Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: How many people joined the Anushilan Samiti?
By 1902, Calcutta had three secret societies working toward the violent overthrow of British rule in India. One was founded by Calcutta student Satish Chandra Basu with the patronage of Calcutta barrister Pramatha Mitra, another was led by Bengali woman Sarala Devi and the third was founded by Aurobindo Ghosh. Ghosh was one of the strongest proponents of militant Indian nationalism at the time.[5][6] By 1905 the work of Aurobindo and his brother, Barin, enabled Anushilan Samity to spread throughout Bengal. Nationalist writings and publications by Aurobindo and Barin, including Bande Mataram and Jugantar, had a widespread influence on Bengal youth. The 1905 partition of Bengal stimulated radical nationalist sentiments in Bengal's Bhadralok community, helping Anushilan acquire a support base of educated, politically-conscious and disaffected members of local youth societies. Its program emphasized physical training, training its recruits with daggers and lathis (bamboo staffs used as weapons). The Dhaka branch of Anushilan was led by Pulin Behari Das, and branches spread throughout East Bengal and Assam.[7] More than 500 branches were opened in eastern Bengal and Assam, linked by "close and detailed organization" to Pulin's headquarters at Dhaka. It absorbed smaller groups in the province, soon overshadowing its parent organisation in Calcutta. Branches of Dhaka Anushilan emerged in Jessore, Khulna, Faridpur, Rajnagar, Rajendrapur, Mohanpur, Barvali and Bakarganj. Estimates of Dhaka Anushilan Samiti's reach indicate a membership of 15,000 to 20,000. Within two years, Dhaka Anushilan devolved its aims from the Swadeshi to that of political terrorism.[8][9]
The Dhaka Anushilan Samiti embarked on a radical program of political terrorism. It broke with the Jugantar group in West Bengal due to differences with Aurobindo's approach of slowly building a mass base for revolution. The Dhaka group saw this as slow and inadequate, and sought immediate action and results. The two branches of Anushilan engaged in dacoity to raise money, and performed a number of political assassinations at this time.[11] In December 1907, the Bengal revolutionary cell derailed a train carrying Bengal Lieutenant Governor Andrew Henderson Leith Fraser in a plot led by the Ghosh brothers. That month, the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti assassinated former Dhaka district magistrate D.C.Allen. The following year, Anushilan engineered eleven assassinations, seven attempted assassinations and explosions and eight dacoities in West Bengal. The targets of these actions included British police officials and civil servants, Indian police officers, informants, public prosecutors of political crimes and wealthy families.[12] Under Barin Ghosh's direction, Anushilan members also attempted to assassinate French colonial officials in Chandernagore who were seen as complicit with the Raj.
Established by Pramathanath Mitra it became one of the most organised revolutionary associations, especially in the Eastern Bengal where the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti had several branches and carried out major activities. Jugantar was initially formed by an inner circle of the Kolkata Anushilan Samiti, like the Palmach of Haganah. In the 1920s, the Kolkata faction supported Gandhi in the Non-Cooperation Movement and many of the leaders held high posts in Congress. The Anushilan Samati had over five hundred branches.Indians living in America and Canada had established the Gadar organization
At this point the Anushilan Marxists, recently released from long jail sentences, stood at a cross-roads. Either they would continue as a separate political entity or they would join an existing political platform. They felt that they lacked the resources to build a separate political party. Joining the CPI was out of the question, due to sharp differences in political analysis. Neither could they reconcile their differences with the Royists. In the end, the Congress Socialist Party, appeared to be the sole platform acceptable for the Anushilan Marxists. The CSP had adopted Marxism in 1936 and their third conference in Faizpur they had formulated a thesis that directed the party to work to transform the Indian National Congress into an anti-imperialist front.
Anushilan Samiti (Ōnūshīlōn sōmītī, lit: body-building society) was a Bengali Indian organisation that existed in the first quarter of the twentieth century, and propounded revolutionary violence as the means for ending British rule in India. The organisation arose from a conglomeration of local youth groups and gyms (Akhara) in Bengal in 1902. It had two prominent, if somewhat independent, arms in East and West Bengal identified as Dhaka Anushilan Samiti centred in Dhaka (modern day Bangladesh), and the Jugantar group (centred at Calcutta) respectively.
The great majority of the Anushilan Samiti had joined the CSP, not only the Marxist sector. The non-Marxists (who constituted about a half of the membership of the Samiti), although not ideologically attracted to the CSP, felt loyalty towards the Marxist sector. Moreover, around 25% of the HSRA joined the CSP. This group was led by Jogesh Chandra Chatterji.
