VOLUME36 THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO ©SriAurobindoAshramTrust2006 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry, August 1911 Publisher’s Note This volume consists of (1) notes in which Sri Aurobindo cor- rected statements made by biographers and other writers about his life and (2) various sorts of material written by him that are of historical importance. The historical material includes per- sonal letters written before 1927 (as well as a few written after that date), public statements and letters on national and world events, and public statements about his ashram and system of yoga. Many of these writings appeared earlier in Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother (1953) and On Himself: Com- piledfromNotesandLetters(1972). These previously published writings, along with many others, appear here under the new title Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest. Sri Aurobindo alluded to his life and works not only in the notes included in this volume but also in some of the letters he wrote to disciples between 1927 and 1950. Such letters have been included in Letters on Himself and the Ashram, volume 35 of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO. The autobiographical notes, letters and other writings in- cluded in the present volume have been arranged by the editors in four parts. The texts of the constituent materials have been checked against all relevant manuscripts and printed texts. The Note on the Texts at the end contains information on the people and historical events referred to in the texts. On account of the documentary nature of the items making up this book, they have been transcribed verbatim, or as close to verbatim as possible. Problems of transcription are discussed on the next page. Guide to Editorial Notation Some of the contents of this book were transcribed from un- revised manuscripts or from handwritten or typed copies of lost originals. The texts published here are as far as possible verbatim transcripts of these materials. Problems encountered in reproducing them are indicated by means of the notation shown below. Notation Textual Problem [.....] Word(s) lost through damage to the manuscript. []1 Superfluous word(s), often duplicating what imme- diately precedes; a footnote shows the word(s) as they occur in the manuscript. [? ] Word(s) omitted by the author that could not be supplied by the editors. [word] Word(s) omitted by the author or lost through dam- age to the manuscript that are required by grammar or sense, and that could be supplied by the editors. [?word] Doubtful reading. [word]1 Emendation required by grammar or sense or correcting a factual slip; a footnote gives the manuscript reading. Documentary justifications for corrections of factual slips are given on pages 564 – 69. wor[d] Letter(s) supplied by the editors. [note] Textual situation requiring brief explanation. Long- er explanations are provided in editorial footnotes, which are printed in italics followed by “ —Ed.” (All footnotes printed in roman type were written by Sri Aurobindo.) CONTENTS PART ONE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Section One Life Sketches and Other Autobiographical Notes Sri Aurobindo: A Life Sketch Sri Aurobindo: A Life Sketch 5 Appendix: Letters on “Sri Aurobindo: A Life Sketch” 11 Incomplete Life Sketches Incomplete Life Sketch in Outline Form, c. 1922 14 Fragmentary Life Sketch, c. 1928 15 Other Autobiographical Notes A Day in Srinagar 16 Information Supplied to the King’s College Register 19 Section Two Corrections of Statements Made in Biographies and Other Publications Early Life in India and England, 1872 – 1893 Language Learning 25 At Manchester 26 School Studies 26 In London 27 Early Poetry 29 At Cambridge 29 The Riding Examination 30 Political Interests and Activities 31 The Meeting with the Maharaja of Baroda 33 Departure from England 34 Life in Baroda, 1893 – 1906 Service in Baroda State 37 CONTENTS Language Study at Baroda 43 Poetry Writing at Baroda 44 Meetings with His Grandfather at Deoghar 45 Political Life, 1893 – 1910 A General Note on Sri Aurobindo’s Political Life 47 The Indu Prakash Articles 67 Beginnings of the Revolutionary Movement 69 Attitude towards Violent Revolution 71 General Note (referring especially to the Alipur Case and Sri Aurobindo’s politics) 72 Sister Nivedita 73 Bhawani Mandir 74 The Indian National Congress: Moderates and Extremists 75 The Barisal Conference and the Start of the Yugantar 76 Principal of the Bengal National College 78 Start of the Bande Mataram 78 The Policy of the Bande Mataram 80 The Bande Mataram Sedition Case 81 The Surat Congress 82 The Alipore Bomb Case 84 The Open Letters of July and December 1909 86 The Karmayogin Case 87 The Departure from Calcutta, 1910 To Charu Chandra Dutt 88 To the Editor, Sunday Times 90 On an Article by Ramchandra Majumdar 92 To Pavitra (Philippe Barbier Saint Hilaire) 97 Life in Pondicherry, 1910 – 1950 Meeting with the Mother 102 The Arya 102 The Development of the Ashram 102 Support for the Allies 103 Muslims and the 1947 