Dictionary of Proper Names
Selected from Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works (1989/1996)
F
Fabian Society founded in 1883-84 in London, having as its goal the establishment of a democratic socialist state in Great Britain. Its name derives from Fabius Cunctator, the Roman general whose patient & elusive tactics in avoiding pitched battles secured his ultimate victory over stronger forces. Fabians at first attempted to permeate the Liberal & Conservative parties with Socialist ideas, but later helped to organize the separate Labour Representative Committee, which became the Labour Party in 1906 & has since been affiliated with the Labour Party.
Faerie Queene/ Faery Queen by Edmund Spenser (1590-96), a masterpiece in six books giving allegorical expression to his moral, political, & religious opinions. The stanza he created, the ‘Spenserian stanza’, is his chief contribution to English poetry.
Fafnir in Nibelungenlied (q.v.) is a dragon-son of the magician Hreidmar. He guarded the gold paid in atonement for the death of Otr. He was slain by Sigurd.
Fairbanks, Douglas Douglas Elton Ulman (1883-1939), American actor-producer.
Fairclough, H.R. Henry Rushton (1862-1938), American philologist: edited & translated numerous Greek & Latin texts: professor Classical literature, Leland Stanford University; visiting prof. in Greek & Latin at Harvard & Amherst; & prof. American School of Classical Studies, Rome.
Falstaff Sir John, in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor& King Henry IV.
Fascism term first used in 1919 by Mussolini to define his political attitude & mass movement in Italy; it reached its zenith in Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
Fatehpur-Sikri Sikri was a rocky locality 23 miles west of Agra where the famous Muslim saint Sheikh Salim Chisti had resided. Akbar converted it into a royal town, naming it Fatehpur-Sikri in honour of the saint; it was his capital for about 15 years from 1570. It had to be abandoned because of lack of water.
Fate(s)/ Moirai the three daughters of Zeus & Themis; they control human destiny: Clotho spins the thread of life, Lachesis measures its length, & Atropos cuts it.
Faustus The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (1593) by Marlowe, based on a German legend of a learned doctor who surrendered his soul to the devil in exchange for youth, knowledge, & magical power.
Fear poem in free verse by Evelyn Scott, published in American journal Poetry & quoted in Shama’a, it was reviewed by Sri Aurobindo.
The Feast of Youth first collection of poems (1918) by Harindranath Chattopadhyay.
Federation (Hall) Ground was a site at 294 Upper Circular Road, Calcutta, purchased in 1905-06 to build an assembly hall symbolising the union between East & West Bengal which were created in 1905 by Viceroy Curzon.
On 22 September 1905, at public meeting at the Town Hall, it was resolved by the representatives of Bengal to organize a Federation of the old & severed Provinces with a view “to maintain the unity & the solidarity of the Bengali race & to tighten the bonds between two Bengals after the partition takes place. This news was revealed to the public on October 5 in a statement which further informed the public that a piece of land had already been secured for the construction of Akhanda Banga Bhavan (Hall of Unbroken Bengal) or Milan Mandir (Temple where East & West Bengal are one) or the Federation Hall, the foundation-stone of which would be solemnly laid on October 16 at 4 pm at 294 Upper Circular Road. The Hall was to be a symbol of the indissoluble union between the two provinces, a meeting-ground of the Eastern & Western Bengal.
On 16 October in Calcutta (and practically all over Bengal) all the business was suspended & vehicular traffic stopped, & all the shops were closed for the whole day. Young men paraded the streets from before sunrise, singing Bande Mataram song, & a huge concourse of people marched towards the Ganga in order to take bath in the holy river. There were processions, sankirtans (religious songs) & patriotic songs. After the bath in the sacred river the people met at different public places & there tied Rākhi on each other’s hands. In the afternoon a meeting was held at Circular Road in order to lay the foundation of the Federation Hall, an assembly hall which was to be the meeting ground of the old province & its severed parts, the mark & symbol of their indivisible union. The meeting was attended by more than 50,000 people. . . . Ananda Mohan Bose laid the Foundation Stone of the Akhanda Banga Bhavan. Seriously ill at the time, he was carried out there on an invalid’s chair. He read out the Proclamation written & signed by himself: “Whereas the Government has thought fit to effectuate the partition of Bengal in spite of the universal protest of the Bengali Nation, we hereby pledge & proclaim that we, as a people, shall do everything in our power to counteract the evil effects of the dismemberment of our province & to maintain the integrity of our race. So God help us.” A Bengali translation of this proclamation was made by poet Rabindra Nath. After the ceremony was over, the entire crowd, all barefooted, walked a distance of nearly 2 miles to the house of Pashupati Bose at Bagh Bazar…without shoes over the rough streets of Calcutta. A huge meeting was held at Bose’s house, & a sum of Rs. 70,000/- was collected in the meeting itself for the promotion of Swadeshi movement. The subscription consisted mainly of small donations from the members present…. [R.C. Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement of India, Vol. 2, pp.25-27]
10 Sept 1909, telegram Chief Secy., Bengal, to Home Secy., India: “Provincial Conference... about 1,500 people from both Bengals, mostly young men. .... One point in (the Presidential) speech received with noisy protest was the proposal to drop the word boycott in reference to Swadeshi movement.... Proceedings of the (Subjects) Committee are said to have been stormy. Surendra Nath Bannerjea & Arabinda Ghosh were both present & the latter received warmest reception on 6th. Time was occupied in passing five resolutions. No violent speeches were made. Arabinda Ghosh only spoke briefly.... He also called upon the trustees for account of the national fund opened on partition day, 1905.”
