Bande Mataram
CONTENTS
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Part One Writings and a Resolution 1890 1906 |
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India and the British Parliament
The Proposed Reconstruction of Bengal On the Bengali and the Mahratta Resolution at a Swadeshi Meeting |
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Part Two Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Bipin Chandra Pal 6 August 15 October 1906 |
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Darkness in Light 20.8.06 Our Rip Van Winkles 20.8.06 Indians Abroad 20.8.06 Officials on the Fall of Fuller 20.8.06 Cow Killing: An Englishman's Amusements in Jalpaiguri 20.8.06 |
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Schools for Slaves 27.8.06 By the Way 27.8.06 |
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The Mirror and Mr. Tilak 28.8.06 Leaders in Council 28.8.06 |
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Loyalty and Disloyalty in East Bengal 30.8.06 By the Way 30.8.06 |
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Lessons at Jamalpur 1.9.06 By the Way 1.9.06 |
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By the Way 3.9.06 |
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Partition and Petition 4.9.06 English Enterprise and Swadeshi 4.9.06 Sir Frederick Lely on Sir Bampfylde Fuller 4.9.06 Jamalpur 4.9.06 By the Way 4.9.06 |
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The Times on Congress Reforms 8.9.06 By the Way 8.9.06 |
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The Pro-Petition Plot 10.9.06 Socialist and Imperialist 10.9.06 The Sanjibani on Mr. Tilak 10.9.06 Secret Tactics 10.9.06 By the Way 10.9.06 |
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A Savage Sentence 11.9.06 The Question of the Hour 11.9.06 A Criticism 11.9.06 By the Way 11.9.06 |
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The Old Policy and the New 12.9.06 Is a Conflict Necessary? 12.9.06 The Charge of Vilification 12.9.06 Autocratic Trickery 12.9.06 By the Way 12.9.06 |
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Strange Speculations 13.9.06 The Statesman under Inspiration 13.9.06 |
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A Disingenuous Defence 14.9.06 |
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Last Friday's Folly 17.9.06 Stop-gap Won't Do 17.9.06 By the Way 17.9.06 |
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Is Mendicancy Successful? 18.9.06 By the Way 18.9.06 |
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By the Way 20.9.06 |
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By the Way 1.10.06 |
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By the Way 11.10.06 |
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Part Three Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo 24 October 1906 27 May 1907 |
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The Famine near Calcutta 29.10.06 Statesman's Sympathy Brand 29.10.06 By the Way. News from Nowhere 29.10.06 |
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The Statesman's Voice of Warning 30.10.06 Sir Andrew Fraser 30.10.06 By the Way. Necessity Is the Mother of Invention 30.10.06 |
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Articles Published in the Bande Mataram in November and December 1906 |
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The Man of the Past and the Man of the Future 26.12.06 |
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The Results of the Congress 31.12.06 |
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Yet There Is Method in It 25.2.07 |
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Mr. Gokhale's Disloyalty 28.2.07 |
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The Comilla Incident 15.3.07 |
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British Protection or Self-Protection 18.3.07 |
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The Berhampur Conference 29.3.07 |
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The President of the Berhampur Conference 2.4.07 |
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Peace and the Autocrats 3.4.07 |
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Many Delusions 5.4.07 By the Way. Reflections of Srinath Paul, Rai Bahadoor, on the Present Discontents 5.4.07 |
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Omissions and Commissions at Berhampur 6.4.07 |
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The Writing on the Wall 8.4.07 |
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A Nil-admirari Admirer 9.4.07 |
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Pherozshahi at Surat 10.4.07 A Last Word 10.4.07 |
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The Situation in East Bengal 11.4.07 |
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The Doctrine of Passive Resistance 11 23.4.07 I. Introduction II. Its Object III. Its Necessity IV. Its Methods VI. Its Limits VII. Conclusions |
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The Proverbial Offspring 12.4.07 By the Way 12.4.07 |
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By the Way 13.4.07 |
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The Old Year 16.4.07 Rishi Bankim Chandra 16.4.07 |
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A Vilifier on Vilification 17.4.07 By the Way. A Mouse in a Flutter 17.4.07 |
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Simple, Not Rigorous 18.4.07 British Interests and British Conscience 18.4.07 A Recommendation 18.4.07 |
