Dictionary of Proper Names
Selected from Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works (1989/1996)
K
Kabandhi (Katyāyana) a Rishi, son of Kātya & a disciple of Pippalāda.
Kabir (1440-1518) a saint & mystic poet.
Kabyle Kabyles are tribesmen, predominantly agricultural, of Kabylia region of Algeria. Muslims known for their fierce resistance to invader-rulers of the region.
Kādambari novel by Bāṇabhaṭṭa (q.v.). It is a prose romance, involving a narrative within a narrative related to a king by a parrot. Kādambari is remarkable for the freshness with which it deals with the emotion of love. Left unfinished by the author, it was completed by his son. It is a classic of Sanskrit literature.
Kadi was a fortified town which, around 1730, was captured by Pilāji Gaekwad from the Mogul governor of Gujarat. Since he was to be succeeded by his eldest son Dāmāji, he gave Kadi to his second son Khanderao as his fief (the third son Pratāp Rao was the ancestor of Sayājirao who became Gaekwad in 1875), this started the branch of Gaekwād’s of Kadi. In 1734, Dāmāji took Baroda & its environs (which Pilāji had taken in 1725) & around 1755-6 took all of Gujarat itself. Khanderao’s son Malharrao entered into a political contract with Dāmāji’s eldest son Govindrao by which he would govern Kadi & sent a regular tribute to Govindrao, but when the tribute Govindrao took back Kadi. When the Gaikwāds established Baroda as their capital, they had first selected Aṇhilwād Pātaṇ as it had once been capital of Hindu Gujarat (c.720-1297) as the centre of their northern prānt (district) which was to consist of eight tālukās: Pātaṇ, Kadi, Vijāpur, Vadnagar, Visnagar, Kheralu, Dehagām, & Ataysuba. But Aṇhilwād or Siddhpur Pātaṇ (capital of Gujarat until 1297) being too far from Baroda (c.150 km), they had settled for Kadi. But soon after Govindrao’s death in 1800, Malharrao instigated a revolt & Govindrao’s son had to call in British help for which he had to cede territory by their treaty of 1802. In 1883, after a tour of this most sensitive of his four prānts, Sayājirao set up the Land (Revenue) Survey & Settlement Department under F.A.H. Elliot (d.1910), his ICS tutor-cum-friend, to deal with the vexed question of barkhāli lands – lands wholly or largely free from taxation, having been rashly granted by earlier rulers or unauthorized officials – for, in addition to ryotwari the British had centralised all authority in their district officer, generally a fresh ICS boy who rode rough-shod over all its inhabitants whatever their social or educational status. In 1883, convinced by the achievements of Tilak & Agarkar in the field of national education, that education & empowerment of panchayats & traditional local bodies are the keystones of development; he introduced free compulsory primary education in Kadi & made it state-wide in 1906. But the fact that they had once been more autonomous kept the thākores (fief-holders) of Kadi always restless regarding their loyalty. In 1894-95, incensed at having failed to entrap Sayājirao through the Bāpat Case, the Resident incited the thākores to revolt on the issue of land settlement. Sayājirao’s reluctance to resort to force led them to believe the Resident had forbidden the use of force & the revolt quickly spread right up to the former state of Idar with thākores & jāgirdārs of those areas joining in. Finally in 1898, the Resident in a show of goodwill ordered a contingent of Baroda army under a British officer to subdue the rebels, over 2000 of whom had by then, holed up in the fortified town of Pilvai near Vijāpur. The rebel leaders were taken to Baroda, & their claims vis-à-vis those of the Gaekwād re-negotiated, naturally favouring them. Sayājirao had to replace Kadi by Mehsāna as his district headquarters.
Kaikeyi(e)/ Kaikayi(e)/ Kekayie youngest of the three queens of King Dasharatha she acted as his charioteer in a war. For this courageous act the king granted her three boons. Goaded by Mantharā her crooked ayah she forgot her love for the king & all four princes, forced him to exile Rāma & give the throne to her son Bharata who, the moment he came to know of her deed, banished her from his life.
Kailas(a)/ Coilas(a) one of the highest & most rugged mountains of the Himalayan range, located in the south-western part of China. It is holy both to the Hindus, who identify it with the paradise of Shiva & also regard it as the abode of Kubera, & to the Tibetan Buddhists, who identify it with Mount Sumeru, cosmic centre of the universe.
Kaiser a German title, equivalent to emperor, derived from the Roman title Caesar, & first associated with the Germans from AD 962, when their kings became Holy Roman emperors. In 1871, Wilhelm I of Prussia assumed the title of emperor (Kaiser) of Germany, a style distinct from the older German designation. Interestingly, in the 1st century AD, Vāsishka or Vājeshka (son of the Scythian-Kushān Kanishka I whose empire stretched from Gāndhāra to Vārānasi & Mathurā) took the title of Kaisara! [Advanced History of India, R.C. Majumdar et al: 116]
Kaitabh(a) he & his twin Madhu sprang from the ear of Vishnu while he was asleep at the end of a Kalpa (a day of Brahma = 4320 million years of mortals). They were about to kill Brahmā, when they were themselves killed by Vishnu.
Kaithal subdivision of the British-Indian Punjab; a town in Karnal, Haryana.
Kaivalya Upanishad an Upanishad of the Krishna (Dark) Yajurveda.
Kakshivan/ Kakshiwan Vedic Rishi, son of Dīrghatamas & Ushij (q.v.); connected with the worship of the Ashwins; he also authored several hymns in the Rig-Veda.
Kāl Marathi weekly started by S.M. Parānjape in 1898, prosecuted by the Octopus for sedition & stifled 1910 by a demand of Rs 10,000 as security.
Kālahasti a town in north-eastern Chittoor district (see Tiruvannamalai).
Kālaprakaśikā treatise by N.P. Subramania Iyer on how to select the astrologically right time for any undertaking. It was printed & published (1917) as Astrological Series-1, at Lawley Electric Printing Press, Thanjāvur.
Kalevala/ Kalewala Finnish national epic (1835), compiled by Elias Lonnrot from old ballads, lyrics, & incantations of deeds of three gigantic semi-divine brothers.
Kalhaṇa Kalhaṇa was born in Kashmir in Parihaspura, now in Bārāmullah district. Commissioned by the king, between 1148 & 1150 he produced Rājataraṅginī, the Royal River, a history of Kashmir, starting from its legends to the lives of the kings & queens of the 12th century. It consists of 7,826 taraṅgas or waves, verses set in eight cantos of varying length in composition of which he used several historical sources including Kashmir’s sculpture, architecture, coinage, & manuscripts, thus making it a fairly authentic record. The preamble of the first canto states: “That noble-minded [poet] is alone worthy of praise whose word, like that of a judge, keeps free from love or hatred in relating the facts of the past…. What is the skill required in order that men of a later time should supplement the narrative of events in the works of those who died after composing the history of those kings whose contemporaries they were? Hence my endeavour is to give a connected account where the narrative of past events has become fragmentary in many respects.”
Kāli/ Kalihood/ Kalibhava/ Kalidarshana/ Bala-Kali/ Chandi/ Chandibhava. In Vedic days this name was associated with Agni, who had seven flickering tongues of flame for devouring oblation, one of which was the black or terrific tongue. This sense of the word is now lost, but the name has come to be applied to the goddess Kāli, an aspect of Devi Pārvati. [See Kali etc. in SABCL 17:378]
Kāli the Mother essays on the Divine Mother written by Sister Nivedita in 1897. An article written by the manager of the Publication Dept. of Sri Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Belur Math, Kolkata, says, “Following the pilgrimage to Amarnāth, the Swami’s...meditation on Kāli became intense, & one day he had a vision of Her.... In a fever he groped in the dark for pencil & paper & wrote his famous poem ‘Kāli the Mother’; then he dropped to the floor, losing consciousness, while his soul soared into Bhāva-samādhi.”
Kālidāsa Many works are attributed to him; esp. the dramas Abhijñāna Śākuntalam, Vikramorvasīyam & Mālavikāgnimitram, & three epics Raghuvamsam, Kumara-sambhavam & Meghadutam. One more, Ritusamhāram, is considered by most as Kālidāsa’s. Tradition depicts him as one of Navaratnas (nine gems) adorning the court of King Vikramāditya at Ujjayini in 1st century BC. His patron Vikramāditya was the one who is associated with the Vikram Saṃvat or Era that dates from 58/57 BC. The consolidation of the Mālavas (q.v.) under Vikramāditya took place in 56 BC, & it was subsequent to this date that Kālidāsa came to Ujjayini. In opposition, Indian historians swearing by western historiography insist he lived between the reign of Agnimitra, the second Śuṅga king (c.170 BC), hero of one of his dramas & Aihole Inscription of AD 634, which lauds Kālidāsa – but this fits pretty well with the traditional dating as he could very well have made a past king his hero & the inscription may well be honouring his memory! [See S. Bhattacharya]
Kalinga medieval kingdom (most of present Odishā & part of Madhya Pradesh).
Kali(yuga) the last of the four Yugas (ages) in which the righteousness which was complete in the Satya Yuga, remains to the extent of one-fourth only; calamities, disease, fatigue, anger, distress, hunger & fear prevail, that it is to be followed by a restoration of Satya Yuga.
Kalki destroyer of foulness, destroyer of darkness, or destroyer of ignorance. By extension, he will complete the current cycle of evolution, “by bringing the Kingdom of the Divine upon earth” [SABCL 22:402].
Mrs Kama Bhikhāiji Rustomji Cāmā (1861-1936), a well-known, wealthy Parsi lady who left for London around 1902 where came in contact with patriots like Shyamji Krishnavarma, Lālā Hardayāl, & Veer Sāvarkar. Mid-1909, the British forced them to move to Paris where they started an English monthly Bande Mataram; forced out from Paris they moved to Geneva, continuing their revolutionary propaganda as long as they could. She returned to India in 1936 & died soon after.
Kama(deva)/ Cama/ Kandarpa/ Madan/ Modon/ Monmuth the god of Love; his wife Rati is the goddess of Love. They managed to incite amorous thoughts in Shiva about Pārvati when he was engaged in tapasyā. Shiva reduced him to ashes by a flame from his third eye. Persuaded by the Brahma & Vishnu about Kama’s intention was sinless, he allowed him to be born again as Pradyumna, son of Krishna & Rukminie.
Kāmadhuk Kāmadhenu, the divine cow that emerged from the heavenly ocean as one of those supernatural gifts produced at the churning of the Ocean by Devas & Dānavas. The Great Gods gave her to Vasishtha, one of the Prajāpatis.
