Shyamji Krishna Varma

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Shyamji Krishna Varma (born October 4, 1857-March 31, 1930) was an Indian nationalist. He was born at Mandvi village in Kutch district of Gujarat. He lived most of his life outside India. He was greatly influenced by Swami Dayananda Saraswati and became the first President of Bombay Arya Samaj.

Early Years

Shyamaji was born October 30th, 1857 in Mandavi, Kutch province, the son of, Karasan Bhanushali (Karasan Nakhua, Nakhua is the specific surname while Bhanushali is the community Name), a labourer for cotton Press Company and Gomatibai, his mother who died when Shyamaji was only eleven years old. He was raised by his grandmother. After completing secondary education in Bhuj he went to Mumbai for further education at Wilson High School. Whilst in Mumbai he learnt Sanskrit.

In 1875 Shyamaji married to Bhanumati, a daughter of a wealthy businessman of theBhatia community and sister of his school friend Ramdas. Then he got in touch with the nationalist Swami Dayananda Saraswati, a radical reformer and an exponent of Vedas, who had founded of Arya Samaj. He became his disciple and was soon conducting lectures on Vedic Philosophy and Religion. In 1877, a public speaking tour secured him a great public recognition all over Bharat. He became the first non-Brahmin, to receive the prestigious title of Pandit by the Pandits of Kashi in 1877. He came to the attention of Professor Monier Williams, an Oxford Professor of Sanskrit who offered Shyamaji a job as his assistant.

[edit] Legal career

Shyamji arrived in England and joined Balliol College on 25th April 1879 with the recommendation of Professor Williams. Passing his B A in 1883, he was lecture on “the origin of writing in India” by the Royal Asiatic Society. The speech was very well received and he was elected a non-resident member of the society. In 1881 he represented India at the Berlin Congress of Orientalists.

He returned to India in 1885 and started practice as a lawyer. Then he was appointed as Diwan (chief minister) by the King of Ratlam State but ill health forced him to retire from this post with a lump sum gartauity of RS 32052 for his service. After a short stay in Mumbai he settled in Ajmer, headquarter of his Guru Swami Dayananda Saraswati, and continued his practice at the British Court in Ajmer. He invested his income in three cotton presses and secured sufficient permanent income, to be independent for the rest of his life. He served for Maharaja of Udaipur as a council member from 1893 to 1895 followed by the position of Diwan of Junagadh State. He resigned 1897 after a bitter experience with British agent which shook his faith in British Rule.

He was very much impressed with Lokmanya Tilak and supported him during the Consent of Age Bill Ccontroversy. He rejected the petitioning, praying, protesting, cooperating and collaborating policy of Congress Party which he considered undignified and shameful.

In 1897, following the atrocities inflicted by the British Government during the plague crisis in Poona he supported the assination of Commissioner of Plague by the Nathu brothers but he soon decided to fight for Indian Independence in Britain.

Upon arrival in London, he stayed at the Inner Temple and studied Herbert Spencer’in his spare time. In 1900 he bought an expensive house in Highgate His home became a base for all political leaders of India. Gandhi, Lenin, Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale etc all visited him to discuss the Indian Independence Movement. Avoiding the Indian National Congress], he kept in contact with rationalists, free thinkers, national & social democrats, socialists, Irish republicans etc.

Shyamji was so inspired by the philosophy of Herbert Spencer, that at his funeral in 1903 he announced the donation of £1,000 to establish a lectureship at University of Oxford in tribute to him and his work. A year later he announced that Herbert Spencer Indian fellowships of RS 2000 each were to be awarded to enable Indian graduates to finish their education in England. He also announced additional fellowship in memory of the late Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj along with another four fellowships in the future.

[edit] Political Activism

In 1905, Shyamji focussed his activity as a political propagandist and organiser for the complete independence of India. Shyamji made his debut in Indian politics by publishing first issue of his English monthly “The Indian Sociologist” – an organ of freedom and of political, social and religious reform. This was an assertive, ideological monthly aimed at inspriring mass opposition to British rule and stimulated many intellectuals to fight for the freedom of India.

On the February 18 1905, Shyamji inaugurated a new organisation called “The Indian Home Rule Society”. The first meeting held at his Highgate home.The meeting unanimously decided to found “The Indian Home Rule Society” with the object of: 1) Securing Home Rule for India 2) Carrying on Propaganda in England by all practical means with a view to attain the same. 3) Spreading among the people of India in knowledge of freedom and national unity.