Through the 1920s and 1930s, many Anushilan members began identifying with Communism and leftist ideologies. Many of them studying Marxist–Leninist literature whilst serving long jail sentences. A minority section broke away from the Anushilan movement and joined the Communist Consolidation, and later the Communist Party of India. Former Jugantar leader Narendranath Bhattacharya, now known as M. N. Roy, became an influential member of the Communist International, helping to find the Communist Party of India. The majority of the Anushilanite Marxists, whilst having adopted Marxist–Leninist thinking, felt hesitant over joining the Communist Party.[43] Holding sharp differences with the CPI and Royist ideologies, the Anushilan marxists decided to join Congress Socialist Party (CSP), but keeping a separate identity within the party.[60] The RSP, which derived from the Samiti, held a strong influence in parts of Bengal. The psrty sent two parliamentarians in the 1952 Lok Sabha elections, both previously Samiti members. In 1969 RSP sympathizers in East Pakistan formed the Shramik Krishak Samajbadi Dal (SKSD). RSP and SKSD have maintained close ties since. The RSP is a minor partner in the Left Front which ruled the Indian state of West Bengal for 34 uninterrupted years. It also holds influence in South India, notably in parts of Kerala. The SUCI, another left wing party with a presence in Bengal, was founded in 1948 by Anushilan members.
A large proportion of the cadre of the Samiti's component groups came from upper castes. By 1918, nearly ninety percent of the revolutionaries killed or convicted were from the Hindu castes of Brahmins, Kayasthas or Vaishyas.[27] As the Samiti spread its influence to other parts, particularly north India, it began to draw people of other religions and of varying religious commitments. For example, many who joined the Hindustan Republican Socialist Association were Marxists and many were militant atheists.[30] By the late 1930s, the membership had changed somewhat in the participation of members with more secular outlook. Wings of the Samiti also included prominent participation from women. Amongst the most famous of the latter were Pritilata Waddedar who led a Jugantor attack during the Chittagong Armoury raid, and Kalpana Dutta who manufactured bombs at Chittagong.[31]
Pratul was born in Narayanganj, now in Bangladesh. He was a member of the Anushilan Samiti. Following the arrest of Pulin Behari Das ( the main organizer of the Dhaka branch of Anushilan Samiti), Pratul and Trailokyanath Chakravarty took charge of the Anushilan Samiti and reorganized the association. He was tried in the Barisal conspiracy case and was sentenced for 10 years imprisonment in 1914, however he was released earlier. In 1922, he joined Congress. Somehow he also managed to maintain some revolutionary connections and continued helping the revolutionaries. Pratul became the president of Dhaka District Congress Committee, Bengal Congress Committee and All India Congress Committee. He was elected to the Bengal legislature in 1929 and in 1937. Pratul Ganguli retired from politics in 1947 and died in 1957.
Aurobindo began devoting energy towards national activities. When Anushilan Samity was formed at Kolkata, Aurobindo sent a request to Jatindra Nath to join the organisation. So Jatindra Nath left his job in Baroda to join Anushilan Samity.He became one of its prominent members.
Ramnath started his career as a manager at the Jatiya Bhandar Samiti, a Swadeshi enterprise based in Sylhet. Jatiya Bhandar Samiti had a motor car repairing workshop and Ramnath learnt driving. During his tenure in this organization, he also learnt how to ride a bicycle and became quite expert at it. Then he left the job at Jatiya Bhandar Samiti and took up another job. During this time he secretly joined the Anushilan Samiti. However, his association with the revolutionary group became public and he was expelled from his job. During this time the First World War broke out. Ramnath joined the Bengali Paltan and went to the war in Mesopotamia. In 1924, he took up a job with the British Navy and moved to British Malaya.
The nationalist publication Jugantar, which served as the organ of the Samiti, inspired fanatical loyalty among its readers and made a deep impression on this group.[50][51] By 1907 it was selling 7,000 copies which later rose to 20,000. Its message, aimed at elite politically conscious readers was essentially critique and defiance of British rule in India, and justification of political violence.[52] The publication inspired a proportion of the young men who joined Anushilan Samiti cited the influence of Jugantar in their decisions. The editor of the paper, Bhupendranath Datta was arrested and sentenced to one-year's rigorous imprisonment in 1907.[53] The Samiti responded with the attempt on the life of Douglas Kingsford who presided over the trial. Jugantar itself responded with defiant editorials.[53] The defiance of Jugantar saw it face five more prosecutions that left it in financial ruins by 1908. These prosecutions brought the paper more publicity, and helped disseminate the Samiti's ideology of revolutionary nationalism. Shukla Sanyal notes in 2014 that revolutionary terrorism as an ideology began to win support amongst a significant populace in Bengal, tacitly even if not overt.[51]
Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, the founder of the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), learned from the Anushilan Samiti. He was sent to Calcutta by B. S. Moonje in 1910 to study medicine, and to learn techniques of violent nationalism from secret revolutionary organizations in Bengal.[54] There he lived with independence activist Shyam Sundar Chakravarthy,[55] and had contacts with revolutionaries like Ram Prasad Bismil.