Kamalā Kānta; Kamalākānter Daptar novel by Bankim Chandra in three parts: Kamala Kanter Daptar, Kamala Kanter Patra, & Kamala Kanter Jobanabandi.
Kāmaloka Theosophical term for a subjective & invisible plane, where the disembodied personalities, the astral forms called Kāmarūpa (see Devachan) remain, until they fade out from it by complete exhaustion of the effects of the mental impulses that created these eidolons of human & animal passions & desires. It corresponds to the Hades of the ancient Greeks.
Kamban Tamil mystic, author of Kamban Rāmāyana, which he named Rāmanātaka.
Kanada founder of the Vaiśeshika school of Indian philosophy.
Kanai(lal) Kanailal Dutta (1888-1908), he & Satyen Bose (q.v.), killed Noren Gossain in Alipore (q.v.) Jail on Aug 31, 1908. He was executed on 10 Nov., 1908.
Kanchanjungha/ Kunchenjunga Kanchenjunga, world’s third highest mountain peak at 28,208 ft. on the border of Sikkim & Nepal (also see Darjeeling).
Kanchi Kānchipūram was one of the seven sacred cities of Bhāratavarsha. What professional historians claim to be is the first historical record that mentions Kāñchī is an inscription which records the submission of its king Vishnugōpa to the Gupta emperor Samudragupta (q.v.) c.330-80. Kāñchī was the capital of the Pallavas, the birthplace of the famous Dharmapāla, & where Rāmānujam studied & lived for many years. When visited by Hiuen Tsang, in c.640 during the zenith of Pallava power under King Narasimhavarman, the city was 5 to 6 miles in circumference in which Hindu, Buddhist & Jain temples abounded. Kāñchī suffered a great deal on account of the perennial conflict between the Pallavas & the Chālukyas who, however, beautified it with many temples of which the most famous & the most ancient is the temple of Kailāsh Nātha. [Advanced History of India, R.C. Majumdar et al: 166-7; S. Bhattacharya: 536-7; & internet]
Kandahar/ Candahar capital of unified Afghanistan since 1747; it is also the capital of the province of Kandahar in south-eastern Afghanistan. Its earlier name Quandhāra, derived from Gāndhāra. It is now the most important trading centre of South Afghanistan. Always a strategic site it has a long history of its conquests & finds mention in the Vedas, Ramayana & Mahabharata as Gāndhāra.
Kandarpa epithet of Kāmadeva.
Kane, Hari Balkrishna (b.c1890), a revolutionary of Yeotmal, Maharashtra, arrested in the Alipore Bomb Case, he was alleged to have been sent by G.S. Khaparde from Amraoti to learn bomb-making from Barindra’s Manicktolla group. He was sentenced to seven years’ transportation, but acquitted in an appeal to the High Court.
Kansa/ Kamsa son of Ugrasena king of Mathura & cousin of Devaki.
Kant Immanuel (1724-1804), German metaphysician.
Kaṇwa a dynasty that succeeded the Śuṅga dynasty in c.73 BC in Magadha, & comprised four reigns covering 45 years.
Kaṇwa/ Kaṇwa Ghaura ancient Rishi repeatedly referred to in the Rig-Veda & later scriptures, he is sometimes counted as one of the Sapta-Rishis. His sons & descendants, the Kaṇwas, are also mentioned, especially in the 8th mandala of the Rig-Veda. A descendant of the Maharshi is known both as just Kaṇwa or accompanied by a patronymic, e.g. Kaṇwa Medhātithi (q.v.). One of his descendants brought up Shakuntalā (q.v.) as his daughter.
Kapāla Kundalā/ Kōpalakūndalā 2nd novel (1866) of Bankim Chandra Chatterji.
Kapila Vedic Rishi who founded the Sāṅkhya Yoga, propounding Dwaita-vada. Vyāsa’s Yogasutra-bhāshya holds Kapila to be a Brahma-Jñani. Brahma Purana mentions him in the context of King Sāgara’s 60,000 sons who looking for their Ashwamedha horse, disturbed the Vishnu in Kapila’s body (see Bhagiratha). Bhāgavata Purana, Brahmānda Purana, Vishnu Purana, Padma Purana, Skanda Purana, Nārada Purana, & Valmiki Ramayana mention Kapila as an incarnation of Vishnu. Vishnu sahasranāma specifies Kapila as one of the thousand names of Vishnu. In Matsya Purana Kapila is one of the 100 sons of Kashyapa from his wife Danu, daughter of Daksha Prajāpati.
Karachi “The first annual session of the Muslim League was held at Karachi on 29 Dec.1907. The choice of the site was an indication of the new nationalism which was growing among the Muslims, &, as in the case of the Hindus, it was based on religion & historical traditions of past glory & greatness. Karachi, the chief town of Sindh, was chosen because, as a League publication put it, ‘Sindh is that pious place in India, where Muhammad Bin Qasim came first, with the torch of religion & the gift of Hādis. No other place could appeal to our elders.’ More significant still was the remark of the President: ‘If a handful of men under a boy could teach Kalima to the territory of Sindh & promulgate the law of true shāriat of God & His Rasul, can seven crores of Mussalmans not make their social & political life pleasant?’” [R.C. Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement of India, Vol. II, p.330] Karachi was also the venue of 1913 INC Session presided over by Nawab Syed Md. Bahadur [see Khilafat Agitation], & 1931 Session presided over by Sardar Patel [see Patel Viṭhalbhai].
Karan, Debdās editor of Medini Bāndhab, Midnapur. During his evidence in the Al-pore Bomb Case, his mention of Drōṇa misled Norton, & the questions & answers that followed proved hilarious to the prisoners in the dock.
Kari father of the saint Nammalwar (q.v.), a tributary of Madurai’s Pāndyan kings.
Karmayogi a Tamil cultural monthly published from Pondicherry & edited by Subramania Bharati for about two years. Later, Govindarājulu was registered as editor. It was allowed free circulation in British India
Karmayogin a Bengali paper organized by Amar Chatterjee & published from Uttarpāra, a suburban town near Calcutta.
Karṇa/ Curna first son of Kūnti he was an ansha of Surya born before her marriage with Pāndu from her karṇa (ear) with impregnable armour & divine ear-rings attached to his body. Afraid of censure & disgrace Kūnti abandoned the child on the banks of the Yamuna. The charioteer of Dhṛitarāṣṭra found & brought him up as his own son. Thanks to Parashurāma, Karṇa grew into a supreme archer & was befriended by Duryodhana. An unwavering alms-giver, Karṇa tore out his armour & ear-rings asked by Indra who came in the form a Brahmin, & Indra endowed him an unerring missile. Karṇa intended to use it to kill Arjūna, Indra’s ansha, but was forced by Duryodhana to use it to kill Ghatotkacha.
Kārtavirya/ Cartoveriya/ Cartoverya, Haihaya Arj(o)una son of Kārtavirya, king of the Haihayas. By the grace of Dattātreya, Arjūna Kārtavirya obtained many boons including a thousand arms. In Vishnu Purana, he ruled with unbroken health, prosperity, strength & valour; another Purana says, because he oppressed both men & gods Vishnu incarnated as Parashurāma & killed him.
Kārtikeya name given to Skandha, Pārvati’s first son, born to kill the Asura Tādaka (see Jayā). Known also as Kumar(a), in the South he is called Murugan or Murugā.
Kashi(e) an ancient region of India comprising what is now Vārānasi one of the most important hubs of Shaivism. (Isn’t it named after Rishi Kashyapa? See Kashmir)
Kashirāj king of Kāshi, maternal grandfather of Dhṛitarāṣṭra & Pāṅdu. In the Mahābhārata war, he sided with the Pāndavas.
Kashiram Kāshiram Das 16th century Bengali poet; his rendering of Mahabharata & Krittibas’ Ramayana influence the cultural life of Bengal.
