From the Archives
By Prem Ansh Sinha
"Plague is more merciful to us than its human prototypes now reigning in the city."
- Lokmanya Tilak's Mahratta
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| Bal Gangadhar Tilak's 1908 Trial at the Bombay High Court |
Two years back, in the first week of standard 11, there was this chapter in a book filled with factual inaccuracies and biased narratives that dealt with the Freedom Struggle of India, written by the famous Distorian, Bipan Chandra.
"The Natu Brothers were deported in 1897 without being tried; even the charges against them were not made public."
This particular line grabbed my curiosity, and almost strangled it to the path of heaven(or hell?), until I realized the true meaning behind the extremely famous ancient African Proverb about history. There wasn't anything that was remotely related to Natu Brothers on a standard Google search. Rather, they were confused with another revolutionary trio, Chapekar Brothers.
The 1897 Bubonic Plague of Pune is considered to have wiped off around 50 per cent of the population of Pune. Brutalities being hurled by the government officers at the citizens had become a common occurrence. Women were being disgracefully inspected by the Soldiers in front of the public and religious sentiments were being insulted. Damodar, Balakrishna, and Vasudev Chapekar, the founders of the Chapekar Club or Rashtra Hitecchu Mandali assassinated Walter Charles Rand, the Plague Commissioner of Pune on June 22nd, 1897. They were later hanged. This, to a certain extent, brought the attention of the top officials of British India, and the Global Press to the grave condition of Pune. You can refer to the autobiography of Damodar Hari Chapekar and the first two chapters of Dr Vikram Sampath's Savarkar to learn more about the background of the Chapekar Brothers.
I did some research about the Natu Brothers with the help of a few online archives in that week itself. This only includes excerpts from the books that mentioned them. I would like to state that this is not an essay, but a compilation of brief research. I have produced the texts almost verbatim from primary sources to allow the readers to have their own understanding of the events. This blog will deal with the circumstances that lead to the deportation of the Natu Brothers without trials, and its aftermath.
Lokmanya Tilak - A Biography by Gopal Ram (1956)
"Tilak did really use moderate language in his criticism in his anxiety to avoid embarrassment to the Government. Two Sardars of the Deccan, Balwant Rao Natu, and Haripantha Ram Chandra Natu, who could not exercise the same amount of restraint, caused atrocious stories of the plague operations to be published in the British press through Gokhale who was in London then.
They complained, among other things, that a Hindu lady was assaulted by a soldier and one of the Natu brothers reported the matter to the authorities producing witnesses. No notice was vouchsafed. The soldiers were refractory and any complaint against them was regarded as obstruction. When a man fell ill many neighbouring families were taken to the segregation camp and left there without any covering to protect the body, their property at home including horses, cows, and sheep were left unprotected. A man was unnecessarily taken to the hospital and sent back as he was not affected by the plague to find his furniture destroyed and his relatives forcibly removed and detained in the segregation camp. Temples were defiled by soldiers. Insult was the reward for the services of volunteers and their suggestions were treated with contumely. When Natu suggested that, Mohammedans being more sensitive about the privacy of their women, the services of Mohammedan volunteers should be availed of to search the Mohammedan quarter, he was told that his conduct was improper and his services, voluntarily rendered, were dispensed with.
The Natu brothers were arrested and deported without trial for two years under an old, obsolete regulation—the Regulation XXV of 1827 of the Bombay Regulations, corresponding to the Bengal Regulation III of 1818—and their property was taken charge of by the Government. Gokhale too, on his return to India, found himself in trouble over the statement given by him for publication in the British press, and he had to tender an apology. The question was whether Gokhale was in a position to substantiate the statement he had made. He was, and yet he tendered an apology because his statement was based on the information given to him by high-placed men, besides the Natu brothers, and substantiating it would have meant betrayal of his informants. Indian newspapers published Natu's complaints prominently. Mahratta commented: “Plague is more merciful to us than its human prototypes now reigning in the city. Every one of these grievances may be proved to the hilt if His Excellency is pleased to enquire into the details."
"Dealing with gymnastic societies and murder and robberies associated with them, Montgomerie observed: The words used (by Chirol) are certainly defamatory and the defendant must be prepared to find the Judge ruling that they will bear the innuendo with the exception probably of the words ‘with his approbation and ‘murder’. Dacoity does not necessarily import murder... I can find nothing which shows that the Natu brothers had anything to do with the introduction of political ideas into schools or that they helped Tilak in any such activities...After the most painstaking search, I have been unable to obtain any evidence with regard to the connection (direct or indirect) of Tilak with gymnastic societies...”
Lokamnya Tilak - Father of our Freedom Struggle by Dhananjay Keer
"Though the sensational news was read by the orthodox leaders, they could not take immediate action against those violators of their religion! The Age of Consent Bill had taken the time of the defenders of the Hindu religion, and Tilak was fighting their battle. When the Age of Consent Bill became law, this new event came up before the public for discussion. Balasaheb Natu, the leader of the Sanatanists, referred the case to the Ecclesiastical Court of Shri Shankaracharya. Fortunately for the reformers and unfortunately for the orthodox, this time their defender and spokesman Tilak was thrown on the side of the reformers. During the discussion he attacked in his usual vitriolic way, Natu the orthodox leader, saying that the man who came from a family that was responsible for the ruin of the Peshwas and therefore whose seven generations were condemned to hell, was not the proper person to teach him what was and what was not conducive to the good of the nation; what was religion and what was duty!"