Banerjee became involved in political struggles during the 1921 Non-Cooperation Movement. He studied at Rajshahi College, where he befriended members of the Anushilan Samiti. He became an active member of the Anushilan Samiti resistance movement in the struggle for Indian independence.
According to Nixon’s Report, probably in about 1913, or perhaps a little before, certain of the old members of the Kolkata Anushilan Samiti who, in the meantime, had been members of various athletic clubs, formed themselves into a branch of the "Seva Samiti" under Atulkrishna Ghosh: "The ostensible object of this "samiti" was a benevolent one. The first centre was at the house of Atul Ghosh. During the Burdwan floods, in 1913, many members of this "samiti" went there for the purpose of affording relief to the afflicted people.". Atul’s efficiency and generosity as a leader became evident during this relief.
In November 1905, Bipin Chandra Pal along with Pramathanath Mitra, visited Dhaka where, at a political meeting, Pal called for volunteers ready to sacrifice their all for Motherland. Among the eighty who stepped forward was Pulin Behari Das, a resident of Wari who was soon appointed the head of the East Bengal branch of "Anushilan Samity". Under Das's able leadership, "Anushilan" "spread like wildfire" throughout the province. More than 500 branches were opened, linked by a "close and detailed organization" to Pulin’s headquarters at Dhaka. It absorbed smaller groups in the province, and soon overshadowed its parent organisation in Calcutta. Branches of Dhaka Anushilan emerged in the towns of Jessore, Khulna, Faridpur, Rajnagar, Rajendrapur, Mohanpur, Barvali, Bakarganj and other places. Estimates of Dhaka Anushilan Samiti's reach show a membership of between 15,000 and 20,000 members. Within another two years, Dhaka Anushilan would devolve its aims from the Swadeshi to the dedicated aim of political terrorism.
Around 1902, Aurobindo Ghosh arranged for Bannerjee to return to Calcutta to begin organisational work, where he began a gymnasium and a youth society. It was at this time that Bannerjee came in touch with Vibhuti Bhushan Bhattacharya, Sarala Devi Ghoshal and Pramathanath Mitra. In Calcutta, a few clubs and societies were still active at the time. Most notable was a gymnasium in Ballygunge Circular Road run by Sarala Devi herself, a second was an organisation named "Anushilan Samiti" founded by Satish Chandra Basu with the patronage of Pramathanath Mitra. A third one was a youth club called "Attōnnōti Samiti" (Self-improvement society) in central Calcutta.
A large portion of the Anushilan movement was attracted to left-wing politics during the 1930s, and those who did not join left-wing parties identified with Congress and the Congress Socialist Party. During the mass detentions of the 1930s surrounding the civil-disobedience movement, many members were won over to the Congress. Jugantar was formally dissolved in 1938; many former members continued to act together under Surendra Mohan Ghose, who was a liaison between other Congress politicians and Aurobindo Ghose in Pondicherry. During the late 1930s, Marxist-leaning members of the Anushilan in the CSP announced the formation of the Revolutionary Socialist Party.
Narendra joined the revolutionary outfit that was known as Anushilan Samiti. He played a major role in unifying Jugantar and Anushilan Samiti in the 1920s, after both parties suffered major setback because most of their senior leaders were arrested. Jugantar and Anushilan groups wereokii]].
During the summer of 1938 a meeting took place between Jayaprakash Narayan (leader of CSP), Jogesh Chandra Chatterji, Tridib Chaudhuri and Keshav Prasad Sharma. The Anushilan Marxists then discussed the issue with Acharya Narendra Deva. The Anushilan Marxists decided to join CSP, but keeping a separate identity within the party.
The group was founded on 26 April 1935 by 39 inmates. The group declared its adherence to the Communist Party of India. Its founders belonged to a minority tendency with the pro-Marxist section of the Anushilan Samiti. The majority of the nationwide Anushilan Marxist tendency however distrusted the Communist Party and did not join it.
