Dr. Hedgewar The Epoch Maker Chapter-1: BLOSSOMING BUD Hundreds of villages and cities all over Bharat had gone gay with festivities that day. Banners and buntings adorned public places, and trumpets blew. There were processions and adulatory speeches everywhere. Sweets were distributed to boys and the poor were fed. The elite were accorded distinctions, and titles conferred on scholars. While the elders themselves were so jubilant, what to speak of young children? There was an endless flow of sweets and the children were exuberant. The ‘grand’ occasion was the 60th anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Queen Victoria- 22nd June 1897. But one small boy-just eight years of age-remained sullen, sad. Though convivial by nature, he refused to join the other boys in the school celebration. He quietly came home, threw away the sweets in a corner and sat down depressed. Surprised at this stance, his elder brother asked him, “Keshav, didn’t you get the sweets?” Keshav answered, “of course, I got it. But, our Bhonsle dynasty was liquidated by these Britishers. How can we participate in these imperial celebrations?” It was this instinctive patriotism which in later days blossomed and burst forth in all its radiance in the form of the peerless patriot and incomparable moulder of men. Dr. Keshav Baliram hedgewar. The hedgewar family originally hailed from Kandkurti village in telangana- a village with a population of just over two thousand. Kandkurti is in the Bodhana tehsil in the Indore (Nizamabad) district, situated on the border between Andhra and Maharashtra. Near the village is the sacred confluence of Godavari, Vanjra and Haridra rivers. The hallowed Vanjra confluence finds mention even in the puranas. As if reflecting this sangam, one finds in this area a delightful admixture of three languages-Kannada, Telugu and Marathi. The place was at one time the abode of scholars and prosperous Brahmin families. The Hedgewar family was one such. They were Deshastha Brahmins of the Shakala branch, belonging to the Ashwalayana Sutra of the Rigveda. Their gotra was Kashyapa, and learning and learning and transmission of the Vedas was their sole preoccupation. The agnihotra too was in vogue. There are documents indicating that in the course of his travels, Sri Shankaracharya used to nominate someone from the Hedgewar family to be in charge of propagation of Dharma in this area. Many are the families claiming to be followers of the Hedgewars, and their family documents speak with utmost reverence of the Hedgewars saying, “Hedage kulaguru poorvapara, jaise suryavamsha vasisthavara” (“The tradition of Hedge kulagurus is (glorious) like that of Vasishtha in the solar dynasty.”) In the beginning of nineteenth century, many Brahmin families left the Telangana region owing to the neglect and penury suffered by them under the Mughals. Several such families chose to settle in Nagpur since the Bhonsle rulers were great patrons of Vedic learning. Among them was Narahara Shastri, the great-grandfather of Baliram pant of the Hedgewar clan. In 1853, Nagpur came under the yoke of the British rulers, and English education gained prominence to the utter neglect of traditional learning. Great scholars, well versed in many shastras, had to resort to priestcraft of earn their livelihood. Even under such hard conditions, Vedamurti baliram pant Hedgewar sustained the family tradition with efficiency and erudition. His wife Revatibai came from the Paithankar family, and was known for her serenity and amiable temperament. Despite poverty, the couple spent their days in peace and happiness. It was in such peaceful environs that Keshav was born, on the felicitous Yugadi (New Year) day, in the year Virodhi, 1811 of the Shaka Era, corresponding to Sunday, 1st April, 1889, in the early morning hours. And that was the auspicious hour when the bhonsle palace and every Hindu home in Nagpur hoisted the insignia-gudi-symolizing the victory of Shalivahana over the invading Shakas, an historic moment of national deliverance. How significant the birth of the child Keshav at this hour was! Keshav was the fifth issue for his parents. They had six issues in all: three sons-Mahadev, Seetaram and Keshav; and three daughters – Saroo, Rajoo and Rangoo. The frolics of the children enlivened the atmosphere of the household, and spread joy all around. From the moment of offering pranam to the family deity in the morning, up to the time of reciting “Shubham karoti kalyanam” after lighting the lamp in the evening, the children were constantly exposed to traditional samskars and cultural ways. The boy’s concern for learning was not to the neglect of sound physique. They ate wholesome food, and possessed frames of steel. And among the lot, the eldest son mahadev