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The world exists as symbol of Brahman; but the mind creates or accepts false values of things and takes symbol for essential reality. This is ignorance or cosmic illusion, the mistake of the mind and senses, from which the Magician Himself, Master of the Illusion, is calling on us to escape. This false valuation of the world is the Maya of the Gita and can be surmounted without abandoning either action or world-existence. But in addition, the whole of universal existence is in this sense an illusion of Maya that it is not an unchanging transcendent and final reality of things but only a symbolical reality; it is a valuation of the reality of Brahman in the terms of cosmic consciousness. All these objects we see or are mentally aware of as objectively existing, are only forms of consciousness. They are the Thing-in-itself turned first into terms and ideas born of a movement or rhythmic process of consciousness and then objectivised in consciousness itself and not really external to it. They have therefore a fixed conventional reality, but not an eternally durable essential reality: they are symbols, not altogether the thing symbolised, means of knowledge, not altogether the thing known. To look at it from another point of view Existence or Brahman has two fundamental states of consciousness, cosmic consciousness and transcendental consciousness. To cosmic consciousness the world is real as a direct first term expressing the inexpressible: to transcendental consciousness the world is only a secondary and indirect term expressing the inexpressible. When I have the cosmic consciousness, I see the world as my Self manifested; in transcendental consciousness I see the world not as the manifestation of my Self but as a manifestation of something I choose to be to my Self-consciousness. It is a conventional term expressing me which does not bind me; I could dissolve it and express myself otherwise. It is a vocable of a particular language expressing something in speech or writing which could be equally well expressed by quite another vocable in another language. I say tiger in English; 1 might equally have spoken Sanskrit and used the word sardula; it would have made no difference to the tiger or to myself, but only to my play with the symbols of speech and thought. So it is with Brahman and the universe, the Thing-in-itself and its symbols with their fixed conventional values, some of which are relative to the general consciousness and some to the individual consciousness of the symbol-being. Matter, Mind, Life, for instance, are general symbols with a fixed general value to God in His cosmic consciousness; but they have a different individual value, make a different impression or represent themselves differently, as we say, to myself, to the ant or to the god and angel. This perception of the purely conventional value of form and name in the universe is expressed in metaphysics by the formula that the world is a creation of Para Maya or supreme Cosmic Illusion. It does not follow that the world is unreal or has no existence worth the name. None of the ancient Scriptures of Hinduism affirms the unreality of the world, nor is it a logical consequence of the great but remote and difficult truth words are so inadequate to express. We must remember that all these terms, Maya, illusion, dream, unreality, relative reality, conventional value, are merely verbal figures and must not be pressed with a too literal scholastic or logical insistence. They are like the paintbrush hurled by the painter at his picture in desperation at not arriving at the effect he wanted; they are stones thrown at the truth, not the truth itself. We shall see this clearly enough when we come to look at the Cosmos from quite another standpoint, the standpoint not of Maya, but Lila.1 But certain great metaphysical minds, not perceiving sufficiently that words like everything else have only conventional values and are symbols of a truth which is in itself inexpressible, have drawn from the ideas suggested by these words, the most rigorous and concrete conclusions. They have condemned the whole world as a miserable and lying dream, all the more hateful and profitless for a certain element of ineffugable reality which the more clearsighted part of their minds was compelled to realise and partially to admit. The truth in their premises has made their doctrines a mighty instrument for the liberation of great and austere souls, the error in their conclusion has afflicted humanity with the vain and barren gospel of the vanity not only of false mundane existence, but of all mundane existence. In the extreme forms of this view both nature and supernature.
1 Illusion is itself an illusion. That which seems to the soul escaping from ignorance to be Maya, an illusion or dream, is seen by the soul already free to be Lila of God and the spirit's play. man and God are lies of consciousness, myths of a cosmic dream and not worth accepting. Amelioration is a chimera, divinity a lure and only absorption in a transmundane impersonal existence worth pursuing. The worshippers of God, the seekers after human perfection, those who would raise humanity from nature to supernature, find in their path two great stumbling-blocks, on one side, the lower trend of Nature to persist in its past gains which represents itself in the besotted naturalism of the practical man and the worldling and, on the other, this grand overshooting of the mark represented not only by the world-fleeing ascetic, who is, after all, within his rights, but by the depressing pessimism of the ignorant who mean neither to flee the world, nor, if they did, could rise to the real grandeur of asceticism, but are still imbued intellectually and overshadowed in temperament by these high and fatal doctrines. A better day will dawn for India when the shadow is lifted and the Indian mental consciousness without renouncing the truth of Maya, perceives that it is only a partial explanation of existence. Mundane existence is not indispensable either to God's being or to God's bliss, but it is not therefore a vanity; nor is a liberated mundane existence liberated in God either a vain or a false existence. The ordinary doctrine of Maya is not a simple truth, but proceeds upon three distinct spiritual perceptions. The first and highest is this supreme perception that the world is a mass of consciousness-symbols, having a conventional value; beings exist only in Brahman's self-consciousness and individual personality and ego-sense are only symbols and terms in the universal symbol-existence. We have said that and we shall see that we are not compelled by this perception to set down the world as a myth or a valueless convention Nor would the Mayavadin himself have been brought to this extreme conclusion if he had not brought into the purity of this highest soul-experience his two other perceptions. The second of these, the lowest, is the perception of the lower or Apara Maya which I have indicated in the opening of this essay the perception of the system of false values put by mind and sense on the symbol facts of the universe. At a certain stage of our mental culture it is easy to see that the senses are deceiving guides, all mental opinions and judgments uncertain, partial and haunted and pursued by doubt, the world not a reality in the sense in which the mind takes it for a reality, in the sense in which the senses only occupied by and only careful of the practical values of things, their vyavaharika artha, deal with it as a reality. Reaching this stage the mind arrives at this perception that all its values for the world being false, perhaps it is because there is no true value or only a true value not conceivable to the mind, and from this idea it is easy for our impatient human nature to stride to the conclusion that so it is and all existence or all world-existence at least is illusory, a sensation born of nothingness, a play of zeros. Hence Buddhism, the sensational Agnostic philosophies, Mayavada. Again, it is easy at a certain stage of moral culture to perceive that the moral values put by the emotions, passions and aspirations on actions and experiences are false values, that the objects of our sins are not worth sinning for and even that our principles and values do not stand in the shock of the world's actualities, but are, they too, conventional values which we do not find to be binding on the great march of Nature. From this it is natural and right to come to vairagya or dissatisfaction with a life of false valuations and very easy to stride forward, again in the impatience of our imperfect human nature, to the consummation of an entire vairagya, not only dissatisfaction with a false moral life, but disgust with life of any sort and the conclusion of the vanity of world-existence. We have a mental vairagya, a moral vairagya and to these powerful motives is added in the greater types the most powerful of all, spiritual vairagya. For at a certain stage of spiritual culture we come to the perception of the world as a system of mere consciousness-values in Parabrahman or to a middle term, the experience, which was probably the decisive factor in the minds of great spiritual seekers like Shankara, of the pure and bright impersonal Sachchidananda beyond, unaffected by and apparently remote from all cosmic existence. Observing intellectually through the mind this great experience, the conclusion is natural and almost inevitable that this Pure and Bright One regards the universe as a mirage, an unreality, a dream. But these are only the terms, the word-values and conventional idea-values into which mind then translates this fact of unaffected transcendence; and it so translates it because these are the terms it is itself accustomed to apply to anything which is beyond it, remote from it, not practically affecting it in tangible relations. The mind engrossed in matter at first accepts only an objective reality; everything not objectivised or apparently capable of some objective expression it calls a lie. a mirage, a dream. an unreality or, if it is favourably disposed, an ideal. When, afterwards, it corrects its views, the first thing it does is to reverse its values; coming into a region and level where life in the material world seems remote, unspiritual or apparently not capable of spiritual realisation, it immediately applies here its old expressions dream, mirage, lie, unreality or mere false idea and transfers from object to spirit its exclusive and intolerant use of the word-symbol reality. Add to this mental translation into its own conventional word-values of the fact of unaffected transcendence the intellectual conclusions and temperamental repulsions of mental and moral vairagya, both together affecting and disfiguring the idea of the world as a system of consciousness-values, and we have Mayavada.
