PREFACE It is quite befitting that as a part of Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Institute of Gandhian Studies, the Institute is bringing out this volume as tribute to its founder Chairman, Ravindra Varma. In fact, the Institute of Gandhian Studies or Gandhi Vichar Parishad in its present form was established at Wardha mainly through the efforts of Ravindra Varma with the active support and cooperation of his friend from the days of freedom struggle, Ramakrishna Bajaj, the then Chairman of Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation as a commemorative project of Jamnalal Bajaj Centenary Year. The Institute through its 25 years of functioning proved a worthy tribute to Jamnalal Bajaj whom Gandhi called as his fifth son. Ravindra Varma was the prime mover of the Institute for more than a decade and later the responsibility was handed over to Justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari to guide the activities of the Institute. The demise of Ravindra Varma in October 2006 created a big void in the Gandhian academics and activism. On the first anniversary of his demise, Gandhi Vichar Parishad instituted annual Ravindra Varma Memorial Lecture programme as a tribute to the departed soul and to disseminate and contextualise the Gandhian thought in the modern world which he was trying all through his life. This volume in honour of Ravindra Varma is divided into three parts. In the first part, a brief life sketch of Ravindra Varma is given in order to have bird’s eye view of the contributions rendered by him in the dissemination and propagation of Gandhian Studies and also to the public life of the nation. ii Preface The second part is a collection of selected Ravindra Varma Memorial Lectures delivered by scholars of repute. The first article analyses the centrality of Gandhian ideas as a paradigm for civilisational encounter. It places Gandhi’s Sarva Dharma Samabhava or equal respect for all religions as a model for developing a conceptual framework for a creative encounter between civilisations. The second article examines the significance of Gandhi’s non-violence in the contemporary world of violence and hatred. The structure, nature and praxis of Gandhi’s Pancha Mahavrat constitute the theme of the next paper. The concluding article underlines relevance of Gandhian methods in the ongoing non-violent struggles in different parts of the globe. The third part of the volume includes the selected speeches and writings of Ravindra Varma. The first article in this section deals with common fallacies based on misinterpretations of some of the Gandhian concepts and methods of action. The subsequent articles examine the futile and the suicidal character of violent means and rediscovering the supremacy of the non-violent methods and Gandhi’s idea of trusteeship as an answer to the problem of power as well as the means of transforming the very nature of power. The last article underlines the significance and revolutionary character of Gandhi’s philosophy of swadeshi. These essays offers a unique contextualised study of Gandhian thought to address the challenges of modern world. This volume is definitely a valuable addition to Gandhiana. We are sure that this volume will be of great interest for students and scholars of Gandhian thought and peace studies as well as general readers. We are grateful to Justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari, Chairman, Institute of Gandhian Studies, Wardha for the guidance and the initiative in the production of Preface iii this volume. It was kind on the part of Bharat Mahodaya, Director of the Institute to carefully go through the manuscript and offer valuable suggestions towards its improvement.Our special thanks are also due to Ram Chandra Pradhan, Faculty of the Institute of Gandhian Studies and John S. Moolakkattu of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam for their useful insights in the editing of the volume. We are also indebted to Manimala, Director of Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi for her co-operation and encouragement. We also acknowledge the debt to Arunima Maitra for the support and assistance in the editing of the volume. We are grateful to Shrikant Kulkarni and Manohar Mahajan and other staff of the Institute for their unfailing support. Siby K. Joseph Ravindra Varma: A Brief Life Sketch Siby K. Joseph Ravindra Varma was an outstanding scholar and activist who made substantial contributions to the study, propagation and understanding of Gandhian Studies and rendered invaluable service to the nation with total devotion and utmost commitment. It is a difficult task to summarise his public life which spans over six and a half decades. He was born in a royal family at Mavelikkara in Southern Kerala, on April 18, 1925. He belonged to a most illustrious family which made substantial contribution in the field of literature and arts. His