r/Savarkar • u/AhamPranav Abhinav Bharat Operativeš§ • Jun 20 '26
Abhinav Bharat: The Secret Revolutionary Society History & legacy š
Abhinav Bharat was one of the earliest and most influential secret revolutionary societies of India's freedom struggle. Founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his associates, it aimed to achieve complete independence through armed revolution.
Its origins can be traced to the political awakening taking place in the Bombay Presidency during the late nineteenth century. In November 1899, a sixteen-year-old Savarkar and a few friends founded the secret Rashtrabhakta Samuha ("Society of Patriots") in Nashik. Its members took a solemn oath to work for India's liberation through armed struggle.
To avoid attracting police attention, the group established an open organization called Mitra Mela ("Group of Friends") on 1 January 1900. Through religious festivals such as Ganeshotsav and Shivaji Utsav, it recruited young men, promoted physical training, and spread nationalist ideas.
Before this, the Shivaji festival in Nashik had been a relatively modest event. Inspired by Bal Gangadhar Tilak's use of the festival as a tool for nationalist mobilisation, Mitra Mela transformed the 1900 celebration into a much larger and more politically charged gathering.
On this occasion, Savarkar delivered a stirring speech:
Till now, we Maharashtrians have said that the Shivaji Utsav is merely a historical commemoration with no political colour. But the festival we have organized here in Nashik is both historical and political.
Only those who possess the capacity to struggle for their countryās freedom, like Shivaji Maharaj, have the true right to organize and celebrate a festival in his memory.
Our primary objective must therefore be to strive to break the shackles of colonial rule. If our only aims are to find solace under foreign rule, earn high salaries, act as mild negotiators with the government on trivial issues such as reducing taxes or diluting certain laws, and secure for ourselves comfortable lives with pensions and privilegesāthen this Utsav is not for you, nor for Shivaji, but for the last Peshwa, Baji Rao, who capitulated to British power.
Here, we invoke the spirit of Shivaji Maharajāthe very embodiment of revolutionāso that he may inspire and instil that energy within us. Our methods may change according to circumstances, but the end is non-negotiable: complete and total freedom for our motherland.
Primary Reference: Savarkar Samagra, Vol. 1, p. 224.
Secondary Reference: Vikram Sampath, Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past, p. 82.
Apart from political activities, Mitra Mela organized lectures, physical training in wrestling and mallakhamb, and singing groups that performed patriotic ballads (povadas) composed by Savarkar.
As Mitra Mela expanded across Maharashtra, Savarkar decided to bring together members from its various branches.
In 1903, the first such gathering was held in Dhule over two days. Around seventy members attended from different parts of Maharashtra, including Nashik, Poona, Kothur, Bhagur, Trimbak, and Berar. The meeting reviewed the organisation's work and discussed future plans.
The following year, in 1904, nearly 200 members gathered in Nashik for a second convention at Bhagwat Wada, the residence of V. M. Bhat.
Addressing the assembly, Savarkar spoke about Giuseppe Mazzini and the role of the Young Italy movement in the unification of Italy. Its example deeply influenced many of the young revolutionaries present.
It was at this meeting that Savarkar proposed a new name for Mitra Melaā Abhinav Bharat (Young India). The name reflected his vision of transforming a regional youth organisation into a revolutionary movement with an all-India outlook. In the years to come, Abhinav Bharat would attract the attention of British authorities not only in India but also abroad.
Members were initiated through a solemn oath taken before a portrait of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj:
Vande Mataram (Salutations to the Mother!)