A Poetic Fragment. The handwriting of this fragmentary poem shows that it was written by Sri Aurobindo around the turn of the century. One page of the manuscript, perhaps the only page, was published in facsimile in a Calcutta daily a few years ago. The text printed here has been transcribed from that difficult-to-read facsimile. The translation from the original Bengali is by Shri Nolini Kanta Gupta.
Selected Hymns. These hymns of Gotama Rahugana to Indra were translated in Pondicherry, probably around 1919. They may have been intended for the Arya, but were never published in that journal. The Sanskrit commentary printed in light type immediately below the text of 1.82.1 is by Sri Aurobindo; the words in darker type here are the text words commented on.
The First Hymn of the Rig-veda. The first of these pieces dates approximately from 1917. Around this time Sri Aurobindo was making notes on many Vedic hymns, but few of these contain substance of sufficient interest to be published separately. This note on the word ratnadhatamam (the last word of RV 1.1.1) is an exception. It is separate in origin, although similar in substance to the notes on ratna etc. that ended the last instalment. The second piece published here is Sri Aurobindo's last known rendering of the hymn; it was done in 1939 or 1940.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. This fragmentary translation was found written in the margins of Sri Aurobindo's text of the Upanishad. a copy of the Ananda Ashram edition of 1902. Shortly after the translation was done. Sri Aurobindo began work on a commentary on the Upanishad. which he entitled The Great Aranyaka. This commentary covers only the first two sections of the Upanishad, and incorporates, in a slightly revised form, the marginal translation of these two sections. The commentary is published in SABCL Volume 12, pp. 397-411; the fuller translation is appearing here for the first time.
The Life Divine. There is reason to suppose that this chapter was written as late August or September 1914, and that it was originally intended to be published in the Arya as part of the larger philosophical work of the same name. In am case the chapter was written alter February 1913 - almost certainly in the year 1914. It was never published by the author.
On the Importance of Original Thinking. In Volume 3 of the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library appears an essay called On Original Thinking. This piece is incomplete. The manuscript of the published portion consists of four sheets of foolscap, typed around the same time as the typewritten portion of Social Reform (see the last issue), i.e. around 1910. The concluding one and a half paragraphs of the essay were handwritten on a separate sheet of foolscap that has only recently been discovered. In this issue the conclusion is joined to the main text for the first time in print. Another paragraph, apparently intended by Sri Aurobindo to be the opening of a revised version of the essay, has been placed at the beginning. This paragraph is from a notebook used around 1912. Sri Aurobindo expanded the title On Original Thinking, written in the manuscript at the head of the new paragraph, to On the Importance of Original Thinking. This expanded title has been used here for the whole enlarged essay.
The Evolutionary Aim in Yoga. The Fullness of Yoga In Condition. Nature. Maya. These four essays were written probably in the year 1913 in this order in a single notebook. On the notebook's cover is written "Natural and Supernatural Man"; this was evidently intended to be the general title of a book including these and other essays. An earlier draft of the first piece has been published as the first part of section V of "The Web of Yoga" (SABCL Vol. 17, pp. 52-54). The second part of this section, from the phrase "Yoga practised may be in its aim either perfect or partial" to the end (SABCL Vol. 17, p. 54-60), was rewritten by Sri Aurobindo as the second of the four essays published in the present issue, The Fullness of Yoga In Condition. In this piece the earlier draft is followed for only two and a half paragraphs; from this point the already published draft is developed on one line and the essay published here on another. It is likely that no earlier drafts of Nature and Maya were written; at any rate none were found along with the earlier drafts of the two other pieces. After the opening of, or, more likely, the whole of Nature had been written, Sri Aurobindo returned on the essay for revision. At this time he added at the top of the first page of the manuscript the lines that have been printed here as a footnote hanging from the second sentence. Sri Aurobindo seems to have intended these lines as a new opening for the piece; but since he did not alter the original first sentence to follow the new opening, and since this sentence links Nature with the essay that precedes it. the original opening has been retained. Nature was at one point to be entitled "Maya, Lila. Prakriti. Chit-Shakti". Individual essays on each of these aspects of the force we call Nature were apparently planned, but only Maya was written. In the second paragraph of this essay Sri Aurobindo writes of his intention to "look at the Cosmos from ... the standpoint of. . . Lila." Although never able to complete an essay on this theme, he did sketch, in two sentences written on the back cover of the notebook, his view on the subject. These sentences are given here as a footnote.
Words already listed in the Glossary to the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library have not been included. As in that glossary, words used as philological examples, words commented on in translations, and words printed in devanagari script have been omitted. Sources of citations are given in square brackets after the definitions.
