DOCSLIB.ORG

Page 349-400

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Page 349-400 349 PART-V FREEDOM STRUGGLE IN MARATHWADA 350 351 PART-V Freedom Struggle in Marathwada The freedom struggle in Nizam's Dominion was indeed an uphill task which was complicated not merely due to the servile attitude of the Nizam towards the paramount power, but also due to the communal forces. Hyderabad was the largest among the Princely States in India, and it included the five (now seven) Marathi speaking districts of Marathwada. By and large it was a semi-feudal State patronising the communal forces and thereby deprived the majority of the population of even elementary civil liberties. Hence the freedom struggle therein was an infinitely hazardous task, more so than that in British India. As I have stated in my Editorial Note to this Volume, the leaders of public opinion formeda Provisional Committee for working out modalities for the foundation of the Hyderabad State Congress. However the Nizam government declared the Provisional Committee as an unlawful body and put a ban on the Hyderabad State Congress. Notwithstanding the ban the Hyderabad State Congress formulated a Committee of Action for launching a Satyagraha. In view of the situation created by the Government ban on the formation of the Hyderabad State Congress, the Committee of Action reiterated that it was the birthright of the people to organise political associations and declared that the ban on the formation of the Hyderabad State Congress had been defied. Keeping the situation created by Government in view, membership of all primary members was suspended, absolving them of any responsibility whatsoever. A Working Committee, consisting of the following members, organised the State Congress activities and adopted measures to face the situation created by the ban :—President Govindrao Nanal, General Secretary Ramkrishna Dhoot, Members Ravi Narayan Reddy, Shrinivasrao Borikar and Janardhan Desai. The Committee declared that it did not bear hatred or malice towards either any community or individuals. They were second to none in their loyalty to the Nizam and the country. But they wanted to live as self-respecting free citizens. 352 The Satyagraha was to be individual in its character, and Congress-minded persons in particular were told to avoid public meetings and demonstrations for the present. The creed of non- violence and truth were the sheet-anchor of the State Congress and nothing contrary was to be done. The State Congress declared more than once that it was purely a non-communal political organisation having nationalism as its very basis. Despite this assurance the members of the Working Committee were arrested by the State police in front of the Imperial Telegraph Office, Hyderabad, where they had all assembled. Judging from a statement issued by the Working Committee of the banned State Congress, the movement was confined for the present to Satyagraha by the leaders. In other words, there was no intention yet to organise mass disobedience of laws. Primary membership was suspended thus absolving ordinary members from responsibility. " The Working Committee will carry on the activities of the State Congress and adopt such measures as it thinks necessary to meet the new situation…………….The Satyagraha will be of an individual character for the present, and public meetings and other demonstrations will be avoided. Nothing will be done contrary to the principle of truth and non-violence, which are the sheet-anchor of the State Congress ". The statement advised Satyagrahis to inform police the time and place of their proposed Satyagraha. The Hyderabad Government, in an issue of the "Gazette", declared unlawful, under Section 13 of the Public Safety Regulation, the Hyderabad State Congress and Committee of Action of that body. The Government alleged that the State Congress and the Committee of Action aimed at interference with the administration of the State and were subversive of the maintenance of law and order. Further their existence would be dangerous to peace and harmonious relations between the various communities in the State. Now that the first Working Committee was arrested, Swami Ramananda Tirtha was chosen Dictator of the State Congress. He launched the Satyagraha in Hyderabad City on 27th October I938 with prior intimation to the Police Commissioner of Hyderabad. 