Veer Savarkar- A profile in courage

In Pune

It was an irony of sorts, that a college meant to render a more nationalist form of education to fight against British rule, was named after a Scottish Governor of Bombay. Fergusson College was founded in Pune, 1885, by nationalist leaders Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Vishnu Shastri Chiplunkar along with social reformer Gopal Ganesh Agarkar. It began originally as the New English School, and later Tilak, Chiplunkar founded the Deccan Education Society in 1884. Shirole, the Patil of Bhamburde village on West bank of Mutha River , now called as Shivaji Nagar, donated 37 acres of land, on a 99 year lease, for just one rupee. Inaugurated by William Wordsworth, the grandson of the more illustrious poet of the same name, and the principal of Elphinstone College, it would become a crucible of the nationalist awakening in Maharashtra.

Pune, the city sheltered by the towering Sahayadri ranges, where Shivaji Maharaj grew up. The capital of the Peshwas, who built the numerous Wadas, that gave the city it's distinct character. The cultural capital of Maharashtra, and the Oxford of India, to which aspiring scholars, writers, thinkers, academicians flocked. It was the city which proved to be the epicenter of the nationalist, social reform movements that shaped Maharashtra in the early 20th century. It was the city that provided the spark to the revolutionary movement, when the Chapekar brothers shot dead W.C.Rand, an event that ignited the spark of revolution and turned it into a blazing forest fire. Tilak who supported the Chapekar brothers in his newspaper, was sentenced to rigourous imprisonment for eighteen months on charges of sedition. Kelkar the editor of Pune Vibhava had to tender an apology after being prosecuted for freedom. Lele Shastri, the editor of Modavrutta was sentenced to a nine months imprisonment, while Kashilkar, the Pratoda editor, had to suffer a one month rigorous imprisonment. Post his release from prison, Tilak, struck back with renewed vigor at the British through his editorial Once Again, in his magazine Kesari. He became the center point of the revolutionary inferno that was blazing through Pune.

It was into such an atmosphere, that Savarkar stepped into in 1902, at Fergusson College. Blessed with a clarity of thought and an ability to articulate, he soon impressed the students, and began to form his own group. They published a weekly called Aryan where Savarkar often wrote articles on nationalism, history, literature. One such brilliant article was Saptapadi, where he dwelt with the seven stages of evolution a nation had to undergo. He also studied Kalidasa and Bhavabuti, and was influenced by Milton and Shakespeare among the English writers. The revolutions in Italy, America influenced him a lot, and he would often give talks on their history.

Tilak on the other hand was always attracted to the student and youth, whom he foresaw as the vanguard of the revolution. The youth in turn were attracted to Tilak, due to his fiery writings in the Kesari and the hardships he underwent in his own struggle. Fergusson meanwhile was attracting teachers who had sacrificed far more lucrative options, for their belief in nationalism. One such teacher was Raghunath Rao Paranjpe who had earlier worked as a Wrangler at Cambridge University. For students from Maharashtra, the Central Provinces, Berar, Karnataka, Fergusson was the place to be for their higher studies.

His speeches on India's glorious history, and her loss of freedom, enthralled other students, and infused a sense of nationalism in them. Continuing from where he left off at Nashik, Savarkar founded another branch of the Mitramela at Fergusson College in 1902. Ranade from Sholapur, Athani, Oak, Nagesh Apte, were among those who took the pledge and joined the branch. He stayed in the hostel, he jokingly referred to the senior and brighter students as the North Wing Aristocracy.

However Savarkar had a dispute with Mohaniraj Pradhan, who had written an article in the monthly magazine of the Dining Club magazine, of which he was a member. Pradhan had written a poem in which he claimed, using the gourd was a good way to swim. Savarkar countered him saying that, strong arms were much better. And soon this turned into a heated argument between them. A complaint was raised with the principal Paranjpe, and this made Savarkar quit the club. He joined another one called the Fourth Club, and soon he formed his own group at college, where they would sit late into the night, discussing on politics, the freedom struggle.