adhama, lowest. apara maya, lower Maya. asambhutya, by the dissolution of Birth. atma atat tvam (atma'tattvam), Thou art not that. esa suptesu jagarti. this that wakes in the sleepers. [Katha Upanishad 2.2.8] gati, status of soul-nature; final status of becoming. guruparampara. succession of spiritual teachers. madhyama, middle. para maya, supreme cosmic illusion. prakrtim yanti bhutani, nigrahah kim karisyati, all existences follow their nature and what shall coercing it avail? [Gita 3.33] ne ced ihavedin mahati vinastih, if here one comes not to the knowledge, then great is the perdition. [Kena Upanishad 2.5] sa atma tat tvam asi svetaketo. that is the Self, that art thou. O Swetaketu [Chhandogya Upanishad 6 passim] sambhutya, by the Birth. [Isha Upanishad 14] siddha purusa, the superman. sreyan svadharmo vigunah, better is one's own law of works, though in itself faulty... [Gita. 3.35] uttama, highest. vyavaharika artha. practical value. yajniya purusa, the sacrificial Being. yogah hi prabhavapayayau, for yoga is the beginning and ending of things. [Katha Upanishad 2.3.11]
(Continued from the issue of December 1980)
A textual editor clearly is needed when a work not published by its author is issued posthumously. Handwritten materials in particular require someone to oversee the transition from manuscript to printed text. In the last issue the various operations that the editor of such materials must perform were outlined. His role, in brief, is to act as the representative of an author who no longer can be consulted. As such he must not only be painstakingly careful, so that errors of transcription do not mar the text, but also scrupulously faithful, so that errors of critical judgment do not rob it of its integrity. The editor does not always succeed. Newly edited versions of significant works must continue to appear until a fully reliable text, supported by an adequate but not excessive "editorial apparatus" has been published. Only such an edition has the right to call itself "critical" orif such a label is possible "definitive". Neither designation could be applied to the published text of Sri Aurobindo's Secret of the Isha, a passage from which was used as an illustration in the preceding instalment. Indeed, the twelve-line transcription of the six manuscript lines of Figure 10 (A & R, December 1980, p. 212) contains no less than six verbal and two punctuation errors. To begin with, the printed text (SABCL Vol. 12, pp. 520-21) lacks the two commas that precede and follow the phrase "when once fathomed". This is a minor flaw, although hardly excusable, since both commas are as necessary as they are visible. The next error is not so benign. How can "passages" of any variety "seem to the casual reader today is a mass of [. . .] fancies" (italics mine)? Surely no editor with even a rudimentary knowledge of English could have imputed such an impossible phrase to Sri Aurobindo. In fact the error, as is often the case, was not a simple blunder, but the result of a complex web of guesswork, half right and half wrong. The passage was originally transcribed: "Hence passages [. . .] which reveal [. . .] a delicacy of subtle thought [. . .] that to the casual reader today is a mass of [. . .] fancies." Supply after "Hence" the phrase "there are" a phrase any writer might legitimately have omitted and the sentence makes perfect sense. It is not, for all that, what Sri Aurobindo wrote. As we saw in the last instalment, the difficult word before "to the casual reader" is "strike", not "that"; furthermore, the "to" that follows "strike" is a word that has to be deleted editorially, since it went along with an original "come", and was clearly meant to be cancelled. But how did "seem" get into the picture? Apparently (and one can only suppose, for there is no record of this stage of the editing) someone, perhaps not the original editor, while going over the manuscript, noticed that the word that had been transcribed as "that" begins with an "s". What word? "Seem" begins with "s", and it goes well with "to the casual reader". No matter that "is" makes nonsense of "seem" (or vice versa), let "seem" be substituted for "that". If the editor who initiated this hypothetical line of approach had followed it through, he might have recognised "is" to be the "as" it actually is. Unfortunately this quantum leap was not taken. The rest of the verbal errors "perceiving" for "knowing" (line 3b): "Vedantic" for "Vedic" (line 4): "virtues" for "virtue" (line 6) -are simple examples of faulty transcription. The second of these demonstrates an unfamiliarity with Sri Auro-bindo's methods of correction. Instead of striking out the whole word "Vedantic" and writing in "Vedic", he used the first three letters of the first word to begin the second. Economical, perhaps, but demanding on his future editors. No less difficult is Sri Aurobindo's unusual handwriting. The last letter of "virtue", to anyone not accustomed to his Graecized "e", looks clearly to be "es". The purpose of the above is not to criticise an editor who has done a good job of transcribing a recalcitrant manuscript. The story's moral is simply that textual editing is a complex affair. If the editor of The Secret of the Isha is anywhere to be blamed, it is in not taking the help of others in his difficult task. Checking, and double-checking, and triple-checking are necessary.
Verification of Printed Texts
If insufficient checking is done before publication, the deficiency must be made up afterwards. The only way to ensure that a text is fully reliable is to check it in its entirety against an ideal version of the work. This means in effect to give reality to the ideal version to establish what we have called a critical edition. How this is done will be discussed below. It is a work of tongue haleine patient effort persevered in over a long period and not a task to be hastily undertaken. But even before a full-scale commitment is made, numerous errors can be found and removed through localised checking. A passage is read by an alert reader: a point, word or phrase appears suspicious and is checked against previous versions: the text reading is either confirmed or found to be in error, in which case it is corrected in the next edition. Implicit in this deceptively simple process are all the stages of textual editing discussed in the last issue. Implicit also are the conclusions of a whole area of study not yet discussed the field of literary bibliography. When one is preparing a text from manuscript materials, one need be concerned only with versions actually written by the author. When working with a printed text whether for spot-checking or for the preparation of a critical edition one must deal with printed versions, versions in which persons other than the author had a hand. It is an axiom of bibliography that no work that has gone through more than one edition can be considered free from transmission errors errors introduced by typists, compositors, etc. Even the first edition is unlikely to be free from them. There is also the possibility of editorial corruption. During the author's lifetime suggested corrections would no doubt have been referred to him; but in later editions an editor or proof-reader, well-meaning but untrained in textual criticism, might have introduced changes for which the author bore no responsibility. The textual critic must deal with these and other problems. His role when working with a printed text is essentially the same as when he works with a handwritten manuscript. He must perform the same operations, carrying them out not according to his own preconceived notions, but according to the author's "final intentions" as revealed by the available materials. The last phrase must be underlined. The editor is at no time free to make a purely subjective decision about what the author "would have wanted". Even if he is the world's greatest authority on the author's works, even if he knew him better than anyone living, even ifto grant him the most possible the author permitted him to offer suggestions or to make minor corrections, the editor has no right to equate the author's intentions with his own ideas. The line that separates necessary emendation from interpretation is sometimes difficult to fix; but it is a line that must be found and never crossed. The editor who begins by musing "he did not want to put it like that", ends by letting the free rein of his fancy, or the rigidity of his doctrinaire opinion, play havoc with the author's text. The reader is not interested in seeing what someone supposes the author wanted to write, but what he actually wrote. The editor may legitimately emend only where there are clear and objective reasons for his doing so. He must be guided by the black and white of the handwritten or printed page; his judgments, when called for, must be based on hard evidence.
Fundamentals of Literary Bibliography
