Dictionary of Proper Names
Selected from Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo’s Works (1989/1996)
W
Wagner Wilhelm Richard (1813-83), German dramatist whose operatic creations represented a new art form on dramatic, musical, & verbal levels. His work marked a Romantic culmination. Much of the later history of Western classical music stems from him, either by extension of his discoveries or in reaction against them.
Wallace Sir William (c.1270-1305), one of Scotland’s greatest national heroes, leader of the Scottish resistance forces during the first years of the long, & ultimately successful, struggle to free Scotland from English rule.
Waller Edmund (1606-87), English poet whose adoption of smooth, regular versification in place of argumentative structure & dramatic immediacy characteristic of his time prepared the way for the heroic couplet’s emergence by the end of that century as the dominant form of English poetic expression.
Walpole, Horace (1717-97), 4th Earl of Oxford; writer, connoisseur, & collector, perhaps the most assiduous letter-writer in the English language.
Warton Thomas (1728-90), poet laureate (1785), wrote History of English Poetry.
Wa(t)cha, D.E. Dinshaw Edulji (1844-1936): educated at Elphinstone College, Bombay: a close associate of Sir Pherozshah Mehta: made joint Hony General Secretary of Indian National Congress: President of the 17th Congress at Calcutta Dec.1901: President of the Bombay Municipal Corporation 1901-2: Editor of English columns of Kaisar-i-Hind: constant writer in Indian newspapers & journals. [Buckland]
Watson Sir John William (1858-1935), English writer of lyrical & political verse.
Wavell Archibald Percival Wavell (1883-1950), 1st Earl Wavell, British field marshal, was Viceroy of India from 1943 to 1947. On October 1943, he succeeded Linlithgow (last Viceroy & first Crown Representative 1936-43) as 2nd Crown Representative. Soon thereafter the League established a Committee of Action to prevent an undivided India. Ignoring that threat Wavell proclaimed on 17th February 1944 that India was “a natural unit”, toured Bengal that had been ravaged by one of the most devastating famines of the century a few months before his watch & released Gandhi on medical grounds. But all Gandhi offered as thanks was an offer to withdraw civil disobedience & cooperate if Govt. declared full immediate independence! In January 1945 Wavell was offered a solution to keep India undivided by accepting the Pact between Bhulābhai Desai of the Swaraj Party & Liaquat Ali Khan of the Muslim League. The Pact suggested the Viceroy’s Executive Council be Indianised by giving Congress & League 40% each of its seats & the rest to minorities. Wavell & London welcomed the proposal, but it was scuttled by Jinnah claiming Liaquat had not consulted him, & Nehru & Patel fearing a) Desai would steal a lead over them & b) the Pact endorsed the two-nation theory! Wavell inadvertently compounded the problem on 14th June 1945: “It is proposed that the Executive Council should be reconstituted...the Viceroy should in future make his selection...from appointment...amongst leaders of Indian political life at the Centre & the provinces, in a proportion which would give a balanced representation of the main communities, including an equal proportion of Muslims & caste Hindus.” At this, Gandhi repudiated the Pact claiming he had not permitted Desai to equate Muslims & caste Hindus & Desai got kicked out of the Congress. At the Shimla Conference (25th June – 14th July) all Indian parties agreed on Wavell’s own proposal to keep India undivided: the Central Cabinet would comprise 14 Indian Councillors, Congress & League would each select five of their own & the Viceroy would nominate a Sikh, two Harijans & the leader of the Unionist Party of Punjab. But on 11th July, Wavell announced that Jinnah had rejected the agreement; on 14th it was revealed that Jinnah demanded all Muslim Councillors be nominated exclusively by the League & the Congress refused because it would be reduced to representing only Hindus & smaller minorities. Actually, a few minutes before he met Wavell, Jinnah had received a message from British Civil Servants in Shimla conveying London’s message that if he rejected the agreement he would be rewarded with Pakistan. It was a replay of 1942 when in order to maintain a foothold in the sub-continent behind Cripps’s back, Churchill & Co. had promised Pakistan to Jinnah if he rejected Cripps’s Proposals which Churchill had from the