As many Indian students faced racist attitudes when seeking accommodation, he founded India House as a hostel for Indian students. based at 65, Cromwell Avenue, Highgate. This living accommodation for 25 students was formally inaugurated on 1st July by Henry Hyndman, of the Social Democratic Federation, in presence of Dadabhai Naoroji, Lala Lajpat Rai, Madam Cama, Mr. Swinney (of the positivist society), Mr. Quelch (the editor of Justice) and Despard the Irish Republican and Suffragette. Declaring “India House” open, Mr H M Hyndman remarked, “As things stands, loyalty to Great Britain means treachery to India. The institution of this India house means a great step in that direction of Indian growth and Indian emancipation, and some of those who are here this afternoon may live to witness the fruits of its triumphant success.” Shyamji hoped India House would incubate Indian revolutionaries and Bhikaiji Cama, Sardarsinh Rana, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya, and Lala Hardayal were all associated with it.

Later in 1905 Shyamji attended the United Congress of Democrats held at Holborn Town Hall as a delegate of the India Home Rule Society. His resolution on India received an enthusiastic ovation from the entire conference. Shyamji’s activities in England aroused the concern of the British government: he was disbarred from Inner Temple and removed from the membership list on April 30 1909 for writing anti-British articles in Indian Sociologist. Most of the British press were anti – Shyamji and carried out outrageous allegations against him and his newspaper. He defended them boldly. The Times referred to him as the “Notorious Krishnavarma”. Many newspapers criticised the liberal British people who supported Shyamji and his view. His movements were closely watched by British Secret Services and he decided to shift his headquarters to Paris leaving India House in charge of Vir Savarker. He left Britain secretly before the British Government tried to arrest him.

[edit] Flight from Britain

He arrived in Paris in early 1907 to continue his work. The British government tried to have him extradited from France without success as he gained the support of many top French politicians. Shyamji’s name was dragged into the sensational trial of Mr. Merlin, an Englishmen, at Bows Court for writing an article in “liberators” published by Shyamji’s friend, Mr. James. Shyamji work in Paris helped gain support for Indian Independence from European countries. He agitated for the release of Savarker and acquired great support all over Europe and Russia. Guy Aldred wrote an article in the Daily Herald under the heading of “Savarker the Hindu Patriot whose sentences expire on 24th December 1960”, helping create support in England too. In 1914 his presence became an embarrassment as French politicians had invited King George to Paris to set a final seal of Entente Cordiale. Shyamji foresaw this and shifted his headquarters to Geneva. Here the Swiss government imposed political restrictions during the entire period of war. He kept in touch with his contacts but he could not support them directly. He spent time with Dr. Briess, president of the Pro India Committee in Geneva, whom he later discovered was a paid secret agent of the British government. This discovery left him emotionally scarred.

He offered a sum of 10,000 francs to the League of Nations to endow a lectureship to be called President Woodrow Wilson Lectureship for the discourse on the best means of acquiring and safe guarding national independence consistently with freedom, justice, and the right of asylum accorded to political refugees. It is said that the league rejected his offer due to political pressure from British government. A similar offer was made to the Swiss government which was also turned down. He offered another lectureship at the banquet given by Press Association of Geneva where 250 journalists and celebrities, including the presidents of Swiss Federation and the League of Nations. Shyamji’s offer was applauded on the spot but nothing came of it. Shyamji was disappointed with the rersponse and he published all his abortive correspondence on this matter in the next issue of the Sociologist appearing in December 1920, after a lapse of almost 6 years.

[edit] Death and Return of his ashes

He published two more issues of Indian Sociologist in August and September 1922, before ill health prevented him continuing. He died in hospital at 11:30pm on March 30, 1930 leaving his wife Shrimati Bhanumati Krishnavarma.

News of his death was suppressed by the British government in India. Nevertheless tributes were paid to him by Sadar Bhagat Singh and his co-revolutionist brothers in Lahore Jail where they were undergoing a long-term drawn out trial. Maratha, a daily newspaper started by Shri Tilak in Marathi, paid very touching tribute to him as a great revolutionary.

