Aurobindo Ghosh

Aurobindo Ghosh, born on 15 August 1872 in Calcutta and educated in England (St. Paul's School and King's College, Cambridge, where he passed the Indian Civil Service examination but deliberately failed the riding test to avoid service), emerged as one of the foremost theorists and leaders of militant nationalism during the anti-Partition agitation in Bengal. After returning to India he served the Baroda State before plunging into politics. He belonged to the Extremist (Garam Dal) wing of the Indian National Congress alongside Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, and his thought crystallised in his "New Lamps for Old" articles (1893–94) in the Indu Prakash, which attacked the mendicant methods of the Moderates.

During the Swadeshi and Boycott movement following Lord Curzon's Partition of Bengal (1905), Aurobindo became a leading exponent of the doctrine of passive resistance and complete independence (purna swaraj), articulated in his tract The Doctrine of Passive Resistance (1907) and through the English daily Bande Mataram, which he edited. He championed national education and was associated with the Bengal National College. At the Surat session of the Congress (1907), he stood with the Extremists during the split with the Moderates. Implicated as an alleged mastermind in the Alipore Bomb Case (also called the Manicktolla Bomb Conspiracy, 1908–09) following the Muzaffarpur action by Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki, he was defended by Chittaranjan Das and acquitted in 1909. His "Uttarpara Speech" (1909) marked a turn toward spirituality.

In 1910 Aurobindo withdrew from active politics and settled in the French enclave of Pondicherry, where he developed Integral Yoga and the philosophy of spiritual evolution toward the "Supermind," expounded in works such as The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on the Gita and the epic poem Savitri. He founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1926, with Mirra Alfassa (the "Mother") as its organising force; Auroville, the experimental township, was later inaugurated in 1968 near the Ashram, after his death on 5 December 1950. Notably, on 14 August 1947 he delivered a message identifying India's independence on his birthday as one of the "dreams" he hoped to see fulfilled.

For the UPSC examination, Aurobindo Ghosh is tested primarily in the General Studies Paper I (Modern Indian History) and in the optional papers on History and Philosophy. Prelims questions typically probe his association with Bande Mataram, the Alipore Bomb Case, the Surat Split, and his authorship of specific texts; Mains questions ask candidates to assess his contribution to Extremist ideology, the philosophy underpinning passive resistance, and his transition from revolutionary politics to spiritual nationalism. Distinguishing his early militant phase from his later metaphysical thought, and correctly attributing his works and the founding dates of the Ashram and Auroville, are common discriminators in objective questions.