Shyamji Krishna Varma and India House

Shyamji Krishna Varma and India House played a pivotal role in organizing Indian revolutionary nationalism on foreign soil. Established in London in the early 1900s, India House acted as a central refuge, intellectual workspace, and operational base for young radicals fighting against British colonial rule.

Early Life and Background of Shyamji Krishna Varma

Shyamji Krishna Varma was born on October 4, 1857, in Mandvi, Kutch, Gujarat. He was a Sanskrit scholar, lawyer, and nationalist organizer.

Academic and Professional Career

• Oxford Education: He studied at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1883. He served as a lecturer in Sanskrit at Oxford University.
• Bar-at-Law: He was called to the Bar at Inner Temple in 1884, becoming an advocate with deep knowledge of international law.
• Princely State Administration: Upon returning to India, he served as Diwan (Chief Minister) in several princely states, including Ratlam, Udaipur, and Junagadh.
• Influence of Swami Dayananda: He was deeply influenced by Swami Dayananda Saraswati, the founder of Arya Samaj, and served as the President of the Bombay Arya Samaj.
• Exile to England: Disillusioned by colonial interference in princely states, he moved permanently to England in 1897 following the arrest of Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Foundation of India House and Associated Institutions

In London, Shyamji Krishna Varma built an institutional network to organize Indian students and promote the cause of complete independence.

Indian Home Rule Society (1905)

Founded on February 18, 1905, the Indian Home Rule Society (IHRS) served as a political body advocating self-rule for India. Its founding members included Dadabhai Naoroji, Lala Lajpat Rai, and Madame Bhikaiji Cama.

The Indian Sociologist

In January 1905, Shyamji launched The Indian Sociologist, an official monthly journal. It published essays on political freedom, anti-colonial strategies, and legal arguments against foreign rule. The journal operated under the motto: “An unconditional loyalty to a foreign government is absurd.”

Opening of India House

On July 1, 1905, Shyamji inaugurated India House at 65 Cromwell Avenue, Highgate, London. The building was opened by Henry Mayers Hyndman, leader of the Social Democratic Federation. India House offered affordable accommodation to Indian students while serving as a center for political discussions.

Fellowships for Indian Students

Shyamji instituted travel fellowships of 2,000 rupees each to bring radical Indian graduates to Europe. These included:

• Swami Dayananda Saraswati Fellowship
• Shivaji Fellowship
• Maharana Pratap Fellowship

These fellowships brought prominent leaders like Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Lala Hardayal, and Madan Lal Dhingra to London.

Key Associates and Operational Expansion

India House evolved into an underground hub for propaganda, political training, and arms procurement.

Radicalization under V. D. Savarkar

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar arrived at India House in 1906 on a Herbert Spencer Fellowship. He organized the Free India Society as an open group to recruit students and established secret ties with Abhinav Bharat in India. During his stay, Savarkar authored The Indian War of Independence 1857 and translated Giuseppe Mazzini’s autobiography into Marathi.

Arms Procurement and Smuggling

Members of India House collected semi-automatic Browning pistols and ammunition. Operatives smuggled these weapons into India inside secret compartments of luggage trunks sent to secret societies in Maharashtra and Bengal.

Major Events and Suppression

Assassination of Sir Curzon-Wyllie (1909)

On July 1, 1909, Madan Lal Dhingra shot Lt. Col. Sir William Hutt Curzon-Wyllie, political aide-de-camp to the Secretary of State for India, during a meeting at the Imperial Institute in London. Dr. Cawas Lalcaca, an Indian physician who tried to intervene, was also killed. Dhingra was arrested at the scene, tried, and hanged on August 17, 1909, at Pentonville Prison.

Shift to Paris and Geneva

Rising intelligence scrutiny from Scotland Yard forced Shyamji Krishna Varma to move to Paris in 1907, transferring the publication of The Indian Sociologist to France. Madame Cama and S. R. Rana built the Paris India Society to continue operations. Shyamji later relocated to Geneva, Switzerland, during World War I to maintain neutrality.

Closure of India House

Following Savarkar’s arrest in March 1910 under the Fugitive Offenders Act, British authorities shut down India House. The dispersed network formed new centers, including the Berlin Committee in Germany and the Ghadar Party in the United States.

Essential Facts

Shyamji Krishna Varma became the first Indian scholar to receive the degree of Master of Arts from Oxford University in 1883. Herbert Spencer, the British philosopher, deeply influenced Shyamji. Upon Spencer’s death in 1903, Shyamji donated money to Oxford University to establish a lectureship in his memory. The Browning pistols smuggled from London by India House members were used by Anant Laxman Kanhere to assassinate Nasik District Magistrate A. M. T. Jackson in December 1909. Shyamji Krishna Varma passed away in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 30, 1930. His wife, Bhanumati Varma, died in 1933. Before his death, Shyamji made a legal agreement with the local municipal government of Geneva to preserve his and his wife’s ashes until India achieved independence. In August 2003, 56 years after Indian independence, the ashes of Shyamji Krishna Varma and his wife were brought back from Switzerland to India. A memorial complex named Kranti Teerth was constructed at his birthplace in Mandvi, Gujarat, featuring a full-scale replica of the original India House building in London.