Pandit Shyamaji Krishnavarma did not live to witness the independence of Bharat, but his confidence of India gaining its freedom from British rule in future was so strong that he made prepaid arrangements with the local government of Geneva and St Georges cemetery to preserve his & his wife’s ashes (Asthis) at the cemetery for one hundred years and to send their urns to India whenever it became independent during that period. The Congress Party who took over control of India at the end of British rule did not bother to pursue the matter of bring the his ashes for sectarian reasons. Informed about the proposal made by Dr Prithwindra Mukherjee, a Paris based historian, to late Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi, in 1980, and by the interest she showed in favour of repatriating these relics, Shri Bhailal L. Mange of the Shyamji Krishna Varma Smarak Samiti from Mumbai approached Dr Mukherjee in August 1989. Encouraged by the "good news of the progress achieved" through Dr Mukherjee's "continuous efforts," Shri Mange in his letter to Dr Mukherjee, dated 9 November 1989, requested him "to activate the concerned Embassy Staff," which was earnestly followed up by Dr Mukherjee, by contacting the Indian delegations both in Paris and Geneva. Consequently, the joint efforts of Mamgal Bhanushali, Corporator of Mumbai and Trustee of Krishnavarma foundation, Mandavi, Shri Kirit Somaiya, Member of parliament, Mulund, Mumbai, Hemantkumar Padhya, Researcher and founder/President of Hindu Swatantryavir Smruti Sansthanam, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, Shri Vinod Khanna, M P, Actor of Bollywood and Minister of External Affairs Government India, Shri Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat State and many others, finally succeeded in returning the urns of Pandit Shyamaji and his wife Bhanumati, which were officially handed over to The Chief Minister Of Gujarat state on August 22, 2003, by the Ville de Geneve and the Swiss Government fifty five years after Indian Independence.

'Revolutions are like the most noxious dung-heaps, which bring into life the noblest vegetables' – Napoleon

Mazzini (1805-1872), the great Italian revolutionary, stated 'Great revolutions are the work rather of principles than of bayonets, and are achieved first in the moral, and afterwards in the material sphere.'

Great revolutions begin in the best heads and run steadily down to the populace. A fierce and fearless revolutionary cast in this grand mould was Pandit Shyamaji Krishna Verma (1857-1930) who served the cause of India's freedom from outside the country. Like Mahatma Gandhi, he also hailed from Gujarat. Like Gandhi fighting for the cause of rights of Indians in South Africa from 1893 to 1914, Shyamaji Krishna Verma too played an important role during the most crucial period of India's struggle for freedom mainly operating from Europe from 1899 to 1930. It was he who founded the famous India House in London in 1904 which became the nerve centre and nucleus for India's revolutionaries like Veer Savarkar, Madame Cama, Sardar Singh Rana, V V S Iyer, Lala Hardayal and Virendranath Chattopadhaya and Madhanlal Dhingra. Madhanlal Dhingra became the first Indian martyr on the British soil. He murdered Sir Curzon Vyllie on 1 July 1909 and was hanged in the Pentoville jail on 17 May 1909. Shyamji Krishna Verma was the political guru of Veer Savarkar, V V S Iyer and many other freedom fighters in this period.

Shyamji Krishna Verma was born on 4 October, 1857 at Mandvi village of Kutch district in Gujarat. He lost his mother during his early childhood. He had his primary education in the village school at Mandvi and high School education at Bhuj. He was an extraordinarily brilliant student. He acquired a deep knowledge of Sanskrit for which he was awarded the title of 'Pandit'. He was married to Bhanumati, the daughter of a rich merchant, Seth Chhabildas Lalubhai of Bombay in 1875.

Shyamji Krishna Varma was greatly influenced by Swami Dayanand Saraswati (1824-1883) and became the first President of Bombay Arya Samaj. He later joined the Oxford University and was appointed assistant professor of Sanskrit at Balliol College in Oxford. Subsequently, he entered Temple's Inn and was the first Indian Bar-at law. He returned to India in January, 1888 and served for a short time as Diwan of Ratlam. He started practice at Ajmer and made his name as an advocate. He became a member of the Municipality of Ajmer city, served as Diwan of Ajmer and later as Diwan of Junagarh.

In 1899, he returned to England and became the unquestioned leader of all the young men and revolutionaries who were then fighting for our national freedom in England. He started the publication of a monthly journal called 'Indian Sociologist' which became a vehicle of revolutionary ideas. In February 1905, he established the Indian Home Rule Society to raise his voice against British domination in India. He established 'India House' in London to help Indians visiting England. Freedom fighters like Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother Ganesh, Lala Hardayal, Biren Chattopadhyaya and V V S Iyer were some of the direct beneficiaries who lived in 'India House' at that time. Shyamji Krishna Verma raised strong protests against the British rule in India by publishing pamphlets, writing books and delivering speeches.

What inspired Shyamaji Krishna Verma to establish India House in London is by itself an inspiring story. He was already an admirer of Herbert Spencer and came under the spell of his inspiring words: 'Resistance to aggression is not only justifiable but also imperative.' This became Krishna Verma's Jap-Mantra (Motto). In September 1904, standing before the grave of Herbert Spencer at his first death anniversary, he announced a few scholarships to outstanding students but on one condition that they would not accept any service under the government, which was exploiting and suppressing Indians. To facilitate his activities, the India House was formally founded on a freehold land at High Gate in February 1905. A galaxy of luminaries was present on the occasion – Dadabhai Naoroji, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Madame Cama.