When working with a printed text the editor must gather this evidence from its various editions. Here, as with manuscript work, the first step is inventory-taking. In the definition of the literary bibliographer, which the textual critic abides by, an "edition" is all the copies of a work produced from a single act of composition. Until recently one would have written "a single setting of types" instead of "a single act of composition". New processes such as monotype, stereotype, photocomposition, etc., have necessitated the widening of the definition. It is important to distinguish the textual bibliographer's terminology from that of the trade bibliographer and publisher. To them an edition is any distinctive form in which a book can be sold. Factors such as format, binding, and paper, insignificant to the textual bibliographer, are of special importance in the trade. All the copies of an edition issued at any one time are called an "impression" or "printing". In the era of handset typography, types often were not distributed after each run of the press. When such types were used again later, the resulting copies were said to constitute an impression. Nowadays it is not standing types, but a stereotype or other plate, a monotype roll, or a photographic image that preserves the physical form of the edition. In these cases also the new impression is reproduced without recomposition. In the earlier days of letterpress printing, and in India until very recently, types were practically always distributed after each printing. This meant that "edition" and "impression" were synonymous terms, or rather that there was no such thing as an impression in the later technical sense.1 The edition is counted as the unit of publication because all copies of an edition, including copies of different impressions of a single edition, are considered textually identical to one another and textually different from copies of other editions. In fact, minor differences sometimes do occur between copies of a given edition. These may be caused by accidents of printing, such as the breaking or misplacement of types, or they may be produced deliberately, as when the author or an editor introduces
1 For a fuller discussion of the distinction between edition and impression see the introduction to the Outline Bibliography of the Works of Sri Aurobindo published in this issue a small correction. So long as such variations are not extensive they do not make for a new edition. All this is important to the editor because each edition, but not ordinarily each impression of a work is potentially of value for establishing its ideal text. Taking inventory of a printed work means to identify its various editions. It is not always easy to trace the printing history of a publication. The first difficulty often is simply to collect a copy of each edition and impression. Then the information printed on the title page or imprint (reverse title) page cannot always be trusted. This is often due to confusions of terminology. A de luxe "edition" and a popular "edition" of a book are not usually separate editions in the bibliographical sense. There are always numerous technicalities such as these that the bibliographer has to sort out. His is probably the most boring of scholastic callings; but upon his indispensable labours depend heavily the textual editor and literary critic. In this issue of Archives and Research appears the first instalment of an Outline Bibliography of the Works of Sri Aurobindo. This instalment lists each edition and impression of all his primary English works. The proper serial numbers of these editions and impressions have been given; they replace the often erroneous printed designations that have been used in the past. Future numbering will be in continuation of the new series. On the Outline Bibliography will be based a complete descriptive bibliography which will contain all the chronological and other data so necessary for understanding Sri Aurobindo's works in their right historical perspective the perspective of his unceasing development. Editions, like manuscripts, can be arranged in ancestral series. Most of Sri Aurobindo's books have a single line of editions, because generally each was printed from its immediate predecessor. Modern books usually are dated and identified by an edition number. This makes it easy to arrange them in chronological order. If they are not dated, they must be collated to determine their series. An analysis of the variants noted in collation will make the direction of the sequence apparent. Changes made by the author distinguish later editions from earlier ones. Printing errors occur with increasing frequency in editions following the first, since they tend to remain once they have slipped into the text. Some, of course, are caught and removed; but the general tendency is for errors to accumulate, making the text more and more corrupt as time goes on. Collation is an important operation even if editions are dated and numbered and the sequence accepted as trustworthy. It is through collation that varients are found and all of these have to be noted, for it is with them that the editor is chiefly concerned. Each potentially is a reading to be included in a critical edition. Full collation is undertaken only after a preliminary comparison has revealed enough data to make a choice of copy-text possible. This is an evaluative judgment, but not a subjective one; the decision as to which version is to be given the most value must be based on objective criteria. The choice of copy-text might seem to be more clear-cut in regard to printed texts than manuscripts.2 In fact it is often
2 For the choice of copy-text from among handwritten manuscripts, see Archives and Research, December 1980. pp. 207-08. remarkably complex. Three types of printed versions are candidates; these are, in reverse chronological order: posthumous editions; late editions, especially the last one published during the author's lifetime; and early editions, especially the first. Posthumous editions are regularly used as "copy" for subsequent reprints. But a textual editor would certainly not choose one to be the basis for a critical text. No edition published after the author's lifetime could contain new changes made on his authority. On the other hand, such editions are likely to contain more errors of transmission than earlier ones. To be sure, a posthumous edition may contain editorial corrections of errors that have been chanced upon. But, as already stated, the tendency is for errors to accumulate. Posthumous editions are almost certainly more corrupt than any published while the author was alive. Much more can be said for the last edition published during his lifetime. This will contain all the changes he ever cared to make, and should be marred by few important errors of transmission, since he had a chance to locate and eliminate them himself. For these reasons textual critics of the earlier part of this century tended to choose the last edition published during the author's lifetime as copy-text.3 Their successors have not followed suit. Present-day experts have recognised the obvious fact that proofs of later editions, even if sent to the author, generally receive careful attention only in revised portions.4 Printing errors in the new text and we must remember the axiom that recomposition always introduces new errors could easily escape such a casual reading. Even Sri Aurobindo committed this sort of oversight as he himself was willing to admit. He once wrote, in a note of 22 April 1934, "I did not notice this mistake [a disciple's typing of "blow" for "mow"] while correcting." A late edition then does not make an altogether ideal choice for copy-text. This leaves us with the earlier editions published during the author's lifetime, in particular the first edition. Such editions are likely to contain few transmission errors. They will, however, lack the sometimes considerable changes made by the author in later editions. This would seem to disqualify them from serious consideration. It is true that a student of literature might be interested in seeing the author's first version. But it is the editor's duty to present a text that embodies all of the author's work of revision. It is not his role to make a subjective evaluation of the various editions, perhaps deciding, as is sometimes done, that an earlier one is "better". It is for the author, not the editor, to decide what is good for his book. If there is sufficient historical interest in an early edition, a separate publication can be arranged. This has been done successfully with the first edition of Whitman's Leaves of Grass; it could be done also with a work like Savitri. However, in regard
3 Philip Gaskell, From Writer to Reader: Studies in Editorial Method (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), p. 55. 4 Gaskell's remarks on Harington's sixteenth-century translation of Orlando Furioso may be taken as representative of the modern attitude: "If Harington ever proofread the details of the text with care, he did so for the first edition, not for the second; and . . . [unauthorised] alterations of detail introduced in the second edition are unlikely to have caught his attention." To take a more modern example, the five editions of David Copperfield, published after the first edition and before Dickens's death, were ones which "resulted in the usual deterioration of the text, and which were at most very scantily corrected by the author." (Gaskell, op. cit., pp. 23, 145.) to the works of Sri Aurobindo, the general reader's interest must always lie with his final versions. But if posthumous editions are unacceptable, early editions possibly incomplete, and later editions likely to be corrupt, what version is to be used as copy-text? The answer, in the opinion of many modern textual critics, is to choose the last edition known to have been gone through by the author in detail usually the first edition or the first revised edition as basic text. To this are added all additions and corrections occurring in later editions, provided there is no reason to suppose they are not the author's work. These variants have to be found by collation of all versions, including the manuscript. Occasionally a manuscript reading will be so clearly superior to any printed reading that the text may be emended in accordance with it. After the copy-text has been chosen comes the work of emendation. The various types of editorial situations that must be handled may be illustrated by considering certain wrong readings which have found their way. by diverse paths, into the works of Sri Aurobindo. Several examples may be cited from The Life Divine. On page 945 of the Centenary Edition we find the following phrase: "[. . .] but in the spiritual light there is [. . .] a comprehending formulation in that substance [of consciousness], an exact figure of revelatory ideograph in the stuff of the being [. . .]