SSC
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his brother Ganesh founded the revolutionary secret society 'Mitra Mela' at Nashik in:
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Answer: Option A — 1899
Detailed Solution
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and his elder brother Ganesh Damodar Savarkar founded the "Mitra Mela" ("Assembly of Friends") at Nashik, Maharashtra, in 1899.
About Mitra Mela:
- It began as a group of young men who met to discuss national issues, celebrate festivals such as the Ganesh and Shivaji festivals, and build physical fitness.
- It soon became a secret revolutionary society, which believed in the use of force to free India from British rule.
- Its members were inspired by earlier revolutionaries of Maharashtra and by the history of Shivaji and the Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini.
Transformation:
In 1904, Mitra Mela was renamed and reorganised as a larger secret revolutionary organisation, which spread to other parts of Maharashtra and India.
About V. D. Savarkar:
- He was born in 1883 at Bhagur, near Nashik.
- He went to London in 1906 to study law, and stayed at India House, a centre of Indian revolutionaries.
- He wrote "The Indian War of Independence, 1857" (1909).
- He was arrested in 1910 and sentenced to transportation for life; he was imprisoned in the Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands.
- He was released in 1924 under restrictions.
- He later became the President of the Hindu Mahasabha and wrote "Hindutva" (1923).
The Nashik conspiracy case:
In 1909, A. M. T. Jackson, the Collector of Nashik, was shot dead by Anant Laxman Kanhere, a member of the society.
Many members were arrested and tried, including Ganesh Savarkar.
Why not the other options?
- ✗1885 was the year the Congress was founded.
- ✗1905 and 1915 were not the year of Mitra Mela's founding.
Quick tip
Remember: Mitra Mela = Savarkar brothers, Nashik, 1899; reorganised in 1904; Collector Jackson of Nashik shot in 1909 (Anant Kanhere).
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Revolutionaries & Revolutionary Movements — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Revolutionaries & Revolutionary Movements, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers the revolutionary side of the freedom struggle in India and abroad: groups such as the Anushilan Samiti, the Ghadar Party and the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Ram Prasad Bismil, Khudiram Bose and Surya Sen, and Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army. Questions often ask about an incident and the people involved, such as the Kakori train action (1925), the Lahore Conspiracy Case, the Chittagong armoury raid (1930) and the bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly (1929). Also learn the founders and headquarters of revolutionary groups formed abroad, such as the Ghadar Party in San Francisco. Practise the revolutionaries questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.