1893
(A.B. Purani, The Life of Sri Aurobindo:) “Sri Aurobindo served in the Baroda state from 8 February 1893 to 18 June 1907. His age was twenty-one when he joined, thirty-five when he left. The period of his service was 13 years 5 months and 17 days. ...
Life at Baroda was full, though the political career that followed was like a tornado. Sri Aurobindo's activity during this period can be divided into five parts: (1) service in various departments of the State; (2) literary activity, reading and study – this part was partly connected with college work; (3) political activity – articles in the Induprakash and beginnings of the revolutionary movement, visits to Bengal during vacations for this purpose; (4) spiritual life; (5) family life.
During this period Sri Aurobindo often stayed with Khaserao Jadhav in his house at Dandia Bazar. In his absence he stayed with Khaserao's brother Madhavrao Jadhav. Several other houses also were occupied at different times in Baroda.”[1]
(A.B. Purani:) “ “I wrote many memoranda for the Maharaja”, Sri Aurobindo once said. “Generally he used to indicate the lines and I used to follow them. But I myself was not much interested in administration. My interests lay outside in Sanskrit, literature, and in the National movement. When I came to Baroda from England I found out what the Congress was at that time and formed contempt for it. Then I came in touch with Deshpande, Tilak, Madhavrao, and others. Deshpande requested me to write something, in the Induprakash. There I strongly criticised the Congress for its moderate policy. The articles were so slashing that M.G. Ranade, the great Maharashtra leader, asked the proprietor of the paper not to allow such seditious articles to appear in the paper otherwise he might be arrested and imprisoned. Deshpande approached me with the news and requested me to write something less violent. I then began to write about the philosophy of politics leaving aside the practical part. But soon I got disgusted with it.” (Evening Talks, p.36)
The series of political articles mentioned above, “New Lamps for Old”, which severely criticised the policy of the Indian National Congress, was published in the Induprakash of Bombay from 7 August 1893 to 5 March 1894. Sri Aurobindo was pressed by K.G. Deshpande, his Cambridge friend, to write the series. K.G. Deshpande, after his return from England, settled in Bombay as a barrister and was also editor of the English section of the Induprakash. The paper had a Marathi section also. On Sri Aurobindo's joining the Baroda state, Deshpande requested him – knowing his strong nationalist views at Cambridge – to write articles about the Indian Congress. Deshpande joined the Baroda state service in 1898 – five years after Sri Aurobindo.
Deshpande introduced Sri Aurobindo's series with the following note:
“We promised our readers some time back a series of articles on our present political progress by an extremely able and keen observer of the present times. We are very much pleased to give our readers the first instalment of that series. The title under which these views appear is “New Lamps for Old” which is very suggestive though a metaphorical one. The preface will take us over to the next issue. The views therein contained are not those that are commonly held by our politicians, and for this reason they are very important. We have been long convinced that our efforts in Political Progress are not sustained, but are lacking in vigour. Hypocrisy has been the besetting sin of our political agitation. Oblique vision is the fashion. True, matter of fact, honest criticism is very badly needed. Our institutions have no strong foundation and are in hourly danger of falling down. Under these circumstances it was idle – nay, criminal, – to remain silent while our whole energy in Political Progress was spent in a wrong direction. The questions at issue are momentous. It is the making or unmaking of a nation. We have therefore secured a gentleman of great literary talents, of liberal culture and of considerable English experience, well-versed in the art of writing and willing, at great personal inconvenience and probable misrepresentation, to give out his views in no uncertain voice, and, we may be allowed to add, in a style and diction peculiarly his own. We bespeak our readers' most careful and constant perusal on his behalf and assure them that they will find in those articles matter that will set them thinking and steel their patriotic souls.” ”[2]
| Bande Mataram “New Lamps for Old - I”  PDF (5 pages) |
Bande Mataram “New Lamps for Old - II”  PDF (5 pages) |
(A.B. Purani:) “The publication of the first two articles created a furor in political circles and Mahadev Govind Ranade, the famous Maratha leader, who was connected with the paper, sent a warning to the editor that he might be prosecuted for sedition. Deshpande was in a fix. He requested Sri Aurobindo to tone down his criticism a little. After that Sri Aurobindo lost all enthusiasm for writing the series and even though he somehow finished it he took a long time to do it. He never liked the mendicant policy of the Congress.”[3]
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