Act Vii

Scene 1

(4th May 1908. Aurobindo’s residence—48 Grey Street, Calcutta. Aurobindo is asleep. It is 5 a.m.)

(Sarojini rushes into Aurobindo’s room.)

SAROJINI: (Waking up Aurobindo) Sejda, Sejda! Police! Police!

(Aurobindo gets up. Enter Police Superintendent Creagan and party.)

CREAGAN: Are you Mr. Aurobindo Ghosh?

AUROBINDO: Yes.

CREAGAN: (Pointing to the police) Handcuff and tie him up, ransack the whole house. (Turning to Aurobindo) They say you are a B.A. Is it not beneath your dignity to sleep in such a small, unfurnished room?

AUROBINDO: I am poor, and live a poor life.

CREAGAN: (At the top of his voice) Then to become rich you have done all this? Now take the consequences. (To the police) Wait, I'm coming back.

(Exit Creagan.)

AUROBINDO: (To himself) Poor obtuse Englishman, how can you appreciate the values of self-imposed poverty and of self-dedication to the cause of one’s Motherland?

(Enter Krishna Kumar Mitra, Editor of Sanjibani, uncle of Aurobindo, and solicitor Bhupen Bose. His uncle is unable to resist tears.)

(Re-enter Creagan.)

BHUPEN: (Addressing Creagan) You are not entitled to treat Aurobindo like that. Take off the handcuffs and the rope.

(Creagan orders removal of the handcuffs and the cord.)

Scene 2

(Alipore Central Jail. A solitary cell 9’ x 5’ with a small courtyard in front. Aurobindo in contemplation. A column of blue Light from above descends and illumines his cell. A god-like figure emerges from the Light.)

FIGURE: How do you find your jail life here?

AUROBINDO: To me it’s no jail. It is my Yogashram.

FIGURE: Yogashram?

AUROBINDO: Decidedly.

FIGURE. Your enemies have put you here.

AUROBINDO: I was striving hard to see Narayana within me as Friend, Master or Providence, but could not. Family ties, attachment to work and a number of other things stood like a wall between Him and me. Now those whom you call my enemies have peremptorily broken those attachments and whisked me away as if from my moorings and put me here in this splendid isolation where I can, quite undisturbed, dive into my depths and see my Lord, my Friend, my Guardian, my Guide, my All-in-all face-to-face. That is why I find in this solitary cell my precious seclusion for union with the Self of my self. He gave me an affectionate family, loving relatives, friends, well-wishers, admirers countless in number but more than any one of them, more than all of them put together my so-called enemies have done me the greatest good. They are no longer my enemies. They are the best of my friends. And this is not the only instance. It is one out of many. Hence, I say, enemies I have none.

Scene 3

(Statement of Barindra Kumar Ghosh before L. Birley, Magistrate of the first class at Alipore.)

BIRLEY: Do you wish to make a statement before me??

BARIN: Yes.

BIRLEY: Do you understand that your statement being made before a Magistrate will be admissible as evidence against you?

BARIN: Yes.

BIRLEY: Is your statement being made voluntarily or has any pressure been put upon you to make it?

BARIN: It is quite voluntary.

BIRLEY: Will you tell me what you have to say?

BARIN: Whatever I had to say I have said in a written statement.

BIRLEY: Have you any objection to making that statement to me here?

BARIN: Shall I begin at the very beginning?

BIRLEY: Yes. . . When were you arrested?

BARIN: The day before yesterday, early in the morning.

BIRLEY: Where?

BARIN: At 32 Muraripukur Road.

BIRLEY: Who else was there?

BARIN: Ullaskar Duu, Upendra Nath Banerji, Indra Bhusan Rai, Bibhuti Bhusan Sarkar, Paresh Chandra Mallick, Nolini Kanta Gupta, Kunja Lal Saha, Sachindra Nath Sen, Purna Chandra Sen, Hemendra Nath Ghosh, Sisir Kumar Ghosh, Bijoy Kanta Nag and others.

Please take down my motive for disclosing these names. Our party was divided as to the propriety of disclosing these names. Some thought they would deny everything and take the consequences but I persuaded them all to give written and oral statements to inspector Ramsaday Mukerji because I believe that as the band was found out, it was best not to do any other work in the country, and because we ought to save the innocent.