." This is difficult going (more so without my elipses) and at first sight nothing may seem wrong. But one might legitimately wonder whether "figure of revelatory ideograph" is what Sri Aurobindo actually wrote. Grammatically the phrase is possible; but the lack of an article before the singular noun is suspicious. What, besides, is meant by a "figure" of an "ideograph" (representative symbol, i.e. "figure")? Would not "or" make a better reading than "of"? No doubt it would. But guesswork, however clever, is not sufficient. One has to gather hard evidence. In this case early versions provide us with what we need. In the first three Indian editions, as well as the American edition, the word is "or". "Of" first appears in the fourth edition (1955). The second impression of this edition (1960) naturally contains the same error. From there it was passed on to the Centenary Edition in all its impressions up to the fifth, where it was finally noticed. Another example from The Life Divine is more complex. We find on page 944 of the Centenary Edition this phrase: "There is also in this descent [of the Illumined Mind] the arrival of a greater dynamic, a golden drive [. . .]". There is nothing grammatically wrong here. The word "dynamic" is ordinarily an adjective. If it is used as such here it is a bit clumsy in its placement, but it may be understood as a modifier of "drive". The "a" before "golden" might then seem, to the modern ear at least, to be superfluous, but it could hardly be called incorrect. Still, one feels that a noun is intended. Perhaps Sri Aurobindo is actually using "dynamic" as a substantive; in a similar way he regularly uses "the vital" for "the vital being", etc. "Dynamic" is even listed in some dictionaries as a noun. Or perhaps the word really is the noun "dynamics". Or, even more likely, "dynamis" may be intended. This coinage from the Greek is of frequent occurrence in Sri Aurobindo's works. Its use is a characteristic feature of his philosophical writing. Again, to get to the bottom of the matter, one must check the available materials. All six editions of the revised version of The Life Divine have "dynamic". This reading would then seem to be incontestable. Proofs of the first two editions were seen by Sri Aurobindo; and even if he gave scant attention to the second, this certainly was not true of the first. Both page and galley proofs have detailed corrections in his own hand. Still, "dynamic" does not seem one hundred per cent Sri Aurobindo. Perhaps the manuscripts can cast some light on the question. The manuscripts of a printed text are, of course, not the highest authority. The author will have introduced countless changes between his handwritten draft and the first edition. Subsequent editions will have further changes. Nevertheless, manuscripts are obviously of prime importance. In the case being considered, the manuscripts show that Sri Aurobindo wrote "dynamis" as part of an interlinear addition to the first typescript. When was the word changed, and by whom? In the second typescript, prepared by a disciple, it is transcribed "dynamics". This word is possible in the context, but it is not the word that Sri Aurobindo wrote. He, however, let the error pass through two subsequent typescripts. Finally, on the typed manuscript that was sent to the press, he crossed out the "s"leaving "dynamic". An editor faithful only to the letter, or lack of letters, of the text, would be justified in letting "dynamic" stand. After all, the change was made by Sri Aurobindo. Moreover, as shown above, it is not an impossible reading. But it is clear that the word Sri Aurobindo intended is "dynamis". He wrote this legibly on his own hand; he bears no responsibility for the typographical error that replaced it. He even noticed, eventually, the typist's error. If in correcting it he himself made a slip, inadvertently striking out the wrong letter, his intentions are still evident enough. However "hard" the first evidence is, a judicious editor has sometimes to go beyond it. All the readings so far discussed have involved mechanical errors of transmission. Other corruptions are caused not by the careless operation of keyboards, but by over-careful editors. Even the books of Sri Aurobindo, which have been edited very conservatively, provide some examples of this kind of error. The most common editorial emendations involve punctuation. An author is usually less careful about his pointing than his words. Some manuscripts could hardly be printed without editorial punctuation. But, as we will see, an editor must think twice before he subtracts or adds so much as a comma. The fourth part of The Synthesis of Yoga was printed directly from the monthly review Arya. The Arya text of the twenty-third chapter of this part has this sentence: "The first well-organised action of the supermind in the ascending order is the supramental reason. [. . .] the logical or rather the logos Vijnana." (cf. Centenary Edition, p. 824) In the editions of 1955 and 1972 (Centenary), there is a comma before the last word. This mark of punctuation makes both "logos" and "Vijnana" stand in apposition to "supramental reason", and makes "logical" a substantive with the same function. In other words it makes nonsense of the sentence. Sri Aurobindo's meaning is simply that the supramental reason is "the logical Vijnana" or "the logos Vijnana". This reading is confirmed by his constant use in an as yet unpublished writing of the term "logistic vijnana" as an equivalent of supramental reason. If in the sentence under examination Sri Aurobindo had repeated "Vijnana". his meaning might have been made clearer; but it is clear enough as it is. An editor, trying to bring into focus something fuzzy to him, has unintentionally falsified it for others. It is not rare that something so small as a misplaced mark of punctuation can do such damage. When Sri Aurobindo writes about abstruse topics such as gnosis, his sentences are often difficult to follow. An editor, in his laudable desire to help the reader, is often tempted to make minor adjustments. This is a perilous game. In the Arya another sentence from the Synthesis reads: "It [the mental Purusha] must turn by conversion of its movements into movements of the gnosis its mental perception, ideation, will, pleasure into radiances of the divine knowledge, pulsations of the divine will-force, waves and floods of the divine delight-seas." What is being turned by what into what? A close reading shows that there is only one answer. The mental Purusha must turn its mental perception, etc. into radiances of the divine Knowledge, etc. by means of a conversion of all these movements into movements of gnosis. An editor, apparently assuming it was the mental Purusha itself that had to turn into "movements of gnosis", has inserted a comma after "gnosis" (see Centenary Edition, p. 467). Again, nonsense is made of a perfectly good sentence. Had the editor put in another comma before "by", setting off the entire phrase "by conversion of its movements into movements of gnosis", the result would have been acceptable. But why interfere in any way with a sentence that does not require it? This is not to say that the editor is forbidden from ever adding a mark of punctuation to a text. In some cases not to do so would mean being false to the author's intentions. Again examples can be drawn from the Synthesis. In the Arya text of Part II, Chapter XXI, we find this phrase: "a Rakshasa in nature a soul of sheer power and life energy." A comma obviously is needed after "nature". Its lack undoubtedly is due to an authorial or typographical slip; the editor of the 1955 edition was quite right in providing the needed stop (see Centenary Edition, p. 450). A similar case occurs in Chapter XXIV of the same part: "Here again there is no mastery no sublimation of the Nature". A comma must come after mastery and in the book editions one has been put (see Centenary Edition, p. 479). Chapter XXIII (Centenary Edition, p. 471) provides a somewhat more doubtful example: "This state of consciousness is so abnormal to our present mode of being that to the rational man who does not possess it, it may seem impossible or even a state of alienation." The Arya text lacks the comma between the two "it"s. It is possible to read the sentence without the comma, but the addition is so helpful and at worst so innocuous, since it involves no possible error of interpretation that it may be accepted without serious reservations. These five examples show that editorial adjustment of punctuation, while not without its hazards, is something that must on occasion be done. In regard to this matter, as well as other "accidentals" such as capitalisation and italicisation, the editor may emend with a relatively free, though careful hand. But when we come to the emendation of words"substantive" changes much more caution has to be observed. In the Arya text of the Synthesis, Part II, Chapter XXIII, this phrase occcurs: "[man's] is a mind cased in Matter". In the 1955 edition the word "cased" has been changed to "encased". "Encase" certainly is an apt word to express the meaning