{"id":2903,"date":"2013-07-13T01:44:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2903"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:44:29","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:29","slug":"48-bande-mataram-8-4-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/06-07-bande-mataram\/48-bande-mataram-8-4-07-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-48_Bande Mataram 8-4-07.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tBande Mataram<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t
\n\t{ CALCUTTA, April 8th, 1907 }<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\nThe Writing on the Wall
\n<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhen things violent or fearful
\ntake place let no one be alarmed or discouraged\u2014 they also are "His goings
\nforth". That there will be only the piping time of peace and we shall sing of
\nthe cuckoo and the spring is expecting something unnatural. An individual or a
\nnation cannot rise to its full height except through trouble and stress. The
\nstone block patiently submits to hammering, cutting and chiselling to be made
\ninto the statue which pleases the eye and gladdens the soul. If it could feel it
\ncertainly would say, "How dearly I have to pay for the beautiful
\ntransformation." This is the inexorable law of nature. Nature has not yet been
\nknown to relent in this respect. If you want to get anything grand and beautiful
\nout of her you must go through the process through which a piece of stone passes
\nbefore it is endowed with shape, beauty and meaning. The fertilising river rolls
\ndown stones, breaks through the impediments, rends asunder the surface of the
\nearth before it bears on its bosom the argosies and crowns the bordering lands
\nwith plenty. Those who cannot look this sternness of nature in the face are not
\ndestined for things good, noble and high. If you want to grovel in the dust,
\nindolence, ease and ignoble peace may do, but if climbing up the heights of
\nglory is your ambition learn to encounter difficulties and dangers manfully.
\nThis is apt to be ignored and ridiculed as a copybook maxim. But it bears
\nrepetition times without number and when either an individual or a nation sets
\nabout anything earnestly it should start fully impressed with the truth of this
\ncopybook commonplace. The truth cannot be confirmed enough and thus the threats
\nof the Anglo-Indian Press have hardly any terror for us.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 248<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

\n\t
\n\tThe Anglo-Indian Press whenever
\n\tthey find that their arguments are seen through, that what is at the back of
\n\ttheir minds is at once discovered, that their professions and protestations
\n\tare taken at their worth, fall to using threats and throw out dark hints as
\n\tif the people do not know that they cannot regain their independence without
\n\ta fearful struggle. The Anglo-Indian Press are really nervous at our getting
\n\tat the truth about political salvation and their arguments about our
\n\tweakness and incompetency backed by the opinion of the moderate school of
\n\tpoliticians in the country are systematically alternated with the arguments
\n\tof fire and sword. When they cannot coax us into acquiescing in servitude,
\n\tthey want to argue us into it and failing that too, they brandish the sword.
\n\tThe
\nLondon Times<\/i>, its namesake in Bombay, the Pioneer<\/i>, the
\n\tEnglishman<\/i>, all tried to win over the Congress suddenly changing their
\n\tattitude of supreme contempt towards the National Assembly of a quarter of a
\n\tcentury’s standing. But as soon as the news that the extremist programme
\n\tfound favour with the 22nd National Congress was flashed across the seas the
\n\t"Thunderer" at once cabled to us that India was won by the sword and will in
\n\tthe last resort be held by the sword. Since then these Anglo-Indian journals
\n\tare trying both mild and violent ways. The more the desire for independence
\n\tseems to be in evidence, the more the signs of the times point to that
\n\tdirection, the more they gnash their teeth, tear their hair and beat their
\n\tbreast. At every fresh proof of reawakening more blood is sent to their eyes
\n\tand head. Their conduct gives the lie direct to the vaunted profession that
\n\tthe English people are everywhere the upholders, the representatives, the
\n\tleaders of the two great interests of a people\u2014 Freedom and Justice. The
\n\tdemand of the Egyptian General Assembly has only provoked their laughter.