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An Ineffectual Sedition Clause 19.4.07 The Englishman as a Statesman 19.4.07 |
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The Gospel according to Surendranath 22.4.07 |
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A Man of Second Sight 23.4.07 Passive Resistance in the Punjab 23.4.07 |
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By the Way 24.4.07 |
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Bureaucracy at Jamalpur 25.4.07 Anglo-Indian Blunderers 25.4.07 The Leverage of Faith 25.4.07 |
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Graduated Boycott 26.4.07 Instinctive Loyalty 26.4.07 Nationalism, Not Extremism 26.4.07 |
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hall India Be Free? The Loyalist Gospel 27.4.07 The Mask Is Off 27.4.07 |
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Shall India Be Free? National Development and Foreign Rule 29.4.07 |
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Shall India Be Free? 30.4.07 |
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Moonshine for Bombay Consumption 1.5.07 The Reformer on Moderation 1.5.07 |
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Shall India Be Free? Unity and British Rule 2.5.07 |
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Extremism in the Bengalee 3.5.07 Hare or Another 3.5.07 |
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Look on This Picture, Then on That 6.5.07 |
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Curzonism for the University 8.5.07 Incompetence or Connivance 8.5.07 Soldiers and Assaults 8.5.07 |
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By the Way 9.5.07 |
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Lala Lajpat Rai Deported 10.5.07 |
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The Crisis 11.5.07 Lala Lajpat Rai 11.5.07 |
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Government by Panic 13.5.07 In Praise of the Government 13.5.07 |
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The Bagbazar Meeting 14.5.07 A Treacherous Stab 14.5.07 |
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How to Meet the Ordinance 15.5.07 |
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Mr. Morley's Pronouncement 16.5.07 The Bengalee on the Risley Circular 16.5.07 What Does Mr. Hare Mean? 16.5.07 Not to the Andamans! 16.5.07 |
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The Statesman Unmasks 17.5.07 Sui Generis 17.5.07 |
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The Statesman on Mr. Mudholkar 20.5.07 |
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The Government Plan of Campaign 22.5.07 The Nawab's Message 22.5.07 |
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And Still It Moves 23.5.07 British Generosity 23.5.07 |
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An Irish Example 24.5.07 |
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The East Bengal Disturbances 25.5.07 Newmania 25.5.07 |
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The Gilded Sham Again 27.5.07 National Volunteers 27.5.07 |
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Part Four Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo 28 May 22 December 1907 |
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The True Meaning of the Risley Circular 28.5.07 Cool Courage and Not Blood-and-Thunder Speeches 28.5.07 |
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The Effect of Petitionary Politics 29.5.07 The Sobhabazar Shaktipuja 29.5.07 |
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The Ordinance and After 30.5.07 A Lost Opportunity 30.5.07 The Daily News and Its Needs 30.5.07 Common Sense in an Unexpected Quarter 30.5.07 Drifting Away 30.5.07 |
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The Question of the Hour 1.6.07 |
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Regulated Independence 4.6.07 A Consistent Patriot 4.6.07 Holding on to a Titbit 4.6.07 |
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Wanted, a Policy 5.6.07 Preparing the Explosion 5.6.07 |
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A Statement 6.6.07 Law and Order 6.6.07 |
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Defying the Circular 7.6.07 By the Way. When Shall We Three Meet Again? 7.6.07 |
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The Strength of the Idea 8.6.07 Comic Opera Reforms 8.6.07 Paradoxical Advice 8.6.07 |
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An Out-of-Date Reformer 12.6.07 |
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The Sphinx 14.6.07 |
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Slow but Sure 17.6.07 |
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The Rawalpindi Sufferers 18.6.07 Look on This Picture and Then on That 18.6.07 |
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The Main Feeder of Patriotism 19.6.07 |
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Concerted Action 20.6.07 The Bengal Government's Letter 20.6.07 |
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British Justice 21.6.07 The Moral of the Coconada Strike 21.6.07 The Statesman on Shooting 21.6.07 |
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Mr. A. Chaudhuri's Policy 22.6.07 A Current Dodge 22.6.07 |
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More about British Justice 24.6.07 |