Kashmir/ Cashmere According to the Puranas the entire region known as Kashmir was a vast lake that was drained by Prajāpati Kashyapa who is one of the greatest devotees of Lord Shiva (see Kashyapa & Kashi). Shaivism is thus the original dharma of Kashmir. Buddhism was introduced by Ashōka but the Kushāns (q.v.) accepted Shaivism without suppressing or oppressing Buddhism. When Ādi Shankarāchārya visited Kashmir in the 9th century, he had, in Srinagar a shāstrārtha (debate on the Shastras) with Ubhayabhārati (q.v.), subsequently he accepted the supremacy of the Shiva-Shakti cult & though not an adherent of any form of sectarian Shaivism, he did much to popularise the worship of Shiva & Shakti. Accounts of Kashmir’s history (1006-1586) are found in Kalhaṇa’s, Jonaraja’s, & Sri Vasa’s works, & in Prajñā Bhatt’s Rājabalipatakā. Shaivism remained the mainstay of the Kashmir’s life until 1346, when King Udayana Deva’s minister murdered him & usurped the kingdom. Maharaja Ranjit Singh recovered Kashmir in 1819 but after his death, the Octopus annexed & sold it to their ally Gulāb Singh (d.1857) who was governing Jammu (granted to him by Ranjit Singh for being his loyal commander) & had already annexed Ladakh. Gulāb’s son Raṇaveer supplied a contingent of troops to bolster the Octopus’s tentacles to garrotte Delhi in the summer of 1857, obtaining in return a KCSI (Knight Commander of Star of India) in 1861, an adoption sanad in 1862 & a GCSI (Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India) in 1866 & the honour of facilitating the Octopus’s ‘trade’ with Eastern Turkistan in 1870 by reducing all transit duties through his territories. Raṇveer’s son Parbat kept up the subservience, obtained a GCSI in 1892 & later a titular Maj.-Generalship & Hon. Colonelship of the 37th Dogrās, & in 1907 the high-paying cosy dove-cote for confirmed loyalists in Morley’s Advisory Council of Notables. [Based on Buckland]
Swami Vivekananda visited Kashmir in September-October 1897 & June-July 1898 during which he visited Srinagar twice. The first time, on 10th September 1897, was as a guest of Justice Mukhopadhyāya. The second time he was there, the period from June 22 to July 15, 1898 was spent in houseboats on the Vitastā (corrupted to Jhelum), in & about Srinagar. Among the local excursions that the Swami made with his disciples was that on July 29 to the small, massively built Shiva temple that stands atop the Shankarāchārya Hill which rises a thousand feet above the surrounding terrain. The famous floating gardens can be seen below, for miles around. The beauty & extensive sweep of the scene drew from the Swami the exclamation: “Look, what genius the Hindu shows in placing his temples! He always chooses a grand scenic effect! The rock of Hara Parvat rises red out of blue water, like a lion couchant, crowned. And the temple of Mārtanda Shiva has the valley at its feet!” On September 30, 1898, after his pilgrimage to Amarnāth, he abruptly went to the temple of Kshir Bhawāni, leaving strict instructions that no one was to follow him. There he daily performed Homa, recited his japas, & worshipped Her with offerings of Kheer made from one maund of milk, rice, & almonds & number told his beads like any humble pilgrim. One day, as he pondered over the ruination of the sacred temple by barbarians, he told Her, “If I had been here then, I would never have allowed such a thing. I would have laid down my life to protect You.” – “What if they desecrated My temple & defiled My Mūrti? What is that to you? Do you protect Me, or do I protect you?” Since then, he told his disciples, “All my patriotism has gone. Everything is gone. Now it is only “Mother! Mother! I have been very wrong. I am only your little child.” And when he thought he ought to build a new temple in the place of a present dilapidated one by raising the funds from his wealthy American disciples & friends, She reminded him, “My child! If I so wish I can have innumerable temples & monastic centres. I can even this moment raise a seven-storied golden temple on this very spot.” The Swami later declared that “Since I heard that divine voice, I have ceased making any more plans. Let these things be as Mother wishes.” [Swami Vivekananda’s visits in Kashmir, Pub. Dept., Ramakrishna Math & Mission, Belur Math, Kolkata]
In 1947, British India was partitioned into India & Pakistan. The princely states were given a choice to join either India or Pakistan or stay independent. At that time, the state of Jammu & Kashmir was ruled by Maharaja Hari Singh who initially chose to be independent & not join any of the two countries. But, Pakistan attacked Kashmir & Hari Singh hurriedly agreed to join India by signing the Instrument of Accession with some conditions…. It is the only Indian Princely state in India & also has its own constitution which was adopted by the Govt. of India on 17 November 1956 & came into effect on 26 January 1957. Under Part XXI of the Constitution of India, which deals with “Temporary, Transitional & Special provisions”, Article 370 was introduced after framed after an extreme negotiation of five months between Jawaharlal Nehru & Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. It extends the jurisdiction of the Parliament of India & the Union Government over limited matters; actions in all matters, which are not specifically vested in Federal governments have to be supported by J&K’s legislature; & residual powers are also vested in J&K Govt. Till 1965, the head of J&K was called Sadar-e-Raayat, while in other states the head was called Governor. [S. Bhattacharya: 542-43] ― Rafi Ahmed Kidwai [b.1895, a successful minister in Nehru’s cabinet] confided to me: “I found a solution for Kashmir. I got Nehru to agree to throw Sheikh Abdullah out…. We should have absorbed Kashmir for good…. The country needs a man like Patel….” [Durga Das: India – From Curzon to Nehru & After, Collins, London, 1969]
Kashyapa a Vedic Rishi who is mentioned only once in the Rig-Veda, but is a common figure in the later Saṁhitās. According to Sri Aurobindo, the Puranic Prajāpati Kashyapa is different from the Vedic Rishi Kashyapa, & cannot be identified with him (see Kashmir).
King Kashyapa Kashyapa I of Ceylon who built a fortress at Sigiriya.
Kathāsaritsāgara Ocean of the Rivers of Tales, popular tales in Sanskrit verse by Somadeva Bhatta between 1063 & 1081.
Katha (Upanishad) an Upanishad of the Krishna (Dark) Yajur-Veda.
Kaurav(a)(s) descendant(s) of Kuru. It is a patronymic applied especially to the hundred sons of Dhṛitarāṣṭra, more correctly called Dhārtarāstrāh or Dhārtarāshtrians.
Kaushitaki Kauṣītakī an Upanishad of the Rig-Veda.
Kaustubha/ Kaustubh jewel which emerged from the waters as a result of the churning of the Milky Ocean, & is worn by Vishnu (or Krishna) on his chest.
Kaviputra writer & dramatist, mentioned in Kālidāsa’s Mālavikāgnimitram.
Kāyastha Kshatriyas of Bengal, the most famous of them were Raja Pratāpāditya of Jessore, Raja Kandarpa-Narayan of Chandradwipa & Kedar Rai of Vikrampur, held their own against Akbar who had to wait until they died to conquer Bengal.
Kayshic a kingdom in Mahabharata conquered by Bhishmuc of Vidarbha.
Keats John (1795-1821), considered one of the greatest of 19th century lyricists, for his vivid imagery, sensuous appeal, & rich classical themes.
Kedar Kedar Roy (d.1603), brother of Chand Roy (see Chand). He did not submit to the Moghuls, & was finally killed by Moghuls led by Raja Mān Singh (see Jehangir).
Keerat Kirāṭa in Mahabharata, an ancient Indian territory.
Kelkar, N.C N. C. Narasimha Chintamani Kelkar (1872-1947), nationalist leader of Pune, was Tilak’s disciple & colleague. In 1897-1919, he edited Mahrātta & in 1897-99 & 1901-31 edited of Kesari.
Keltic religious beliefs & practices of the Kelts or Celts presided over by Druids (q.v.) are believed to be similar to those of ancient Indian culture, thus indicating an ancient common heritage. The Celts were numerically & geographically at the height of their power in Europe during the 4th century BC.
Kemp F.E. Kemp, deputy superintendent of police, Barisal, under whose command the police cudgelled & lāthi-charged the procession of delegates to the Provincial Conference of the Congress on April 14, 1906.
Kena (Upanishad)/ Talavakāra an Upanishad of the Sāma Veda.
Kepler Johannes (1571-1630), German astronomer who discovered that the earth & the other planets travel around the Sun in elliptical orbits.
The Kesari Marathi weekly started by Tilak, G.G. Agarkar, & V.K. Chiplunkar, it first appeared on 4th January 1881. They had begun by starting the New English School on 1st January 1880 in order to make English education itself the surest foundation of national regeneration, progress & solidarity. Later that year, after Apte joined their School, they revived their idea of starting a newspaper for the same purpose – make it affordable even to the middle class & educate them in what was going on in their state & the country. Since many newspapers were Anglo-Marathi to save themselves from the rigour of the Vernacular Press Act passed by Lytton (Viceroy April1873-June1880), they decided to start two separate but allied weekly newspapers. In order to facilitate the spread of knowledge & information among the weaker sections, the annual subscription of the Marathi paper, the Kesari, was fixed at one rupee excluding postage it was edited by N. C. Kelkar from 1897 to 1899, & again from 1901 to 1931. The annual subscription of its English counterpart, the Mahratta, which aimed to interpret the mind of Maharashtra to other provinces & the Govt., was fixed at rupees eight. The first number of the Mahratta, appeared on 2nd January 1881 & that of the Kesari on the 4th. In 1890, Tilak took over the proprietorship of both the papers. [Karandikar]
Keshab Press Keshab Printing Works owned by Keshab Chandra Sengupta. It occasionally printed forms or issues for Yugantar including “Sonar Bangla”.
Keshav(a) epithet of Sri Krishna for having killed the Asura Keśī.
Lord Kesteven John Henry Trollope (1851-1915), 2nd Baron Kesteven.
Khaled of the Sea – An Arabic Romance one of the longer poems of Sri Aurobindo introduced in SABCL thus: “An early work, conceived in twelve cantos with a Prologue & Epilogue, found unrevised & incomplete”; as only the Prologue (pp.263-73, & Canto I “The Story of Almuimun & the Emir’s Daughter” (pp.274 to 277) were found & published. Most proper names in it are found in the entries Abdullah Emir, Barmecide, Haroun al-Rashid, & Jaafar Barmak.
Khālsā the military theocracy of the Sikhs. It is a democratic institution in which a new direction & form was given to Sikhism by Guru Govind Singh.
Khāndav forest on Yamuna given by Dhṛitarāṣṭra to the Pandavas, when he divided his kingdom among his sons & nephews. On the site of the forest which was consumed by Agni, the Pandavas built the city of Indraprastha, their capital.
Khāndesh a fertile region in the valley of the Tāpti north of Nāshik. In 1382 it was taken over by one of the countless groups of roving jihadi raiders led by Khans permitted by Delhi’s Sultan Alā-ud-din Khilji after he pillaged & raided Gujarat – hence the name. In 1599 it was taken over by Akbar by using his “golden keys”. In 1718, it came under the control of Pilāji Gaekwād (q.v.) who was awarded the town of Navāpur (c.40km east of Vyārā) in it, for his successful raid of Surat (c.100km west of Navāpur) & defeating the army of its Mogul subā. It was from here that Pilāji first conquered Songadh & by 1755-8 all of Gujarat. His ancestral family held a jāgir of 46 villages in Nāshik district. After Pilāji & his eldest son died in 1732 (see Bājirao), his second son Dāmāji looked after their territories in Gujarat while the youngest, Pratāp Rao, stayed back in Kalvānā looking after their jāgir. Unfortunately, when Dāmāji was forced to surrender this jāgir to the Peshwa (who, in exchange gave him some from his own jāgirs in Gujarat), Pratāp Rao, left with just one village, had to take up farming. In 1761, Pratāp Rao joined Dāmāji when the armies of the Maratha Confederacy were led by the Peshwa into the disastrous war at Pāṇīpat. Pratāp Rao was one of those killed. Almost a century late, a descendent of his named Gopal (lit. go-pālaka, cowherd) whom Fate made the Gaekwād of Baroda as Sayājirao III (q.v.)
Khāparde Ganesh Srikrishna (1854-1938), a nationalist lawyer, scholar, orator, & social worker of Amraoti.
Khar Dāji Abāji Kharé (1856-1916), distinguished lawyer, a secretary of the Congress (1909-13). He went to England to appeal against Tilak’s conviction in 1897.
Khare, Waman Sakhārām/ Baba Saheb Khare (1866-1928), lawyer of Nāshik: arrested & acquitted in the Bande Mataram Case (1906-07); Sri Aurobindo stayed at his house when he visited Nāshik in January 1908. Convicted in the Jackson Murder Case (see V.D. Sāvarkar) in 1910, he was sentenced to 4 years’ R.I.
Khārwar is a community which traced its origin to Sūryavanshis who migrated from Rohtas. A group of them claim descent from the dynasty called Khadaga, probably corrupt form of Khāravela, king of Kalinga (Odishā), a Jain warrior, who extended his empire from the kingdom of the Pāṇdyās in the south to Magadha in the north. Some Khārwārs claim descent from zamindars who became Rajas of Rāmgarh. The benevolent Octopus reduced them to farmers, hunters, fishermen.