father Dr. Goda Varma was a well known linguist and Sanskrit scholar who played a key role in the evolution of Malayalam language. His maternal grandfather A. R. Raja Raja Varma was a great grammarian, translator and poet popularly known as ‘Kerala Panini’. He was a brilliant and industrious student and had his education at the Maharaja's College of Arts, Trivandrum and later at the Madras Christian College, Madras. At the age of seventeen, he left his college studies to take part in the Quit India movement launched by Gandhi in 1942. He was soon arrested and imprisoned. Afterwards he fully devoted his life for the cause of India’s freedom and plunged into the vortex of the freedom struggle. He played a key role in organisng the students and youth of this country under student and youth wings of the Indian National Congress. It was under his dynamic leadership, the Indian students' politics during the struggle for independence was moulded. He served as the President of the All India Students' Congress for three years (1946-49). It was in recognition of his dynamism and organising ability that he 4 Contextualising Gandhian Thought was elected to the Executive Committee of the International Students' Service - World University Service. (1945-46). He was called upon to organise the Indian Youth Congress. He was national Secretary of the Indian Youth Congress (1949-51) and President, All India Youth Congress (1957). He also served as Secretary of the Indian Committee of the World Assembly of Youth (W A Y) for two terms. He was elected International President of WAY in 1958 in which capacity he served the cause of youth for over four years till 1962. As President of the WAY he travelled extensively in Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America and North America and contributed substantially in bringing the youths of different parts of the world together. Ravindra Varma succeeded in imparting to the members of the WAY the ideals of democracy, freedom, justice and peace, and a sensitivity to the ugly nature of colonialism, which contravened these ideals. He was one of the founder trustees of the Indian Youth Centres in 1961 which took the initiative for the establishment of Vishwa Yuvak Kendra (International Youth Centre) in New Delhi in the late sixties. He guided the activities of the centre as the Chairman from 1996 till his death as a symbol of his commitment to youth work. Ravindra Varma served as a member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) from 1958-77 and was the General Secretary of the AICC (O) during 1971-74. He entered electoral politics in 1962 and was elected to the third Lok Sabha (1962-67) from Thiruvalla in Kerala. He was also member of the sixth Lok Sabha (1977-79) from Ranchi and seventh Lok Sabha (1979-84) from Mumbai North. During these terms as Member of Parliament he was member of various important consultative Committees for Ministries of External Affairs, Defence and Finance, besides being member of Privileges Committee and Rules Committee. He was also member of Government of India's delegations to a number of Ravindra Varma … 5 Conferences including the UN. He was leader of the Parliamentary Delegation to People's Republic of North Korea and represented the Government of India in the 61st, 62nd and 63rd Sessions of the International Labour Conferences. He had the honour of presiding over the 63rd Session of ILO in Geneva in 1979. Ravindra Varma played a leading role in the Lok Sangharsh Movement during the emergency (1975-77) and directed the underground movement against the emergency by travelling all over India and organising underground cells of resistance. He was arrested in Bombay in February 1976 and was detained in Thana jail until his release on February 24, 1977. He served as Union Cabinet Minister for Labour and Parliamentary Affairs from March 1977 to August 1979. He was also Chairman of the Second National Commission on Labour (1999-2002) constituted by the Government of India, New Delhi. His association with the Gandhian Constructive Movement dates back to the days of Mahatma Gandhi himself. He was associated with the All India Spinners' Association and All India Village Industries' Association. After the assassination of Gandhi, some of his close associates felt the need for an institution to undertake the scientific study and analysis of Gandhian thought and methods for the benefit of the younger generation. That resulted in founding of Gandhi Vichar Parishad at Wardha in the early 1950s. Kaka Saheb Kalelkar was its Chairman and Shankar Rao Deo and Ravindra Varma were Secretaries. Later, in 1987, it was mainly through the effort of Ravindra Varma that the Institute of Gandhian Studies or Gandhi Vichar Parishad was established at Wardha. It was mainly due to the work and vision of Ravindra Varma that the Institute of Gandhian Studies achieved its present pre- eminence both nationally and internationally.