Scene 4

(Sessions Court of Mr. Beachcroft. Prior to the identification parade Sudhir Sarkar, an accused, whispers to IVolini Kanta Gupta that in the parade he will be posing as one afraid of being identified, while Nolini, the real accused, in connection with the Jeshidih bomb affairs should keep standing quite unconcerned. The accused are brought out into the open and made to stand in a line in front of the prosecution Counsel Mr. Eardley Norton. Prosecution witnesses are brought in one by one. Enter the 1st witness)

NORTON: (Asking the first witness) Have you seen any of them?

1st WITNESS: Yes, I have.

NORTON: (Cheerfully) Point them out.

(The witness slowly passes along the line, points out one or two and then withdraws. Enter the 2nd witness.)

NORTON: (To the 2nd witness, the signal cabinman of Jeshidih Railway Function who is expected to identify the persons involved in the local event) Look at these men. Point out those you saw over the crossing on their way to Dighiriya Hill.

(The witness passes by the accused including Nolini. And befooled by his cleverly studied movements, the witness fixes upon Sudhir as the culprit amidst a roar of laughter by the visitors and the accused. Enter the 3rd witness.)

NORTON: (To the 3rd witness) Whom among these have you seen?

WITNESS: I know nothing, I know none of them. Neither do I know why the police have brought me here. (Side-splitting laughter from the accused and the visitors.)

Scene 5

(Alipore Jail. Aurobindo in his cell.)

AUROBINDO: Ten days’ fast, with sleep once in three nights, has left me no whit weaker, rather I feel greater energy. Now it’s time for sirsasana. (He stands on his head.)

(Enter Andrews Frazer, Lieutenant Governor, Bengal, with his aide-de-camp. He is surprised to see the Yogic posture of balancing the body on the head.)

FRAZER: What is all this, Mr. Ghosh? (No answer.)

FRAZER: Mr. Ghosh! (No answer.)

AIDE-DE-CAMP: He is practising Yoga.

FRAZER: What is Yoga?

AIDE-DE-CAMP: It is a process of seeing God.

FRAZER: Queer! Sheer nonsense.

(Exit Frazer and his aide-de-camp. Aurobindo is sitting relaxed. Enter a Scotch sergeant.)

SERGEANT: (In a tone of bravado) So, Arabinda, you are at last caught.

AUROBINDO: Yet shall I escape.

(Enter the Jail doctor Mr. Daly.)

DALY: It pains me to see you confined to this solitary cell. The jail Superintendent has kindly listened to my request. He has allowed you to have a walk in the open courtyard.

AUROBINDO: (Smiling) I thank you both.

Scene 6

(Aurobindo in his cell. Early morning.)

AUROBINDO: I wonder from where this fragrance is coming. There is no flower near by, nor even a gentle breeze. (A voice breaks out in the silence.)

VOICE: I am Vivekananda. I want to speak to you about the workings of the consciousness above the mind.

AUROBINDO: Above the mind?

VOICE: Yes. I myself had no idea of such workings while I was in the body. Now I have it and I will help you with it. For this I shall visit you every day for about two weeks.

AURDBlNDO: I believe these workings would lead towards some Supreme Dynamic Knowledge.

VOICE: That is for you to discover. I can but show what I have found. The world’s burden of progress rests upon your shoulders. It is a great happiness to find you ready to bear it. Godspeed.

(The spirit of Vivekananda disappears.)

Scene 7

(On reading Sarojini’s appeal in the Bande Mataram of 18th August 1908, for funds for the defence of Aurobindo, two patriots are walking to Sarojini’s residence, at 6, College Square, Calcutta.)

1st PATRIOT: We must not rest satisfied with our own contributions. The expenses are large and the whole country must meet them along with us.

2nd PATRIOT: That is my feeling too. We most work our hardest to collect funds from door to door.

1st PATRIOT: There is no other way of contacting the people face-to-face.

2nd PATRIOT: We have to plan an organised effort.

(Enter the two patriots and greet Sarojini.)

PATRIOTS: We have brought in our humble mite. (Each handing to Sarojini a hundred-rupee note) We are planning a door-to-door collection.

SAROJINI: That’s all to the good. So far I have received less than half the sum required. Sixty thousand, that’s the estimate of legal experts. The amount so far received is twenty-three thousand.

(Enter a Punjabi postman.)

POSTMAN: (Handing a ten-rupee note to Sarojini) Mataji, please accept this poor man’s offer. Aurobindo Babu is our god. We pray for his victory.

