PART ONE CHAPTER  I FAMILY Dr. Krishna Dhan Ghose took his degree at the Medical College, Calcutta. His marriage took place in 1864, when he was nineteen years old, to Swarnalata, the eldest daughter of Sj. Rajnarayan Bose. Swarnalata's age was twelve. The marriage was performed according to the rites of Adi Brahmo Samaj, towards which Dr. Ghose had leanings. In 1869 Dr. Ghose went to Britain for further medical studies. He had then two sons, Benoybhushan and Manmohan, whom he left with Swarnalata and a nurse, Miss Paget. He returned in 1871 with a further degree and in all outward manner a completely Anglicised man and an atheist. "Everyone mak

PART THREE CHAPTER X PONDICHERRY: 1927 – 1950 Note A. B. Purani's Life of Sri Aurobindo ends with his account of the descent of 24 November 1926 and, in fact the external life of Sri Aurobindo, of which his book is a record, can be said to have ended at this point. As Purani has written in the introduction to his Evening Talks, "After November 24, 1926 the [evening] sitting began to get later and later, till the limit of one o’clock at night was reached. Then the curtain fell. Sri Aurobindo retired completely after December 1926. . . ."¹ On 8 February 1927 Sri Aurobindo and the Mother moved from 9, Rue de la Marine to 28, Rue François Martin

CHAPTER III BARODA Sri Aurobindo returned to India in the beginning of 1893. He joined the Baroda service on 8 February. Unfortunately his father died before his return under tragic circumstances. It is clear from Dr. K. D. Ghose's letter of 2 December 1890 that he had high hopes for his three sons, especially Sri Aurobindo. He wanted him to take up judicial or administrative work in the Indian government, and had used his influence to get him a good appointment. But he was wrongly informed by his bankers, Messrs. Grindlay & Co. about Sri Aurobindo's departure from London. The steamer Roumania, by which Sri Aurobindo was supposed to have left, sank off the coast of Portugal near

CHAPTER IV IN INDIAN POLITICS In August 1906 the National College, at Calcutta was established, Sri Aurobindo joined the institution as its Principal. On 6 August the declaration of the Bande Mataram was filed. There are many conjectures about how the Bande Mataram was started, what Sri Aurobindo's connection with it was and how it ended. We give here Sri Aurobindo's own explanation, so as to set all doubts to rest. "Bepin Pal started the Bande Mataram with Rs.500 in his pocket donated by Haridas Halder. He called in my help as assistant editor and I gave it. I called a private meeting of the young Nationalist leaders in Calcutta and they agreed to take up the B