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

made to read, re-read, and read it over again. That work of Dayanand, apart from the heat
and dust of controversy that occasionally mar it, is a monumental contribution to the
proper understanding of our Hindu religion and Hindu culture. It is a bold and
courageous vindication of its national importance, and is, in itself, a fine propaganda in
its favour. I bestowed scholarships on prisoners and free men for the study of Hindi. I had
to hold out this bait to them at the beginning, but soon they became so fond of reading
Hindi books that the stock of books fell far short of the demand, and whatever books we
had were never found lying idle on their shelves. They were constantly moving from
hand to hand and were read over and over again. I had to warn them to use the books
carefully and not to lose them in any circumstance. I even preferred the books being
tattered and torn by use to their remaining covered with dust on the library shelves.
The Andamans which knew no other language than Urdu, and where Hindu girls
talking to each other spontaneously uttered the word 'shadi' to indicate marriage and
knew not its Sanskrit or Hindi equivalent, now saw a transformation that was indeed, a
miracle. There every Hindu now began to revere Hindi as his national language or the
language of his religion, and the idea seized not only the elders but caught the
imagination of boys and girls. And the credit of this transformation goes entirely to the
enthusiasm and devotion of my fellow workers in the prison as well as in the settlement
at large.
But the full fruition of that agitation was yet to come. And for it Hindi and Nagari
must spread throughout the education centres of those islands. I made but a beginning.
What its sequel has been we shall see as we go on.
End of Chapter IX