Sociology Of Revivalism

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Sogoocy
sekten
A Study of Indianization,
Sanskritization
and Golualharism
By A GANGADHARAN
KP
KALAMKAR PRAKASHAN
NEW DELHI

First Published December 1970
KK Gangadharan 1970
Set in 10 point Times Roman
>
Composed at Modern Composing Agency Delhi 6 apd
Printed at Delite Press Delhi 6
Published by DR Goyal for kalamkar Prakashan
A Theatre Communication Building Connaught Circus
New Delbi 1

PREFACE Three thousand years of Cultural continuity makes us insensitive to things Indian Cultures like individuals have their distinctive autonomy and style Much has been written on dynamism change and reform even renaissance in India There are literatures which proclaim about the catholicity simplicity and rationality-all of wbich it is said form a part of the ethos of Indian culture But very little has been written about irrationality antı change outlook and aggressiveness of India s counter ethos And none exists exclusively on revivalism This monograph is an attempt to understand the nature and character of revivalist forces opposed to change and modernization Any comprehensive study of social change must necessarily involve an analysis of resistance to change in the background of India s long and unbroken past and the vastness and complexity of Indian social structure such an undertaking is bound to be difficult and extremely delicate One will have to traverse remote into the historical sociology psychology and politics of a whole people in any such venture so that an appreciation of revivalist ideology in its structural context may be possible However the present work has limited scope and it does not claim any perfection Within these limitations an attempt has been made to show bow organized revivalism in India has arisen out of cultural confrontation of the East and the West and of the structural changes that followed after the advent of the British It is no doubt interesting to see how an old and fossilized Indian society made valiant efforts to defend its time old traditions while she did not care much to defend her national territory at the time of British conquest! Dry generalization aad escapist jargon mongering apart but when it comes to brass tacks of anaylsis and description of revivalistic ideology and behaviour in an extremely complex society like ours with its sensitive regional religious and caste characteristics it becomes impossible to be non-controversial or not offendiog to any one The problem becomes more vicious and excuse of being non partisan less (vi) available to one who is himself a part of the same society and therefore a part of the controversy No student of Indian sociology can escape the use of ciste references like Brahmins or Sudras regional names like Uttar Pradesh or Maharashtra names of scripturss like the Vedus Smritis or Gita and less possible is to avoid the uses of Hindu or Muslim And when the subject is revivalism all these names in specific contexts become bestowed with favourable or un favourable connotations depending upon readers predilection However for a sociologist caste is stratification religion is an inst tution and God a concept and he goes about using all such categories with requisite objectivity and detachment that he him self feels lcast touchy about them and makes no attempt deli berately to defend or offend any one but in the course of unvei ling the truth of social process others may feel offended or defended The burden of this book is not just revivalism as such but Hindu revivalism Not that there is no Muslim or Sikh or any other revitalism in India but because in the contemporary situ tion llindu revivalism is a real threat and a danger to the country Morcover revivalism in the garb of recent dem.nds of Indian ization has presented itself as the only cultural process of intes rating the Indian socity Therefore we have made an attempt to analyse the historical and cultural models of the process of Indianization in the past and have also explored about their suitability for the present How in a mult religious ard multi regional society revivalist integration is possible is the main question Similarly realism is traditional and the rift between mod rnity and tradition is obvious From this point Golwalka rism as the contemporary revivalist ideology and Jana Singh and Shiv Sena as alavistic social movements have c'eserved our consideration Finallay I am greatful to Vr DR Goyal cditor of Secular Democracy but for whose persistent and friendly persu anon it writing of this book would not have been compted A Gannod Departrert of Sociology CErnt Church College (han Lanesti) hin +10-1990

Contents
1
I SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM
II RENAISSANCE AND REVIVALISM 20
III HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL
MODELS OF INDIANIZATION
41
IV GOLWALKARISM
72
V THE RSS JANA SANGH COMPLEX 103
VI THE SHIV SENA
122
VII MODERNIZATION, NOT REVIVALISM 141
BIBLIOGRAPHY
153
INDEX
161

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CHAPTER I Sociology of Revivalism Indianization What is it? The liberal and the radical recognize the need for change they are concerned with the present as well as the future The conservatives on the other band stick to the established values and are nostrumental in causing social decay and breakdown The revivalists seek their sanctuary in the past and find solace in its glorification Thus confronted with the challenging problems of life men of different outlooks tale recourse to different approacbes At a time when old values and institutions are crumbling under the impact of the new and the uoprecedented ideologies are bound to come up and project a variety of group interests It is a different matter that some such ideologies let out the foul breath of a dying mammoth whereas some others resound the air with the promising cry of a new born In this context we may ask what is Indianization ? Is it a solution as some people seem to believe to the major problems of tbe day? If it be so it is as old as the British Rule in India because since then there bas been the slogan of Back to Vedas A potion that the panacea for all our ulls lay 10 the golden age has been a persistent note of Indian history the consciousness of which we developed during the early days of the British contact At that time it was a defence mechanism to console and feel proud of ourselves and also to checkmate the on 2 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISI slaught of the foreign impact on our minds It may also be argued by partisans as a strategy to rouse the people against an alien power But what does it mean today in independent India ? The implications are many and far reaching Firstly it assumes that there is a level of culture or an ideal cultural type which may be described as truly and purely Indian As a corollay to this it is implied that there are people to India who are far removed from that ideal level Naturally the demand for Indianization means a transformation of people from one level to the other a sort of conversion or acculturation or whatever it might be It means B must become A Secondly, the ideal type In this regard by its very nature is an imagery from the past and at implies going back to the golden age Thirdly accepting that men who advocate Indiapization do it as a means to an end we have to consider it as a goal oriented action And as such the goal cannot be anything except the well being or effective survival of the nation or culture to think otherwise would mean that the advocates of Indianization are enemies of the nation This no one would wish them to be The fourth imperative of the concept is that there must be a mechanism for Indianization-a political party or the State or anything else such as a social movement to achieve this objective The fifth and most significant aspect is the consequences of this concept of course to think of consequences on the part of the ideal type Hindu is a contradıc tion in terms for he is supposed to be spiritual and detached from the results of his action And yet the ordinary morals who advocate Indianization or who would be affected by it will normally think of its consequences In actuality how and what objective consequences will Indianization bring about among the different religious groups castes and regions of India ? What would be the net result of such an impact from the point of view of the good--that is the well being of the nation ? Finally the suggestion of ladiagization also assumes that It is the best among the alternative means available to the solution of the present day problems of India This again 15 implicit in the idea that men choose their tools whether it is Jadianization of Westeroization after proper consideration in the context of the prevailing social conditions and peeds Is this actually true? These are the problems uppermost in the 3 SOCIOLOGY OF REYIYALISM miods of the people who think about such issues The question is highly academic and at once political Like a bubble from a boiling cauldron it was being thrown up from time to time since the advent of the British The slogans the people and the party labels have changed but the content of such demands have remained fairly the same throughout Search for Indianness from Culture to Caste The first question in the discussion on Indianization is the concept of culture A slogan may mean many things to many people and it may be misunderstood especially when political parties raise such slogans as sentimental traps set to capture votes Hence the cultural content of Indianization has to be examined People must know what is that destiny to which they are asked to go The concept of the culture called Indian has to be spelt out the idle type of Indian culture must be revealed If it refers to certain existing strains of culture who among us represent them? The assumption is clear--the Hindus represent the true Indian culture Before proceeding further with this question let us see what is culture It is that complex whole which includes knowledge belief art morals law custom and any other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society 1 It means culture includes everythiog that man has socially acquired language art science customs laws institutions of every description values morals aud religion material instruments like tools houses machines and means of communication and all other conceivable items that man has derived from nature Now it is to be wondered whether all Hindus are alike or even fairly alike in their culture There are vegetarians and blood sacrificing Hindus monotheists and polytheists those who believe and practise the sacramental monogamous marriage of eternal union and others who marry and divorce freely and frequently and there are Hindus who avoid seven and five degrees while select ing their mates as also others wbo prefer their first cousin sisters and brothers as the traditional choice The orthodor and the Sanskritized Brahminical castes the casteless and Godless Buddhists the sword wielding Sikhs and the nose stuffed Jains 1 EB Tylor Primitive Culture Yol IP 1 2 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM slaught of the foreiga impact on our muads It may also be argued by partisans as a strategy to rouse the people against an alien power But what does it mean today in independent lodia ? The implications are many and far reaching Firstly, it assumes that there is a level of culture or an ideal cultural type which may be described as truly and purely Indian As a corollay to this it is implied that there are people in India who are far removed from that ideal level Naturally the demand for Indianization means a transformation of people from one level to the other a sort of conversion or acculturation or whatever it might be It means B must become A Secondly the ideal type in this regard by its very nature is an imagery from the past and it implies going back to the golden age Thirdly accepting that men who advocate Indianization do it as a means to an end we have to consider it as a goal oriented action And as such the goal cannot be anything except the well being or effective survival of the nation or culture to think otherwise would mean that the advocates of Indianization are enemies of the nation This no one would wish them to be The fourth imperative of the concept is that there must be a mechanism for Indianization--a political party or the State or anything else such as a social movement to achieve this objective The fifth and most significant aspect is the consequences of this concept of course to think of consequences on the part of the ideal type Hindu is a contradic tion in terms for he is supposed to be spiritual and detached from the results of his action And yet the ordinary morals who advocate lodianization or who would be affected by it will normally think of its consequences Ia actuality how and what objective consequences will Indianization bring about among the different religious groups castes and regions of India ? What would be the pet result of such an impact from the point of view of the good-that is the well being of the nation ? Ewally the suggestion di Indravizainan also assumes that it is the best among the alternative means available to the solution of the present day problems of India This again is implicit in the idea that men choose their tools whether it is Indianization or Westernization after proper consideration in the contert of the prevailing social conditions and needs Is this actually truc? These are the problems uppermost in the 3 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISY minds of the people who think about such issues The question is bighly academic and at once political Like a bubble from a boiling cauldron it was being throwo up from time to time since the advent of the British The slogans the people and the party labels have changed but the content of such demands have remained fairly the same throughout Search for Indianness from Culture to Caste The first question to the discussion on Indianization is the concept of culture A slogan may mean many things to many people and it may be misunderstood especially when political parties raise such slogans as sentimental traps set to capture votes Hence the cultural content of Indianization has to be examined People must know wbat is that destiny to which they are asked to go The concept of the culture called Indian has to be spelt out the idle type of Indian culture must be revealed IC it refers to certain existing strains of culture who among us represent them? The assumption is clear---the Hindus represent the true Indian culture Before proceeding further with this question let us see what Is culture It is that complex whole which includes knowledge belief art morals law custom and any other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society 1 It means culture includes everything that man has socially acquired-laoguage art science customs laws institutions of every description values morals aud religion material instruments like tools houses machines and means of communication and all other conceivable items that man has derived from nature Now it is to be wondered whether all Hindus are alike or even fairly alike in their culture There are vegetarians and blood sacrificing Hindus monotheists and polytheists those who believe and practise the sacramental monogamous marriage of eternal union and others who marry and divorce freely and frequently and there are Hindus who avoid seven and five degrees while select ing their males as also others who prefer their first cousin sisters and brothers as the traditional choice The Orthodox and the Sanskritized Brahminical castes the casteless and Godless Buddhists the sword wielding Sikhs and the nose stuffed Jaips 1 EB Tylor Primitive Culfure to I P1 4 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM who are afraid of killing germs in the atmosphere as they breathe are also sometimes considered Hindus in a broad sense Obviously the customs and practices of such a sast range of people are not uniform Some of the traits will have to be omitted and others will have to be accepted as the ideal type of Hindu culture By a process of elimination the logical answer to this question would be that Brahmins or upper castes who are the repositories of Hindu culture should be treated as the ideal type--the model for Indianization This conclusion is unavoid able because any one looking for that elusive model of Hinduism will ultimately land up in Brahminism So the pursuit of Indian culture would end up with the caste sub culture In other words Indianization means Hinduisation which really means Brahminisation The deduction is inescapable All the rest of the Hindus many low castes and sects Sikhs Muslims Christians Buddhists Jains and others will then follow that model 1 Even this Hindu Brahminical model is not the same everywhere in India Which of the Brahmins and these too of which region deserve to be consicered as the model would not be so easily settled because they are not culturally or racially the same in different regions of India The process of model building and the search for true Indianness would automatically lead to the classification of an overwhelming majority of our people in the category of not som good Indians or un Indians who deserve to be Indianized after the model Such un Indians will naturally include all the minorities and the non Brahminical castes of Hindus and all those sections including Brahmins who have b en subjected to Westernization and who according to the current terminological nicetres bave got de Indianized Thus the task is stupendous at least ninety per cent of the people of India will have to be subjected to this cultural revolution or Indianization Cultural Romanticism and Reality Another difficulty will arise when one starts identifying truly and purely Indian traits of culture Who is Indian ? The Aryan or the Dravidian ? Can we consider the pre Aryan Trimurti of Indus valley civilization to be Indian? Would horse and goat sacrifices cating of cows flesh drinking somarasa—as was done by the ancient Vedic Hindus-be treated 5 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM Indian ? Are we to adopt the ancient institutions of Varna Ashram system as Indian? If so Indianization would mein adoption of caste system and opposition to all that was done to abolish caste disabilities during the British rule and thereafter It would also mean that the Brahmachari (student) should not be allowed to marry that he should go about begging for his and his guru s maintenance Above all no girl or Sudra should be permitted to undergo Brahmacharya Many items of our material culture are foreign in origin Sugar gupponder aod tea are Chinese Similarly tobacco and potato are not Indian Paper or Laghow is an Islamic introduc tion to this country originally Egyptian papyrus refined by the Chinese and modernized by the West Many types of furnitures vegetables and items of cookery are also Islamic 10 origin Even the word rout—the sery sustenance of our 1 fe-IS Portugese And finally when we come to the West, particularly Britain our State parliamentary democracy party system economic institutions like business and trade science and technology industrial organization our armies and warfare means of communication and an unendiog number of other things are also western So the search for pure Indianness is not an easy task Who will decide which is Indian and how is another matter May be like the greedy one who searched for the golden egg it might end up in killing the duck A culture is a gestalt a configuration of different parts making it up into a totality The industrial production the power structure embodied in democratic institutions the family and the stratification systems do not exist as disjointed elements so that we could accept the western Industrial production or capitalism and also bring back the traditional caste system or the joint family pattern The material culture has completely changed in India the advanced media of communication science and technology and industrial units are the most powerful determining factors within the cultural pattern Neither waving of saffron flags for blowing of conch shells will wish them asay It is innocent romanticism or ignorance not to ibink of this as an unprece dented radical change in the Indian culture This basic change in the material culture has substantially affected all other parts 3 6 SOCIOLOGY OF ROYALIS of our culture And to reverse the latter to the old superstruc ture of Hindu institutional arrangements and belief systems is an impossibility Unless we conjure up the idea of an analar of an unusually charismatic dictator who will wipe out all our science and technology factories roads rails and everything and put us back into the caste family complex of primitive village communities the irreversibility of the present trend 15 absolutely certain Hence those who console themselves with the belief that Bharatmata has abundant vitality to resist and nullify changes-as she was successful in the past in eliminating Junist and Buddhist impacts the inroads of Islam the reforma tion movements of kabir and others—are sadly mistaken None of thosc movements was supported by such a material change in culture They are often religio mystic pious sentiments of good and great personalities but without the requisite material basis to support them Motivation and Goal The Golden Age If the first problem was the identification of Indianness in terms of social or cultural hierarchy and space the second is in terms of time In the terminology of revivalism there is a constant strain which is in the nature of yearning to go back to the golden age where pure Indianness may be met with This concept of the past is a two way traffic on the one hand there is the imagery of life in the past on a higher pedestal and on the other a belief that the present is degraded and intolera blc This notion really fits in with our traditional concept of agc and evolution of morals as degeneration from the ideal Satya juga to the deplorable kalt juga weight of our overbearing traditions that we have probably blinded ourselves to the realisation that human freedom dignity equality and enlightenment of the masses implied in the modern secular democratic institutions education and the coming into being on their own of the erst while serfs and slaves the toiling masses and also the formerly oppressed and persecuted women of India who were subjected to san child marriage and infanticide were some of the epoch making achievements of modern times Miods indoctrinated by a false sense of superiority of our traditions are unable to sec this most significant fact of our time and so they retreat to the Such is the as mass 1 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISY past Such retreatism may be of much instrumental value to some leaders as a polititical strategy of mass manipulation but it is certainly not patriotic The motivational mechanism of the revivalist is pull and push-his conceptualized past pulls him back to the bygone age and the present which he detests pushes him in the same direction Therefore it is necessary that he must identify his golden age-the historical culture—to which he wants others to subscribe or be Indianized Which is that period of history to which we should return? Is that the immediate past the British period? Or is it the Mughal period? Surely not In the light of earlier slogans such as Back to the Vedas or the persistant potion that the Muslim rule was the cause of all degeneration of the Hindus and their institutions and our aversion to the British rule one can easily say that in the conscious minds of those who subscribe to the view of Indianıza tion is the lingering model of our ideal society which ought to be somewhere beyond the Mughal period Even here in all probability it is not the intention to move towards the Jainist or the Buddhist tradition because the continuous stress in the neo Hindu literature is on triumph of Sankaracharya over Buddbism All these suggest that the mind of those who talk of the past is hovering around the time of the Vedas inspite of the fact that the Vedic people were simple pastoral tribes who enjoyed a hearty meal and heady drink They also ate cows flesh and conducted many sacrificial ceremonies to propitiate nature or for their own wish fulfilment Even though they were simple they were clever enough to exploit and fool their brethren and so they invented in Purusha Suhia the story that Brahmin Kshatriya Vaisya and Sudra were created out of a primitive man when he was sacrificed by God As the story revealed further the Brahmin bei ame divine enjoying all types of immunities and others subordinate to him in the hierarchy They had also invented a divine origin of social order and law? Later in the Smritis the position hardened so much that if the Sudra were to hear the reading of the Vedas moulten lead was to be poured into his ears The idea of infallibility of the Vedas obstructed free enquiry and logic Not only the Vedas but 2 UN Ghosal A History of Indian Political Ideas Pp 19 20 8 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM even law codes were kept beyond criticism Many said that one should not even speak with the heretics the transgressors of the caste discipline the hypocrites and logicians : There is no uniformity in the culture from the Vedic period to the period of Manu Smriti There are features of tribal freedom, equality and also licence during that period which became rigid orthodoxy by the time of the Smritis A divine king exploitative social order of varnas subjugation of women monopoly of knowledge and dehumanization of the masses and cruel and unholy social customs like sat infanticide and niyoga were the characteristics of this later period Where does our model of Indianization exist? In the Vedic period of pastoral simplicity or in the Smriti period of varna rigidity? Indeed some of them like the varna system and the Hindu polity (probably including the theory of divide origin of Kings) seem to be welcome to some of the prominent advocates of Indianization. However no sane man in the context of today ever dares to think of adopting any one of those social institutions or customs or even major ideas of those olden days as they are utterly inadequate to the present day requirements The Test Prerequisites and Indianization A society must satisfy its needs such as food shelter and clothing it has also to make adjustments with other neighbour ing societies by evolving proper techniques of interaction Similarly internally it has to see that the parts should work in such a manger that the relationship between the parts and the whole is harmonized with the minimum of friction And finally the system has to be managed and tensions are to be solved by regulation As characterised by Parsons there are four such functions a) Goal attainment b) Adaptation c) Integration d) Pattern maintenance How far is Indianization relevent to these needs of our society? If it is useful it should unhesitatingly be accepted if it is not it should be rejected (a) Goal Altainment What can Indianization do for the attainment of our economic goals? Can we adopt the ancient 3 Debi Prasad Chattopadhyaya Indian Philosophy P 13 4 This is the view of Shn MS Golwalkar as expressed in hus book Bunch of Thoughts See Chapter on Golwalkarism in this book SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISV and truly Indian production patterns Can we make use of the truly Indian and primitive technology of the pre steam days for today s needs of mass production? Do we have a system of economic organisation and factory system of bureaucracy which can be called truly Indian and which can be used today? or course we can Indianize the staff employed in establishments-ıf this ever means Indjan zation as used in current terminology No doubt the word is used in this sense of replacing the workers This may or any position holders by men of Indian origin be a very negligible utility of Indianization even if it is understood in this sense But then there is the question as to who is Indian Does the concept of Indianization permit minorities and others to be in key positions in the army and other essential services? Further let us consider what is its role in defence with the objective of protectiog ourselves from aggressors Does it mean that we adopt the original Indian warfare in disregard to the modern machinised army, navy and air force ? Such problems arise when we think of Indianization with regard to all our needs This of course does not mean that everything Indian is useless it only means that many of our ancient traditions are helpless in the face of the challenges of our time (b) Adaptation Indian society lives in a world environ ment of modern science and technology of differing political and social systems of warring camps and religious groups Islam the religion of the biggest minority in India is also the religion of Pakistan and many other theocratic and not theo cratic states friendly and unfriendly to India So also Christians and Buddhists have their coreligionists in many countries with whom we have to deal How will Indianization be taken by those interested countries outside ? What will be the effect of this upon the Hindus living in other countries? Not only this there are various tribes and castes in India who are outside the pale of Hinduism and who along with other minonties including the people of the border States of Punjab Nagaland and probably parts of the South as well as the offshore islands of Laccadies and Andamans might get alienated and they may hale nothing to do with Indianization inspite of the claim of Shri Golsalkar that people in the South were always considered to 10 SOCIOLOGY OF Xti Valisi be as much Anan 75 those in the North : In this way and in miny other ways in linization instead of leine helpful estrangers people from us In the name of Irdianitation If we have to Fuert to Indiin ystems of organisations