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

business thoroughly to make a Hindu convert, and for the rest of his life and generations
after, it was Hindus themselves who detained him in that fold. If this was what happened
in India, the same was the case in the Andamans also. For Hinduism was not better there
than in the mother-country, and the shadow of the latter was bound to fall upon the
former. In this manner, every one or two months, at least three to four Hindus were found
going over to Islam in this settlement. And when they had married and settled, whether in
the Andamans or in India, their children were bound to belong to Islam. And after a
generation or two they developed fanaticism that made them forget and disown that they
had come of Hindu ancestry. Not only that, but they hated Hinduism as only converts
could do it. If a Hindu woman married a Mohomedan, she became a Muslim forthwith.
But if a Muslim woman married a Hindu, she could never become a Hindu, For who
would admit her to the fold of Hinduism? The Hindus would, by no means, welcome her,
and her Hindu husband was compelled to be a Mussulman! He was treated as Mussulman
and was presently ex-communicated from Hindu Society. I resolved to put an end to this
suicidal policy. And in 1910, when a Brahmin boy was hemmed in by Mussulmans, I
openly tried to save him. As the instance is typical of many that followed, I may as well
narrate it here in full.
This boy hailed from the North of India and was about twenty years old. He was a
thief and had undergone conviction for that offence. He was, in consequence, a
thoroughly spoilt youth, though he was still proud of his Brahminism. The moment he
saw the Andamans and the jail, and realised that he was transported to that place, he was
in a fright. And, then, he was about to be put on 'Kolu'. In this frame of mind, the
Mussulman warders surrounded him. It was the slogan of this wicked gang that a Hindu
boy was first to be crushed by hard labour— straightened out as they put it—then he was
to be spoilt, and, last, get him converted to Islam. The boy had already succumbed to
pollution at the first temptation, and now he was to be taken for dinner with his Muslim
prisoners. I sent him a word that on no account was he to submit himself to dine with
them. He was not to give up his Hinduism thus. To this the boy answered that he had no
other help than this, for, otherwise, Mirza Khan was sure to put him on the oil-mill. It
was useless to preach that he should put up with that hard labour for the sake of his
religion. For that was not going to influence a rake like him. I must help him against
Mirza Khan and I could not do it from my cell where I was in solitary confinement. At
last I carried the whole news to Mr. Barrie, at a private meeting with him. Not that Mr.
Barrie was altogether ignorant of such happenings under his very nose, he did nothing in
the matter. On the contrary, he turned round upon me and questioned me how I had come
to know about it. He added, "Let alone these evil fellows, why should you bother with
these derelicts?" He put me off with questions and cross-questions, and went away. I next
took up the matter with the Superintendent. But as Mr. Barrie had primed him full on
the topic, he gave me the stock answer that it did not matter if such evil persons were
Hindus or Muslims. I argued with him in defence, in the same way that I had argued on
the subject with my Hindu friends. Then the Superintendent clinched the point by asking
me how I was going to prevent it. I answered that I had no objection to conversion if it
happened as a free wish on the part of the convert. But the warders and the jamadars
made converts by harassing the Hindus, by putting them on hard labour, by bribery and
coercion. That was highly objectionable and must be resisted. The Superintendent