beginning announced were to be accepted or rejected as a whole. On 19th September, after consultation with London, Wavell announced plans for a fresh elections & a constitution-making body. In December 1945, Wavell confided to Durga Das that the separation of Burma from India [under the Govt. of India Act of 1935] was a mistake. Burma’s defence from external foes was in integral part of the defence of India & the Andamans. He said the countries on India’s periphery should have a common system of defence. If India was partitioned, Pakistan would have no elbow room to defend herself. He had tried to solve the deadlock between the Congress & the League, but politics was not his line. The Congress pulled in one direction & the League in the opposite & the Civil Servants were too partisan to help find an acceptable solution within the framework of an undivided India. He expected Labour to make a fresh effort at a solution. That was the Cabinet Mission sent by Prime Minister Atlee, which landed in Delhi towards the end of March 1946. [Bhattacharya; Durga Das, India-From Curzon to Nehru & After, 1969]
Weber Albrecht Friedrich (1825-1901) born at Breslau: studied at Bonn & Berlin 1848: member of Berlin Academy of Sciences 1857: edited the White Yajurveda 1849-59 & other Sanskrit works, produced a catalogue of Sanskrit manuscripts at the Royal Library at Berlin 1853-92, wrote essays on all branches of Indian research, wrote the greater part of the Indische Studien (Sanskrit-German Thesaurus) 17 volumes published 1850-58: considered one of the greatest Orientalists of the time, one of the first to promote actively the scientific study of Sanskrit, the first real pioneer of Prakrit: edited religious texts, especially Jainism, lectured on literature & wrote History of Indian Literature 1882. [Buckland]
The Web of Indian Life book by Sister Nivedita, first published in 1904.
Webster (1) John (c.1580-1625), English playwright whose The White Devil & The Duchess of Malfi, are said to be the greatest English tragedies outside Shakespeare. (2) Noah Webster (1758-1843), American lexicographer known for American Spelling Book (1783) & American Dictionary of the English Language (1828).
Wedderburn, Sir William (1838-1918): educated at Hofwyl, Worksop, Loretto, & Edinburg Univ.: entered the Bombay Civil Service 1860 & retired 1887: served as District Judge & Judicial Commissioner in Sind: acted as Secretary to the Bombay Govt. in the Judicial-Political Dept. & as Judge of Bombay High Court 1885: Officiating Chief Secretary to Bombay Govt.: retired 1887: M.P. for Banffshire 1893-1900: Chairman of Indian Parliamentary Committee: Member of Royal Commission on Indian expenditure 1895: wrote pamphlets, papers & schemes on arbitration courts, agriculture banks, village panchayats & such subjects relating to conditions in India: helped found the INC in 1885, Chairman of its British Committee, president of annual sessions at Bombay in 1889, & Allahabad in 1910. [Buckland]
Wellesley Marquess Richard Colley, (1760-1842), eldest son of 1st Earl of Mornington: educated (sic) at Trim, Harrow, Eton & Christ Church (Oxford): Earl of Mornington 1781: M.P. 1787-96: Knight of St Patrick 1783: Lord of the Treasury 1786: Member of Board of Control of E.I. Co. & Privy Councillor 1793: Governor, Madras 1797: 4th Gov.-Gen. (18May.1798–30.July.1805): reversed predecessor Sir John Shore’s policy of non-interference & adopted the aggressive policy of ‘subsidiary alliance’ by which native rulers were coerced to come under his ‘protection’, maintain a contingent of his own force at their expense in their state, be governed right down to their boot-straps & private lives by his Resident or Agent of the Gov.-Gen. [=overlord], never contact any non-British foreign power or employ any foreigner without Resident’s permission. The Nizam accepted this ‘subsidiary alliance’, ceded some districts & dismissed his French officers: Bājirao II the last Peshwa caved in too but not Tippoo, son of Hyder Ali (q.v.); so the armies of British, Nizam & Peshwa killed him & shared the spoils: on the excuse of maladministration Wellesley annexed Thanjavur, leaving the Raja powerless & a minor pensioner of his own revenues: annexed Karnataka & pensioned off its Nawab with a fifth of his own revenues: coerced a treaty out of Nawab of Oudh by which the British would civilise him & his subjects at his expense: sent Sir John Malcolm to Persia to extract commercial concessions & a treaty against Afghanistan: for these utterly selfless