Indian Political Thought

12

Savarkar: Hindutva and Critique of Caste System

Sangit Kumar Ragi

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, popularly known as Veer Savarkar,¹ was born in a Marathi Chitpawan Brahmin² family in 1889 in Bhagur, a village close to Nasik. Savarkar was second among two other brothers and a sister. His mother died of cholera when he was just nine. Seven years later his father died in a plague. He grew up under the protection and care of his elder brother Ganesh. When he was barely twelve he was married to Yamunabai, daughter of Ramchandra Triambak Chiplunkar, who supported his university education. It was from here that his revolutionary journey in the actual sense started.

If one looks at the writings and activism of Savarkar, one can conveniently divide his ...