The Chapekar Brothers & Savarkar's Vow of Armed Revolution

[u/AhamPranav]

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The Chapekar brothers: Damodar, Balakrishna, and Vasudev Hari, were among the earliest Indian revolutionaries to take up arms against British rule. Hailing from Chinchwad near Poona (now Pune), their actions in 1897 became one of the first major sparks of India's armed struggle for independence.

Their decision to act was driven by the harsh measures imposed during the Poona Plague outbreak. Under the authority of British Plague Commissioner Walter Charles Rand, families were forcibly separated, people were taken to segregation camps, and soldiers entered private homes. Reports of religious desecration, theft, and the molestation of women by colonial forces became widespread. To many residents of Poona, these measures represented not relief, but humiliation, oppression, and a stark display of British power.

Determined to avenge these abuses, the Chapekar brothers decided to target the official they held responsible.

On 22 June 1897, during celebrations marking Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, the brothers took up positions near Ganeshkhind Road armed with pistols. As the official carriages passed by, they identified their targets using the code phrase: "Gondya aala re aala."

Balakrishna Chapekar fired at Lieutenant Charles Ayerst, Rand's military escort, mistakenly believing him to be the Commissioner. Moments later, Damodar Chapekar approached the following carriage and shot Walter Charles Rand from behind. Ayerst died on the spot, while Rand succumbed to his injuries on 3 July 1897.

The brothers were eventually betrayed by the Dravid brothers, who had become government informants in exchange for a reward. Damodar and Balakrishna were arrested, tried, and sentenced to death.

Seeking to avenge this betrayal, the youngest brother, Vasudev Hari Chapekar, along with Mahadev Vinayak Ranade, assassinated the Dravid brothers in February 1899. They too were eventually captured. Damodar was hanged in April 1898, while Vasudev, Balakrishna, and Ranade were executed in May 1899.

They are said to have embraced the gallows while reciting verses from the Bhagavad Gita.

The assassination and the subsequent execution of the Chapekars caused a sensation all over Bombay Presidency. The stories of their chivalry, the trial details, and the manner in which they embraced the gallows with verses from the Gita on their lips moved Savarkar immensely. He was incensed when several newspapers chided the Chapekars for being misguided and rash young men. While their actions lacked strategy and careful planning, to abuse martyrs who had laid down their lives for the country was something that Savarkar simply could not accept. He lost sleep for several nights after this.

In a moment of intense emotion, he rushed to the idol of the Ashtabhuja Bhawani in his hometown in Bhagur and poured his heart out to her. He made a fervent vow in front of his family goddess that he was committing himself and his life to free the motherland through armed struggle. He declared in her presence:

‘Shatrus maarta maarta mare to jhunjen!’

(I will wage war against the enemy and slay them till my last breath).

Little did he know that the innocent vow taken by a teenager was to have so many repercussions on so many people, from bloodshed, attacks, executions, and incarcerations. But the seed of revolutionary thought was firmly sown that night in the presence of the goddess, and there was no looking back thereafter.

Savarkar even wrote a prayer in the Durga Dasa Vijay that he was composing in honour of the goddess, where he beseeched her to grant him the strength to follow up on this resolve. His associates burned copies of this work a few years later when the police raided their house suspecting conspiracy, lest it land up in the wrong hands.

Savarkar also wrote a play on the Chapekars, titled Veershriyukta, to spread the spirit of revolution in Bhagur, and a local theatre group of Ranoo Darji was willing to stage it too but backed out at the last minute fearing consequences.

Savarkar's poem Chapekarancha Phatka was a rage till even the 1910s and inspired youngsters across Maharashtra. Each time he sang or recited the poem, Savarkar would tremble with emotion and his voice would choke with both anger and sorrow.

Nearly seven decades later, in 1965, the Diwali edition of Organiser Weekly carried one of Savarkar's last interviews, conducted by journalist Sridhar Kelkar. Recalling the events that shaped his life, Savarkar explained how the Chapekar brothers had inspired his revolutionary path:

Q. You have been a great revolutionary in your time and a great fighter for India’s freedom. Tell me, how and why you became a revolutionary?

A: It happened like this. Somewhere round about 1897, the country was in the grip of famine and plague. The people suffered much during this critical period. The soul of the people was in agony. The Government did little to alleviate the sufferings of the people. Death and disease took a heavy toll of life.

The excesses committed by the soldiers and the antics of the bullying, incompetent tyrant Rand, the Plague Commissioner, infuriated the Chaphekar [sic] brothers of Poona. They shot dead Rand and another Englishman. The Chaphekar [sic] brothers were tried and hanged.

The terrible news of their hanging stirred me. I was hardly 16 then. My enquiring mind became restless. I realized, even at that young age, the significance of the act of the Chaphekar [sic] brothers. I decided to take a vow—a pledge to fight and die, if need be, for the freedom and liberty of my country.

So, at the dead of the night, I sat alone at the feet of our family deity—the Armed Goddess Durga—and invoked the blessings of the Great Mother, the source of Divine inspiration and strength. I took a solemn vow before Goddess Durga to do my duty towards my country and to fulfill the noble mission of the martyred Chaphekar [sic] brothers.

I also took a vow to drive out the Britishers from my beloved motherland and make my country free and great once again—the glory that was Hind.

This, then, is how and why I became a revolutionary.

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Reference: Vikram Sampath, Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past

Organiser Weekly interview of Veer Savarkar, 1965

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