353 The story of Hyderabad freedom struggle, which can better be called a Mukti Andolan, is a peculiar one. It is unfolded through documents culled from the National Archives of India at New Delhi, the Maharashtra State Archives at Bombay, Police Commissioner of Bombay, Director General of Police of Maharashtra State, the Andhra Pradesh Archives at Hyderabad, numerous contemporary newspaper files and the Transfer of Power documents. An attempt has been made to arrange the documents chronologically from 1934 to April 1942. But the necessity of arrangement of the documents subject wise has put constraints upon us to follow a strict chronology. —Editor 354 355 Mahatma Gandhi Visits Hyderabad Mahatma Gandhi's visit to Hyderabad in March 1934 was a shock to the autocratic and bureaucratic forces. They were afraid that the repressive administrators would be exposed to the critical observation of the Mahatma. The Executive Council of the Nizam became astir to discuss how Gandhiji should be allowed to visit. The Political Member Mehdi Yar Jung and the Revenue and Police Member Sir Trench were chiefly concerned, but they differed with each other. It is of profound interest to see what were their attitudes towards the Mahatma's visit, which was mainly for inculcating the necessity of fighting for the cause of the Harijans. Editor My dear Trench, 6 Feb, 1934. I put this forward, however, for your consideration. The more I think over the matter, the more I am convinced that it would be a very good gesture and an act of courtesy if we let Gandhi give his lecture on the uplift of the depressed classes and also permit a procession. It would show our interest in our own depressed classes, and I cannot imagine that we have anything to fear from such a lecture. The procession would " let off steam " as it were. But once Gandhi is here, I see great danger of serious public discontent arising if processions and public speeches were to be suppressed in such exciting circumstances when the enthusiasm of the public was at its height. Agitation based upon actual incidents………..happening at such a time would be all the more formidable and difficult to allay as it would be based upon the people's actual experience and inspired by very deep feelings. If we cannot treat Gandhi with the courtesy due to him or give him the amount of reasonable liberty that should be accorded to a man on a mission which, ostensibly at least, accords with our own aims, then it is far better that he should not be allowed to come at all. In a word I do not like half measures. I would like the Kotwal to see this letter and also my dissenting Note in Urdu on the Council resolution. His views would be interesting and valuable. Mehdi Yar Jung. 148 Secret POLITICAL MEMBER 7 February 1934. Dear Sir Akbar Hydari, Kindly read and return the enclosed papers. You will observe that the Hon'ble Revenue Member is willing to refer the matter again to the Council regarding the proposed visit of Mahatma Gandhi to Hyderabad. 356 I hope you will be able to support the idea of ordinary courtsey being shown to Mr. Gandhi and liberty of speech being given to him in regard to the uplift of the depressed classes. I am sure this will do no harm, but will have an excellent effect both in the Suite and outside. If this cannot be done, then it is best to prevent Gandhi from coming to Hyderabad at all. My views are more fully expressed in the letter which I wrote to Trench on the 6th February, 1934, which is on this file, as also in my formal note of dissent, a copy of which is also on the file. Mehdi Yar Jung The Bombay Chronicle 16 June 1938. When the over enthusiastic Congress minded population of Hyderabad made rather an indiscreet and premature noise about Mr. K. F. Nariman's impending visit and even announced public meetings and receptions in anticipation, it was feared that it would unnerve the already panicky State authorities and, perhaps, his entry may be banned. It seems that a Hyderabad State Police Officer was awaiting the return of Mr. Nariman from the Malabar tour : immediately on his return, the following polite letter was delivered to him :— " I am directed to inform you that H.E. H's Government have heard that you propose to visit Hyderabad in the near future. If so, I am instructed to let you know that in view of the complications and disturbances of the peace which ensued after your recent visit to Mysore, the Government of Hyderabad regret that they are not prepared to allow you to enter the State whether in your professional capacity or otherwise. " It seems that the Mysore happenings have scared these State authorities and having become wiser, they adopt the advice contained in the maxim " Prevention is better than cure. " Mr. Nariman is addressing a strong protest against this uncalled for unjudicious and arbitrary ban. In serious cases, involving capital punishment to deny the accused the right of selecting their won Counsel is tantamount to denial of justice. This interference of the Executive is all the more outrageous because on an application to the High Court of the State, it is stated that special permission was given to Mr. Nariman to appear in the case. In spite of that judicial order, the executive has thought fit to deprive the accused of a fundamental right to defend.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 10 Religious Reform Movements in Modern India: the Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda- Flexiprep
