Anushilan Samiti: Establishment, Members and Activities
Anushilan Samiti, an organisation that existed in Bengal during the first three decades of the twentieth century, propounded revolutionary violence for ending the British Raj in India. Its two arms were the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti centred in Dhaka, and the Jugantar Group centred at Calcutta. The Samiti was inspired by the thoughts, speeches, and writings of Swami Vivekananda, and influenced by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s ‘Anandmath’.
The Anushilan Samiti was established by Pramathanath Mitra, a barrister from Calcutta on 24 March 1902. It was headed by Barindra Kumar Ghosh, younger brother of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh. A number of nationalists were associated with it at various times, notably Aurobindo Ghosh (Sri Aurobindo), Bhupendra Natha Datta (brother of Swami Vivekananda), Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das, Surendranath Tagore, Pulin Bihari Das, Sarala Devi, Rash Behari Bose, Jatindranath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin), Sachindranath Sanyal, Jatin Das, and Bipin Chandra Pal.
In 1905, the Samiti published ‘Bhavani Mandir’ (Temple of Goddess Bhavani) that incorporated a detailed plan of establishing a religious sanctuary in a secluded spot as the centre of revolutionary activities. Aurobindo Ghosh and Bipin Chandra Pal began a Bengali nationalist weekly ’Jugantar’ (New Era) and its English counterpart ‘Bande Mataram’ in March 1906 that openly preached armed rebellion to create the necessary revolutionary mentality among Indians. It exhorted its readers to win over the Indian soldiers to the revolutionary societies and secure arms from foreign powers. In 1907 they published ‘Vartaman Rananiti’ advocating military training, and laid down strategies and tactics of guerrilla warfare.
Emotional appeals were made to the members through Hindu spirituality and religion. Books of Swami Vivekananda became an inspiration. The Gita was used for administering the vows to members. The expansion of the Samiti was promoted through formation of ‘akhadas’ (gymnasiums) across Bengal.
Alarmed by the revolutionary activities of the Samiti, the British took a series of measures to crush it. The Special Branch of the Calcutta Police was constituted to deal with them. Their activities, and that of the Ghadar Party, led to the passage of the Defence of India Act 1915. After WW-I, the draconian Rowlatt Acts were passed to deal with them.
