“A nation that has no consciousness of its part has no future. Equally true it is that a nation must develop its capacity not only of claiming a past but also of knowing how to use it for the furtherance of its future… to be the master and not the slave of its own history.”These lines, taken from the introduction to Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s The Indian War of Independence 1857, summarise the grand project of his work.Later-day historians have criticised the book for its treatment of various sources and for its over-emphasis on a grand narrative. But the book, which Savarkar finished writing in 1907 and which was first published in 1909, was meant to serve a specific purpose — to forge a national consciousness that could be channeled to bring an end to British rule over India.सभी देशवासियों की ओर से वीर सावरकर जी को उनकी पुण्यतिथि पर आदरपूर्ण श्रद्धांजलि। आजादी के आंदोलन में उनके तप, त्याग, साहस और संघर्ष से भरे अमूल्य योगदान को कृतज्ञ राष्ट्र कभी भुला नहीं सकता।— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 26, 2025On the anniversary of Savarkar’s death in 1966, here’s a look at how his book gave a “national character” to the revolt of 1857, an understanding that has remained influential over the decades.Inspired by Chiplunkar, Marathi bakharBy the late 19th century, Indians were looking to the near and distant past through a nationalist lens. Savarkar was particularly inspired by the works of V K Chiplunkar, who co-founded the nationalist newspaper Kesari with Bal Gangadhar Tilak.Chiplunkar’s work involved “the selective appropriation of epic protagonists and pivotal events from the past to inspire rupture with the historicist timetable, and rationalise seemingly impossible political change in the present”. This “appropriation of the past for the present with an eye on the future” would be a hallmark of Savarkar’s own history-writing. (Vikram Visana, ‘Savarkar before Hindutva: Sovereignty, Republicanism, and Populism in India, c.1900–1920’, published in Modern Intellectual History in 2020).Savarkar was also inspired by bakhar, a form of historical narrative written in Marathi prose. Although occasionally prone to hyperbole, these presented historical events sequentially, not unlike in the positivist tradition of the West. Most importantly, the past was conceptualised such that “the trials of the movers and shakers of history were seen as forming recurring patterns in recognisable contexts during successive epochs” — meaning what happened before could happen again, in the future.Most bakhar revolve around the history of the Maratha Empire, and more specifically, the exploits of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.Story continues below this adBorrowing Mazzini’s framingBut perhaps the greatest inspiration for Savarkar’s The Indian War of Independence was the Italian republican Giuseppe Mazzini, the spearhead of the revolutionary movement for the unification of Italy. In fact, at the same time he was writing his work on 1857, Savarkar also authored a Marathi-language biography of Mazzini.“Savarkar’s discussion of Mazzini in his writings is extensive; it is also unique in his oeuvre. He provides details about the centrality of Mazzini and his ideas for his own conceptualisation of history,” historian Vinayak Chaturvedi wrote in Hindutva and Violence: VD Savarkar and the Politics of Hindu Identity (2022).To Mazzini, it was crucial that his people embraced a wider national association that was not liable to the chauvinism that often accompanies the politics of interest. “Mazzini reinforced Savarkar’s conviction that nationalism was an initial step in the greater association of mankind,” wrote Visana.Also Read | PM Modi recalls: Story of Savarkar’s attempted escape from ship docked in MarseilleAnd to do this, Mazzini highlighted the role of history. He “pointed out that reconstructing the present by reaching back to historical roots of the civilization is essential for the project of nationalism,” historian Megha Kumar wrote in ‘History and Gender in Savarkar’s Nationalist Writings’ published in the journal Social Scientist in 2006.Story continues below this adMore specifically, Savarkar borrowed Mazzini’s framing of how a history of revolution must be centred around “the principles and motives of the people involved”, Chaturvedi wrote.When Savarkar extensively studied contemporary writings about 1857, he found an “epistemic refusal to acknowledge that Indian soldiers were “fighting for their religion and country and wanted to overthrow foreign rule”.” This led him to arrive at “an entirely new interpretation of the events of 1857”. (Chaturvedi).1857, a national uprising“I was convinced that in 1857, Indian soldiers, princes, and the general public of various provinces came together and fought a tenacious, pre-planned war to overthrow the rule of the East India Company. It did not succeed, but gave a big jolt to the British Empire. It did not hinder our progress, but left a guide for similar action in [the] future. That was the outline of my book,” Savarkar wrote in his autobiographical work Inside the Enemy Camp (1965).His work attempted to find the common thread and higher cause that guided the brutality of the sepoys. “Could that vast tidal wave from Peshawar to Calcutta have risen in flood without a fixed intention of drowning something by means of its force? Could it be possible that the sieges of Delhi, the massacres of Cawnpore, the banner of the Empire, heroes dying for it, could it ever be possible that such noble and inspiring deeds have happened without a noble and inspiring end?” he wrote in his book on 1857.Story continues below this adAlso Read | Port Blair renamed as Sri Vijaya Puram: How the city got its name — and its connection with imperial CholasNotably, Savarkar’s book preached a message of communal amity to build national unity on the face of the challenge from the British. Savarkar famously wrote: “The feeling of hatred against the Mahomedans was just and necessary in the times of Shivaji but such a feeling would be unjust and foolish if nursed now, simply because it was the dominant feeling of the Hindus then.”For the time, this was a novel framing of what happened in 1857. The book was seen at the time as inflammatory, and the Marathi edition was banned in India before it was even published.This was more so because in 1909, just ahead of the book’s publication, Madan Lal Dhingra, a young revolutionary associated with Savarkar’s Abhinav Bharat Society (something that was again inspired by Mazzini’s Young Italy society) assassinated British official Curzon Wyllie. The book would remain banned in India till 1947, although copies were smuggled in and became fairly popular in the early 20th century.