Khāserao, Rao Bahadur K. B. Jādhav(a) Khāserao Bhagawantrao Jādhav (1864-1924), the second of three brothers – younger than Anandarao & older than Madhavrao who were distant relatives of Sayājirao who sent Khāserao to England in 1884 to earn a degree agriculture. On return he was appointed a district collector. Sayājirao also built for him the mansion in Dandia Bazar which is now a centre of Sri Aurobindo Society. Sri Aurobindo had few intimate friends in Baroda: Deshpande, Lt. Madhavrao Jādhav, who had already become a close friend & Khāserao, whom Madhavrao introduced to him around 1895-96. For a time in 1902 Subā (District Collector) of Baroda, Khāserao served as Sar Subā of Navasāri (c.22km south of Surat & HQ of Navasāri district). “Ghose Aravinda,” says Prof Bhattacharya, “began his career in India as Vice-Principal of Baroda College. There he soon began to take a lively interest in Indian politics by publishing by a series of articles in Indu Prakāsh. His very first article published on 7 August, 1893, showed that he stood for a fundamental change in the attitude of Indians to politics…by holding up before the nation…the need for purification by blood & fire…. In 1902, he sent an agent from Baroda to Bengal to organise secret societies for terroristic activities. He also soon afterwards personally came to Bengal to propagate his ideas through journals like the Bandemataram (sic) & the Karamyogi (sic)…all this propaganda led to several terroristic outrages in Bengal resulting in the prosecution of Aravinda, along with many young Bengalis, in the celebrated Alipore Bomb case.” [S. Bhattacharya: 388] The pathetic Bombs In Bengal spurred British Majesty into action: arresting & ruthlessly punishing every known, suspected or imagined nationalist. To egg it on, Minto’s motorcade in Ahmedabad in November 1909 was ‘attacked’ by a ridiculous coconut ‘bomb-like’ something that led to extensive intensive search & destroy missions. In 1911, one of the scores of targets for Minto’s successor Hardinge was provided by Baroda’s Residency. “The Resident’s principal bogey man, Aurobindo Ghose was,” revealed Sayājirao’s grandson in 1989, “from February 1910, not even an active nationalist. After the historic trial of the Bengal terrorists in which Ghose was one of the accused..., he had fled to Pondicherry & announced that he had given up politics. In the absence of Ghose, the Resident kept pestering the English Dewan to take some sort of punitive action against two men in Baroda service who were known to have been friendly with Ghose while he was there, four years earlier, Khāserao Jādhav & K.G. Deshpande.... Both men held appointments as subās or District Commissioners, Deshpande at Mehsāna & Jādhav at Navasāri. The substance of the allegations against them was that they had not been sufficiently zealous in curbing anti-British activities within their districts.... It had all started two years earlier, when copies of a Gujarati language translation of Aurobindo’s [!!] Bengali book, Mukti Kone Pathe, Which Way to Freedom, were discovered in Bombay. In Khāserao’s case the Bombay police accused him of being responsible for hiding in a well in Navasāri, his district, five to six hundred copies of the book which were ‘discovered’ by Bombay police. Worse, when its arrogant inspector burst into Khāserao’s office & informed him of his ‘discovery’, Khāserao had bluntly demanded to see his authority for carrying out such raid in Baroda territory. Hardinge’s office & the British Dewan of Baroda exchanged telegrams on this subject for it was clearly illegal for British police to investigate in Baroda. Finally, though the Bombay Govt. did grudgingly tender an oral apology, Sayājirao transferred Khāserao to a less prestigious post, reduced his pay & administered a written warning. [Fatehsingh Rao, Sayājirao…, 1989] In 1916, Khāserao met Sri Aurobindo at Pondicherry.
Khedive a title (Viceroy of Egypt) accorded to Ismail Pasha by the Turkish Government in 1867. His successors also enjoyed this title. It was replaced by the title “Sultan” in 1914 when Egypt became a British protectorate.
Khesias Khāsias, like the Gurkhās & Bhutiyās are people with strong Mongolian features (beardless, yellow skinned, snub-nosed, with flat faces & prominent cheek-bones) who live on the hills of Himalayan ranges & Assam. Along with the Jaintias who possess the same tribal characteristics & speak the same language, they inhabit the Khāsi & Jaintia Hills district of the state of Meghalaya. They are a matriarchal community, i.e., properties are passed on through the matriarch. British official David Scott (1786-1831) in whose memory the Govt. at Calcutta erected a monument & declared him “Indeed a second Cleveland” for he had “accomplished the entire subjection of the lawless & savage inhabitants of the jungle-territory, who had long infested the neighbouring lands by their predatory incursions, attached them to the British Govt. by a conquest over their minds, the most permanent as the most rational mode of dominations.” Scott inaugurated this signal service to the welfare of natives at Gorakhpur as judge & magistrate at Purnea 1812-3 & of Rangpur: Commissioner of Rangpur in 1823: then A.G.G. (Agent of Gov.-General) on the N.E. frontier of Bengal & Commissioner of Revenue & Circuit in the districts of Assam, N.E. Rangpur, Shirpur & Sylhet: he settled in the Provinces of Upper & Lower Assam: encouraged the Missionaries to convert the locals in his domain: carried out a survey: terrorised the Garos, converted them & opened a school (two-pronged “conquest over their minds, the most permanent as the most rational mode of dominations”: coerced the Khāsias into signing a treaty benefiting the British at their expense. When, in April 1831, the Khāsias retaliated &, in spite of suffering heavy losses due to their inferior weapons, killed two of his officers, Scott escaped & returned to “win over their minds” with his bayonets & the Book. A similar fate was accorded in 1835 to the Jaintia king Rajendra & his community when they fought & killed four of Scott’s officers. [Based on S. Bhattacharya & Buckland]
Khilafat Agitation: Karandikar: The uprising of 1857 taught not a few lessons to the foreign rulers.... All martial races except the Sikhs & Gurkhās were excluded from the Army…; & Hindu-Muslim unity was set down as the most serious menace….
Heehs: “…the communal problem goes back… to a time when there was no political life as such in India…. The Gov.-Gen. Ellenborough wrote of the Muslims in 1843: “I cannot close my eyes to the belief that that race is hostile to us, & our true policy is to reconcile the Hindus. – But around 1875 there was a reversal of British policy…. One of the first steps the British took to rally the Muslims was to patronize Sayyid Ahmed Khan’s Anglo-Oriental College, Aligarh…. Mr Beck, its English principal, aroused Muslim fears by writing in 1893 that “the objective of the Congress is to transfer the political control of the country from the British to the Hindus. – Communal tensions fostered by this & other causes erupted in bloody rioting in eastern U.P. & Bihar in 1893 & 1894. – In 1889, Beck organized Muslim opposition to a Parliamentary bill that would have introduced representive institutions in India. – His successor, Mr Archbold, was behind the Muslim deputation of 1906 that resulted in the inclusion of separate electorates in the Councils Act of 1909. – The deputation, led by the Aga Khan, requested, among other things, that Muslims should be represented on Councils as a separate community. – After hearing them out, Lord Minto said, in a prepared statement: “You justly claim that your position should be estimated not merely on your numerical strength but in respect of the political importance of your community & the service it has rendered to the Empire.” … In December 1906, two months after the Muslim deputation the first meeting of the All-India Muslim League was held. Its stated aims were “to protect the cause & advance the interests of our co-religionists throughout the country & to controvert the growing influence of the so-called Indian National Congress”. This declaration marked the beginning of sectarian politics in India. [India’s Freedom Struggle…, p.154 + 74; Lives of Aurobindo, CUP, 1908, p.115]
S. Bhattacharya: The League never made any demand for the political rights of Indians.... A divided & weak India is its gift to Indians.
Nanda: Nearly three months before the Viceroy received the Muslim deputation, indeed even before Mohsin-ul-Mulk sought the assistance of Principal Archbold in arranging an interview with the Viceroy, Gokhale, in a speech in London, had hailed the awakening of the Muslims at Aligarh…. Gokhale’s tour of northern India at the beginning of 1907 was part of the Moderate offensive to rally the educated classes to the Congress. This tour was remarkable for the response he was able to evoke from the Muslim community, particularly among its youth. Muslims turned up in large numbers to attend his meetings at Lucknow, Aligarh, Meerut, Lahore & other places. At Lucknow he was entertained to breakfast by 20 Muslim leaders including Nawab Mohsin…, the prime mover of the Shimla deputation. The Raja of Mahmudabad, the most important landowner in the province, gave a dinner in Gokhale’s honour, & Syed Nabiullah, a leading barrister & a member of the Shimla deputation, took the chair at the public meeting addressed by Gokhale at Lucknow. At Aligarh, a thunderous welcome awaited him; the students unhorsed his carriage & pulled it through the streets to the College Hall amidst shouts of “Gokhale Zindabad”. Gokhale seems to have been deeply moved by the warmth of the reception. Dr. Syed Mahmud, then a student at Aligarh, later recalled that Gokhale had turned to Mohamed Ali, the future Khilafat leader, who had taken him to Aligarh, & said: “I shall now die a happy man. When I see young Musalmans with so much enthusiasm for me & for India, little doubt remains in my heart that India will get freedom soon.”
Heehs: Indian [=Lal-Bal-Pal’s] nationalism had no ambitions outside its borders & no plan to eradicate its minorities; it failed, however, to solve the problem of communalism. Aurobindo regarded religious conflict as a purely social matter [see Social Reform] refusing to see it as a vital political issue. He tried, half-heartedly (sic), to bring Muslims into the movement, but never gave the problem the attention that hindsight shows that it deserved. But could anything said or done in 1907 have changed the outcome forty years later? Probably not. Still partition & its blood-letting that accompanied it were the movement’s principal (sic) failings, & Aurobindo & his colleagues have to take their share of the blame.
Dec.1908: INC, Madras: Under the Creed adopted as its new constitution after the split at Surat (1907) 20% of the AICC members had to be Muslims. [Vide MVRR & SP]
Dec.1910: INC, Allahabad, urged government to obliterate distinction between Hindus & Mahommedans & deal with all communities alike... President Nawab Sādiq Ali Khan appealed to fellow-Muslims to be united & patriotic...
Dec.1913: INC, Karachi: President Nawab Syed Mahmud Bahadur pleaded that Hindus & Muslims “should clasp hands & work for the motherland”. All-India Muslim League proposed periodical Congress-League meetings “to find a modus operandi for joint & concerted action on questions of public good”.