Karmayogin, 11 September, 1909, under title “Impatient Idealists”: “The President... in reference to the formal statement by Sj. Aurobindo of the adherence of the Nationalist Party to the policy of self-help & passive resistance in spite of their concessions to the Moderate minority, advised the party of the future under the name of impatient idealists to wait. The reproach of idealism has always been brought against those who work with their eye on the future by politicians wise in their own estimation who look only to the present. The reproach of impatience is levelled with equal ease & readiness against those who in great & critical times have the strength & skill to build with rapidity the foundations or the structure of the future. The advice to wait is valueless unless we know what it is that we have to wait for... the only reason we have been able to find is that the fears & hesitations of our Moderate countrymen stand in our way. ... Of all the great nations of the world India alone is bidden by Lord Morley & Anglo-India to wait for ever. It is bidden by its own leaders to wait till the rulers are induced by prayers & petitions to concede a constitutional government. .... Under the circumstances, which is the more unpractical & idealistic, the impatience of the Nationalist or the supine & trustful patience of the President of the Hugly Conference?”
Report of Govt. of Bengal, 20 September, 1909: “There is every indication that if the boycott movement survives at all, it will be in the... form advocated by Arabinda Ghosh.... Arabinda (will) supersede Surendra Nath Bannerjea…. Babu Surendra Nath is a political mountebank, a Bengali Kossuth rolled up in the rogueries of a Talleyrand. He always bids for popularity & sails before the wind. He believes that if Arabindo be allowed to remain too long out of jail, he would take the shine out of him (Surendra Nath). Besides he had correctly gauged public opinion in Bengal & sees it drifting on to Arabindo’s side. Hence...the mingling of the two parties.... And so far as Bengal is concerned there will be no more extremists & moderates, & perhaps a new force will get up to disturb the public peace.”
Karmayogin, 9 October, 1909: “The two most essential features, however, of the Partition Day are the Rākhi Bandhan & the reading of the National Proclamation; it is above all a day of the declaration of Bengals indivisible unity & these two functions are for that reason the very kernel of the observances….”
The Bengalee, 17 October, 1909: “It was a day…when men young & old, high & low, issued forth in big batches... Swadeshi songs & shouts of Bande Mataram resounded in the city.... These batches of men made their way to the holy Ganges. .... It was indeed a pleasing sight to see a man tying a rākhi round the wrist, in most cases, of a stranger & embracing him. ....
Then everyone proceeded towards Beadon Square, where a preliminary meeting was held.... Then amidst…prolonged shouts of “Bande Mataram” in came Babu Aurobindo Ghose…[who] also spoke a few words in Bengali…he would only say one thing, namely, that the rākhi bandhan was…the sign of uniting the hearts of millions of people of United Bengal. …. From half-past two in the afternoon again people from different quarters…to form a huge procession…for the Federation Hall Ground …. [After the President A. Chaudhuri’s speech] at a request from the audience Babu Aurobindo Ghose stood on the table so that they could take a glimpse of him....”
Report of Federation Hall Society, 1959: “...site was purchased on 5 June 1909 for Rs. 40,000 in the names of B.N. Basu & Upendranath Mukherjee”; “in 1916, S.N. Bannerjea, N.R. Sircar & B.N. Basu became its Trustees”. Thereafter, “portions of the said land were sold from time to time & the portion left... measured one bigha more or less”. Only upon this portion, & only after 1947, could a Milan Mandir be actually built due to “the upheaval that followed since 1905 till 15 Aug. 1947”. The “front portion” of this Temple to United Bengal was “thrown open on 24 April, 1955.”
