१८५७ का स्वातन्त्र्य समर (वीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर - अंग्रेजों द्वारा छपने से पूर्व प्रतिबन्धित महाग्रन्थ)

THE STORY OF THIS HISTORY
likely to animate the rising generation of India with the faith
that there was no reason why it should not be practicable and
even more faithful to try again as, at any rate, there
was no other way to salvation. How far this expectation
of the author was realized will be seen as this story proceeds.
Originally written in Marathi
This book was written originally in Marathi, in 1908,
when Veer Savarkar was about twenty-four years of age. Some
select chapters used to be reproduced in English, in speeches
which Veer Savarkarji used to deliver at the open weekly
meetings of the Free India Society in London. Perhaps
through this channel or otherwise the detectives got some scent
of the subject-matter of this book which their reports dubbed
as revolutionary, explosive and highly treasonous. Soon a
chapter or two of the Marathi manuscript were found missing,
which, it was disclosed later on, were stolen by the detective
agents, and found their way to the Scotland Yard, the head-
quarters of the British Intelligence Department in London.
Nevertheless, the Marathi manuscript was sent to India by the
revolutionists so secretly and cleverly that, foiling the strict vigi-
lance of the customs authorities of the Indian Ports, it reached
safely its destination. But the leading press-concerns in Maha-
rashtra dared not run the risk of printing the volume. At last,
the owner of a printing firm who was himself a member of the
Abhi Nava Bharat Secret Society undertook to publish it. In
the meanwhile, the Indian police too got some vague informa-
tion that the volume was being published in Marathi. They,
thereupon, carried a number of simultaneous surprise raids
on some prominent printing houses in Maharashtra. But fortu-
nately, the owner of the Press, where the book was being
actually printed got a hint through a sympathetic Police Officer
and succeeded in smuggling out the Marathi manuscript to a
safer place just before the search party arrived. The manus-
cript was later on sent back to Paris, instead of to London,
and fell into the hands of its author.
xi