1914-19: After 1st Afghan War (1833-42) Britain established its ‘influence’ over Kabul. The 2nd War led to establishment of Indo-Afghan boundary, but ‘border- incidents’ continued; the 1907 Anglo-Russian treaty ratified that ‘influence’. A pan-Islamic jihad is planned against British India with help from Germany & Middle East; provisional govt. set up in Kabul remains sympathetic to Turkey which, in 1914, joined the First World War on the side of the Axis powers (Germany &c) & against the Allies (Britain &c). The Allies won in 1918. Brothers Md. Ali & Shaukat Ali started a Mohammedan movement in 1918 to pressurise the British not to destroy the Caliphate. Gandhi joined them unequivocally.
1919: March: Vow for Gandhian Khilafatist-Satyagrahis: “With God as witness, we Hindus & Mahomedans declare...we shall behave...as children of the same parents.... We shall not stand in the way of our respective religious practices...always refrain from violence to each other in the name of religion.”
Sri Aurobindo: We will use only soul-force & never destroy by war or any even defensive employment of physical violence? Good…you have set up an ideal which may some day, & at any rate, ought to lead up to better things. But even soul force, when it is effective, destroys. Only those who have used it with eyes open, know how much more terrible & destructive it is than the sword & the cannon; & only those who do not limit their view to the act & its immediate results, can see how tremendous are its after-effects, how much is eventually destroyed.... Evil cannot perish without the destruction of much that lives by evil, & it is no less destruction even if we personally are saved the pain of a sensational act of violence.
1919: Dec: The Amritsar Congress (q.v.).
1920: Jan 18: Gandhi places a detailed programme of Non-co-operation in a meeting of Hindu & Muslim leaders in Delhi. Jan-Mar: (i.e. before the fate of Turkey was definitely known & the reports of the Enquiry Committees on the Panjab disturbances were published) Gandhi elaborates the scheme of Non-co-operation movement in the Young India & issues a manifesto on March 10. April 20: Pan-Islamic lobbyists incite 3rd Anglo-Afghan war; British forces overwhelm Kabul. June 2: Conference of Hindus & Khilafatists. Some Hindus, reported Gandhi, spoke “of complications arising from Mahomedans welcoming an Afghan invasion of India. Mahomedan speakers gave the fullest & frankest assurances that they would fight to a man any invader who wanted to conquer India, but they were equally frank in asserting that any invasion from without undertaken with a view to uphold the prestige of Islam & to vindicate justice would have their full sympathy, if not their actual support.” – The Khilafat Committee decides to start Non-co-operation under the guidance of Gandhi. The Modern Review asked Gandhi “whether the upholding of the prestige of Islam required an invasion of India… & how justice can be vindicated by inflicting on the unoffending people of India the indignity & misery of an invasion, for an offence committed by the Allies. India, since Mahmud of Ghazni’s expeditions in 7th century, has not yet known the Afghans in the role of liberators... In any case, non-Islamic peoples may be excused if they prefer not to be molested for the sake of the prestige of Islam.” June 9: Gandhi: To prevent India from becoming the battle ground between the forces of Islam & the English, Hindus must make Non-co. a complete & immediate success. July: Gandhi: “I had the privilege of meeting the Lōkamānya scores of times…. When…I heard that he was lying grievously ill. I went in to pay my respects…. About Non-co-operation, he said, ‘I like the programme well enough, but I have my doubts as to the country being with us in the self-denying ordinance which Non-co-operation presents to the people. I will do nothing to hinder [its] progress...& if you gain the popular ear, you will find in me an enthusiastic supporter.’” Aug 1st: R.C. Majumdar: Gandhi formally inaugurates Non-cooperation movement by returning the three medals which the Government had awarded him for meritorious services, & addressing a letter to the Viceroy in which he declared that the attitude of the Government with regard to Khilafat & the Panjab, as demonstrated by ‘events that happened during past month,’, made it impossible for him to continue co-operation with a government that had acted so unscrupulously & for whom he could retain neither respect nor affection. It is interesting to note that in this letter to the Viceroy Gandhi seems to convey the impression that he had to resort to Non-co-operation because “events have happened during past month” i.e. in July 1920. Yet it will be quite clear from the chronology of events given above, that Gandhi had been not only thinking about Non-co-operation before the Amritsar Congress, in December, 1919, but also drew up a detailed programme, either almost immediately after it, on January 18, 1920, or in any case during the next three months. August 1st: Tilak’s death; Gandhi’s inaugurates his non-cooperation movement in support of Khilafat, starts a mass hijrat to Afghanistan from Sindh & spreads to N.W.F.P.; about 18,000 muhajirs trek to Afghanistan. Refused asylum, they return disillusioned & penniless.
September 4, 1920: Majumdar: A Special Session of the Indian National Congress meets at Calcutta presided over by Lālā Lajpat Rai to discuss the policy of Non-co-operation. Moving his resolution Gandhi said: “The Mussulmans of India cannot remain as honourable men, & followers of the faith of their Prophet, if they do not vindicate its honour at any cost. The Punjab has been cruelly & barbarously treated & it is in order to remove these two wrongs that I have ventured to place before this country a scheme of Non-co-operation.” He did not, however, make it clear, why, in respect of the wrongs done to the Khilafat, the Musalmans of India should regard themselves on a special footing, as compared with their coreligionists in other countries. If the Muslims of Arabia & Persia, the homeland of Islam, did not feel perturbed, & even welcomed the terms offered to Turkey, why should the Musalmans of India, who derived their faith from those two countries, cease to be honourable men or followers of the faith of their Prophet (who belonged to Arabia), if they did not vindicate the honour of the Khilafat? But what is still more important, the Turks & their Caliph, themselves, did not want any domination over Arabia, demanded by the Indian Muslims; for the Turkish deputation in January-February, 1919, after the Armistice, only pressed for political & economic independence in the area of predominantly Turkish population.… Gandhi assembled the old Home Rulers, from whom Mrs Besant had virtually separated, under a common banner & changed the creed of the All-India Home Rule League into a form then adopted by his Congress at Nagpur, & clubbed their Leagues under his Swaraj Sabhā. Naturally, this Sabhā never had occasion to function, as Calcutta accepted the cult of N.C.O., & Nagpur confirmed it…henceforth the All-India Home Rule League or Swarājya Sabhā lost its separate identity & unconsciously merged itself into the Indian National Congress…. [The] fact that Gandhi carried his pro-British resolution in 1919 in spite of the opposition of prominent Indian leaders like Tilak, C.R. Das & Jinnah, & again, without more ado, carried the opposite resolution eight months later in 1920, again in the teeth of opposition by C.R. Das & other leaders, proves beyond doubt that he had already attained the position of spiritual guru in politics, whose word was law. This was further demonstrated by the Nagpur Congress of 1920 where leaders like C.R. Das ‘who came to scoff, remained to pray’. The Calcutta resolution was the first, but not the last, of Gandhi's political somersaults…. [The] third Para of the Non-co-operation resolution moved by Gandhi & accepted by the Congress…conveys the definite idea that Swaraj was demanded only to redress Panjab & Khilafat wrongs…. The inclusion of Khilafat wrongs as a ground for demanding Swaraj would perhaps appear to many as nothing short of grotesque. Even the Panjab wrongs, grievous though they were, should not have been put forward as the basis of demand for Swaraj. By adopting this Para, political India went back upon what had hitherto been regarded as the fundamental issue, so tersely put by Tilak: Swaraj is my birth-right & I shall have it…. When, after about a year, the Non-co-operation movement failed to redress the grievances of the Muslims, Gandhi wrote: “In their impatient anger, the Musalmans ask for more energetic & more prompt action by the Congress & Khilafat organisations. To the Musalmans, Swaraj means, as it must mean, India's ability to deal effectively with the Khilafat question. The Musalmans, therefore, decline to wait if the attainment of Swaraj means indefinite delay.... It is impossible not to sympathise with this attitude. – I would gladly ask for postponement of Swaraj activity if thereby we could advance the interest of the Khilafat….”
Nov., 1920: Viceroy Reading warned that the Khilafat agitation was “visionary & chimerical” & “could only result in widespread disorder”. Dec, Nagpur Congress: The majority including C.R. Das & Motilal Nehru surrendered INC in Gandhi’s charge, disdaining president Vijayarāghavāchārya’s plea to give Montagu a chance. Jinnah was the lone strong voice against Gandhi’s pseudo-religious approach; is amazed Hindu leaders don’t realise that Khilafat would encourage the Pan-Islamic sentiment that the Caliph was trying to rouse to buttress his tottering Caliphate & dilute the nationalism of the Indian Muslim. When Gandhi asked for his co-operation, Jinnah replied as follows: “I thank you for your kind suggestion offering me to take my share in the new life that has opened up before the country. If by ‘new life’ you mean your methods & your programme, I am afraid I cannot accept them, for I am fully convinced that it must lead to disaster Your methods have already caused split & division in the public life of the country, not only amongst Hindus & Muslims, but between Hindus & Hindus & Muslims & Muslims, & even between fathers & sons; people generally are desperate all over the country & your extreme programme has for the moment struck the imagination mostly of the inexperienced youth & the ignorant & illiterate.” ― Nov-Dec: Saralādevi interviews Sri Aurobindo: Ques: Is it true that you are against the non-cooperation movement? Ans: I am not against it; the train has arrived, it must be allowed to run its course. The only thing I feel is that there is a great need of solidifying the national will for freedom into stern action. Ques: Non-cooperation has declared war against imperialism. Ans: Yes, it has, but I am afraid it is done without proper ammunition, mobilisation & organisation of the available forces. Ques: Why don’t you come out & try to run your own train? Ans: I must first prepare the rails & lay them down, then only can I get the train to arrive. Ques: But you must do something, should you not? Ans: As for myself, I have a personal programme. But if I was in politics, even then I would have taken a different stand. I would first be sure of my ground before I fought the government….. Until now only waves of emotion & a certain all-round awakening have come. But the force which could stand the strain when the government would put forth its force in full vigour is still not there. What is needed is more organisation of the national will. It is no use emotional waves rising & spreading, then going down. Our leaders need not go on lecturing. What we should do is to organise local committees of action throughout the country to carry out the mandate of the central organisation. These local leaders must stay among the people. Ques: But I find many people ridicule non-cooperation. What is you frank personal opinion? Ans: We have qualified sympathy with the movement; sympathy is there because we have the same objective; it is qualified because we feel the basis is not sound. The Punjab martial law & atrocities, the Khilafat are there, & non-cooperation is based on those wrongs. Some students from Madras came here the other day & told me they wanted to non-cooperate because the government was unjust. Asked whether they would put up with a just British government they could not reply. India must want freedom because of herself, because of her own Spirit. I would very much like India to find her own Swaraj & then to work out her salvation even with violence – preferably without violence. Our basis must be broader than that of mere opposition to the British government. All the time our eyes are turned to the British & their actions. We must look to ourselves irrespective of them & having found our own nationhood make it free. [Purani, Evening Talks…, 2007, 24-25]
1921: The 1907 Russo-Afghan treaty is superseded by an Anglo-Afghan treaty giving Afghanistan a fuller freedom. May: Gandhi: I would, in a sense, certainly assist the Amir of Afghanistan if he waged a war against the British Govt. That is to say, I would openly tell my countrymen that it would be a crime to help a govt. which had lost the confidence of the nation to remain in power. Rajagopalachari: The Khilafat has solved the problem of distrust of Asiatic neighbours out of our future. The Indian struggle for the freedom of Islam has brought about a more lasting entente & a more binding treaty between the people of India & the people of the Mussalman States around it than all the ententes & treaties among the Governments of Europe. No wars of aggression are possible where the common people on the two sides have become grateful friends. The faith of the Mussalman is a better sanction than the seal of the European diplomats & plenipotentiaries. Not only has this great friendship between India & the Mussalman States around it removed for all times the fear of Mussalman aggression from outside, but it has erected round India a solid wall of defence against all aggression from beyond, against all greed from Europe, Russia or elsewhere. The Indian support of the Khilafat has as if by a magic wand converted what was once the pan-Islamic terror for Europe into a solid wall of friendship & defence for India. Aug: The Moplahs in Malabar (q.v.) rise against the Govt. to establish an Islamic kingdom. Nov: The British Army finally subdues them.