spanduds measures calendars symbols ms of all lirds scientifc names and techniques it would be colution in the reverse order Broadly speaking the his ory of culture and civilization is not of volation and rigidity but of contact changa and evolution rthnocentrum is a dingcrous game which destroys cultures and trutalizes its ad ocales (c) Integration Mutual relationships among the sanous constituents like cases setigious groups backward classes inbal population and different regions is a major problem confronting the Indian society Roth cultural reality on the one hand and constitutional federalism on the other bear testimony to this One might claim that Indianisation of all these groups is the solution to bring about unity and integration among the people Can such a claim he made ? If this claim is admitted how do Nc explain the conflicts and tensions between different Hindu dominant states and regions of India There are inter stalo disputes and troubles inspite of the population being llindu On the other han! the cry for Indianization instead of integrating the people at once rorels them agunt cach other The minori ties become alienated and the different shades of llindus become suspicious of each other and fearful of the domination by the so-called ideal type of Hindus and their customs When Indianızalion implies the mihiant odsocacy of any particular language on the lines of Hindi llindu Ilindusthan the immediate reaction of other linguistic groups would be that of rebellion The simple and obvious fact is that the demand of Indianization is already precipitating or would precipitatc further disintegration and distrust among the various regions and groups it cannot be instrumental in resolving social tensions in India If religion were a cohesive force in the political field how were world wars fought between the Christian countries twice in quick succession? How could one explain the major riots in North Ireland between the followers of ihe same religion? Can we avoid all the distinctions between Hindus and Hindus as in the SMS Gotwalkar Bunch of Thoughts P 115 SOCIOLOGY OF RIVALISM case of Catholics and Protestants which they were not able to, so that an absolutely monolithic religion could be built up? Is this at all a possibility in case of Hinduism which was crolved from various tribal sources and through centuries into a broad and tolerant faith (d) Pantern Maintenance The social system should go on and for this purpose the various sub systems and groups should feel sullicient incentive and must get motivated to serve the common good of the totality In this respect the perspectic of those who talk of Indianization is outmoded they go back to the past traditions of our culture in search of models of social organisation With the true tevivalist nostalgia they yearn to introduce the varna system which at once initiates disaffection among many castes renewing hostile historical memories and disturbs the motivational requirements of corporate life Caste system based on heredity involves deep-rooted prejudices among many sections of that hierarchy The idea of divine birth and the immunities the glaring disparity of privileges and discrimi natory justice associated with caste will not provide the necessary motivational force to hold the different sections of our people together in a national society Hence the belief among those who advocate Indianization regarding caste system as a model for organic integration of society would be not only of no use to the present it might prove fatal to the cause of the nation Moreover according to this concept ihose who are born and brought up in India are not Indians in case they are members of the minority communities they must undergo a rebirth into Hindu culture then alore are they acceptable Thus the perverted notion of Indianization strikes at the very root of national consciousness by antagonising the overwhelming number of caste groups and denouncing all the minorities How did we in India fail to face the invasions and conquests in the past say of the Mughals ? Did the fact of being Hindus make us unite to face the challenge at that time? If it did not then we must search for the source of strength and unity got in religion but elsewhere la view of all this one fails to see what the purpose of Indianization could be Accepting it at its face value we find that 6 See chapter on Golwalkarism SOCIOLOGY OF ROYALISM Brahmins who quoted past history against them in which even Sanskrit philology was used as a houpon The scheduled caste formulated their platform beginning with their role in the horegoon battle and ending with the denunciation of Manu Smriti the so called social political code of llindus' Again the incapacity of wrong symbols to unite the people has been described in the following words There is a victory pillar near Poona raised by the English to commemorate their Victory over Peshuas An eminent leader of the Harijans once addressed his casle brethren under the pillar He declared that the pillar was a symbol of the victory over the Brahmins as it was they who fought under the British and defeated the Pesh was the Brahmins Having stated this the Brahmin writer continues How heart ronding it is to hear an eminent leader thus describing the hated sign of slavery as an emblem of victory, and the despicable action of fighting as slaves of a forcigner against our own kith and din as an achievement of glory Here is one who belongs to the caste of Peshwas a Brah min who wants to establish a llindu Rashtra after the model of Shivaji s empire fecling pained at the Harijan leader s statement and in all probability genuinely What is interesting is bus reference to our kith and kin No doubt the Peshwas were the kith and kin of the Golsallars but can it be said that they were the kith and lia of the Harijans? Could that feeling arise in them under the Hindu tradition of the sarna system of which Shri Golwalkar is a great adıocate For all me know in the pre British days the Harrjans in Poona streets were not allowed to step out of their huts during mornings and afternoons lest their shadows might fall upon the holy Brahmın In many parts of the country this was the case In the same period of history diverse attitudes of Hindus and Muslims are very significant in Bengal While the Hindus offered thanks to the supreme disposer of events of this uni Verse for having unexpectedly delivered this country from the long continued tyranny of its former rulers and placed it under 7 SA Dauge India from Private Communism to Slanery P9 8 Golwalkar Bunch of Thoughts Pp 110 111 9 Ibid 15 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM the Government of the British 10 and extended cooperation to the British the Muslim felt disheartened at the loss of indepen dence Here we have the British conquest symbolised in four different ways by four differeut groups To the Maharashtrian Brahmins it is heart rending because it was a Brahminical empire which was defeated by the British To the Harijans of Maha rashtra the same thing was victory and deliverance from Brahmi nical tyranny And to the Hindu (Brahmis) in Bengal it was a deliverance from the former Muslim rulers whereas to Muslims the same thing symbolised defeat and loss of independence What made these four groups see different meanings in the same event is a question of perspective which is determined by their existential basis The Harijan in the context of the Hindu caste system was the most cruelly exploited and maltreated class of people and they would perceive good and bad from that point of view and so they found relief in the British rule The Chitpavan Brahmins under whose dynasty the Maratha empire had reached its highest point and afterwards declined to its fall and those who mourned the fallen glories of the Peshwas would naturally see something different To them it is not only defeat but also determination to go back to the olden days of greatness It is significant that the ideology which was fathered and nurturned by a section of Maratha Brahmins and which had come down from such a historical background though presently transforming into a wider realm in the country by the name of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh has as its mais fank the establishment of Hindu Rashtra on the lines of Shivaji s empire Shivaji is its most prominent hero It should be clear why Shri Golwalkar and the Maratha Harijan leaders cannot see the same meaning in the same monument The same is the case with the communal approach of Hindus and Muslims The Muslims who bad a sense of identi fication with the Mughal empire and were more patriotic felt bitter about the loss of independence when the British occupied the country whereas the Hindus of Bengal who were the rising 10 History and Culture of Indian People quoted from a memorandum presented by Raja Ram Moban Roy Yol X P 12 16 SOCIOLOGY OF ROYIVALISH new burcaucracy saw in it a new and favourable perspective, altogether different from that of the Muslims Similarly, dia metrically opposed reactions followed when Shivaji festivals were otroduced into politics at the instance of the late Bal Gangadhar Tilak Patriotic fervour and fanaticism was roused among the Hindus whereas the same symbol had a chilling elect on the Muslims to whom Shivaji symbolised the downfall of the great Muslim cmpire Some of the misgivings of that period among the Hindus and Muslims centred round Tilak s politics " The Shnaji cult in its modern phase as it is practised by the Shiv Sena demons trates how such regional and parochial symbols are atavistic and incapable of barnessing national consciousness In the minds of non Maharashtrian Hindus and minority communities that symbol today stands for hatred regional fanaticism and hostility It is evident that the revivalist idiom even when modern ideas are concealed in it would only help refresh the old memories of con flict separatism and hostility between various sections of India This is particularly because of our past To this day it was a gradual process of loss of identity of tribes and groups and their absorption in an evolving society And at this time of our growth in the midst of science and technology when there is a real possibility of hastening those bistorical trends into a radical change and the emergence of a national society without the innumerable sectarian barriers any attempt to re establish past identities of various groups as though by a process of digging up their ancient and forgotten group consciousness would only mean atavism of the worst type For atavism in the context of mass communication and science and technology would be worst possible and difficult to eradicate Revivalism in the background of Indian heterogeneity of culture even when initiated at the all India level would at once promote chain reactions at the regional and still lower levels resulting in a frantic search of one s own local cultural pedigree In fact the post independence period has seen this process in abundance The main characteristic of this is a sudden aware ness of one s great past rewriting of history a process of redis covering of heroes and heroines invocation Songs and poems 11 RC Majumdar History and Culture of People of India Vol X Pt 11 P 478 See also TV Paravate Bal Gangadhar Tilak P 126 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISI 17 which roused regional pride and consciousness renaming of roads and parks and observance of great days from the history of the regions 1 These practices soon degenerate into regional ethnocentrism because such strong in group psychology must peces sarily look for its out groups and scapegoats Revivalist Trends Why? Revivalist trends began as a defence mechanism during the early British days and flourished during the post independence period in all directions Dr AR Desai lists ten such features in his able analysis of recent trends in Indian nationalism 1 Renaming of India as Bharat in tune with the old Hindu tradition 2 Attempt to evolve Sanskritized Hindi by eliminating any aroma of Muslim culture and discarding of the term Hindu stanı for Hindi 3 Selection of national symbols to resurrect certain cul tural values of the pre Muslim past 4 Large scale popularization of religious and superstitious festivals and melas under the direct or indirect help of the State and also of the patronage of certain leaders of the ruling party Efforts to organize Sadhu Samaj and make use of the most orthodox and consciously conservative section of the Hindu society as an agent of moral and social transformation 6 Exhortations of certain Congress ministers to introduce teaching of religion in educational institutions 7 Establishment of institutions academies cultural cen tres publication series art and aesthetic associations to empha sise values founded on revivalism 8 Broadcasting bhajans and devotional songs in the early morning programmes of the Radio 9 Participation by Congress leaders in communal caste and Hindu revivalist movements and also attempts to recast numerous traditions in religious moulds 10 The recent back to the Vedas and Gita approach of Acharya Vinoba Bhave Jai Prakash Narayan and many others 13 Dr Desaj has referred mostly to those areas of revivalism in which the ruling party or its associates are involved More 5 12 KK Gangadharan The Shiv Sena Phenomenon P 6 13 A R Desai Recent Trends in Indian Nationalism Pp 133 34 18 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM del berate are the ellorts of organisations like the RSS which regularly indoctrinate the youth with revivalist ideologies and make them observe festivals and occasions calculated to generale Hindu separatist consciousness in the younger generation All these forces and processes have continuously prepared the ground for Indianization which is yet another name for the latest phase of revivalism in India The phenom-non of reviva lism and its consequences may be outlined as follows As the orthodox and traditional Indian society began changing there appeared resistance to change by thosc sections which had a vested interest in the old order in the background of the Hindu social structure and the position of the upper castes the opposition came from feudal and Brahminical stock This leadership with its traditional role spread the message of revi valism and provided a faulty perception to the igcorant and illiterate masses Thus even among the poorer and weaker sections of society a false consciousness was implanted by the traditionalist leadership by using revivalist and religious appeals For the conservative and orthodox sections revivalism served to preserve their position and also obstruct any change This es sentially was in thair interest In fact as Dr Desai has rightly observed the under developed capitalism in India instead of becoming a modernising force against superstitious customs and practices is trying to make use of those old values and insti tutions to create confusion and division among the common people so that the capitalist class can preserve their own status and also ward off the ever increasing demands of the working men which the weak capitalists in India are unable to meet " This juxtaposed with the truth that the demand for Indianization comes from parties and organisations of the Right will give the idea that behind the religious and patriotic mask of Indianization there is the stark economic truth that they represent a grotesque brand of feudal cum capitalist amalgam Secondly with the coming in of demo-ratic institutions revivalism became an in strument of mass appeal Faulty reasoning and pseudo scientific approaches buttressed by religious sentiments are expected to yield good results A particular existential basis was exploited by a particular kind of leadership resulting in a revivalist type P 119 19 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM of consciousness The consequences of revivalism for the Indian Society may be summed up as follows 1 Castc consciousness--rivalry and hostility--when the historical background of different castes are brought up to the level of consciousness of one time exploiters and the crploited 2. Hindu Muslim tension and Muslim alienation as a sequel to dubbing them un Indian 3 Inter regional conflicts depending upon various factors such as (a) The caste composition and dominance of the regions (b) Political parties of the region with regard to their agree ability or hostility to Indianization (c) Aryan or Dravidian culture complex of the region (d) The degree of moderaity and tradition among the people of the region The net balance of Indianization would be devastating in all directions except that it rouses fanaticism among a small -section of Hindus and makes them activists The rest of the results would be adverse to the community We have already se n how differently four different sections of our prople looked upon British conquest and how they perceived patriotism in relation to that situation It should be clear that there is nothing like absolute patriotism it depends upon one s position 10 society and how one conceptualises the situation Ultimately it is the nature of the social system which makes man patriotic because it is the system which provides him his position and also a sense of identification and involvement with the nation A highly fragmented society of self sufficient villages and separate caste groups did not produce any patriotism This was proved by the behaviour of the Indians in the past This has b en observed by many including Lord Clive who had said if they had any inclination to destroy the Europeans they might have done it with sticks and stones And yet when under the British rule the system changed and the country came under a uniform law and administration mobility increased and isolation ended and we found for the first time a nation and national patriotism appear ing This must make us learn the lesson that if any section of the people are to be made patriotic it is not by Indianization but by giving such people the opportunity and self-confidence to feel involved in the affairs of the nation that they can be so converted CHAPTER II Renaissance and Revivalism Confrontation The Rise of Ideologics Indian revivalism has its roots in India s Renaissance And the current plea for Indianization is nothing but a variant of revivalısm which has been co-existing with the renaissance ever since it dawned upon the shores of India As an ideology it must be traced to the existential factors from where it originates It is necessary to have a glimpse of the historical and social background of the Indian Renaissance to grasp the perni cious doctrine of Back to ledus and other moves of that period For this one must recapture the Indian social scene subsequent to the arrival of the West particularly the British and the revolutionary social changes that followed Indias time old static society with its long existent and well known triad of joint family village and caste had never conceded a real structural change during the known past this was so despite wars and conquests and changing dynasties of any number The British when they came to India were armed with three drastic weapons of change--a modern government Christianity and the Industrial civilization For a country which was predominantly rural and had hardly any central authority except in matters of collecting taxes and waging wars a modern government was something very radical and far reaching For Hinduism too despite its koowo tolerance and RENAISSANCE AND REVIVALISY 21 past achievements Christianity was a tough contender, part: cularly against the outmoded customs and institutions And to the industrial civilisation with its capitalistic organisation the feudal Indian culture was no match Thus under the magic wand of the West India stood spellbound Though only a matter of historical accident the role of Britain was to bring about the destruction of the feudal social order of India and to build in its place a capitalist order This process was of course, made complicated by the fact that Britain was a foreign imperialist power in India Her colonial and exploitative designs and her strategic necessity of administering an alien land of multitudes of varying religions and social strata did not naturally permit her to transform the feudal order into full fledged capitalism However this transition from feudalism to capitalism with the accompanying clash of interests among the diametrically opposed groups was the existential basis out of which most of the modern ideologies in India have grown The modern Indian nationalism reformism prolitarianism liberalism radicalism, terrorism and not the least of all the contemporary Indian revivalısın are rooted in the social processes that were generated with the advent of the British in India Ideology and Society What was the nature of these social processes that produced so many ideologies and what were those specific situations out of which such ideologies sprang up? To know this we must at least briefly examine the nature of ideologies and how they are related to the social milieu Marx argued that men s beliefs (consciousness or ideas) reflected their material conditions and experiences and these in turn were the result of their roles in the society and above all their roles in the economic system But although he took a broadly determinist position Mars recog nised the great complexity of the problem and that ideologies do not stem in any simple way from a person s objective loca tion in society He recognised for example that some members of the proletariat accept the ideology of the bourgeoisic-a phenomenon that Engels described as false consciousness Не also recognized that ideas once born have a certain autonomy and may persist 1a a society long after the material circumstances 23 yrtotody Or 151YALIIW from which have drived have chanso! And fa'? unter Anrl finnheim held the vw that all ld 21 includire fruths Are Lourd in lisation He declared that there a an custeniully de crmined truth content in human thought at cicry (98 of its de clopm n!' Various ir points or rent proties according to him cypress the airrations of dit rent froups in society and it should be muihin to correla! such vicu points to structural (clau pritions ciu) and hintoxal positions Th rcfore in the light of sociology of Kronled.com 18 ma) Ir posubito understand the various id molozing and belief ihni ferminated during th Indian rengisance The prerequisi'e to such an anilysis is to have a bird scyt view of the social processes that were sharing during this period In the long history of Indut there were upheavals and and resolutions but none were equalent to the Batish impact Most of the past changes were or a religious nature for instance at the time when Brahminism became decadent Buddhism arosc and when the latter declined Sankaracharya made a vigorous attempt to resurrect Hinduum Then there was the Islamic impact followed by the Dhalti cult with a view to synthesizing the various religions into a common brotherhood Commenting on these deselopments of the past Dr Mukerjes ob cried the mystic resolution in the absence of a fundamental change in the Indian social economy was bound to be a minor revolution With the British rule the very basis of the Indian social economy has been changed The British rule did not change the social structure of India all of a sudden however within a few decades things begin to move Power Status and Role The status organisation in pre British India was of a dual character One may be described as the temporal power struc ture headed by the king followed by his subordinates or chief tains who had their way over a large number of villages and who collected taxes from villnges and transmitted a portion to the king after appropriating their own shares Then came the 1 Stephen Cotgrove The Science of Society Pp 185 86 2 K Maonheim Essay in Sociology of Knowledge p 176 3 D P Mukerjee Modern Indian Culture P 28 23 RENAISSANCE AND REYIYALISM village beads followed by the common cultivators and lastly the serfs The other hierarchy was that of caste Both the hierarchies often when they reached the village level were mutually overlapping The villages were self ruled collectivist communities holding common land They had their own common functionaries who were in the service of the community There was hardly any interference from the king in the village affairs Mostly the social life was under the disci pline of caste and joint families while the common interest of the community was looked after by the village councils Thus self regulating and self perpetuating village community was the real preserver and maintainer of India s traditional social structure It is here that the British impact struck heavily by introduc ing private ownership of land zamindari levying of taxes from individuals and commercialization of agriculture when market oriented production began in place of the old pattern of produc tion for the need of the respective village Inroads of machine made goods from England at the first instance completely smashed the handicraft industry and threw thousands of artisans out of employment These material changes were enough to shake the very foundation of the status and role structure of the society But much more was to come in the shape of administrative measures With the introduction of uniform legislation the discrimi natory system of punishment which was varying in terms of place and religion was struck off This along with independent judiciary acceptance of notions of personal liberty and equality and abolition of slavery were measures destructive of feudal order At this distance of time one can only imagine what must have been the feeling of loss of power and status among the upper strata of the society which had accepted their god ordained and irrevocable high status as taken for granted and had been used to treating men of lower castes and ranks almost the way they dealt with their cattle A certain psychological effect may have been produced by the equality of cıvıl rights secured by British law and by distipctions of caste being ignored by the courts of justice in British lodia There is no difference between sweeper and Brahmin the latter of whom has been deprived of the 24 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM $ immunity from capital punisment which he once enjoyed under Hindu rulers The ego shrinkage and frustration of the upper class evid eat in the statement that when sued by a mean labourer or a male or female servant you are summoned without investigation to attend to their court and are thus dishonoured and degraded This is how the proclamation issued at Azamgarh during the revolt of 1857 referred to this sensitive issue Similarly the status image in the minds of slave owners is bound to be disturbed by the abolition of slavery According to estimates there were about 8 to 9 million slaves in the country during 1841 What would have been the impact of restoring liberty to these millions and how the ego of slave-owning families must have been hurt when they lost that pride of mastery over men and women is not difficult to understand The change in the structure of status and role must have been very sharp Meanwhile continuous process of destruction and regenera tion of classes and occupations were on While the changes that affected the rural life destroyed the agricultural middle class the Idroads of foreign made goods almost ruined the artisan class in urban areas There were also officers and men of army of for mer chieftains who lost their roles after the establishment of law and order by the British At the same time as though on the ruins of the former arose the new middle class-the government servants and those of the liberal professions traders and mer chants Thus out of the western educated section of this middle class the new leadership came into existence This was a radical change from the past It was members of this class who manded the modern and expandiog bureaucracy in lodia Yet another status strain felt by the tradition miaded Indians was at the hands of the bureaucracy the proceedings of wbich were personal formal and in accordance with the princi ples of equality of all citizens in the eyes of Jaw This must 4 LSS O metly Mfudern India and the best P 370 SRC Majumdar History and Culture of Indian People Vol IX P 493 6 See A R Desai Social Background of Indian Nationalism Also N Y Savani Brulsh Impact on India (Studies in the Cultural History of India) 25 RENAISSANCE AND REVIVALISM have been revolting to the erstwhile privileged sections of the community who were steeped in the feudal cum caste traditions and were accustomed to the recognition of personal status and dignity at the hands of former kings and their government Thus a static society which for centuries together had not known any significant internal change became rather abruptly mobile and dynamic The advent of vertical mobility brought about significant change in the real status of various groups and tilted the established status and rank order at different levels of social hierarchy This substantial social context of change in course of time was bound to produce new ideologies and reactions which we shall take up later The material changes that disorganised the self sufficient village communities and the dynamism that affected the status structure of caste and class in India was accompanied by yet another set of changes in another traditional and vital sector namely the joint family Since ages family has been one of the strongest citadels of orthodoxy in India it was a focal point into which crude and superstitious customs of caste and religion were projected and through a process of blind repetition of outmoded rites and rituals it went on perpetuating itself for centuries to gether The feudal patriarchal family completely suppressed the women and children to such an extent that in the presence of the grand faiber children were not allowed to sit in the lap of their father and wives were not allowed to talk to their husbands during day time Inhuman practices