Essentials of Hindutva Author:Vinayak Damodar Savarkar n 1923, Veer Savarkar wrote his seminal book 'Essentials of Hindutva' in Ratnagiri Jail where he was kept for nearly two years after being brought to the Indian mainland from the Andamans. It must be remembered that conditions in Ratnagiri Jail were so bad that Savarkar records that he considered committing suicide there.