Savarkar Vol 1 (Part 1)

By: Vikram Sampath

Narrated by: Pratik Sharma

As the intellectual fountainhead of the ideology of Hindutva, which is in political ascendancy in India today, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is undoubtedly one of the most contentious political thinkers and leaders of the twentieth century. Accounts of his eventful and stormy life have oscillated from eulogizing hagiographies to disparaging demonization. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between and has unfortunately never been brought to light. Savarkar and his ideology stood as one of the strongest and most virulent opponents of Gandhi, his pacifist philosophy and the Indian National Congress.
An alleged atheist and a staunch rationalist who opposed orthodox Hindu beliefs, encouraged inter-caste marriage and dining, and dismissed cow worship as mere superstition, Savarkar was, arguably, the most vocal political voice for the Hindu community through the entire course of India's freedom struggle. From the heady days of revolution and generating international support for the cause of India's freedom as a law student in London, Savarkar found himself arrested, unfairly tried for sedition, transported and incarcerated at the Cellular Jail, in the Andamans, for over a decade, where he underwent unimaginable torture.
From being an optimistic advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity in his treatise on the 1857 War of Independence, what was it that transformed him in the Cellular Jail to a proponent of 'Hindutva', which viewed Muslims with suspicion?
Drawing from a vast range of original archival documents across India and abroad, this biography in two parts-the first focusing on the years leading up to his incarceration and eventual release from the Kalapani-puts Savarkar, his life and philosophy in a new perspective and looks at the man with all his achievements and failings.

Critic reviews

The first serious biography of Savarkar in English, this book allows us to understand a man whose ideas have come to define contemporary India. (Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History, University of Oxford)

A gripping narrative . . . We get a rich portrait of Savarkar as a poet and writer as well as a political activist and theorist (Sugata Bose, Gardiner Professor of History, Harvard University)

Vikram Sampath has written the finest biography . . . This will restore the right balance to the story of one of the revolutionaries of modern India. (Meghnad Desai, Eminent author and columnist, Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics)

Read it, not just to understand Savarkar, but also to understand the emergence of modern India. (Sanjeev Sanyal, Best-selling author & Principal Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Government of India)

Vikram's writing skills and his penchant for description, especially of the inhuman torture that the prisoners had to undergo . . . make the text both heart-wrenching as also very readable (Tathagata Roy, Governor of Meghalaya)

Vikram Sampath's brilliant biography demystifies the man, the thinker and the leader. Far from being a hagiography, the book is essential reading for all those interested in contemporary India and the rise of Hindutva (Amitabh Mattoo, Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University)

Vikram Sampath has done extraordinary research into Savarkar's life and history (T.V. Mohandas Pai, chairman, Manipal Global Education)

Very thorough research

Enjoyed Vikram Sampath’s vol 1 part 1. Looking forward to part 2. Wish narrator had spent some time with a Marathi speaker to understand pronunciations, but otherwise has done excellent job too.

Beware! This book will awaken you.

Engaging, dense and moving literary work about Indias biggest intellectual giant in last 100yrs. Must read for whoever considers history as their interest.

True history of India

This book captures the early life of Savarkar until he is transported to Andaman for solitary confinement. It’s written in a biographical style with plenty of facts. But it nonetheless breaks the heart of the true patriots. A country that forgets its martyrs is bound to pay a high price for its freedom.

Thorough taking in multiple sources of information

Vikram Sampath writes this biography in a very engaging way, taking the pains to try and corroborate multiple sources into a single accurate narrative. He brings Savarkar's personality out showing the color of his poetry and his whiplash of emotions in sentencing.

The author's leanings towards Savarkar and other revolutionaries do come through, but he keeps it in check with quotes from people like Gandhi, who rightly criticized the killing of unarmed Englishmen. The author also glosses over Savarkar's views on Muslims some of which could have been problematic. He also doesn't discuss the limits of revolutionary nationalism

Amazing details about Veer Savarkar

I am glad I was able to listen to this detailed biography of VD Savarkar. Learnt so much about his work before 1910- in India and especially in London.
Reading non-english words and many names was pathetic. The reader didn't seem to do any homework to learn to correctly pronounce common words like Vahini, Swatantrya and many more.