The Prisoner of Mandalay

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Lokmanya Tilak indianised the language of the struggle of independence and took it to the masses. Though he was called an extremist during the freedom struggle; in real terms, he was a moderate leader with magnanimity and courage at heart. Lokmanya Tilak had, throughout his life, been an exponent of radical changes in politics. He faced three trials on charges of sedition, of which he was found guilty in two and faced punishment, while he was honourably discharged in the third case. This book will bring insight about the hardships he had undergone in prison at Mandalay and during his lifetime in the minds of the readers.

Arvind Vyankatesh Gokhale is renowned editor and writer in Marathi. He was twelfth editor of the Kesari, the newspaper established by Lokmanya Tilak. He was also Deputy Editor Loksatta, Editor Lokmat, Pune in addition to being author of 14 books in Marathi.

Anil Vyankatesh Gokhale is a Mechanical Engineer and author of books on Science Fictions and Material Management. This is his maiden translation activity. He has done this work more as devotion to Lokmanya Tilak and his elder brother.

PREFACE At the outset of the first war of Indian independence in 1857, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was just ten months old. May be that is why he became rebellious and wanted to change the old order. The period was revolutionary and people became restive. The business community was on the verge of collapse, the Maratha martial had lost their jobs, many of them were disarmed and unemployment was growing. The white-collar class was diminishing and were deprived of everything. The priest class was targeted for extinction. The chain of events led then to the national revolt.

The Queen had continued with Lord Canning as the Viceroy of India to pacify the mindsets of people. Call the dog mad and shoot him, was the policy of the British rulers.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Vishnushastri Chiplunkar, Waman Shivram Apte, Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi and Ganesh Krishna Garde, all of them were in their twenties and wanted to establish their own newspaper to awaken the masses. They came out with a twin! They decided to publish Kesari for the Marathi masses and Mahratta for the English elites. On January 2, 1881 the Mahratta saw the dawn and Tilak was the editor. Maiden manifestation of Kesari was on January 4, 1881, under the Editorship of Agarkar. They faced their first court trial which was a defamation case against the duo, suit for which was filed by Diwan of Kolhapur; Mr. Mahadev Vasudeo Barve. The year was 1882 and both of them were slapped for 101 days in Dongari jail. At that time, they were just 25.

This was their first experience of public life. That probably made the publications popular among the masses. Agarkar left Kesari to start his own weekly. Tilak took over Editorship of the paper in October 1887.

During the famines of 1896, Tilak appealed to the Government to save the lives of thousands of people. The Kesari of November 17, 1896, warned the authorities and made the peasants aware of their rights and responsibilities to ease their distress. Kesari devoted itself towards famine relief and protection. Next year, 1897, saw sudden outbreak of the bubonic plague. It was a frightening situation. People were under twin threats of misfortune namely, the plague and the cruelties of the Pune administrator Walter Rand. He instructed the police to search and ransack each and every household. The force used very dirty and rough techniques and frisked the ladies, young and old, on the streets of Pune. They destroyed their properties. In the meantime, Tilak opened a hospital to help people and ease their tension. Because of the terrorism meted out against the people; the two officers Rand and Ayerst were murdered on the streets. Chaphekar brothers were held responsible but the British Government was self-convinced that the brain behind the murders was of Tilak. He was arrested and charged under sedition. Though the Government failed to prove the motive, he had to go behind the bars for one year. That was in 1898. Ten years after this, Tilak was held responsible for another set of seditious writings.

Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Kumar Chakravarti killed two European ladies in Muzaffarpur. The Government felt that Tilak’s writings were the cause of the undying fire of unrest. Tilak had to face a second sedition case and Mr. Justice Dinshaw Davar in collusion with the European jury, sentenced him to six years of deportation and imprisonment. Before deportation to Mandalay, he was in Sabarmati jail for some time. Mandalay jail became his place of inspiration.

There, he wrote three books including an exposition on Bhagawad Gita. Mandalay was thus known as the birthplace of Gita Rahasya.

To write Mandalaycha Rajbandi was my dream project. I went on doing research for almost four years and started writing it, making some changes and rewriting again and so on. I completed the project in six years. During my journey in these strenuous but beautiful years, it was the Times of India which permitted my entry into their library. I was the Editor of the Kesari then. Times today is not the The Times of India in Tilak era. The times have since changed and so have the Times of India. Earlier, it was published twice a week. The paper became a daily in 1851 and changed its name to The Times of India in 1861. The Times was critical of the independence movement and they were publishing one sided news against Tilak. So, Tilak used to call the paper ‘The old lady of Boribandar’ (the name before it became Victoria Terminus and now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus).

Same is the case with The Pioneer. The Pioneer was founded in Allahabad in 1865 by George Allen, an Englishman, who had had great success in the tea business in north-east India in the previous decade. It was brought out three times a week from 1865 to 1869 and daily thereafter. It was also ‘the most obedient servant’ of the British Government. This paper was also very critical of the freedom movement and its leader. So is the history!

After the publication of Mandalaycha Rajbandi in Marathi in 2008, many readers asked me to come out with an English translation. I was in search of a translator. My brother volunteered for the monumental task and I am proud to say that he has done it meticulously with full vigour.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was in Mandalay jail many years after Tilak had been there. His experiences about this jail were quite horrendous.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages