One Man and a World at War 181flammatory words and actions could be put out of circulation for the
duration of the war.
Bose had other ideas, however. On November 29, 1940, he started
a hunger strike in prison, challenging the government: “Release me,
or I shall refuse to live.” Three days before that, he had composed a
thirteen- page handwritten letter, addressed to the British governor of
Bengal, which he described as his “po lit i cal testament.” It opened and
closed with two requests. At the outset, Bose asked that his letter “be
carefully preserved in the archives of the Government, so that it may be
available to those of my countrymen who will succeed you in of fice in
future.” The message to his countrymen was clear: “One individual
may die for an idea—but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself
in a thousand lives.” The long statement gradually rose to a crescendo,
lyrically describing the search for the fulfillment of an idea through an
“ordeal of suf fering and sac ri fice”:What greater solace can there be than the feeling that one has lived and
died for a principle? What higher satisfaction can a man possess than
the knowledge that his spirit will beget kindred spirits to carry on his
unfin ished task? What better reward can a soul desire than the certainty
that his message will be wafted over hills and dales and over the broad
plains to distant lands? What higher consummation can life attain than
peaceful self- immolation at the altar of one’s Cause?The “Cause” that he held dear was his country’s freedom, based on
unity among its diverse religious communities. He demanded that the
government cease trying to divide Hindus and Muslims, and exhorted
his compa tri ots never to “compromise with injustice and wrong.” It
was evident to him that “nobody can lose through suf fering and sac ri-
fice”: “If he does lose anything ‘of the earth, earthy,’ he will gain much
more in return by becoming the heir to a life immortal.”^2
Bose’s second request came toward the end of his letter: he asked
the government not to interfere with his fast. He reminded the gov-
ernment of others who had fasted from po lit i cal conviction—Terence
MacSwiney of Ireland, Jatin Das, who died in Lahore Jail in 1929, and