    9/22/2021 Chapter – 10 Religious Reform Movements in Modern India: The Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda- FlexiPrep FlexiPrep Chapter – 10 Religious Reform Movements in Modern India: The Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda (For CBSE, ICSE, IAS, NET, NRA 2022) Get unlimited access to the best preparation resource for CBSE/Class-10 : get questions, notes, tests, video lectures and more- for all subjects of CBSE/Class-10. Attend a meeting of the Arya Samaj any day. They are also performing yajana and reading the scriptures. This was the basic contribution of Mool Shanker an important representative of the religious reform movement in India from Gujarat. He later came to be known as Dayanand Saraswathi. He founded the Arya Samaj in 1875. ©FlexiPrep. Report ©violations ＠https://tips.fbi.gov/ The most influential movement of religious and social reform in northern India was started by Dayanand Saraswathi. He held that the Vedas contained all the knowledge imparted to man by God and essentials of modern science could also be traced in them. 1 of 2 9/22/2021 Chapter – 10 Religious Reform Movements in Modern India: The Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Vivekananda- FlexiPrep He was opposed to idolatry, ritual and priesthood, particularly to the prevalent caste practices and popular Hinduism as preached by the Brahmins. He favoured the study of western science. With all this doctrine, he went about all over the country and in 1875 founded the Arya Samaj in Bombay. Satyarth Prakash was his most important book. The use of Hindi in his writings and preaching made his ideas accessible to the common people of northern India.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    © Copyright, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. Introduction The Invention of an Ethnic Nationalism he Hindu nationalist movement started to monopolize the front pages of Indian newspapers in the 1990s when the political T party that represented it in the political arena, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP—which translates roughly as Indian People’s Party), rose to power. From 2 seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, the BJP increased its tally to 88 in 1989, 120 in 1991, 161 in 1996—at which time it became the largest party in that assembly—and to 178 in 1998. At that point it was in a position to form a coalition government, an achievement it repeated after the 1999 mid-term elections. For the first time in Indian history, Hindu nationalism had managed to take over power. The BJP and its allies remained in office for five full years, until 2004. The general public discovered Hindu nationalism in operation over these years. But it had of course already been active in Indian politics and society for decades; in fact, this ism is one of the oldest ideological streams in India. It took concrete shape in the 1920s and even harks back to more nascent shapes in the nineteenth century. As a movement, too, Hindu nationalism is heir to a long tradition. Its main incarnation today, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS—or the National Volunteer Corps), was founded in 1925, soon after the first Indian communist party, and before the first Indian socialist party.
    [Show full text]
  • Role of Arya Samaj in Cultural Awareness and Freedom
    ISSN NO.: 2321-290X RNI No. : UPBIL/2011/43595 SHRINKHLA : VOL-2 * ISSUE-6*SEPTEMBER-2013 Role of Arya Samaj in Cultural Awareness and Freedom movement of India Abstract The story of freedom struggle of India is very encouraging and pride –giving, which should be read and understood by every Indian as a national duty. In the history of freedom struggle there is a special role of social and religious reform movements. Although these movements were superficially aiming at religious reforms, but their nature was not utterly religious. These reform movements are said to be the symbols of Indian reawakening. Dr.Jakaria in his book has clarified that the reawakening of India was mainly spiritual and before rising to the national movement it propounded many social and religious reform movements. Thus, Indian renaissance was different from that of the Europe of 16th century and after coming in contact with western culture the Indians developed a pride for their culture. At that time Dayanand Saraswati gave the slogan" Back to the Vedas" to Indians. Arya Samaj also had an important impact on national awakening because its basic aim was Indian independence and its actual essence was nationalism. Swami Dayanand was the first great religious leader who used the words Swa, Swaraj, Swabhasha and Swadeshi. He started Arya Samaj movement, which had strong nationalistic feelings. The contribution of Arya Samaj in relation to national and political enlightenment was so great that the British government became irritated and the British rulers started crushing the chief of the Arya Samaj. It is obvious that the religious movement which began in the 19th century was not only related to religion but it also laid stress on individual freedom, social equality justice, democracy and national independence.