1922: Tried & convicted on a charge of sedition, Gandhi was sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment. In a final bid to retrieve the situation Malaviya met Viceroy Reading who agreed to release all if the agitation was withdrawn, for he felt that provincial autonomy could be introduced even within the ambit of the 1919 Act. Dec. INC, Gaya: Das & Azad were for calling off the Non-Coop & but Motilal was against it. Gandhi himself called it off called off, not for the horrendous countrywide jihadi mayhem but a comparatively petty mêlée at Chauri Chaura which was against his personal ideals – Jain ascetic’s Ahimsa & Christian self-flagellation! The Ali brothers began distancing themselves from Gandhi & the Congress. The Ali brothers criticised Gandhi's commitment to non-violence & severed their ties with them. Although holding talks with the British & continuing their activities, the Khilafat struggle weakened as Muslims were divided between working for the Congress, the Khilafat cause & the Muslim League.
1920-24: Govt. Report: Unabated ‘incidents’ in NWFP with Afghan tribes: outrages, kidnappings, murders, skirmishes, retributory expeditions, aerial bombardments etc. Tribals & guerrillas who had managed to smuggle in improved rifles, seem to be seeking warplanes from Russia. Mrs Besant: Since the Khilafat agitation, we have seen revived the old Muslim religion of the sword... heard Muslim leaders declare that if Afghans invaded India, they would join them & slay the Hindus who defended India... seen that their primary allegiance is to Islamic countries, not to our motherland; their dearest hope is to establish... the religion given to them by their prophet, obey his laws above the laws of the State. [They] would ally themselves with Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Persia, Iraq, Arabia, Turkey & Egypt with the tribes of Central Asia & try to place India under the rule of Islam. Malabar has taught us what Islamic rule means; & how much sympathy with the Moplahs is felt by the Muslims in the rest of India has been proved by the defence they raised for them; even Mr Gandhi called them brave God-fearing Moplahs. Lajpat Rai to C.R. Das: I have devoted most of my time during the last six months to study the Muslim history & Muslim Law & I am inclined to think Hindu-Muslim unity is neither possible nor practicable.... [Although] we can unite against the British we cannot do so to rule Hindustan on British lines, we cannot do so to rule Hindustan on democratic lines. What then is the remedy? I am not afraid of the seven-crore Muslims in Hindustan but I think [with] the armed hosts of Afghanistan, Central Asia, Arabia, Mesopotamia & Turkey they will be irresistible. I do honestly & sincerely believe in the necessity or desirability of Hindu-Muslim unity... but what about the injunctions of the Quran & the Hadis? The Muslim leaders cannot override them. Are we then doomed? I hope not. I hope you will find some way out of this difficulty.
Dec.1922: The resolution passed at Ahmedabad INC Session: The Congress expresses its firm conviction that the Moplah disturbance was not due to the Non-Cooperation or the Khilāfat Movements, especially as preachers of these movements were denied access to the affected parts by the District authorities for six months before the disturbance, but is due to causes wholly unconnected with the two movements, & that the outbreak would not have occurred had the message of non-violence been allowed to reach them…. Nevertheless the Congress deplores the acts done by certain Moplahs by way of forcible conversions & destruction of life & property, & is of the opinion that prolongation of the disturbance in Malabar could have been prevented by the Govt. of Madras accepting the proffered assistance of Maulānā Yakub Hassan & allowing Gandhi to proceed to Malabar….
1923: Dec. Bengal Pact; INC, Cocānada (q.v.)
March 1924: Conversation with Sri Aurobindo on 7th: (The Khilafat had ended two days back) Disciple: The Khilafat is steam-rollered. Sri Aurobindo: It is quite right that it should be gone; the new republic seems thorough & solid in its working. – I doubt if the Turks were right in taking the step because now the opinion of other Muslim countries would go against them. – It was not by opinion that Kemal defeated the Greeks! – The allegiance of other Muslims to the Khilafat had all along been theoretical & the tie of sympathy very weak & had no hold on life. As a matter of fact, it was the Indian Muslims who fought against the Turks in Mesopotamia during the First World War. – The Emir of Afghanistan is the only external power to whom the Indian Muslims can look up to. – There are tendencies among the Muslims showing that fanaticism may disintegrate. – That is not sufficient because it would not change their whole outlook. What is wanted is some new religious movement among the Mahomedans which would remodel their religion & change the stamp of their temperament. For instance Baha’ism in Persia which has given quite a different stamp to their temperament. [Purani, Evening Talks, 2007: 267]
1924: 21-day fast by Gandhi under Md. Ali’s roof against communal riots; Atatürk (see Young Turks) declares Turkey a secular State; Non-cooperation movement collapses; Muslims drift away; internal dissensions rack the INC.
1925: Md. Ali: However pure Mr Gandhi’s character may be, he must appear to me from the point of view of religion inferior to any Mussalman, even though he is without character. – Yes, according to my religion & creed, I hold even an adulterous & a fallen Mussalman to be better than Mr Gandhi. Nehru: Md. Ali’s drifting away was an unfortunate result, which hurt many of us.... It was a misfortune for India that he left the country for Europe.
1922-27: Riots by Jihadis became rampant: of the 112 riots in this period, 31 took place in 1927; about 35,000 Hindu women were abducted in Bengal alone.
1930: Md. Ali at the All-India Muslim Conference held on April, attended by over 20,000 Muslims: We refuse to join Mr Gandhi, because his movement is not a movement for the complete independence of India but for making 70 million Indian Musalmans dependants of the Hindu Mahāsabhā. At the first Round Table Conference held in London, he told the members: We are not nationalists but super-nationalists.
Durga Das: In 1942, when Cripps came to India with his plan, he was fully aware that it was the Britons & Anglo-Indians who represented the British Press who were to blame for poisoning Indo-British relations over the years by giving their reports an anti-Congress & anti-Hindu & pro-Muslim & pro-League slant. In July 1942, after a luncheon with Churchill, with whose stand he fully agreed with, King George noted in his diary: Cripps, the Press & the US public opinion have all contributed to make their minds up that our rule in India is wrong, & has always been wrong for India. I disagree & have always said India has got to be governed, & this will have to be our policy. June 1945: At the Shimla Conference called by Viceroy Wavell all Indian parties agreed on the proposal that the Central Cabinet would comprise 14 Indian Councillors, five each to be selected by the Congress & the League, a Sikh, two Harijans & the leader of the Unionist Party of Punjab. But behind Wavell’s back, Churchill & Co. had decided to offer ‘Pakistan on a platter’ to Jinnah to maintain a foothold in the sub-continent. 11th July 1945: Minutes before he met Wavell, Jinnah had received a message from British Civil Servants in Shimla conveying London’s hint: ‘Reject Wavell’s plan & get Pakistan’. Dec.: Wavell admits he knew the British ICS won’t allow an undivided India.
Rajaram: Even so great a leader as Mahatma Gandhi failed when he tried to make the Khilafat a central issue in the 1921 Non-cooperation Movement. It led to the disastrous Moplah Rebellion & went on to sow the seeds of the Partition.
[Based on: S.L. Karandikar, Lōkamānya B.G. Tilak..., 1957; P. Heehs, India’s Freedom Struggle 1857-1947 – A Short History, OUP, 1988; M.V. Ramana Rao, A Short History of the Indian National Congress, S. Chand & Co., 1959, Rs. 10/-. Foreword by Indira Gandhi; Preface by U.N. Dhebar.; Sitāramayyā: History of the I.N.C.,
1935; CWSA vol.6: New Lamps for Old; B.R. Nanda: Gokhale: The Indian Moderates & the British Raj, OUP, Delhi, 1979; Rebellion 1857 - A Symposium, 1957, p.54-7; S.N. Sen: 1857, Govt. of India, 1957; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khilafat Movement; R.C. Majumdar: India’s Struggle for Independence; History of the Freedom Movement in India; B.R. Ambedkar, Pakistan or the Partition of India, Thacker & Co. Ltd, Bombay, 1940, 1945: 135-54; s/a Annie Besant, The Future of Indian Politics: A contribution to the Understanding of Present-Day Problems, Kissinger Publishing, LLC; Internet; Durga Das: India - From Curzon to Nehru & After, 1969; Govt. of India Year-Book 1923-24; The Modern Review, 1924; M.K. Gandhi’s Reminiscence in S.V. Bāpat’s The Reminiscences & Anecdotes of Lōk. Tilak, 1924; J. Nehru: An Autobiography; Bhattacharya: A Dictionary of Indian History, Calcutta Univ., 1972; Govt. of India: Makers of Modern India; Purani: Evening Talks with Sri Aurobindo, 2007; N.S. Rajaram: The Shadow War: Euro vs. Dollar, Open Page, The Hindu, 22 April 2003; P. Heehs, CUP, 2008: Lives of Aurobindo]
Khōjā(s) caste of Hindus who were converted to Islam in the 14th century. Found in India & East Africa, Khōjās are mostly traders.
