BANDE MATARAM

 

SRI AUROBINDO

 

Contents

 


PRE CONTENT

 India Renascent

1890-92

New
Lamps For Old

1893-94



Unity-An Open Letter

 

Bhawani Mandir

 

An
Organisation

 

The
Proposed Reconstruction Of Bengal- Partition Or Annihilation?

 

Bandemataram

 A Note On 
"Bande Mataram"

 


The
Doctrine Of Passive Resistance

 

 I. Introduction

11-04-1907


 II.
Its Objects 

12-04-1907

III.Its Necessity

13-04-1907

IV.
Its Methods 

17-04-1907

V.
Its Obligations 

18/19-04-1907

VI. Its Limits

20-04-1907

VII.
 Conclusions

23-04-1907


The
Morality Of Boycott 

 

 

  

Bandemataram

Daily

Darkness In "Light"

20-08-1906

Our Rip Van Winkles

  20-08-1906

Indian Abroad

20-08-1906

Officials On The Fall Of  Fuller

20-08-1906

Cow - Killing

20-08-1906

National Education And The Congress

22-08-1906

A Pusillanimous Proposal

25-08-1906

By The Way

27-08-1906

The "Mirror" And Mr. Tilak

28-08-1906

Leaders In Council

28-08-1906

By The Way

30-08-1906

Lessons At  Jamalpur

1-9-1906

By The Way

1-9-1906

By The Way

3-9-1906

English Enterprise And  Swadeshi

4-9-1906

Jamalpur

4-9-1906

By The Way

4-9-1906

The Times On Congress Reforms

8-9-1906

By The Way

8-9-1906

The "Sanjibani" On Mr. Tilak

10-9-1906

Secret Tactics

10-9-1906

By The Way

10-9-1906

The Question Of  The Hour

11-9-1906

A Criticism

11-9-1906

The Old Policy And The New

12-9-1906

 

Is A Conflict Necessary?

12-9-1906

The Charge Of  Vilification

12-9-1906

Autocratic Trickery

12-9-1906

The Bhagalpur Meeting

12-9-1906

By The Way

12-9-1906

Strange Speculations

13-9-1906

The "Statesman" Under Inspiration

13-9-1906

A Disingenuous Defence

14-9-1906

The Friend Found Out

17-9-1906

Stopgap Won't Do

17-9-1906

By The Way

17-9-1906

Is Mendicancy Successful?

18-9-1906

By The Way

18-9-1906

Mischievous Writings

20-9-1906

A Luminous Line

20-9-1906

By The Way

20-9-1906

By The Way

1-10-1906

By The Way

10-10-1906

By The Way

11-10-1906

The Coming Congress

13-10-1906

Statesman's Sympathy Brand

29-10-1906

By The Way : News From Nowhere

29-10-1906

 

The Man Of The Past And The Man Of The  Future

26-12-1906

The Results Of  The Congress

31-12-1906

Yet There Is Method In It

25-2-1906

Mr  Gokhale's  Disloyalty

28-2-1906

The  Comilla Incident

15-3-1907

British Protection Or Self-Protection

18-3-1907

By The Way

21-3-1907

The Berhampur  Conference

29-3-1907

The President Of The Berhampur  Conference

2-4-1907

Peace And The Autocrats

3-4-1907

Many Delusions

5-4-1907

Omissions And Commissions At Berhampur

6-4-1907

The Writing On The Wall

8-4-1907

A Nil- Admirari  Admirer

9-4-1907

Pherozshahi  At  Surat

10-4-1907

The Situation In East Bengal

11-4-1907

The Proverbial
Offspring

12-4-1907

By The Way

12-4-1907

By The Way

13-4-1907

The Old Year

16-4-1907

A Vilifier On Vilification

17-4-1907

By The Way: A Mouse In A Flutter

17-4-1907

Simple, Not Rigorous

18-4-1907

British Interests And British Conscience

18-4-1907

A Recommendation

18-4-1907

An Ineffectual Sedition Clause

19-4-1907

The "Englishman" As A Statesman

19-4-1907

The Gospel According to Surendranath

22-4-1907

A Man Of  Second Sight

23-4-1907

Passive Resistance In The Punjab

23-4-1907

By The Way

24-4-1907

Bureaucracy At  Jamalpur

25-4-1907

Is This Your Lion Of  Bengal?

