| Freedom Fighters |
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| Biographies of Great Indians & Hindus |
MADAME CAMA |
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| Back To Her
Beloved Homeland She fervently wished to return to India and spend the last few days of her life in the land of her birth. The permission of the British Government was needed to enter India. Sir Cowasji Jahangir made inquiries about it in the Home Department. There was a good deal of discussion. Finally the British Government agreed. But the Government imposed one condition: She was to state in writing that she would not participate in the struggle for freedom. She should have nothing to do with revolutionaries. At first Madame Cama did not agree. But friends and relatives pressed her and she had to agree. By nature she opposed any restrictions and conditions imposed on her. About thirty-four years before, young Madame Cama had left India. Youth and middle age had been dedicated to the service of the motherland and the coura- geous fight for freedom. The body was now seventy years old but the mind was still throbbing with the desire freedom and the zeal to fight. In this stage, she traveled towards the motherland. Even as she was nearing India she became ill. She was even unable to get up from the bed. Her Breath One with the Winds of the Land As soon as Madame Cama came to Bombay, the place of her birth, she was supremely satisfied and happy. She was taken directly from the Bombay port to the Petit Hospital. For eight months she lay between life and death. Madame Cama passed away on 13th August 1936. She had fought for India's freedom. That freedom dawned eleven years after her death. 'Loss of Freedom Means Loss of Virtue' In a sense Madame Cama's life abroad where she fought for India's freedom was like living in obscurity. She sacrificed her life for the motherland. Even during the last moments of her life she urged repeatedly: "To gain freedom from subjection stand up against all difficulties." "He who loses freedom will lose virtue. Opposition of tyranny is obedience to God's command" said Madame Cama; she practiced what she preached. |
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