Wk. 11 Mohandas Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (1909)

Question 1

Mohandas Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (1909)

Answer 1

Mohandas Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (1909) – Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) wrote Hind Swaraj (meaning “Hindu Self-Rule”) to support India’s independence from Britain. It takes the form of a conversation between the Reader and the Editor (Gandhi), in which the Editor attempts to lead the Reader to a true understanding of what independence means for India.

Why did Gandhi think it was not as simple as getting the English to leave India?

• He thought it was more important that Indians learned how to self-rule and reject the temptation and immorality of “civilization” that he associated with the British. To get rid of the British but keep everything they represented would do little for the Indians.
  
  • “In effect it means this: that we want English rule without the Englishman. You want the tiger’s nature, but not the tiger; that is to say, you would make India English. And when it becomes English, it will be called not Hindustan but Englistan. This is not the Swaraj that I want.”

Pay particular attention to the comparison with Japan. What did he mean by “civilization?”

• Gandhi sees Japan as a sell-out because they embraced Western values. Though they have control of their nation, it is at the price of having accepted “civilization”, which Gandhi seems to disdain.
  
  • Reader: “As is Japan, so must India be. We must own our navy, our army, and we must have our own splendour, and then will India’s voice ring through the world.”
  • Gandi: “In effect it means this: that we want English rule without the Englishman. You want the tiger’s nature, but not the tiger; that is to say, you would make India English. And when it becomes English, it will be called not Hindustan but Englistan. This is not the Swaraj that I want.”
• Gandhi repeatedly berates his perception of “civilization” which is the western lifestyle.
  
  • He sees ‘civilization as doing one thing – “promoting bodily happiness”, which he further equates to temptation and immorality.“civilization.” Its true test lies in the fact that people living in it make bodily welfare the object of life. We will take some examples. The people of Europe today live in better-built houses than they did a hundred years ago. This is considered an emblem of civilization, and this is also a matter to promote bodily happiness”
  • “European clothing, they are supposed to have become civilized out of savagery. Formerly, in Europe, people ploughed their lands mainly by manual labour. Now, one man can plough a vast tract by means of steam engines and can thus amass great wealth. This is called a sign of civilization.”
  • This is the test of civilization, “Everything will be done by machinery. Formerly, when people wanted to fight with one another, they measured between them their bodily strength; now it is possible to take away thousands of lives by one man working behind a gun from a hill. This is civilization. Formerly, men worked in the open air only as much as they liked. Now thousands of workmen meet together and for the sake of maintenance work in factories or mines. Their condition is worse than that of beasts. They are obliged to work, at the risk of their lives, at most dangerous occupations, for the sake of millionaires. Formerly, men were made slaves under physical compulsion. Now they are enslaved by temptation of money and of the luxuries that money can buy. There are now diseases of which people never dreamt before, and an army of doctors is engaged in finding out their cures; and so hospitals have increased. This is a test of civilization.”

What would “freedom” mean for India?

• For Gandhi, the true freedom for India is far more and seemingly different from merely expelling the British or even expelling the British while keeping their western ways of life and government. It is about the competent ability of self-rule.
• Repeatedly refers to “civilization” (and the Brits by proxy) as a disease. And “Freedom” for India would require the removal of that disease.
  • “Civilization is not an incurable disease, but it should never be forgotten that the English people are at present afflicted by it.”
  • “removal of the cause of a disease results in the removal of the disease itself. Similarly if the cause of India’s slavery be removed, India can become free.”

POWERPOINT:

Indian Nationalism

• British attempted to divide India using religious categories
• India had only been united under foreign rulers (Mughals and British)
• Hind Swaraj: “what the Congress has done to make India one nation”
  
  • Like Haiti, in order to win independence you first need to create a sense of nationalism and unity among the people

Gandhi, Hind Swaraj

• Genre of Dialogue
  
  • Editor: stand in for Gandhi
  • Reader?: someone who believes in India becoming independent
• “Swaraj” means “self-rule:” what does that mean to the Reader?
  
  • The British need to leave, and the Indians will take over their institutions
    
    • India should have its own Parliament, like Britain does
  • India will be independent when they run things and when they have their own flag, their own sense of pride, etc.
    
    • India must have it’s own powerful army and navy
  • India needs to follow Japan’s example: become powerful by Westernizing
• What does Gandhi/Editor think about European civilization?
  
  • He’s thinking especially thinking of industrial society
    
    • Having amazing machines and technology
    • Also has people working very hard/very long to make other people rich
  • European civilization is a disease (satanic)
    
    • It’s obsessed with wealth and money
    • It only cares about “bodily welfare” and material well-being
    • It lacks spirituality, morality, religion – no meaning to life
  • This is a problem because it makes people lazy and spiritually bankrupt
    
    • It doesn’t even provide the material well-being it attempts to
• India definitely does not want to adopt this civilization
• How can India become free?
  
  • Spread Gandhi’s ideas and let people see the truth of them
  • Remove the disease (European civilization)
    
    • Reject the ideas, values, institutions, etc. of the British
  • Embrace your traditional values (Indian civilization)
    
    • This will mean the British will no longer control you
• The British rule India because they enslaved the minds of Indians
  
  • They rule because Indians accept British civilization and values
  • This means that Indians have the ability to decide what happen