25-4-1907

Anglo-Indian Blunderers

25-4-1907

The Leverage Of Faith

25-4-1907

Graduated Boycott

26-4-1907

Instinctive Loyalty

26-4-1907

Nationalism Not Extremism

26-4-1907

Shall
India Be Free?  The Loyalist Gospel

27-4-1907

The Mask  Is Off

27-4-1907

A Loyalist In A Panic

27-4-1907

Shall India Be Free? National Development And Foreign
Rule

29-4-1907

Shall India Be Free?

30-4-1907

Moonshine For Bombay Consumption

1-5-1907

The "Reformer" On Moderation

1-5-1907

Shall India Be Free?  Unity And British Rule

2-5-1907

Extremism In The "Bengalee"

2-5-1907

Hare Or Another

3-5-1907

Look On This Picture, Then On That

3-5-1907

Curzonism For The University

8-5-1907

 

By The Way

9-5-1907

The Crisis

11-5-1907

In Praise Of The Government

13-5-1907

How To Meet The Ordinance

15-5-1907

The Latest Phase Of  Morleyism

15-5-1907

An Old Parrot Cry Repeated

15-5-1907

Mr Morley's Pronouncement

16-5-1907

What Does Mr.  Hare Mean

16-5-1907

The "Statesman" Unmasks

17-5-1907

Sui  Generis

17-5-1907

The "Statesman" On Mr. Mudholkar

20-5-1907

Silent Leaders

20-5-1907

The Government Plan Of Campaign

22-5-1907

And Still It Moves

23-5-1907

An Irish Example

24-5-1907

The East Bengal Disturbances

25-5-1907

Newmania

25-5-1907

Mr. Gokhale On Deportation

25-5-1907

The Gilded Sham Again

27-5-1907

National Volunteers

27-5-1907

Bande Mataram

Daily

Weekly

The
True Meaning Of  The Risley Circular

28-5-1907

2-6-1097

The
Effect Of  Petitionary Politics

29-5-1907

 

The
Ordinance And After

30-5-1907

 

Common
Sense In An Unexpected Quarter

30-5-1907

 

Drifting
Away   

30-5-1907

 

The
Question Of  The Hour

1-6-1907

2-6-1907

Regulated
Independence

4-6-1907

9-6-1907

A
Consistent "Patriot"

4-6-1907

 

Wanted,
A Policy

5-6-1907

9-6-1907

Preparing
The Explosion

5-6-1907

 

A
Statement

6-6-1907

9-6-1907

Defying
The Circular

7-6-1907

9-6-1907

By
The Way:  When Shall We  Three Meet Again?

7-6-1907

9-6-1907

The
Strength Of The Idea

8-6-1907

9-6-1907

Comic
Opera Reforms

8-6-1907

9-6-1907

Paradoxical
Advice

8-6-1907

9-6-1907

An
Out Of Date Reformer

12-6-1907

16-6-1907

The
Sphinx

14-6-1907

 

Slow
But Sure

17-6-1907

 

The
Rawalpindi Sufferers

18-6-1907

 

The
Main Feeder Of  Patriotism

19-6-1907

23-6-1907

Concerted
Action

20-6-1907

 

The
Bengal Government's Letter

20-6-1907

23-6-1907

British
Justice

21-6-1907

23-6-1907

 

The
Moral  Of  The Coconada  Strike

21-6-1907

23-6-1907

The
"Statesman" On Shooting

21-6-1907

23-6-1907

Mr. A. Chowdhury's Policy-

22-6-1907

23-6-1907

A
Current Dodge

22-6-1907

 

More
About British Justice

24-6-1907

30-6-1907

Morleyism
Analysed

25-6-1907

30-6-1907

Political
Or Non-Political

25-6-1907

30-6-1907

The
"Statesman" On Mr. Chowdhuri

26-6-1907

 

