I wished to ruin the British. From morning to night, whether bathing, eating or sleeping, I was brooding about this and hardly slept in doing so. I learnt to fire at targets, ride a horse, wield a sword and exercise at the gym”. —Vasudeo Balwant Phadke
Vasudev Balwant Phadke (4 November 1845 -17 February 1883) was a pioneer revolutionary, fighting colonial rule. His life was a saga of toil, sweat, blood and tears, the prototype of many martyrs from ordinary homes.
His legacy is devoid of the social and cultural context but must be considered against the backdrop of the tumultuous historical period of late 19th century Western India.
His portraits depicting him with big brooding eyes, a ragged face and a bulky body signify a man with ferocious intent. He had a cult-like status a la modern-day avatar of Shivaji, a progenitor of Hindu civilizational supremacy.
Born in Shirdhon, Raigad, Maharashtra in a Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin family, Phadke’s paternal grandfather Anantrao, the last commander of Karnala fort — lost when the Peshwas were defeated by the East India Company in 1818 — would narrate stories of war, the deeds of legendary warriors and the losses inflicted by the British to young Vasudev.
Several events propelled Phadke on the path of revolution. For one, he was furious his bosses rejected his leave application to see his dying mother – and a year later — to attend death rituals.
His mentor Lahuji Vastad Salve, an expert wrestler, and the lectures of M.G Ranade and Dadabhai Naoroji about colonial economic policies impoverishing India influenced him. In 1870, he founded the Aikya Vardhini Sabha, to educate youth.
In 1875, the then Gaekwad ruler of Baroda was deposed by the British. Phadke’s emotional pitch urging educated elite to rebel didn’t find many takers. He then created an insurgent group from backward castes communities called Ramoshi. The authorities’ apathy towards the farming community during the Deccan famine between 1876 and 1878 also riled him.
Wanting an army of his own, but lacking funds, he decided to raid government treasuries and rich English and Indian businessmen to finance the movement and benefit famine-stricken villagers. Thus, a fresh series of attacks targeted British interests, disrupted government activities, spreading mayhem and panic.
The house of a local businessman Sankla in village Dhamari, Shirur, where income tax collections for colonial government was kept was raided first and around four hundred rupees taken, but this led to his being branded a dacoit.
In his heroic struggle, he briefly got complete control of Pune city. Although his follower-base and monetary situation improved, he found people around him more interested in his loot, than his ideals.
Hounded out by the British, Phadke had to move south to the Shri Shaila Mallikarjun shrine, where he tried to organize a fresh rebellion with the help of 500 Rohilas.
A bounty of Rs 4,000 was offered for his capture. Eventually betrayed and captured at a temple in district Kaladgi in 20 July 1879, he was taken to Pune for waging war against the British Government. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, fettered and incarcerated in Aden, Yemen. Undaunted, he escaped on 13th February 1883, by ripping the prison door off from its hinges. Recaptured, he went on hunger strike, but contracting tuberculosis, Phadke breathed his last, aged just 37.
Along with two other social reformers, he set up the Poona Native Institution (later Maharashtra Education Society) in 1860 and the Bhave School in Poona, which are still functional.
Vasudev Balwant Phadke: A Profile, a booklet was released by the Lok Sabha Secretariat in 2004, and his portrait unveiled in Parliament House.
A Marathi film, Vasudev Balwant Phadke, directed by Gajendra Ahire, was released in December 2007. In 1984, the Indian Postal Service issued a 50 paise stamp in his honour.
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A Radhakrishnan
A Radhakrishnan is a Pune based journalist, poet and short story writer. [/column]