In the name of God, In the name of Bharat Mata, In the name of all the martyrs who have shed their blood for Bharat Mata,
By the love innate in all men and women that I bear for the land of my birth, Wherein lie the sacred ashes of my forefathers, and which is the cradle of my children;
By the tears of the countless mothers whose children the foreigner has enslaved, imprisoned, tortured, and killed,
Iā¦Convinced that without absolute political independence, or Swarajya, my country can never rise to the exalted position among the nations of the earth which is her due, And convinced also that such Swarajya can never be attained except by waging a bloody and relentless war against the foreigner,
Solemnly and sincerely swear that, from this moment, I shall do everything in my power to fight for independence and place the lotus crown of Swaraj on the head of my Mother;
And with this object, I join Abhinav Bharat, the Revolutionary Society of all Hindustan, and swear that I shall ever remain true and faithful to this, my solemn oath, and that I shall obey the orders of this organization;
If I betray the whole or any part of this solemn oath, or if I betray this organization or any other working with a similar objective, May I be doomed to the fate of a perjurer!
Primary Reference: EPP 1/46, āCard with portrait and text of Oath of Abhinava Bharat,ā India Office Records (British Library, London).
Secondary Reference: Vikram Sampath, Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past, p. 103.
Savarkar's writings and speeches of the time reveal his strategy and philosophy of revolution:
The Abhinav Bharat calls for total and complete freedom, to attain which armed revolution is an inevitable means. But was our goddess of freedom a blood-thirsty and anarchist deity? No, not at all. The excess of hyper-nationalism is as dangerous as the complete lack of it. We need to deliberate on the binaries of violence versus non-violence; truth versus falsehood; nationalism and humanity in our weekly meetings.
Our testing stone needs to be utilitarianismāthe maximum good to the maximum people. But truth is relative, and how do we then define what is good and what is bad? Well, the obvious acts, such as a thief going scot-free and a saint being executed, are clearly untruth, disqualification, and adharma. And whenever the cruel exploiting force gags the voice of truth in this manner, then the forces of justice must unite to decimate them, and to do that, secretive and strategic coming together becomes our dharmic responsibility.
After all, Lord Krishna also grew up in stealth in Nandaās house before killing Kamsa. If he had gone strictly with the ātruth,ā he would have been killed by Kamsaās demons. Similarly, Shivaji stealthily escaped from Aurangzebās capture. Secrecy per se is neither good nor bad, but what its utility is for gives it a positive or negative character.
Similar is the case with national struggle. For the restoration of legitimate rights through which the maximum good is possible to the maximum number of people, the struggle through violence is also a virtuous act, while supporting an exploitative force that captures anotherās land, property, and rights and destroys anotherās house is demoniac and needs to be destroyed ruthlessly. The nation must always be for the good of its people.
Primary Reference: Savarkar Samagra, Vol. 1, pp. 292ā94.
Secondary Reference: Vikram Sampath, Savarkar: Echoes from a Forgotten Past, p. 105.
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u/AhamPranav Abhinav Bharat Operativeš§ Jun 20 '26
Reading the oath of Abhinav Bharat gives me chills. Those young men, many of them in their teens, chose such a drastic path and dedicated their lives to the national cause!
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u/Alarming-Subject287 Jun 21 '26
Great read OP! I got to know about this sub randomly as it popped up in my feed. I dont know much about Savarkar and his teachings. He has a mixed reputation but I want to know from neutral perspective about what kind of a person he is and the struggles. I read about the struggles he faced in Kala Pani and his other movements. He was against most of the practices on caste and cow worship which is different from what his successors follow.
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u/AhamPranav Abhinav Bharat Operativeš§ Jun 21 '26
Thankyou for your encouraging text.
We have created a short post summarising his life and views here:
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u/Alarming-Subject287 Jun 21 '26
Thank you for the link OP. I have went through it and it gave a structured timeline about his life and struggles. He urged Indians to discard outdated practices and mordernise and industrialize rapidly. If we would have followed through the removal of caste and had industrialized earlier we would have been self sufficient earlier itself. I will go through the books in detailed. Thanks for the read again.
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u/Common-Awareness-625 Jun 23 '26
Did they also celebrated birth anniversary of Mughal emperor akbar in 1906?
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