Nathuram Godse

Lore & Background

Nathuram Godse was born into a Maharashtrian Chitpavan Brahmin family. His father was a postal employee, and his mother was Lakshmi. Originally named Ramachandra, he was given the nickname Nathuram after being raised as a girl for a few years due to his parents' fear of a curse. He attended school in Baramati through the fifth standard and later studied at an English-language school in Pune. Godse dropped out of high school and became an activist with the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha. He joined the RSS in Sangli in 1932 as a ground worker and remained a member of both organisations. In the early 1940s, he formed his own organisation, Hindu Rashtra Dal, but continued his RSS and Hindu Mahasabha membership. In 1946, he claimed to have left the RSS, but historical sources and his family dispute this, and records show he was listed as a member until his final days.

Reader's Guide

Godse's assassination of Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948 was a pivotal event in independent India's history. He made two unsuccessful attempts in 1944 before the fatal shooting. After the assassination, he was restrained by Herbert Reiner Jr., an American vice-consul, and later sentenced to death. Despite pleas for clemency from Gandhi's sons, the sentence was carried out on 15 November 1949. The assassination has been portrayed as an act of Hindutva fanatical terror, and in retrospect, some scholars have called it the first terrorist act in independent India. The RSS has consistently denied any connection with Godse, though his family and evidence contradict this. In recent decades, there have been attempts by Hindu nationalist groups to rehabilitate Godse's image, including calls for a bust, a documentary, and a temple, as well as a political figure calling him a patriot in 2019.

Did You Know?

• Godse made two unsuccessful assassination attempts against Gandhi in 1944 before the successful one in 1948.
• He was restrained after the shooting by Herbert Reiner Jr., a vice-consul at the new American embassy in Delhi.
• Godse was executed at Ambala Central Jail on 15 November 1949.
• His brother Gopal Godse stated that all the Godse brothers were RSS members at the time of the assassination.