by A K Bhagwat
There arose, at this time, a provoking and complicated situation in Kolhapur. The gadi of Kolhapur had a special significance for the people of Maharashtra as the rulers of Kolhapur were the direct descendants of the great Shivaji. How powerful this sentimental attachment was, could only be understood in the light of the fact that even today a number of people deplore the merger of Kolhapur with the rest of India.
Shri Shivaji, the Maharaja of Kolhapur, ascended the gadi in 1871. In later years, rigorous checks and restrictions were imposed on him, as it was made out by official quarters that the Raja was losing his mind. From the editorial comments and correspondence in the Kesari and the Mahratta, people appeared to believe that there was an intrigue against the Raja in order to dethrone him on the ground of alleged insanity and that the maltreatment of young Shivaji Maharaj was part of the devilish conspiracy in which Rao Bahadur V. M. Barve, the Minister of Kolhapur, the dowager queen and the keepers of the Maharaja-Green and Cox — were the abettors. In a leading article in the Mahratta of the 27th November 1881, Shivaji Maharaj is spoken of as an Indian Hamlet persecuted by the Claudius of a Minister. Certain letters purporting to have been written by Rao Bahadur Barve, which were published in a Poona paper, were reprinted in the Mahratta on the 8th January 1882. From these letters the plight of the Maharaja became known to the people and the suggestion that even his life was not safe gave rise to great public indignation.
Rao Bahadur Barve instituted in January 1882, legal proceedings against the editors of the Kesari and the Mahratta — Agarkar and Tilak, for “wicked and malicious defamation”. The allegations made against Barve were based on certain letters which were believed to be genuine. In the court, however, the letters were proved to be ingenious forgeries and therefore the accusations against Barve could not be substantiated. Tilak and Agarkar, therefore, accepted the only course open to gentlemen under such circumstances, viz. of tendering an unreserved apology. The legal proceedings were, however, continued and Tilak and Agarkar were sentenced to four month’s rigorous imprisonment. Though the articles in question were not written by either of them, Tilak and Agarkar accepted all responsibility in matter and suffered the consequences.
In spite of the judgment of the court, people were convinced of the fact that Tilak and Agarkar had no personal malice against Barve, nor were they interested in publishing sensational material. Particularly the statement made by Dr. Murphy in the court that it was necessary to whip the Raja of Kolhapur was enough to throw light on the pathetic condition of the ruler, and people felt that Tilak and Agarkar had championed a just and worthy cause. Funds were voluntarily raised and the punishment given by the court, instead of casting a slur on the character of Tilak and Agarkar, only enhanced their prestige. The final curtain on the Kolhapur episode was dropped in a most unfortunate manner when Shivaji Maharaj died in Ahmednagar fort on the 25th December 1883, in the most suspicious circumstances. After this incident the sullen tone of the Kesari expressed in the leading article in the issue of the 22nd January 1884, was characteristic of the popular feeling: “We are so thoroughly disgusted with the whole incident that it would be better if we no more hear of Green with reference to the unfortunate ruler.... When one sees before one’s mind’s eye, the terrible night of the 25th October, the imprisonment of the Maharaja of Kolhapur in Ahmednagar fort, his frantic desperation as no affectionate person was near, his squabble with the bullying Green, one becomes restless and disappointed. When one considers the obstinate persistence of the Bombay Government in the cruel treatment meted out to the Maharaja, one realises the truth of the saying that, “The way to hell is paved with good intentions.”
Tilak and Agarkar were sent to Dongri prison near Bombay to suffer their term of imprisonment. To Tilak this was but the beginning of many harder and longer terms of imprisonment which he had to undergo in later life. In those days, political prisoners were not treated as a separate class and Tilak and Agarkar were given the treatment of ‘C’ class convicts. The conditions in jail were appalling and the food, in particular, was very coarse. These two young men, however, were quite unmindful of the hardships they were suffering and spent their time in prolonged discussions.
Jail life is in many respects beneficial, as it affords an opportunity for introspection and fresh thinking, which are not possible when one is engrossed in public life. Through their discussions in college days, Tilak and Agarkar had realised their temperamental differences and the different emphasis which they wanted to place on the different aspects of life. At that time, however, their discussions had an academic and theoretical interest; but their discussions at Dongri were carried on, on a different level. Tilak and Agarkar had now started the struggle for the realisation of their ideal, and through this struggle was coming the realisation of their own selves. The strifes and the trials through which these two young men were passing tested their mettle and moulded their points of view. Both of them withstood the trials, but the impact of environment on their personalities gave rise to different reactions. To them the struggle for the realisation of their ideal was assuming different shapes and each one felt that he was treading in the right direction. This was, however, the period of co-suffering when divergent opinions never developed into antagonistic points of view. Agarkar was feeling the urgency of social reform very intensely and though Tilak shared many of his views, he felt that it was not desirable to hurt people at that stage as such a step might create difficulties in their efforts to bring about a complete change. Their political views were, however, identical and a clue to them can be found in Agarkar’s fine book “101 Days in Dongri Prison.”
