Revolutionary – A person who not only aspires and thrives hard to bring out a blazing revolution, but also aims to change the face of society to the core, at large. A person who becomes a source of inspiration for future generations of other revolutionaries and different revolutionary groups, which constantly strive to seize the independence that they deserve from the imperialistic forces and take their country out of the imbroglio state of affairs of the tyrants. India is no exception, as she has produced a plethora of names who have worked their fingers to the bone to tremble the cruel, unjust and oppressive foreign forces.
In the times of dazzling names in the world of revolution, such as Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi and Otto Von Bismarck, was born an Indian Krantikari who not only gave the British nightmares but also became the rightful source of inspiration for the upcoming generations. Today known as the “Father of the Modern Indian Revolutionary Movement”, Vasudev Balwant Phadke is unfortunately a lesser-known name still today amongst the Indian diaspora. A stern, sturdy and no-nonsense man from Pune, he revived the hope that was systematically suppressed and subverted by the Brits after the revolution of 1857.
Vasudev Balwant Phadke was one of the early contemporary Indian revolutionaries who took up arms to drive out the British. This restless energy ignited a flame that grew into a powerful firestorm of the Indian liberation fight, in which many Indians fought and perished until India gained its independence. His unwavering bravery, idealistic aspirations, and selflessness contributed to the country’s awakening and accelerated the rise of political consciousness. He ought to have a special place among the national leaders and freedom warriors because of his fitness for things. He was an idol for countless martyrs who came after him, and his life was an epic of labour, sweat, blood, and tears. Vasudev Phadke publicly declared our desire for complete political independence, even when educated gurus and notable politicians hesitated. He was the first Indian leader to urge the populace to fight against foreign authority and to spread the slogan “Swaraj” from village to village.
Early Life and Formative Years
The Phadkes were Brahmins from Chitpavan who belonged to the same caste as Pune’s illustrious Peshwas. The family was from the Konkan village of Kelshi, which is located in the Ratnagiri area. It moved to the Kolaba district’s Shirdhon in the sixteenth century. Anantrao, the grandfather of Vasudev Balwant, was in charge of the Karnala fort, which was overlooking Shirdhon, at the time of Peshwa’s final defeat in 1818. He did not give up the fort easily. The name ‘Subahdar’ remained even after the military command was lost in 1818. ‘Subahdar’ was the nickname given to Vasudev Balwantrao’s father and grandfather in their respective communities.
On November 4th, 1845, Balvantrao and his wife Saraswatibai welcomed a son named Vasudev. He was naturally rebellious since he was young and despite this nature, his grandparents, with whom he was raised, gave him a lot of care. He enjoyed living outdoors, trained in riding, wrestling, and fencing, and eventually became an accomplished marksman. However, he had little interest in reading books. When Vasudev’s grandfather Anantrao died, he was ten years old. Vasudev’s way of life also came to an end when his father started paying particular attention to his son’s attendance at school. He attended a primary school in Kalyan for four years before moving to Bombay and Poona to study English.
Vasudev Balwant wed Saibai in 1859. After a brief illness, she passed away in 1872, leaving her only daughter Mathutai. In 1873, he remarried Gopikabai, who dispelled from her mind any thoughts of personal need or ornamentation. Her altruism won her husband’s respect. Vasudev Balwant valued his wife’s virtues greatly. While it was not widely accepted at the time, he held progressive ideas on women’s education. He sometimes taught Gopikabai classes with his brothers, since he had a strong desire for her to receive an education. As a result, Gopikabai was able to memorise Sanskrit texts and recite the “Amarkosh” with ease. Vasudev, a skilled fighter with a sword, also taught his wife how to ride a horse and shoot an arrow.
Following Vasudev’s graduation, his family held three large-scale festivities: his brother’s thread ceremony and the marriage ceremonies of two of his sisters. These events significantly strained the Phadke family’s finances. Vasudev therefore started working as a clerk for the Great Indian Peninsular Railway in Bombay not long after his first marriage. He then accepted a position at the Grant Medical College, one of India’s oldest medical schools. He accepted a new position in the Military Finance Department in 1864, and in 1865, he was moved to the department’s Poona office.
