SHORTLY BEFORE HIS EXECUTION, in the early hours of 15 November 1949, Nathuram Vinayak Godse, the Hindu-nationalist fanatic who killed Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on 30 January 1948, recited a prayer:
Namaste Sada Vatsale Matrubhume Twaya Hindubhume Sukham Vardhitoham Mahanmangale Punyabhume Twadarthe Patatvesh Kayo Namaste, Namaste!
O affectionate motherland, I eternally bow to you
O land of Hindus, you have reared me in comfort
O sacred and holy land, May this body of mine be dedicated to you and I bow before you again and again!
These four Sanskrit sentences constitute the first of the three stanzas of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s official prayer, which continues to be sung to this day at its shakhas—regular assemblies meant for physical and ideological training.
Godse’s choice of prayer is puzzling. He is believed to have left the RSS sometime around 1938, when he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha—the biggest Hindu-nationalist political party at the time. But the Sanskrit prayer, which replaced a previous Marathi version, was only drafted in 1939 and became popular among RSS cadres much later. Clearly, for Godse to know it, he would have to have had post-1939 RSS links.
Narayan Dattatreya Apte—Godse’s accomplice, who was also hanged in Ambala central jail that morning—joined him in reciting the prayer. This was recorded in detail by Godse’s brother Gopal Vinayak Godse, in his memoir Gandhiji’s Murder & After. Gopal was himself one of the convicts in Gandhi’s murder case, and served a life sentence in the same prison. He had requested the jail superintendent that he be allowed to attend the execution, but he only got permission to spend time with his brother and Apte in their solitary confinement cell that morning till 7.30, half an hour before their hanging.
この記事は The Caravan の January 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Caravan の January 2020 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Mob Mentality
How the Modi government fuels a dangerous vigilantism
RIP TIDES
Shahidul Alam’s exploration of Bangladeshi photography and activism
Trickle-down Effect
Nepal–India tensions have advanced from the diplomatic level to the public sphere
Editor's Pick
ON 23 SEPTEMBER 1950, the diplomat Ralph Bunche, seen here addressing the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The first black Nobel laureate, Bunche was awarded the prize for his efforts in ending the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Shades of The Grey
A Pune bakery rejects the rigid binaries of everyday life / Gender
Scorched Hearths
A photographer-nurse recalls the Delhi violence
Licence to Kill
A photojournalist’s account of documenting the Delhi violence
CRIME AND PREJUDICE
The BJP and Delhi Police’s hand in the Delhi violence
Bled Dry
How India exploits health workers
The Bookshelf: The Man Who Learnt To Fly But Could Not Land
This 2013 novel, newly translated, follows the trajectory of its protagonist, KTN Kottoor.