Khorassan Khurasan or Khorasan, a region now of north-eastern Iran, bounded on the north by U.S.S.R. (now Commonwealth of Independent States), & on the east by Afghanistan. (See Baghdad & Khalid of the Sea)
Khotan a town of Sinkiang, China: a centre Buddhism.
Khulna town in Khulna district, Bengal, now in Bangladesh.
Kidnapped one of the best-known works of R.L. Stevenson published in 1886.
Lord Kimberley Wodehouse, John (1826-1902), succeeded his grandfather as 3rd Baron, created First Earl of Kimberley in 1866: educated at Eton & Christ Church, Oxford, 1st class Honours 1847: Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1852, & for India Apr-Nov. 1864; Lord Privy Seal, 1868-70; Colonial Secretary 1870-74, 1880-82; Secretary of State for India in 1882-85, 1886, 1892-94; & Foreign Secretary, 1894-96. [Buckland] ― Sri Aurobindo passed the Final exam of the ICS Board of Studies in July 1892, but until 4th November did not pass the Riding Test or send his University Certificate so the remaining allowance of £150/- was not paid to him. On 24th an internal Memo of India Office noted, “It should not be forgotten that Mr Ghose has passed all his examinations & that no selected candidate had yet been rejected on account of the Riding Examination.” On 1st December, Undersecretary Russell wrote to Secretary of State Kimberley: “The candidate seems to me a remarkably deserving man, & I can quite believe that poverty was the cause of his failures to appear” at the Riding Test. To which Kimberley on 2nd Dec.: “I cannot take [such] a compassionate view.... If the Secretary of State sets a precedent of interfering with the [Civil Service] Commissioners’ discretion, nothing but confusion can result…. I must add however as an ‘obiter dictum’ that I should much doubt whether Mr Ghose would be a desirable addition to the Service – & if Mr Prothero or anyone else is under the impression that a Hindu ought to have a special exemption from the requirement of being able to ride, the sooner he is disabused of such an absurd notion the better.” Kimberley was evidently primed by John Arthur Godley, Private Secretary to Prime Minister Gladstone in 1872-4 & 1882-3, & Kimberley’s Undersecretary (1883-1909), during which tenure Godley took all the key decisions regarding Indian matters. He was knighted in 1893 – the last feather in his cap being the Sri Aurobindo’s rejection by Kimberley. While Kimberley himself drew as salary “a sum which represents one year’s average income of 90,000 Indians”, he sanctioned the £150 of the ICS stipend due to Sri Aurobindo in July on passing the Final exam, only after Undersecretary Arthur Godley recommended it. Actually, candidates failing the Riding Test had been appointed & allowed to pass it later. The real reason for Kimberley to reject Sri Aurobindo was his speeches at the Indian Majlis of which he had been a member & some time Secretary.
Kingdom of God poem by Francis Thompson.
King Henry VI king of England from 1422-61 & 1470-71, also a character in Shakespeare’s play King Henry VI in three parts, belonging to the first group of his plays in late 16th century.
(King) Lear a tragedy by Shakespeare, considered his most pessimistic work.
King Log a term for ‘a fainéant ruler’ in the fable of Jupiter & the frogs.
King’s College Founded in 1441, it was the 7th college recognised by the residential University of Cambridge (q.v.) &, by the end of the 19th century, had the highest standards in Classics. It held annual exams for five Scholarships worth £80 p.a. tenable for two years. Sri Aurobindo obtained a Classical Scholarship in December 1889 in order to maintain himself in England during the two-year course of his ICS Studies. Selected an ICS probationer in July 1890, he came up to King’s in October 1890 as resident Scholar. He would study under a Supervisor but could read with one or more Tutors & also attend the Lectures organised by the Classical Faculty. College tuitions were free but he had to pay rent for his rooms & meals at the College dining room. Unlike other undergraduates could not afford any ‘social life’ since his scholarship “was rather a gesture than an attempt to meet [his] actual financial needs”.
Braithwaite: “Within the somewhat restricted sphere of an academic institution, the Colonial student learns to heal, debate, to paint & to think; outside that sphere he has to meet the indignities & rebuffs of intolerance, prejudice & hate… I have yet to meet a single English person who has actually admitted to anti-Negro prejudice; it is even generally believed that no such thing exists here. He is free to board any bus or train and sit anywhere, provided he has paid the appropriate fare; the fact that many people might pointedly avoid sitting near him is casually overlooked…. I had frequently observed the disapproval on the faces of the English people at the sight of a white woman in Negro’s company…. It seems as though there were some unwritten law in Britain which required any healthy able-bodied Negro resident there to be either celibate by inclination, or else a mast of the art of sublimation…. We were to be men, but without manhood.” [To Sir, With Love, Penguin, New York, 1987: 39-42, 95-96]
Twenty-one of the forty-five ICS probationers were at Cambridge, four of them Paulines, two at Clare & good old Wood at Christ’s. Despite his obligations to his scholarship & ICS studies, by October 1892 Sri Aurobindo had won several College prizes & passed the First Part of the Classical Tripos with honours. He could have got the B.A. degree, had he asked but did not care for an academic life in England. King’s had created an affinity to English & European thought & literature but not to England’s atmosphere, besides he made no intimate friends. A rumour spread that eager old Wood added in his letter to the Indian CID in 1908: “He was certain of a very good degree & a fellowship, with which prospect he was understood to be quite content.” Actually, with the intimation in 1886 of being destined for a role in imminent global upheavals, the insight of the reasons for & results of the French, American & Italian revolutions at St. Paul’s, & “the flowering of the inner being or inner nature into self-realisation & self-knowledge” at King’s revealing the Atman as “a true clue to the reality behind life & the world”, Sri Aurobindo was primed to dedicate himself to the liberation of his motherland, basing his claim for freedom solely on humanity’s inherent right to freedom & on a lucid political method & plan of action. [ICS register on Arthur Wood: “Foundation Scholar, Sept. 1883; left School 1889; entered ICS June 1890.” Wood wrote this Note as Collector, Kaira Dist., Bombay, to Director, CID; it is filed as Govt. of India’s Home Dept. Proceedings, D–June, 1908, 13:3]
Kingsford D.H. Kingsford (1872-1937), joined ICS in 1894, was Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta from August 1904 to March 1908, when he was transferred to Muzaffarpur (Bihar) as District Judge. [Buckland]
Kingsley Charles (1819-75), one of the first Anglican churchmen to support Darwin’s theory; his writings influenced social development in Britain.
Kinnar(a); Kinnari(e) semi-divine beings like the Gāndharvas (q.v.), masters in applied arts dwelling in the paradise of Kubera (q.v.) on Kailas.
Kipling, Rudyard (1865-1936), son of Rev. Joseph Kipling, Principal of Mayo School of Art & Curator Central Museum, Lahore (1875-93). Rudyard became Asst. Editor of the Civil & Military Gazette, Lahore, & Pioneer of Allahabad (1882-9): authored Departmental Ditties 1886, Plain Tales from the Hills 1887, Soldiers Three, Wee Willie Winkle etc. 1888-9, The Light that Failed 1891, Barrack Room Ballads 1892, The Jungle Book part I in 1894 & part II in 1895, Kim 1901, etc. [Buckland] As ‘the Banjo Bard of the Empire’ he declared that a white man has every right to take the law into his hand when dealing with natives as an Indian is “no more than half-devil, half-child” [Bande Mataram, 8 May 1907]. This testament must surely have played a role in England being given her first Nobel Prize in literature 1907. In 1913, on the death of Poet Laureate Alfred Austin, British media counted him with Laurence Binyon, Thomas Hardy, & John Masefield as a likely successor to the post.
Kirath(a); Kirathie forest & mountain people.
Kirtimukha an attendant of Shiva born out of his Jatā (matted hair). His devotion & valour earned him the boon: No one could meet the Lord without seeing him first.
Lord Kitchener Horatio Herbert (1850-1916), 1st Earl Kitchener of Khartoum: son of Lt-Colonel H.H. Kitchener: entered Royal Engineers 1871: Maj.-General 1896: commanded Egyptian Cavalry 1882-84: Governor of Suakim 1886-88: Sirdar of Egyptian Army 1890: raised to peerage with grant of £30,000: Chief of Staff of Forces in South Africa 1899-1900: Commander in Chief S. Africa 1900-02: Lt.-Gen. & General: received Viscountcy & grant of £50,000: Commander in Chief India 1902: serious controversy with Curzon on an important matter of military administration: the dispute was referred for settlement to the Secretary of State for India, who decided in Kitchener’s favour. After he left India in 1909 he was made Field Marshal. On the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 he was placed in charge of the War Office in England. He was drowned when the ship in which he was travelling to Russia was sunk by a mine. [Buckland]
Kolhātkar, Achyutrao Achyutrao Balwant Kolhātkar (1879-1931), a versatile litterateur & a popular journalist who introduced a new style in Marathi writing. He was editor of the Deshasevak of Nagpur after 1906. In 1908 he was convicted for the publication in his paper of reports of Sri Aurobindo’s speeches, & in jail a brutal treatment was meted out to him. Karmayogin, 28 Aug. 1909: “The recent starvation strike of the Suffragettes has shown what callous & brutal treatment can be inflicted by English officials in England itself even on... women of education, good birth, position & culture.... Yet this is the civilisation for which we are asked to sacrifice the inheritance of our forefathers!” Prof Manoj Das: Extracts from the Question Hour in the British Parliament: 1909, August 5; J.D. Rees: “…Govt. ought to display its power over Orientals by deporting Arabindo Ghose for his sway over the youth.” – 1909, October 5; Hardie (q.v.): “…when Mr A. Ghose’s speeches & writings were adjudged non-seditious by Judge Beachcroft, why has Govt. not yet ordered the release of Mr Kolhātkar of Nagpur who had been sentenced to 15 months hard labour for merely reprinting those speeches?” In answer Under-secretary of State Alexander Murray obfuscates the issue with petty legalities. 1910 Hardie: “Everything that tells against the Indian people is blazed forth [in U.K.], & matters which might tell in their favour do not receive anything like the same publicity. [Then Hardie describes how Kolhātkar spent 5½months in a solitary cell (though law does not allow more than 7 days) loaded with chains that hardly let him walk, & lost over 30 lbs.]…. Mr Beachcroft... found that Mr Ghose has not been guilty of any offence known to the law.... It is freely admitted for Mr Ghose that his ideal is independence but the attainment of it is to be reached by passive resistance & by educating the people to stand by themselves; & counsel for the crown admits that there is nothing wrong in cherishing such an ideal.... Now not a single article has been pointed out to me, which suggests the use of violence....” [First Decade of the Century, 1972]
Kolhapur/ Kolahpur capital of the former princely state of Kolhapur, & also seat of the British Residency for the Deccan states in India. In 1949 Kolhapur state became part of the province of Bombay. It is presently a district of Maharashtra, & Kolhapur town the administrative headquarters of the district.