Felix Antonius (c.60 AD), Roman procurator of Judea, Samaria, Galilee, & Peraea. He jailed St. Paul for preaching Christian Righteousness & Last Judgement to him.
Fenian Irish fighters led by Finn MacCumhaill; Fenianism, from Fiann or Feinne, was a movement to expel the British from Ireland.
Fenwick one of those kicked out from the Labour Party in 1909 for opposing the Fabian Society which had begun to control it.
Ferdinand probably Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516) who united Spanish states into a Catholic nation, & led its expansion into Europe. (S/a Netherlands)
Fergusson (1) Robert (1750-74), Scottish lyric poet, one of the leading figures of the 18th-century revival of Scots vernacular writing & the chief forerunner of Robert Burns. He wrote in English as well as in Scots, but his English verse has little value. (2) Sir James Fergusson (1808-86), educated at Edinburgh High School & privately: went to Calcutta, started an indigo factory & in 10 years made sufficient to retire: travelled largely in India to study styles of architecture 1835-42: left India 1845: joined Royal Asiatic Society 1840, became a Vice President: wrote Picturesque Illustrations of Ancient Architecture in Hindostan; The rock-cut Temples of India; an Historical Enquiry into the True Principles of Beauty in Art; A Handbook of Architecture; A History of Architecture in all Countries; History of Indian & Eastern Architecture; Tree & Serpent Worship; The Parthenon. [Buckland]
Fergusson College Seeing how the education system, controlled & directed by the Govt. & Christian Missionaries was perverting India’s future generations, but English education itself could become the surest foundation of national progress & solidarity, Tilak, G.G. Agarkar & V.K. Chiplunkar started the New English School on 1st January 1880 in Poona. Emboldened by its unexpected success, the founders decide to start a college by first forming the Dakshīna (Deccan to non/anti-Indians) English Society to manage the college & the institutions that might spring up in the future. Sir James, Wedderburn, Ranade, K.T. Telang & Chiplunkar were elected patrons of Fergusson College; its Fellows included Principal Wordsworth, Professors Selby & Bhandārkar, V.N. Mandlik; its life-members were Tilak, Namjoshi, Apte, Agarkar, Kelkar, Gole, & Dharap. The College was inaugurated by Sir James Fergusson, Wedderburn & Prof Wordsworth on 2nd January 1885. On 5th March Sir James laid the foundation for the Poona Girls’ High School. On 29th March the Bombay Govt. gifted the site to D.E. Society. On 10th March, Time of India (Bombay) remarked: “The minds of the present generation of educated natives have been moulded by European scholars.... The minds of the future generation will be moulded by men, who have founded a college on the historic site of the Peshwa’s palace & who have strong views about patriotism”. [S.L. Karandikar]
Feringhee firangee derives from frangi, Turkish term for ‘Franks’, the first Europeans that Turks, the first Asians, ‘discovered’. Frank was then the common appellation of the Germanic tribes in the regions of the Rhine. Subsequently, firang & firangee became the popular appellation of all Europeans, & frangistan of Europe, the land of firangees. Following the ‘discovery’ by Vasco de Gama in 1498 of the ‘East Indies’ the Portuguese, were the first to rush in & last to be kicked out. While Niccolao Manucci, a Venetian treasure-hunter who exploited natives for 50 years in 17-18th century whined that instead of worshipping him as their God-sent benefactor, natives abused him with this term, Portuguese Hensman Anthony (1786–1836) settled in Chandannagar, he married the Hindu Brahmin widow Saudamini, accepted Bengali culture & language, composed a number of first-rate devotional songs on Kali & Durga, helped construct a temple to Kali in the Bow Bazar, North Calcutta, since then known as Firenghee Kali-bari, Portuguese home of Kali. Saudamini was burnt alive by blind orthodoxy for remarrying a Firengee.― In Punjab, the word is first found in Sikh poet Bhai Gurudās (d. 1636)’s works. The average Sikh first came in actual touch with Europeans only when Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) was forced to employ European mercenaries at salaries & perquisites much higher than those given to the sons of the soil & yet was betrayed by them to the invading Octopus resulting in his being plagued by mercenary officials of the Brit. Govt. as well as Govt. protected Christian missionaries bent on converting him, he looked upon all Europeans as Firenghees intent on destroying the Khālsā.
Senor (Francisco) Ferrer Francisco Ferrer Guardia (1859-1909), Spanish educator & politician executed for taking part in the violent uprising in Barcelona in 1909.