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Morleyism Analysed 25.6.07 Political or Non-Political 25.6.07 Hare Street Logic 25.6.07 The Tanjore Students' Resolution 26.6.07 |
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The Statesman on Mr. Chaudhuri 26.6.07 |
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"Legitimate Patriotism" 27.6.07 Khulna Oppressions 27.6.07 |
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The Secret Springs of Morleyism 28.6.07 A Danger to the State 28.6.07 The New Thought. Personal Rule and Freedom of Speech and Writing 28.6.07 |
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The Secret of the Swaraj Movement 29.6.07 Passive Resistance in France 29.6.07 By the Way 29.6.07 |
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Stand Fast 1.7.07 |
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The Acclamation of the House 2.7.07 Perishing Prestige 2.7.07 A Congress Committee Mystery 2.7.07 |
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Europe and Asia 3.7.07 |
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Press Prosecutions 4.7.07 |
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Try Again 5.7.07 |
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A Curious Procedure 9.7.07 Association and Dissociation 9.7.07 |
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Industrial India 11.7.07 |
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From Phantom to Reality 13.7.07 Audi Alteram Partem 13.7.07 Swadeshi in Education 13.7.07 |
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Boycott and After 15.7.07 |
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In Honour of Hyde and Humphreys 16.7.07 |
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Angelic Murmurs 18.7.07 |
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A Plague o' Both Your Houses 19.7.07 |
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The Khulna Comedy 20.7.07 A Noble Example 20.7.07 |
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The Korean Crisis 22.7.07 |
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One More for the Altar 25.7.07 |
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Srijut Bhupendranath 26.7.07 |
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The Issue 29.7.07 |
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District Conference at Hughly 30.7.07 Bureaucratic Alarms 30.7.07 |
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The 7th of August 6.8.07 The Indian Patriot on Ourselves 6.8.07 |
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Our Rulers and Boycott 7.8.07 Tonight's Illumination 7.8.07 Our First Anniversary 7.8.07 |
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To Organise 10.8.07 Statutory Distinction 10.8.07 |
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Marionettes and Others 12.8.07 A Compliment and Some Misconceptions 12.8.07 Pal on the Brain 12.8.07 |
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Phrases by Fraser 13.8.07 |
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To Organise Boycott 17.8.07 The Foundations of Nationality 17.8.07 |
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Barbarities at Rawalpindi 20.8.07 The High Court Miracles 20.8.07 The Times Romancist 20.8.07 |
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A Malicious Persistence 21.8.07 |
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In Melancholy Vein 23.8.07 Advice to National College Students [Speech] 23.8.07 |
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Sankaritola's Apologia 24.8.07 |
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Our False Friends 26.8.07 |
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Repression and Unity 27.8.07 |
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The Three Unities of Sankaritola 31.8.07 |
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Eastern Renascence 3.9.07 |
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The Martyrdom of Bipin Chandra 12.9.07 |
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Sacrifice and Redemption 14.9.07 |
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The Un-Hindu Spirit of Caste Rigidity 20.9.07 |
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Caste and Democracy 21.9.07 |
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Bande Mataram Prosecution 25.9.07 Pioneer or Hindu Patriot? 25.9.07 |
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The Chowringhee Pecksniff and Ourselves 26.9.07 |
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The Statesman in Retreat 28.9.07 The Khulna Appeal 28.9.07 |
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A Culpable Inaccuracy 4.10.07 |
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Novel Ways to Peace 5.10.07 "Armenian Horrors" 5.10.07 |
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The Vanity of Reaction 7.10.07 The Price of a Friend 7.10.07 A New Literary Departure 7.10.07 |
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Protected Hooliganism -A Parallel 8.10.07 Mr. Keir Hardie and India 8.10.07 |
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The Shadow of the Ordinance in Calcutta 11.10.07 |
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The Nagpur Affair and True Unity 23.10.07 |
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The Nagpur Imbroglio 29.10.07 |
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English Democracy Shown Up 31.10.07 |
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Difficulties at Nagpur 4.11.07 |
