In the Hind Swaraj,
while the Reader is under the notion that the English took control of India and
brought with them the problems India is facing, the Editor promotes the idea
that “the English have not taken India” (38) but rather “we [Indians] created the
circumstances that gave the Company [East Trading Company] its control over
India. Hence it is truer to say that we gave India to the English than that
India was lost” (39). The Editor approaches the situation with more internal
reflection than the Reader, stating that India is in its current position not
solely because of brute English force but by its own actions as well. Gandhi,
through the responses of the Editor, highlights a dichotomy within the Reader,
who although infuriated with the English—believing them to be the source of
India’s problems—fails to see that he/she has bought into many English notions
and forgotten the strength, the Editor sees, India to hold when the country is
united.
While the Reader seemingly wishes to take arms against the
English, the Editor explains “to arm India on a large scale is to Europeanise
it. Then her condition will be just as pitiable” (75). In other words, acting
in the manner of the English makes the Indians not better, and moreover it
actually places them in what the Editor views as a worse off position. The
Editor claims if “civilisation is that mode of conduct which points out to man
the path of duty” (65) then “the tendency of Indian civilisation is to elevate
the moral being, [and] that of the Western civilisation is to propagate
immorality. The latter is godless, the former is based on a belief in God”
(69). Adopting the Western values will effectively immoralize India creating a
weaker country. By the Reader suggesting to act similarly to the English, by taking
arms, he has accepted their methods as more effective than those of the
Indians, even though he states his dislike of the English. The Editor, by
pointing out how this method would weaken India, he shows “India is still…
sound at the foundation” (64) a fact that the Reader has seemingly forgotten.
The Reader wanting to “reclaim” India from the English
clearly believes himself to be part of a “new spirit of nationalism” (47) but
the Editor’s responses imply this to be false. What then can we gather, from
the Editor, to be Gandhi’s views on Indian nationalism and patriotism?
Iska, I would like to work off of your point: "adopting the Western values will effectively immortalize India creating a weaker country." I think it is interesting that Gandhi rejects this idea of the Indian becoming Westernized while at the same time opening up the opportunity that the English could become Indianised. When Gandhi (the editor) mentions this the Reader responds, "It is impossible that the English should ever become Indianised" (71). But Gandhi responds, "to say that is equivalent to saying that the English have no humanity in them" (72). I think that Gandhi firmly believes in the Indian culture. This is one of his ways of expressing nationalism by saying that he does not think Indians should convert to westernization and that the English would be fine to convert to Indian.
ReplyDeleteIska makes very interesting points upon the idea of nationalism within her post. By adopting the European's modern and westernized civilization, it takes away from the identity of India. India's identity relates back to its original foundation. The editor, Gandhi, states, "where this cursed modern civilization has not reached, India remains as it was before. The inhabitants of that part of India will very properly laugh at your new-fangled notions. The English do not rule over them, nor will you ever rule over them" (68). Here, he mentions that the original state of India was a peak of their civilization. To go off Marlee's great point, English cannot become "indianised," and the Indians cannot become English. India allows the English to take control over their nation and promote its kind of civilization, but the nation did not lose only gave their nation to the English. The nationalism of the English that influences India is one of indulgences, where Gandhi describes, 'we notice that mind is a restless bird; the more it gets the more it wants, and still remains unsatisfied. The more we indulge our passions, the more unbridled they become. Our ancestors, therefore, set a limit to our indulgences. They saw that happiness was largely a mental condition" (65-66). In his statement, he declares modern western civilization drives towards indulging itself increasingly. The nation was not established in such ideas, but of a life that limited these indulgences or directed towards godly behavior. Gandhi desires India to go back to its roots and find its true nationalism, not the English's, because that is not their original foundation.
ReplyDeleteMarlee and Liezel both offer great answers to the discussion question. In addition, I think that the nationalism that Gandhi feels is for an India that is Indian, devoid of the Western influence that he clearly sees present. He repeatedly criticizes English institutions and the modernized civilization of the west saying, "civilization is like a mouse gnawing while it is soothing us...India is being ground down...under the monster's terrible weight" (41-2). Gandhi also argues that this westernized civilization has brought irreligion and superstition, which he sees as the degradation of Indian society. The revolution that Gandhi sees for India is a slow and peaceful one; "good travels at a snail's pace," he says, and therefore the change in India cannot allow them to find independence in an English way, but in a truly Indian way.
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