Why in the news?

  • December 5 marks the death anniversary of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh

Sri Aurobindo Ghosh

  • Birth Place: Sri Aurobindo was born on 15th August 1872 in Kolkata
  • Academics and Career:
    • Aurobindo received Western Education (from England) and cleared the open competition to join Indian Civil services in 1890, but refused to join.
  • Contribution in National Movement:
    • He was a revolutionary in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
    • Aurobindo relocated to Kolkata after the Bengal Partition in 1906 and there they inspired revolutionaries like Bagha Jatin.
    • He co-founded youth clubs, including the Anushilan Samiti, promoting physical fitness and martial training.
    • Aurobindo was charged in the Alipore Bomb Case of 1908 and got sentenced. Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das appeared for him & got released.
    • Journals: Bande Mataram, Karmayogin.
    • Aurobindo was called the “Prophet of Indian Nationalism”.
  • Sri Aurobindo and Philosophy:
    • Sri Aurobindo left active politics in 1910 and settled in the French Colony of Pondicherry (Now Puducherry)
    • He established the Sri Aurobindo Ashram (Auroville) in Pondicherry.
    • Aurobindo developed Integral Yoga philosophy
  • Literary Contribution: Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol, The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on the Geeta, On the Veda, The Ideal of Human Unity