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Mr. Tilak and the Presidentship 5.11.07 |
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Nagpur and Loyalist Methods 16.11.07 The Life of Nationalism 16.11.07 |
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By the Way. In Praise of Honest John 18.11.07 |
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Bureaucratic Policy 19.11.07 |
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About Unity 2.12.07 |
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Personality or Principle? 3.12.07 |
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More about Unity 4.12.07 |
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By the Way 5.12.07 |
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Caste and Representation 6.12.07 |
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About Unmistakable Terms 12.12.07 |
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The Surat Congress 13.12.07 Misrepresentations about Midnapore 13.12.07 |
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Reasons of Secession 14.12.07 |
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The Awakening of Gujarat 17.12.07 |
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"Capturing the Congress" 18.12.07 Lala Lajpat Rai's Refusal 18.12.07 The Delegates' Fund 18.12.07 |
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Part Five Speeches 22 December 1907 1 February 1908 |
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Speeches 13-1-08 |
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Speeches 15-1-08 |
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Speeches 19-1-08 |
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Speeches 24-1-08 |
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Speeches 26-1-08 |
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Speeches 29-1-08 |
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Speeches 30-1-08 |
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Speeches 31-1-08 |
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Speeches 1-2-08 |
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Part Six Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo with Speeches Delivered during the Same Period 6 February 3 May 1908 |
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Revolutions and Leadership 6.2.08 |
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Speeches 12-13-2-08 |
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waraj 18.2.08 |
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The Future of the Movement 19.2.08 |
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Work and Ideal 20.2.08 By the Way 20.2.08 |
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The Latest Sedition Trial 21.2.08 Boycott and British Capital 21.2.08 Unofficial Commissions 21.2.08 The Soul and India's Mission 21.2.08 |
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The Glory of God in Man 22.2.08 |
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A National University 24.2.08 |
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Mustafa Kamal Pasha 3.3.08 |
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A Great Opportunity 4.3.08 |
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Swaraj and the Coming Anarchy 5.3.08 |
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The Village and the Nation 7.3.08 |
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Welcome to the Prophet of Nationalism 10.3.08 |
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The Voice of the Martyrs 11.3.08 Constitution-making 11.3.08 What Committee? 11.3.08 An Opportunity Lost 11.3.08 A Victim of Bureaucracy 11.3.08 |
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A Great Message 12.3.08 |
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The Tuticorin Victory 13.3.08 |
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Perpetuate the Split! 14.3.08 Loyalty to Order 14.3.08 |
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Asiatic Democracy 16.3.08 Charter or No Charter 16.3.08 |
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The Warning from Madras 17.3.08 |
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The Need of the Moment 19.3.08 |
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Unity by Co-operation 20.3.08 The Early Indian Polity 20.3.08 |
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The Fund for Sj. Pal 21.3.08 |
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The Weapon of Secession 23.3.08 Sleeping Sirkar and Waking People 23.3.08 Anti-Swadeshi in Madras 23.3.08 |
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Exclusion or Unity? 24.3.08 How the Riot Was Made 24.3.08 |
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Oligarchy or Democracy? 25.3.08 |
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Freedom of Speech 26.3.08 |
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Tomorrow's Meeting 27.3.08 Well Done, Chidambaram! 27.3.08 The Anti-Swadeshi Campaign 27.3.08 |
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Spirituality and Nationalism 28.3.08 |
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The Struggle in Madras 30.3.08 A Misunderstanding 30.3.08 |
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The Next Step 31.3.08 |
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India and the Mongolian 1.4.08 Religion and the Bureaucracy 1.4.08 The Milk of Putana 1.4.08 |
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Swadeshi Cases and Counsel 2.4.08 |
