https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Chempakaraman_PillaiChempakaraman Pillai - Revision history2026-07-31T09:42:32ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Chempakaraman_Pillai&diff=447046&oldid=prevYukikoTousignant at 11:39, 3 March 20262026-03-03T11:39:48Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian-born political activist}}<br />
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Chempakaraman Pillai<br />
| image = Champakraman Pillai.jpg<br />
| caption =<br />
|other_names = Champak<br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|09|15|df=yes}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Thiruvananthapuram|Trivandrum]], [[Travancore|Kingdom of Travancore]], [[British Raj|British India]]<br>(present day [[Thiruvananthapuram district|Thiruvananthapuram]], [[Kerala]], India)<br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1934|05|26|1891|09|15|df=yes}}<br />
| death_place = [[Berlin]], [[Nazi Germany]]<br>(present day Germany)<br />
|movement = [[Indian Independence movement]], [[Indo-German Conspiracy]] <br />
|organization = [[Berlin Committee]], [[Provisional Government of India]]<br />
}}<br />
{{Reformation in Kerala}}<br />
<br />
'''Chempakaraman Pillai''' (alias '''Venkidi''';<ref name="OnmanoramaIndugopan20160927">{{cite news |last=Indugopan |first=G.R. |title=Chempaka Raman Pillai: The freedom fighter who coined 'Jai Hind' |url=https://www.onmanorama.com/lifestyle/news/chempaka-raman-pillai-indian-revolutionary-freedom-fighter.html |date=27 September 2016 |website=[[Malayala Manorama|Onmanorama]] |access-date=7 October 2020}}</ref> 15 September 1891 – 26 May 1934) was an Indian-born political activist and revolutionary.<ref name="ScrollKrishnan20160817">{{cite news |last=Krishnan |first=Sairam |title=Did a Tamil man from Trivandrum mastermind the bombing of British Madras during World War I? |url=https://scroll.in/article/803179/did-a-tamil-man-from-trivandrum-mastermind-the-bombing-of-british-madras-during-world-war-i |date=17 August 2016 |website=[[Scroll.in]] |access-date=7 October 2020}}</ref> Born in [[Thiruvananthapuram]], he left for [[Europe]] as a youth, where he spent the rest of his active life as an Indian nationalist and revolutionary.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mathew |first1=K. M. |last2=Mammen |first2=Matthew |title=Malayala Manorama Yearbook |date=2009 |page=301 |location=Kottayam |publisher=Malayala Manorama Co. |language=ta |isbn=978-8-189-00412-5}}</ref><br />
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Although his life was mired in controversies, including a squabble with [[Adolf Hitler]],<ref name="onmanorama.com">{{cite web | url=https://www.onmanorama.com/lifestyle/news/chempaka-raman-pillai-indian-revolutionary-freedom-fighter.html | title=Chempaka Raman Pillai: The freedom fighter who coined 'Jai Hind' }}</ref> information on his life in Europe was sketchy in the immediate years after his death. More information has come out in recent years.<ref name="OnmanoramaIndugopan20160927" /><br />
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Chempakaraman Pillai is credited with the coining of the salutation and slogan "[[Jai Hind]]"<ref name="OnmanoramaIndugopan20160927" /><ref>{{cite book| title = Encyclopaedia of South Indian Culture and Heritage| publisher = New Bharatiya Book Corporation| year = 2021| page = 24| isbn = 978-93-5521-768-4| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qoe_EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA24| access-date = 16 December 2024}}</ref> in the pre-independence days of India. The slogan is still widely used in India.<br />
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Pillai, who started the Indian National Voluntary Corps on 31 July 1914, was instrumental in inspiring Netaji [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] to start the [[Indian National Army]] (INA).<ref name="onmanorama.com"/><br />
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==Early life==<br />
Pillai was born into a [[Vellalar|Tamil Vellalar]]<ref>{{cite book |title=TAMILNADU: A Journey in Time, Part 1 |author=George Abraham Pottamkulam |publisher=Notion Press |year=2020 |isbn=9781649516909 |url=https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/TAMILNADU_A_JOURNEY_IN_TIME_Part_1/AkQgEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Chempakaraman+Pillai+vellalar&pg=PT145&printsec=frontcover |page=PT145}}</ref> family in [[Thiruvananthapuram]], capital of the erstwhile [[Travancore|Kingdom of Travancore]] in the modern state of [[Kerala]]. His parents, Chinnaswami Pillai and Nagammal, hailed from [[Nanjinad]] (Then Travancore, present-day [[Kanyakumari district]], [[Tamil Nadu]]).<ref name="ScrollKrishnan20160817" /> He left India in 1908 at the age of 17 with the help of a European.<ref name="Sendurpandian1999">{{cite journal |last=Sendurpandian |first=M. |title=Shenbagaraman Pillai – His German Connection and India's Freedom Struggle (1891–1934) |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=60 |year=1999 |pages=1169 |jstor=44144227}}</ref><br />