intended, "to enclose as in a case". But every dictionary consulted by this writer gives this meaning to "case" as well as to "encase". It is as silly to insist on the latter as it would be to reject the verb "to cash" (a cheque) for the once standard, but now outmoded form "to encash". Sri Aurobindo, besides, used "to case" more than once. See, for example, Savitri, page 277, line 29; and page 323, line 10. Where the author's intention is clear, and the reading by no means impossible, to emend is simply to meddle. This is true even where an apparent violation of commonsense is involved. Some readers might have been troubled by this phrase from Social Reform, published in the December 1980 issue of this journal (p. 190): "God [. . .] is in manifestation Satyam, Prema, Shakti, Truth, Strength and Love." Shakti means "strength" and Prema "love"; it would seem that Sri Aurobindo unintentionally inverted the last two words. Assuming this to be so, and desirous of preserving the logic of the text, an editor of the Centenary Edition emended the phrase to read "Truth, Strength and Love". This verbal nicety might have been called for if Sri Aurobindo were a mathematician. But prose operates under different rules than algebra. Numerous examples of "equations" whose terms are "inverted" or even "jumbled" could be culled from Sri Aurobindo's writings. One, from a still unpublished section of the pencil draft of the "Life Divine" commentary, is of the same type as the one just considered. Sri Aurobindo writes: "the soul rising to its throne in the Truth, the vastness, the natural Righteousness of things, the One, the Bliss, Anandam Ekatwam Satyam Ritam Brihat [. . .]". Here the English terms and their Sanskrit equivalents do not coincide even once. An example of a different type occurs in the third to last paragraph of the instalment of The Life Divine printed in the present issue: "the microscope, telescope, retorts of the astronomer, chemist and physicist". The telescope evidently is the instrument of the astronomer; whether we assign the retort to the chemist and the microscope to the physicist, or vice versa, the "formula" does not make scientific sense. But was it meant to? Obviously not. A more complex example occurs in the Synthesis of Yoga (Centenary Edition, pp. 805-06). Sri Aurobindo lists in descending order the "three elevations of [the supramental thought's] intensity": direct thought vision, interpretative vision, representative vision. He then links these elevations to the three corresponding powers of intuitive mentality, but these he lists in ascending order: "the suggestive and discriminating intuition, the inspiration and the thought that is of the nature of revelation." This example, along with the two that precede it, shows that Sri Aurobindo did not care to organise his prose with mathematical accuracy. He considered logical structure less important than rhythm, flow and suggestiveness. A critic might chafe at Sri Aurobindo's priorities; but no one operating solely on the basis of his critical predilections would have the right to change a word Sri Aurobindo wrote. Unnecessary editing is never done with the deliberate intention of corrupting a text. The editor acts usually under the impression that he is giving the reader necessary help. Consider this passage from On Translating Kalidasa (Centenary Edition, Volume 3, p. 247): "If blank verse be, as I believe it is, a fair equivalent for the anustubh, the ordinary epic metre, how shall one find others which shall correspond as well to the 'thunderbolt' Sloka (Indravajra) or the 'lesser thunderbolt' Sloka (upendravajra), 'the gambolling-of-the-tiger' Sloka (sardulavikridita) and all those other wonderful and grandiose rhythmic structures with fascinating names of which Kalidasa is so mighty a master?" How much interest is added, for the Sanskrit-knowing at least, by the parenthetical inclusion of the actual names of the metres. Of course, the essay was not written for the Sanskrit-knowing. It is for this reason, perhaps, that Sri Aurobindo's manuscript does not have the Sanskrit words. Their insertion amounts to a display of erudition that is foreign to Sri Aurobindo's style. But even if their inclusion is counted as an improvement, the simple fact is that the words do not form part of the text. They should not have been allowed to intrude. This does not mean that each word of a text is so sacrosanct that it must not be touched under any circumstances. Verbal slips do occur in the course of writing; no author, even Sri Aurobindo, would say they do not.5 But suspected substantive errors have to be handled with special care. What should an editor do when confronted with an obvious slip? In a draft of the "Life Divine" commentary (Centenary Edition, Volume 27, p. 322) Sri Aurobindo speaks of "Shankara's greatest follower Vedaranya". In fact, no known follower of Shankara went by that name. As Sri Aurobindo himself knew,6 the disciple of Shankara that excluded "the Isha from his list of authoritative Upanishads" was Vidyaranya. "Vedaranya" is simply a slip of the pen. It is a slight slip, not at all unthinkable considering the speed at which Sri Aurobindo wrote. Nevertheless it is not what he meant to write here. It would be foolish to confuse the reader with a reference to a non-existent commentator. The text of the "Life Divine" must carry a rectification; either the word must be altered and a note provided to explain the alteration, or a note should explain a manuscript reading that is printed intact. The form used will depend on the nature of the publication and its readership. In any case the editor owes it to the reader to explain his method of dealing with the text.
(To be concluded)
5 For Sri Aurobindo's views, see Archives and Research. April 1980. pp. 92-93. 6 See Centenary Volume 4, p. 47; also Volume 3, p. 123. and Volume 14 p. 21. Documents in the Life of Sri Aurobindo 1
COURT TRANSLATION OF A BENGALI LETTER OF SRI AUROBINDO
C/o Rai Bahadur K. B. Jadhav, Baroda. July 2nd 1902. Dearest Mrinalini, Came to Baroda from Lanabali fifteen days since. Got your letter once; none afterwards. Hope you will write after six or seven days, but if I get no news, I shall suppose you to be ill. I may not write to you because I have had many a business, so may be late now and then. But your not writing shows that it must be due to no other reason than illness. Sent Rs. 10; hope you got it. Forgot to write one word in the letter. You said you have got a horoscope; send it to me. Jotin Bannerjee is here and I wish to show it to him. I have faith in astrology ten years' experience confirmed. But also amongst a thousand, nine hundred know nothing about it. Few know but more make mistakes, e.g. non-performance of the coronation ceremony of the English King this year was declared several months ago causes even. If there be evil consequences then there are means of knowing them beforehand as they can be cured often. If horoscope can't be found, exact time of birth will do, but even the very minute must be correct. Nothing important. It is difficult for me to digest so large quantities of flesh. No rains and so famine a sahib meteorological officer gives the same conclusion. When reading these things, I was rather wishing to blow the head of the fellow away from his body, but I took patience because the mere blowing of his head will not make rain come. The God of India will not take this sacrifice of a non-Hindu. I answered two letters and one is in process. Even Ganesh himself could not cope with that sort of skilful writer, not to speak of my humble self. I remain anxiously anticipating your illness. Your husband
P.S. I cannot decide which one to select among the pictures. I shall send within two days by casting lots good or bad. Alipore Bomb Trial Exhibit No. 292
2
COURT TRANSLATION OF A BENGALI LETTER OF SRI AUROBINDO
[22 October 1905] My dearest Mrinalini, I am in receipt of your letter. I have not written you since a long time. Do not take it amiss. Why are you so much anxious about my health? I never suffer you know, except from cold and cough. Ban is here. He is in an exceedingly bad state of health. His fever is often accompanied by complications but with all his ailments, his energy never flags. He never sits quiet. As soon as he gets a little better, he goes out in the service of his country. He will never take up service, I will not of course write Sarojini about these matters, nor should you do so. She would then get mad with anxiety. I hope I will go to Calcutta in November. There I have many things to do. That long letter of yours gave me no reason to despair. I was rather glad. If Sarojini learns to practise self-denial like you, it will help me much in my future (plan of) work. But this is not to be. Her desire for future happiness is very strong. I know not whether she will ever be able to overcome it. God's will be done. Your letter is lost amongst a heap of papers. I will find it out. I will write again as soon as I have found it out. It is time for evening (?) prayer. I stop here for the day. I am well, you should not give way to anxiety even if you do not hear from me. What ailment will overtake me (that you are afraid of)? I hope you all are quite well. Yours. What need have you for my name. Will not this dash do? Alipore Bomb Trial Exhibit No. 286/4
3
RECEIPT FOR RENT OF 23 SCOTT'S LANE
Calcutta. 1st March. 1908. No..........
E. & O. Received payment, NANDA LAL SEAL. Alipore Bomb Trial Exhibit No. 311/3
4 "NOTE BY THE DIRECTOR OF CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE ON THE CALCUTTA REVOLUTIONARY SOCIETY'S SCHOOL"
Notes in the Criminal Intelligence Office.