Partition of Bengal 104 CONTENTS Early Spiritual Development First Turn towards Spiritual Seeking 106 Beginnings of Yoga at Baroda 106 Meeting with Vishnu Bhaskar Lele 109 Sadhana 1908 – 1909 110 Philosophy and Writings Sources of His Philosophy 112 Perseus the Deliverer 113 Essays on the Gita 114 The Future Poetry 114 The Mother 115 Some Philosophical Topics 115 Appendix: Notes of Uncertain Origin 116 PART TWO LETTERS OF HISTORICAL INTEREST Section One Letters on Personal, Practical and Political Matters, 1890 – 1926 Family Letters, 1890 – 1919 Extract from a Letter to His Father 121 To His Grandfather 122 To His Sister 123 Extract from a Letter to His Brother 125 To His Uncle 138 To His Wife 145 To His Father-in-Law 147 Letters Written as a Probationer in the Indian Civil Service, 1892 To Lord Kimberley 149 CONTENTS Letters Written While Employed in the Princely State of Baroda, 1895 – 1906 To the Sar Suba, Baroda State 152 To Bhuban Babu 153 To an Officer of the Baroda State 153 Draft of a Reply to the Resident on the Curzon Circular 154 To the Dewan, on the Government’s Reply to the Letter on the Curzon Circular 158 To the Naib Dewan, on the Infant Marriage Bill 159 A Letter of Condolence 160 To R. C. Dutt 161 To the Principal, Baroda College 162 To the Dewan, on Rejoining the College 163 To the Maharaja 164 A Letter of Recommendation 165 Letters and Telegrams to Political and Professional Associates, 1906 – 1926 To Bipin Chandra Pal 166 A Letter of Acknowledgement 166 To Hemendra Prasad Ghose 167 To Aswinicoomar Banerji 167 To Dr. S. K. Mullick 168 Telegrams about a Planned Political Reception 168 Extract from a Letter to Parthasarathi Aiyangar 170 Note on a Forged Document 171 To Anandrao 172 To Motilal Roy 175 Draft of a Letter to Saurin Bose 251 To K. R. Appadurai 252 Fragmentary Draft Letter 253 To a Would-be Contributor to the Arya 254 To Joseph Baptista 254 To Balkrishna Shivaram Moonje 257 To Chittaranjan Das 260 CONTENTS To Shyamsundar Chakravarty 262 Open Letters Published in Newspapers, 1909 – 1925 To the Editor of the Bengalee 263 To the Editor of the Hindu 264 To the Editor of the New India 270 To the Editor of the Hindustan 274 To the Editor of the Independent 275 To the Editor of the Standard Bearer 278 To the Editor of the Bombay Chronicle 279 Section Two Early Letters on Yoga and the Spiritual Life, 1911 – 1928 Extracts from Letters to the Mother and Paul Richard, 1911 – c. 1922 To Paul Richard 283 To the Mother and Paul Richard 285 Draft of a Letter 291 To People in India, 1914 – 1926 To N. K. Gogte 293 Draft of a Letter to Nolini Kanta Gupta 295 To A. B. Purani 296 To V. Chandrasekharam 298 Extract from a Letter to K. N. Dixit 301 To Ramchandran 302 To and about V. Tirupati 306 To Daulatram Sharma 328 To Barindra Kumar Ghose and Others, 1922 – 1928 To Barindra Kumar Ghose 332 To Hrishikesh Kanjilal 368 To Krishnashashi 370 To Rajani Palit 373 Draft Letters to and about Kumud Bandhu Bagchi 378 To People in America, 1926 – 1927 To Mr. and Mrs. Sharman 382 CONTENTS To the Advance Distributing Company 383 Draft of a Letter to C. E. Lefebvre 388 To and about Anna Bogenholm Sloane 389 Draft Letters, 1926 – 1928 To an Unknown Person 397 To and about Marie Potel 397 Section Three Other Letters of Historical Interest on Yoga and Practical Life, 1921 – 1938 On Yoga and Fund-raising for the Ashram, 1921 – 1938 To and about Durgadas Shett 407 To and about Punamchand M. Shah 428 To and about Public Figures, 1930 – 1937 Draft of a Letter to Maharani Chimnabai II 440 On a Proposed Visit by Mahatma Gandhi 442 To Dr. S. Radhakrishnan 444 To and about Morarji Desai 445 On a Proposed Visit by Jawaharlal Nehru 447 To Birendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury 448 PART THREE PUBLIC STATEMENTS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS ON INDIAN AND WORLD EVENTS, 1940 – 1950 Section One Public Statements, Messages, Letters and Telegrams on Indian and World Events, 1940 – 1950 On the Second World War, 1940 – 1943 Contributions to Allied War Funds 453 Notes about the War Fund Contributions 453 On the War: An Unreleased Statement 455 India and the War 462 On the War: Private Letters That Were Made Public 463 CONTENTS On Indian Independence, 1942 – 1947 On the Cripps Proposal 469 On the Wavell Plan 471 On the Cabinet Mission Proposals 472 The Fifteenth of August 1947 474 On the Integration of the French Settlements in India, 1947 – 1950 The Future Union (A Programme) 481 On the Disturbances of 15 August 1947 in Pondicherry 491 Letters to Surendra Mohan Ghosh 492 Note on a Projet de loi 495 Messages on Indian and World Events, 1948 – 1950 On the Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi 497 On the World Situation (July 1948) 498 On Linguistic Provinces (Message to Andhra University) 498 Letters Related to the Andhra University Award 504 The Present Darkness (April 1950) 506 On the Korean Conflict 507 Section Two Private Letters to Public Figures and to the Editor of Mother India, 1948 – 1950 Private Letters to Public Figures, 1948 – 1950 To Surendra Mohan Ghosh 511 To Kailas Nath Katju 511 To K.