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==In Europe==<br />
Pillai attended [[ETH Zurich]] from October 1910 until 1914, pursuing a diploma in Engineering. After the outbreak of the [[First World War]], he founded the International Pro-India Committee and based its headquarters in [[Zürich]], appointing himself president in September 1914. He also published a magazine under the name ''Pro India''.<ref name="Sendurpandian1999" /> During the same period an [[Berlin Committee|Indian Independence Committee]] was formed in Berlin by a group of Indian expatriates in Germany. This latter group was composed of [[Virendranath Chattopadhyaya]], [[Bhupendranath Dutta]], [[A. R. Pillai|A. Raman Pillai]], [[Taraknath Das]], [[Abdul Hafiz Mohamed Barakatullah|Maulavi Barkatullah]], Chandrakant Chakravarty, M. Prabhakar, Birendra Sarkar, and Heramba Lal Gupta.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}<br />
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In October 1914, Pillai moved to Berlin and joined the [[Berlin Committee]], merging it with his International Pro-India Committee as the guiding and controlling institution for all pro-Indian revolutionary activities in Europe. Apart from [[Virendranath Chattopadhyaya|Chattopadhyaya]], Pillai was the only member of the Berlin group who was at all known; the rest were students who had responded to the call to serve their country.<ref name="Bose1971p92">{{cite book |last=Bose |first=Arun Coomer |title=Indian Revolutionaries Abroad, 1905–1922 |year=1971 |publisher=Bharati Bhawan |location=Patna |pages=92–93}}</ref> [[Lala Har Dayal]] was also persuaded to join the movement. Both of them cooperated with the German [[Intelligence Bureau for the East]] and helped creating German propaganda directed at Indian [[Prisoner of war|PoWs]] in German camps, particularly the [[Halbmondlager]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Liebau|first=Heike|date=2019|title="Unternehmungen und Aufwiegelungen": Das Berliner Indische Unabhängigkeitskomitee in den Akten des Politischen Archivs des Auswärtigen Amts (1914–1920)|url=https://www.projekt-mida.de/reflexicon/unternehmungen-und-aufwiegelungen-das-berliner-indische-unabhaengigkeitskomitee-in-den-akten-des-politischen-archivs-des-auswaertigen-amts-1914-1920/|journal=MIDA Archival Reflexicon|pages=2–4}}</ref> In Berlin, he delivered anti-British lectures before large audiences, and collaborated with the Berlin-India Committee in efforts to raise an Indian Nationalist Army Corps from among prisoners of war and Indian residents in [[Mesopotamia]], [[Turkey]] and [[Syria]].<ref name="Sendurpandian1999" /> By the middle of 1916, branch offices of the Indian Committee had been established in [[Zürich]], [[Amsterdam]], and [[Stockholm]], headed respectively by [[Jnan Chandra Dasgupta|Dasgupta]], Pillai, and [[Virendranath Chattopadhyaya|Chattopadhyaya]].<ref name="Bose1971p95">{{cite book |last=Bose |first=Arun Coomer |title=Indian Revolutionaries Abroad, 1905–1922 |year=1971 |publisher=Bharati Bhawan |location=Patna |pages=95–96}}</ref><br />
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From his position in charge of the Committee's contacts with the outside world through [[Netherlands|Holland]], Pillai devised a plan to revive Indian revolutionary activities in East Asia. He was acquainted with the Indonesian nationalist exile Dr. Daus Dekkar, who had come to Berlin from [[Zürich]] in early January 1915 at [[Abdul Hafiz Mohamed Barakatullah|Barakatullah]]'s request. Pillai first asked Daus Dekkar to arrange the distribution of propaganda leaflets through Holland; then in July 1915 he proposed that Daus Dekkar travel to [[Thailand]] to establish a centre of Indian propaganda and foster cooperation between Indian and Indonesian nationalists. After jointly discussing the plan with [[Max von Wesendonck|Wesendonck]] of the German Foreign Office, Daus Dekkar departed [[Rotterdam]] on 8 September 1915, travelling via the United States, where he met [[Ram Chandra (Indian revolutionary)|Ramchandra]] at San Francisco, and then on to [[Tokyo]] and [[Bangkok]]. However, he was arrested at [[Hong Kong]] and confessed everything. Coming on the heels of earlier setbacks, the failure of this mission effectively ended Indian revolutionary efforts in South-East Asia.<ref name="Bose1971p143">{{cite book |last=Bose |first=Arun Coomer |title=Indian Revolutionaries Abroad, 1905–1922 |year=1971 |publisher=Bharati Bhawan |location=Patna |pages=143–144}}</ref><br />