"Legitimate
Patriotism"

27-6-1907

 

Personal
Rule And Freedom Of Speech And Writing

28-6-1907

30-6-1907

The
Acclamation Of The House

2-7-1907

 

Europe
And Asia

3-7-1907

7-7-1907

English
Obduracy And Its Reason

11-7-1907

14-7-1907

Work
And Speech

*12-7-1907

14-7-1907

From
Phantom To Reality

13-7-1907

14-7-1907

Swadeshi
In Education

13-7-1907

14-7-1907

Boycott
And After

15-7-1907

21-7-1907

The
Khulna Comedy

20-7-1907

21-7-1907

The
Korean Crisis

22-7-1907

22-7-1907

One
More For The Altar

25-7-1907

28-7-1907

The
Issue

29-7-1907

4-8-1907

The
7th Of August

6-8-1907

11-8-1907

The
"Indian Patriot" On Ourselves

6-8-1907

11-8-1907

To
Organise

6-8-1907

11-8-1907

A
Compliment And Some Misconceptions

12-8-1907

 

Pal
On The Brain

12-8-1907

 

To
Organise Boycott

14-8-1907

14-8-1907


The
Foundations Of Nationality

14-8-1907

18-8-1907


Barbarities
At Rawalpindi

*19-8-1907

25-8-1907

The
High Court Miracles

*19-8-1907

25-8-1907

Justice
Mitter And Swaraj

*19-8-1907

25-8-1907

Advice
To National College Students(Speech)

25-8-1907

 

Sankharitola's
Apologia

24-8-1907

25-8-1907

Our
False Friends

26-8-1907

 

Repression
And Unity

*27-8-1907

1-9-1907

The
Three Unities Of  Sankharitola

*11-8-1907

1-9-1907

Eastern
Renascence

3-9-1907

8-9-1907

The
Martyrdom Of Bepin Chandra

12-9-1907

15-9-1907

The
Unhindu Spirit Of Caste Rigidity

20-9-1907

22-9-1907

Caste
And Democracy

22-9-1907

22-9-1907

Impartial
Hospitality

23-9-1907

 

Free
Speech

24-9-1907

29-9-1907

"Bande
Mataram" Prosecution

25-9-1907

29-9-1907

The
Chowringhee Pecksniff And Ourselves

26-9-1907

29-9-1907

The
"Statesman" In Retreat

28-9-1907

6-10-1907

True
Swadeshi

4-10-1907

 

Novel
Ways To Peace

5-10-1907

6-10-1907

"Armenian
Horrors"

5-10-1907

6-109-1907

The
Vanity Of Reaction

7-10-1907

13-10-1907

The
Price Of A Friend

7-10-1907

13-10-1907

A
New Literary Departure

7-10-1907

13-10-1907

Mr.
Keir Hardie And India

8-10-1907

8-10-1907

The
Nagpur Affair And True Unity

23-10-1907

27-10-1907

The
Nagpur Imbroglio

29-10-1907

3-11-1907

English Democracy Shown Up

31-10-1907

3-11-1907

How
To Meet The Inevitable Repression

2-11-1907

 

Difficulties
At Nagpur

4-11-1907

10-11-1907

Mr. 
Tilak And The Presidentship

5-11-1907

10-11-1907

Nagpur And Loyalist
Methods

16-11-1907

17-11-1907

The
Life Of Nationalism

16-11-1907

17-11-1907

By
The Way: In Praise Of Honest John

18-11-1907

24-11-1907

Bureaucratic
Policy

19-11-1907

24-11-1907

The
New Faith

30-11-1907

1-12-1907

About
Unity

2-12-1907

8-12-1907

Personality
Or Principle

3-12-1907

8-12-1907

Persian
Democracy

3-12-1907

8-12-1907

More
About Unity

4-12-1907

8-12-1907

By
The Way

5-12-1907

8-12-1907

Caste
And Representation

6-12-1907

8-12-1907

About
Unmistakable Terms

12-12-1907

15-12-1907

The
Surat Congress

13-12-1907

15-12-1907

Reasons
Of  Secession

14-12-1907

15-12-1907

The
Awakening Of Gujerat

17-12-1907

22-12-1907

"Capturing
The Congress"

