Acknowledgement: Some of the facts are taken from the book Saffron Swords by Manoshi Sinha Rawal.
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was born to Damodar Savarkar and Yashoda Savarkar on 28 May 1883, in Bhagur, Nasik. His parents died at a very young age and his responsibilities were borne by Ganesh Savarkar, his eldest sibling. Savarkar did his schooling from the local village and at the age of eighteen he got married to Yamunabai. He graduated from Fergusson College in Pune and with the help of his father in law he went to study Law in England, in Gray's Inn College in London. Here he came in contact with Shyamji Krishna Varma, the leading architect of the freedom movement overseas in the early twentieth century. He was intimately associated with the India House in London. He got the title Veer in his childhood when he led his villagers in driving away a group of Mohamedans who had attacked his village, because of the bravery displayed. He formed the group Abhinava Bharat in 1903 when he was still a College student. Many revolutionaries across Maharashtra were part of that group. Savarkar sent arms like pistols from England to fuel revolutionary movement in different parts of India. In 1909 Madanlal Dhingra assassinated William Curzon Wylie. In Nasik, Ananta Lakshman Kanhare killed notorious Magistrate Jackson in a theater. The police traced the murder to the arms sent by Savarkar. Savarkar was arrested in England in May 1910. He was deported to India for trial, under the escort of a British police officer. He tried a daring escape from the ship when it stopped at Marseilles port by jumping through the porthole and swimming all the way to the shore when he had gone to the restroom. However one of the Indian sentries raised alarm and the police chased him. He was finally caught by the French gendarme and because he could not explain his predicament, being unfamiliar with the French language, he was handed over to the British police who brought them to India for the trial in Nasik Conspiracy Case. He was served deportation for life and was sent to Andamans. He was interned in Cellular jail at the time when the jailer was the notorious David Barry who had driven Indubhushan Roy, who was convicted in the Muraripukur Bomb Case, to suicide, and Ullaskar Datta, fellow prisoner implicated in the same case, to madness. In 1923 a mercy petition was filed on his behalf to bring him back to the mainland. Accordingly in 1923 he was transferred to Yeravada jail. In 1924 he was released on condition that he would not be participating in politics in the next 5 years and was allowed to live in Ratnagiri, under constant watch. In 1937 he was granted provisional freedom. He had founded Hindu Mahasabha and focused on the social reforms of Hinduism. Hindu Mahasabha could not become a major force in India's politics despite standing for the rights of the Hindus. Savarkar wrote the book the History of War of India's Independence based on the 1857 uprising. He believed in Hindus joining the British Indian Army to learn the fighting skill and had a discussion with Subhas Chandra Bose in 1940. In 1945 Hindu Mahasabha had rejected the Wavell Plan and also supported the Indian National Army. In June 1944 Subhas Chandra Bose, who during his tenure in Congress was critical of the communal politics of Hindu Mahasabha, had praised Hindu Mahasabha in tehse words in his radio broadcast- "When due to misguided political whims and lack of vision, almost all the leaders of Congress party have been decrying all the soldiers in Indian Army as mercenaries, it is heartening to know that Veer Savarkar is fearlessly exhorting the youths of India to enlist in armed forces. These enlisted youths themselves provide us with trained men and soldiers for our Indian National Army." (https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/subhas-chandra-bose-support-and-betrayal)
On his part Savarkar had said, "long live deathless Subhas", in 1952.
Savarkar died in 1966 shortly after his wife Jamunabai passed away.