    [Show full text]
  • Page 400-454
    400 4. Policy of the Agitators : The leaders of the movement are not believers in the policy of non-violence for achieving their objects. In order to terrorise the State Government and its Muslim officials, some Hindus of Poona, such as Dr. Gore residing in Rasta Peth, G. M. Nalavade, Khadivle, Vaidya and others, are considering plans to prepare bombs and send them to Hyderabad for use in the agitation. At the beginning of February this year, while speaking at a meeting of the Hindu Maha Sabha Working Committee in Delhi, Barrister Savarkar, the President, was reported to have allowed full and unrestricted discretion to individual workers to pursue any plan in furtherance of the struggle without even making any fetish of non-violence. Savarkar was said to he contemplating the launching of secret subversive propaganda amongst the State subjects and spreading the cult of terrorism. In connection with the Hyderabad agitation meeting were held at Nagpur, Amraoti, Akola and Yeotmal districts of the C. P., and speeches were made stating that the launching of the satyagraha amounted to a declaration of war which could not be carried on through non-violence. The processionists were armed with lathis, a huge knife was displayed in the meeting, and the conduct of the Arvi Hindus in the riot of 1925 was praised. 401 On February 11 th 1939, at a meeting at Nasik, B. V. Devre of Poona said that without armed opposition the Hindus could not possibly obtain their rights in a State like Hyderabad. On March 29th, at a meeting at Poona to give farewell to a jatha of volunteers bound for Hyderabad, B.
    [Show full text]
  • Ijhams-Significance of Arya Samaj in Eradicating
    BEST: International Journal of Humanities, Arts, Medicine and Sciences (BEST: IJHAMS) ISSN (P): 2348-0521, ISSN (E): 2454-4728 Vol. 8, Issue 2, Feb 2020, 1-12 © BEST Journals SIGNIFICANCE OF ARYA SAMAJ IN ERADICATING SUPERSTITIONS AND THUS SAFEGUARDING THE NATION Dr. REKHA MAITRA Associate Professor-Hospitality & Hotel Administration, FMS, MRIIRS, Haryana, India ABSTRACT Arya Samaj, a religious system was formed by Sanyasi Dayanand Saraswati in April, 1875 at Bombay. It was developed with a purpose of bringing about social reforms in the society and to inculcate the strong value and ethics system in youngsters. Academician and researcher D. Vable i mention that Dayanand Saraswati, a strong leader in Indian history, wanted to promote Vedas and Vedic way of life. Similarly, Dr. K.P. Jaiswal validated the concept and evolution of Arya Samaj. He laid stress on the foundation of the Arya Samaj.According to him “Arya Samaj brought the reformation in society by making vital changes in the societal concepts. This overhauling led to changes in the mindset of the people of India as well as followers of different religious and educational organization. This National movement was endorsed by the vast number of nationalists. In the contemporary era, Arya Samaj has maintained the stance of strong Vedic culture in followers. In today’s parlance, the well-educated people are also influenced by planetary positions and follow methods to overcome the ill effects of planets. Many a times, rituals are observed as a part of the tradition or out of fear; without trying to understand the need, cause or effect.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gandhian Ashram and Its Contemporaries: a Global Study of the Communal Reaction to Modernity Defense Copy
    The Gandhian Ashram and its Contemporaries: A Global Study of the Communal Reaction to Modernity Defense Copy Charles Bower Advisor: Mithi Mukherjee, History Committee: Fred Anderson, History Carole McGranahan, Anthropology April 2015 1 ABSTRACT This paper explores the Gandhian Ashram as a reaction to the forces of modernity in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Its deviation from the existing historiography is primarily in its exploration of the Ashram as one of many incidents of communal experiments at the time, which have an interesting geographic connection in London. I note Gandhi’s readings of John Ruskin and Leo Tolstoy, his interactions with dietetic and communal experiments in London, and some of the local precedents for the Ashram in arguing that these communal living experiments can be seen as a reaction to the forces of modern nation-building, especially as an anticolonial reaction. 