Tilak lost twenty-four Ibs. and Agarkar sixteen Ibs. during four months of prison life. When Tilak and Agarkar were released from prison they were given a tremendous ovation. Over two thousand people awaited the young heroes at the prison-gates and brought them to the city in a procession. A warm reception was also given to them by the citizens of Poona and there were public meetings held in their honour.
Tilak’s public life had begun only recently and he experienced for the first time the love of the common people, which was later to make him Lokmanya — the accredited leader of the people. Immediately after the prosecution, Uravane, an eminent merchant in Poona, offered Rs. 5,000 as bail even though he did not know Tilak personally. The friendship, thus sprung in the hour of suffering, became a bond throughout the life of both of them. The first term of imprisonment, suffered by Tilak, won for him a place in the hearts of the people and also earned the goodwill of the Princes for the Deccan Education Society. Prof. C. G. Bhanu has vividly described the scene at the station when Tilak and Agarkar were accorded a reception: “The verdict of the court went against these two young and inexperienced patriots and as a consequence they were sent to prison. But as a result, people became affectionately proud of them. When these two young heroes came out of jail, forty students of the Deccan College — and I was one of these — went to meet them at Kirkee station. That was the first occasion on which I had the privilege of shaking hands with Tilak and talking to him. When we saw them, there were cheers all round and overwhelmed with love for them tears rushed to our eyes. I also attended the public reception at Poona. Tilak had grown weak and yet there was a distinct ring about his voice. ‘The key to our progress is the education of our people,’ that was the burden of Tilak’s song.”
Tilak had thus come out of his first ordeal, vanquished and yet the victor. A little suffering makes many persons cautious in their future undertakings, but to a hero it is only the first round of a fight, which he is determined to fight to the finish. Tilak’s first term of imprisonment, only intensified his idealism and evoked in him a more courageous response than before to the stark reality. While pursuing an ideal one naturally looks up to one’s comrades in arms for support. But parting sometimes becomes inevitable and however unpleasant it is, one has to bear it patiently. Sometimes it is the obstinacy of man which leads to the parting and sometim
es the hand of destiny.
Tilak and his colleagues suffered this terrible stroke of destiny when Vishnushastri Chiplunkar died of a sudden illness on the 17th March 1882. Vishnushastri was the oldest among the founders of the New English School, though he was only 32 when he died. He had unswerving ambition and the fervour of his energies and his tremendous intellectual exuberance made him the acclaimed leader in a number of enterprises. His premature death was a calamity for his colleagues; it came as a set-back to the institutions he had started; it was a great loss to public life in Maharashtra and above all, it meant an impoverishment of Marathi literature. Stunned though his colleagues were by this terrible stroke of ill luck, they knew that the only homage they could pay to their departed friend and guide was to carry on with the tasks he had undertaken. The obituary article in the Mabratta of the 21st March 1882 reads: “Our good friends sometimes used to call the five of us in jest by the name of Graduate-Quintette or Graduate Pandavas. Cruel death has carried to his domain our eldest brother, Dharma; the head-bead of the string is lost. But we are hopeful that our firm and deliberate resolve to strive to elevate our country will not relax.... We feel that our courage and sense of duty are on trial. So long as even a single one of us is at his post of duty, he will do his level best to carry forward without intermission the undertaking on which we embarked in common.”
And the colleagues of Chiplunkar lived up to their words. After a time they found themselves at different posts of duty one in the political sphere, the other in the social sphere and yet they stood firm like mariners facing all storms with equanimity. At this stage, however, they all held together because there was a growing realisation of the significance of the work in the sphere of education.
Towards a Peaceful Revolution
A cause, the significance of which is dimly comprehended at the beginning, unfolds itself in all its magnitude in later stages. Tilak and his colleagues had started the New English School with missionary zeal but it would only be realistic to say that they might have had only a vague idea of some of the educational problems. They were, however, so completely absorbed in their work that within a short time they developed a rare insight into all the aspects of education. It would be unfair to give credit for this to anyone in particular. They were working as a team and each supplied what others lacked. Agarkar’s imaginative outlook, Tilak’s legal acumen, Namjoshi’s shrewd commonsense and Apte’s methodical approach — this was enough equipment to master any problem. There must have been prolonged discussions, heated debates, sharp differences and out of all this an agreed formula may have evolved. This we find in Apte’s evidence before the Education Commission, presided over by William Wilson Hunter. The views expressed in the evidence are a clue to the broad vision and the comprehensive grasp of the educational problems which the pioneer educationists in Maharashtra had. Apte placed these views before the Commission on behalf of the conductors of the New English School on the 9th September 1882, while Agarkar and Tilak were still in prison.
In order to understand the full significance of the views expressed in the evidence it is necessary to refer to the circumstances in which the Education Commission was appointed. The Christian missionaries had started an agitation in England and India, that the educational administration of India was not in keeping with the original principles of the Government of India. Their complaints were that the officials were competing with missionary institutions and that the educational institutions of government were godless and irreligious. The problems that the Commission was the called upon to decide were (i) the role of government institutions in the educational system of India ; (ii) the relation of government to private enterprise; and (iii) the place of missionary efforts in Indian education.3
On all these topics Apte’s evidence shows a comprehensive grasp of the problems and the valuable suggestions he made clearly evince his educational vision. His views are the collective views of the founders of the Deccan Education Society. Apte made a strong plea for an indigenous agency for educational effort, after voicing apprehension at the prospect of education passing into the hands of missionaries, because he feared that education to the missionary was only a means to conversion.
