Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t9.1

v1.c7.s9.t9.1

Aurobindo Ghose (1872 ~ 1950), Indian modern philosopher and the early Indian national independence movement leader, was born in an honourable family in the suburb of Calcutta, with Brahmin caste. His grandfather was a knowledgeable scholar, his father was a famous doctor in local and his maternal grandfather La Narayan Bose was a famous scholar and enlightenment thinker. At the age of seven, Aurobindo Ghose went to UK to study, at first he studied at the tutor’s home, and then was enrolled in the St. Paul’s School in London and King’s College of Cambridge University studying literature. He had a good command of Latin, Greek, English, French, German and other languages and read a lot of Western classical and modern masterpieces of philosophy and literature. When Aurobindo Ghose was in Cambridge University, he once participated in an Indian student organisation with patriotic thoughts, and was influenced deeply by the ideology of Hindu nationalism. In 1893, Aurobindo Ghose returned to India and was appointed as a professor by the University of Baroda to teach English and French literature, later he was promoted to be the vice president. During his teaching career, he actively participated in the activities of the Congress Party, and wrote articles criticising the moderate improvement route proposed by the leaders of the Congress Party. In 1905, when India’s national independence movement reached a climax, Aurobindo Ghose resolutely resigned from his professorship in University of Baroda and returned to his hometown - Calcutta, where he actively led the people of Bangladesh in the “anti-separation struggle”. He organised demonstrations of patriotic masses, carried out Swadeshi movement, founded the patriotic newspaper *Salute to our Motherland* to publicise radical nationalism ideology, and became the chief leader in Bengal National Movement and the leader of radicals in the Congress Party. During 1907 ~ 1908, Aurobindo Ghose was arrested and imprisoned twice by the colonial authorities. In 1910, he migrated to Pondicherry which was in