2 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………...…………………………………………….….3 Historiography I. LOCAL PRECEDENTS….....…………………………………………………….14 THE ANCIENT ASHRAM GANDHI’S CONTEMPORARIES: THE HINDU NATIONALIST ASHRAM II. THE GLOBAL DISCOURSE ON COMMUNAL LIVING……...……………………25 TOLSTOY’S ASCETIC CHRISTIANITY THE GLOBAL MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS: LONDON AT THE TURN OF THE 19TH CENTURY III. THE SOCIAL LABORATORY…......………...………………………………...…37 IN LONDON SOUTH AFRICA THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASHRAM THE ZIONIST KIBBUTZ: A COMPARATIVE STUDY CONCLUSION...………………………………………………………………...47 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………...49 3 INTRODUCTION Gandhi’s ashram, or his moral village, changed the world and helped to define nations. History tends to misunderstand or fail to thoroughly define Gandhi’s role in India, and the global impact of his spirituality. Understanding his core goals of religious and spiritual foundations for society are vitally important to understanding the deep influence he had on the nationalist movement in India and beyond.
    [Show full text]
  • Download/Poverty/33EF03BB-9722-4AE2-ABC7-AA2972D68AFE/Archives-2018/Global POVEQ IND
    religions Article Hardwar: Spirit, Place, and Politics Vikash Singh * and Sangeeta Parashar * Department of Sociology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Montclair State University, 1 Normal Ave, Montclair, NJ 07043, USA * Correspondence: [email protected] (V.S.); [email protected] (S.P.) Received: 5 December 2018; Accepted: 10 February 2019; Published: 18 February 2019 Abstract: This article describes the narratives and projections that shaped the contested character of Hardwar and the river Ganges as symbols par excellence of the Hindus’ claim to India’s sacred geography over the last two hundred years. It deliberates on the tactics and practices through which Hardwar’s ancient and legendary status has been employed to assert Hindu identity and territorial claims vis-à-vis the colonial administrators, but also to exclude the country’s Muslim and Christian populace. The purifying, divine land of Hardwar enabled the nationalist imagination and struggle for a Hindu India, even as it was instituted as a site for the internal purification of Hinduism itself, to mirror its glorious past. The article describes the contests and claims, based on religion and class, as well as the performance of socio-economic and existential anxieties that the sacred quality of Hardwar and the river Ganges continues to authorize and enable in post-colonial India. For this, we draw particularly on the Kanwar Mela, an annual event in which millions of mostly poor young men carry water from the river Ganges on foot, and often over long distances. We deliberate on the significance of the sacred water, rituals, and the journey in reinforcing these pilgrims’ perceptions of the self, and their moral claims over the nation and its territory.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. Bengal Gazette, 1780 Was the First Indian Newspaper. 2. Raja Ram
    Class-8th History, Chapter:-7 A. Fill in tje blanks:- 1. Bengal Gazette, 1780 was the first Indian newspaper. 2. Raja Ram Mohan Roy is known as 'Father of the Indian Renaissance'. 3. The Hindu college (1817) was founded in Calcutta by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. 4. M.G Ranade founded Prarthana Samaj in 1867 in Bombay. 5. Vivekananda was the disciple of Ramkrishna Paramhamsa. B. Write (T) for true and (F) for false. 1. The Arya Samajis opposed child marriage and encouraged widow remarriage. (True) 2. Dadabhai Naoroji was affectionately called the 'Grand Young Man of India'. (False) 3. Annie Besant founded the Philosophical Society. (True) 4. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan advocated against the abolition of the practice of purdah. (True) 5. The Widow Remarriage Act was passed in 1856. (True) C. Match the following:- 1. Swami Vivekananda b. Ramakrishna Mission 2. Madam Blavatsky a. Theosophical Society 3. Swami Dayanand e. Arya Samaj 4. