Source: DD News
Subject: History
Context: Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation addressed a cultural programme in Sri Vijayapuram to mark 115 years of Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s poem Sagara Pran Talamalala.
About 115 Years of Savarkar’s Poem ‘Sagara Pran Talamalala’:
What it is?
- ‘Sagara Pran Talamalala’ (often rendered as Sagara Pran Talmalala / Ne Majasi Ne…) is a Marathi patriotic poem expressing an exiled revolutionary’s torment, homesickness and yearning for the motherland, with the sea personified as a messenger between the patriot and India.
Written by: Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883–1966), revolutionary, social reformer, writer and Hindutva ideologue.
- The poem was later immortalised in song form by Lata Mangeshkar, with music by Hridaynath Mangeshkar.
Circumstances of Composition:
- Composed around 1909 on the shores of Brighton, England, when Savarkar was a young revolutionary at India House, London.
- Savarkar was under surveillance and facing imminent repression after the arrest of his elder brother and the revolutionary assassination of Curzon Wyllie by Madan Lal Dhingra, whom he had influenced at India House.
- The poem captures his inner conflict—torn between commitment to armed struggle in foreign land and a desperate desire to return to “Matru-bhoomi” (motherland).
- The opening invocation to the sea—urging it to carry him back to India—has since come to symbolise the anguish of countless exiles and political prisoners in the freedom movement.
Other Literary Works of Savarkar:
- The Indian War of Independence 1857: A landmark reinterpretation of the 1857 uprising as a national war of independence, countering British narratives of a “mutiny”.
- Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?
- Lays out his idea of Hindutva as a cultural–civilisational identity based on common nation (rashtra), heritage and geography, encompassing Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs.
- My Transportation for Life (Mazi Janmathep): Autobiographical account of his incarceration in Cellular Jail, Andamans, describing brutal conditions, psychological suffering, and resolve.
- Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History: A civilisational narrative highlighting periods of Hindu resistance and resurgence, written from a distinctly nationalist–militant lens.
- Hindu Pad-Padshahi & Other Historical Works: On the Maratha empire and Hindu political power.
- Poetry & Plays:
- Patriotic poems (including ‘Sagara Pran Talamalala’, ‘Jayostute’, ‘Ne Majasi Ne…’) and plays such as Sanyast Khadga, Uttarkriya, combining themes of liberty, duty, sacrifice, and rationalism.
