ABSTRACT
There are two main arguments in this chapter. The first argument is about Saha’s nationalist aspirations and involvement with Bengal Revolutionary groups such as Jugantar, Anushilan Samiti and the Bengal Volunteers, and how he saw his work facilitating the process of decolonization. The second is about how Saha, from his humble shudra origin, raised himself from a lower caste to the status of a bhadralok through his significant scientific contributions. Interestingly enough, such a transition from the lowest caste to the prominent bhadralok position did not occur for C.V. Raman and H.J. Bhabha, who were born into Brahmin families, and therefore into the topmost rank in the Indian caste hierarchy. Saha was closely associated with the Bengal Revolutionaries, especially with Anushilan Samiti, Jugantar, Bengal Volunteers, Jatindra Nath Mukherjee (commonly known as Bagha Jatin), and Pulin Das. Their rationale was to put up an armed resistance against the British rule for decolonization. Because of this association, Saha’s early life was full of hindrances imposed by the colonial government. Hence, Saha faced a two-fold problem— of being a shudra in the first place, and being a revolutionary early in his life - continuously finding himself on the wrong side of “law”, and constantly being hounded by British secret services. Using Saha’s early career trajectory and professionalization, this chapter also outlines how science was practiced in early twentieth-century India. Saha’s dialogues with Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi are also discussed, particularly the nature of their diverging paths to forming the Indian nation-state.
