मेरा आजीवन कारावास / माझी जन्मठेप (स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकर - काले पानी का ऐतिहासिक संस्मरण)

the Muslims forced them into conversion. Now the Muslim prisoners have begun to shout that they are worse sufferers in that respect. If the Superintendent desired to put an end to this mess, I concluded, the only means for it was to stop conversion altogether by ordering that the authorities will not sanction it, and that the mere dining together or the change of names shall not be accepted as the test of conversion. Consulting the Commissioner, the Superintendent soon issued an order to the jailor that he shall not countenance conversion. The prison was not the place, it declared, for conversion in any form or shape, either by common dinner or by mere change of names. They were not even to think or discuss about the matter. This put an end to the Mussulman petty officers or their underlings in this prison trying by every means to gather Hindus into their fold. The Hindus had never been keen on it, and had not started the propaganda with that aim in view. So that within the jurisdiction of the prison, at least, the fanaticism of the Muslims to convert Hindus had come to an end. It had been definitely checkmated and "Othello's occupation was gone," I had another wonderful experience in this affair. It was that I could touch the heart of the so-called goonda and rouse his social sense and patriotism more quickly than of the so-called decent-minded people in Hindu society. The other educated people showed little courage to plunge in this struggle and work with the sacrifice and the spirit of service evinced by these fallen and sinful creatures. And the reason for it was plain enough. The goonda is by habit a dare-devil and he is tenacious in the line he chalks out for himself. I think that his tenacity and devilry are but perversions of courage and will which are signs of manliness and virtue. These qualities of the heart are running to waste in the goonda, but they could be used, as I found out in the Shuddhi movement, to noble ends if the incentive to them came from love of one's own religion, and pride for one's own culture—in short, of love of one's own country and community. It was I who had given them the objective to work for, but gradually, as they had proceeded in that work, they began to love that work for its own sake; their instinctive daring gave them the spur to devote themselves to the cause with pride and selflessness all their own. No further incentive was needed to goad them on in that work. What a change it had made in their lives ! Some of them began reading Tulsidas's Ramayana, and they did it regularly. Others took to learning and self-education. Others, again, gave their money for the Shuddhi movement. Those who had been typical hoarders gave liberally to the cause. A Hindu boy—a new arrival in the prison—could be safely put in their charge. These boys got all that they needed from these workers. Hence no longer could the Muslim warders tempt them, hoodwink them, or take them under their wings. The more the Hindu prisoners came to be impregnated with love and pride for their own faith, the more did the Mussulmans began to chafe against them. And as Mr. Barrie was ever ready to instigate them, we had to suffer much from them. It was not a mere physical suffering but mental torture as well as torture to the soul. How much I suffered from them, I cannot adequately describe. Sometime showers of indecent abuse was poured over my head from their quarters. Mr. Barrie had detailed some of them to