of San female infanticide child marriage and purdah were the burden of at least fifty percent of the Hindus who normally happened to be This is particularly true in those areas where such customs were in vogue Opposition to these practices and abolition of them greatly redeemed the status of women More than anything else education in general and female education In particular was the greatest liberating force and a grave threat to conservativism No wonder that the upper castes did not send their children to schools started earlier they had to contend with children of love castes and of medias It tyas significant that the orthodox among the Indians were very much opposed to female education while the enlightened and great men like Pandit Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar and Raja Ram Mohan Roy were advocating the cause women 26 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM Through such unprecedented changes the power status and role of different strata of Indian society underwent revolu tionary changes many of the ested interests with their deeply entrenched positions were shaken many new groups were cata pulted into higher positions and the status of women got raised One of the major aspects of this transformation was that the traditionally orthodor elements had a sense of loss of power and felt humiliated and aggrieved The humiliation was enhanced when such upper classes were maltreated by the British The rule that every native whatever his pretended rank may be ought to be compelled under heavy penalties to salaam all English gentlemen in the streets and if the patire is on horse back or in a carriage to dismount and stand 10 a respectful attitude until the European has passed him ? was not only an order of a magistrate at Agra but was an unwritten law all over British India The Impact and its Outcome There were provocative confrontations of ideas and debates on religion which were to lay the foundation of ideological con flicts later in this field Conjoined with this there was the new culture with the modern means of communication the industries and specially printing press It is well known that the railways notwithstanding their role in promoting the concept of nation and national institutions by expediting travel between distant places were often understood as a deliberate British device to promote their business and imperialist interest of domination So also was their introduction understood as a deliberate attempt to interfere with caste religious susceptibilities of people for it was during railway travel that they were compelled by circum stances to give up such customs like untouchability and pollution The printing press played a much more vital role not only did it print and publicise books and newspapers and popularize knowledge for the first time in Indian history it also added new dimension of critical and self introspective thinking among the literate sections Thus arguments and counter arguments discussions and debates on various prablems that emerged out of the British 1pact had become the order of the day This 7 RC Majumdar Og Ch Yol X Part I P 417 27 RENAISSANCE AND REVIVALIS was the origin of public opinion in India So also did public in the sense of reading public supporting or opposing public come into existence Vital issues of the time such as abolition of burning of widons killing of female children introduction of widow remarriage and a host of Hindu religious customs and thoughts were the preoccupation of many tracts and newspapers in those days This was the process of making people conscious of issues involved in their day to day life and also the beginning of ideological difference It is widely recognised that education has iwo distinct functions to perform The first is to perpetuate the existing cul ture and its techniques ideas ideals standards values and insti tutions Secondly education should also be an instrument of change and adaptation without being merely repetitive and reproductive of the past However the traditronal Indran education was not dynamic it was mainly oriented towards per petuating unquestioning obedience to the conservative social order and its time old customs and beliefs Dealing with the Hindu intellectual approach Nırad C Chaudhuri makes the following observations Furst an air of secrecy and esotericism never left the Hindu pursuit of knowledge and at times this became grotesque Secondly it became insti tutional for the attribution of supernatural authority to the Vedas and inspired sages was ultimately to be traced to a belief in hunches in preference to rational enquiry Lastly it became the monopoly of special class of persons who could exclude and include others in this class quite arbitrarily because the Hindus also formulated the auxiliary theory that some men were capable of knowledge and others were not and this could only be decided by the Guru or preceptor Any person who claimed to have it on the strength of personal enquiry was regarded as a pretender and even worse as an imposters As against this position of authoritarian restrictive and self revealed type of knowledge which in its later phase had degenerated to cramning verses and scriptures and quoting authorities the modern English education appeared on the scene The impact of Mill Voltaire Locke Bacon Hume Paine Godwin Comte Kant Hegel and Bentham was indeed 8 Nirad C Chaudhun The Intellectual 17 India, P 48-49

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RENAISSANCE AND REVIVALIST 29 College gave up old religious customs and ideas and deliberately adopted the practice of eating beef and drinking wine Enthused by the Western impact some of the newly educated ones behaved in strange ways they thought and conducted themselves like the Europeans and denounced cverything Indian There were demands from the public to expel the students who did not strictly adhere to ancestral customs and beliefs The magistrates were urged to punish those students who did not observe the orthodox rules and practices "" Not only were the iconoclast opposed to the religious authority and tradition the only worry of the conservative sections but the abolition of sati disrespect to the institution of purdah and caste system in public places were also giving headache to them The legal right of inheritance granted to converts by the British authorities and widow remarriage act were also looked upon as deliberate attack on and interference with Hinduism Moreover the religious reform that Raja Ram Mohan Roy started was against idolatory and the concept of transmigra tron He opposed sali polygamy evils of the caste system and ſavoured widow remarriage His was no doubt a church very much influenced by the Christian teachings while believing that the ancient Vedanta is self uſñcient in theology he clearly recog Dised the ethical supremacy of Jesus And more so his successor Keshab Chandra Sen was inclined towards Christianity 11 Tbus type of social and religious reforms undertaken by the leaders of the Brahmo Samaj was not to the liking of the orthodox Hindus The trust deed of Brahmo Samaj deciared promotion of charity morality piety benevolence virtue and strengthening the bonds of union between men of all religious persuasions and creeds 12 as their objective Naturally all these revolutionary changes were not to the liking of the pundits and the orthodox and the obvious corollary was an automatic defence of every thing Indian Reaction to Change The impact of such a change as outlined above was natu Tally not uniform upon all sections of society Consequently 10 lbid P 91 11 J N Farquhar Modern Religious Movements in India P 60 12 Quoted by Farquhar P 35 30 SOCIOLOGY OF RIVALIS did so human reaction to this process was also not uniform People s perception good or bad in 8 situation depends upon how it affects them There were of course a lot of people who were adversely affected by the change The upper castes who lost their caste privileges before the court of las feudal clements who resented equality the pandits and priests who opposed the abols tion of outmoded customs and practices those who felt and resented the loss of monopoly of learning and wisdom abco education was liberalized so as to be within the reach of low castes and women and all those who lost power and prestige were bound to perceive the new desclopments as undesirable and in fact they Confronted with ibe task of defending the various aspects of the old order they developed a defence mechanism which incorporated the penly learned techarque of propaganda and even the seatment of nationalism This broadly grew into an ideology of revivalism with its imagiaed greatness of the past and the motivational force in the desire to re-establish the past The impact Situation provided certain specific facilitatiog factors for the development and nurture of this ideology (1) Absurd Ranonali alion The Hestern impact and education introduced an cvergrowing gulf between the traditional social institutional life and the newly acquired rational and intellectual outlook Such a gap between life and thought is an upbearable situation which might if not remedied lead to mass schizophrenia Thus people placed in this situation would pormally try to get over their sense of guilt or a continuous process of self accusalon shich is bound to arise in that dialectic of backward institutions and forward intellect. The escape from this predicament is obviously to fill in the gap that is to rationa lize one s traditional culture and its institutional values in the manner apparently satisfactory to the nen ly acquired Western standard of evaluation even if it were pseudo-scientific standards The other alternative is to change one s day to day life by moving against the time old and urational customs and practices of society which indeed must have been a tough task for many Therefore a good section of Western educated persons resorted to rationalization and self defence of one s culture with the result that they went on feeding the revivalist mill The absurdity of defending an untepable position led the Hiadu revivalists to the point of claiming that all RENAISSANCE AND REVIVALISH 31 modern science and technology had its origin in their scriptures And some of them indulged in scientific rationalization of Hindu customs and practices Pundit Sasadhar Tarka Chudamanı (1840 1923) maintained that Hindu religious prac tices surcharged the body with electricity from the atmosphere and the earth one upward and one downward The tuft of long hair at the back of orthodor Hindu s head enables him to purify and invigorate his mind by helping the passage of these electrical currents through bis body 13 The position of Dayanand was not much different By most incredible interpretations of the Vedas he succeeded in persuading himself and others that everythiog worth koowing even the most recent saventions of modern science were alluded to in the Vedas steam engines railways and steam boats all were shown to have been known at least 10 their germs to the poets of the Vedas 18 Such delusions of grandeur became a sort of revivalist folklore in India the theme of which was that the West had come to know science from India by stealthily taking away our ancient works of science we had even aeroplanas long b fore the West invented it Don't we know that Sita was brought back from lanha by a Pushpak iman? To this day this line of argument is not dead in India There are even science teachers who believe that we knew not only all about missiles but also how to retrieve them This is obviously mythology in the physics laboratory Notwithstanding the false pride injected into an ignorant and illiterate people and its political function the effect of it was to create an ideology of looking backward glorifying and justifying everytbiog of that past (2) Under the Afask of Blind Imutation Under the in tial impact of the West there were as we have mentioned already some people who were off their feet and behaved as if they were complete aliens in their own country they condemned every thing Indian and Hindu and some of the early educated and respectable people even got converted to Christianity This brought about a strong self defence mechanism among the ortho dox and not so orthodox The former began to put up a blind defence of everything Indian And for those who were aggrieved 13 J Sarkar India through the Ages P 122 14 Mar Mueller Biographical Essays P 1.0 Raja Ram 32 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALIS by the change such a defence could be a respectful mask, atleas a partial coier for crpressing their resentment on account o. losing their status and poucr, it meant hostility towards the news class (3) Anti Reformismi Influenced by the West there was yet another pattern of response rationalistic and reformistic in nature and broadly in favour of change and adjustment but without locally denouncing everything Indian Mohan Roy Dwarka Nath Tagore, Keshab Chandra Sen Ranade Gokhale and others were the pioneers of this line Though Ram Mohan Roy with all his liberal and rationalist outlook in his earlier days believed in the infallibility of Vedas yet when he wrote about the purity of monotheistic doctrine as in the Upanishads there was intense and wide spread agitation in Indian society The whole of Calcutta was strongly agitated over the rise of Reformist Party under Raja Ram Mobin Roy People of all classes, castes and shades of opinion took part ja the great controversy and the number was certainly against Raja Ram Mohan Roy who had more than a fair share of abuses and ridicule and even threats of personal violence The agitation gradually spread into the interior and the entire Hindu society was convulsed in a manner to which there was no parallel within the living memory 15 Inspite of such opposition the reformist ideology of the Brahmo Samaj flourished with the growth of rational thinking Under the leadership of Dwarka Nath Tagore the Samaj gave up the doctrine of infallibility of Vedas Later under the inspiring leadership of Keshab Chandra Sen application of reason to religious matters and advocacy of social reforms such as female education widow re marriage inter caste marriage and removal of purdah became articles of farth The Civil Marriage Act of 1872 made it possible to have legal marriage in disregard of caste or creed and this was con sidered as personal triumph of Keshab Chandra All these reforms were looked upon by the orthodox as un Indian and la Hindu The revivalism recensed further fillip as a reaction to social reform (4) Dogmatism 15 Self defenre Perhaps never before was Hinduism called upon to defend itself as it was forced to by 13 RC M3jumdar Op Cu Vol X Part II P 100 RENAISSANCE AND REVIVALISH 33 the circumstances of the impact situation with the advent of the British The attack from without and within almost forced the orthodox Hindus to defend themselves in a strange manner It is obvious that strong defence would require strong ideological backing and would often compel people to rationalize one s customs and institutions However Hinduism was no doctri paire religion There is no Christ no Bible not even an exclu sively reserved heaven or helt for any set of believers Hinduism believes in the universality of God s love and grace and of mao s salvation Such a religion cannot provide the ideological feryour for fanatical defence of anything including itself Hence we find the exigencies of a religious self defence mechanism and also probably inspired by the Christian and Islamic models the rise of a dogma of infallibility of scriptural authority within the Hindu fold Arya Samaj of Dayanand inspite of its progressive social outlook in the field of caste and other aspects was an assertion of infallibility of the Vedas and a plea to go back to the Vedas While it got engaged in a furious combat against Islam and Christianity it was dragging Hinduism to the level of those religions not only in matters of practice but also in certain aspects of ideology It may be recalled that Dayanand Saras Watı advocated even the obnoxious practice of Nuyoga (calling upon someone else to procreate children through one s own wife) on the basis of scriptural authority There were others who defended everything belonging to the past Bankim Chandra Chatterjee s work the biography of Lord Krishna was a rejoinder to the criticism of Christian missionaries on Krishna s amours with cowherd girls and it was in defence of everything that Krishna did 16 Similarly Smartas the followers of Saokara declared that the whole of the ritualist system of Hinduism comes from God that every detail of it is night the decline of India is the direct outcome of the neglect of these rules that recovery must be effected not by further doses of Protestant revolt but by the persistent and patient endeavour to observe the functions and precepts of the ancient Dharma in its entirety 17 The reference to Protestant revolt is obviously to the reforms 16 Told P 136 17 Taruha vetern Releraus fouemente de 100 34 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM 3 000 years initiated by Brahmo Samaj and others (5) Greatness Misused Yet another ingredient to the ego expansiveness in this direction came from the Westero orientalists who discovered the amazing richness and versatility of Sanskrit language and literature and were thrilled by the vision of a great civilization unfolded through at Hodgson s discovery of literature of Buddbısm Roth s history of Vedas Max Muller s text of Rigveda literary contributions of William Jones Cupoingham s revelation of Indian art epigraphy and archaeology and many more contributions including the ercava tion of Indus Valley Civilization provided a proud self image for ladtans as pheritors of an unbroken history and civilization of This knowledge when popularised through the English education laid the foundation of national consciousness and the people became for the first time aware of their history and national culture The orthodor elements exploited this new pride for the furtherance of revivalist ideologies by overburden ing the masses with the past at the cost of the present and the future (6) Scapegoatism An auxiliary belief along with faith in the grandeur and glorification of the past was the view that the loss of character and greatness of Hindus was due to the Muslim rule The implication in this context of the greatness of the past and the deceneration of the present apparently constitutes an appeal to resurrect the past (7) Testimonials and Reality He in India often attach great importance to testimonials from the West this has been the disposition of the pcople in India since long And people in the midst of a religious self defence hould naturally cling to any straw in support of their survival This was the case when India went wholeheartedly for the Theosophical Society and ils leaders Madam Blavatsky and Dr Mrs Aonic Beasant who were stout defenders of almost all Hindu customs and insututions Ile caste system polytheism mas sorship and the theory of reincarnation which were all subjected to criticism by cnlighten-d Hindls themselscs Madam Blavatsky also claimed that Alahaim3s adept in oculus still losed to the 163ccessible areas of the Ilimalayas and guided the destinies of mankind by their soul force and also maintained that such Mabatmus cthibi ted their astral bodies to her and she recensed mesures RENAISSANCE AND REVIVALISM 35 from them 18 This and her fantastic juggleries of occultism and equally fantastic theory of reincarnation by which she claimed Jesus was the wife of Emperor of Southern India 10 the year 13 500 BC and later father of Julius Caesar and T Subba Rao were all to the liking of Indians 19 Such stark superstitions and juggleries had indeed immense testimonial value to the orthodox Hindu who now found that even the Westerners were in support of his religious myth Apart from orientalist Max Muller who called us a nation of philosophers Williams and Jones the praise came from far off quarters For instance the misogynist German philosopher Schopenhauer declared that the Vedas were the fruit of highest human knowledge and wisdom and went on to predict that Io India our religion will never take root on the contrary Indian philosophy will produce a fundamental change in our know ledge and thought • It is regarding such lavish comments that Prof DP Mukerjee said that These scholars and lovers of Indta s past claimed more than even the Rishis daced Their panegyrics became the stock in trade of all the nationalist obscurantists in search of self respect21 This was yet another fenther in the cap of revivalism in India Revivalısm From Swaraj to Hindu Raj It is clear that all these developments had an undertone or even overtone of national sentiment or at least Hindu nationalist sentiment Often this perspective developed as a function of the then prevailing political and social situation In fact one could see the distinct growth of broad perspectives One which is narrowly patriotic and in d fence of the old order aspiring to go back and reclaim the past and still using the out fits of modern civilization in varying degrees while firmly rooted in feudal and religious grounds In fact there were great men Mike Swami Vivekanand who combined both radical and reviva list outlooks 18 RC Majumdar Op Cut Vol X, P 133 19 Farquhar P 275 20 Schopenhauer The li orld as "Vill onet Idea quoted by Shanker Ghose in Rmaissance fo Afilaan Indian Actiongium P 67 21 DP Mukerjee, Dhershies P 175 36 SOCIOLOGY OP REVIVALIS On the other side were those broadly liberal, patriotic and understanding, reformistic and in favour of modernization of culture and society gradually developlog into capitalistic and secular mould However religious nationalism seems to bave got an upper hand for sometime and in the heat of nationalist fervour Hindu religion appeared in the garb of nationalism and patriotism became communal Whatever may be the lospiration of Hinduism as a religious creed the educated Hindu made sta rallying symbol for political unity The aspiration for self government arrested all movements for social reform which the early impulse towards liberalism had called forth among the educated Hindus Past history was acked for new political formulas and by a natural and inevitable process nationality and patriotism began to be associated with Hinduism? The revisalist school was present in two major regions of British cultural contact in India Damely Bengal and Maharashtra It has been said that unlike in Bengal the militant nationalism in Maharashtra was not in religious garb Though the number aad quality of writers from Bengal were decidedly more impress ive and they were more religious and philosophical ja tone we shall see that this is not eractly true Let us examine some typical examples In Bengal Raj Naraja Bose who proclaimed the superiority of Hindu religion and culture over European and Christian theology and civilization and founded the Nationality Promotion Society did talk of Hindu medicine and Hindu meteria medica Among many other things he also tried to insulate the Hindu against Western etiquette and manners This trend dere loped further when Nabagopal Mitra started the institution of Hindu Meta which among other cultural activities organized dis courses on the superiority of Hinduism The national paper the organ of the Mela propogated the idea that Hindus were a nation by themselves Nabagopal also beld the view that Hindus wete destined to be a religious nation More or less the same was the position of Arya Samaj It wanted to establish a Hindu nation by establishing a common religion and culture in Iadia by converting others to Hinduism through the Shuddhi (conversion) movement Slecredit runs art Speeches Maulana Mohamed Ali Tp 69 70 RENAISSANCE AND REVIVALIS 37 Similar as the case with Bankim Chandra Most of his plots deal with Hindu Muslim fights and he does not hide the fact that his nationalism was Hindu rather than Indian * However the most powerful advocate of Hindu nationalism and also revivalism was Swami Vivekanand who earnestly believed that the time had come for the Hindus to conquer the whole world with their Vedantic thought and religion He also be lieved that India alone had a spiritual message whereas the West was steeped in the depth of sensuality Up India and conquer the world with your spirituality 24 he declared His revivalism and activism is unique in the sense that he was also radical in his proach He opposed almost everything normally associated with Hinduism and asserted Who cares for your Bhakti and Muktı? Who cares what your scriptures say? I will go into a thousand hells cheerfully if I can rouse my cauntrymen immersed in Tamas to stand on their feet and be men inspired with the Spirit of Karma Yoga This line of revivalist activism continued through the leadership of Aurobindo Ghose and B C Pal in Bengal and through Tilak and his associates in Maharashtra But it cannot be said that all of them shared the radicalism of Vivekananda At least Tilak did not The deterioration of Hindu tevivalism into Hindu communalism was a matter of time Militant nationalism in Mabarashtra centres round the controversial personality of Bal Gangadhar Tilak His religious and political attitudes can be judged from some of his crucial conduct in relation to issues of socio political nature Tilak was the strongest opponent of the Age of Consent Act of 1891 which prohibited consummation of marriage before the wife had reached the age of twelve while the enlightened public opinion in India was all for it He sided with the Sanskrit pundits and other orthodox elements of Poona and opposed Hindu woman s right to stay away from her husband According to bis most sympathetic biographer s admission he carried on an incessant campaign against Mr Malabanı (a Parsi social reformer who opposed child marriage) and the social reformers Tilak s theoretical stand was that society had a right to arraign offenders against its time honoured customs and traditions and if any change had to be 23 RC Majumdar Og Cit Vol X Part IP 90 24 Speeches and Wr#ings of Suami I rekananda p 600 38 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISY brought about in them it should be brought about with the sanction of religious leaders 25 If such were his views on social matters his patriotism was equally rooted in religion Either he sincerely believed in what he was proposing or perhaps as a strategy he decided to exploit the religious sentiments of the people in the cause of freedom A sympathetic writer says that it wss Tilak who first stood out for the concept of harness og social prejudices to the cause of national independence and applied his considerable talent to strengthening these prejudices 20 In many cases he came forward as a champion of Hinduism Commenting on this the author of Indian unrest Sır Valentine Chirol had referred to Tilak s onslaught in Poona upon Rapade his alliance with the bigots of orthodoxy his appeal to popular superstitions in the new Ganapati celebrations the raciat fapa ticism in the anti-cow killing movements to the Maratha senti ment in the cult which he introduced of Shivaji 37 Even though such comments were treated as unsympathetic during British time they deserve to be considered afresh today In fact an eminent Iodian historian admits even at the very beginning the introduction of Sonrası festival and Ganapata celebrations ipstead of uniting the people against the British had the opposite effect of splitting the Muslims from Hindus 28 The Hindu communal patriot sprang 10to etistence with swaraj as his war cry He refuses to give quarter to the Muslim unless latter quietly sbufles off his individuality and becomes completely Hinduised was a typical comment which characte rised the reality of the situation Whatever might have been the value of such symbolism in the past today in the context of our federal republic Shivaji cult does not even remain Hindu reviva lism but degenerates into regional Jingoism and an anachronism of the worst possible type In this contert a contemporary Maha rashtrian writer s observation deserves attention in the hundred years or so Shivaji-the symbol of the rise of Maratha poner-has become a great motivatiye force to Maharashtrians whenever they 25 J V Panrate Bal Gangadhar Tilak P 44 26 Natrajan Century of Social Reform P 65 27 V Chuol quoted by Parsate P 40 28 RC Majumdar Vol Y Part II Pp 477 78 29 Selected Bruings and Speeches of Mohamed All P 70 RENAISSANCE AND REVIVALISY 39 have had acute attacks of persecution mania or depressivc fits It has always helped to revive their grand dream of power There is something dangerously infantile and regressic in this atayısm It means that Maharashtrians like most other Indians eserywhere have lost the capacity to rationally face ibc present and the future It is a dificult subject Anyone trying to say so is likely to be accused of being a traitor an alien The crowd will tear him apart for having touched them on their most sensitive point But the only hope for a return to relative sanity lies in analysing the pshchology of an entire society its culture and its historical conditioning which becomes a handicap in its future progress 30 It is evident that such parochial and religious symbolisms in the present instead of doing good will only harm the nation Tilak s ringing phrase freedom is our birth right has been instrumental in activising politics in India However, from a wider perspective and from the viewpoint of future Prof DP Mukerjee has expressed the view that once the birth right is accepted independence becomes necessary because it is the land of birth and from this point of view Hindu has the first lien on 14 The shift according to him towards Hindu Mahasabha politics is a matter of drawing ibe right corollary Above all it is anti intellectual in being grounded upon emotions of the dispossessed and the debarred Birth rights always give strength to the first national movement of colonial people but in the later stages of any such struggle it veers towards Fascism and all