his own meal." He was to meet kindness and humaneness from others.

"At the Alipore prison, I was not treated as a political prisoner, but kept in a solitary cell. The early morning meal here consisted in a preparation called lafsi made up of rice and gruel. At midday, meal used to consist in a quantity of very coarse and dirty rice, and of a perfectly tasteless watery dal, soup and vegetables. The rice was mixed plentifully with bran, hair, gravel and dirt, and the vegetables used to contain dry leaves, grass, etc. Altogether it was a most terrible sort of a meal. At 5 in the evening, there was a repetition of the same menu.

"As regards bathing arrangements, a single tubful had to suffice for bath, washing of utensils, etc.

"No books were permitted, and at night my repose used

Page 461

to be disturbed three to four times by each fresh guard who took his turn of duty calling me up." After some time the undertrials were allowed to have books. Sri Aurobindo asked for the Gita and the Upanishads.

It was at an identification parade that Sejda saw Bari ! They had not met since their arrest.

The Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, Sir Andrew Fraser, once went to see 'the most dangerous man' in the jail, soon after the imprisonment of the accused. In later years Sri Aurobindo, in one of his numerous anecdotes, said, "He visited me in Alipore Jail and told Charu Dutt, 'Have you seen Aurobindo Ghose's eyes?'

"'Yes, what about them?' asked Charu.

"'I have seen him. He has the eyes of a madman!'

"Dutt replied, 'No, he has the eyes of a Karma yogi.' Charu took great pains to convince him that I was not at all mad but a Karma yogi I"

Sri Aurobindo's eyes ... A look from those eyes ... oh ! it bathed you , your whole being with such a compassionate love. You perhaps have never met such affection from' any eyes. I was lucky, doubly lucky to have had looks from Sri Aurobindo and from Mother.

Others have seen in-drawn or penetrating eyes of Sri Aurobindo; or sparkling with humour; or with a smile of recognition, reports Sisir Mitra. Even the English Principal of the Baroda College, A. B. Clarke, said to C. R. Reddy who had succeeded Sri Aurobindo as the Vice-Principal of the Baroda College, and later to be the Vice-Chancellor of the Andhra

Page 462

University: "So you met Aurobindo Ghose. Did you notice his eyes? There is a mystic fire and light in them. They penetrate into the beyond." And he added, "If Joan of Arc heard heavenly voices, Aurobindo probably sees heavenly visions."

Sri Aurobindo heard and saw. He had broken the wall above the head. He had broken the walls all around. "My soul, unhorizoned widens to a measureless sight ..." he was to write later. And, strange are the ways of Destiny, for it was during his imprisonment that he changed completely.

At the request of his cousin Kumudini, Sri Aurobindo began to write his jail experiences, Karakahini, in her Bengali magazine Suprabhat. From there let me quote a little on his actual arrest.

"On Friday night I was sleeping without a worry. At about five in the morning my sister, terrified, rushed to my room calling me by name. I got up. The next moment the small room was filled with armed policemen They all came running like heroes, pistols in hand, as though they had come to capture a well-armed fort with guns and cannon. Though I did not see it with my own eyes, I heard that a certain brave white man [an allusion to Superintendent Creagan] presented a pistol at my sister's breast. I was then sitting upon my bed still in a half-drowsy condition when Creagan asked: 'Who is Aurobindo Ghose, is that you?' I answered, 'Yes, I am Aurobindo Ghose.' Whereupon he ordered a Police officer to arrest me. Then on a certain most ungentlemanly expression proceeding from Creagan, an altercation went on between both of us for some time." Creagan had led the police force to arrest 'the most dangerous man,' Aurobindo Ghose. And

Page 463

Creagan seemed to think that he had entered the lair of some ferocious animal. "I was, by the Superintendent's orders, handcuffed, and a rope was tied round my waist. A Hindustani constable stood behind me holding the rope end." The search which had begun at 5:30 in the morning went on till 11:30.

When they finally came out of the house Sri Aurobindo found his Na-Meso, K. K. Mitra, and Bhupendranath Basu outside. The police had prevented them from entering the premises, and had also turned down the request of Sri Aurobindo's solicitor, Hirendranath Dutta, to be present during the search.

To whet the Reader's appetite, let me reproduce here from Bangabasi dated July 3^rd 1909.

"I and my fellow accused were kept in solitary cells, about nine feet long by five." A windowless cell; only a big iron grating was in front. Such was the cage assigned to Sri Aurobindo. "It is only unsubordinate and unruly convicts who are punished with solitary imprisonment, and it is against the provisions of the Jail to inflict such punishment on undertrial prisoners. But then persons accused of swadeshi or Bande Mataram offences cannot claim the protection of any rules and regulations, and so the police did with us just as they pleased. A dish and a cup were all the utensils that were allowed to each of us. This cup was like a member of the Indian Civil Service, intended to serve any and every purpose. It was meant for use in the water-closet, in the bath, and at meals, on which last occasion it was to serve a dual function, being used for holding our dal or vegetable curry, and also as a drinking cup. It is only in an English Jail that one can

Page 464