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==SMS ''Emden'' bombing of British Madras==<br />
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On 22 September 1914, The {{SMS|Emden}}, a German warship commanded by Captain Karl von Muller entered the waters off the coast of [[Madras]], and bombed the facilities near the Madras harbour and slipped back into the ocean. The British were taken aback in this sudden attack. His family stated that Pillai coordinated the German attack with his personal presence in the SMS ''Emden'', though this is not the official view. In any case, it is widely believed that Pillai and some Indian revolutionaries had a hand in the SMS ''Emden'' bombing of Madras.<ref name="ScrollKrishnan20160817" /><ref name="OnmanoramaIndugopan20160927" /><br />
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==War activities==<br />
{{Main|Berlin Committee|Hindu–German Conspiracy}}<br />
Indian Independence Committee ultimately became involved in the [[Hindu–German Conspiracy]] along with the [[Ghadar Party]] in the United States. The German foreign office under [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]] funded the Committee's anti-British activities. Chempakaraman and A. Raman Pillai, both from Travancore and both students at German universities, worked together on the Committee. Pillai later allied with [[Indian National Army]] chief [[Subhas Chandra Bose]].<br />
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Many of Pillai's letters to A. Raman Pillai, then a student in the University of Göttingen, were kept by Raman Pillai's son [[Rosscote Krishna Pillai]]. The letters reveal some aspects of Pillai's life in Germany between 1914 and 1920, as does one of July 1914, calling upon Indian soldiers in the [[British Indian Army]] to rise in revolt and fight against the British.<br />
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After the end of World War I and Germany's defeat, Pillai stayed in Germany, working as a technician in a factory in Berlin; when Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose visited [[Vienna]], Pillai met him and explained his plan of action.<ref>{{cite book| title = Encyclopaedia of South Indian Culture and Heritage| publisher = New Bharatiya Book Corporation| year = 2021| page = 24| isbn = 978-93-5521-768-4| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qoe_EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA24| access-date = 16 December 2024}}</ref><br />
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==Post-war activism in Germany==<br />
In 1919, Pillai formed the German-Indian League to continue his political activities in support of Indian independence.<ref name="Sendurpandian1999" /> By 1924, he was actively supporting the German "Nationalist Party" and delivered a lecture under the auspices of the League of Oppressed Peoples on "Indian Right to Freedom" and the "[[Non-cooperation movement (1919–1922)|Gandhi Movement]]".<ref name="Sendurpandian1999" /><br />
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In 1926, the [[Government of India Act 1919|Government of India]] intercepted a letter addressed by Pillai to the editor of the newspaper ''Navayuha'', published from [[Hyderabad]]. The letter was communicated to the [[Madras Presidency|Madras Government]] with instructions to take precautionary measures to deal with him if he returned to India, on account of his seditious and anti-British activities.<ref name="Sendurpandian1999" /><br />
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==Foreign Minister of Provisional Government of India==<br />
[[File:Maaveeran Senbagaraaman.JPG|right|thumb|250px|Chempakaraman statue in [[Chennai]]]]<br />
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{{Main|Provisional Government of India}}<br />
{{See also|Niedermayer–Hentig Expedition}}<br />
Pillai was the foreign minister of the [[Provisional Government of India]] set up in [[Kabul]], [[Afghanistan]] on 1 December 1915, with [[Raja Mahendra Pratap]] as President and [[Maulana Barkatullah]] as Prime Minister. However, the defeat of the Germans in the war shattered the hopes of the revolutionaries, and the British forced them out of Afghanistan in 1919.<br />
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During this time, the Germans were helping the Indian revolutionaries from their own motives. Though the Indians made it clear to the Germans that they were equal partners in their fight against the common enemy, the Germans wanted to use the revolutionaries' propaganda work and military intelligence for their own purposes.<ref name=":0" /><br />