(Enter a bearded Muslim cabman.)

CABMAN: Baji, Babuji has used my cab many, many times. I have received higher and higher Bakshis every time. I have wept and prayed to Allah for his release. Allah, Allah, help him out of the trouble! Kindly take this petty sum for his defence. (Handing a five-rupee note to Sarojini, with a salaam he goes out.)

(Enter a street cooli of Oriyan origin. Tears rolling down from his perspiring face)

COOLI: (Placing a half-rupee coin on Sarojini’s table, with folded hands) This wretched cooli has nothing more to give. Jagannath Prabho, save our country’s jewel.

Scene 8

(Aurobindo’s cell. Aurobindo in deep meditation. A blue Light fills the cell. Vasudeva appears in the midst of the Light)

VASUDEVA: (Coming in front of Aurobindo) Look at me, my child. I am He whom you have been seeking. I come to tell you that from now and for ever you will be finding me in you, with you, around you everywhere. The second thing is that your work for India in Bengal is now done. I have decreed India’s independence. The rest of the work for it will be done by others yet to come. I sent you on earth to do my work of world-liberation and world-transformation. That will require a very long and intensive preparation on your part. Henceforth concentrate on it according to my guidance. As regards your case here, it is my concern. Leave it all to me. I will instruct your counsel, speak through him and see you released. You will remain ever free from all their blind efforts afterwards to force you out of the sphere of your work—for the moment in India, then the world over.

(Aurobindo bows in silence. Vasudeva disappears.)

Scene 9

(C. P. Beachcroft, Additional Sessions Judge and Eardley Norton.)

BEACHCROFT: Mr. Norton, you know Arabindo Ghosh was a very brilliant scholar in England. He had no equal at St. Paul’s. He won a scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge. He was a contemporary of mine in the I.C.S. We both won honours at the University and, at the final examination of the Indian Civil Service, Arabindo the prisoner beat Beachcroft the Judge to second place in Greek and Latin. This is called the irony of Fate! Poor Arabindo!

NORTON: To me it appears a matter for regret that a man of Arabindo’s mental calibre should have been ejected from the Civil Service on the ground that he could not, or would not, ride a horse. Capacity such as his would have been a valuable asset to the State. Had room been found for him in the Educational Service of India I believe he would have gone far not merely in personal advancement but in welding more firmly the links which bind his countrymen to ours. The new era of reform, in spite of local and I believe temporary cleavage, illumines India’s political sky and promises a future as much a matter of just pride to the Englishman as of hope and contentment and advance to the Indian.

Scene 10

(Alipore Court. Beachcroft, Additional Sessions Judge and the jury. Norton, C.R. Das and other lawyers. The day of Aurobindo’s release. C.R. Das after summing up his whole case concludes his historic address.)

C.R. DAS: “...My appeal to you is this that long after this turmoil, this agitation will have ceased, long after he is dead and gone, he will be looked upon as the poet of patriotism, as the prophet of nationalism and the love of humanity. Long after he is dead and gone, his words will be echoed and re-echoed not only in India but across distant seas and lands…”

(Beachcroft looks on, eyes indrawn. The prosecution counsel Mr. Norton, who was listening spell-bound to the peroration, now looks at C.R. Das, relaxed and relieved of his yearlong tension.)

(Beachcroft starts addressing the jury. After his address to the jury the foreman takes leave of the court to retire for consultation with his colleagues.)

(The jurors retire. The Court rises for lunch.)

Scene 11

(After lunch.)

FOREMAN: (Turning to the Judge) Your Honour, our fully considered verdict is unanimous so far as Aurobindo is concerned. We all are of the opinion that he is Not Guilty. As regards the others. . .

BEACHCROFT: I accept your verdict and acquit Arabindo of the charges brought against him. (Turning towards C.R. Das) Mr. Das, I congratulate you on your laborious study, patience, endurance and your able conduct of the case concerning your client Arabindo.

C.R. DAS: I thank Your Honour for your kind appreciation of my personal efforts. I thank also the members of the jury for their unflagging patience and energy in following the case in detail from day to day and for giving their well-considered verdict.

NORTON: (Coming forward and shaking C.R. Das by the hand) You have the reward of your labour. I congratulate you.

C.R. DAS: Thank you very much, my learned friend.