The training school of the secret Society inaugurated by Arabindo and Barindra Kumar Ghosh was located in their garden, 32, Muraripukur Lane. Manicktola, in the suburbs of Calcutta. I annex six photos which the Commissioner of Police has had prepared: I is the single masonry building in the garden. It faces away from the approach road, and in it the pupils lived and worked. II is a temporary shed attached to the end of I where practical instruction in the use of bombs and explosives was given. III is a temporary shed where the forge used for making the bombs was located. IV is the tree trunk which formed the target for those undergoing training in the use of fire-arms. The bullet marks can be seen on the trunk. V is the hole in the garden out of which the chest containing the fire-arms was dug. VI is the hole out of which bombs, chemicals, etc., were dug. This garden was constituted the head-quarters of the secret revolutionary society in July 1907. Barin in his confession to the police explained that he started his campaign, which aimed at securing the independence of his motherland, in 1902 by preaching his views with the assistance of his friends in many parts of Bengal and by starting akharas for lathi play in several districts of the two Bengal provinces. After doing this for about a year he returned to Baroda where his brother Arabindo was still employed. In 1905, consequent on the partition of Bengal, most of those whose sympathies were alienated from the Government devoted themselves to swadeshi enterprise and boycott, and consequently Barindra felt that he must rely on himself for carrying on revolutionary work on the lines which he desired and he determined to get recruits from various parts of Bengal to become members of the secret society which would form the nucleus of a party to rise against the British Government. He furnishes the names of 16 students who attended the training school during the period of its existence, and he says that the members of this society used to live together, eat together, and discuss political methods necessary to secure the regeneration and independence of their country. Barin explained that his two elder brothers, who are also sharers in the garden, had no knowledge of their schemes but that Arabindo also desired the regeneration of his country through the medium of religious inspiration and was entertained at the garden on one occasion. It is no doubt owing to the dual influence of the brothers that one finds religious and revolutionary instruction mixed up in the training school's curriculum. Barin was the active manager of the school, and it appears from Norendranath Gossain's statement that he was the chief whose orders had to be implicitly obeyed. Upendranath Banerji stated that Barin recruited suitable young men taking advantage of the gatherings which occurred in the Yugantar Office and in the College and Beadon Squares, and that the object which actuated himself in joining the society was to free his country from the foreign yoke by helping an institution which would reach the people by means of moral and religious precepts. He says that, while he gave instruction in religion and philosophy, Barin was responsible for collection of arms and explosives and for giving instruction in their use. Regarding the internal administration of the training school we depend, apart from the confessions, mainly on certain note-books which were discovered during the search, and which, owing to abbreviations used in them, require a great deal of analytical study. It appears, for example, that pupils were not allowed to inquire each other's names, consequently where they appear in note-books they are merely in the form of initials. The three persons mainly responsible for giving tuition in the school were Barin, Upen, and Ullaskar Dutt. Barin, as has been said, was responsible for the general management of the school and for the custody of arms and explosives, and Upen seems to have given instruction in religion and in revolutionary history; whereas Ullaskar Dutt was entrusted with training the students in the actual use of explosives. The original idea seems to have been to locate the explosive workshop at Baidyanath (Deogarh), since in one of the note-books there is an entry U.D. (Ullaskar Dutt) for manufacture at Baidyanath (Deogarh) and underneath B.G. (Barindra Ghosh) to be in charge of the mechanical part of the work. This plan, if it ever matured, was apparently abandoned and the Manicktola garden was used both for practical and theoretical instruction. The real expert in the manufacture of explosives was no doubt Hem Chander Das, who had received his knowledge in Paris. He, however, did not attend the school regularly but seems to have done the work of loading bombs mainly at his lodging in Raja Nobo Kissen Street. The MSS. explosive manual, from which instruction was being given when the conspiracy came to light, was probably brought out to India by Hem Chander Das when he came in November last. The students' note-books have been found, in which they were required to write down verbatim the contents of the manual. As much progress has not been made, it is evident that the manual was only a recent introduction; and as certain parts of it, so far as I have been in a position to examine, bear a close and striking resemblance to the book found by the Paris police with Safranski, the Russian Anarchist, it is probable that Hem Chander Das was responsible for the introduction of the manual. The members of the society were for working purposes divided into three circles. It would appear from one of the books found that the first circle employed on band work consisting of six students. The duty of these was apparently to go round and collect subscriptions. The second circle was for Exp., Mech., and An., which signify experiment, mechanics, and anarchy.1 The third circle was for Miss., Tn., and Int., signifying missionary, training (?), and intelligence work. In the note-book above referred to six students are entered as employed on these duties. In a red note-book from which the information regarding Baidyanath (Deogarh) given above was extracted and which contains an entry in a fly-leaf "Brahmachari Anantanand, January 1908" possibly Upen's Sadhu name. The syllabus for missionary training at the school or Ashrama, as it is called, (this being the name assigned to Hindu places of spiritual instruction) is as follows: "Ashrama for giving general, intellectual, and moral training to all new workers and a special training for those meant for missionary work. A. General training to consist of (1) Religious training. (2) Political training: Junior course History; Geography;
1 Two members are noted as belonging to it. viz., U.D. and U.B. (Ullaskar Dutt and Upendranath Banerji). [Footnote in document] Indian Economics; Revolutionary knowledge. (3) Physical training: Self-help, etc., Technical training to be given at other departments. (4) Knowledge of Hindi, Sanskrit, and English (optional). B. Special training of missionaries (1) Religious; (2) Political (advanced course); (3) Knowledge of Hindi, Sanskrit, and English (compulsory); (4) A thorough knowledge of Indian History, Geography, and Revolutionary history of other countries." From an entry which another page of this note-book contains, the day's work has been divided as follows :- "Ashrama Morning, get up at 4 a.m. Wash face, 4-30. Meditation, 4-30 to 5-30. Physical exercise, 5-30 to 6. Study in Class, 6 to 9 (to begin with singing stotras in chorus). Cooking or shikar, 9 to 11. Bath, 11 to 11-30. Meditation, 11-30 to 12. Dinner and rest, 12 to 3. Study in Class, 3 to 4-30. Rest, exercise, and meditation, 4-30 to 6. Private study, 6 to 7. Cooking by batches, 7 to 9. Supper, 9. Conversation, singing stotras, sleep, 10 p.m. "Shikar" means apparently shooting at the tree (the photo of which is annexed) or at crows!2 Practical instruction in explosives has been omitted from this curriculum, and it is quite possible that this instruction was given only to those who had been in the school for some little time and had won the confidence of their leaders. There can be no doubt, however, that such instruction was given and that all received tuition in the use of fire-arms and in theoretical revolutional knowledge. There are such entries as this: "Markundo, Poresh, and Profulla to be employed for the present on the mechanical work" and again "to prevent overcrowding no more than three to be admitted to the workshops." The most important articles found in the garden were: 3 rifles; 2 guns; and 9 revolvers; 2 loaded bombs, and some empty ones. A large quantity of dynamite, about 25 lb. Several boxes of cartridges and detonators and a large quantity of acids used for making explosives.
2 The word shikar actually means "(big game) hunting". Most of the bombs which were ready for use were not kept in the garden but in 134, Harrison Road, in the custody of Ullaskar Dutt. Those who were initiated in the secret society had to take two oaths, one in Bengali and one in Sanskrit, translations of which are enclosed. It has not been ascertained at which period of their course they were required to subscribe to these oaths, but those who did so, can have had little doubt as to the intentions of the society. So far as has been ascertained, the following are the names of those who have been initiated:- 1. Barin Ghosh, Hooghly, (confessed). 2. Indu Bhusan Rai, Khulna, 3. Ullaskar Dutt, Tippera, 4. Upendranath Banerji, Chandernagore, (confessed). 5. Sishir Kumar Ghosh, Jessore. 6. Nalini Kumar Gupta, Faridpur.3 7. Sachindra Kumar Sen, Dacca. 8. Poresh Chandra Mullick, Jessore. 9. Bejoy Kumar Nag. Khulna. 10. Norendranath Bakshi. Rajshahi. 11. Purna Chandra Sen, Midnapore. 12. Norendranath Ghosh, Jessore. 13. Bibhuti Bhusan Sarkar, Nadia. 14. Kanai Lal Dutt. Hooghly. 15. Niropodo Rai, Nadia. 16. Profulla Chandra Chaki, Bogra (?), (committed suicide). 17. Norendranath Gossami, Serampore, Hooghly, (confessed). 18. Hrishikesh Kanjilal. 19. Sudhir Kumar Sarkar, Khulna, (confessed). 20. Krishna Jiban Sanyal, Malda, 21. Birendranath Ghosh, Jessore, Of these 21, Barin gave the names of 17 only. Most, if not all, of the others whose names he omitted, have confessed to being members of the society thereby showing clearly that Barin has not confessed the whole truth. By means of a careful study of the note-books and correspondence the names of about half a dozen other members have been ascertained, and it is likely that, when they are arrested, they also will admit to having been members of this society. It will be noticed that all the members of this society are Bengalis and Hindus. Five come from Hooghly. 1 from Chandernagore, an adjoining French territory, 3 from Khulna, 4 from Jessore, and 2 from Nadia. All belong to Bengal proper, except the following who come from Eastern Bengal: Ullaskar Dutt, Tippera; Nalini Kumar Gupta, Faridpur; Sachindra Kumar Sen. Dacca; Norendranath Bakshi. Rajshahi; and Krishna Jiban Sanyal, Malda. Out of these few. two, namely, Norendranath Bakshi and Krishna Jiban. owe their
3 Should be Nolini Kanta Gupta. There are a number of other irregularities in this list. introduction to the revolutionary society to their having joined the National College at Giridih which is in Bengal proper. It can, therefore, be said that this society, so far as its ramifications have been ascertained, has proved to be confined almost exclusively to the western province of Bengal and mainly to districts within easy reach of Calcutta.