Christian achievements in just one year, Queen of England made him Marquess of Wellesley in Dec.: enthused, he dispatched an army to Egypt to fight the French there & annexe Egypt: refused to obey London’s order to restore French possessions in India & resigned but (naturally) was persuaded to continue by adding to his belt, the Sword of Commander-in-Chief of India: forced Bājirao II to sign a humiliating treaty at Bassein in 1802 enraging the other members of the Maratha Confederacy; so he destroyed the Sindhia, the Bhonsle & the Holkar separately at Assaye, Argaum, Delhi, & Laswāri, thus enslaving Central India, Mālwā, Gujarat, Oudh & Delhi: unfortunately, before he could complete his God-given mission by adding Assam, Sindh & Punjab & blessing all India with Pax Britannica (by among other bounties, the Law that every Indian regardless of caste, creed, or common sense, shall observe the Christian superstition of avoiding official work on Sundays), the residual Christianity in his bosses, the Directors of East India Co in London, pinched them & they recalled him in 1805, but pacified him by the lucrative posts of Ambassador Extraordinary to Spain 1809, of Foreign Secretary 1809-12, of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1821-8 & 1833-4, of Lord Chamberlain 1835, & on is retirement granted £20,300 p.a.; not to forget marble his statues in London & Calcutta. [Deloused & humanised Buckland; & Bhattacharya]
Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley (1769-1842): 4th son of the 1st Earl of Mornington & younger brother of Marquess Richard Colley (see above): educated at Chelsea, Eton, & Angers in France: joined the Army as ensign in 1787, rose to Lt-Colonel in 1793: posted to Calcutta with his regiment in 1797, was part of the invasion that had reached Penang when his brother called him back to fight Tippoo: in 1799 led Nizam’s troops when his brother invaded Mysore; in March routed Tippoo at Malavilli; in May stood by as reserve when General Harris besieged Srirangapattinam, helped vandalise & plunder it & brutalise Tipoo’s family: in 1802, helped isolate, fight & subdue Sindhia, Bhonsle, Holkar, & Berar, breaking the power of the Maratha Confederacy: Chief Political & Military Officer in the Dekkan & S. Mahratta country: coerced regional rulers into treaties which netted E.I. Co large territories in South India: disarmed the native armies thus bestowing the peninsula with Pax Britannica: received at Bombay a sword of honour & made Knight Commander of the Bath (K.C.B.): returned with his Wellesley to England in 1805: won greater fame as the General who won the Peninsular War in Europe, & defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. Prime Minister of England in 1828-30: in 1842 made Commander-in-Chief for life: after he death, buried with great pomp in St. Paul’s. [Deloused & humanised Buckland; & Bhattacharya]
Wells, H.G Herbert George (1866-1946), English journalist, novelist, sociologist, historian, greatly influenced change in society, morals, & religious beliefs.
Westminster officially City of Westminster; one of the 32 boroughs of Greater London, in the heart of London’s West End. The term is also used for Westminster Palace & the House of Parliament.
White Lodge(s) In Theosophy, the Brotherhood of the White Lodge is the hierarchy of adepts who watch over & guide the evolution of humanity, & who have preserved the ancient truths unimpaired, reasserting them from time to time, as necessity arose. There are various lodges throughout the world, ranging from white (purely divine) through all shades of grey to black (anti-divine). The Theosophical Society owes its inception to members of the Great White Lodge (Himalayan or Tibetan Brotherhood).
Whitman Walter (1819-92), American journalist, essayist, & poet; his Leaves of Grass made him a revolutionary figure in American literature.
Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russell, published in 1927.
Wilberforce William (1759-1833), English politician & philanthropist prominent from 1787 in the struggle to abolish slave trade & slavery itself in British colonies.
Wilde Oscar Fingal O’Flaherty Wills (1854-1900), Irish-born British wit, poet, & dramatist, best known for his The Importance of Being Earnest; he was a spokesman of the aesthetic movement in England which advocated art for art’s sake.
Wilhelm II, Kaiser Friedrich Wilhelm Victor Albert (1859-1941), last German emperor & King of Prussia (1888-1918), regarded as prime instigator of World War I.