Festus, Porcius, a just Roman procurator (60-62) of Judaea. Finding St Paul in prison, he gave him a fair hearing before King Agrippa & then sent him to Rome.
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (1762-1814), German philosopher & transcendental Idealist.
Fielding, Henry (1707-54), English novelist & playwright famed for his Tom Jones. He & Samuel Richardson are considered founders of English novel.
Fifine at the Fair poem by Robert Browning
Firdausi (c.935-c.1020/26), principal Persian poet, author of the Shāh-nāmāh (Book of Kings), the Persian national epic.
Fitzgerald (1) Lord Edward Fitz-Gerald (1763-98), Irish hero, one of the leaders in the uprising of 1798 against British rule. (2) Edward Fitzgerald (1809-83), English poet, translator of Omar Khayyam.
Flaubert Gustave (1821-80), French novelist, a pioneer of the Realist school of French literature.
Flecker James Elroy (1884-1915), English poet & playwright.
Fleet Street centre of journalism in London, named after the Fleet River.
Fletcher, Justice of Calcutta High Court, along with Justice Shāradā Charan Mitter (q.v.), passed the inhuman judgement in the Bloomfield Murder Case (q.v.) in 1907. In November 1910, dealing not with illiterate villagers bereft of a supporting native media but law-conscious Calcuttans & their media, he & Justice Holmwood were forced to set aside the conviction of Manmohan Ghose, printer of the Karmayogin, who had been sentenced to 6 months’ R.I. by the Chief Presidency Magistrate for publishing Sri Aurobindo’s “To My Countrymen” on December 25, 1909.
Ford Henry (1863-1947) rectified factory production with assembly-line methods.
Fort William built during 1696-1715 to protect the British in Calcutta, was relocated to east bank of the Hugly, where it still stands, an altar of Pax Britannica.
Fowler Sir Henry Hartley (1830-1911), educated at Woodhouse Grove School & St. Saviour’s Grammar School: Under Secretary Home Dept. 1884-5: Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1886: Secretary of State for India in 1894-5, under Prime Minister Lord Roseberry. [Buckland]
Fowler(s) brothers Henry Watson & Frank George collaborated on the abridgment of the Oxford English Dictionary (1911), & The King’s English (1906).
France, Anatole Jacques Anatole Thibault (1844-1924), French writer, an ironic, sceptical, & urbane critic; he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for literature.
Francis Joseph Francis Joseph I (1830-1916), emperor of Austria from 1848, & king of Hungary from 1867, became the symbol of Austrian unity. His policies antagonised the Russian empire, & in spite of his attempts to preserve the peace, he issued an intransigent ultimatum to Serbia (July 1914) that led to World War I.
St. Francis (of Assisi) (1182?-1226), founder of order called the Franciscans.
Franco Francisco Franco (Bahamonde) (1892-1975). The Spanish Civil War began on July 17, 1936, when a group of right-wing officers led by General Franco staged a coup against the constitutional government of the Republic, & lasted 2 years, 8 months, 2 weeks, & 1 day. It immediately cast one half of Spain against the other. The rebellion initially succeeded in approximately one third of the country, but was resisted in the rest, including most major cities such as Madrid, Barcelona & Valencia. Republicans were supported by the international Communists, ComIntern, Soviet Union, Mexico, foreign volunteers – 450,000 infantry, 350 aircraft, 200 tanks; 175,000 killed in action. Fascists were supported by Italy, Portugal, Germany, & foreign volunteers – 600,000 infantry, 600 aircraft, 290 tanks; 110,000 killed in action. [For details of the Civil War, see Guadalajara, Madrid, & Spain]
Rebel Franco’s Fascist forces defeated the elected Republican Govt.’s armies since his forces were generously supplied by Nazi Germany & Fascist Italy with armed troops, tankettes, & air-power (the most horrendous act of which was the first-ever carpet-bombing of civilian population by German Junkers (latest fighter-bombers), an event immortalised by Picasso). The Republican armies were supported only by armed troops of Soviet Union (while Democratic America, France, England, Ireland, & other European countries, merely looked on), & the rag-tag private Brigades of volunteers from America, France, England & Ireland.
