Sri Aurobindo

Autobiographical Notes

and Other Writings of Historical Interest

Part Two. Letters of Historical Interest

1. Letters on Personal, Practical and Political Matters (1890–1926)

Letters Written While Employed in the Princely State of Baroda (1895–1906)

To Bhuban Babu¹

[June 1901]

Dear Bhuban Babu,

I have been here at Nainital with my wife and sister since the 28^th of May. The place is a beautiful one, but not half so cold as I expected. In fact, in the daytime it is only a shade less hot than Baroda, except when it has been raining. The Maharaja will probably be leaving here on the 24^th,– if there has been rain at Baroda,– but as he will stop at Agra, Mathura and Mhow, he will not reach Baroda till the beginning of July. I shall probably be going separately and may also reach on the 1^st of July. If you like, you might go there a little before and put up with Deshpande. I have asked Madhavrao to get my new house furnished, but I don’t know what he is doing in that direction.

Banerji is, I believe, in Calcutta. He came up to see me at Deoghur for a day.

Yours sincerely

Aurobind Ghose

¹ June 1901. This letter (actually a postcard) is the only non-official item in this subsection. It was written by Sri Aurobindo to a friend or acquaintance about whom nothing is known. Sri Aurobindo went to Naini Tal, a resort in what is now Uttaranchal, after his marriage to Mrinalini Bose in April 1901. The Banerji mentioned in the last paragraph was probably Jatindranath Banerji (c. 1877–1930), a young Bengali who had come to Baroda to obtain military training. In 1902 Sri Aurobindo sent Banerji to Calcutta to begin revolutionary work in Bengal.

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