Ashutosh Deshmukh - Braveheart Savarkar: Keeper of the Secular Saffron Flame

As we seek bliss and blessings
For all the human races and realms
Pray tell,
What should we cede to nature?
What should we offer to the holy fire?

Maze Mritupatra (My Final Testament), stanza 12, lines 3 and 4, 1910

S avarkar issues an inspiring challenge for all of us.

In 1910, Savarkar was arrested in London, and he faced the gallows or jail in the Andamans. Savarkars elder brother, Babarao, was already in the Andamans enduring life imprisonment. Savarkar wrote a poem, My Final Testament, addressed to Yesu Vahini, his sister-in-law and de facto mother, explaining the meaning of his actions. A poem so poignant and moving that it still brings tears to the eyes. Savarkars entire life was an offering to Indian independence and Hindu unity. This book chronicles his life, articulates his philosophies, and partially recounts some of his poems. I only capture a dim picture of a life that was a blazing nova, but even that leaves us shaken and scarred.

A while ago, I received a call from my sister, Medha Deshmukh-Bhaskaran, asking me if I was interested in writing a book on Savarkar. She is already an established author and was contacted by Anup Jerajani of the Crossword Bookstores. She knew I have been an avid reader of Savarkar for a long time, and graciously passed on the opportunity. I hesitated. This was an audacious undertaking. The teaching, research, and administrative demands of my Penn State job kept me very busy. Hema and Ameya, my wife and son, pushed me hard. I accepted.

My first memory of reading Savarkar goes way back. I was about 10 years old and struggling with the book Saha Soneri Pane (Six Golden Pages) by Savarkar. I remember harassing my mother, Leela Deshmukh, and asking her incessant questions. She was (is) my Marathi dictionary. Her answers help me even now as I revisit the literature. During my teen years, I read most of Savarkars works and continued to visit him on and off all my life. In retrospect, I am amazed at his influence on my thinking. Such is life!

Savarkar describes three ways of writing history. First, history as a series of facts, dry and lifeless. Second, factual history but written with passion and skill. The facts are presented in a context, infused with meaning, and explained within the overarching, integrative themes. Third, the history is distorted, facts are misrepresented, and confirmatory evidence is sought to support the predetermined conclusions. I have followed the second method to the best of my ability and hope that the readers will like it.

Thus began the saga of writing the book. Where Savarkars original works were written in Marathi, I have done my own translations. Savarkars poems, mostly in Marathi, are multilayered, multi-textured, and heavily metaphorical, the words are dense and difficult. I sought to capture the essence of the poems and not get bogged down in the literal translations. Look at it as one of the many possible translations. The actual writing task also proved far harder and more time consuming than expected. I had to relearn history, revise my understanding, process new insights, and write an interesting and coherent story. I also had to deal with Savarkars worldview, which remains opaque to many people. Finally, the criticism has to be dealt with.

This book is a partial payment of the intellectual debt I owe to Savarkar.