He returned to India in 1893 and went to Baroda on a pending invitation from the local king. He worked for seven years there and then joined the Maharaja’s College of Baroda as professor of English and French, before becoming the college’s principal. Some of his notable books were written while he was in Baroda – books like Urvashi, Songs to Myrtilla, Perseus the Deliverer and the Dewans of Bassora. 

It was while he was with the Baroda College that he began to intervene in politics. He started writing political articles attacking the conservative leaders of the Indian National Congress in a blistering style, and became closer with some of the underground extremists working for India’s freedom struggle. But he also attended two annual sessions of the Congress. In 1901 he married Mrinalinidevi, daughter of Bhupalachandra Bose. Their marriage did not last for long for she died of typhoid in 1918. He resigned as Principal of Baroda College to take up the same assignment with the National College, Calcutta.

The life in Calcutta gave him more time and freedom to be more active in politics; but before long he left that job too, to immerse himself in politics. The government would not allow him to be so active and so he was prosecuted for treason, but let free for want of enough proof (1907). Again, he was arrested the next year in connection with the Alipore conspiracy case in which a white woman and her daughter were killed in a bomb attack. A group of revolutionaries did use a farmhouse that belonged to his family for training. Though Aurobindo Ghosh had no direct relation with the incident, he was arrested and imprisoned. After a sensational trial and arguments, he was let free, though two of his relatives and some others were awarded imprisonment for life.