Sri Aurobindo
Autobiographical Notes
and Other Writings of Historical Interest
Part Two. Letters of Historical Interest
1. Letters on Personal, Practical and Political Matters (1890–1926)
Letters and Telegrams to Political and Professional Associates 1906–1926
Telegrams about a Planned Political Reception [5]1
[Telegram from Ghose, Harrison Road, Calcutta, to Monoranjan Guha, Giridih:]
CELEBRATE DEMONSTRATION NINTH. HELP PURSE PERSONALLY ALSO FRIENDS. WIRE AMOUNT.
1 6 March 1908. In September 1907 Bipin Chandra Pal was sentenced to six months imprisonment for refusing to testify in the Bande Mataram Sedition Case. He was released in March 1908. On 6 March Sri Aurobindo and some of his colleagues sent telegrams to fifteen nationalist leaders in different parts of the country asking them to organise celebrations and make donations to a purse that would be offered to Pal. Sri Aurobindo varied the wording of his telegrams according to the recipient. A total of seven different versions were sent, all of which are reproduced here. These telegrams were put in as evidence in the Alipore Bomb Trial.