that it means The roots of German and Italian Fascism are to be found in the anti intellectual romantic movements 31 If we take a close look at RSS ideology of today with their concept of Marribhumi Patribuumi Kormabhumi and Punjabhumi and their anti intellectualism and romanticism we cannot but sce that the tradition of militant Hindu nationalism from Tilak to Golwalkar and through Sayastar is a continuum, and no wonder that RSS is a great admirer of not only Shivaji hut also Tilak and many other symbols of this nature Prof DP Mukerjee who gave expression to the above views in his book published in July 1942 went on to make a prophetic statement 30 Dilip Chitre Rise of the third Shivaji Hindustan Times 28 2 1969 31 DP Mukerjes Modern Indian Culture P 57 40 XCIOLOGY OF PVIVALISU when hiç buld what ut fecl us that iſ it (idea of birth right) : born its subscquent philosopher will legitimately seek for ils progenitors among those who believed in freedom as a birth right and in nothing else The seeds of a cheap raciology are in that outlook " This was a prediction made 28 scars ago and for all the world to see the demand for Indianization has proved its validity becausc Indianization implies denial of nationality to all those whosc progenitors did not share the ideology of militant Hindu nationalism in the past To sum up we may conclude that the lodian renaissance by its scry nature generated revivalism A foreign government pandering to the Hindu superstitious customs and strengthening those obscurantist forces the failure to desclop scientific outlook due to absence of governmental encouragement and also because of the slow progress of industry and technology the development of national consciousness as a result of forcign excupation and administration discovery of Indian culture and the subse quent exaggeration of self pride were all exploited by classes resistant to change to convert nationalism voto communalism and knowledge of cultural heritage into ethnocentrism Thus the Weltanschuung that emerged out of Indian re0315$3ace was revivalism in the main rather than an opward looking world view of modernity This had to be so because of the misdirection given to the historical processes by the leadership of the orthodox section who did not want to change over to an open society and who cut themselves away from the traditional moorings of a feudal order Thus revivalısm was the ideological neapon of a class of counter revolutionaries against change in this case change from feudalism to capitalism 37 Ib1d P $8 CHAPTER III Historical and Cultural Models of Indianization (A) IDEOLOGY AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS The core of the social reform movement which began during the time of Raja Ram Mohan Roy was a new ideology intimately related to the changing social structure and Western education The process of change was partial and the old society and its social forces were very much alive This dualism of the changiog and unchanging society provided the existential basis for two diame trically opposed ideologies When the ideology of change began to express itself in the from of social reform movement the reaction expressed itself strongly in the form of an antı reform movement Like all other ideologies revivalısm also provides strong motivational force for social movements or to be more appropriate anti social movements Some of the advo cates of orthodoxy though educated were expressing the representative views of that section of society wbich was reluct ant to change And as an antidote to reform they turn d back to the Hindu traditions and took to not only bliadly justifying outmoded customs and practices but also preach ing revivalısm of all kinds Thus the ideology of Indian reviva lism as a set of related ideas was the mainspring of the antı reform movement and it continues to be so even to this day when it has assumed the name of lodianization and is well supported by an all ladia party and a huge volunteer core 42 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM in common A social movement represents an effort by a large number of people to solte collectuely a problem that they feel they bait 1 Thuis really means the people must necessarily have an understanding of their problem Such an understanding perspective or ideology is the inspiring force behind any social movement We have already seen that perspectives are bound 10 a location and intimately correlated with the existential basis Who they are at what point of history they exist and what position they hold in status hierarchy are important in the formulation of perspectives of people involved in social movements There fore to understand and appreciate the social movements whether they are reform movements or revivalist movements ope must be able to relate the ideology of such movements with the existential factors of the people who are drawn into those move ments Oncs belongingness to a definite existential basis creates a certain predisposition to look at issues We have already pointed out that the society which was changing as a result of British contact did have a large number of people who did not look upon the change favourably often because such changes were injurious to the traditionally privile ged and status holding sections The second implication of the approach is that such feeling and predisposition of any section of people have to be expressed and a consciousness about the same has to be built up That too was done by the revivalist leadership in the past Thus the ideology was born The third Implication was that such a perception would normally lead to the suggestion as to how the problem can be solved This is how social movements are born when ideologies are translated into group activity In the past se had such movements in the Hindu Mela of Bengal Shivaji festivals and cult founded by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in Maharashtra the Sanatan Dharma Sabha in North India the anti cow killing morem nis and the all India Shuddhı Sabla ard other innumerable big and small sitempts which were al) expressions of the same bich ward look ing realistic outloo. This trend became more compica ed #ben one time revolutionaries and respectable names like Aurobindo Ghose and Sayarlar later superimposed their courage and patriotism with religion and sentimental outbursts of Hindu I llacs Toch The Soxlul Pocholsy of Social Yfurer PS

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SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISY another story several such model moiements of Indianization which were in spired and conducted by the ideological predecessors of the present more To lhe erposition of Indianizanon and for the correct appreciation of the vested interest it is necessary ibat we cite some such example from the recent past Morcover an acquaintance with the former attempts at Indianization would also provide us with a clue to know whether such moves are in the interest of our people today Woman s possition in so-iety provides an extremely useful means of understanding the character of social structure While Hindus worshipped kalı or Shakn and called India motherland their social institutions and customs revealed yet This was the story of child marraige, of Son of female infanticide of Niaga or the practice of compelling ones wife to cohabit with some one else in order to beget children of insufferable widowhood of deprivation of property rights and of almost unconditional slavery to husband after the dictum that one s husband is God in reality The ideal "omapbood of ours namely the mythological Shilavatı goes to the extent of carrying her deformed husband on her own shoulders to a prostrtute 8 place to fulfil her husband s wishes In Beogal there were Kulin Brahmins who married sometimes even to the tune of bundred or more wives and carried a personal diary which was inscribed with fathers in law s addresses so that during their connubial tour the unusual husbands could go about collecting their levies from the fathers in law2 Broadly speaking the revivalists and the conservatives were defending almost all these institutions which were absolutely cruel tu the female From the defence of Sail and child marriage to the demonstration opposing the provisions of Hindu Code Bill organised by RSS and Jan Sangh it was a continuous chain of reactionary movements which we come across in India This represents a historical trend a mixture of oribo dory conservatism antı intellectualism and obscurantism which may be summed up as the residue of resistance to change Morements in Defence of Child Marriage and Widowhood Child marriage has been a curse of Hindu or even Indian society since ages The protagonists and the opponenis oftes 2 HH Ris ey The People of India P 166 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION 45 quote the religious texts to prove their case Whether the religion permits or not the custom continued since long and many upper castes bad accepted the idea of prepubertal marriages as a religious custom One of the old folk songs in kannada language has this theme A Brahmin girl was discarded hands and feet tied and blindfolded in the depth of the forest because she had attained puberty before she could get married. A low caste man a toddy tapper comes that way and hearing the cry of the girl be rescues her The girl tells her benefactor of the Brahminical custom of child marriage and explains how the Brahmins disallow unmarned daughters to stay at home after puberty and abandon them in the forest The toddy tapper an elderly map was shocked at this and condemns the cruel and uncivilized custom of Brahmins He tells her Luckily there is no such custom in other castes can there be such hard hearted people who will discard their daughters once having brought them up to be devoured by wild beasts in the forest The gul requests him to take her to his home and also offers to marry the man At this the toddy tapper feels amused and tells her that such elderly men do not marry young girls in his community—she was like a daughter to him and if she wants a husband she mav marry his sophes : This cruel institution of child marriage resulted in many Injurious consequences Sometimes members of a whole family were excommunicated for the simple reason that an topocent girl in the family attained biological maturity before marriage at the age of oine or ten. It produced a very large number of child widows who were literally left to rot and dissipate 10 a Society where widows here inauspicious and condemned to live a wretched life of inhuman sufferings Some of them were burnt to death some out of desperation and irrepressible biological urge joined the ranks of prostitutes and a large pumber of them sought refuge in widow homes run by missionants and ultima tely embraced Christianity Child manage the difficuitas of finding grooms and the exorbitant demands of dowry were also at the back of the practice of female infanticide in the words of Mr Justice Nitra Thousands of gul wives have to suffer ia patience maltrcalmeat like prisoners under their father in laws 3 Challal, Sume Probkms of Irela Ilustery Vol III Ip 110-113 44 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISHI several such model movements of India ization which were 10 spired and conducted by the ideological predecessors of the present move To the exposition of Indianization and for the correct appreciation of the vested interest it is necessary that we cite some such example from the recent past Moreover an acquaintance with the former attempts at Indianization would also provide us with a clue to know whether such moves are in the interest of our people today Woman s possition in soriety provides an extrem ly useful merns of understanding the chacacter of social structure While Hindus worshipped salt or Shakn and called India motherland their souial institutions and customs revealed yet another story This was the story of child marraige of Sall of female infanticide of Niyoga or the practice of compelling onts wife to cohabit with some one else in order to beget children of insufferable widowhood of deprivation of property rights and of almost unconditional slavery to husband after the dictum that one s husband is God in reality The ideal womanhood of ours namely the mythological Shilavatı goes to the extent of carrying her deformed husband on her own shoulders to a prostitutes place to fulfil her husband s wishes In Bengal there were Kulin Brahmins who married sometimes even to the tune of hundred or more wires and carried a personal diary whuch was inscribed with fathers in law s addresses so that during their connubial tour the unusual husbands could go about collecting their levics from the fathers in law? Broadly speaking the revivalisis and the conservatives were defending almost all these institutions which were absolutely cruel tu the female From the defence of Sall and child marriage to the demonstration opposing the provisions of Hindu Code Bill org3nised by RSS and Jan Sangh it was a continuous chain of reactionary movem nts which we come across in India This represents a historical trend a mixture of orthodory conservatism anti intellectualism and obscurantism which may be summed up as the residue of resistance to change Movements in Deleace of Child Marriage and Widowhood Child marriar has been a curse of Hindu or even Indian Society Siocc asos Th“ prolugonists and the opponents often 11 Rs.67 Ts Parolina P 146 HISTORICAL AND CLLTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION 45 quote the religious texts to prove their case Whether the religion permits or not the custom continued since long and many upper castes bad accepted the idea of prepubertal marriages as a religious custom One of the old folk songs in happada language has this theme A Brahmin girl was discarded hands and feet tied and blindfolded in the depth of the forest because she had attained puberty before she could get married A low caste man a toddy tapper comes that way and hearing the cry of the girl he rescues her The girl tells her berefactor of the Brahminical custom of child marriage and explains how the Brahmins disallow unmarried daughters to stay at home after puberty and abandon them in the forest The toddy tapper an elderly man was shocked at this and condemns the cruel and uncivilized custom of Brahmins He tells her Luckily there is no such custom in other castes can there be such hard hearted people who will discard their daughters once having brought them up to be devoured by wild beasts in the forest The gul requests him to take her to his home and also offers to marry the man At this the toddy tapper feels amused and tells her that such elderly men do not marry young girls in his community-she was like a daughter to him-and if she wants a husband she may marry his nephew : This cruel institution of child marriage resulted in many Injurious consequences Sometimes members of a whole family were excommunicated for the simple reason that an innocent girl in the family attained biological maturity before marriage at the age of aide or ten It produced a very large number of child widows who were literally left to rot and dissipate in a society where widons were inauspicious and condemned to live a wretched hfe of inhuman sufferings Some of them were burnt to death some out of desperation and irrepressible biological urge joined the ranks of prostitutes and a large number of them sought refuge in widow homes run by missionaries and ultima tely embraced Christianity Child marriage the difficulties of finding grooms and the exorbitant demands of dowry were also at the back of the practice of female infanticide In the words of Mr Justice Mitra Thousands of gul ses have to suffer in patience maltreatment like prisoners under their father in laws 3 Ch Pillay Some Problems of her la llistory VOL III Pp 110-113 46 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM roofs in consequence of their fathers snsbility to meet unjust demands Placed in strange house for the first time the poor girl ales sorcly feel the absence of their father mother brothers and sisters they are constantly tormented by the abusnic epithets heaped on their parents and they are themscises subjected to intolerable personal ull usage These circumstances drusc us to the conclusion that it would be far better to kill girls as soon as they are born Such miserable results of child marriage did invoke decp sympathy and concern in the minds of social reformers during the middle of the nineteenth century At the instance of Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar in the car 1856 a law was enacted to remove all legal objections to the marriage of Hindu widous There were incle times morc opponents to this bill than the number of supporters The orthodor Hindus were all against this The opposition against him (Vidyasagar) reached such an alarming stage that his life was thought to be in danger The first widow marriage was a very sensational and widely talked about event in Calcutta. The reactionary forces opposed widow marriage so much so that many of the Brahmo Samajists who helped the sidows had to suffer all types of opposition including even attacks upon their homes Similar was the oppo sition to the Act of 1872 which was passed at the instance of Keshab Chandra Sen and which abolished early marriages made polygamy penal sanctioned widow remarriages and voter caste marriages Again passing of this act was strongly opposed by a section of Hindus and it gave an impetus to Hindu revivalist movement Human reaction to social events often show ideological differences their interests and their world view such reactions are also useful material for evaluating historical personalities and groups In the context of such roles of individuals and groups they may also be judged as revivalists reformists or radical and We shall take up three significant events and see how different people reacted to them Later we may examine the 7 SO OD 4 HH Rnely The People of India P 169 5 RC Majumdar Op Cut Pp 277 78 6 Natraj Social Reform in India P 40 7 Srva Nath Shastri History of the Brahmo Samol Vol 1P 251

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48 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALIS 10 India He carried on agitation in England, brought consides able pressure upon the government to raise the age of consent to Iscle and forbid the consummation of marriage before that age A good section of public supported Malabars The widows of Surat sent appeals to scths of the community and the widows of Navsart petitioned to the Gack war of Baroda Support came from the ladian language press and the city of Bombay was also wholly in support But the reactionaries made a concentrated attack on Malabars and raised the cry of religion ia danger In the meanwhile a tragic case of a Bengalı child wife named Phulmapi who died ja Calcutta as a result of forcible intercourse by her thirty year old husband took place This outrageous incident strengthened the case for reform" In the words of Max Muller this led to the demand from Europesos that the stroog arm of the EBglisk faw be sof rendered infamous by ading and abetting unnatural atrocities Two thousand women of Bombay submitted a memorial to Queen Victoria 12 And at last through the efforts of Malabarı when the Bill raising the age of consent was brought forward it roused country wide opposition The defenders of this cruel custom of child marriage rose in resolt all over the country The Bengal scene in those days was described in the follow Never before within living memory had Bengal been so agitated Crowds of excited Hindus paraded the streets all the day and far into the night yelling at the pitch of their voices four religion is in danger Those who were still sane enough to argue protested that the Bill was an infringement of the Queens proclamation of 1858 by which she pledged her government to a policy of non interference with the religions of ber Indian subjects A monster meetlog of protest was held on the maidan the attendance was estimated at one hundred thousand No such public demonstration had ever been seen in Calcutta When it became apparent that the appeals to the Government of India and to the Secretary of State were ja vata it was resolved as a last resort to make a supreme effort to А move Kals the pastron Goddess of Calcutta to intervente ing words 10 Natraj Op C# P 83 11 Farquhar Or CHP 397 12 bd P 84 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION Mahapuja or whole day of fasting prayer and sacrifice was pro claimed at Kalighat the great shrine of this popular deity in one of the suburbs of Calcutta It was estimated at the time that two hundred thousand rupees were spent on the ceremony Three hundred pundits many of whom had been brought from Benaras led the devotions One devotee wished to sacrifice himself upon the altar and was with difficulty restrained from his purpose Others like the priests of Baal cut themselves with kores 13 All these strange things were conducted to defend child marriage While things were moving in this direction 10 Bengal the opposition to the Bill was mounting in Bombay and the champof or Xy was other than Bal Gangadhar Tilak himself In the words of even his most sympathetic biographer Tulak was the only public man of his day to be wholly against the Bill and therefore he widely came to be looked upon as the only champion of Hindu orthodoxy and conservatism He addressed a number of public meetings at Poona Sholapur and in Bombay and led a bitter attack against Ranade Bhandarkar and Agarkar describing them as reformers in hurry In the Kesarı and the Maratha be carried on an incessant campaign against Mr Malabari the social reformer and the government 14 Tilak was an orthodox man who held strange views on moral and social problems Though lionized by political expediency his theoretical position was that the time honoured customs and traditions should not be changed without the sanc tion of the religious heads 15 Thus inspite of the vigorous altempt by the representatives of the most orthodox and revivalıst elements to perpetuate the inhuman cruelties of child marriage upon female children the bill was passed in the year 1891 This IS one model of Indianization which failed no doubt but its leaders still are worshipped like heroes by the contemporary conservatives who espouse Indianization In Defence of Burning Child Widows and Those with Babes in Arms Cases base frequently occurred where women bare beco 13 hcaneth Mcdonald Pp 1889 See Farquhar Op Cu P 398 14 TV Parvate Bal Gangadhar Tilah 15 lbid P 4+ 30 sociotooY OF KEVIVALISM induced by the persuasions of their nett heirs interested in their destruction to burn themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands that others who have been induced by fear to retreat a resolution rashly expressed in the first moment of grief of burning with their deceased husbands have been forced upon the pyrc and were bound down with ropes and pressed with green bamboos until consumed by the flames that some after flying from fames have been carried back by their relations and burned to death 18 This is howy Ram Mohan Roy described Sell--the most notorious of Hindu jostitutions He himself probably had witnessed the brutalities perpetrated upon his elder brothers widow In spite of her unwillingness at the last moment the relatives and others at the cremation held ber down with bamboo poles and drowned her frantic shricks with tom toms and conches 11 Thousands of unfortunate widows young and old were burned to death year after year in the name of religion Within a radius of 30 miles from Calcutta no less than three hundred cases occurred during six months in the year 1804 Orthodox Hindu cultural background exercised great social pressure upon the widow to commit such suicide and often this was supplemented by the suggestive crowds assembled on the occasion by creating a psychosis in favour of burning and to this end drugs drums and religious cries and all other conceiv able aids were used and the helpless widow induced into a trance and even then she was forcibly held on the funeral pyre All these barbaric acts were done in the name of religion and Hindu Law Colebrooks Digest of Hindu Lavan authoritatile manual of Hindu Law prepared with the help of learned Brahmins-- says No other affectual duty is known for virtuous women at any time after the death of tbeir lords except casting them selves into the samc fire 18 The British administrators here and there tried to prevent San but there was no law whereby they could do that The Government moved cautiously in the matter and at last during the year 1812 to 18'7 they put certain restrictions upon drugs ing burning of pregnant widows and those with babes in arms 16 R C Majumdar Op Cu Yol X Part II P 272 17 Natrat Op Cut P 29 18 RC Majumdar Og C# Vol y Pact, II P 29 -- BISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION $1 and also such of them who had not attained puberty But the orthodox Hindus of Calcutta sent a petition to the Government asking to repeal the orders 19 In other words these Hindu revivalists in their deep sepse of religiosity wanted to drug and murder the widows whether they were pregnant women with babes in arms or even if they were children below the age of puberty. Such was the sadism and cruelty of the revivalists who claimed to be the defenders of Hindu faith They also invented authority in the Rigieda in support of Sarı Orienta lists like Wilson and Max Muller thought that it was a distortion In the words of Max Muller this was perhaps the most flagrant instance of what can be done by any unscrupulous priesthood 20 Ram Mohan Roy who carried a vigorous campaign against Sati and made representation to the govern ment and educated the public on this issue was opposed by the orthodox Hindus so much so that for a time Ram Moban s life was in danger At last Satı was prohibited and made illegal by William Bentinck on December 4 1829 But the orthodox did not give up the fight They sent a petition for the annulment of the new law to William Bentinck The signatories included zamındars and notable leaders of Hindu community Raja Radhakant and Mabaraja kali Krishna Bahadur and others when they met William Bºntinck in a deputation they were told that they might appeal to the king in council On this the Dharma Sabha was established and a deputation to England was organised to be led by an Eng lish lawyer Mr Francis Bathrs Mr Bathis took up his task with utmost professional optimism his clients being debarred by their very orthodoxy from undertaking the sea voyage A mishap to the ship in which he sailed was taken as a providential aid to the cause enabling more signatures to be added to the 800 on the petition ! 21 Ram Moban Roy representing the Emperor of Delhi took up the other side and in his presence the petition was rejected by the Privy Council All these above instances were bistorical models of India Dization because of this term were to be meaningful it must 19 Ibid P 270 20 Natraj Op Ck P 34 32 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM imply conversion or change of people to levels of behaviour which can be characterised as typically Indian And all these efforts which we described just now were such attempts at retaining or re introducing what was thought to be typically Indian or Hindu Hence the question before the thinking people of India is this can he subscribe today to such ideas opposed to freedom and equality of women and other under privileged groups and castes ? Can we today in our saoty dare to advocate the arna or caste system? Is it feasible today to advocate or believe in the fatalist theory of Karna or is it possible and practicable for us to impress upon any one to accept blindly the idea of Shadharma and be condemned to the position of a slave or a menial in the lowest rung of caste system? Will anyone advocate Ashrama system and thereby deny Braliniacharya or a period of education to women ? The absurdity of the revivalist approach of Indianization or Hinduization had been pointed out by M G Ranade in the following significant poser When we are asked to relle our institutions and customs people seem to be very much at sea as to wbat it is they seek to revive What particular period of our history is to be taken as the old ? Whether the period of the edas of the Smrus of the Puranas or of the Mohammedan or modern Hindu times? Our usages have been changed from time to time The meo and the gods of those old days ate and drank for bidden things to excess in a way no revivalist will now venture to recommend Shall we revive the twelve forms of soos or eight forms of marriages which included capture and recogni zed mixed and illegitimate intercourse ? Sball se revive the Niyoga system of procreating sons on our brothers wives when widowed ? Shall we revive the old liberties taken by the rishis and by the waves of the riskus with the marital tie ? Shall we revive the becatombs of animals sacrificed years end to years end and in which human belaj) were not spared as propittatory offerings ? Shall we revise the Shaku worship of the left hand with its indecencies and practical debaucheries ? Shall we revive the Sari and infanticide customs or the froging of living mes into the rivers or over rocks or hookswinging or the crushog beneath Jagapaath car? Shall we revise the internecine wars of the Brahmias and Kshatriyas or the cruel persecution and degradation of ite aborigioal population Shall we revise the HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION 53 custom of many husbands to one wife or of many wives to one husband ? Shall we require our Brahmins to cease to be land lords and gentlemen and turn into beggars and dependents upon the king as in olden times? These instances will sufice to show that the plan of reviv ing the ancient usages and customs will not work for our salva tion and is not practicable 2 These words of Ranade are as much true in these days as they were in his time We bave already referred to the Jana Sangh s campaign against the rights and privileges of women conceded by the Hindu Code This movement against the Hindu Code was indeed very significant because it has carried forth the olden and true traditions of the Hindu revivalists who were opposed to all reforms and were the advocates in favour of burning their OWA sisters or condemning them into irredeemable widowhood In Defence of Cow Will they Ban Vedas and Upanishads? Similarly the movement against cow killing wbich is hardly a positive show of love towards that animal is more inspired by the hostility towards beef caters the Muslims and Christians than anything else In 1882 Dayanand Saraswati founded the Gorakhshanı Sabba and the anti cow killiog agitation spread to many parts of the country During 1893 the activities of the Gorakshanı Sabha had led to riots in many places in Bihar when Hindus used force to rescue cows from the hands of Muslim butchers 23 In the same year there were riots in Bombay which again it was alleged was due to the same type of activi tics In the controversy 3bout the cause of riot that followed B 6 Tilak took side with the Hindus and justified the participation of Bombay Mill workers in the riot Under Tilak s leadership the l'oona Hindus berame determined and organised to assert their rights The Gorakshanı Sabha there held a public meting and passed' a resolunon demanding stoppage or con siaughter Within few weeks of the riots of 1893 came Ganesh Chaturtht which was chosen by Tulak to build up Hindu unity and solida rity The conduct of Tilak in general and the manner of Ganapau celebrations in Patticular created sufficient misgivings 22 CY Chintamani nian Social Reform Part II P 89 90 23 RC Majumdar Op Cu Tol Part II P 334 $4 SOCIOLOGY OF REYTVALICU in the minds of social reformers and other liberal sections of Hindus not to speak of Muslims They charged Tilak with pugnacity and quarrelsomeness and he was widely identified as a communalist The fears came true when serious riots broke out in Poona at the fag end of Ganapati celebrations in 1894 $4 The cow continued to be the preoccupation of Tilak Sooa after the Shivaji festival he publish d the following verses in Kesari which were put in the mouth of Shivaji It said The COW is taken daily to the slaughter house and mercilessly butchered by the unbelievers How can I bear this heart reod 10g spectacle ? Have all our leaders become like helpless figures on the chessboard ? 