18-12-1907

22-12-1907

Lala
Lajpat Rai's Refusal

18-12-1907

22-12-1907

The
Delegates' Fund

18-12-1907

22-12-1907

The
Present Situation (Speech)

19-1-1908

 

Bande
Mataram (Speech)

29-1-1908

 

Revolutions
And Leadership

6-2-1908

9-2-1908

 

The
Slaying Of Congress (A Tragedy In Three Acts)

*11-15-2-1908

16-23-2-1908

Swaraj

18-2-1908

23-2-1908

The
Future Of The Movement

19-2-1908

 

Work
And Ideal

20-2-1908

23-2-1908

By
The Way

20-2-1908

23-2-1908

The
Latest Sedition Trial

21-2-1908

23-2-1908

The
Soul And India's Mission

21-2-1908

1-3-1908


The
Glory Of God In Man

22-2-1908

1-3-1908

A
National University

24-2-1908

1-3-1908

A
Misconception

24-2-1908

1-3-1908

Mustafa
Kamil Pasha

3-3-1908

8-3-1908

A
Great Opportunity

4-3-1908

8-3-1908

The
Strike At Tuticorin

4-3-1908

8-3-1908

Swaraj
And The Coming Anarchy

5-3-1908

8-3-1908

Back
To The Land

6-3-1908

8-3-1908

The
Village And The Nation

*8-3-1908

 

Welcome
To The Prophet Of Nationalism

10-3-1908

 

The
Voice Of  The Martyrs

11-3-1908

 

Constitution-Making

11-3-1908

 

What
Committee?

11-3-1908

15-3-1908

A
Great Message

12-3-1908

15-3-1908

The
Tuticorin Victory

13-3-1908

15-3-1908

Perpetuate
The Split!

14-3-1908

15-3-1908

Loyalty
To Order

14-3-1908

15-3-1908

Asiatic
Democracy

16-3-1908

22-3-1908

Charter
Or No Charter

16-3-1908

 

The
Warning From Madras

17-3-1908

22-3-1908

The
Need Of The Moment

18-3-1908

22-3-1908

The
Early Indian Polity

20-3-1908

22-3-1908

The
Fund For  Sj. Pal

21-3-1908

22-3-1908

The
Weapon Of Secession

23-3-1908

29-3-1908

Sleeping 
Sirkar And Waking People

23-3-1908

29-3-1908

Anti-
Swadeshi In Madras

23-3-1908

29-3-1908

Exclusion
Or Unity?

24-3-1908

 

Biparita
Buddhi

24-3-1908

 

Oligarchy
Or Democracy?

25-3-1908

29-3-1908

Freedom
Of  Speech

26-3-1908

29-3-1908

The
Comedy Of Repression

26-3-1908

29-3-1908

Tomorrow's
Meeting

27-3-1908

29-3-1908

Well
Done, Chidambaram!

27-3-1908

29-3-1908

The
Anti-Swadeshi Campaign

27-3-1908

29-3-1908

Spirituality
And Nationalism

28-3-1908

29-3-1908

The
Struggle In Madras

30-3-1908

 

A
Misunderstanding

30-3-1908

 

The
Next Step

31-3-1908

5-4-1908

A
Strange Expectation

31-3-1908

5-4-1908

A
Prayer

31-3-1908

 

India
And The Mongolian

1-4-1908

 

Religion
And The Bureaucracy

1-4-1908

 

The
Milk Of  Putana

1-4-1908

 

Oligarchy
Rampant

2-4-1908

 

The
Question Of  The President

3-4-1908

5-4-1908

Convention
And Conference

4-4-1908

5-4-1908

By
The Way

4-4-1908

5-4-1908

The
Constitution Of The Subjects Committee

6-4-1908

 

The
New Ideal

7-4-1908

12-4-1908

The
"Indu And The Dhulia Conference

8-4-1908

 