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In 1907, Pillai coined the term "Jai Hind",<ref>{{cite book|author=Charles Stephenson|title=Germany's Asia-Pacific Empire: Colonialism and Naval Policy, 1885-1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOtCAQAAIAAJ|year=2009|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-1-84383-518-9|page=233|quote=...Champakaraman Pillai, a committed anti-imperialist. He is credited with coining the phrase 'Jai Hind' meaning 'Victory for India'...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Saroja Sundararajan|title=Madras Presidency in pre-Gandhian era: a historical perspective, 1884-1915|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ExuAAAAMAAJ|year=1997|publisher=Lalitha Publications|page=535|quote=To Champakaraman Pillai goes the credit of coining the taraka mantra "Jai Hind" in 1907...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title = Encyclopaedia of South Indian Culture and Heritage| publisher = New Bharatiya Book Corporation| year = 2021| page = 24| isbn = 978-93-5521-768-4| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Qoe_EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA24| access-date = 16 December 2024}}</ref> which was adopted as a slogan of the [[Indian National Army]] in the 1940s at the suggestion of [[Abid Hasan]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Gurbachan Singh Mangat|title=The Tiger Strikes: An Unwritten Chapter of Netaji's Life History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NiMgAAAAMAAJ|year=1986|publisher=Gagan Publishers|page=95}}</ref> After India's independence, it emerged as a national slogan.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sumantra Bose|title=Secular States, Religious Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vrxsDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|year=2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-47203-6|pages=49–50}}</ref><br />
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==Marriage and death==<br />
In 1931, Pillai married Lakshmi Bai of [[Manipur]], whom he had met in [[Berlin]]. Unfortunately they had a short life together, as Pillai soon fell ill. There were symptoms of slow poisoning and he went to Italy for treatment.<br />
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Pillai died in Berlin on 28 May 1934. Lakshmibai brought his ashes to [[British Raj|British India]] in 1935 where they were later ceremonially immersed in [[Kanyakumari]] with full state honours.<ref name=Rose2007>{{cite news |last=Rose |first=N. Daniel |title=A Forgotten Fighter |url=http://orkut.google.com/c17467411-t2a31c39a3e13b67c.html |date=4 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312074509/http://orkut.google.com/c17467411-t2a31c39a3e13b67c.html |archive-date=12 March 2017 |location=[[Chennai]] |newspaper=[[The New Indian Express]] |access-date=4 September 2018}}</ref> It was Pillai's final wish that his ashes be sprinkled in [[Nanjinad]] ([[Kanyakumari district|Kanyakumari]]), his family's native place.<ref name="ScrollKrishnan20160817" /><br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*{{cite book<br />
|title=They Too Fought for India's Freedom: The Role of Minorities<br />
|author=Asghar Ali Engineer<br />
|year=2006<br />
|publisher=Hope India Publications<br />
|isbn=81-7871-091-9<br />
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mOM-AQAAIAAJ<br />
|access-date=8 November 2014<br />
}}<br />
*Heike Liebau: "[https://www.projekt-mida.de/reflexicon/unternehmungen-und-aufwiegelungen-das-berliner-indische-unabhaengigkeitskomitee-in-den-akten-des-politischen-archivs-des-auswaertigen-amts-1914-1920/ „Unternehmungen und Aufwiegelungen": Das Berliner Indische Unabhängigkeitskomitee in den Akten des Politischen Archivs des Auswärtigen Amts (1914–1920)]." In: ''[https://www.projekt-mida.de/rechercheportal/reflexicon/ MIDA Archival Reflexicon]'' (2019), ISSN 2628-5029, 1–11.<br />
<br />
{{Ghadar Conspiracy}}<br />
{{Indian Revolutionary Movement}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Champakaraman}}<br />
[[Category:1891 births]]<br />
[[Category:1934 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Indian revolutionaries]]<br />
[[Category:Hindu–German Conspiracy]]<br />
[[Category:People from Thiruvananthapuram]]<br />
[[Category:People from Kanyakumari district]]<br />
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Kerala]]<br />
[[Category:Emigrants from British India]]<br />
[[Category:Immigrants to the German Empire]]<br />
[[Category:ETH Zurich alumni]]</div>YukikoTousignant