25 This cow tradition was recently resurrected by RSS in its Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in 1952 when it decided to mobilise public opinion in the entire country and collect sigaa tures on a mass petition requesting the President of India to ban cow slaughter Akhil Bharatiya Gohatya Nirodh Samm was formed in 1954 under the Presidentship of Prabhu Datt Brahma chari RSS people were in the forefront of the movement organised by this Samiti on August 22 1954 24 And when la 1966 the same forces including the Sankaracharyas and the Sadhus in the name of cows ransacked the Indian Capital Inc Central Government buildings the Parliament House, the All India Radio and the then Congress President Kamaraj had a narrow escape The then Home Minister Guzari Lal Nanda had to quit for his misplaced enthusiasm for the cow Evidently anti cow killing movement is yet another concrete example of Indianization The RSS the Jan Sangh and the like minded elements want that all those who wish to be in the mainstream of Indian life should abjure beef and show venera tiort to COW If this is accepted as the standard of Indianness then the Vedic gods like Indra who ate large quantities of beer sage Yajnavalı ya who was fond of tender flesh of cows and the great Valmiki the author of Ramay ona who had killed a fattened calf in honour of yet another great saint Vasstha s visit to his Ashram and almost all the ancient Hindus ull the time of 800 24 Parvate Op Cu P 91 25 R. C. Majumdar Op Cu P 581 26 S B Saco Sorbologlo Yol III P 4 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OP INDIANIZATION 55 AD would have to be branded as un Indians Vedas Bralı manas Upanishads Uttararamcharita various sources of Buddhist literature and Mahabharata--all these respected sacred scriptures of Hindus and Buddhists-make beef eating habits of ancient Hindus as clear as day light The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad prescribes eating boiled rice with beef and butter to husband and wife so that they may get a vigorous progeny 27 Dr PV Kane s monumental work History of Dharma Sastra the writings of Ramesh Chandra Dutt Albert Schwietzer and of the famous German sociologist Max Weber-all these authoritative works make the fact of beef eating practice of Hindus abundantly clear Excavations and archaeological evidence accumulated by Prof HD Srnkalia also proves the universal habit cow kiling among the ancient Hindus 28 It is believed only after the 600 AD or so gradually under the influence of Vaishnavism and Jainism in the south and with the help of Vaishnava kings did the cow become a sacred cult as it is today 28 However that the prohibition was not universal even as late as the twelfth century has been proved beyond any doubt 30 Now a question may be raised Are the Pundits Gurus and Acharyas who claim to be great scholars and defenders of Hindus unaware of the sacred literature of Hindus and the fact that they contain references to cow slaughter? If they knew it and even then they are ignoring and suppressing it in that case what is the type of Indianization that they are preaching? Are they not avoiding the true traditions of the Vedas the Upanishads and the Puranas? Those who hold faith in the infallibility of the Vedas must not plead for baoning of cow slaughter and if they do it would be nothing short of double talk One must not run with hare and hunt with hound Yet another dilemma the revivalist will have to confront is that if cow killing offends the Hindu sentiment our Vedas Upanishads and Puranas are indeed very offending to the Hindus because all those sacred books are full of references and advocacy of cow killing and eating' Would Indianization include a demand to ban such 27 Prodipto Roy also Vishnu Dutt See Seminar (93) 28 HD Sankalia Ibid Pp 13 16 29 Vishnu Dutt Op Cut P 35 30 HD Sankalia Op C# Pis 56 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM 'offensive literature of the ancient Hindus besides the prohibi tion of cow slaughter! Perhaps it should be clear to everyone that in this case Indranization does not seek to follow the authoritative Hindu or Indian tradition what then is the function of these agita tions? We have seen that whenever the cow has actively figured ja any controversy there have been Hindu Muslim tensions and its role has been that of an rritant between these communities Except nursing a new superstition by cultivating false sentiments and communal feelings what problem does this solve and how would this help the people ? Prohibition of cow slaughter would adversely affect leather industry would also burden the agrı culturists with unwanted and worn out cattle making it altogether uneconomic to maintain them they are bound to qualitatively affect the dairy industry in the country Hence the plea can have only one function-that of increasing communal tension and thereby increasing the possibility of certain parties and groups attaining the status of champions and defenders of Hindu faith That even this narrow exploitative function of the cow has not been achieved and is not likely to be achieved 18 evident from the recent unpopularity and decline of Jana Sangh in the Hindi belt which at one time was thought to be a fertile ground to sow the seeds of superstition (B) HINDUIZATION BRAHMINIZATION OR SANSKRITIZATION ? All those writers who have cared to study the cultural history of Indra from the Vedic days to the present 1100 have noted a broad trend in the cultural process which has been differently characterized as Brahminization Aryanization Hinduization and Sanskritization Though using different terms they all indicate basically the same thing During the carly phase of the Vedic period there were continuous fights and struggles between the immigrant lado Aryan tribes and the carlier inhabitants of India Attempt of the Daras to conquer territories and the Asuras defeating them at crery turn conse quent to this the Devas feeling the need for a strong leader and the coasecration of Indra as the king and stories of destruction of the ladus valley Cities by Iadra in a way marked the initial 57 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION stages $2 Even as the theory of Tarnas and the Brahminical immunities developed there were instances of challenges to Brahminical position from Kshatriyas la fact Jainism and Buddhism were such challenges to Brahminism its divine origin immunities and hierarchical order However as centuries rolled by the Iarna system became rigid, making Brahmin supremacy unchallenged Writing about the post Vedic period Dr GS Ghurye says This period sees a great consolidation of the position of the Brabmin class while the degradation of the Shudras comes out in marked contrast to the growing superiority of the Brah mins The discomfiture of the Asiatras is complete and the Vaishyas at least the general mass have progressively approxi mated to the Shudras The three lower castes are ordered to live according to the teaching of the Brahmin who shall declare their duties while the king is exborted to regulate their conduct accordingly 32 Though such an absolute supremacy of the Brahmi is derived from the Brahminical literature which was likely to exaggerate their own class image at least a highly exploitative society where the raishy as and the sudras sustained the productive activities and bore the brunt of economic explor tation was evident Tax free land to Brahmins gifts and at times almost compulsory gifts to Brahmins discriminating punishments for others and immunities to Brahmis minimum of interests charged on loans to Brahmins and the maximum from sudras freedom from debt enslavement for Brahmins while all other castes could be enslaved on account of son payment of debts All this had certainly become the practice The Sudras accumulation of wealth should be for the benefit of other Varnas Moreover a sudra was not permitted to amass wealth because it would harm Brahmins and other high caste people, and henre his property could be confiscated This is the nature of Brahminical social order that emerges from the sources like hautilya Gautam hatyayapa Maou and others 34 31 on circumstantial evidence Indra stands accused for the destruction or Indus Valley cities and citadels says M Wheeler in Ancient India u 87 ft also S Pissot Prehistoric India Pp 214-89 32 GS Ghure Caste and Class in India P 57 33 Ram Sharan Sharma, Some Economic Aspects of the Casse System in Ancient India Pp I 19 60 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISH zation reached the lowest of the groups by a process of percola tion from top to bottom through intermediaries Land oxning classes trustees of temples and those with hypergamous practices were also often found to be sources of Sanskritization because under the influence of such groups and practices the lower castes were induced to the acceptance of the way of life of the upper castes A Cultural Case Study To know the eract nature of motivational forces of the Sanskritizing process and how it worked and under what type of conditions it is necessary to examine a concrete area where this process had been taking place Kerala is ideally suited for such a case study because the place is culturally well defined and the Sanskritization process reached there comparatively very late and therefore the evidence is more dependable An outline of this process may be briefly stated so that it becomes possible for us to understand the causal factors and conditions of Sanskritization The Aryan Contact and Change of Language One of the major assumptions of this process is that there is a highly Sanskritized strata in the local culture so that the transmission of Sanskritized traits to the non Sanskritized strata is made possible Now it is well known that Kerala was part of Tamilakam or Tamil land and the language of the old Cera kingdom (Kerala) was Tamil 39 The social life of the region was also in common wh the rest of the Tamil land particularly the hill countries of the Tamil land Thus in olden days Kerala in terms of language and culture was wholly Dravidian There was hardly any Sanskritization or any pronounced Aryan 10fluence in this area till about the seventh century AD Around this period there was a large immigra tion of Aryans from the north to the south Apart from the evidence of strong Brahminical traditions in Kerala Tuluva Karnatak and Maharashtra which indicate this southward move the various temple inscriptions speak of the arrival of companies of learned Brahmins in order to make the place pure free from 39 N Shastry Pandyan Kin dom P 25 Also Robert Caldwell A Compara five Granmar of the Dravidian Family of Languages P 14 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION 61 + sin and filled with merit There were also instances of Chalukya hings making grants of yıllages to such Brahmins His torians of Kerala and Karnatak both give ample evidence of this immigration The North and South Canara Gazetteers express the view that this movement of Brahmins from the north may have been consequent on the destruction of Valabhı in Gujarat by the Arabs in the seventh or eighth century A D41 During this period the Arab attack and the subsequent trouble in Sind is also well known Thus the large exodus of Aryans (Namboodırı Brahmins) to Kerala was thought to be around 700 AD Besides this historical evidence of arrival of substantial number of Brahmins to Kerala the subsequent cultural changes that appeared in the region around the eighth century AD is indeed remarkable New names of towns appear in many parts of Kerala repeating the names of towns 10 Karnataka and Maharashtra The language begins to change altogether into a new one Once the ancient Tamil grammarians considered this area to be that part of the Tamil country where chaste Tamil was spoken This position changed when at the outset of the ninth century the language began to branch off though till the eleventh century AD it was the Tolkapian (Tamil grammatical work) rales which were applied to the language of Kerala Dr Caldwell considered Malayalam as an off shoot of Tamil differing chiefly at present by its disuse of personal terminations and the larger amount of Sanskrit derivatives it has availed itself of 43 It is remarkable he says that the Brahminiza tion of language and literature should now have become so complete The Sanskritization process of languag was such that a new script had to be evolved to facilitate the expression of an overwhelming number of Sanskrit words in Malayalam 40 (a) Salatore Ancient karnataka Pp 296 299 Ibid Footnote Pp 325 326 (b) E K Pillai Op Cu Pp 61 100 (c) Ds Fleet The Ind on Antiquary Vol X Pp 250 258 (d) K P P Menon History of Kerala Vol III P 29 41 (a) North Canara Ga etteer I P 117 (b) South Canara Ga efteer II P 60 42 E K Pillai Len sage and Literature through Centuries P 18 43 Caldwell OF CHI P 18—R R Vernia (Kerala Paniny am) and Ek Pillai (Lan uage and Literature through Centuries) are the other leading authorities who agree with this view SOCIOLOGY OP DIYALISH Samhrlilation and Stratificatlap Simufrancous to the changes in language there were drastic modifications in the social hierarchy customs minners and religion An# system of citte Aprented shich divided the SOCicły into two brond segments The one called Saarna or those who belong to the I arna sya!em and the others known as Ararmas or those who are beyond the sale of the caste system Naturally the Namboodiris were at the apex of the Smarna group After them cimc an intermediary group of castes composed or various small groups Some of them were outcastes from Brahmins and the oth rs were those who got clevated out of Nayars who constituted the major base of the Saarna group All these groups from Namboodinis to Nayars were somewhat integrated as a section of people entsled to enter temples and use the common temple tank for bath and also commonly served by exclusive castes of washermen and barbers This Savarna system was governed by hypergamy and thus not only biological integration but also the flow of culture from Namboodiris down to the Nayar caste directly and through intermediaries were made easy Hence we find in the traditional Kerala a very high rate of Sanskrslization among the Saiarnas Of course even here the degree of Sanskritization was directly correlated to the proximity to thc temples and thus ultimately nearer the Brahminical contact We shall see later that this Sararna system has been mainly conceived from the point of the Namboodiris and almost all regulatory principles were developed from the Brabmı nical angle There are seseral instances of upgrading and down grading of castes in order to serve the Brahminical cause How ever the social distance between the Brahmin and the rest of the intermediary and Nayar castes were very much pronounced The Aiarna section contained some of the prominent groups of the pre Brahminical days who seem to have lost their post tions-probably because of their failure to make adjustments with the Brahmipical order Still even this section came under Sanskritization through a different channel The carpenters the medicine men and astrologers and such other occupational groups belonging to this segment also became highly Sanskritized Their training upto a requisite standard was essential for the upper caste This and the exceptional scholars who broke the caste STORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION 63 rules and let the knowledge percolate to the lower and probibited fungs of caste should explain the phenomenon of Sanskritization among the Aiarna section of people particularly because they were kept at great social and physical distances from the caste Hindus especially Brahmins At one time not long ago the Sanskritization process among the various castes of Kerala had become so well established that people and their caste identity could be easily recognized by their accent and conversational style Vegetarianism and Religion Drastic changes occurred in the field of religion and customs and manners of the people Vegetarianism spread among various castes in proportion to their contact with Brahmias Not only human beings but even gods became vegetarian in place of blood sacrifice red flowers and red liquid made of turmeric and lime were substituted in many temples Gods who were chronic non vegetarians made allowance to the Brahminical sentiments and on occasions of important celebrations behaved like good boys and practised vegetarianism so that the Brahmin priests could enter the temples and presided over the ceremonies Just as the people began to adopt Sapskritized names in place of strictly focal names the gods also changed their name--proving the dictum that gods are made after the image of man In this process tbe little tradition got merged with the great tradition though not wholly because at the lower levels where Sanskritiza tion was not pronounced the little tradition survived Besides this ritual purity various rites and religious observations manners and speech systems of medicine and magic-all these and many more became Sanskritized The Power bebind Sanskritization In short what happened subsequent to the arrival of large number of Brahmins in kerala 15 total re ordering of society enveloping all avenues of his Call this process by any name Aryanization Brahmoization Sanskritization or Indianizationit is our contention that the charge outlined above is impossible in the context of contemporary democratic set up or in a free contact situation of an open society To explain this we pust turn towards the social forces responsible for bringiog about SOCIOLOGY OP REVIVALISH cal power such changes in this case it is nothing else than the Brahmini How could an immigrant minority become so powerful ? What were their sources of power ? Just as the capitalist class became the wielders of destiny of any society under capitalist system so also the landlords in an agricultural civilization could be the pace setters But how the Namboodiris became such a powerful class of landlords is to be presently examined Apart from land the second source of their power is the legal and social codes made by them in defence of their interest Thirdly the Namboodırıs were not merely temporal they were a theocratic community and hence a very important source of their power was religion which in the local context means the hold over the rich and resourceful temples These three sources of power-landlordism legal cum social codes and religion-in the feudal order of the olden society of Kerala were not independent sources but definitely interdependent and they all represented the class interest of Brahmins and other closely associated upper castes These were the powers which were instrumental in making them not only models of Sanskritization to others but also compelling others to follow that model with utmost loyalty and devotion The Rise of Landlordism There is a mythological as well as a historical account of the rise of Brahmin landlordism in Kerala The mythological account is found in Brahminical traditions like heralolpathy (origin of Kerala) Kerala Mahathm) am and Sankara Smriti The last one is claimed to be of the great Sankara Esen though experts do not admit this claim It is universally accepted by Brahmins as their authoritative legal cum social code The mythological story runs like this Parasurama after defeating tbe Kshatriyas twentyone times went to Gokarna and with a view to expiate the suns of having crtermipated the heroes ascended the mountain and worshipped Varuos paid homage to the goddess earth and made the sea lo recede and thus created the land between Gokarna and Kanyakumari and called it Malayalam He also rastalled one hundred and cighty gods to protect this land and yet thc tremble of carth did not ccase hence Shri Parasurama decided to have Brahmins and brought HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION 65 them from various places and the land was gifted to them. 44 This is how Brahmins became owners of the whole of Kerala according to their own tradition But history tells us a different story Soon after the Brahmins reached Kerala they gradually became a class of landlords How could they acquire land? This especially in View of the fact that they were prohibited from economic activi ties meant to acquire wealth is interesting Professor Ek Pillai has shown through a painstaking study of inscriptions his torical and archaeological evidences how the rise of landlordism took place in Kerala 5 The Brahmins became elected or nomi nated trustees of temples and in course of time they managed to be hereditary trustees The Sanskrit term Janmam is the present equivalent of free hold in kerala Janmam means literally life in other words property that can be enjoyed for the whole life When trusteeship became not merely a life time affair through reappointment or election, but a hereditary right of the Brahmin families the Janmam or Jife time began to assume the meaning of permanent ownership In course of time the phrase Gods property is the same as Brahminical property appears making Do distinction between the two There are evidences to show that vast areas of temple land appeared to have changed hands from God to Brahmins 40 Some times people s council and kings taking action against such trustees are recorded The trustees had become so arrogant and powerful that Once having got the information that a former king of Travancore was to visit the famous Suchindram temple they closed the temple earlier to spite the king and went away 47 Though in this particular case the king suppressed the trustees and brought about reform in the administration of the temple there are temple inscriptions and other records wbich show that kings were p nalised for baving offended the Aryans and made to donate huge properties to the temples 18 Large quantities of 44 Keralolpatty (Trichur) Pi 45 Ek Pillai Landlordism in Kerala fathrubhumi Weekly Vor XXXV No 50 51 52 (1958) 46 Ibid No 50 P8 47 Ibid No 52 P1 48 Hd No Si based on Rameshwaram (Qulon) Temple Inscription 66 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM goid siſted to the temples penalties realized for various offences from the temple employees and huge sums specified for certain rujas and charities ucre misused by the trustees and all these cxploits sent to the strengthening of landlords In this process lands donated to temples for religious purposes lands kept with the temples by falc donations with the sole purpose of tar cvasion by the rich non Brahmins all disappeared into thin air and even genuine properties of Gods got reduced by thousands of acres All thesc in addition to the usual gifts and donations of land made to the Brahmins by both kings and commoners Hence it should be clear that it was not the mythological Parasurama who gifted the whole Kerala to the Brahmins but they themselves acquired it through a very sorldly process of begetting wealth by people placed in such circumstances And this process of Brahmins becoming fandlords as we shall see later, is one of the major factors responsible for Sanskritization It is significant because of the reversal of class position-the pre Aryan landed class now became tenants and the Brahmins became landed aristocracy Sankara Smriti This is the Brahminical code 10 a way the local Manu Snirii of Kerala Social and legal codes generally indicate the interests of dominant class and also show the devices they employ to keep themselves in position A casual glance at Sankara Smrit would show the group interest of Brahmins it represented and the techniques it envisaged to keep up that interest Tax exemption and non confiscation of Brabminical property as well as the injunction to kings to make gifts of lands to Brahmins were parts of the prescription While these were clearly located in their economic interest there were codes calculated to maintain differential treatment among the castes and always upholding the supremacy of the Brahmin The king should protect Brahmins no profit should be charged from Brabmins while more may be exacted out of others and the sudra should serve the Brabmin and live by what the former is pleased to give Sudras should not study Sanskrit Shastras and Vedas but they should not be illiterate There was yet another set of codes intended to maintain power and domination of the Namboodiris king should keep Brabmin in HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION 67 19 forefront in all matters Sudra should always work for Brahmin always obey him without exercising any discretion "Sudra should be always ready to please Brahmin even if the former scolds he should not retort Sudra should obey Brahmin in whatever he says he should obsene all the taboos imposed by the Brahmin without any thought 'whatever duties are prescribed by Brahmins should be done The prescription for kings is to treat the Brahmins exceptionally well in every respect and safeguard Brahmins property in every possible way and also to take Brahmins into confidence and be guided by them in all sigoificant matters of state And a king who follows all these prescriptions is guaranteed a seat in the heaven 50 Apart from this an order of sixtyfour rules called Kerala Anacharam which contains regulations of cleanliness ritual purity procedures of bathing and many taboos regarding day to day life is also a part of Sankara Smrit 61 In this way one comes across regulation of life of all the castes who come under the Savarna section and in all this the authority and interest of Namboodırı is maintained supreme In fact there are many unwritten traditions which go far beyond what is contained in Sankara Smrits For instance there was almost an unwritten rule in olden days in dominant Namboodırı areas of Kerala that men and women should not cover their upper portion when they appear before the Namboodırı Not only this one of the tradı tionally learned Namboodiris gave evidence before the Malabar Marriage Commission that the Smrit says If a Brahmin wished to have sexual intercourse with a Sudra s wife the Sudra would be bound to satisfy the wish 52 The tyranny of this landlord class as indicated by evidences available in history and sociology of the region seem to have not really been felt by the people probably because of the power of indoctrination and of religious legitimization resorted to by 49 Sankara Smruti (Trichur) Pp 181 191 50 Ibid Pp 181 191 plus P 12 51 Ibid Pp 233 237 S2 Paper No 8 (Evidence of Ashtamoorthi Nambooduspad) Appendix II of the report of Malabar Marriage Commiss100 68 SOCIOLOGY OF REYTYALISM the Namboodiris Therefore the comment that "with all this self assertion a Namboodırı who is true to the best traditions of his race in respect to unworldliness gentleness simplicity and benevolence presents himself to the Hindu mind a model of Hindu piety coupled with a charming innocence and a noble simplicity 53 is not without substance The linguistic evidences as found in conversations between Namboodırı and others also suggest that the social distance between him and others and the prestige that be enjoyed even as late as a century ago in Kerala was immense The census reporter puts this in this way His person is holy his directions are commands his movements are processions his meal is pectar he is the holiest of human beings he is the representa tive of God on earth 56 It was this model which inspired and made a whole population to tread the path of Sanskritization Temple Centrism In their dual position of landlords and temple trustees an overwhelming majority of people at once became dependent upon Namboodinis as tenants and cultivators Landlord tenant relationship was not contractual