An Ancient Seer in Modern Age - Sri Aurobindo (1872 - 1950) by Prof. S. Naganath

Sri Aurobindo’s full name is Aurobindo Acroyd Ghose. His alma mater Cambridge University classified “Acroyd” as a Christian Middle name. His father Dr. Krishnadhan Ghose was a civil surgeon and his mother Swarnalatha Devi (Basu) hailed from a Bengali aristocratic family. His ardent disciples consider his date of birth 15th August 1872 as an ominous indicator of India’s future date of liberation from British colonial Sri Aurobindo’s full name is Aurobindo Acroyd Ghose. His alma mater Cambridge University classified “Acroyd” as a Christian Middle name. His father Dr. Krishnadhan Ghose was a civil surgeon and his mother Swarnalatha Devi (Basu) hailed from a Bengali aristocratic family. His ardent disciples consider his date of birth 15th August 1872 as an ominous indicator of India’s future date of liberation from British colonial shackles.

Dr. K. D. Ghose was a diehard Anglophile and a great lover of Western culture. He sent his three sons to England for proper English school and University education. Sri Aurobindo the youngest son was only seven when he was sent to a distant foreign land six thousand miles away. The three boys were boarders in a clergyman’s house in Manchester city with strict instructions to the caretakers that these three boys must not be allowed to interact with any Indians, and not speak any Indian tongue during their stay in England.

Sri Aurobindo later went to St. Paul’s School in London and later went to Cambridge University on a senior classical scholarship to King’s College. He earned a First Class classical Tripos third division certificate after two years of study and did not graduate from Cambridge University as he did not pursue his final year studies there. Sri Aurobindo had become a true WOG (Westernised Oriental Gentleman) with a good knowledge of Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian and Spanish. He was a European scholar of classics and he did not know any Indian languages including his mother tongue Bengali and the classical language of India Sanskrit. He wrote the I.C.S open examination and got selected in 1890. He deliberately misled the compulsory horse riding test conducted by the examiners and hence got disqualified. Then His Highness Sayyaji Rao Gaekwad of Baroda offered him a job in Baroda Civil Service.

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