Phadke’s temperament made him unfit to hold a subordinate role. Vasudev’s youthful resentment of his employers was fueled by the demanding nature of his work, the soulless discipline of the office, and the dominance of his foreign superiors. Vasudev Balwant Phadke turned to spirituality for holistic comfort briefly. He was taught academic knowledge of ancient texts and pious practices such as Sandhya, Purushasukta, Rudra & Payamana under the guidance of an educated priest named Vinayakbhat Varze. He also continued to be deeply absorbed in the worship of his principal deity, Dattatraya. He also travelled a lot to see numerous saints in an attempt to find the ultimate truth.
But during such events, especially in the 1860s, Vasudev had begun to despise the British to its core. Their lifestyle, their attitude towards the ‘non-whites’, their discriminatory nature against even the most loyal ‘native’ workforce and their noticeable atrocities against the poor Indian diaspora, were forging Vasudev’s conscience against the British. Subconsciously, a substantial groundwork was being laid for all those gallant tremors that Vasudev was about to give to the British Empire in the subsequent years to come. A significant occasion in 1870 turned out to be a turning point in Vasudev Phadke’s life. Due to a delay in obtaining leave from his workplace, Vasudev was unable to be present at his mother’s bedside as she passed away. He reprimanded the authorities in the greatest terms, his frustration and wrath knowing no bounds. A year later, he was denied permission to carry out his mother’s death anniversary rites once more. This made him even more resentful of the British rule and strengthened his determination to work towards India’s political independence.
The Tragedy, The Distress and A ‘Revolutionary’ Metamorphosis…
Now, the evolving political landscape in the Deccan in the 1870s provided both validation and impetus for Vasudev’s determination to launch an uprising against the British Raj. The Poona Sarvajanik Sabha (People’s Organisation) established the nation’s first political front for public agitation in Poona in 1870. Under the principal direction of Mahadev Govind Ranade, it operated in full swing and aimed at empowering the masses to transform them into well-educated and patriotic Bharatiya. In December 1872, Ranade gave his first lecture on “National Trade” in Poona. Using statistical facts and analysis, he exposed the harm done to India’s economy as a result of its careless and uncontrolled use of imported commodities. Many young people were drawn to his erudite speech, including Vasudev Balwant Phadke.
Vasudev Balwant’s public life began at the same time as Ranade’s lectures, which fueled his inner flame of patriotism. Both of them (Ranade and Phadke) hated India’s exploitation under foreign authority as contemporaries. However, their political ideologies were distinguishable. Vasudev’s instant armed uprising was the response to the national ills, while Ranade’s was limited to prayers and pleas to the British Government. It’s a noteworthy fact that Vasudev Balwant Phadke was the prophet of revolutionary ideology, while Ranade was the founder of constitutionalism. They stood for two different political schools of thought that Indians adopted during the course of their generations till the nation gained its independence.
The Deccan peasantry experienced increasing suffering during the years 1870–1878. The peasantry was being asked to pay 50% to 100% more than before due to stricter tax collecting practises and revision-time assessment increases. The Deccan district had a prolonged drought, despite a sharp increase in the demand for revenue. Barren pastures and withering plants provided little food for animals or people. The Deccan turned into an actual dust bowl. A sharp shortage of food grains caused prices to skyrocket. The government’s efforts to alleviate the famine were ineffective in easing suffering. The end effect was a shortage of food and an epidemic-like cholera and fever outbreak. Eight lakh people were estimated to have died in the famine by the Famine Commission in 1880. Farmers were forced to become landless workers or little more than tenants working in their fields as a result of government laws and regulations that favoured moneylenders in the payment of taxes and settlement of agricultural debts. Tight forest regulations and a decrease in grazing areas exacerbated the misery of the lowest castes in the villages and among the tribal people, adding to the overall environment of hopelessness and despair.
The increasing distress impacted Vasudev Balwant deeply. According to him, foreign rule was to blame for the devastation of Indian industry, disregard for irrigation, and scarcity of food and clothing for the average person. In his autobiography, he described how he felt this way: “Thinking day and night of these and a thousand other sorrows, my mind was concentrated upon the overthrow of the British dominion in India. I had nothing else on my mind. The thought tormented me. I used to wake up in the middle of the night and think about how the British would fail, practically driving me insane”. Phadke began giving speeches in public on the terrible situation facing the nation. He vigorously criticised the authorities while touring the Deccan districts. He echoed the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau when he declared that everyone had the right to oppose and reject the government when its oppression or incompetence was extreme and intolerable. He urged his compatriots to work towards independence, saying that Swaraj was the only solution to their problems.
