Barindra Ghose, was initiated with the revolutionary oath by his elder brother, Sri Aurobindo, in 1902 in Baroda. He spent some time in Bengal for recruitment and organization of the Revolutionary movement. In 1907, at Barin’s suggestion Sri Aurobindo agreed to the starting of a Bengali paper, 'Yugantar', which was to preach open revolt and the absolute denial of the British rule and include such items as a series of articles containing instructions for guerrilla warfare.
Barindra was convinced that a purely Political movement would be insufficient and wanted to train the people for a revolution. He formed his own revolutionary group in 1907, comprising of about twenty recruits, most in their late teens or early twenties. The property at Muraripukur in Manicktolla served as a 'Ashram for Revolutionary Sannyasins', where the young inmates underwent a unique program led by Barindra which included meditation, study of Gita and the Upanishads, classes on Indian History & revolutionary movements in other countries, physical training in jiu-jitsu, wrestling and 'lathi-play' and instruction in military strategy and the use of fire-arms. Barindra and his group dreamt of a far-off revolution and wanted to remain prepared for it.
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"There had awakened in the country a keen demand and aspiration: Must we bear in silence and give no answer to this tyranny and oppression that seemed to go on increasing day by day? So we started getting ready for a fitting reply... Thus we directed our efforts to shooting at the Lieutenant Governor, derailing his trains and assassinating tyrants in the official ranks."
- Nolini Kanta Gupta
(Top Row - L to R) Andrew Fraser - Lt. Gov. of Bengal, Bampfylde Fuller - Lt. Gov. of East Bengal & Assam. (Bottom row - L to R) Douglas Kingsford - an unpopular Magistrate, F.W. Duke - Chief Secretary of Bengal, Edward Baker - Lt. Gov. of Bengal
Barindra pioneered political assassination considering it to be the demand of the people in response to severe repression, fully aware that it could not lead to Independence by itself. The program of political assassination lasted briefly from November, 1907 to April 1908.
The first target was Sir Andrew Fraser. The plan was to blow up the train in which the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal was travelling on the night of 6th December, 1907. The attempt failed.
The next target was L. Tardivel, Mayor of Chandernagore who had prevented a Swadeshi meeting from taking place. This attempt too failed.
The third target was Magistrate Douglas Kingsford, who had incurred the wrath of the Revolutionaries because of his unconcealed leanings that led to harsh sentences for the Indian Nationalists, including the heartless caning of teen-aged Sushil Sen for a fracas with the Police.
The British Government was aware of the threat to Douglas Kingsford's life and in March of 1908, transferred him to the district of Muzaffarpur, a remote area in Bihar. Barindra Ghose chose eighteen-year-old Khudiram and nineteen-year-old Prafulla Chaki for the difficult mission. The two young revolutionaries set out with three revolvers and a bomb prepared by Ullaskar Dutt.
After reaching Muzaffarpur, they kept a close watch on Kingsford for several days to work out his daily routine. Finally on the evening of 30th April, they positioned themselves beside a tree across Kingsford's house and waited for him to return from his club as usual in a carriage. At about 8:30, the carriage appeared. Khudiram wasted no time. He ran up and hurled the bomb into the carriage. There was a loud explosion and the impact appeared to have mortally wounded the occupants. The young boys fled the scene thinking that the mission was accomplished. But they were unaware that the occupants of the bombed carriage were in fact two English-women. Kingsford had been in a similar carriage just behind them and was thus saved.
Alipore Bomb Case >>
I still remember the dreams that arose in my mind while reading the story of revolutions in England, France, Holland and America; these dreams were further fuelled by my coming in contact with Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar, an ardent devotee of Shivaji. His inspiring presence and fiery words set my whole heart aflame. History became as thrilling and captivating as fiction when we listened to Sakharambabu's discourses on the subject.
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The essays on Indian economy laid bare the true character of British rule in India. But the defects of British rule in this respect did not wound our sensitive young minds so much as the almost incessant outrages heaped on our countrymen by arrogant British soldiers and officials in offices, law-courts, shops and on streets. Every week the columns of periodicals and newspapers like Sanjibani, Hitabadi and Amrita Bazar Patrika bore stories of atrocities committed by the British in trains and steamers.
