Thread by @dikgaj

All of those "academic" references, being chain referenced by others - are actually explicitly speculative. There is no direct hint about this in Bankim's communications. He was a voracious reader and collector of local histories, and wd hv had examples well before Phadke.

https://twitter.com/SadaaShree/status/1456517817713369088

This shd not be about who inspired whom, and Phadke's insurgency shd be given its own recognition - but reducing Bankim's Anandamath to being modeled on Phadke actually feeds into the pseudo-Left's subtle and as yet unsuccessful attempt to delegetimize Bankim's "nationhood".

It also covers the thought process in Bankim that led to his concept of a nationhood framed by the Hindu. The first objection to the pseudo-left speculation on Phadke is that it seeks to place the source of Bankim's nationalism as derived from "outside" and "contemporary".

While the pseudo-left has created a mythology of Sannyasi-Faqir "united front" (almost "left-dem" because faqirs involved) - the faqirs and sannyasis didnt have identical motivations. Sannyasis also had a longer tradition of militant monastic orders in eastern India.

Even if ppl try and debate over whether "Bong" Madhusudan Saraswati actually did start the militancy or militarization of dasanami's, the story as carried within Dasanami traditions is that he led the process and recruited from non-"Brahmins".

The Dasanami militant orders had their networks within Bengal, and this would be from 16th c. That their formation was with a view to protect Hindu pilgrims from mullah depredations, wd give them an explicit Hindu political/"state" colour

therefore the Dasanami sects part as sannyasis wd be different from participation of faqirs in conflict with Brits and their local allies. They would be fighting as a replacement for the subjugated/destroyed Hindu state/regimes seeking control and protection of territory/society.

Bankim's cues in Anandamath can only be understood from this eastern Ganga valley history of monastic militarized Hindu orders -who tried to play the role of a "Hindu" state in the absence of or liquidation of Hindu political authority.

The anti-mullah strand in the text, secretive militarization, monastic organization, celibacy as well as its controlled/contextualized breaking (infamous examples exist further to the west within Dasanami history), recruitment beyond traditional "Brahmin" sannyasi in the "army",

all are consistent with how the militancy in Dasanami groups evolved from 16th c - and Bankim, given his early appetite for history (and he was quite rigorous and critical in his study of history) would be very aware of this. So that wd explain far better than Phadke's example.

Phadke could have been a confirmation but not the initiator of the idea in his mind of the utility of a Hindu based concept of nationhood that valued the land as "mother" and used the already existing innovation of dedicated militant monk orders to achieve nationhood.

Bankim's life, his physical frailty and complete fearlessness, and his furious reactions to insult and "battles" ag injustice from the Brits, might throw a much better light where Satyananda or Jibananda came from - these were what he wanted to be, in an imagined perfection.

Bagchi et al, like the whole lot, have not taken a comprehensive deep dive of his life stories (recalled by a relative), his contests with British authority, stubborn pursuit of justice for ppl at receiving end of Brit Indigo scumsters/landlords to understand Anandamath.

It didnt need any "inspiration" from anywhere else- it came from his own study of his part of India's history, shaped by his own character and projections of his ideal personalities. In the lead male characters of Anandamath, the author is living a life he wished he could live.