On 1 April 1939, Spain’s Catholic Church anointed Franco. Under the Franco regime Spain suffered international isolation, although in varying degrees. For the political & emotional reverberations of the war far transcended those of a national conflict, for many in other countries saw the Spanish Civil War as part of an international conflict between—depending on their point of view—tyranny & democracy, or fascism & freedom, or communism & civilization. For Germany & Italy, Spain was a testing ground for new methods of tank & air warfare. For Britain & France, the conflict represented a new threat to the international equilibrium that they were struggling to preserve, which in 1939 collapsed into World War II. The war also had mobilized many artists & intellectuals to take up arms. Among the most notable artistic responses to the war were the novels Man’s Hope (1938) by André Malraux, The Adventures of a Young Man (1939) by John Dos Passos, For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) by Ernest Hemingway; George Orwell’s memoir Homage to Catalonia (1938); Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica (1937); & Robert Capa’s photograph Death of a Loyalist Soldier, Spain (1936). [Based Ency. Britannica; Images of Revolution & War by Alexander Vergara, etc.]
Franco-German War usually called the Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870-10 May 1871), marked the end of French hegemony in continental Europe & the foundation of the Prussian-dominated German Empire.
Francois I (or Francis) of France (1494-1547), king of France (1515-47).
Frangistan land of Franks which became land of Feringhees.
Frank(s) the Germanic tribes settled along the Rhine. After 2nd century they invaded Roman provinces, the Netherlands & Gaul.
Frankenstein refers to Frankenstein or to Modern Prometheus, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in 1818. Frankenstein is a young Swiss student who creates a monster which ultimately destroys him. The name is often used for the monster itself, or for any invention or creation which gets out of control or destroys its originator.
Fraser, Sir Andrew Henderson Leith Fraser (1848-1919): ICS 1871: Officiating Secretary Home Dept., GoI, 1898-9: Chief Commissioner C.P., 1899: hinted at the severance of Orissa from Bengal & its tagging on to Central Provinces, Feb.1901: President of Indian Police Commission 1902-3: Lt.-Gov. Bengal Nov. 1903 to Nov. 1908: K.C.S.I. (Knight Commander of the Star of India) 1903 for his advice to transfer Dacca & Mymensingh districts & Chittagong division from Bengal to Assam – said to be “the real genesis of the partition of Bengal” which took place in 1905. It resulted in two attempts on his life: 6 Dec. 1907 & on 7 Nov. 1908. [Buckland]
Frazer Robert Watson (1854-1921), graduate of Trinity College, Dublin: entered Madras Civil Service 1877, retired 1886: Lecturer, University Extension, on Indian Architecture: Principal Librarian & Secretary of London Institution: Lecturer in Tamil & Telegu, University College: authored British India (“Story of Nations” series) & A Literary History of India 1898. [Buckland]
Free Hindustan monthly published & managed by Tarak Nath Das between 1908 & 1910; an imitation of the Indian Sociologist in general get-up & also in style, it was the first Indian journal in US & won Irish-American sympathy & support.
French Revolution (1789-1815), considered the first of modern revolutions following which by a series of wars; French rule extended through most of Europe & spread its ideas of Liberty, Equality, & Sovereignty.
Freya or Freyja, the Norse goddess of Love & Beauty; sister of Frey.
Friend of India journal started by Joshua Marshman (1768-1837) & his son John Clark (1794-1877) at Serampur in 1818. Joshua was a master of a Baptist school when with his family & others he came to Bengal as a Missionary of the Baptist Missionary Society. Not being allowed to stay in British territory, they settled at Serampore, opened the Serampur Church (1805) & a boarding school, established the Loll Bazar Chapel & the Benevolent Institution at Calcutta & devoted much time to save the souls of native children through schools. The Mission translated Christian scriptures in Oriental languages including Chinese. The Friend of India began as a monthly & developed into a quarterly magazine. It was, inevitably, incorporated with the Statesman of Calcutta which Sri Aurobindo often called “Friend of India”.
Fuller, Sir Bampfylde (1854-1935): ICS 1875: Commissioner of Settlements central Provinces 1885: Secretary, Govt. of India, Revenue & Agriculture Dept. 1901-2: Chief Commissioner, Assam 1902-5: first Lt. Governor of East Bengal & Assam & Sallimullah Khan as Nawab of Dacca, he let loose unbridled coercion in East Bengal, humiliating & insulting respected leaders (see Barneville). When he recommended the disaffiliation of two schools for violating his circular prohibiting teachers & students to express nationalist feelings in words or actions, demands for his removal reached Morley & Fuller resigned on 20 August 1906. He wrote Studies of Indian Life & Sentiment 1910, Empire of India 1913. [Based on Buckland & S. Bhattacharya]
Furies/ Fury Roman name of the Greek Erinnyes (q.v.).