But, the divine proposal seemed absurd to the educated class, to whom Phadke urged to rise in rebellion against the British. To plan a rebellion, he resorted to the Ramoshis, Kolis, Bhils, and Dhangars. These people, who had been severely impacted by the ongoing drought, listened obediently to the call of someone they held in high regard as their saviour. He assembled a group of roughly 300 fervent men around him and proceeded to work towards his goal of destroying the British authority in India. Vasudev Balwant Phadke devised a plan to send his men to various regions of the nation to obstruct government operations and foster chaos. He believed that nationwide panic would result from outbreaks occurring at the same time in every region. The movement of news across the nation would be completely halted as a result of the stopping of oaks, railway lines, and telegraph cables. He anticipated that thousands would join him in this chaotic situation, accomplishing his goal of creating an Indian Republic.
The Tempest Unleashed and a Furious Onslaught…!
Arms and money were what Vasudev Balwant needed to realise his magnificent design. He started negotiating with the wealthy to get them to contribute the money needed for the insurrection. Phadke assured them that the funds were needed to achieve Swaraj and would be returned once the objective was met. Vasudev Balwant paused to reflect when the wealthy’s attitude defied his expectations: “Means do not by themselves matter. Why not take away the wealthy men’s riches by force to add to the cash for Swaraj if they are unwilling to provide it voluntarily?” Vasudev was a well-read man and he knew what Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had to do with the wealthy self-declared aristocrats (who were businessmen and traders by profession) when he sacked Surat twice. Purity was running in the veins of his conscience and he was willing to do the same if our ‘own’ weren’t ready to contribute.
Intending to fortify the muscles of war, the men raised by Phadke from the affluent strata in the countryside started a systematic campaign of plundering and dacoity. The first raid happened on the evening of February 23, 1879, when Phadke, with a sizable party, broke into the Poona district village of Dhamari. The haughty Marwaris had their estates burned and their homes ransacked. After leaving Dhamari, the group proceeded to Davi Nimbgaon, Jejuri, and Panmala. Following the 5 March battle on Valhe, the rebels moved into Bhor territory and began robbing the wealthy residents of Chandkhed, Savargoan, Harnai, and Mangdari. The ones who donated the money wholeheartedly were not at all harmed and earned the great goodwill of Vasudev Phadke’s men, who held them in very high regard as they had also contributed to the noble cause of freeing India from the shackles of the tyrant whites.
It’s a noteworthy thing, that Phadke had a very worthwhile endeavour for fighting his war. He had instructed his men under tight instructions not to harm children, aged people and/or harass women during raids. As word of Vasudev Balwant’s uprising appeared in newspapers, the political climate in the nation became electrified, and people throughout India found it difficult to understand the true ramifications of the Deccan uprising. By now, the government was aware of the threat and had assembled specialised equipment to locate the rebels. Relentlessly, in May 1879, Phadke declared that the Government would face severe repercussions if it did not supply inexpensive food grains, give jobs to the ryots (the common people), lower general taxation, and cut the pay of its European commanders. By offering a counteroffer for the governor’s and other officials’ heads, the government mocked its offer of a reward for his capture.
The well-known Vasudev Proclamation was a statement that publicly condemned the British policy of exploiting India economically and demanded that the ryots receive financial assistance as a matter of inherent justice. During the Indian independence movement, it was the first audacious challenge of its sort to the British Government. Now, the government moved quickly to apprehend the rebel commander, Vasudev Balwant Phadke. Major Daniell, the District Superintendent of Police, was tasked with finding and apprehending Phadke after learning of his identity as the rebel commander. He was also acquainted with the province’s challenging area.
Meanwhile, Vasudev Balwant found out he had been duped by the Ramoshis, who comprised the majority of his following. The loot they took was all that worried them, and their leader’s extravagant plan did not pique their curiosity. Phadke looked south after becoming disillusioned with the Ramoshis. He went to Nizam’s domain and attempted to rally the Arabs and Rohillas to his cause. Throughout the province, Major Daniell increased security measures and issued precautionary instructions. But the actions were ineffective. Vasudev Balwant’s name resonated across the nation, and his noble dread eventually spread throughout Maharashtra. He became a household legend among the Maratha people.