But resentment against the English rulers was perhaps only incidental to the great upheaval that swelled the hearts of the youth at that time; even patriotism was but a dimension of it. In truth there was an awakening of elemental forces which sought a cataclysmic change bordering on the impossible.
Since his arrival in India in 1893 Sri Aurobindo used to visit our maternal grandfather Rishi Rajnarain Bose's house at Deoghar. My first meeting with him took place there. My patriotic inspiration was largely derived from his deep and charming personality. We used to go out for long walks in the mornings and in the evenings. Sri Aurobindo would speak then in fervent language about the suffering of our Motherland, her degradation and the need to free her from her shackles.
Sri Aurobindo himself initiated me by placing an open sword and the Gita in my hand and reading out an oath written in Sanskrit on a piece of paper. The gist of the oath was this: "As long as there is life in my body, as long as this country is not liberated from the fetters of subjection to a foreign power, I vow to carry on the mission of this revolution. If ever I give out any word or fact of this secret society or harm the interests of this organisation in any way, I shall forfeit my life at the hands of the secret assassin assigned by the society."
After being there [in Baroda] for a year I came back to Bengal with the idea of preaching the cause of independence as a Political Missionary. I moved about from District to District and started gymnasiums. There young men were brought together to learn physical exercises and study politics. I went on preaching the cause of independence for nearly two years. By that time I had been through almost all the Districts of Bengal; I got tired of it and went back to Baroda and studied for one year. I then returned to Bengal convinced that a purely political propaganda would not do for the country and that people must be trained up spiritually to face dangers. I had an idea of starting a religious institution. By that time the Swadeshi and Boycott agitation had begun. I thought of taking men under my own instruction to teach them and so I began to collect this band which has been arrested.
I educated the boys in religious books and politics. We were always thinking of a far-off revolution and wished to be ready for it, so we were collecting weapons in small quantities... Among other young men who came to be admitted to our circle was Ullaskar Dutta. ... He said that he wanted to come among us and be useful as he had learnt the preparation of explosives. He had a small laboratory in his house without his father's knowledge and he experimented there. I never saw it, he told me of it. With his help we began preparing explosives in small quantities, in the Garden House at 32, Mooraripookur Road.
About 5 or 6 months ago, that is after press prosecutions became numerous, we began to think of using explosives, and wherever we went for money we were encouraged to use explosives. Thinking that to be the voice of the nation we submitted and began serious preparations.
We never believed that political murder will bring inde-pendence.
Q: Then why do you do it?
A: We believe the people wanted it.
I persuaded them all [the other revolutionaries] to give written and oral statements to Inspector Ramsaday Mukherji because I believe that as this band was found out, it was best not to do any other work in the country, and because we ought to save the innocent.
[In Alipore Jail] I was in a state of sweet self-intoxication, almost beside myself in a sort of overwhelming beatitude, when I was counting my last days, with the halter round my neck and shut up in the 'condemned cell'. I was then face to face with Death, and alone and away from the world, I was playing with it most amorously and trying to snatch the veil of the beloved one. For pain, its messen-ger, had already whispered into my ears, "Behind that dark veil there is the most radiant and soul-entrancing beauty."
[In the Andamans] our sorrows were many. The greatest of them was the want of company. The orders were strict that we should not talk to each other, even though we might be close together and in the same block. What a wail we smothered in our hearts when we walked together, ate together and worked together and yet could not open our mouths!
And yet our delight was not small even in the midst of such sorrows. For it is a thing that belongs to one's own self. One may gather it as much as one likes from the inexhaustible fund that is within and drink of it to one's heart's content. Not that, however, the lashes of sorrow were an illusion to us. Even the Maya of Vedanta did not always explain them away, so often had they a solemn ring of reality about them. But a tree requires for its growth not only the touch of the gentle spring, but the rude shock of storm and rain and the scalding of the summer heat. Man remains frail and weak and ill developed if he has an easy and even life. The hammer of God that builds up a soul in divine strength and might is one of the supreme realities.