The
Asiatic Role

9-4-1908

12-4-1908

Love
Me Or Die

9-4-1908

 

The
Work Before Us

10-4-1908

12-4-1908

Campbell-Bannerman
Retires

10-4-1908

12-4-1908

United
Congress (Speech)

10-4-1908

 

The
Demand Of The Mother

11-4-1908

12-4-1908

Baruipur
Speech

12-4-1908

 

Peace
And Exclusion

13-4-1908

 

Indian
Resurgence And Europe

14-4-1908

19-4-1908

Om
Shantih

14-4-1908

19-4-1908

Conventionalist
And Nationalists

18-4-1908

19-4-1908

The
Future And The Nationalists

22-4-1908

26-4-1908

The
Wheat And The Chaff

23-4-1908

26-4-1908

Party
And The Country

24-4-1908

26-4-1908

The
"Bengalee" Facing-Both-Ways

24-4-1908

26-4-1908

Providence
And Perorations

24-4-1908

26-4-1908

The
One Thing Needful

25-4-1908

26-4-1908

Palli
Samiti (Speech)

26-4-1908

 

New
Conditions

29-4-1908

3-5-1908

Whom
To Believe?

29-4-1908

3-5-1908

By
The Way: The Parable Of Sati

29-4-1908

3-5-1908

Leaders
And A Conscience

30-4-1908

3-5-1908

An
Ostrich In Colootola

30-4-1908

3-5-1908

I
Cannot Join

30-4-1908

3-5-1908

By
The Way

30-4-1908

 


Ideals
Face To Face

*1-5-1908

3-5-1908


The
New Nationalism

 

 

 


Bibliographical
Note


Contents arranged
subjectwise

From Phantom to Reality

 

                          THE action of the omnipotent and irresponsible executive in obstructing District Conferences alike in the proclaimed and unproclaimed areas of Bengal ought to carry home to every mind, however persistent in self-deception, the absurdity of vaunting the rights and privileges of a subject people. There is a taunt writ large over these ukases and it is this: "Fools and self-deceivers who think that rights can be held as the gift of a superior! Nothing is a right till it has been purchased by sacrifices as great as the aspiration is high. You were allowed to speak and pass resolutions so long as speeches and resolutions were all; but now that you are breaking the tacit contract by turning your movement into a serious thing, we order you to be silent and disperse." Māyā dies hard. Illusion is the chief obstacle to salvation, man clings to illusions by a natural impulse; but to rid oneself of them is the beginning of wisdom. Illusions have long stood in the way of our political salvation and the lingering faith of our prominent men in persistent constitutional agitation, even when the alien bureaucracy stands completely unmasked before our eyes, is an illustration of the obstinate cherishing of illusions. The Magistrate prohibits the holding of the District Conference at Khulna. The High Court is moved and the illegal ukase is precipitately withdrawn: but the withdrawal was merely a change of tactics. A bureaucracy never lacks pretexts to harass the undesirables. The promoters of the Conference are now on their trial for making seditious speeches in the Conference.

            At Faridpur a local leader, whose faith in the ultimate good sense of the autocratic rulers has outlived even the recent violent strain, arranged for a District Conference on a grand scale notwithstanding the protests of a section of the public against holding meetings with permission from the Police. As the recent District Conferences, though compromising our self-respect to a certain extent, have at last been justified by their results, we have

 