ja feudal society it involved many traditional obligations and submissiveness to landlords The Namboodirt was the arbitrator of social and religious itfc Especially because of the trusteeship of temples enforcement of ritual purity cleanliness and many taboos related to the conduct in the temple premises were all up the bands of Namboodiris Temples in kerala were big affairs There were hundreds of people attached to temples in the capacity of drummers must cians florists mahouts suppliers of provisions fireworks men and other workers Morcover most of the important temples held thousands of acres of land which were let out for cultivation thereby attractiog thousands of dependent tepants Temples were also places of recreation dance and drama They also sold meals in the form of prasad and provided bathing tanks for the neigh bourbood The priests disposed many mediciocs and also practised some form of magic such as driving away cul spirits by sprinkling holy water or esco providing talisman and so oa 33 Uuluam Loga, Vlholol I P 127 (adras 1337) $4 Trrocore Ceruus Report 1974-75 P 191 HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODILS OF INDIANIZATION 69 There were also educational establishments along with the temples In this manner temples were carrying out functions of modern factories schools restaurants swimming pools cinema theatres hospitals rest houses all rolled into one In fact the culture of this region because of the great significance of temple at one time was decidedly temple-centric in character Most of the important cities of the past grew up around temples 65 Thus relgion and economic interests were inter woven in this complex life of temples the Namboodırı was the supreme authority who decided the code of conduct for all and if not simply because of religious reasons at least due to economic dependency the people employed or connected with temple in any manner could not have afforded to disobey him So the Sapskritization process in matters of conduct within the temple premises the ritual purity and taboos to be observed as a pre condition for the use of temple tank and also at the time of supplying items like milk, or even the requisite qualifications for taking prasad were the order of behaviour In this process ideas of pollution ritual purity and cleanliness mode of conduct speech and vegetarianism became part of the life of the newly Sanskritized people Those who failed to observe these patterns of life were prohibited from entering the temple or using the temple tank and also sometimes excommunicated from the caste Any one of these punishments put such people into serious dis abilities such as the denial of the service of functionaries like barbers and washermen to them Therefore the Sanskritization process which took place under such circumstances had un doubtedly an element of coercion From the above account it is obvious that the factors mainly responsible for the Sanskritization pro ess were the following (1) A combination of landlord class and theocratic ele ments into one (2) The state (Kings) coming more or less compl telv under their control and guidance conceding to their authority and world view as if it were a part of the state and hence not interfering with the workig of the system 55 EK Pillai Landlordism 10 kerala XXXY No 50 P 8 Mathrubhum Weekly Vol 70 SOCIOLOOY OF REVIVALISH (3) A process of legitimization of the caste system in which the Sanskritization model remained at the apcr and the secting incqualities and injustices were hardly made to fcel-particularly under conditions of back Hard socicly with its absence of mass communication ind public opinion (4) Thic peculiar temple-centric character of the culture of ancient kerala made it possible for all these forces 1¢ landlordism religion and law (mostly in the sense of uninterfered social codes) to forge into a nucleus from where the Sanskritizing process could radiate to the whole society No More Sanskritization but Fascism A process like this cannot be conceived without a strong caste system in which the upper castes must be all powerful and privileged, not only in terms of mere ascribed status but in actual coonomic and political superiority In the case of Kerala all these were there and the hypergamous alliances practised by the Namboodiris and other intermediate castes was a special facilita ting factor This apart from becoming a vehicle of Sanskrit zation and vegetarianism also enhanced the political pull of the Namboodinis since the rulers were sons and daughters of Namboodırı fathers through such hypergamous marriages In a secular democratic republic Itke ours do we have any one of these pre requisites necessary for Sanskritizing or Indiapizing others Neither any caste nor any group can afford to exercise those powers in a democratic system We have already seen only under conditions of caste economic and political domination Indianization of the kind can be spread None of the Hindu castes enjoys that position today over other castes nor Hindus as a whole over any other minority-Muslims or others More the Hipdu does not exist as a uniform cultural model for Indianization of others--the minorities Secondly so long as a democratic system continues such domination as required by the Indianization is impossible and ivcovcewable respective of the Size of minorities to be Indiapized Such a process is possible in modern times only through fascist techniques Perhaps 10 this context the concern expressed about the para military orga mization of RSS and its political wing Jada Saogh, is not without over HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MODELS OF INDIANIZATION 71 foundation The plea for Indiapization if it has to be materialized in any form must necessarily cut across the very foundation of our democratic republic and lead to some form of the Hindu brand of fascism This we have to presume because to bring back the old landed system and caste dominance is inconceivable and therefore a new system with those capacities of Sanskritization or Indianization has to be thought of And such a system in the context of today cannot be anything but a dictatorship CHAPTER IV Golwalkarism (A) AN OUTLINE Revivalist trends were always marked in the Indian renais sance The tradition continued through those who may be described as Hindu revolutionaries and nationalists Tilak in Maharashtra was a revivalist focus in the national struggle So was Savarkar a revolutionary turned communalist whose con tribution to such outlook is too well known In fact the collapse of the Maratha empire and the defeat of the Peshwas had given rise to some nostalgic memories among a section of people and this appears to be a source of the strong and militant Hindu revivalist ideologies which sprang up in Maharashtra The contemporary pbase of this ideology is basic to RSS and its formulator in the present shape is MS Golwalkar who beads that organisation Knowledge of elementary principles of what we may call Golwalkarism is essential to the understanding of the latest position of revivalısm not only as an ideology but also as a social movement Moreover the origin of most of the communally oriented Hindu aggressive ideas in contemporary Indian politics is traceable to his thought Although ibe Jana Sangh has put forward the concept of lodiadization it cannot truly claim anything more than the role of an amplifier for the RSS ideology Hence we will deal with the main features of Golwalkarism as it is depicted in the writings and speeches of MS Golwalkar 73 GOLIVALMARISH Grand World Mission of the Ilindus According to Goluallar our ancestors had crossed over to a realm beyond what the senses could see and had discovered the ultimate reality-soul God truth reality or nothingness "This knowledge is in the safe custody of Hindus alone It is a divine trust we may say given to the charge of Hindus by destiny Hindu society alone can ſulfil this grand world mis sion and none else 1 This knowledge of ours was no dry intellectual speculation It was a living thought which drove our ancestors to reach distant lands carrying the message of world brotherhood Our arms stretched as far as to America on the one side that was long before Columbus discosered America and on the other side to China Japan Cambodia Malaya Siam Indonesia and all the South East Asian countries and right upto Mongolia and Siberia in the north Our powerful political empire too spread over the South East areas and continued for 1 400 years ? The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh has resolved to fulfil that age old national mission by forging as the first step the pre ent day scattered element of Hindu ociety into an organised and invincible force both on the plane of spirit and on the plane of material life Verily this is the one real practical world mission-If ever there was one 3 2 The Enlightened Aryan Hindus Golwalkar has his own theory about Hindus In his view sun and moon can be defined but the ultipate reality out of which they merged cannot be defined Muslims or Christians can be defined but Hindus cannot be defined The origin of our people is unknown to scholars of history In a way we are anadı without a begioning or we existed when there was no need for any name We were the good the enlightened people We were the people who knew about the laws of nature and the laws of spirit We had brought into the actual life almost every tbrog that has beneficial to mankind Then the rest of humanity 1 MS Golwalkar Bunch of Thoughts Pp 78 2 lbid P9 3 Ibid P 10 74 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISH he says were just bipeds and so no distinctive name was given to us Sometimes in trying to distinguish our people from others me were called the enlightened-the Aryas-and the rest the Mlechhas - Among the vast mass of humanity it is the Hindu alone who provides the immortal hope that all is not over with the present life but there is eternal time before us to put our shoulders to the wheel, life after life and reach the destinations Aryan is an old and proud oame no doubt but for the past one century historians have spread poison by propogating the Aryan Dravidian controversy Hence he says, if we dame ourselves Aryans it would defeat our purpose In the same way, Bharatiya is often understood as Indian including all the people of India-Muslims Christians Parsis and others residing in the country This will also not serve our purpose to denote our society The word Hindu alone condotes correctly and completely the meaning that he want to convey It is incorrect to say no man is born Hindu or Muslim or Christian but a simple human being In fact we are Hindus even before we emerge from the womb of our mothers We are therefore born as Hindus About the others they are born to this world as simple unnamed human beings and later on either circum cused or baptised, they become Muslims or Christians. 3 Iliodu People is our God" Golwalkar goes a step further and makes a deity of Hindus The most fundamental aspect he says is the urge for realization of supreme reality se God But description of God as Niralar and Nirguna or the idol worship I ads us nowhere All this does not satisfy us (RSS) who are full of activity Wc want a living God Some say man or humanity is our God but such an idea is too much beyond our comprehension To the RSS 'the Hindu people is our God A comparative study-cven by the foreiga historians and travellers of those days--tells us that the aucrage man (1 c Hindu) of this country was at one time incomparably superior to the average man of the other lands We are presently degraded because among 4 2 P 46-47 5 5A P 49 6 LP 10 COLWALKARISSI 75 other things notorious film stars wallowing in depths of moral depravity are included in our cultural del-gations to foreign countries This is a lurid reflection on present degradation ? our 4 The Chosen Land An Expansiodist View If Hindu people is God what to say of the land where they stay? Golwalkar indeed dreams of an immensely glorfying picture of our land and commits something more than a cartographical aggression when he says that the men born in our glorious mother land are more blessed than the Gods them selves Our motherland is Jagan mala (mother of the world) Adishaktı (original force) Mahama, a (great illusion) Mahadurga (great goddess of poner) The expansive image of our mother land according to him includos our ancient Upaganasthan (Afghanistan) Gandhar (Kabul and Kandhar) even Iran was originally Aryan Its previous king Raza Shah Pehlavi was guided more by Aryaoism than by Islam Zend Avestha the holy scripture of Parsis is mostly Rig Veda Burma is our ancient Brahmadesha Lanka (Ceylon) was never considered as anything different from the main land It was this picture of our motherland with the Himalayas dipping its arms in the two seas at Aryan (Iran) in the West and Sringapur (Singapore) in the east with Lanka (Ceylon) as a lotus petal offered at her sacred feet by the southern Ocean that was completely kept radiant in people s mind for so many thousands of years This land of ours is Mathrubhoomi (motherland) Dharmabhooms (land of religion) De abhoom (Gods land) Mokshabhoomi (land of salvation) It is more than a chosen land here the people have seen God face to face Jesus Christ came across some angels and satan The founder of Islam met only Gabriel and heard some divide voices that is all whereas in our country Shri Krishna spoke in the first person-1-as God Sri Rama Krishna Paramabansa and Vivekananda had also seen God face to face says Golwalkar Mother concept such as the above attached to motherland B 7 ml Pp 24-30 #I, Pp 82 83 76 SOCIOLOGY AND RCVIVALISH according to him is a high state of human cvolution A heart ſired with such a devotion can never tolerate the slightest affront to the object of its devotion ie the motherland it takes on a terriblc form and rests not till the aggressive clements respon sible for the insult no more remain in a position to commit sacrilege a second time A divine discontent to undo all the past insults and humiliations burns in such a heart 10 Our history also bears witness to the fact that whenever our people became charged with the conquering spirit then all those demonic empires of the enemy were reduced to shambles . There are somc who tell us bygones are bygones what is the use of raking up old dead issues ? 'after all partition is now a settled fact How is this ever possible? No true son can ever forget or rest till she becomes her complete whole If partition is a settled fact we are here to unsettle sf Things get setiled or unsettled solely by the will of man And mans will is steeled by a spirit of dedication to a cause which he knows to be righte ous and glorious 11 5 Neither Democracy Nor Socialism but Varna and Dharma Golwalkar is a staunch advocate of the caste system He is opposed to both democracy and socialism for that matter any foreign ism He feels sorry for the fall of Brahmin in Hindu society which according to him was deliberately brought about by the Britishers Thus he presents what may be called the Golwalkarian notions of social structure in the following outline The unique picture of our society is the diverse functional groups The present day mind accustomed to viewing through foreign isms and their high sounding slogans of equality has failed to grasp this unique feature and they talk of classless society The glorious main feature which once distinguished our society was the Vama jajastha But it is being dubbed as casteism and scoffed at The feeling of inequality associated with Varna Vjastha is comparatively recent The scheming Britisher accentuated it Originally Varna Vjai astha did not imply any discrimination There are some who never tired of propagating that caste system was responsible for our downfall 10 Ibid P 91 11 Iold P 93 This gare 13 GOLWALKARISM 77 This is not true, the so called caste ridden society has remained undying and unconquerable whereas the so-called "casteless' societies crumbled at the very outset of foreign conquests 12 Brahmins were held in great respect by the low castes who considered it their duty to bow down before them Englishmen the idea unless he ousted the Brahmins from that position and occupied it himself the empire could not be lasting With this end in view the British began to distort history They said India was a continent and not a country There were aboriginals Dravidians and Aryans here The Aryan came from the North and with their might conquered this land The British education introduced by Macaulay was to make the Hindu rosincere to his religion The result of all this was that the educated Hindu fell prey to the trap laid by the British to the extent that one of them said I consider it a result of my past sin that I am born in the Hindu Brahmin family Varna inequality Dharma and monarchy or in brief the Hindu way of life is suggested by Golwalkar as a positive solution to the challenge of the times In bis view slogans like 10dividual freedom sanctity of individual right and equality were raised as a reaction to the cruel western monarchy Under democracy common people were left high and dry and they were Dow groaning under the heel of the new tyranny in place of the old As a reaction to this tyranny of capitalism communism came up But communism as in Russia was not able to give two square meals medicine and accommodation to their people (') They have reduced individuals to depths of misery Both democracy and communi are false prophets According to our philosophy disparity is an indivisible part of nature and we have to live with it Not equality but harmony should be our motto aad that can be attained when we follow Dharnia It is like cooperation of a blind man with a lame man The lame man gets a leg and the blind map an eye What is important is moulding of man in the spirit of Dharma That is why in our national tradition we do not bother much about the external form of goveroment and the monanby in our country was found to be a bigbiy beneficial 12 Ild Pp 89 120 13 Ibid Pp 138 141 82 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISS repeated themes in the writings of Golkalkar He worships force and wants RSS to be thc most powerful force According to him the basic rule of relation between nations is the law of the jungles-the strong feeding upon the seak and getting stronger Mutual friendship of nations is a mirage In fact to remain weak is to erlend invitation to aggression and depre dation by stronger foreign powers It is the real who are res ponsible for the disturbances of peace in the world When we read the world correctly we are forced to arrive at the simple conclusion that the only basis for our free and prosperous natto nal life is invincible national strength a strength that will strike terror into the hearts of aggressive powers and make other nations seek our friendship Strength is the very clır of national life Strength is virtue and weakness is sin Non violence of the weak is non violence of the imbecile Only strong can afford to be non volent He alone is a man who does not brook or forgive insults one who remains cold and tolerant in the face of 10sults is Reither a male nor a female Violence is positive and non violence is negative World worships strength 27 In Bharatiya culture martyrs are not held up as ideals For after all they failed in achieving their ideal and failure implies some total flaw in them Real greatness lres in achieving total success in life In our culture wors ship bad been offered only to such men who finally succeeded Examples are the incarnations The true erample of pbilosophy of victory permits killing of women or shooting the enemy from bebind just as Shri Ragga killed the Rakshası Tratıka and shot at Vah from behind a tree 28 Vanquishing rakshasas and establishing the kingdom of Manavadharma has been our tradition since hoary times Verily man s real Purushati-manlıncss-lies in establishing his superiority over the rakshasa In the early days of mankind the wild animals like the present day communists were fierce and powerful but man conquered them and asserted his superiority Good or bad depends upon the ultimate victory of forces of Dharma and establishing righteousness all over the world 27 Ibid P 239 54 28 Ibid Pp 260-265 GOLWALLARIS 83 9 which has been our national lifi mission since ages Consistent with his above views in the context of the Indo Pakistan war Golwalkar says Indeed it would have been highly desirable of China had followed up its ultimatum and invaded our country That would have given our fighting forces a golden opporunity to make China lick the dust and to wash off the stigma of defeat and dishonour attached to our name in our last encounter with China The world would then have witnessed the supreme heights of our Bharatiya heroism for what fun is merely fighting a petty poner like Pakistan? In fact he should heartily pray for such a war though we are traditionally incurable lovers of peace and not warmongers 30 (B) A CRITIQUE 1 Revivalist Activism and History In the foregoing ideas of Golwalkar two different but interdependent attempts have been made The first is of a theoretical pature whether he is aware of it or not to create a distinctive Hindu historical consciousness It has been said that apart from curiosity and intellectualized nostalgia the predomi nent factors that create the consciousness of history have been the search for identity and the quest for meaning 31 By esta blishing ones identity it helps a people to link their past with the present and by knowing the meaning they are able to project the present into the future Through such an effort Golwalkar seems to be aiming at the creation of a powerful partisan historical perspective which could be employed to mes merize the people into an activist movement which would transform the society into a communal Utopia of his own aspiration The second attempt in his writings is the one that concerns facts of history He seems to present half truths and totally wrong and fictitious facts as the basis for propping up the type of consciousness of history that he wants to create Let us first 29 Ibud Pp 265 67 30 Ibid Pp 310 312 31 John T Marcus History and the lodian Morld View (ia Contemporary India Ed B N Varma, P 2) 84 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISH examine his grand theme which provides the Hindus with the sense of historical being The first and foremost attempt is to create a fecling that We have a special world mission a divine trust given to the charge of Hindus by destiny Then the people are glorified as the all knowing enlightened Aryans compared to the remain ing Allochhas of the world The greatness of the motherland is romanticized and extended to include neighbouring countries of Afghanistan Burma Ceylon Singapore Iran and others Thus an image is implanted of great and unparalleled people who have recently fallen The people responsible for our degrada tron the Muslims the British and presently the Congress leadership are pointed out But our immortal country has a capacity to survive and counter every aggressor In presenting such a historical picture of ours he uses frequent illustrations from mythological stories and legends the ethos of our culture is depicted as an activist aggressive violent and unhesitatiog to use any means for the righteous cause of one s country that is Hindusthan and not India World domination and extra terri torial ambitions are projected as our destiny or world mission Eviduntly the attempt is to create a distorted Hindu collective consciousness on the basis of perverted history and to employ it for the purpose of Hinduization Now it is well known that bistory can provide values as well as goals It provides community with an ethos and individual units a place it explains the origins of the group and transmits a changing but recognizable identity through succes sion of generations Thus the sense of historical being provides nity in experience and continuity in time 33 No doubt history is a significant and effective instrument of manipulation of human minds And it can be used for the good of mankind Unfortunately Golwalkar employs it not for unity but for split In the name of Hinduism or Indianness each one of the categories he employs for the advancement of a partisan historical vision is non Hindu including the very use of history for this purpose Hindus had no historical consciousness-history came to us through Chinese travellers Muslims and lately the Westerners The use of history as being and becoming in a teleological 32 lbid PS GOLWALKARISH 85 sense is messianic and western This has been adopted by Indians particularly during the post British period as a device of activism for the purpose of moulding the future The ideas of world mission and exclusively chosen people and other egoistic assertions are foreign to Hindus—at least not in the main current of Hindu thought The Hindus who recognized the truth of all religions and tolerated them all could never be that self righteous as Golmalkar is to declare the world mission of establishing their own Dharma Hindus cultivated and preached selflessness and subordination of one s ego Similarly the activist ethos the end justifies means morality and intole rance of others is not at all Indian Hence both his methodology and facts in the main are not true of Hindus moreover the purpose for which he is emptying these devices is thoroughly questionable as we shall see later The colonialists the racist Nazis who preached Aryan supremacy and the aggressive religious movements whom Gol walkar accu es of converting people at the point of sword had all their own brand of world mission The colonialists believed that they were the chosen people to rule over the vast areas of the world whereas the Nazis with their nordic superiority had assumed that the fittest thing was their survival at the cost of eliminating the rest In other words when he talks about the world mission and pledges a para military organisation like the RSS to its fulfilment people will have every reason to be scared about it All those who talked in the past about their world mission in this fasbion have brought ruin and bloodshed to their motherlands To fortify this mission be tries to bring about great awe and mystification to our origin by calling ourselves anadı Dameless enlightened all knowing and discovering Aryans while others were Allechhas apd brpeds in the world This is not historically true There were great civilizations-the Egyptian the Mesopotamian and the Chinese pot to speak of the Greek Pyramids were built around 3 000 BC Hamurabi s law in Baby lonia dates back to more than 2000 BC whereas Mohanjodaro is dated 2 900 BC and the coming of Aryans to 1 600 BC and the origin of the Vedas to 1 000 BC to 800 BC It is a blas phemy on the people of the neighbouring civilizations to say that they were merely bipeds when we were calling ourselves Aryans 86 SOCIOLOGY OP REVIVALISM and the rest Mlechlas It is an established fact of history that several Aryans and other tribas came into this country and that we had a well developed Pre Aryan civilization in the Indus Valley which was destroyed by the invaders And because of this Indra has been called Purandar (destroyer of city) and in the words of Wheeler on circumstancial evidence Indra stands accused for the destruction of the Indus Valley cities and citadels 33 Golwalkar has no value for all this although historians and Archaeologists like R P Chanda Gordan Child and Piggot have all pointed in this direction History archaeology anthropology and ancient literary sources have all established beyond a shadow of doubt that our country is a racial mosaic composed of various tribes and races some came from outside and some were earlier here This composite nature of our culture and its origin is incontro vertible fact and yet Golwalkar makes a valiant effort to suppress this historical truth and calls the whole of this country Aryan According to him even Dravidians are Aryans for he says The people in the south were always considered to be as much Aryans as those in the north Even if the concept of Aryan and Dravidian were taken to mean as language culture or race this assertion is absolutely false Yet he makes another such fantastic claim when he says that all Indian languages are originating from Sanskrit Golwalkar is a talented organiser and undoubtedly a great drill master but what claim has he got to dabble with anthropology and linguistics is not known Tamil and other South Indian languages are not Indo Aryan nor do the Austric and Sino Tibetan family of languages spoken by the various people of India belong to the Indo Aryan group Racısm seems to permeate his thought and so he says referring to Iran (which he calls Aryan) that its previous King Raza Shah Pehlavi was guided more by Aryanism than by Islam The world knows only one Aryanism that was of Hitler s Germany and incidentally the concept of Aryadism which Golwalkar equates with Hinduism or even Brahminism is not at all different from that of the Fuerher s ideas In furtherance of bis scheme of creating a restrictive and parochial historical consciousness among the people Golwalkar introduces peculiar concepts of nation God and pational terri 33 S Pis ot Prehistori India Pp 260-62 GOLY ALKARISM 87 ory He really wants to take the name of Aryan but he curses the historians for letting this name fall into disrepute recently and examines the term Bharatiya This too is not good because of the feeling that all people belonging to Bharat are Bharatiya He does not consider that all people belonging to Bharat consti tute the nation and hence Hindu alone is the nation His arguments in defence of this theory are 1) Muslims and Christ jans are invaders 2) Others like Parsis and Jews are refugees 3) Non Hindus mainly Muslims and Christians identify themselves with foreign countries-lheir sacred places customs and heroes are foreign 4) Such minorities do not share the traditional customs and practices of India nor do they share the Indian philosophy and accept the Indian heroes Now the