[TRANSLATION OF THE BENGALI PORTION.]4
Vow-taking: Thou sword everlasting emblem of Powers, knowing that in Thee the soul image of Janurdhani Karali (Goddess Kali), the primordial mother of India, lies hidden, I touch Thee by my head and do (hereby) bind myself for the purpose of extirpating the Asuras (not Suras or Debatas, i.e., enemies of Debatas). Thou Bhagabat Gita (a sacred book of that name), the source of all, pregnant with all truths, Thou sacred Veda, knowing that in Thee lies hidden the spirit (genius) of Sri Krishna, incarnation of Bisnu the preserving element of the Hindu Trinity, the founder of unity in India and the destroyer of the Asuras, I bow down and touch Thee and do (hereby) bind myself for the purpose of extirpating the Asuras. I invoke the all-powerful God to help and witness my taking this vow. I touch the feet of my religious Guru (preceptor), the source of virtue and knowledge, and do (hereby) swear. I call to mind the feet of my mother the personification of my mother country and do (hereby) swear. In the name of the great leaders, the God-sent apostles, I do (hereby) swear. (a) That from to-day I take up the task of setting up Dharma Rajya in India by removing and doing away with all obstacle, I do (hereby) offer my life to achieve this end. (b) That I shall not care for those that are against this aim and Dharma (religion), be they swadeshi or foreigner. (c) That I shall not do anything that is opposed to the aims of our mandali (community). (d) That I shall bow down and carry out all orders of the leaders of the mandali. (e) That I shall never disclose the secret orders and resolutions of the mandali at the sacrifice of my life. (f) That I shall bear all difficulties without being moved and run at the sacrifice of whatever I have wealth, life, honour, reputation. I shall do my duty in regard to you. (g) That if any way I dishonour or break this vow, let the curses of the great patriots, ancestors, and of God that knows the heart soon overtake and destroy me.
16th May 1908.
4 I.e. the Bengali part of the two-part oath referred to above. The square brackets are in the document. [TRANSLATION OF THE SANSKRIT PORTION.]5 Om. (Trinity) let there be peace. Om. Shome Bharat Lakshmi. We invoke (pray) Barun, Agni, Manu, Aditya, Bisnu, Surya, Bharma, and Brahaspati (names of gods of Hindu mythology). Om. Let there be an auspicious day in this duty of establishing Dharma Rajya. Preceptor (religious initiator) Om. Auspicious day. Om. Let there be peace in this duty PreceptorOm. Be it so. Om. Let there be success in this duty. PreceptorOm. Be it so. Invoking the ancestors that were born of heroes. (We) bow down to the original heroes that set the current of life in this world and the germs of life and perfect individualities we resign ourselves to them. (We) bow down to the Aryans that were reared up in the laps of Bharat (India) full of wealth and crops. (We) bow down to Thee Brahman and other Rishis that reared and brought up the infant Aryans fired with patriotism. (We) bow down to Thee Manu and other heroes that were powerful as the Sun and (pious) as Judhisthir and other Rishi-like kings. In the life-play of Bamdeb (son of Basudeb or Sri Krishna) the key-note always and invariably was to set up a Dharma Rajya. We bow down to Thee the ideal heroes of India that sacrificed their lives to save mother-land from the grip of foreigners and thus achieved the glorious end of the heroes that never cared for their lives and properties, when they had to serve their country. The image of patriotism has appeared before our mind's eye. We bow down to Thee our countrymen whose good wishes, benedictions, and encouragements fired me us to-day. (We) now call men of the world before whom we are ashamed to appear, (for) we are able to save the honour of (our) country. In the fire of our resolve to save the mother country, let their hatred and mother India's shame be the sacrificial ghee (clarified butter). My heart will be burning my mind will be burning, so long as this fire of her shame be not extinguished. We renounce all pleasures, ornaments, etc. Remembering country's pride (golden deed) Devas sing the glory of those that are deserving in India (Bharat Bhumi land of Bharat, a king of primeval age. India was named after him). It is the deeds which lead men either to Heaven or Hell. Then (Atha) resolve Bisnu (the preserving deity of Hindu Trinity). Om. (All mantras begin with this word.) Tat-sat (God alone exists). To-day in the month ofphase {paksha) of the moon in the (tithi) day of the moon, I oftake this vow of setting up Dharma Rajya. After taking vow (first two lines are not understood as part is torn off). Thou Sri Krishna (Keshub) I take this vow before Thee. Let it be successful through Thy Graces. (The 4th line is not understood.) Taking up sword. I bow down to Theesword, Thou crown of all weapons, the symbol of death.
5 See above. Square brackets in the document. It is quite likely that the Sanskrit original of this oath was written by Sri Aurobindo. With much respect I take Thee from the hands of Adhya Saktee (Kali the final energy). In this vicious Kali when virtue has been so much attenuated, when weapons have been the order of the day, Thou art (the only) arbiter (or upholder) of truths.
16th May 1908. Government of India, Home Political Department-Deposit, May 1908, No. 17
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MEMORANDUM ON NAVASAKTI
1. The Nava Sakti will be given over to the hands of a Committee. 2. Sreejukta Arabindo Ghosh Mahashay will nominate the said Committee. 3. The Nava Sakti and the press of the Sakti with all its belongings be made over to the hands of said Committee. 4. The amount of money which has been given to Nava Sakti up to now and the further amount which may be given are to be converted into capital. 5. The capital is to be paid off by and by with half of the profits and the Committee will spend the other half for the good of the country. 6. If the amount of capital be paid up with one-half of the profits or by any other arrangement, then the contributors to the capital shall get nothing more on account of the capital. The whole amount will be spent for the good of the country under the direction of the Committee; and the Navasakti and all properties and everything belonging to it shall vest in the Committee. 7. The Committee shall be competent to conduct the Nava Sakti in any form and manner they may choose. 8. If the Committee fail to be willing to conduct the Nava Sakti according to these rules, the Nava Sakti will be given back to the former proprietor with all its accessories and accumulated capital. 9. The work will begin from Baisakh 1315 B.S. according to the foregoing rules. Translated by Guru Charan Dutt, Translator, High Court. Alipore Bomb Trial Exhibit No. 311/2 |