Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883 - 1966) was a Hindu nationalist activist, politician, and writer who was a leader in the Hindu Mahasabha. His followers gave him the prefix "Veer", which means " brave". Savarkar was born in the village of Bhagur, near Nashik, Maharashtra. He was a talented poet whose poems were published in newspapers when he was young. He began his activism in high school and founded the Mitra Mela with his brother Ganesh in 1903. Savarkar studied at Shivaji High School and then Fergusson College in Pune. He was expelled from college for his nationalist activities. He then went to London to study law at Gray's Inn, where he became involved with the Free India Society and India House. Savarkar was arrested in 1910 on charges including arms distribution, waging war against the state, and giving seditious speeches. He was sentenced to two life terms and spent 50 years in the cellular prison of Andaman and Nicobar Island, also known as Kala Pani. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist ideology of Hindutva while in prison in Ratnagiri in 1922. Savarkar wrote The Indian War of Independence, 1857, which was published in 1909. In the book, he argued that the Indian Mutiny of 1857 was the first mass rebellion against British colonial rule in India. The Veer Savarkar International Airport in Port Blair is named after him.