Shastri was outstanding. He had the bearing of an ustad, wore shirts made of fine mulmul and sported talisman on his neck, adding to his distinguished appearance. He had completed his vedic training in Varanasi and taken to the family profession. He was, however, keenly interested in body-building, and had converted portion of the house into gymnasium. He had equipped it with weights, mace and other paraphernalia needed for workouts. He took delight in training the neighboring youth also in gymnastics. He contributed his share to the maintenance of the household, but a substantial part of his earning was spent for feeding the trainees and friends at the gymnasium. Added to his forbidding physical appearance, Mahadev Shastri had a fiery temperament and would explode like volcano at the sight of injustice or discourtesy. He once espied from the terrace some mischievous persons pestering an innocent by passer. His blood rose. He at once jumped from the terrace directly on to the road and gave the mischief mongers the thrashing of their life. They felt lucky to have escaped alive. In performing challenging tasks, the three brothers vied with one another. Once a new well had been dug, and the consecration was to take place. The brothers decided to remove all the dredge and clean the water. But they knew that the elders would not permit such a hazardous venture. At the dead of night, when the others were asleep, the irrepressible threesome got up, stored enough water for the next day, and carried out the dredging operation throughout the night. At dawn the next day, crystal-clear water was oozing from the well-spring. For nearly a score of years, at the close of last century and the beginning of the present, there were repeated outbreaks of plague in the country. It is said the epidemic took toll of about a crore fo lives. People died like worms, partly for want of effective drugs and artly because of the callousness of the alien officialdom. Out of the one lakh population of Nagpur, two to three hundred people died every day for weeks on end. Baliram Pant Hedgewar was ever ready to help with the obsequies of the deceased. On some days he had to visit the crematorium as many as twenty times, but he never shirked from this religious obligation. He had to take bath a number of times each day. He refused to vacate the house, though many other families had moved to escape the dreaded epidemic. Though the house was maintained in a meticulously clean manner, eventually rats appeared, After this Baliram Pant shifted to the house of his son-in-low. There too, the plague did not spare him. His wife Revatibai contracted the disease. One day Seetaram Pant went out to buy drugs. When he returned he found both the parents dead (1902). Both the corpses were carried together and were consigned to the flames on the same pyre. Keshav was then just thirteen years of age. The sad and heart-rending death of both father and mother had left children rudderless on the ocean of life. As if to make their cup of misery full, with the passing away of the elders, Mahadev Shastri took to a loose and indisciplined life. And the younger brothers Seetaram and Keshav had to bear the brunt. The latter had to do all the household chores from splitting firewood and storing water to cooking. On occasions they had to go without food. They had long since got used to moving about in torn clothes. And to add to it, they had to stand gratuitous abuse and beatings from their elder brother. Disgusted with all this, Seetaram Pant left the house and went away to Indore to pursue his Vedic studies. Keshav spent most of his time in friends’ houses. But Keshav was highly self-respecting. Even when he was tormented by extreme hunger, he never accepted food from his friends. He never begged for money. His interest in the studies continued unabated. His name invariably appeared among the top five of the class. Calm and given to few words. He was of a very warm disposition. This trait earned him many lifelong friends. He was greatly liked by the teachers. Keshav’s favourite routine included four or five miles of running, a hearty swimming session and various games with his friends. On holidays, the group adjourned to the nearby hill and, dividing themselves into two sides, played ‘flag-battle’ for hours. Each side fought with consuming passion to get the possession of the flag, which was the target. The spirit of adventure entered into their blood. In his infancy, Keshav’s imagination used to be fired with pride at the sight of the grand pageant of cannons, elephants, horses, band, body-guards etc. which accompanied the royal procession of Bhonsles. That would make him think that Bhonsles were the real kings. But when he joined the primary school, he began to see the light.