The first revolutionary organization of Bengal was the Anushilan Samiti. A bodybuilding society, Anushilan Samiti was a Bengali Indian organization formed in 1902 by the local youth groups and gyms (akhara) in Bengal. The organization had two prominent divisions known as the Dhaka Anushilan Samiti which was centred in Dhaka (modern-day Bangladesh) and the Jugantar group which was centred in Calcutta (Kolkata).
(emblem of Anushilan Samiti)
Anushilan Samiti was a secret revolutionary society with the motto‘United India’. The main aim of this organization was the freedom of India from the British Rule. Anushilan Samiti was influenced by the philosophies of Hindu Shakta philosophy propounded by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Swami Vivekananda. The organization was led by Indian nationalists Aurobindo Ghosh and his brother Barindra Ghosh. The organization was involved in numerous incidences of revolutionary terrorism against the British Rule including assassinations, politically motivated violence and bombings. The Seditious conspiracy during World War I was led by Jatindranath Mukherjee and Rash Behari Bose. The organization even tried to assassinate the Viceroy of India in 1912. Some of the other notable events to be held by the organization were the Alipore Bomb conspiracy, Howrah- Sibpur conspiracy, Delhi-Lahore conspiracy, Barisal conspiracy, Rodda robbery, Indo- German conspiracy, Christmas Day plot, Kakori conspiracy, Chittagong armoury raid etc. All these acts of revolutionary terrorism by the Anushilan Samiti were against the administration of the British rule in India. The organization even collaborated with other revolutionary organizations both in India as well as abroad.
Gradually Anushilan Samiti moved away from its philosophy of revolutionary terrorism in the 1920s by moving to the Indian National Congress and following the philosophy of non-violence by Mahatma Gandhi. However, certain members of the group remained active under Sachindranath Sanyal, eventually leading to the formation of Hindustan Republican Association in the northern part of the country. Anushilan Samiti was dissolved in the 1930s.