"In August 1899 Tilak wrote a very fighting article on the detention of the Natu brothers, who were kept still in detention by the Government without giving any reasons. Their detention however had been transformed into internment at Belgaum since May 1899. Pherozeshah Mehta had bombarded the bureaucrats in the Legislative Council for the unjust treatment meted out to the Natu brothers. The government had no satisfactory replies to give, and they gave answers that were evasive, insulting and peremptory."
"Tilak was determined to frustrate the plans of Tai Maharaj, and so in the small hours of July 13, 1901, he went with his men and occupied the third part of the bungalow. Now the two camps faced each other. At first, Tilak tried the art of persuasion. He calmly requested Tai Maharaj to postpone the adoption ceremony till the arrival of Dadasaheb Khaparde and Kumbhojkar. This unexpected seeming softness on the part of Tilak inveigled the vain lady into believing that Tilak had given up his opposition. Khaparde arrived in Poona on the 15th of July, and a regular fight began! Persuasion did not affect Tai Maharaj, and she gave orders to proceed with the preparations for the adoption of Bala Maharaj which was to take place on July 16. The trustees served a notice on the Kolhapur guests asking them to quit the place at once. Near midnight on July 15, Tilak with his men entered the compound of the bungalow, locked the gate, and kept his own watchman who allowed only Tilak's men like Kelkar, Shivarampant Paranjape editor of the Kal, Balasaheb Natu, and others to enter the compound. At dawn, Tilak's men surrounded Tai Maharaj's apartment to prevent the adoption from taking place and turned out the Kolhapur guests' bag and baggage into the streets."
"The news spread throughout Poona and crowds of people ran to Tilak’s residence. All furniture and curtains were removed from the halls on the first floor, and mattresses were spread. Tilak sat in the middle of the hall against a pillow with his sons by his side. In a few minutes, the hall was packed to capacity. Admirers and followers came in one by one, fell prostrate before him or put their heads at his feet, moved aside, and sat down nearby. There were heaps of fruit and garlands and sweetmeats. They talked till four o'clock in the morning. Tilak told Sardar Balasalieb Natu that of all the things lie most resented was solitary confinement."
"Tilak’s arrest on charges of sedition was the first of its kind in modern India after the birth of the Congress, and, therefore, it came as a volcanic shock to Maharashtra and India! One editor was prosecuted in Bengal under section 124A, but his was an ordinary trial. Here the murder of Rand had made the atmosphere very dangerous, and the arrest of Tilak made the trial colourful and explosive! The house of the Natu Brothers, the elder of whom had sent written complaints to the Government against the forcible intrusion of soldiers during the plague administration, was carefully searched, and arms and other things found therein were taken possession of. They were arrested under the very old Regulations of 1827 which empowered the Government to deal with political offenders. One brother was put in the Thana Jail, and the other in the Sabarmati Jail."
"On the third day of the session, Surendranath Banerjee moved a resolution urging Government either to try or release the Natu brothers whom Government had kept in detention for five months. Speaking on the resolution, he observed with great force of heart: We regard the quartering of the Punitive Police at Poona as a mistake..."
Bal Gangadhar Tilak - A Study (1956) by Karmakar D.P.
"Wide-spread rumours and apparently extreme consensus of public opinions have, from the very first, connected the names of Natu with the murder and two members of that family are known to belong to the party in opposition to Government. One of those members had a direct motive for the personal feeling against plague measures and was heard to utter a threat of speedy vengeance against the two Chief Plague Officers. Hari Natu was released from the Segregation Camp on 18th June and Mr. Rand was murdered on the night of 22nd...There is nothing but cumulative suspicion to connect the "seditious Brahmin faction" with the murders.
The Commissioner suggested further investigation by Mr. Brewin of the Bombay Police, who was already engaged in detective enquiries in connection with the murders, with the cooperation of both the City Magistrate and the D.S.P. He also agreed with the D.S.P. that “if the brothers Natu, and Tilak could by any possibility be placed in custody, evidence regarding the murder would very likely soon be forthcoming. The D.S.P. was also of the opinion that if the first 12 men mentioned in his list could be removed from Poona and kept under restraint, the city would remain quiet for generations and the Commissioner agreed with this opinion."
"As we shall have occasion to note, later on, that Hindu Muslim tension gave rise to the Ganpati festival and Tilak heartily supported both this and the Shivaji festival which came later. Tilak had to actively participate in the work of amelioration of those who had suffered from the famines of 1896. The bubonic plague made its appearance later during this year and Tilak, while on the one hand supporting Government measures for the eradication of plague by disinfection of homes, vigorously criticized how those were sought to be executed. These measures were relaxed in May as the epidemic substantially subsided, but Mr. Rand, the Plague Officer, and Col. Ayerst were shot dead on the day of the Queen’s Jubilee on the 22nd of June 1897 and the panic-struck authorities launched a prosecution against Tilak for publishing seditious matter in the Kesari and deported the Natu brothers."
A Nation in Making by Sir Surrender-not Bannerjea :)
The Aftermath
The Natu Brothers were released unconditionally in the last week of December, 1899. Tilak expressed joy over their release and said that Poona was now free from the eclipse which had begun in June 1897, and using an astrological phrase, he added that the evil period of Saturn had at long last come to an end.
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