Koraish/ Koreish also transliterated as Kuraish or Quraysh, the ruling tribe of Mecca at the time of the birth of the Prophet Mohammad. There were in it ten main clans including Hashim, the clan of the Prophet. Most of the Koreishites were bitterly opposed to the Prophet, especially at the beginning of his mission.
Koran/ Quran the sacred book of Islam revealed to Prophet Mahomed (c.570-632) in separate revelations over the major portion of his life at Mecca & Medina. The canonical text was established in 651-52 AD, under the 3rd caliph Osman/Othman (c.574-655, caliph, 644-56) by Arabic editors who used for their basis the collection of revelations made by Zaid-ibn-Thabit, the Prophet’s secretary, all other collections were destroyed making the new edition unique. The revelations, written in classical Arabic are divided into 114 suras/ chapters whose arrangement makes it impossible to tell their chronological order. This made Arabic the language of Islam & referring to God as Allah (his name in Arabic) as the common custom among Muslims. The Koran is regarded by them as an earthly reproduction of the Word of God – an uncreated & heavenly original, the ultimate authority in all matters, hence all human knowledge & sciences are but a commentary on it – this probably accounts for the remarkable unity of Islam. [Columbia Encyclopedia, 1950, &c] ─ “The letter of the Scripture, binds & confuses, as the apostle of Christianity warned his disciples when he said that the letter killeth & it is the spirit that saves [for it] is only a verbal form of [the inner self-luminous Reality which, being] the infinite Truth is greater than its word…. Take all the Scriptures that are or have been, Bible & Koran, & the books of the Chinese, Veda & Upanishads & Purana & Tantra & Shāstra & the Gita itself & the sayings of thinkers & sages, prophets & Avatars, still you shall not say that there is nothing else or that the truth your intellect cannot find there is not true because you cannot find it there…. Heard or unheard before, that always is the truth which is seen by the heart of man in its illumined depths or heard within from the Master of all knowledge, the Knower of the eternal Veda.” [CWSA 19, pp.92-93]
Koshala/ Coshala a kingdom on the Sarayu River, having Ayodhya for its capital.
Kripa/ Cripa adopted son of Shāntanu (see Bhīṣma). Powerful warrior & minister of Hastināpūra, too desired just reconciliation with Yudhishthira yet, bound to the throne, obeyed Duryodhana’s orders to the extent of joining in cornering of Abhimanyu, & the midnight murder of the sleeping sons of the Pandavas.
Sri Krishna/ Crishna/ Srikrishna/ Caanou “Srikrishna…is Ishwara, Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu. Lordship is His manifestation, Might & Wisdom are his His guṇas.” ― “the Lord descended into the world-play from the divine Ananda; his flute is the music of the call which seeks to transform the lower ignorant play of mortal life & bring into it & establish in its place the Lila of his divine Ananda.” ― “…the Krishna who matters to us is the eternal incarnation of the Divine & not the historical teacher & leader of men.” [SABCL 3:452; 22:392; 13:12]
Krishnacharit(ra) The Life of Krishna by Bankim Chandra published in 1892.
Krishnaprem spiritual name of Ronald Nixon (c.1898-1965), an Irishman initiated into sanyāsa in 1928 by Yashodā Mai. He set up an Ashram named Uttara Brindāvan at Mirtola near Almora in the Himalayas. A brilliant student at Cambridge, he taught English literature at the universities of Lucknow & Benares. He wrote several books, the best known is a commentary on the Gita. After 1950 he gradually gave up the Vaishnava rituals & practised universal compassion.
Krishnaswami V. Krishnaswamy Iyer (1863-1911): closely associated with Gokhale, he attended every Congress session from 1889: nominated on the Senate of the Madras University which, in 1907, he represented in Madras Legislative Assembly. In 1910 he was appointed a judge, & little before his death, a member of the Governor’s Executive Council. [Buckland]
Krishnavarma, Shyamji (1857-1930) born in Māndavi, Cutch, joined Wilson High School in Mumbai & in 1875 he married the sister of his classmate who was the son of a wealthy Bhatia businessman. He became a disciple of Swami Dayānanda & earned the title of Pandit from the Pundits of Kāshi in 1877. In 1878, Monier Williams invited him to England as his assistant & got him admitted to Balliol College where he excelled in Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Law, & Political Economy. In 1881, he represented India at the Berlin Congress of Orientalists. SK was elected a non-resident member of the Royal Asiatic Society after he delivered a speech on the origin of writing in India. Obtaining his B.A. in 1883, he continued as lecturer. In 1885, after a short stint as advocate in Bombay High Court, he became Dewan of Rutlām State but resigned in 1888. In 1893, he worked as Dewan of Udaipur & in 1895 as Dewan of the Nawab of Junāgadh. There he hired his Balliol ‘friend’ A.F. Machonochie (one of the British moles in Baroda administration who instigated the Bāpat Case) on a higher salary, only to be stabbed in the back by this ‘friend’ & British officials of the Nawab. Realising that the only way to fight these Govt.-sponsored freebooters exploiting & undermining Princely States was from England itself, SK returned to London in 1897, “to breathe the atmosphere of a free country where he could speak as well as think as he chose” (to quote Sri Aurobindo). The next year, he found a life-long friend in Sardar Singh Rāṇā from an old ruling family of Kathiawar who came to London to qualify for the Bar. In 1900, SK purchased a large mansion in Highgate (see India House). In January 1905, they launched The Indian Sociologist (q.v.); the next month they launched the Indian Home Rule Society to secure Home Rule through propaganda in England. In June 1907, when SK began to be hounded by India Office & Scotland Yard, he, Rāṇā & Cāmā shifted their base to Paris leaving India House in charge of Sāvarkar. In 1914 they were forced to shift to Geneva. After a long illness he died in 1930. He had made an arrangement with the Swiss Govt. And the local cemetery to preserve his ashes until India became independent. Requested by Dr. Prithwindra Mukherjee, the eldest grandson of Bāgha Jatin, in 2003, SK’s & his wife’s ashes were handed over by the Swiss to the Govt. of Gujarat & were brought to his birthplace in Māndavi. [Shyamji Krishnavarma…, Indulal Yāgnik, Bombay, 1950, & other sources]
Krita Yuga is “the age of accomplishment”; “the Age when the law of the Truth is accomplished”.
Krittibas Krittivāsa Ojhā Mukhati (b.1346), distinguished classical writer who helped to make the Bengali language a literary instrument.
Kruger, Paul Paul Stephanus Johannes Paulus (1825-1904), South African Transvaal farmer, soldier, & statesman, noted in South African history as the builder of the Afrikaner nation: elected president in 1883 & re-elected in 1888, 1893 & 1898.
Kubla Khan poetic fragment by Coleridge.
Kumar(a)Sambhava(m) one of the six recognized epic poems in Sanskrit literature, in seventeen cantos. The epic’s theme is the marriage of Lord Shiva & Uma (Pārvati) & the birth of Kartikeya. Sri Aurobindo translated the first & part of the second canto of this poem under the title The Birth of the War-God [s/a Note on Text, CWSA-2]
Kumbhakarṇa 2nd brother of Rāvaṇa (q.v.). A slip of tongue changed the boon he asked of Brahma into sleep for six months at a time with wakefulness for only one day. Aroused by Rāvaṇa who had already lost all his great warriors in his war against Lord Rama, he advised him to surrender but when Rāvaṇa ordered him into battle, he went into the field & died a hero’s death.
Kūntibhoja/ Coontybhoj in Mahabharata, king of the people called Kūnti. He was the adoptive father of Kūnti(e).
Kunti(e)/ Coonty/ County in Mahabharata, Prithā, daughter of the Yādava prince Surasena, was renamed Kūnti when he was adopted by Kūntibhōja, her father’s childless cousin. Kūnti was one of the Pañcakanyāḥ ____________(see Ahalyā).
Kūral/ Kurral by the Tamil poet-saint Tiruvalluvar, it propounds an Sāṅkhya philosophy in 1,330 poetical aphorisms on three subjects: wealth, pleasure & virtue. It contains the moral ideals & ethical doctrines of the Tamil people.
Kuropatkin Aleksey Nikolayevich Kropotkin (1848-1921), Russian general.
Kuru(s) King Kuru was the ancestor both of Dhṛitarāṣtra & Pāndu, but the patronymic “Kaurava” is generally applied to the sons of Dhṛitarāṣṭra.
Kuruhur small town in Tirunelveli, birthplace of poet-saint Nammalwar.
Kurukshetra ‘the field of the Kurus’, a plain where the great battle between the Kauravas & the Pandavas was fought. The site of the battle has been located near Delhi, not very far from Pāṇīpat in Karnal district of Haryana state. It was the scene of many battles in later days also. Within its boundaries flowed the rivers Drishdāwati & Saraswati, as well as the Apayā.
Kushasthaly ancient city identical with or standing on the same spot as Dwārkā. It was the capital of Raiwata.
Kushikas Vedic Rishis, descendants of Kushika. Vishwāmitra was the most important of them. The Kushikas are repeatedly referred to in the third Mandala of the Rig-Veda, & figure in the legend of Shunashepa in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa.
Kuthumi in Vishnu Purana & Vāyu Purana, a disciple of Paushyamji, who belonged to Vyāsa’s Sāmavedic School.
Kutsa “the sattwic or purified & light-filled soul”. When Indra takes him in his chariot to his palace, & when the chariot reached the end of the journey Kutsa has grown into an exact likeness of his divine companion Indra. He is regarded as one of the Saptarishis of the present Manvantara & stands for ‘sweetness’ & explained the first laws of astronomic spheres. According to Taittiriya Saṁhitā, he, Atri & Bhrigu created the Prokshana Mantra Om Bhū, Om Bhūvah, Om Suvah which infuses the water held in the palm of an adept’s hand, the ability to purify anything it touches.
Kuthumi/ Kutthumi one of the Theosophical Masters or Mahatmas (q.v.).
Kuvera/ Kubera king of the Yakshas & the god of wealth. Driven away from Lanka, his original capital, by half-brother Rāvaṇa, Kubera built a golden city on Sumeru.
Kyd Thomas Kyd/ Kid, (1558-94), English dramatist, exponent of ‘tragedy of blood’.