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan d. Aligarh Movement 5. Kandukuri Veersalingam c. Vidyasagar of South India D. Tick (√) the correct option:- 1. What is the present name of the M.A.O College? Aligarh Muslim University 2. In which year was the Sharda Act passed? 1929 3. Who was known as the 'Grand Old Man of India'? Dadabhai Naoroji 4. Swami Dayanand founded the ___________ in Bombay. Arya Samaj 5. Where was the Ramkrishna Mission founded by Vivekananda in 1897? Belur E. Answer the following questions:- 1. In what ways did Raja Rammohan Roy contribute to the social reformation? Ans.1 In 1828, Ram Mohan Roy formed the Brahmo Samaj, uniting the Brahmos in Calcutta, a group of people, who had no faith in idol-worship and were against the caste restrictions; He advocated the introduction of an English Education System in the country teaching scientific subjects and opposed of Sati.
    [Show full text]
  • Of Swadeshi, Self-Reliance and Self-Help: a Study of the Arya Samaj in Colonial Punjab, 1890 –1920S
    51 Richa Raj Of Swadeshi, Self-Reliance and Self-Help: A Study of the Arya Samaj in Colonial Punjab, 1890 –1920s Abstract In response to the colonial economic and cultural subjugation, the ideal of swadeshi (swa: own; desh : nation; translated as: of one’s own nation) in India had begun to gain ground from 1890s onwards ultimately culminating into the Swadeshi Movement. Fundamentally, it encouraged domestic production in opposition to foreign imports and was characterised by attempts to organise technical education and industrial research, revival of traditional industrial crafts, the starting of new industries based on modern techniques and float- ing of insurance companies and swadeshi banks, and promotion of swadeshi sales through exhibitions and shops. Subsequently, the assertion of self-help and self-reliance appeared in the Punjab province, too. In this vast province with a majority Muslim population and Hindus and Sikhs in a minority, swadeshi manifested itself in several ways. Through a study of the Arya Samaj, a socio-religious reform movement with firm roots among the Hindus of the province, this article traces how, in colonial Punjab, swadeshi soon grew out of its economic basis to encapsulate a larger Hindu nationalistic and cultural paradigm. Keywords: swadeshi; Arya Samaj; Punjab; indigenous; education; banking, philanthropy; Hindu Arya Samaj and the Swadeshi Movement The Arya Samaj, a socio-religious reform movement for the Hindus, was established by Swami Dayanand Saraswati in 1875 in Bombay, with the aim to reform the Hindu society and rid it of Brahmanical control and superstitions such as idolatry, and evils such as child-marriage, dowry, and the caste system.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter Ii History
    CHAPTER II HISTORY ANCIENT PERIOD The archaeological discoveries prove that the region of Panipat was inhabited by human beings from very earlier times and had been the centre of vigorous cultural and political activity. We know from the hymns of the Rigveda (VII, 18,19; V.52,17) that the Bharatas of the Saraswati Valley held sway up to the Yamuna river and defeated Ajas, Sigrus and Yaksus1. The archaeological heritage of Panipat region can be divided into pre-historic, proto-historic and historical phases. The extent of archaeological sites of Panipat district, numbering 63, can be classified into Pre-Harappan, Harappan, Late Harappan, Painted Grey Ware (PGW), Grey Ware, Early Historical, Early Medieval and Medieval periods2. Alexander Cunningham and Rodgers were the first archaeologists who collected some relics specially coins from a few sites of Panipat. But it was in the year 1952 that B. B. Lal of Archaeological Survey of India discovered Painted Grey Ware and Northern Black Polished Ware from the mounds of Panipat and Sonepat. S. B. Chaudhary also discovered the Painted Grey Ware at Baholi, 13 kilometres to north-west of Panipat3. Subsequent archaeological explorations conducted by a number of archaeologists and recent explorations along the right bank of River Yamuna conducted under the supervision of C. Dorje have resulted to the discovery of Dull Red Ware in Garsh Sanrai in Panipat Tehsil and Red Ware, Red Polished Ware and Dull Red Ware in Jaurasi Khalsa in Samalkha Tehsil of Panipat district. These explorations have brought to light several ancient mounds containing the relics of bygone history4.
