Motilal rushed down the stairs of Rani Ghat & asked the young man sitting on the boat in hushed tones, “Are you coming from Calcutta?”
The man replied, “Yes…but why do you ask?”
Motilal garnered courage & asked again, “Is Aurobindo inside?”
The man did not speak, he signalled Motilal to enter the boat.
After entering the boat, Motilal saw another young man sitting inside & Aurobindo lying with his head on the man’s lap. They engaged in hushed conversations & Motilal eagerly invited Aurobindo to initially put up at his house. So, the boat was rowed further up to a ghat near Motilal’s house in Gondolpara. But to avoid being seen, they chose a deserted cremation ground to disembark. Motilal Roy settled Aurobindo comfortably on an arm-chair in his drawing room, while his two companions bid goodbye & departed.
Aurobindo was jailed on 8 May, 1908, along with his brother Barin Ghosh, after indictment by the British, of being involved in the Alipore Bomb Conspiracy. He was released after a year, by the able defence put up by Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das in court. Aurobindo then joined ‘Karmajogin’ as the Editor. The British were on the lookout for arresting him again, for they knew very well that he was actively involved in undercover revolutionary activities. Sister Nivedita constantly told him that they could suddenly arrest him any day without warning & he should consider leaving Calcutta. News finally arrived on 20 February, 1910, about the impending arrest of Aurobindo. He was then at the office of ‘Karmajogin’ in Shyam Pukur Lane, when Ram Chandra Majumder, an editorial assistant of ‘Karmajogin’, suddenly entered at about 8.00 p.m. & informed that a warrant had been issued to arrest Aurobindo immediately. Aurobindo has written in his memoir:
While I was listening to animated comments from those around on the approaching event, I suddenly received a command from above, in a voice well-known to me in three words: “Go to Chandernagore”.
Later, Aurobindo had expressed that he did not immediately understand the meaning of the command but decided to comply by it. Some researchers say that on that evening, Aurobindo had received the news from Nivedita herself & decided to go to Chandernagore. Nivedita had borrowed some money from Jagadish Chandra Bose & given it to Aurobindo to be used in hiding. But, Suresh Chandra Chakraborty, who was present at that moment, has not mentioned Nivedita in his memoir at all & hence a doubt remains as to the veracity of the event. Aurobindo had walked with his companions for ten to fifteen minutes until he reached Ahiritola Ghat. A boat was rented by Ram Chandra & Aurobindo set sail for Chandernagore with Suresh & Biren. It reached ‘Rani Ghat’ at Chandernagore just before dawn. Suresh Chandra contacted Charu Chandra Roy & requested asylum for Aurobindo. But he refused, stating the risk involved. His student Shrish Chandra Ghosh heard of the matter & contacted his friend Motilal Roy of Gondolpara, at about 6.30 a.m. on 21 January. Motilal Roy, who later founded the ‘Prabartak Sangha’ & was the saviour of so many revolutionaries, had never met Aurobindo. Yet, he rushed to the ghat immediately fearing Aurobindo may have left, because it was already over three hours since he had arrived. But, he was lucky to have met Aurobindo actually & brought him along to his house.
Aurobindo told Motilal it was imperative that even the inhabitants of the house, including Motilal’s wife, should not know about his presence. Hence, Aurobindo was moved to a godown at the back of the house. Motilal had a family business of dealing with wooden furniture. The room was stacked with wooden chairs & was extremely dirty, with cobwebs, bats & cockroaches roaming the place. Motilal cleaned a portion of the room & made a bed for Aurobindo to rest on. To ward off his wife, he made a pretence of having to eat in the ‘baithak khana’ or drawing room & when he couldn’t manage, he bought food from outside for Aurobindo. On the first night, Motilal just couldn’t bring himself to leave Aurobindo in that room. He took him to a friend’s house after ten o’clock at night in utmost secrecy. He couldn’t sleep the whole night out of extreme anxiety, but was able to see Aurobindo only after sunset on 22 February. Surprisingly, Aurobindo told him that he was feeling extremely uncomfortable & wished to go back to Motilal’s house. Motilal brought back Aurobindo & made arrangements in a different room beside the ‘thakur dalan’ (place of worship). This room too was filled with wooden furniture. A space was cleared in the middle, a bed was made & a mosquito net was hung to ward off insects. Chairs were piled all around, thus creating a guard wall & preventing anyone from prying. But, Radha Rani did find out the very next day & was aghast to find a strange man staring at her with luminescent eyes. After coming to know of his identity from her husband, she looked after him like a mother to her son. Later Aurobindo had said, “Moti, I have witnessed the Kali…I have seen the mother”. Motilal had written in his memoir that in those days Aurobindo was extremely silent & stoic to his surroundings, spending his days in silent meditation.
Aurobindo remained in Motilal’s house till the end of February. The news of the disappearance of Aurobindo had been published in ‘Karmajogin’ & people were made to believe that he had departed to the Himalayas to become a yogi. But, the British police naturally did not believe it & continued their search for Aurobindo. So, Aurobindo was often shifted across Chandernagore to various houses, with the assistance of local revolutionaries. Motilal in general, avoided going to meet him, for fear of being noticed.
March was about to end. It was being planned to send Aurobindo abroad, probably to France. But then, Aurobindo again received the voice of command, “Go to Pondicherry”. On the morning of 30 March, Motilal was informed that Aurobindo had sent for him. When he met him, Aurobindo said to Motilal, “If you can, do come tomorrow. I’m leaving”.
“I see. Then you would go outside India?”
“No, in India itself”.
Motilal did not question further but went about making arrangements for Aurobindo’s departure. On 31 March, at midnight, Srish Chandra came & called him out to meet Aurobindo for the last time. Motilal went & met him at the ghat & touched his feet. Motilal described the moment in his memoir:
It was then about three o’clock at night. Silence reigned everywhere, except the indistinct sounds of nocturnal animals. There was a crescent moon in the sky. Summer had not yet approached; the cool spring breeze freshened the body. The dew drops on the grass looked like tiny stars in the moonlight. The flashing waters of the Bhagirathi seemed to shine like crushed pieces of diamond in a mine.
With great sadness Motilal saw Aurobindo’s boat leave Chandernagore & disappear in the swirling mists on the Bhagirathi. He was sure that the curtain was about to rise on a different era in history.