Wilkes, John (1727-97), popular London journalist & M.P., regarded as champion of liberty & victim of persecution having been repeatedly expelled from Parliament.
Wilson, President Thomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), President of the USA (1913-21), noted for his high-minded & sometimes inflexible idealism.
Wilson, Prof. Horace Hayman (1786-1860): arrived in Calcutta 1808 in the medical service of the E.I. Co.: at once attached to the Mint at Calcutta for his knowledge of chemistry & assay: Secretary to the Asiatic Socy of Bengal 1811-32 with short intervals: studied Sanskrit steadily & translated Kālidāsa’s Meghadutam 1813: appointed Assay-master 1816 at the Calcutta Mint, held that position until he left India in 1832: published the Theatre of the Hindus & Sanskrit-English dictionary (two editions) besides contributing to the Asiatic Researches, the Journals of the Asiatic Medical, & the Physical Societies, & other Oriental Literature: was Secretary to the Committee of Public Instruction, introducing the study of European Science & English Literature into native education: visited the Sanskrit College: Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford 1833: Hon. M.A. at Exeter College: Librarian of the India House 1836: Examiner at Haileybury [see I.C.S.] & Director of Royal Asiatic Society 1837-60: published Vishnu Purana, Lectures on the Religious & Philosophical Systems of the Hindus 1840: Sanskrit grammar: the Ariana Antiqua: new edition of Mil’s History of British India: translation of Rig-Veda; Glossary of Indian Terms, & an edition of Macnaghten’s Hindu Law: greatest Sanskrit scholar of his time, linguist, historian, chemist, accountant, numismatist, actor & musician. [Buckland]
The Wind & the Whirlwind poem by Wilfrid Blunt addressed to England, some verses of which express the basic motive of the Nationalist movement in India.
Windsor Forest pastoral poem by Alexander Pope, combining descriptions of English countryside & field sports with historical, literary, & political passages.
The Witch of Atlas poem in ottava rima by Shelley.
Wolfe, James (1727-59), British soldier who was given the command of an expedition against Quebec which he himself had urged. He took 5,000 men in boats down the St. Lawrence by night. He was victorious, but in the hour of victory he fell.
Woodburn, Sir John (1843-1902): born at Bārrāckpore, joined ICS came to India Dec.1863: served in N.W. Province & Oudh in minor appointments until he became Secretary in Revenue & later Chief Secretary to the Local Govt. in 1888: Member of Gov.-Gen.’s Legislative Council 1891 & 1893: Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces 1893-5: Member Supreme Council 1895-7: had great influence in & affection for Oudh: Lt-Governor of Bengal April 1898 till his death: he passed the Calcutta Municipal Act of 1899 to combat the plague, the relaxation of the plague regulations endeared him to the native public: fell ill on tour in August, died in November, & buried in Circular Rd Cemetery, Calcutta. [Buckland]
Woodroffe, Sir John British judge in India, a scholar of Tantric philosophy, is best known under his pen-name Arthur Avalon. He translated a number of Tantric texts & expounded & popularized the basic principles of Shaktism, dispelling many false ideas about Shakta observances. He described the Shakta doctrine as the worship of the Supreme Power in the form of the Mother.
Wolf, Leonard Leonard Sidney Woolf (1880-1969), English writer, publisher, political worker, journalist, & internationalist; best known for his autobiography.
Woolf, Virginia Adeline Virginia (1882-1941), English novelist & a most distinguished critic of her time. She was the wife of Leonard Woolf.
Worcester Battle of Worcester (1651), between Oliver Cromwell & King Charles II of England, which ended in the complete rout of the king.
Wordsworth, William (1770-1850), leader English Romantic movement, described himself as a “worshipper of Nature”, is often referred to as “Nature’s priest”. His name is inextricably linked with his native Lake District in the north of England.
The World a London newspaper founded in 1787.
Wotan or Odin (q.v.), a principal war-god of Scandinavian religion.
Wrecker The Wrecker, novel jointly written by R.L. Stevenson & Lloyd Osbourne.
Wriothesley, Henry (1573-1624), 3rd Earl of Southampton, a patron of Shakespeare, who dedicated to him his principal poems Venus & Adonis & The Rape of Lucrece.