The Fergusson College
The idea of starting a college, though mentioned publicly for the first time in the evidence before the Education Commission, had been lurking in the minds of Tilak and his colleagues almost from the starting of the New English School. In fact, when, after passing his LL.B. examination, Tilak decided to dedicate himself to educational work, the idea of starling a private college was foremost in his mind. Practical consideration, however, prevailed and The New English School’ was first started. Though Tilak did his duty as a teacher with unquestioned sincerity and devotion, the capacities of his intellect could not be confined within the four walls of the school. He must have longed therefore for the freer regions of a college which would give greater scope to his talents. He could work with sincerity in the New English School because it was a social duty, and although there was no scope here to satisfy all his intellectual capacities, it satisfied his moral urge. Teaching in a college, however, could satisfy all his higher urges - intellectual, moral and social - and, therefore, when the idea of starting a college was mooted, he was found to be its most ardent supporter.
The idea soon took concrete shape. They did not have to go far in search of a teaching staff with the proper aptitude and requisite qualifications, for no better team than Tilak, Agarkar, Apte, Kelkar and Gole could be found. The young aspiring minds of Tilak and his colleagues were experiencing the vastness of the new horizon which was almost in sight. New plans were made, different ideas were discussed, new challenges were accepted and fresh thrills were awaited. Life was a quest for higher ideals and a strife for nobler aims. The starting of the college was an adventure, academic as well as social. Tilak and his colleagues were never in doubt about their academic abilities, but to make the enterprise a practical reality, public support was necessary. To them the New English School and the proposed college were public institutions and not proprietary concerns. They knew that this was but the beginning of the educational effort in Maharashtra and with a view to ensuring the continuity of that effort, it was desirable that they should form themselves into a corporate body and constitute a Board of Trustees with a managing committee attached to it. It was, therefore, decided to form a society before starting the college. The constitution of the proposed society was discussed with a number of friends and when the spade-work was over, a meeting of a number of people interested in the cause of education was called in Gadre Wada, in Poona, on 24th October 1884. This meeting was presided over by Sir William Wedderburn, and a number of eminent persons like M. G. Ranade, Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar, Rao Bahadur S. P. Pandit and Sardar Coopoo-swami Mudaliar were present. Sir William Wedderburn congratulated the founders of the New English School on the important advances they were making after having brought their institution to a high degree of efficiency by their steady and self-denying labours. The resolution read: “That as the managers of the New English School and other sympathisers with private education think it desirable to have a society to promote the cause of private education and to put it on a more extended basis in order to give permanence to it, it is desirable that a society should be established for the aforesaid purpose, and that it be called Deccan Education Society.”
Apte made an impassioned plea for the cause of private independent education, adapted to the needs of the community and so cheapened as to come within the reach of children of even the lower middle class. A statement made on the occasion highlights clarity of vision shown by the pioneers. It reads: “We have undertaken this work of popular education with the firmest conviction and belief that of all agents of human civilization, education is the only one that brings about material, moral and religious regeneration of fallen countries and raises them up to the level of the most advanced nations by slow and peaceful revolutions.�
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Under the constitution proposed for the society, all their institutions were to be placed under the supervision of the Council, a body with which some of the most respected Indian and European gentlemen were to be associated. Tilak moved the resolution regarding the personnel of the society and Bhandarkar moved the proposition for adopting the rules and regulations.
The formation of the Deccan Education Society was a great achievement as it removed the two defects in private educational enterprises, viz. want of corporate organisation and a consequent lack of guarantees of permanence. The association of eminent persons like Ranade, Bhandarkar and Telang with the Deccan Education Society, right at the inception, shows the goodwill earned by the founders of the New English School by their earnestness, zeal and sacrifice. The enterprise, which some sceptical minds dubbed as an adventurist undertaking, which would vanish like a bubble, proved to be an ardent effort of patriotic young men who showed the capacity to fight against all odds and inspired confidence even in the most conservative and cautious minds.
The appeal for financial support got an immediate response from all sections of society. His Highness, Shri Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur became the first President of the Society. The championing of the cause of the Native States by the Kesari and the Mahratta and the imprisonment which Agarkar and Tilak had suffered, had won the support of many Princes in Maharashtra to the cause of the Deccan Education Society. Among the patrons were a number of Europeans like Sir James Fergusson, Principal Wordsworth, Prof. Selby and even the Marquis of Ripon, the retiring Governor-General of India. The Society, above all, relied on the support of the intelligentsia and the middle class who would be directly benefited by its activities. Agarkar expressed this confidence about getting popular support in the following words in an article in the Kesari: “We shall reveal this mystery of the Fergusson College. But our readers should then be on their guard, for we would not be responsible if their purses should then empty themselves into the treasury of the Deccan Education Society.”