An Article By – Hrithik.M ( LL.B Student -Seshadripuram Law College)
“Oh, Motherland, sacrifice for you is like life; living without you is death.”
– Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
Introduction:-
The Konkan Region is known for its Beautiful Hill Stations, Natural Beauty and Rich History, this region was ruled by many great dynasties like Mauryan, Satavahana, Kadamba, Chalukya, Rashtrakuta, Yadava and Marathas. It’s also the birth place of many great freedom Fighters like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Peshwa Baji Rao, Balagangadhar Tilak, Veer Savarkar etc… who relentlessly fought and protected this nation from the invaders.
Here let us remember one such young freedom fighter from the konkan region who participated in the freedom movement at a very young age and was hanged by the Britishers when he was just 18yrs old and his name was ‘’Anant Laxman Kanhere’’.
Childhood, Early life:-
Anant Laxman Kanhere was born on 7th January 1892 at Aayani-mete, Ratnagiri District in a Konkan Brahmin Family .He had two brothers and sisters.He spent his early life in Nizamabad were he completed his Primary Education and to pursue his English Education he shifted to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar ( Aurangabad) which is seen has a most important turning point in his life for his future participation in the freedom movement and for some time he stayed with his elder brother Ganapatrao at Barshi and later returned backed to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar ( Aurangabad) , Where he stayed in the rented room of his friend Gangaram in 1908.
Joining Secret Society:-
During the start of 21st Century Anti-British sentiments where growing high among the people all over the country and many Secret Societies were formed in the nook and corner to fight against the atrocities of the British and to achieve freedom from the colonel rule. Nashik was in the forefront in this movement and many secret Societies where established in nashik under many great leaders. One such secret Society was formed and guided by Babarao Savarkar and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar known as “Abhinav Bharath” .
Anant Laxman Kanhere friend Gangaram had already taken an oath of “Abhinav Bharath” and was an active member of the Society. Gangaram friend Kashinath Tonape from Yewale was a member of Nashik based Secret Society, Anant was put into many tests by Gangaram and was administrated very carefully by members of the secret society before giving him oath of allegiance and fight for the country’s freedom and protection of the Hindu society. Gangaram kept a pair of iron tongs and lit fire and kept the lamp’s hot glass and asked Anant to hold in his both hands even though his palms were burning he did not throw away the glass rather he was enjoying the pain in the happiness of his entry into the Freedom movement and Kashinath Tonape gave him the oath of the Secret Society and officially made him a member of it, where he was given the task to assassinate ‘Jackson’.
Jackson Assassination:-
Arthur Mason Tippetts Jackson was a British officer serving has a magistrate in Nashik district, He was also known as “Pandit Jackson” because of his high knowledge in Sanskrit, India History and culture, he made an image of people- friendly officer because he used to converse in Marathi language and started mixing with the people and made them to believe that he was one among them and told them he was a Vedic-literate Brahmin in his previous life that is why he felt very affectionate and attracted towards the Indian people.
But the Brutal behavior of the British and imprisonment of Lokmanya Tilak for six years created a very great impact on the society and Jackson’s hand in arresting Babarao Savarkar who tried to print 16 pages book of Kavi Govind made the anger even more worse because Jackson believed that Abhinav Bharat Society was engaged in seditious activities against British Government and even subjected Waman Sakharam Khare, a prominent lawyer to such severe torture that Khare lost his mental balance and Khare’s only “offence” was that he appealed in favour of revolutionary forces in the court and helped them, the final incident that sparked entire people was when a British officer killed a farmer by beating him to death for refusing to let his vehicle overtake him and the negligence showed by Jackson in this incident made the people upset and loose the trust on him, Although instead of taking any action against Jackson he was given Promotion and transferred to Bombay by the British government. Due to all this reasons the youths of the secret society headed by Krishnaji Karve decided to assassinate Jackson and teach a lesson to the British Government.
A farewell party was arranged in Vijayanand Theater and the revolutionaries thought this is the best opportunity to eliminate him and the plan was made and the task was headed by Krishnaji Karve along with Anant Laxman kanhere and Vinayak Deshpande. As per plan, Anant Laxman Kanhere need to shoot Jackson first and consume poison or shoot himself in order to avoid arrest and save his companions, if his attempt failed secondly Vinayak Deshpande need to take position and shoot Jackson and if both attempts failed then finally Krishnaji Karve need to shoot and eliminate Jackson inside theater at any cost .
On 21st December 1909 Jackson arrived to theater and was watching ‘Sharada’ play as per the program scheduled and in the mid of the play Anant jumped from no were in-front of Jackson and immediately shot him using Browning pistol with four bullets ,where he fell dead on spot but as per plan Anant could not consume poison or shoot himself instead he was attacked by the Indian officer Mr.Palshikar and former DSP Mr.Marutrao Toradmal and also the people present in the theater caught him and his companions and handed over to the British police. On his arrest a copy of paper written by Krishnaji Karve named “Murder for Murder” was discovered from him.
Judgement, Death and Aftermath:-
He was Prosecuted in the Bombay court and during trail he admitted his actions and made statement-”I carried out this act on my own without anyone’s help or guidance” this shows his determination to keep his companions away from the case but on 29th March 1910 the Chief Justice of Bombay gave the judgement of this case- to hang all the three accused (Anant,Krishnaji and Vinayak) involved in the killing and the other accused in the case Shankar Ramchandra Soman, Daji Narayan Joshi and Ganesh Balaji Vaidya were given Life imprisonment and Dattatraya Pandurang Joshi was sentenced for two years rigorous imprisonment.
Anant Laxman Kanhere, Krishnaji Karve and Vinayak Deshpande were hanged to death on 19th April 1910 at Thane Prison and there bodies were refused to be handed over to their relatives instead the prison officers burnt them and the ashes was dumped in the ocean near by Thane.
Jackson murder created a strong fear among the British and investigations were made about all the secret societies present in the country and its activities were kept on watch both internally and externally and “Abhinav Bharath” and its members became the prime target for the British and also led to the arrest and deportation of ”Vinayak Damodar Savarkar” who was studying law in England .
Legacy:-
A cricket ground in Nashik is named after Anant Kanhere, it host‘s domestic matches and tournaments such as Ranji trophy.
A Marathi film 1909 was released in 2014 which is based on Anant Kanhere life and assassination of Collector Jackson.
Conclusion:-
Even tough he lived a very short life of 18years he created a big fear among the British and sparked a flame of revolution in the hearts of the people and became a great inspiration to many to take part actively in the freedom struggle and also contribute towards the development of our nation.
