Sri Aurobindo
Bande Mataram
Calcutta, March 27th, 1908
Part Six. Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo with Speeches Delivered during the Same Period 6 February – 3 May 1908
Well Done, Chidambaram!
A true feeling of comradeship is the salt of political life; it binds men together and is the cement of all associated action.
When a political leader is prepared to suffer for the sake of his followers, when a man, famous and adored by the public, is ready to remain in jail rather than leave his friends and fellow-workers behind, it is a sign that political life in India is becoming a reality.
Srijut Chidambaram Pillai has shown throughout the Tuticorin affair a loftiness of character, a practical energy united with high moral idealism which show that he is a true Nationalist.
His refusal to accept release on bail if his fellow-workers were left behind, is one more count in the reckoning.
Nationalism is or ought to be not merely a political creed but a religious aspiration and a moral attitude.
Its business is to build up Indian character by educating it to heroic self-sacrifice and magnificent ambitions, to restore the tone of nobility which it has lost and bring back the 
ideals of the ancient Aryan gentleman.
The qualities of courage, frankness, love and justice are the stuff of which a Nationalist should be made.
All honour to Chidambaram Pillai for having shown us the first complete example of an Aryan reborn, and all honour to Madras which has produced such a man.
Earlier edition of this work: Sri Aurobindo Birth Century Library: Set in 30 volumes.- Volume 1.- Bande Mataram: Early Political Writings. 1890 - May 1908.- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 1973.- 920 p.