India House was a student residence that existed between 1905 and 1910 at Cromwell Avenue in Highgate, North London. The building rapidly became a hub for political activism, one of the most prominent for overseas revolutionary Indian nationalism.
It was opened to promote nationalist views among Indian students in Britain by Shyamji Krishna Varma, This institute used to grant scholarships to Indian youths for higher studies in England.
Savarkar was a first law student arriving in London in 1906 on scholarship from Krishna Varma, who later became leader of India House.
Patrons of India House published an anti-colonialist newspaper, Indian Sociologist, which the British Raj banned as “seditious”.
In 1909, a member of India House, Madan Lal Dhingra, assassinated W.H.Curzon Wyllie.
In addition to being a student-hostel, the mansion also served as the headquarters for several organisations, the first of which was the Indian Home Rule Society (IHRS).
Gandhiji stayed at India House on his visit to England in 1906. Despite differing views on how to free India, Shyamji and Gandhiji’s relationship was friendly until 1909 when the justified assassination of William Curzon -Wyllie at the hands of the great martyr Madanlal Dhingra occurred.
The network created by India House played a key part in the Hindu–German Conspiracy for nationalist revolution in India during World War I. In the coming decades, India House alumni went on to playing a leading role in the founding of Indian communism and Hindu nationalism.
Following the example laid by the original India House, India Houses were opened in the United States and in Japan.
In 2010, a memorial named Kranti Teerth (Warrior’s rest) was unveiled in Shyamji Krishna Verma’s home town of Mandavi in Gujarat by CM of Gujarat Narendra Modi. Spread over 52 acres, the memorial complex houses a replica of India House building at Highgate along with statues of Krishna Varma and his wife.
168. India House – Political activism hub in London