    [Show full text]
  • The Arya Samaj in Gujarat 1895-1930
    1 Purifying the Nation: The Arya Samaj in Gujarat 1895-1930 David Hardiman Department of History, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK [email protected] Tel: 02476572584 Fax: 02476523437 2 Abstract This article examines the impact of the Arya Samaj in Gujarat from 1895 to 1930. Although the founder of this body, Dayanand Saraswati, was from Gujarat, it proved less popular there initially than in the Punjab. The first important Arya Samajists in Gujarat were Punjabis, brought there by Sayajirao Gaekwad of Baroda to carry out educational work amongst untouchables. The Arya Samaj only became a mass organisation in Gujarat after a wave of conversions to Christianity in central Gujarat by untouchables, with Arya Samajists starting orphanages to ‘save’ orphans from the clutches of the Christian missionaries. The movement then made considerable headway in Gujarat. The main followers were from the urban middle classes, higher farming castes, and gentry of the Koli caste. Each had their own reasons for embracing the organisation, ranging from a desire for higher social status, to religious reform, to building caste unity, and as a means, in the case of the Koli gentry, to ‘reconvert’ Kolis who had adopted Islam in medieval times. The movement lost its momentum after Gandhi arrived on the political scene, and many erstwhile Arya Samajists embraced the Gandhian movement. When the Gandhian movement itself flagged after 1922, there was an upsurge in communal antagonism in Gujarat in which Arya Samajists played a provocative role. A riot in Godhra in 1928 is examined. 3 Over the past decade, Gujarat has come to be seen as a hotbed of communalism, ruled by a state government that has connived at, and even encouraged, murderous attacks on Muslims and Christians.
    [Show full text]
  • Modern Indian Responses to Religious Pluralism Author: Coward, Harold G
    cover cover next page > title: Modern Indian Responses to Religious Pluralism author: Coward, Harold G. publisher: State University of New York Press isbn10 | asin: 0887065724 print isbn13: 9780887065729 ebook isbn13: 9780585089959 language: English subject Religious pluralism--India, Religious pluralism-- Hinduism. publication date: 1987 lcc: BL2015.R44M63 1987eb ddc: 291.1/72/0954 subject: Religious pluralism--India, Religious pluralism-- Hinduism. cover next page > If you like this book, buy it! file:///C:/...,%20Harold%20G.%20-%20Modern%20Indian%20Responses%20to%20Religious%20Pluralism/files/cover.html[26.08.2009 16:19:34] cover-0 < previous page cover-0 next page > Modern Indian Responses to Religious Pluralism Edited by Harold G. Coward State University of New York Press < previous page cover-0 next page > If you like this book, buy it! file:///C:/...20Harold%20G.%20-%20Modern%20Indian%20Responses%20to%20Religious%20Pluralism/files/cover-0.html[26.08.2009 16:19:36] cover-1 < previous page cover-1 next page > Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1987 State University of New York Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Modern Indian responses to religious pluralism. Includes bibliographies
    [Show full text]