Letters from Sri Aurobindo to Barin (1920-24) Mother's Chronicles (Book 5) > Barin
More references to Barindra Ghose >>
Barindra Kumar Ghose (1880-1959), head of the Maniktola secret society, was born in Croydon, England. He was eight years younger than his brother Sri Aurobindo. At the age of one his mother brought him to India where he was raised and educated in Deoghar, Bihar. He attended Patna College for about six months, but did not complete his studies. Towards the end of 1902 Barin went to stay with Sri Aurobindo in Baroda; during this visit his brother initiated him with the revolutionary oath. Early in 1903 he left for Calcutta to join Jatin Banerji, Sri Aurobindo's first emissary to Bengal, in revolutionary recruitment and organisation. At this time he met Abinash Bhattacharya, who became his companion and assistant in the following years. The two spread their militant ideas especially among college students and the youth who belonged to the akharas or physical culture clubs in which wrestling, jiujitsu and lathi-fighting were taught. In October 1904 Barin returned to Baroda for a yearlong stay with his brother. During this period, probably inspired by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's Ananda Math, he conceived the idea of an Ashram for the training of revolutionary Sannyasins, to be situated in some remote spot away from the cities. (An outline of this institution, written by Sri Aurobindo, was published in a pamphlet entitled "Bhawani Mandir" early in 1905.) Barin searched in the Vindhya mountains for a suitable place to set up an Ashram, but could not find one. The scheme eventually took shape in a modified form in the centre at Maniktola.
Barin returned to Calcutta in the spring of 1906. Sri Aurobindo, having resigned his position in Baroda, also moved there at this time. The Partition of Bengal had awakened the people from their political slumber, and the two brothers realised that the moment had come for public work. Sri Aurobindo joined the staff of the Bande Mataram and put forth the call for national independence through self-help and passive resistance. Barin and his friends, with Sri Aurobindo's approval, started the vernacular daily, Yugantar, which openly urged the deliverance of the country through revolutionary means. Its leading writers were superb polemicists. The fiery newspaper soon became immensely popular, with a readership at times in the tens of thousands. Aware of its influence, the Government prosecuted Yugantar six times for sedition during its brief lifespan.
Eager to do more than just talk about revolution, Barin formed his own revolutionary group in mid 1907, establishing his headquarters and training centre at Maniktola. The property, owned by the Ghose brothers, was a secluded two-acre piece of land overgrown with vegetation. Here at "the Garden", as it was called, Barin began systematic instruction of the young men he had recuited; there were almost twenty of them, most in their late teens or early twenties. The Garden's curriculum included meditation twice a day, the study of the Gita and the Upanishads, classes in Indian history and the history of revolutionary movements in other countries, physical exercises such as wrestling, lathi-fighting and jiu-jitsu, and instruction in military strategy and the use of firearms. For a few there was also training in the manufacture and use of explosives. Barin was in overall charge of the Garden, its training programme and external work. The recruits carried out their activities according to his orders and were directly accountable to him. One of the chief instructors, he was also responsible for the raising of funds and the collection of arms, ammunition and material for making explosives.
By the end of 1907 the society's self-taught chemist, Ullaskar Dutt, was producing powerful bombs. Barin decided to use them for the assassination of certain unpopular Government officials. This, he thought, was the "voice of the people". Later when asked why he had turned to "political murder', Barin replied simply, "We believed the people wanted it." During the next six months, attempts were made upon the lives of three officials, but they were unsuccessful. The Maniktola society members and others were rounded up in May 1908 and charged with conspiracy. Soon after his arrest, Barin made a detailed confession, taking full responsibility for the secret society and its work; he did this in the hope of saving other revolutionaries, his brother Sri Aurobindo, and the innocent persons who had been arrested along with them. For his role as leader, Barin was awarded the death penalty; the sentence was later commuted to transportation for life. In December 1909 he was shipped to the British penal colony on South Andaman Island. Physically weak and constitutionally slender, he endured ten years of drudgery, deprivation and suffering before his release.
He returned to mainland India in January 1920, following the amnesty granted to political prisoners after the armistice of the First World War.
In 1920 Barin visited Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry and stayed for a brief time. He returned in 1923 and lived for six years in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. In 1929 Barin settled in Bengal, where he remained for the last thirty years of his life.
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