The Warrior and the Saint 165
dream of setting in my own province a rival throne to the one on
which is seated a majestic fig ure representing a new age in the po lit i cal
his tory of the world.” Yet he saw Subhas Chandra as the “deliverer” who
would claim of his countrymen “the resoluteness, the unyielding will to
live and to conquer strengthened by the inspiration” of his own life. “I
may not join him in the fight that is to come,” the seventy- eight- year-
old poet wrote in conclusion. “I can only bless him and take my leave
knowing that he has made his country’s burden of sorrow his own, that
his final reward is fast coming as his country’s freedom.”^69
Besides earning Tagore’s blessing, Bose had also inspired a “genuine
feeling of sympathy and affection” in a very large number of common
people. In an article titled “My Strange Illness,” he mentioned the let-
ters, telegrams, parcels, packets of medicine, flowers, and amulets he
had received:
I was trying to analyze the above writers and senders according to
their religious faith, and I found that ev ery religious denomination was
represented. And not only ev ery religious denomination, but ev ery sys-
tem of medicine (all the “pathies,” if I may use the word) and both the
sexes! Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, etc.—Allopaths, Homeo-
paths, Vaids, Hakims, Naturopaths, Astrologers, etc.—men and women
—all have been writing to me, giving me their advice and sometimes
also samples of medicines and amulets.It was this outpouring of love and concern that restored Bose’s faith
after he had been subjected to the “morally sickening atmosphere of
Tripuri.” “This is the India,” he reassured himself, “for which one toils
and suf fers. This is the India for which one can even lay down [one’s]
life. This is the real India in which one can have undying faith, no mat-
ter what Tripuri says or does.”^70
My Conscience Is My Own
“India is a strange land,” Subhas wrote to Emilie in June 1939, “where
people are loved not because they have power, but because they give up
power. For instance, at Lahore I had a warmer welcome this time than