The Samiti was influenced by the writings of the Bengalee nationalist author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. The name of the organisation, Anushilan, itself is derived from Bankim's works espousing hardwork and spartan life. Bankim's cultural and martial nationalism exemplified in Anandamath, along with his interpretations of the Bhagavat Gita, are noted to be strong influences on the strain of nationalism that guided the early societies that merged into Anushilan Samiti.[32] To this was later added the philosophies and teachings of Swami Vivekananda. A search of the Dacca Anushilan Samiti library in 1908 showed that the<i data-parsoid='{"dsr":[34854,34862,2,2]}'>Gita was the most widely read book in the library. Among the "rules of membership" books by Vivekananda were strongly recommended for reading,[33] A recurring theme in these were emphasis on "Strong muscles and nerves of steel", which some historian identify as strongly influenced by Shakta Philosophy of Hinduism. The writings of the group's own leader Aurobindo Ghosh popularised Shakti, specifically the concept of Adya Shakti that is exemplified in his work Bhawani Mandir.[33] This marked the beginnings of interest in physical improvement and proto-national spirit among young Bengalees, and was driven by an effort to break away from the colonial stereotype of effeminacy imposed on the Bengalee. Physical fitness was symbolic of the recovery of masculinity, and part of a larger moral and spiritual training to cultivate control over the body, and develop national pride and a sense of social responsibility and service.[34][35] Peter Heehs, writing in 2010, notes the Samiti had three pillars in their ideologies: "cultural independence", "political independence", and "economic independence". In the latter, the Samiti differed from those engaging in the Swadeshi movement, which they decried solely as a "trader's movement".[36]
During the summer of 1938 a meeting took place between the Marxist sector of the Anushilan movement and the CSP. Present in the meeting were Jai Prakash Narayan (leader of CSP),Jogesh Chandra Chatterji, Tridib Kumar Chaudhuri and Keshav Prasad Sharma. The Anushilan marxists then held talks with Acharya Narendra Deva, a former Anushilan militant. The Anushilan marxists decided to join CSP, but keeping a separate identity within the party. With them came the Anushilan Samiti, not only the Marxist sector. The non-Marxists (who constituted about a half of the membership of the Samiti), although not ideologically attracted to the CSP, felt loyalty towards the Marxist sector. Moreover, around 25% of the membership of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association joined the CSP. This group was led by Jogesh Chandra Chatterji. The Anushilan marxists were however soon to be disappointed by developments inside the CSP. The party, at that the time Anushilan marxists had joined it, was not a homogeneous entity. There was the Marxist trend led by J.P. Narayan and Narendra Deva, the Fabian socialist trend led by Minoo Masani and Asoka Mehta and a Gandhian socialist trend led by Ram Manohar Lohia, and Achyut Patwardan. To the Anushilan marxists differences emerged between the ideological stands of the party and its politics in practice. These differences surfaced at the 1939 annual session of the Indian National Congress at Tripuri. At Tripuri, in the eyes of the Anushlian marxists, the CSP had failed to consistently defend Subhas Chandra Bose. Jogesh Chandra Chatterji renounced his CSP membership in protest against the action by the party leadership.
Dhaka Anushilan Samiti was a branch of the Anushilan Samiti founded in the city of Dhaka in November 1905. Initially a group of eighty under the leadership of Pulin Behari Das, it "spread like wildfire" throughout the province of East Bengal. More than 500 branches were opened, linked by a "close and detailed organization" to Pulin’s headquarters at Dhaka. It absorbed smaller groups in the province and soon overshadowed its parent organisation in Calcutta. Branches of Dhaka Anushilan emerged in the towns of Jessore, Khulna, Faridpur, Rajnagar, Rajendrapur, Mohanpur, Barvali, Bakarganj and other places. Estimates of Dhaka Anushilan Samiti's reach show a membership of between 15,000 and 20,000 members. Within another two years, Dhaka Anushilan would devolve its aims from the Swadeshi to the dedicated aim of political terrorism. The "Dhaka Anushilan Samiti" embarked on a radical program of political terrorism. It broke with the "Jugantar group" due to differences with Aurobindo's approach of slowly building a base for a revolution with a mass base. The Dhaka group saw this as slow and insufficient, and sought immediate action and result. It was responsible for a number of political assassinations, most notably the murder of D.C. Allen. However, it reached a temporary halt after the arrest and deportation of Pulin Das and the Barisal Conspiracy Case in 1913. Dhaka Anushilan decided not to participate in the German plot of World War I. After the war, it continued in its violent movement, and some of its members went on to form the Neo-violence group.
By the close of 1936 the Anushilan Marxists at the Deoli Detention Jail in Rajputana drafted a document formulating their political line. This document was then distributed amongst the Anushilan Marxists at other jails throughout the country. When they were collectively released in 1938 the Anushilan Marxists adopted this document, "The Thesis and Platform of Action of the Revolutionary Socialist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist): What Revolutionary Socialism Stands for", as their political programme in September that year.