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Anushilan Samiti was an underground revolutionary group which was formed in 1902 in and around Calcutta (Bengal).
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It was initially formed by the youth from local gyms (тАШakharasтАЩ) of Calcutta as a bodybuilding
society but it turned into an underground group for anti-British works.
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It had two
independent sub-groups in East and West Bengal viz Dhaka Anushilan Samiti (centred in Dhaka), and the Jugantar group (centred in Calcutta)
respectively.
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From its foundation till its dissolution during the
1930s, the Samiti challenged British rule in India by engaging in militant nationalism, including
bombings, assassinations, and politically motivated violence.
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This organization was mainly led by the
nationalists Aurobindo Ghosh and his
brother Barindra Ghosh.
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Nationalist writings and publications by Aurobindo
and Barin, including Bande Mataram
and Jugantar Patrika (Yugantar), had
a widespread influence on Bengal youth and helped Anushilan Samiti to gain
popularity in Bengal.
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The other nationalists associated to it were Rash Behari Bose, Jatindranath Mukherjee,
and Sachindranath Sanyal etc.
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Later women revolutionaries like Pritilata Waddedar who led a Jugantar
attack during the Chittagong Armoury raid, and Kalpana Dutta who manufactured bombs at Chittagong, became its
members.
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Rash Behari Bose extended the group's reach
into north India where he forged links with radical nationalists in Punjab and
the United Provinces, including those later connected to Har Dayal.
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The Defence
of India Act 1915 was brought to control this group which led to widespread
arrests, internments, deportations and executions of members of the
revolutionary movement.
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By 1916,
widespread arrests helped Bengal police crush the Dacca Anushilan Samiti in
Calcutta.
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In 1923
another group linked to Anushilan Samiti, the Hindustan Republican Association was founded in Benares by Sachindranath Sanyal and Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, helping to
radicalise north India.
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Its Chittagong
branch, led by Surya Sen, robbed the Chittagong office of the
Assam-Bengal Railway in December 1923
and also performed an armoury raid in
1930 for which Surya Sen was hanged
till death.
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In 1930
eleven British officials were killed and three successive district magistrates
in Midnapore were assassinated.
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However, soon afterwards, by 1934, this revolutionary
movement in Bengal ended.