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Mother's Chronicles Book Five: Mirra Meets the Revolutionary
1893, February 6 Sri Aurobindo, returning from England, lands at Apollo Bunder, Bombay. February 18 Joins the Baroda State Service. May 31 Swami Vivekananda sails for America to attend the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in September. August 7 Sri Aurobindo publishes in the Induprakash the first of nine articles entitled 'New Lamps for Old' in which he criticizes the leaders of the Indian National Con- gress and their 'mendicant' policy. November 16 -Annie Besant comes to India. 1894, April 8 Bankim Chandra Chatterji passes away. In July- August, Sri Aurobindo writes a series of articles on him in the Induprakash. 1897 - Sri Aurobindo begins to teach at the Baroda College, as a lecturer in French; teaches English also the following year. January 15 Swami Vivekananda lands at Colombo, and on his way north delivers many lectures throughout India. 1899, October Beginning of the Boer War. 1900 Max Planck lays the foundation of quantum physics. International Exposition in Paris. -J.C. Bose demonstrates the basic unity of inorganic and living matter at the International Congress of Physicists; Swami Vivekananda is present. Zeppelin builds his first dirigible. -In China, Sun-Yat-Sen founds the Socialist Revolutionary Party; Boxer rebellion in Peking.
- Sri Aurobindo makes first contacts with revolutionary
Page-584 groups in Maharashtra and Bengal. 1901 - Rabindranath Tagore founds his school at Santiniketan. January 21 - Death of Queen Victoria; accession of King Edward VII April 30 - Sri Aurobindo marries Mrinalini Bose. September 9 US President William McKinley is assassinated; he is succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt. 1902 The Trans-Siberian railroad is completed. - Powerful eruption of Mount Pelιe in Martinique; 30,000 dead, town of St. Pierre annihilated. Beginning of the Sinn Fein organization. Sri Aurobindo begins organizing revolutionary action in Bengal. July 4 Swami Vivekananda passes away. December -Sri Aurobindo meets Bal Gangadhar Tilak at the Ahmedabad session of the Indian National Congress. 1903, May-August Sri Aurobindo accompanies the Gaekwad on his tour of Kashmir as his Private Secretary. December 17 - First successful flight of a plane by the Wright brothers in the USA. 1904, February - Beginning of the Russo-Japanese war. The Japanese sink the Russian fleet at Port Arthur (now Lόshun). August 3 British forces under Younghusband, sent by Lord Curzon, reach Lhasa in Tibet. December - Sri Aurobindo attends the Bombay session of the Con- gress. 1905 - Einstein sets forth the special theory of Relativity and postulates the existence of the photon. - Sri Aurobindo writes Bhawani Mandir. -Mother meets Max Theon. January Sri Aurobindo becomes Vice-Principal of the Baroda College. January 22 -"Bloody Sunday" massacre in St. Petersburg: repression from the Czar against petitioners.
April 4
- Severe earthquake in Kangra (India); thousands dead.
Page-585 October 16 -The Partition of Bengal comes into force, giving rise to massive protests and the beginning of the Swadeshi movement. October 17 - First message by wireless telegraphy across the Atlantic. December Sri Aurobindo attends the Benares session of the Congress. 1906 -Earthquake in Chile; 5,000 lives lost. Earthquake in California, followed by great fires; hundreds of deaths. March 11 Sri Aurobindo attends the creation of the National Council of Education in Calcutta. March 12 - Declaration of the Yugantar (Bengali weekly). April 14 -Sri Aurobindo attends the Barisal Conference, then tours East Bengal with Bepin Chandra Pal. June 19 - Sri Aurobindo leaves Baroda for good. July 12 -In France, Dreyfus is cleared from all guilt twelve years after being convicted of treason, and reinstated to the Army. August 6 - Declaration of the Bande Mataram (English daily). August 15 -The Bengal National College opens in Calcutta, with Sri Aurobindo as its principal. December In Calcutta, the Indian Congress, presided over by Dadabhai Naoroji, declares Swaraj as its goal. 1907 -Powerful earthquakes in Jamaica and Turkestan. A. Lumiere invents colour photography. May 9 Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh are deported. August 16 - Sri Aurobindo is arrested on a charge of sedition for articles published in the Bande Mataram; released on bail; after his acquittal in September, Sri Aurobindo becomes the leader of the Nationalist party in Bengal. December 7-9 - Sri Aurobindo is the leader of the Nationalists at the Bengal Provincial Conference at Midnapore. Dec. 26-27 -The Surat session of the Congress, which ends in a break-up; on the 28th, Sri Aurobindo presides over the conference of the Nationalists.
1908, January
- Sri Aurobindo meets the Maharashtrian yogi Vishnu
Page-586 - Bhaskar Lele at Baroda. May 2 Sri Aurobindo is arrested in the Alipore Bomb Case. He is defended by Chittaranjan Das. June 30 A large area at Tunguska in Siberia is devastated, supposedly by the falling piece of a comet. July 22 Tilak is sentenced to six years' transportation to Burma for alleged seditious writings in the Kesari. December 16 - Deportation of Ashwini Kumar Dutt, Krishna Kumar Mitra, Satish Chatterjee, Subodh Mullick, Monoranjan Guha Thakurta, and four others. December 28 An earthquake followed by a tidal wave in Messina, Sicily, leaves 160,000 victims. 1909 Morley-Minto Reforms. April 7 - American explorer Peary reaches the North Pole in his sixth attempt. May 6 - Sri Aurobindo is acquitted in the Alipore Bomb Case. May 30 Gives his famous speech at Uttarpara. June 19 First issue of The Karmayogin (English weekly). July 25 French aviation pioneer Bleriot flies over the English Channel. August 23 - First issue of the Dharma (Bengali weekly). September - Sri Aurobindo is the leader of the Nationalists at the Bengal Provincial Conference at Hooghly. 1910, February Halley's comet becomes visible to the naked eye; its perihelion is on April 20. It is preceded in January by the Great Daylight Comet. mid-February Sri Aurobindo abruptly leaves Calcutta for Chandernagore. April 1 - Leaves for Pondicherry on board S.S. Dupleix. April 4 - Sri Aurobindo arrives at Pondicherry. Charged in Calcutta with sedition for an article published in The Karmayogin; acquitted by the Calcutta High Court in November. May 6 -Death of King Edward VII and accession of King George V.
1911
- British physicist Rutherford experimentally confirms
Page-587 the existence of the electron and sets forth the 'planetary model' of the atom. October In China, formation of the Kuo-min-tang by Sun-Yat-Sen; revolutionary movement against the Manchu dynasty. December 12 -'Delhi Durbar' for the visit of King George V. December 14 Norwegian explorer Amundsen is the first to reach the South Pole. 1912 - Powerful earthquakes in Mexico and Turkey. January 17 - British explorer Scott reaches the South Pole a month after Amundsen, but perishes along with his companions on his way back. February 2 -The Chinese Emperor abdicates; China becomes a Republic under Sun-Yat-Sen. April 14 -The Titanic collides with an iceberg off Newfoundland and sinks; 1,517 victims. October 10 -Outbreak of the Balkans War over Serbia. December 23 India's capital is transferred from Calcutta to Delhi. 1913 - Danish physicist Niels Bohr modifies Rutherford's model of the atom with the help of quantum mechanics. December - Rabindranath Tagore receives the Nobel prize for literature.
1914, March 29
-Mother meets Sri Aurobindo.
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