40.Aurobindo Ghosh (1872 - 1950)

Sri Aurobindo Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950),  was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru and poet.
Aurobindo Ghosh was born in a Bengali Hindu family in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India on 15 August 1872. His father, Krishna Dhan Ghosh, was District Surgeon of Rangapur, Bengal. His mother, Swarnalata Devi, was the daughter of Brahmo religious and social reformer, Rajnarayan Basu.

Birth and Parentage

On Thursday, the 15th August, 1871, at about 5 a.m., Sri Aurobindo was born of Sri Krishnadhan and Swamalata, at Calcutta, in Bengal, in a reputed Ghosh family of Konnagar. Sri Krishnadhan went to England and returned an M.D., full of honours.

Raj Narayan Bose, an acknowledged leader in Bengali literature, a writer in the "Modern Review" and the grandfather of Indian nationalism was Sri Aurobindo’s maternal grandfather. Aurobindo owes not only his rich spiritual nature, but even his very superior literary capacity, to his mother’s line.

An Accomplished Scholar

Aurobindo was sent to the Loretto Convent School at Darjeeling when he was four years old. As a boy, Aurobindo received his early education in a public school in England.

The old headmaster of the school observed, "Of all the boys who passed through my hands during the last 25 or 30 years, Aurobindo was by far the most richly endowed with intellectual capacity".

From school Aurobindo went to King’s College, Cambridge, where he distinguished himself as a student of European classics

 In 1877, Aurobindo and two elder siblings  Manmohan Ghose and Benoybhusan Ghose were send to the Loreto Convent school in Darjeeling. His father was posted at various positions at the Government hospitals in Bengal during this time. His father was believed to be an atheist (denying existence of God) Indian civil service in England.
according to Aurobindo and wanted his sons to study ICS .

(Sri Aurobindo's home in St Stephen's Avenue, London 1884-1887, with English Heritage blue plaque)

 Educational career in England
In 1879, Aurobindo and his two elder brothers were taken to Manchester, England for a European education. The brothers were placed in the care of the Reverend W.H. Drewett and his wife in London. Drewett was an Anglican priest whom Ghose knew through his British friends at Rangapur. The Drewetts tutored the Ghose brothers privately; they were asked to keep the tuition completely secular and to make no mention of India or its culture.
Between 1880 and 1884, while his brothers where studying at Manchester Grammar School, Drewett coached Aurobindo in Latin and his wife coached him in French, geography and arithmetic until he joined St Paul's School. Here he learnt Greek, spending the last three years reading literature and English poetry. He also acquired some familiarity with German and Italian. K.D. Ghosh wanted his sons to pass the prestigious Indian Civil Service examination, but in 1889 it appeared that of the three brothers, only young Aurobindo had a chance of fulfilling his father's aspirations, his brothers having already decided their future careers. To become an ICS official, students were required to pass the competitive examination, as well as to study at an English university for two years under probation. Aurobindo secured a scholarship at King's College, Cambridge, coming first in the examination. He also passed the written examination of the Indian Civil Service after a few months, where he was ranked 11th out of 250 competitors. He spent the next two years at King's College.
By the end of two years of probation, Aurobindo had no interest in ICS exam and came late to the horse riding exam purposefully to get himself disqualified for the service.

In 1892 he passed tripos from Cambridge University.

At this time, the Maharaja of Baroda, Sayajirao Gaekwad III, was travelling in England. James Cotton, brother of Sir Henry Cotton, for some time Lieutenant Governor of Bengal and Secretary of the South Kensington Liberal Club, knew Aurobindo and his father secured for him a place in Baroda State Service and arranged for him to meet the prince. He left England for India, arriving there in February, 1893. In India Aurobindo's father who was waiting to receive his son was misinformed by his agents from Bombay (now Mumbai) that the ship on which Aurobindo had been travelling had sunk off the coast of Portugal. Ghose who was by this time frail due to ill-health could not bear this shock and died..