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The Question of the President 3.4.08 The Utility of Ideals 3.4.08 Speech at Panti's Math 3.4.08 |
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Convention and Conference 4.4.08 By the Way 4.4.08 |
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The Constitution of the Subjects Committee 6.4.08 |
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The New Ideal 7.4.08 |
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The Asiatic Role 9.4.08 Love Me or Die 9.4.08 |
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The Work Before Us 10.4.08 Campbell-Bannerman Retires 10.4.08 |
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Speech 10-4-08 |
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The Demand of the Mother 11.4.08 |
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Speech 12-4-08 |
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Peace and Exclusion 13.4.08 |
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Indian Resurgence and Europe 14.4.08 Om Shantih 14.4.08 |
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Conventionalist and Nationalist 18.4.08 |
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Speech 20-4-08 |
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The Future and the Nationalists 22.4.08 |
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The Wheat and the Chaff 23.4.08 |
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Party and the Country 24.4.08 The Bengalee Facing Both Ways 24.4.08 |
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The One Thing Needful 25.4.08 |
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New Conditions 29.4.08 Whom to Believe? 29.4.08 By the Way. The Parable of Sati 29.4.08 |
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Leaders and a Conscience 30.4.08 An Ostrich in Colootola 30.4.08 By the Way 30.4.08 |
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Nationalist Differences 2.5.08 Ideals Face to Face 2.5.08 |
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Part Seven Writings from Manuscripts 1907 1908 |
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Appendixes |
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Incomplete Drafts of Three Articles Draft of the Conclusion of "Nagpur and Loyalist Methods" Draft of the Opening of "In Praise of Honest John" Incomplete Draft of an Unpublished Article |
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Writings and Jottings Connected with the Bande Mataram 1906 1908 "Bande Mataram" Printers & Publishers, Limited. Draft of a Prospectus of 1907 Notes and Memos |
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Nationalist Party Documents |
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A Birthday Interview |
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Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, April 22nd, 1907 }
The Gospel according to Surendranath
The appearance of Babu Surendranath Banerji as an exponent of the "New Nationalism" is a phenomenon which shows the spread of the new spirit, but, we fear, nothing more. We congratulate Babu Surendranath on his conversion to the New Nationalism, but we are not sure that we can congratulate the New Nationalism on its convert. Nationalism is, after all, primarily an emotion of the heart and a spiritual attitude and only secondarily an intellectual conviction. Its very foundation is the worship of national liberty as the one political deity and the readiness to consider all things well lost if only freedom is won. "Let my name be blasted," cried Danton, "but let France be saved." "Let my name, life, possessions all go," cries the true Nationalist, "let all that is dear to me perish, but let my country be free." But Babu Surendranath is not prepared to consider the world well lost for liberty. He wishes to drive bargains with God, to buy liberty from Him in the cheapest market, at the smallest possible price. Until now he was the leader of those who desired to reach a qualified liberty by safe and comfortable means. He is now for an unqualified liberty; and since the way to absolute liberty cannot be perfectly safe and comfortable, he wants to make it as safe and comfortable as he can. It is evident that his conversion to the new creed is only a half and half conversion. He has acknowledged the deity, but he is not prepared for the sacrifice. It is always a danger to a new religion when it receives converts from among strong adherents of the old, for they are likely to bring in with them the spirit of the outworn creed and corrupt with it the purity of the new tenets. If leaders of the old school wish to be accepted as exponents of