Shyamaji Krishna Verma instituted several scholarships and fellowships to attract Indian students to study in England staying in India House. Many of them did not take long to join the institution and work wholeheartedly for the coming revolution. The most outstanding amongst them was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who arrived in the middle of 1906. Weekly meetings of Abhinav Bharat Mandal were held on Sundays. The tone of Shyamaji Krishna Verma's speeches became more and more inspiring, even inciting. Those less interested in revolution slowly dropped out.

Though an ardent patriot, Shyamaji Krishna Verma was not happy with the Congress right from 1899. Even while in England, he did not join the British Committee of the Indian National Congress. When the Boers launched their struggle for freedom from British rule in 1899, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (not yet a Mahatma), practicing as a barrister in Natal in South Africa, came forward to organize a pro-British Volunteer Corps. The Boers were pained by this gesture. Shyamaji Krishna Verma publicly declared: 'I am ashamed as an Indian and as a Gujarati that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi should have chosen to support the British imperialists against the Boers fighting for their liberty and freedom.'

It is amazing to note a revolutionary like Shyamji Krishna Verma should have given the name of Indian Sociologist to his nationalistic journal – a one-penny pamphlet – he started to expound and propagate his political ideals. The cover page of this Avant Garde journal carried the banner words: 'An Organ of Freedom and of Political Social and Religious Reform.' In addition it also contained the slogan: 'Resistance to Aggression is not simply justifiable but imperative.' Long before the UNESCO Preamble wrote the immortal words that 'War starts in the minds of men', Shyamji Krishna Verma proved through his journal that 'revolutions also start in the minds of men', and came out with his one-penny pamphlet.

In the July 1907 issue of Indian Sociologist, Shyamaji Krishna Verma wrote: 'Our advocacy of the rights of the Indian people has created for us a large number of enemies among Englishmen in general and Anglo-Indians in particular. Lately, there have appeared numerous articles in the leading English Journals and Magazines adversely criticizing our propaganda and showering choice epithets on us for no other reason than that we hold strong views on the hypocritical and bloodthirsty rule of England in India.'

The pamphlet continued its publication, with many obstacles on its way in its way till the middle of 1914. The paper, in English and French, continued till it stopped regular publication due mostly to the First Great war. But some occasional publication had been there even when he shifted to Geneva. But due mainly to the infirmity of age, the publication was finally stopped in 1923.

On account of his political activities, he was forced to leave England in 1910. He went to Paris, where he continued his activities supporting India's liberation. Due to the outbreak of the first World War, he could not stay in Paris and had to go to Geneva in Switzerland, where he spent the rest of his life. He died in Geneva on 31 March, 1930.

The Government of India issued a postage stamp on Shyamaji Krishna Verma in 1998 - fifty-one years after independence!! His only fault was that he did not belong, like Sanjay Gandhi, to the Nehru family! In 2003, seventy-three years after Shayamaji Krishna Verma's death in Geneva in 1930, Chief Minister Narendra Modi covered himself with glory by bringing back to Gujarat the urns containing the ashes of Shyamaji Krishna Verma and his wife Bhanumati. The sacred ashes were taken in a 'Veeranjal Yatra' and the State government directed the administration of 17 districts through which the Yatra was to pass to render all assistance to the public participating in the yatra. The procession ended in the coastal town of Mandvi in Kutch District where Shyamaji Krishna Verma was born in 1857.

Narendra Modi's efforts to honour a freedom fighter like Shyamji Krishna Verma was decried in a section of the press citing Shyamji Krishna Verma's opposition to Gandhiji during the days of the Boer War. All the pseudo-secular mercenaries in the Congress Party and other parties would like to disown our pre-Gandhian Congress leaders like Bipin Chandra Pal, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Aurobindo Ghosh and Madan Mohan Malviya because they were unapologetically Hindu. Shyamaji Krishna Verma had raised the voice of India for Independence in the last decade of the 19th century, more than 25 years before the arrival of Gandhiji on the Indian scene.

In fact, even the idea of Satyagraha came from him much before Gandhiji developed it into political action. He wrote in 1905: 'It is not necessary for Indians to resort to arms for compelling England to relinquish its hold on India... If the brown man struck work for a week, the Empire would collapse like a house of cards... If anyone refused to buy or sell any commodity, or to have any transaction with any class of people, he commits no crime known to the law. It is, therefore, plain that Indians can obtain emancipation by simply refusing to help their foreign master without incurring the evils of a violent revolution.'

Thus there is no doubt that it was Shyamji who first advocated non-violent means of getting rid of the British and using withdrawal of cooperation with the colonial administration as the most effective weapon for this purpose. Gandhiji built on this and evolved Satyagraha as a tool to oust the British much later.