\n\tThe granting of a constitution to Persia is according to them a move in the
\n\twrong direction. They have given the Amir a taste of the flirtation of
\n\tWestern civilisation. They want to retain their spell over those whom they
\n\thave already enthralled and are ever in quest of fresh victims. Surrender
\n\tyour life, your liberty, your birth-rights to the English nation, go on
\n\tministering to their comforts and pleasures and you are    <\/font>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 249<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tcredited with common sense,
\n\tprudence, intelligence and all other mental equipments. But if you think of
\n\tmaking any strides in the direction of manhood\u2014 if you take it into your
\n\thead to hold your own in the conflict of interests\u2014 if you show the least
\n\tsign of walking with your head erect you are damned wretches fit for the
\n\tjail gallows because it has been settled once for all in the wise
\n\tdispensations of Providence, that you are to sow and they are to reap, that
\n\tyou are to buy and they are to sell, that you are to be killed and they are
\n\tto kill, that you are to be deprived of arms while they are to be in their
\n\tfull possession, that you will use arms for nefarious purposes, while they
\n\twill wield them to defend themselves. What else can these ridiculous
\n\teffusions of the Calcutta Englishman
\n<\/i>mean? <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t"Diligent students of
\n\tnewspapers in this part of the world can hardly fail to have been struck by
\n\tthe fact that fire-arms are now being frequently used in the commission of
\n\tcrime. They have been produced in the case of riots, and within a few days
\n\tno less than three cases have been reported of persons shot dead by others
\n\twho ordinarily should not have been in the possession of rifles or guns.
\n\tWhen a Maharaja, particularly a friend of Europeans and officials<\/i>, is
\n\tshot from behind a hedge and the Police Superintendent of a District has a
\n\tbullet whistling over his head, the time has come to enquire by what means
\n\tcriminal or fanatical persons on this side of India manage to possess
\n\tthemselves of fire-arms. Recent cases in the Police Court show that it is by
\n\tno means impossible for transfers of revolvers and the like to take place by
\n\tprivate sale. Any unscrupulous or indigent European can sell a weapon to an
\n\tIndian without the police being aware of the fact (how can they be aware?)
\n\tand the question arises whether the punishment for a breach of this kind of
\n\tthe Arms Act should not be made absolutely deterrent. Further, as witness
\n\tthe case at Garden Reach, burglars and thieves are learning when they break
\n\tinto a house, that the most valuable property in it are not jewels or money,
\n\tbut guns, rifles, and revolvers. The latter have even been stolen from so
\n\tsecure a place as Fort William. All this points to the fact that a demand
\n\tfor weapons has suddenly arisen in Bengal. One would naturally like to know   
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 250<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\twhy. Some people will find no
\n\thesitation in accepting the reply that the demand has been caused by those
\n\tBengali newspapers and other preachers of sedition who proclaim that the
\n\tpeople of this country ought to perfect themselves in military exercises and
\n\tthe use of arms.
\nBande Mataram <\/i>yesterday boldly said that Indians must develop the virtues
\n\tof the Kshatriya, the warrior caste. `The first virtue of the Kshatriya is
\n\tnot to bow his neck to an unjust yoke but to protect his weak and suffering
\n\tcountrymen against the oppressor and welcome death in a just and righteous
\n\tbattle.’ This kind of stuff, of course, is often harmless; but when we
\n\tconsider the lengths to which the boycotters have already gone, is it too
\n\tmuch to suppose that some fanatics will go to some trouble in providing
\n\tthemselves with arms even if their courage halts there?" <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tBut we reiterate with all the
\n\temphasis we can command that the Kshatriya of old must again take his
\n\trightful position in our social polity to discharge the first and foremost
\n\tduty of defending its interests. The brain is impotent without the right arm
\n\tof strength. India is now conscious of this long-forgotten truth. And the
\n\thand must hold up-to-date arms. And where the arms cannot be procured in a
\n\tfair way people are driven to underhand methods, not to kill their own men
\n\tas the Englishman<\/i> designedly insinuates but to protect their life and
\n\tlimb, home and hearth, as they had to do at Comilla, as they will shortly
\n\thave to do at Mymensingh. An awakened nation consults its necessity and
\n\tproceeds to the invention. The song that nerves the nation’s heart is in
\n\titself a deed. That song may lead to persecution but as the Punjabee <\/i>
\n\thas said, "Today we are in the firing line, but our recruits are at our
\n\tback\u2014 ready to take our places the moment we drop down." This music can no
\n\tlonger be silenced and keeping time with it the coming Kshatriya is forging
\n\this thunder regardless of the fretting and fuming of the Englishman<\/i>.
\n\tThe writings on the wall are getting distinct and the Englishman <\/i>
\n\tknows no peace.    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 251<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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