Nationalism and Social Reform in India

BOOK REVIEW Nationalism and Social Reform in India Vijay Nambiar Indian Nationalism and Hindu Social Reform by Charles H Heimsath; Oxford University Press, 1964; pp xiii + 379, Rs 27.50. O the student of Indian social that the social basis of Hinduism, the saw the incompatibility of particular T history, the intellectual move caste system, came to be questioned. practices with the total progress of ments of the nineteenth century pre Various social service institutions took society, Furthermore, in their attempt sent a fascinating subject for study. up the cause of the less fortunate to 'rationalise' the Hindu religion, Never before in India's chequered past groups in society and sought to lift these reformers sought to distinguish had there occurred a social and politi India from the morass of caste tyranny. the essential aspects of Hinduism from cal transformation of the magnitude the nonessential ones, to separate the What was unique about the social such as was initiated as a result of the pristine religion from the subsequent reform movement initiated in the nine impact of Western ideas. Uptil now, accretions. teenth century? Heimsath notes that Hinduism had responded to efforts at Throughout the period surveyed, even prior to the nineteenth century, cultural penetration by wrapping itself one notices that the movement for there were movements aimed at reform more closely in its own Ivory Tower. social and religious reform and the ^especially in the field of religion. The Muslim domination, like earlier influ political movement, though interacting, entire Bhakti cult was in a way a re ences, left the general basis of Hindu constituted separate and clearly dis volt against orthodox Hinduism. How beliefs undisturbed. The presence of tinguishable traditions and were ever, this was more a negative or the British in India, however, brought together to lay the intellectual sannyasin-renunciative type of move about a radical change in the entire foundations for the emergence of ment than one of positive social ac social perspective. Apart from the nationalism. Heimsath, discussing the tion. For all its spiritual egalitarian- introduction of the idea of equality course of the Social Reform Movement ism, the Bhakti movement failed to based on a conception of the individual till the First World War, sees it as a cure the diseased condition of the as a repository of values and rights, three stage development. The first Indian social system. Its appeal was this contact with the West gave to stage was marked by efforts on the more emotional than rational and India, for the first time, a doctrine of part of individuals to order their individual salvation rather than social social progress — the belief that man personal lives in accordance with salvation was stressed. Even in the can himself, through collective action, standards adopted from the West. The nineteenth century, one finds Bhakti- change the structure of society. archtype of such individual revolt type movements, as in the Swami and reform was Raja Rammohan Roy. Professor Heimsath's purpose in this Narayana Sect and the Sanmargha The onset of the second stage was book is to attempt a historical analysis Sangha of Mahatnia Ramalingam and. marked by the formation of subnation- of this intellectual movement, more Heimsath maintains, in the immediate al groups and the growth of a new particularly as it related to organised effects of Shri Ramakrishna's mystrical desire for unity between the scattered efforts at social reform. Not content preachings. with providing a purely chronological and culturally diverse social groups. account:, he tries to see the social re Politically this was the period when form movement in the broad perspec The Motivating Force the first glimmer of nationalism tive of Hindu India's intellectual res The approach of the modern social appeared on the subcontinent. With ponse to the West. The interaction of reform movement was not one nxelu- the turn of the century, social reform social, religious and political forces sively of religious dedication. Con came to mean a regeneration of the and the gradual weaving of the com ceived under the influence of Western traditional spirit of the nation — a plex motif of Indian nationalism are methods of organisation, propagating regeneration founded on religious studied with an insight as sharply and recruiting support mainly from revival and cultural xenophopia. penetrating as it is coldly impartial. the English educated, and maintaining This review will concentrate not so as its basic premises western concepts much with the actual reforms effected Social Reform in India did not of individualism, natural rights and as on the close interaction of practical ordinarily mean, as it did in the West, social efficiency, the principal motivat and social movements over the last a reorganisation of the entire structure ing force was sober rationalism and century and a half. of society with a view to the allevia positive social