overwhelming majority of Muslims are Hindu converts and a microscopic few might be d scendants of the lavaders Even this latter category has nothing to do with invasion they have been a part of the country for almost a millenium and the charge that their forefathers came as invaders could not be laid at their door If this charge is raked up it could very well apply to all those invaders who came to this country including the Aryan invaders And to say that Christ ians came to this country as lavaders is nothing short of falsifica tion of history Christians bad spread in this country during the time of St Thomas in the first century and had been thriving upon the generosity and help of the Hindus who had gifted them large area of land and other properties for the maintenance of church almost in the same fashion of gifting propurty to Brahmins and temples And people from the invading Christ ian countries never came to settle down here The present Christian population almost wholly are converts from Hindus to Christianity They had changed their religion for the love of social freedom or economic benefits if not for the love of religion The force that drove them away to Christianity was (de caste system and its indigoities and other obnoxious customs of the Hindus In other words the very sarna system which Golwalkar praises skyhigh has rung the death knell of Hindu society It has been shown by an eminent scholar that large scale conversion to Christianity took place in Kerala only after the eighteenth Century when the tyranny of upper caste landlordism began to deprive the status and 86 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALIS and the rest Allochhas It is an established fact of history that several Aryans and othe trib s came into this country and that We had a well deseloped Pre Aryan civilization in the Indus Vallby which was destroyed by the invaders And because of this Indra has been called Purandar (destroyer of city) and in the words of Wheeler on circumstancial evidence Indra stands accuscd for the destruction of the Indus Valley citres and citadels 53 Golwalkar has no value for all this although historians and Archacologists like R P Chanda Gordan Child and Piggot have all pointed in this direction History archaeology anthropology and ancient literary sources have all established beyond a shadow of doubt that our country is a racial mosaic composed of various tribes and races some came from outside and some were earlier here This composite nature of our culture and its origin is an incontro vertible fact and yet Golwalkar makes a valiant effort to suppress this historical truth and calls the whole of this country Aryan According to him even Dravidians are Aryans for he says The people in the south were always considered to be as much Aryans as those in the north Even if the concept of Aryan and Dravidian were taken to mean as language culture or race this assertion is absolutely false Yet he makes another such fantastic claim when he says that all Indian languages are originating from Sanskrit Golwalkar is talented organiser and undoubtedly a great drill master but what claim has he got to dabble with anthropology and linguistics is not known Tamil and other South Indian languages are not Indo Aryan nor do the Austric and Sino Tibetan family of languages spoken by the various people of India belong to the Indo Aryan group Racism seems to permeate his thought and so he says referring to Iran (which he calls Aryan) that its previous King Raza Shah Pehlavi was guided more by Aryanism than by Islam The world knows only one Aryanısm that was of Hitler s Germany and incidentally the concept of Aryanism which Golwalhar equates with Hinduism or even Brahminism is not at all different from that of the Fuerher s ideas In furtherance of his scheme of creating a restrictive and parochial historical consciousness among the people Golwalkar introduces peculiar concepts of nation God and national terrı 33 S Picot Prehistori India Pp 260-62 a GOLWALKARISY 87 ory He really wants to take the pame of Aryan, but he curses the historians for letting this name fall into disrepute recently and eramines the term Bharatiya This too is not good because of the feeling that all people belonging to Bharat are Bharatiya He does not consider that all people belonging to Bharat consti tute the nation and hence Hindu alone is the nation His arguments in defence of this theory are 1) Muslims and Christ jaos are invaders 2) Others like Parsis and Jews are refugees 3) Non Hindus mainly Muslims and Christians identify themselves with foreign countries--their sacred places customs and heroes are foreign 4) Such minorities do not share the traditional customs and practices of India nor do they share the Indian philosophy and accept the Indian heroes Non the overwhelming majority of Muslims are Hindu converts and a microscopic few might be descendants of the invaders Even this latter category has nothing to do with invasion they have been a part of the country for almost a millenium and the charge that their forefathers came as invaders could not be laid at their door if this charge is raked up it could very well apply to all those invaders who came to this country including the Aryan invaders And to say that Christ ians came to this country as invaders is nothing short of falsifica tion of history Christians had spread in this country during the time of St Thomas in the first century and had been thriving upon the generosity and help of the Hindus who had gifted them large area of land and other properties for the maintenance of church almost in the same fashion of gifting property to Brahmins and temples And people from the invading Christ ian countries never came to settle down here Christian population almost wholly are converts from Hindus to Christianity They had changed their religion for the love of social freedom or economic benefits if not for the love of religion The force that drove them away to Christianity was the caste system and its indignities and other obnoxious customs of the Hindus In other words the very barna system which Golwalkar pratses skyhigh bas cung the death knell of Hindu society It has been shown by an eminent scholar that large scale conversion to Christianity took place in Kerala only after the eighteenth Century when the tyranny of upper casie landlordism began to deprive the status and The present

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GOLWALK ARISY 89 communalist who stood for the partition of the motherland and the Hindu communalist who stands to undo it merrily sailing in the same boat In fact Golwalkar on the basis of his Hindu nation theory has made it explicit that his concept of nation extends to all those areas with which Hindus had historical and cultural links or religious links Since the mythological Gandahri was brought from habul and khandhar arca tbe pluce became Hindu and siace our places of pilgrimage or places of mythologi cal significance are in Deighbouring countries such places became Hindu If we proceed in this direction we may have to claim even far off places like Mexico because the official history of that country refers to those who first arried on the continent later to be known as Americans were group of men driven by that mighty current that set from India towards the East It is said that there are images of Ganesh Hanuman and Hindu temple architecture with lotus inscriptions in that country 35 Golwalkar also probably repeats the claim that Hindus had discovered America long before Columbus reached there If we go into such pre historic or even carly historic movements of people as a basis for any type of claim for modern nationhood irrespective of the fact that such claims are made upon neigh bouring countries or far off lands we shall place ourselves in a vicious circle of claims and counter claims because there were arrivals and departures of people all over the world Where will all this lead us? To the war front or to the graveyard? Let us hope that the Buddhists in foreign countries do not show this Golwalkarian propensity lest they might claim the whole of India as their territory The advent of Buddhism was the only true commencement of Indian History 36 in fact His marvellous concept of religious nationhood and oppo sition to territorial nationalism will not merit any scrutiny because on the face of it it is quixotic irrational and impracti cable Not only wli jt male intercontigental religious nations without boundary but will also put the sovereignty of states into utter confusion and will make it an impossible exercise 35 Chamanlal Itho Discoverad America See Review by K KG in Bharar Jyoti 25 11 1931 35 TJ Wheeler India Tedic and Post I edic P 2 90 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM 2 The Drying and Drifting Mainstream Another substantial charge of Golwalkar against the non Hindus is that they do not share the traditional customs practi ces philosophy and national (Ilindu) herons ? This is the only point in which Golwalkar can claim that there was an clement of truth in his statement But the question is do the Hindus share in all those items? There are drastic differences among Shaivits Vaishnavits Sanatanıs and Arya Samajists In fact the declaration that Aryan cannot prefer the domination of idol worshipping Hindus or cow slaughtering Muslims to the colightened and tolerant rule of England » had made this point quite clear When a large number or cien a majority of Hindus donot believe in or justify the rigid caste system or its proscrip tions and prescriptions or even do not accept the karma theory and its fatalısm now (there are many indications that Hindus contrary to the Hindu view of Nishikama larma are working hard to acquire wealth and are desiring profitable results in the economic and other activities) how can anyone say to others that they should follow the Hindu customs The main theme of the Hindu world view is renunciation and asceticism whereas in the changing scheme of values this bas become merely proverbia! The type of activism that Golwalkar advocates or the RSS advocates is far from being typical of Hindus is almost foreign to them His sectarian attitude the ideas that it is a sin to be weak his stress on war against piece his intolerance and the burning desire to take revenge as well as his view that one who does not retaliate is neither woman nor man or his version to extend his love to humanity and preference for the exclusive Horship of Hindus as a deity are all extremely revolting to the tolerance and catholicity of Hindus to put it in a nutshell Golwalkarism is anything but Hinduism Is it not an irony that the one who accuses others of not being in the mainstream of national (i e Hindu) life is himself far away from it! From the above discussion one can get at the root of his distrust of non Hindus and also his accusation of them of not being in the mainstream Firstly we have seen that he identifies bimself with foreign countries in the name of Hindu sacred places and historical memories and has an expansionist scheme to which 37 Ram Munsht, Arya Samaj and Politics P 12 GOLWALKARISM 91 he is pledged Such a man is bound to suspect others of similar intentions and likely to project his mental state unto them This explains his frequent concern and sorry that the non Hindus lack identity with the majastream and are not patriotic Secondly he has adopted an activist aggressive and un Hindu approach which is far from the mainstream of the Hindu outlook And this outlook must necessarily clash with the traditional Hindu outlook which is bound to be a part of the mental luggage of a man of his age and scriptural knowledge This dualism in him produces a sense of guilt because the traditionalist in him must necessarily accuse the activist--the one who has drifted away from the mainstream and has become Ahindu in a sense Thus the burden of guilt that generates in the course of this dialectic of incompatible perspectives within is easily transferred and projected to the non Hindus and a false alarm is raised that others are not in the mainstream Whether others are or not it really means that the guilty one feels that he is not in the mainstream Moreover the extreme secrecy and anti intellectual atmosphere of the RSS does not purmit the necessary avenues for the release of tension through free and frank discussions and therefore their organisational structure only heightens the Paranoid complex So if Golwalkar and his RSS Jana Sangh complet is not in the mainstream of the Hindu life and the modernizing and chan ging vast sections of Hiadus who have denounced and broken the traditional caste restrictions and are no more believers in their Suadharma and karma fatalism as they are on the way to mobility and dynamism where does the mainstream exist to which the prodigal sons are to return to make it possible for Golwalkar to celebrate a grand Dewalı' To ask the pon Hindus to follow customs philosophies death rites celebrations and heroes which the Hindus themselves have given up or are giving up is irrelevant in the extreme in the year 10 which we are celebrating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar Hindus have given up the restrictions put on widow remarriage abandoned Sati and female infanticide and many more outmoded customs and rites related to marriage and family life People are taking to electric crematorium registered marriages and loter-caste marriages are becoming common even completely secular self respect marriages are 94 VIXIOLOGY OF REVIVALIS the ucllure of the min 1-ci mationizition of banks or abolition of pas purse or any other mitter I thics of the Jungle Gols all r s cthis is much more interesting than his politics and sixiology Often one s choic of words are revelations of one s outlook His phrases such as the so callal frecul fiel! incurahle karers ofrece What funt in filtire a retty penser I carnils pray for war world horships the star SICH 11 TIII.Je anl nookres / JIN Arianism and th- frequent us of Hindu alone to cite a few cramples should thron light upon the working of his mind Mert to this his illustrations and crampi s Arc full of suggestive techniques which indicate his norms and alucs If properly understood his demons demonesses and micchhas in the content are cither non llindus--especially Muslims and olher minoritics non Brahminical castes and Irbes--or Congressmen and Communists His constant exhor tations to fight these cul forces by telling that vanquishing rakshasas have been our tradition since hoary times and manliness lies in establishing superiority over the ral shasas and fuus justification that in the case of fighting rakshasas or cul forces any stcalthy measure can be adopted such as shooting from behind or killing women are starting to the normal Hindus but that is in the game of activist cthics that Golwalkar las developed and wants others to pass it as the message of Hinduism! This is how he wants to establish righteousness all over the world which he thinks has been our national life mission since ages! Yet another technique employed is to quote national leaders Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru without naming them and abuse them as cowards and trators For having said no swaraj without Hindu Muslim unity Gandhij is called a traitor of course meanwhile Golwalkar has reserved his right to accuse the minorities for pot respecting the national heroes! Communists and Socialists are accused of being materialists though his writings betray his igaorance of what materialism was Yet his theory Hindus are our God 1$ in the same 39 PA Sorokin Contemporary Sociological Theories Pp 463 80 GOLWALKARISH 93 category of French Sociologist Durkheim s theory of collective representation according to which God is nothing but a personification of society and the power of God is the power of the people And it will be interesting to know that Durkheim was authoritatively considered as a sociological materialist 133 Moreover even though Golwalkar is critical of those who believe in the end justifies means approach he himself is a strong follower of this dictum so much so that he justifies shoot ing enemies men and women from behind by illustrating the murder of demons and demonesses by Rama According to Golwalkar s own admission when Shivaji s Muslim artillery chief was serving him against Aurangzeb it was proper and when Jaya Singh the famous Sardar of Aurangzeb refused to betray the emperor by changing sides as requested by Shivaji and felt contented with his loyalty to the emperor and devotion to God in the eye of Golwalkar it becomes dangerous and perverted notion of personal integrity and loyalty' It may be mentioned here that this line of communal ethics of the activists in India was propagated by Tilak in Maharashtra when he founded Shivaji Mela and stoutly defended the killing of Afzal Khan by Shivaji in contravention to the recognized standard of conduct in war 40 We shall also see in the next chapter the fact that Hedgewar the founder of the RSS was a devotee of Tilak and was thoroughly frustrated after the death of Tilak when Gandhiji emerged as a new type of leader Double standard of morality is writ large on the views of Golwalkar He is a severe critic of the National Flag which he thinks does not represent any basic principle of the real nation Naturally according to him it is Bhagawa Dhwaj which has been the highest the noblest and the truest symbol of our nationhood Though he denies any disloyality to the flag one cannot but get the impression that he is disloyal to the Indian National Flag which he seems to think has created an utter vacuum in our minds However he has no qualms in ques tioning others of their loyalty to the nation which surely must include the loyalty to the flag He is also opposed to the consti tution of ladia because it is not genuinely Indian (Hindu?) he 40 See next Chapter and also Parvate Op C# P 128 96 socioLOGY OF REVIVALISH! condescendingly quotes the criticism that it does not refer to Tulak s concepts like sivaraj and Dharma taj While the goings on this side are like this the RSS and the Jana Sangh have no hesitation to accuse others who are not in agreement with the provisions of the Constitution be they communists members of the DMK or some others If any further proof is necessary to show his ethical quali tics his reaction to the clection of a Muslim candidate may be cited Inconccivable suicidat and self oblivious of our society are the words used by Golwalhar to express his shock at the election of a lonc Muslim from the Ambala constituency in 1957—where all the voters except the candidate were non Muslims Indeed the democratic conscience of Hindu and Sikh Voters of that constituency must have been shocked at the depra vity of a mind which seems to speak on bebalf of a religion which believed in the principles of Vasudhana Kutumbaham (the whole world is a family) and let light come from all cor ners of the world If the election of a mere Muslim legislator were so shocking then one can only guess what could have been their attitude towards the former President of our Republic who was a Muslim Could such people be loyal to a state headed by a Muslim? From the discussion so far the following things should be clear 1 Golwalkar stands for greatness glory world mis sion white heat of patriotism Dl arma raj and all these strictly confined to Hindus 2 In the total assessment of his views the Hindu shows tendency to shrink into the confines of upper castes or Brabmini cal caste 3 He preaches use of violence and destruction of the traitors to Hindu society The term traitor is broad enough to include Gandhijı Nehru and the bulk of all those who partici pated in to use his own expression the so called freedom move ment and preached Hindu Muslim unity besides communists westerdized Indians people associated with the Bhoodan Move ment minorities and tribal people would also come into its ambit 4 His techniques of destruction permit employment of any means provided it leads to the success of the Hindus who are variously described as Devas Aryas Mamas or as the people 97 GOLWALKARISM He says who have been charged with a mission to establish righteousness all over the world In this connection it is interesting to note that Golwalkar is a worshipper of success No nonsense of Neshkama karma here Real greatness lies in achieving total success in life 41 He also expresses the view that only such successful people were the object of worship according to our tradı tion or in other words the Hindu society was achievement oriented May be the world will laugh at his views but that is what he says His ethics neatly fits in with his idea of success for the worshippers of success how one succeeds is immaterial all that matters is that nothing sueceeds like success At last the glorification of Hinduism has led to this pitiable state of American brand of Hindu activism because it is in that country that the worst form of achievement orientation is to be found Gandhism vs Golwalkarism It has been made clear that Golwulkarism does not repre sent the main current of Indian thought Its immoral activist ethics its narrow outlook its non humanitarian anti democratic feudal world view lacking in catholicism of the traditional Hindus and its maniac like craze and prayer for war and vio lence its egoism and power hunger are proofs which clearly sugg est that Golwalkarism is un Indian At best it represents a minor strain of India s contemporary aberration--the making of which began in the context of the British occupation and the anti reform movement In this respect Gandhism is in striking contrast to it it represents the major ethos of our culture and carries forth the historical consciousness of a people who were varied in race and religion and had long drawn struggles and strifes out of which they had developed a composite culture and its ideological derivatives of tolerance catholicity selflessness and simplicity But for this world view the diverse elements which were the constituents of our evolving nation in that ancient past could not have had their survival in the context of vagaries of man and nature Hence this was also the sustaining force of our national survival And therefore Gandhijis views were essentially in tune with our history and ethos of our culture, 41 MS Golwalkar Op Cu P 262 100 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALIS ideological kins of the East and the West A comparative acco unt of the salient features of these systems may be iodicated below HITLERISY GOLWALKARISY I Beltanschauung Aggressive } eltanschauung Aggressive to and totalitarian which accor talitarian Believes that ancient ding to Mein Kampf is in Hindu way of life- its customs tolerant and cannot permit rites beliefs and heroes as in another to exist side by side lerpreted by Golwalkar-is the with it It imperiously de- only legitimate way of life in mands its own recognition India No other pattern tole as unique and exclusive and rated those who differ from a complete transformation it are traitors in accordance with its views throughout all the branches of public life" 2 Parlamentary democracy Parliamentari democracy Po Political parties in parlia litical parties in parlanıentary mentary democracy make democracy male compromises compromises and are oppo and are opportunists rtunists 3 Toll Staat Only the Aryans Hindu Nation Hindu (Aryans) are real folk or community governed by the principles of governed by aristocratic caste system are the nation and principles within the com none else Territorial natiomunity The ordinary con nalism which looks upon all cert of State based on cca the people-refugees like parsis nomic and political n-eds of and invad is lile Mustıms and people including all the Christians as part of the nalion peope of the State territory is absurd Ilindu is the pou is absurd Race is th- foun tire content of nationhood dalon of the state Germ. arm Tru- Ger Innri llon or llarda oson 15 Farization is possible only possible because it is a matto that procris could of changing of life s outlook chare the Hood of the customs frelsard celebratiori people" Sicce this is in TL- race ard tonttuare GOLWALKARISM 101 the possible and mixture of and hence it must be done blood would lead to debase ment of superior race it is opposed 5 Aggressi eness and Scapego Aggressneness and Scapegoa tism Jews have undermined fism Muslims Christians and German civilization Communists etc are undermi Ideas lıke democracy ning the country Ideas like majority conscience of internationalism equality the world world solida world unity coexistence rity world peace etc dis neutrality Hindu Muslim integrate our race conscious unity peace con violence ness and breed cowardice 48 are damaging the Hindu nation and making us a nat on of imbeciles and cowards 6 Vengeance Jew has to be Vengeance Minorities espemade powerless Germans cially the Muslims are not to cannot be friends to traitors be pampered lest they might We demaod vengeance 9 harm the nation a second time They should be told that Moghul Badshahi is over We cannot forget or forgive the insult to the motherland We are here to unsettle the partition 7 Population Control Oppo- Population Control Opposition sition to practical preven to population control among tion of procreation among the Hindus while the Muslims millions of our best people are propagating themselves while it is possible for the indiscriminately and thus en most depraved degenerates dangering the Hindu pation 60 to propogate themselves 8 Racial Ethics An ethical Racial Ethics Ethical ideas like ideal has no right to prevail personal character and Dharma "11 it endangers the exis- should be made subordinate to tence of a race that is the the cause of Hindu society If 48 Adolf Hitler My Mex Order P 45 49 Ibid. P 45 50 The theme of a speech delivered to RSS audience by a provincial boss 102 SOCIOLCGY OP REVIVALISM standard bearer of a higher it were so the service of Hindus ethical ideal for in a world anything can be done irrespec which would be composed tive of moral standards like of mongrels and negroids truthfulness and loyalty The all ideals of human beauty Rakshasas Mlechhas and trai and nobility and all hopes tors should be destroyed by any for an idealized future for means to establish righteous our humanity would be lostness all over the world 5 for ever 61 Thus we see that Golwalkarism is not Hinduism but it is Hitlerism under the Hindu garb It has grown under different conditions and naturally makes use of Indian history and culture as its instruments of propaganda As the country becomes more and more industrial and technological Golwalkarism is likely to grow fangs and its probability of dragging the nation to most pernicious adventures is very likely Knowing this propensity of the RSS Japa Sangh ideology and the social movement they run those forces-internal and external-interested in obstructing the path of progressive development of this country and its democra tic and socialist aspirations might lend a helping hand to Golwalkarism so that their rested interest may be protected at the cause of the emerging people of Icdia and their future S1 Adolf Hitler Mein kanp/P 321 52 MS Golwalkar Op C P 376 and many other pages More All the quotations attributed to Golu alkar appearing in this chapter and without reference are also from his Bunch of thoughts Ideas of his appearing Aithin inverted comas are ia summary forci CHAPTER V The RSS-Jana Sangh Complex Ideology and Social Circle 21 So far we have dealt with the various ideological tenets of Golsalkarism But a proper appreciation of an ideology is impossible unless we know the social circle with which it is linked up The men of Inowledge and their products (ideologies) can hardly be assessed without an acquaintance of the circle to which the creators of such ideologies belong Every social role presupposes that between the individual performing the role and a smaller or larger set of people who participate in bus per formance and may be term d his social circle there common bond constituted by a complar of values which all of them appreciate positively ! This approach will help us to know the thoughts of a man in the context of his public or organization or even cultural segment to which he belongs The inner circle to wh ch Golwalar belongs is the RSS and the outer one is the Jana Sangh The RSS and through RSS the Japa Sangh has a common pedigree that apparently is the militant activism generated in Maharashtra after the fall of the Peshwas Shiv Sona also d rises inspiration from th same source of Shivaji cult vet born under an entirely different setting and I adership it may more appropriately br considered an illegitu mate offspring of that revisalism 1 fionan Znaciecki Social role on the scal Circle Rosenburg-Soxt' nl Theory-P 347 Ce er ord 104 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISH Thic circumstance in such Dr Jeugostar founded th- RSS gives a signifi ant insight into th source of the movement and its idcology Ilcdp 111 115 thoroughly frustrated min after the termination of the Sharaj moscment Tic found that the long cherished ambition of freedom was not so casy to achicuc and lost faith in thc m thod of the movement and its capabilities to secure freedom Added to this was the fact that after the death of Lolminva Tilal the leadership of the movement passed into the cup rimontatic hands of Mahalma Gandhi who w 15 1 Gujarati In fact the tendency of Mahara shtrian militant Hindu rounalism is cudent in the original prayer of the RSS couched in mixed Marathi and Hindi lan guages ending Samarthi Guru Ram Das ko jai Guru Ram Das was the teacher of emperor Shivaji. One of the six festivals which the RSS celebrates in Ilindu Samrajya Dinoisma (Hindu Empirc Day celebration) This is in memory of the coronation of Shivaji Hedgewar was a devotee of Shivaji and his regard for Lokmanya Tilak was so deep that once in a meeting speaker made some indecent remark about him (Tilak) he got up and quickly gave a resounding slap in his faces This strong alinity of RSS founder