Sri Aurobindo's account of his experiences as an undertrial prisoner in Alipore Jail, Calcutta. Arrested for conspiracy in May 1908, Sri Aurobindo spent one full year in jail while the British Government, in a protracted trial, tried to implicate him in various revolutionary activities. Acquitted and released in May 1909, he wrote a series of articles in Bengali in the journal Suprabhat describing his life in prison and the courtroom. Translated by late professor Sisir Kumar Ghosh of Santiniketan, these articles form the main text of this book.

Several briefer pieces are also included in the book: three essays in which Sri Aurobindo discusses the noble character of the young revolutionaries imprisoned with him: a poem, "Invitation", which he wrote in Alipore Jail, and a speech at Uttarpara in which he disclosed for the first time some of the spiritual experiences he had in jail.