ethics. Heimsath traces tion of the conditions of the under The modern social reform move the stimulation of modern social reform privileged; rather, it meant the infusion ment properly begins with Raja Ram to two main sources : the introduc into the existing social structure of mohan Roy. More than any other tion of English education and with it newer ways of life and modes of be Indian of his generation, Roy saw the transmission of Western knowledge haviour. Generally such change was the need for a rational social basis and experiences and secondly the acti gradual and was initiated only by the for Hinduism. Combining deep erudi vities of the Christian missionaries. upper classes. Social change in India tion with uncommon wisdom, Roy was, for a very long time, based on Broadly considered, the uniqueness tried to synthesise the age old Hindu the 'filtration theory' — the filtration of the Social Reform Movement in values with the rational elements of of attitudes and modes of behaviour India lay in the inspiration, the ideas the Christian and Islamic traditions. from the upper layers of society to and the motivations of the reformers In his effort to attract the educated the lower ones. It was only at the themselves. While earlier reformers Bengalis of his time, Roy founded the beginning of this century with the were prompted by a love for the Brahmo Samaj -- a monotheistic growth of organised reform groups underdog, these modern reformers religious body that drew much from 1441 September 18, 1965 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY the Christian doctrines but which had astonishingly revolutionary in his actually of a congeries of several as its avowed purpose the restoration attitudes and actions, Dayanand typi separate nationalisms. The reason for of the Hindu faith to its pristine fies a complex reaction to Western this, Heimsath says, was that the sub purity. Even before the establishment influence, Rejecting the existing caste continent had few if any of the pre of the Brahmo Samaj, however, Roy basis of society, the interior status of conditions which bring a single nation had initiated a social reform movement women and the system of child marri into being. of the first order. Through a succession ages, he called for a vigorous pro What developed as Indian nation of polemical battles waged both during gramme of social reform aimed not so alism, Heimsath says was actually a discussion in the Atmiya Sabha later much at westernising the Hindu myth based on consciously propagated the Brahmo Samaj) and in the pages religion as in reviving the glory of ideas and one which was more a of the Samvad Kaumudi, Roy was able the Vedic religion. What Dayanand product of the personal preferences of to enlist support for such reform sought was not to help individuals the so-called nationalists than an measures as the abolition of 'sati' and attain personal salvation by isolating enunciation of social realities. He 'kulinism' and the introduction of themselves from society; he was inter believes that once this was lone, widow remarriage. ested in the salvation of society by through a process of rationalisation, With Roy began the rationalising of means of individual self-assertion and an attempt was made to relate this the Hindu tradition and the clearing the amelioration of social evils. myth to shared religious, linguistic of the underbrush of social evils. The Of considerable relevance was the and geographic identifications. In thread was taken up by other enlighte effect of Dayanand's militant: spiTittial- short, the author suggests that there ned individuals in Bengal. Bombay ism upon the emergence and develop was nothing spontaneous about the and Madras. In Bengal, Ishwarehan- ment of extremist nationalism in India. appearance of nationalism in India; it dra Vidyasagar shattered the very By bringing the dynamism of the past was consciously and carefully contriv core of orthodoxy by his monumental to vivify the modern mould, Dayanand ed by an "eminent company of intel crusade for widow remarriage. In blazed the trail for the extremists in lectuals" (p 135). Bombay Vishnu Shastri Pandit sought two significant respects: (1) His own governmental sanction for the same, deep-rooted xenophobia was carried New Set of Group Loyalities while in Madras the cause was taken on to the subsequent generations and up by Viresa Lingam Pantulu with the served to inspire the militant anti- Such a conception of nationalism is formation of the Rajamundhry Social British temper of extremist politics at undoubtedly stimulating. However, Reform Association. To mention some the turn of the century. (2) Connected one should not be led by this inter of the leading lights of the social re to this was Dayanand's idea that his pretation to believe that the genesis of form movement in Western India, tory could be interpreted in order to nationalism in India was uniquely there was Balgangadhar Shastri Jam- justify social action.

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