Page-477


preferred not to press the point of honour. We have submitted to the Ordinance by not holding meetings; Faridpur and Pabna carry their weakness a little further, that is all. And on the whole it was well that the attempt to hold the Conference was made. For the Faridpur leaders adopted to a certain extent the Nationalist programme and have, as a consequence, come in conflict with the bureaucracy. The prohibitory ukase of the Magistrate of Faridpur leaves no doubt as to the attitude of the bureaucracy towards opposition in any form. They demand a tame acquiescence in their arbitrary regulations and are determined to put down any expression of adverse opinion under the pretext of preventing the spread of disaffection and the disturbance of public tranquillity. Is further explicitness wanted? Cultivate the art of "wooing", hold meetings to issue loyalist manifestos or celebrate the Empire Day, but if you are audacious enough to express your discontent, the British truncheon is ready for you. This is the whole meaning of these ukases; this is the moral repeatedly inculcated through the various prohibitory circulars. As the old superstitions have still their hold on some minds, we welcome the repetition of such browbeating. But in the meantime we must not fail to turn them to account. If we are not capable of offering any active opposition to the encroachment on our natural rights, the intensified sense of wrong should at least give a healthy direction to the patriotic efforts of all. From such continued rebuffs we should draw the energy and inspiration to work out our national well-being on independent lines. Every fresh blow should impart a greater impetus to the Boycott, to National Education, to the organisation of discontent, with a view to leaving the aliens severely alone. But hitherto our Moderate friends have rather been anxious to ram their heads more vigorously against the stone wall of bureaucracy than to learn by their failure the necessity of taking our own road. They still persist in trying to resurrect the dead phantom of British sympathy and good will. Henceforth they should seek rather the resurrection of our own national strength and greatness. When Lord Curzon aimed his first blow at self-government by giving his seal of approval to the Calcutta Municipal Bill, the Pratibasi published a cartoon exposing the unsubstantial nature of our

 

Page-478


rights and privileges. The Calcutta Municipality was represented as a shrouded corpse surrounded by weeping relatives to whom a padre with the physiognomy of Sir John Woodburn soothingly remarked, "The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." It drew forth from the Pioneer the following retort: "The quaint conceit might have been rounded off by some hope of future resurrection." This false hope which the bureaucracy till now sedulously fostered, has been a curse to the country. Privileges granted as favours have no true life in them; they are mere illusions and what is the use of striving for the fitful return, of ghosts who are again bound to disappear? Let mãyã pass out of us, let the illusions die; let us turn with clear eyes and sane minds from these pale and alien phantoms to the true reality of our Mother as she rises from the living death of a century, and in her seek our only strength and our sufficient inspiration.

 

Swadeshi in Education

 

There is an interesting article in the Modern Review on Swadeshi in Education, interesting not only because of the subject and its importance, or of the undoubted thought and ability which has been devoted to the subject, but also and still more because of the limitations of the present education to which it bears striking evidence. The mind trained by the present system of education, even when it is somewhat above the average, is almost invariably deficient in practicality and the robustness to shake off cherished superstitions and face and recognise facts. The attempt at Swadeshi Education under the official Universities has been made both in Calcutta and under particularly favourable circumstances at Poona. At Poona an immense amount of self-sacrifice went to the making of the New English School and the Ferguson College, and some of the best intellects and noblest hearts in the Deccan devoted themselves to the work. Yet the end was failure. The Ferguson College is in no way superior to any other institution in the Bombay University, although also in no way inferior. Its education is the same vicious and defective education — utterly

 

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unsuited to modern needs — academic, scrappy, unscientific, unpractical, unideal. It takes aid from the officials, submits to their dictation and excludes politics at their bidding. Yet the proposal of the Modern Review writer is merely to concentrate the best intellects of the country in the Poona Institution in order to make it "an Indian College superior to any existing College", and as summarily, dismisses the idea of a National University merely on the score of expense. We fail to see how this will meet the problem or how such an institution can really deserve the name of Swadeshi in Education. Swadeshi in Education does not mean teaching by Indian professors only or even management by Indians only. It means an education suited to the temperament and needs of the people fitted to build up a nation equipped for life under modern conditions and absolutely controlled by Indians. The proposed Model College might avail itself of the services of Drs. Bose and Ray and Ziauddin, but they would after all have to teach on the lines and up to the standard of the Bombay University and submit entirely to the rules and orders of the Bombay Government, as conveyed through an officialised Senate and Syndicate. We should still be confined within the vicious circle of which the writer complains. We should be no nearer "taking the higher education of this country into our own hands and ceasing to look to Englishmen for help" than we were thirty years ago. Independence is the first condition and any scheme which disregards it is doomed to failure.

Bande Mataram, July 13, 1907

 

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