Phadke was being followed by the police, who learned of his whereabouts in the south. On July 17, 1879, Major Daniell arrived in Hyderabad in the evening. He made a direct drive to the British Residency, where he met with Sir Richard Meade, who informed the Nizam of Daniell’s arrival. The Nizam, the British Government’s most devoted supporter, quickly joined the search for Vasudev Balwant Phadke. A few of the Rohillas turned traitor and revealed Vasudev’s precise position, terrified of the wrath of their Huzurs. On the night of July 20, 1879, he was finally apprehended in the Bijapur district near Devar Navadgi. Just like Panipat (1761), the gullible Rohillas proved their treacherous ‘loyalty’ towards the outsiders for their own filthy gains and thus, ‘the turbulence was now being eased’ by the British.
The Transportation for Life, and the Legacy…
Vasudev Balwant Phadke and fourteen of his associates were tried in Pune on November 3, 1879, on allegations of dacoity and conspiracy with dacoits to wage war against the Queen, gather troops and weapons for the war, and incite discontent against the government. The two main pieces of evidence presented against him were his personal journal and the autobiography he had written while staying at the Srisaila Mallikarjuna a few months prior.
It was with great courage that Ganesh Vasudev Joshi, also referred to as Kaka Joshi, stood up on his own to defend Phadke in court. In his declaration before the Court, Vasudev Balwant stated categorically, “It is due to the British rule that India had become a prey to starvation deaths. Our industries are being destroyed. The goods from England are exempted from taxes so that we cannot run any industry in our country … I could only think of one method to save these people from total destruction, i.e., the liberation from the British yoke. Day and night there is but one prayer in my heart; but one thought in my mind. Oh God, even if my life is lost, let my country be free, let my countrymen be happy. I have taken up arms, raised an army and rebelled against the British Government with this single aim. Today, this is the duty of every Indian. I could not succeed. But someday someone will succeed. Oh my countrymen, forgive me for my failure”.
However, his journal, memoirs, and confessions, along with the testimony of several witnesses gathered by the prosecution, provided ample evidence for all the charges. Upon being found guilty of the accusations the jury had brought against him, Mr Newnham, the judge, condemned him to life in prison, which at the time was a more agonising punishment than death. The path to deport Phadke to the Andaman Islands was now clear following the High Court’s denial of the appeal against the sentence. However, the Andaman Islands housed a sizable number of prisoners of war from 1857, with the terms permitting their eventual release from the islands after a predetermined amount of time. The government feared that Phadke, using the facilities, would cause problems in the Andamans with the help of the prisoners. Thus, the Andaman was substituted for the less expansive, more heavily fortified fort of Aden, which housed fewer captives and was directly under the control of the Bombay Presidency, as the destination for his transfer.
Vasudev Balwant’s spirit remained unwavering and strong despite his many hardships while incarcerated. After roughly six months, he started working on his jailbreak strategy. Phadke put the finishing touches on his escape scheme at the beginning of October 1880. After being imprisoned for months, he began his plan on October 12, 1880, and shortly after, he passed the barrier gate and felt the wind of freedom. But his freedom did not last long. While travelling through a foreign nation, he was shortly pursued and taken prisoner by the authorities, again. Vasudev Balwant endured severe hardships for the following two and half years. It was not long after the horrendous abuse of excessive workloads and prolonged isolation that he developed tuberculosis in the middle of 1881. Even though he was in such good health, he went on a death fast and insisted on having his fetters taken off and his living arrangements improved. On February 17, 1883, Vasudev Balwant Phadke’s condition deteriorated. The doctors gave up hope for his recovery early on that awful day. India’s first revolutionary entered the gates of heaven, in the fort of Aden around 4:20 p.m.
For at least three generations, Indian revolutionaries and nationalists found constant inspiration in Vasudev Balwant Phadke, who perpetuated the country’s battle. He was a national hero to practically all politically conscious minds and great leaders belonging to diverse schools of political thought, from the late Dr M.R. Jayakar, one of the greatest liberals and constitutionalists, to Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, since he was the first rebel against British rule before Tilak entered the arena. The name Vasudev Balwant Phadke will shine brighter than ever in the annals of the Indian liberation movement, as long as the terms of Indian nationalism and national gratitude for the land’s sacrifices endure!