Page – 331 the New Nationalism, they must bring to it not only intellectual assent, but a new and changed heart— a new heart of courage and enthusiastic self-sacrifice, to replace the old heart of selfish timidity and distrust of the national strength. In the leading article of last Friday's Bengalee some very important admissions are made. The unlimited possibilities of the organised national strength of India are acknowledged without reservation. "There is no limit to what they can do. We at any rate would set no limits to their ambition. . . . We want our country to be as great in its own way as other countries are in theirs. And we are determined to secure our rightful place in the federation of humanity by methods which are least wasteful in their nature and would soonest bring us to the assured destination." The federation of humanity is one of those sounding phrases, dear to Babu Surendranath, which have no relation to actualities; but the rightful place of India among the nations, federated or unfederated, is one which cannot admit of any the least restriction on her liberty. And the description of the methods to be used at least rules petitioning out of court; for petitioning is certainly wasteful in its nature and would not bring us soonest,— nor, indeed, at all— to our assured destination. There is more behind. "Where is the room for compromise in spiritual life? Nobody has a right to tell us in regard to a question like this, thus far you shall go and no farther. National expansion and self-realisation is a sacred duty which we cannot lay aside at the bidding of any authority above or below. The charter here is a charter from on high and no mundane authority has a right to undo it." All this is admirable. It is true that the writer in the next breath says, "We have no quarrel with anybody who does not stand in our way"— an obvious truism,— and invites the Government "not to block the way", promising it as a reward "a happy and not inglorious transformation at no distant date". But the bureaucracy knows, as well as the writer knows, that transformation is only an euphemism for translation to a better world, and there is not the slightest chance of its listening to this bland invitation. However, the fact stands out that Babu Surendranath has declared for absolute autonomy to be arrived
Page – 332 at by methods which among other things, would soonest bring us to the assured destination. Unfortunately the rest of the article is devoted to carefully undoing the effect of the first half. It is practically an attempt to controvert the position which we have taken up in this journal. Our position is that it is imperatively necessary for this nation to enter into an immediate struggle for national liberty which we must win at any cost; that in this struggle we must be inspired and guided by the teachings of history and those glorious examples which show how even nations degraded, enslaved and internally disunited, can rapidly attain to freedom and unity; and that for this purpose the great necessity is to awake in the nation a burning, an irresistible, an unanimous will, to be free. The Bengalee denies all these positions. We must win liberty, it holds, not by an immediate struggle but by a long and weary journey; not by heavy sacrifices, but in the spirit of a Banya by grudging, limited and carefully-calculated sacrifices. We are not to be guided by the concrete lessons of history, but by vague and intangible rhetorical generalisations about "our increased knowledge and wisdom, our enlarged affections and interests of the present day". We are to curb our will to be free by a "trained intelligence" which teaches us that we are not a homogenous nation and must therefore tolerate differences. We will content ourselves at present with pointing out that the Bengalee's answer to us is neither objective nor self-consistent. We have tried to establish our position by definite arguments and appeals to well-known facts of human nature and human experience; the Bengalee simply denies our conclusions in general terms without advancing a single definite argument. We can only conclude that our contemporary has no definite arguments to advance. The confusion of his ideas is appalling. We are to choose for the attainment of liberty the method which will bring us soonest to our destination; but we must at the same time insist on making it a long and weary journey. We must have the determination to get liberty "at any cost"; but we must not carry out that determination in practice; no, in practice we must get it not at any cost but at the smallest cost possible.
Page – 333 We must really ask the Bengalee to clear up this tangle of ideas and discover some definite arguments before it again asks the Nationalists to confine themselves to realising their ideas in practice and to abstain from "quarrelling with everybody who differs from them". It would be no doubt very gratifying to the Bengalee not to be quarrelled with, in other words, to escape from the annoyance of finding its intellectual positions and its methods assailed; but we cannot gratify it. So far as possible, our ideas are being realised in practice wherever Nationalism is strong; but for their full effectiveness they need the whole nation at their back and it is therefore our first duty to convince the nation by exposing pseudo-Nationalism in all its workings. We shall meet the Bengalee's positions one by one hereafter. Meanwhile we take the liberty of offering one suggestion to Babu Surendranath Banerji. This veteran leader is a declared opportunist, who believes, as he has himself said, in expediency more than in principles. He seeks to lead the nation not by instructing it but by watching its moods and making use of them. Well and good; but even an opportunist leader must keep pace with public opinion, if he does not even go half a step in front of it; he must know which way it is going to leap before the leap is taken, and not follow halting some paces behind. The nation moves forward with rapidity; Babu Surendranath pants ineffectually after it. It is not by such hesitating pronouncements that he can retain the national leadership. The times are revolutionary, and revolutionary times demand men who know their own mind and are determined to make it the mind of the nation.
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