Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966) was a fearless freedom fighter, social reformer, writer, dramatist, poet, historian, political leader and philosopher. He was the founder of the student societies viz. Abhinav Bharat Society and the Free India Society. His published work the “The Indian War of Independence – 1857” about the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857 was banned by British authorities in 1909.