to Tilak is not only personal but much more ideological Hindu militant activism at least in Maharashtra was centered around Tilak He was the founder of the Ganapati festival Shivaji Mela and it was during Sbivaji Mela that he and his associates propounded a new code of militant activist morality with regard to Shivaji s killing of Afzal Khan Tilak declared Let us even assume that Shivaji deliberately planned and executed the murder was the act good or evil The laws which bind society are for common folk like you or me No one seeks to trace the geneology of a Rishi or to fasten guilt upon a Maharaja Great men are above the principles of morality It was in a praiseworthy object that he murdered Afzal Khan for the good of others We have already referred to Tilak s oppostion to social reformers and his a 2 SB Saxena Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh 10 Sociologist Vol III 1960 3 SB Saxena A Study of RSS-Tbesis (Unpublished) P 16 Agra University 4 Quoted by T V Parvate Dal Gangadhar Tilak P 128 THE RSS JANA SANGII COMPLEX 105 orthodox outlook towards social changes Tulak b longed to the Chitpavan Brahmin caste to which the Peshwas belonged and ruled the Maratha Empire for a century At this stage a brief reference to Chitpavan caste would help us to understand the genesis of revivalism The Chutpavan Bach ground The Chitpavan Brahmins were a small group of farmers and priests settled in the Ratnagiri district A history of the Bene Israelis who settled in the Colaba district of honkan claim Chitpavans as fellow Jews who became separated from the ship mates Traditionally Chitpavans explain there origin on the basis of the story in Saladri Khanda which goes like this at that time the bodies of fourteen shipwrecked foreigners were cast upon the shore of the sea Parasurama purified those corpses by burning them on a funeral pyre or chita restored them to life and taught them Brahmin rites Hence they became Chit pavans This Brabminical tradition in a way corroborates their probable Jewish origin Predominance of blue eyes fair com plexion and other physical features have made the anthropologists and historians think of their foreign origin The Konkan was known for its trade contact with almost all countries of the west It is this stretch of coast 100 which received at one time or another such emmigrant groups as the Bone Israel Parsis Kudaldeskar Brahmins Gaud Saraswat Brahmins and Chitpa van Brahmins each of these groups has been ao intru sive group physically and culturally and differentiated from the others as well as from the population into which they came The Chitp ivans were apparently the last to arrive $ However they were an unknown and obscure group until about 1707 AD when one of them gradually got the favours of the Maratha king Shahu (grandson of Shivaji) and finally rose to the position of a Peshwa or Prime Minister The appointment of Balajt Vishwanath Bhat as Peshwa was a turning point in the history of Chitpavans their fortune changed from obscurity to limelight 5 See Chapter III 6 Linda Cor The Illustrated i cekly of India 22 2 1970 Chitpayans 1 LP Maureen Patterson in Structure and Change in Indian Society Editors Singer and Lohn P 399 8 ibid P 399 108 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM rather than genuinc desire to contribute towards history More over contribution to history in this case also means establishment of self identity and drawing a favourable meaning out of history in terms of onc s own role In both ways it amounts to the same meaning of deriving cgo satisfaction Thus the ideological trend which we call activist revivalism had develop-d in a specific socio cultural setting The contribu tory factors in the situation which gave birth to it are (1) A small minority rather s gregated from the rest and only forming one filth of the local Brahmins and one per cent of the total population in Maharashtra (2) The rise of such a class into almost the usurpation of power and status in Maharashtra and this was not at all to the liking of others (3) Rebellion and revolt of Chitpavans against the British when they lost their power and freedom (4) To the above objective situation we may add a subjective require ment of strategy to involve more and more people in the fight against the British under the changed condi tions For this purpose communalist and revivalist appeal was naturally found handy as Tilak and others employed it Because of this the ideology achieved an all India dimension as anti British Hindu revivalist activism and subsegently it showed a capacity to float away from its nature soil in search of new areas where it could get easily rooted While the core of the Chitpavan ideology was activist revivalism it would be highly unfair to the great men who came from the very same stock to say that it represented the whole community Famous men like Mahadeo Govind Ranade Gopal Krishna Gokhale Agarlar Maharishi harve Achyut Patward han and Acharya Vinoba Bhave stood for change in vary degrees from liberal transformation to revolution They indicate the modern and the dynamic phase From Hindu Mahasabha to the RSS The course of activist revivalism is on the followiog lines The reaction developed among the Chitpavaas found its expres sion as a centrifugal force in the person of Tilak later it descended upon Savarkar as the ideology of Hindu Mahasabha The strictly regional and caste character of this ideology was THE RSS JANA SANGH COMPLEX 109 elevated to the national level as it was also inspired by the ideas of Bipin Chandra Pal of Bengal and Lala Lajpat Rai of the Punjab Thus the Mahasabha leadership as a whole had close relationship with the Lal Bal Pal trio of the pre Gandhian Congress However The Maharashtrian group claimed political descent from Tilak This group included Moonje Jayakar N C Kelkar and most important Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Like Tilak most of the Maharashtrian contingent were Chitpavan Brabmios and indeed as will be seen many of the leaders of RSS also belong to this commu It is not only a question of caste or regional association that prevails between Mabasabba and the RSS but in terms of ideology and programme there is great affinity between them The idea of organizing Hindus attachment to gymnasia defence of Hindu interest through every means popu larization of Hindi and celebrating Hindu festivals13 are but a few of the common factors which link up RSS and Jana Sangh with Hindu Mahasabha nity 1 The RSS Jana Sangh Complex It is needless to say that the RSS represents an ideological continuity of revivalist activism which was brought up and nursed by such men 1 ke Tilak Savarkar and others Basically Maharashtrian Brahminical and particularly Chitpavan in character it could not have spread to the wider realms as it has but for the adjustments it had to make to develop it into an all India organization maiply by feeding upon the communal prejudices of Hindus and also catering to the primary interests of young men for physical exercises and brotherhood The obvious purpose of the RSS is firstly to indoctrinate the younger poople in the irrational and sectarian ideas of Golwalkarista and secondly to impart to them a para military training and thirdly to retain them as an ever growing organiza tion They try to influence the society in the manner of a concentric Circle and spread out to wider and wider realms 12 Craig Baxter The Jana Sangh Philadelphia 1969 P 18 13 See the programmes of Hindu Mahasabha at Calcutta Session of 1929 under the Presidentship of Lala Lajpat Rai A Review of the History and work of the Hindu Mahasabha and Hindu Sangathan Move ment by Indra Prakash, 137 110 SOCIOLOGY or REVIVALISSI Peripheral organizations like the Gohatja Nirodh Samul Shishu Vandrs Bhartha I id, alaas which hold their annual camp under huge posters of Shivajt and other pantheons of the RSS the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad the Akhil Bhartiya Mardoor Singh and news agencies like Hindusthan Samachar are rcported to be RSS ancillaries And of all the organizations run by the RSS the biggest and the widest is Jana Sangh itself Investigations have found that common people now do not differentiate betucen the RSS and the Jana Sangh Though sometimes thc Jana Sangh scem to shuo in public too much closeness with the RSS it is understood that Shyama Prasad Mukerjce had close consultations with Golwalkar before he founded the Jana Sangh In the 1952 General Elec tions the whole machinery of the RSS was geered to the election work of the Jana Sangh Once when the former Jana Sangh President Pandit Moult Chandra Sharma resented the tendency of RSS workers to dominate the Jana Sangh at the Jodhpur session of the Jana Sangh (1954) a resolution was passed condemning his view Many pracharaks of the RSS have become important office bearers of the Jana Sangh " A sincere research student who at the time of collecting the data was bimself an RSS man says that It has also been learnt that RSS leaders have often declared amongst its workers that Jana Sangh is a mouth organ being played in political field by RSS and till it is played let them play with it or otherwise it will be destroyed 15 There is so much of evidence to show that the Jana Sangh was founded with the initiative of the RSS after the ban following the assasination of Mahatma Gandhi was lifted At that juncture many prominent RSS men felt the need for a political front Hence there appeared a number of articles in Organiser commonly known as the mouthpiece of the RSS Sangh (RSS) must give lead to the country in regard to the political and economic problems of the country as well wrote Balraj Madhok The editor of Organiser K R Malkan! wrote that the only way to restore dharma was by putting the shoulder to the poinical wheel There were also articles pointing out the futility of the then existiog parties and suggesting that if they failed the RSS might heed a call from the nation Again editor Malkanı 14 SB Saxena Op Cu Pp 190 193 15 Ibid Pp 193 194 The RSS JANA SANGH COMPLEX 111 writing during this period on the programe for a new party based on Hindutva claimed that Communism can be combated and conquered in Hindustan by the Hindus only through Hindutva Malkası also proposed that the Swayam Sevaks should man such a party 18 Golwalkar admitted this when he said that I choose some of my collegues staunch and tried workers who could self lessly and unflinchingly shoulder the burden of founding the new party 17 This shows that the Jana Sangh is nothing but the RSS under a political mask and the claim that the RSS is a cultural organization is never seriously made even by Golwalkar The indoctrination process of the RSS is technically perfect It works through narration of stories and games often politically oriented such as Kashmir aur Goa kıs ka har Pratap ka Chetak and so on Baithaks or meetings are an important channel of communicating the RSS ideas to the members It is sigmficant that in such meetings taking notes is not allowed and wherever this rule is broken such notes are recovered from the Swayam Sevak and torn off Particulary in officers camps this is observed with utmost vigilance Secrecy prevails everywhere whether it is regarding collection of funds through Guru Dakshina activities in the camps or announcement of a meetings Great secrecy is maintained in camps where only on the basis of uttering pass words entry is permitted at night Once in one of the camps a member fell seek and died The matter was kept away from the knowledge of other participants of the camp as a secret Sımlarly there is a practice of organising sudden attacks upon the camps without the knowledge of defence officer of the camps or the guards la one such instance at Lucknow the RSS men dressed as Muslims attacked the defence officer and over powered him and tied him to a tree The guards were taken unawares There are also provisoas of a court martial in cases of indiscipline in the the camps Officers training camps are a a big affait to which the largest number of swayam Sevaks are attracted The Swayam Sevaks are subjected to three year officer training course which combines both physical and ideological training including training in public speaking The OTC is of three years annually held at different places though the third 16 See for more details --Craig Baxter Op Cut Pp 54 60 17 Quoted Ibid P 69 112 SOCIOLOCY OF REVIVALI$31 year course is always held at Nagpur In these camps in the second year according to the RSS terminology lathi (shatpattı) 11 hand jaseline 18 hand sword 31 hand knife 19 hand and fighting techniques are all taught Sword training is given even in the first year Prior to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi rifle training also used to be given 19 The RSS claims that during the process of partition among other services rendered to the Hindus in Pakistan was included the use of hand grenades gun powder and rifles wherever necess ary in saving the Hindus They also claimed to have trained people in the use of modern arms and ammunition and sent RSS troops on trains carrying Hindu refugees Saving of the Kashmir Maharaja from a coup planned by Muslims collaborating with the Indian Army in the early phase of the war in Kashmir libera tion of Nagar Haveli and Dadrı by Vishnath Narvane (a former student of Lucknow University) with a band of 90 RSS boys drawn from Bombay are cited among the exploits of the RSS 19 At a recent press conference to refute the allegation that the RSS was behind communal riots Golwalkar asked a counter question How is that there are no riots in Nagpur where the RSS is the But according to the RSS sources it clf the story is slightly different The year 1927 was a landmark in the history of the RSS at held its first oflicers camp the first Guru Dakshina was started and the Sar Sangh Chalak was appointed This year also saw the Nagpur Hindu Muslim riots The Sangh put new spirit in the Hindus and they turned the tables on Muslims 20 The RSS definitely instils discipline and good conduct in accordance with their own notions of goodness and discipline among their cadre But from all accounts it discourages thinking and reasoning The youth are indoctrinated to fit into an authori tarian system in which the top most man the supreme leader is nominated The common belief among the RSS men about their supreme leader Golwalkar as resealed in a study of the RSS shows the strength of indoctrination and superstitious bent of their mind Gurujt is the only man of his type in the country ile is a superman and the breath and soul of RSS strongest 13 SB Stiera O CLP 93-101 19 14 14 147 THE RSS JANA SANGH COMPLEX 113 2 They have utmost love for him and believe that they can aever be misſed by him He is infallible 3 Guruji can foresee the future and so is called Yugdrashta 4 He never reads newspapers He is able to know the news through meditation 5 His chest is as hard as stone because he observes Akhand Brahmacharya 6 He bas personally contacted the largest number of individuals in the world 7 He has the finest and the strongest memory 8 He has command over Vedas and has read 26 000 books 9 He takes little rest and never cares for pain 10 He is one of the best orators 1 No wonder members of an organization who entertain such fantastic superstitions are the natural followers of Golwalkarism It is apparently an interdependent phenomenon while the leader speaks for the followers the followers choose the ideologies and the leadership of their liking in this context we may quote a comment for its own intrinsic merit which says Hence the RSS youth given more favourable circumstances can be 10 India what was Hitler youth in Germany Fascist youth in Italy and what the Mao youth is in China today If disciplin organised centralism and organic collective consciousness means Fascism the RSS is not ashamed to be called Fascist The silly idea that Fascism and totalitarianism are evils and parlamentarianism and Anglo American types of democracy are holy should be got rid of from our minds if we want to approach problems realistically and bring solutions for them 23 Irrespective of this comment we have already seen the amazing simularity of Nazism with Golwalkarism If Golwalkar s view that The non Hindu people in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language or may stay in this country wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation claim ing nothing deserving no privileges far less any preferential treat tent--not even citizen fights 13 15 put to practice then what 21 SB Saxena, Op Cu Sociologist VOL UIT 1960 22 Anthony Elezimittam The Philosophy and Action of the RSS for the Hind Swaraj (Quoted by Craig Baxter Op C# Pp 148-49) 23 MS Golwalkar We or Our Natronhood Defined Pp 55 56 114 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISHI follows in this country cannot be any different from Fascism or Nazısm How do We Explain ? One may ask what are those variables which explain the presence of an ideology and movement like the RSS Jana Sangh complex in the prevailing lodian conditions? In fact the appeal of this ideology is presently more intense elsewhere than in its place of origin Why did it float away like this? What could be the reason that this ideology is more popular in certain areas of the country rather than in other places ? Of course until and unless a thorough field study is made no definite answer could be given to this question However in the meanwhile certain tenta tive explanations may be sought (1) In which part of social structure do we locate this ideo logy ? Knowing as we do the characteristic caste orientation and religious bent of revivalist activism we may ask the question how far the higher incidence of Brahminical caste in a region is associ ated with the greater appeal of this ideology to the area (2) How does the rate of literacy among people affect the degree of appeal of revivalism? What specific correlation do we come across between incidence of illiteracy and incidence of revi valist ideology of the Jana Sangha4 in different regions in India ? (3) What are those possible elements of culture with which this revivalist ideology is looked up ? Remnants of feudalism? Lack of political consciousness ? Or general economic backward ness ? What is the nature of correlation with such factors in an area and the prevalence of revivalism Brahminical Factor If election results and the votes cast in favour of vanous parties are taken as an index of ideological predisposition of the population then what is commonly called the Hındı belt seems to have some special attraction for the RSS Jana Sangh ideology Broadly speakiog this also happens to be the traditional Brahms nical region of India Herbert Risley in The People of India (1915) has put the Brahmios as 10 per cent of the population in 24 Here it is assumed that ideologically RSS and Jana Sangh are the same Yotes cast in favour of the Jada Sanob are taken as the measure of their ideological appeal THE RSS-JANA SANGH COMPLEX 115 Uttar Pradesh (United Provinces) Central India and Rajasthan (Rajputana) He also expressed the view that they were stron gest in the original centre that is Uttar Pradesh * A contemporary sociologist Dr Yogendra Singh comes to the conclusion though slightly differently, that in Northern India a strong peasant class is emerging which does not favour radical ideology It often tends to be attracted by militant rightest ideology of Jana Sangh He classifies the Southern and the Eastern regions of India as ideologically radical and the Northern region including Maharashtra Gujarat Punjab Haryana and probably Rajasthan and Western UP as ideologically rightist This view of his is based on a sophisticated approach to stratification system of these regions 26 However if votes cast in favour of the Jana Sangh is taken as index then Maharashtra Gujarat and to some extent Punjab have no claim to be included among the areas of conser valivism (a) The percentage of votes secured by the Jana Sangh in the 1967 election speaks eloquently of its ideological appeal to Hindi speaking electorates In Uttar Pradesh the Jana Sangh secured 21 6 per cent of the total votes polled during the Assembly election and won 98 seats in Madhya Pradesh it secured 28 2 per cent of votes and won 78 seats in Haryana 14 4 per cent votes and 12 seats in Bibar 10 5 per cent votes and 27 seats and in Rajasthan 11 7 per cent votes and 22 seats (6) As against this in the Eastern part of the country in West Bengal it got only 13 per cent votes and 1 seat in Assam 2 per cent votes and no seat and in Orissa 05 per cent votes and no seat (c) Similarly the Southern part of the country showed no appeal to this ideology In Andhra the Jana Sangh secured 2 1 per cent votes and 3 seats in Tamil Nadu 01 per cent votes and no seat 10 Mysore 31 per cent votes and 4 seats and 10 Kerala 0 9 per cent votes and no seat Among other things it way be coted that in both Eastern and Southera regious Brahms nical population is sparse According to Risley they are 3 per ceat in Bengal 2 per cent in Assam and 3 per cent in Madras 25 HH Risley The People of India P 125 26 Yogendra Singh Political Modernization in India-Concepts and Paper read at the Golden Jubilee of Department of Socio logy Bombay University (Uopublished) P 19 Proces3 116 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM which in 1915 means almost the whole South Education (a) Not only do higher incidence of Brabminical caste and revivalist ideology seem to be coinciding in the Hindi area but there is also a possible correlation between the educational back wardness of the region and revivalism All the states of the Hindi region are glaringly at the bottom of the general literacy rates in India In fact all those states which have shown any appreciation for the Jana Sangh are predominantly illiterate According to 1961 statistics the ranking of these states in terms of their literacy are thus Bihar 18 Uttar Pradesh 20 Himachal Pradesh 21 Madhya Pradesh 22 and Rajasthan 23 And literacy rate in the area is ranging from 152 per thousand in Rajasthan to 184 per thousand in Bihar (b) Meanwhile the Eastern states where the Jana Sangh ideology has no hold rank thus in terms of literacy rates West Bengal 10 Assam 11 and Orissa 15 Their literacy rates per thousand range from 217 in Orissa to 293 in West Bengal (c) When we go to the Southern states the correlation is more pronounced Kerala comes 2nd in rank in the whole of the country Tamil Nadu Sth and Mysore 12th and Andhra 16th The literacy rate in this region ranges from 212 per thousand in Andhra to 468 per thousand in Kerala 27 Among the major language groups the position of the Hindi speaking people is the lowest in literacy In a descending order of literacy rate come Malayalıs Tamils Gujaratis Maharashtrians Bengalis Kappa das Punjabis Onyas Telugus and then the Hindi speaking people Feudal Background The amount of compensation payable on account of zamın dart abolition if taken as an index to the extent of feudal chara cter of the respective areas give us the distinctive picture of feudal influence or the comparative absence of it in these different regions (a) In the Northern region of Uttar Pradesh Bihar Raja sthan and Madhya Pradesh the total compensation payable to zamiadars was Rs 476 90 crores (b) in the Eastern area of Assam Orissa and West Bengal 27 Se Appendix VIII The Ga erficer of India Vol I 117 THE RSS JANA SANGH COVPLEX the amount was Rs 85 18 crores (c) And in the four states of the South the amount payable was only 31 39 crores 28 This reveals a very positive correlation between the revivalist ideology of the Jana Sangh and remnants of feudalism Even after making allowances for the differential size or population of the regions the Hindi region would prove to be higbly feudal Political Consciousness (a) The next question is about the level of political cons ciousness of people who believe in this ideology ? What is the nature of association between political consciousness and reviva lism? Percentage of valid votes polled in the General Election to the State Assemblies in 1967 if accepted as an index of political consciousness of the people in various states shows a differential map of political consciousness of various states of India Such a map would indicate that in UP the percentage of valid votes cast was 50 8 in Rajasthan it was 55 in Madhya Pradesh 49 7 and in Bibar it was 48 9 (b) In the case of Eastern region in Assam this percentage was 57 1 in Orissa 41 3 and in West Bengal it was 62 8 ) In the Soutb it was 73 6 10 Tamil Nadu 73 in Kerala, 59 4 in Mysore and 66 in Andhra Thus in order of degree of political consciousness first was Southern region second Eastern region and third and the last the Northern Hindi region And the fact that this is the area which has shown receptivity to revivalism of the Jana Sangh indicates that revivalism and lack of political consciousness are interdependent factors which coexist Economic Poverty Lastly while discussing the general economic backwardness we may add that in terms of per capita income all the above referred four Hindi speaking states fall far below the all India average and on the whole constitute the bulk of India s economi cally backward areas (a) According to 1961 statistics the per capita income of UP is Rs 297 Madhya Pradesh Rs 285 Rajasthan Rs 267 and Bibar Rs 221 28 Calculations from India 1959 P 130 118 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISY (6) In the Eastern region 10 Assam it is Rs 333, in Orissa Rs 276 and in West Bengal Rs 465 (c) In the Southern states in Madras it is Rs 334 in Kerala it is Rs 315 and in Mysore Rs 305 and Andhra Rs 287 How callous and irresponsible is the governmental leader ship in the major Hindi states is borne out of the fact that the Government of Uttar Pradesh spends only Rs 13 53 per head on education medical and health facilities in the state In Bihar the amount is still less-only Rs 9 75 per head The expenditure in Madbaya Pradesh is Rs 1855 per head The comparative figure for Kerala is Rs 33 04 per head for Tamil Nadu Rs 25 18 per head Assam Rs 21 41 and West Bengal Rs 20 61 The all India average is Rs 19 20 per head " The Gestalt of Backwardness From this analysis we find the presence of a gestalt of various factors inseparably fused into the situation in the Hindi region which consequently has become a receptive ground for revivalism Even a cursory survey reveals a very suggestive coincidence of a higher percentage of Brahminical elements in the population extremely poor literacy widespread feudal back ground a comparative absence of political consciousness as well as economic backwardness in this area A higher occurrence of Brahmins in the place should be viewed not so much as a caste issue but as something to be equated with the hold of conserva tive and superstitious religious mythology and to that extent as resistance to change The Farna system feudalism illiteracy lack of political consciousness and economic backwardness are inter dependent and mutually complementary in the situation The caste system with its sharply divided status groups and aversion to manual labour among the Brahmins is impossible in non feudal societies Similarly illiteracy has been a functional device of the caste system to keep away the common people at a safer distance from the sources of power and prestige The same is the case with political consciousness if it is understood as the know ledge of power structure in society then it is a functional pre requi site for both caste system and feudalism to keep people at a low 29 The data refer to 1967 68 1969 P 173 Se Report of the Finance Commission THE RSS-JANA SANGH COVPLEX 119 level of political consciousness so that the upper strata may be insulated against the onslaught of the underdog The bigness of the big depends upon the smallness of the small is nowhere so crudely expressed as in a caste ridden feudal order And religt ous mythology and world view has always been instrumental to the upper castes to legitimize the status quo Thus we find the social structure in this region due to various historical reasons provides an existential basis for backward looking revivalist ideo- Jogy of the Jana Sangh Similarly the contrary social conditions found in the Eastern and Southern regions and the comparative absence of Jana Sangb influence in those states also proves though negatively, the same point In the discussion so far we have left out Maharashtra and Gujarat These two states are just the opposite of Hindi region in so far as their higher literacy political consciousness, comparative absence of feudalism higher per capita income and even lower incidence of Brahminical elements in the population are concerned It cannot be an accident that the Jana Sangh has failed to create any impression in those states The example of Maharashtra is especially instructive because though the found ing fathers of modern revivalism as an organized force belonged to that state the fact that the ideology could not gain much favour in that area (with the exception of Shiv Sena) is a positive proof of the relationship between ideology and social structure In this context the following statement becomes meaningful The Jana Sangh has practically po strength in Gujarat Maba rashtra Andhra Mysore Kerala Madras Orissa Bengal and Assam Its popularity is then confined to the Hindi speaking states and mostly parts of UP Rajastban and Madhya Pradesh The social structure and the cultural tradition of the people of other states will not allow the Jana Sangh to take root there There are greater chances of DM becoming a political force in the UP and Madhya Pradesh than the Jana Saagh becoming a political force ia Madcas or Kerala! 0 Whom docs at Serve? Having seen that the Hindi region has a structural weak ness for the backward looking obscurantist ideology of the 30 K.P Karunakaran 'Stale Politics (Regionalism) Semirar (87) P 23 130 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISS Chieftain in his harcm. Now this is how Shivajt was symbolized during the Shiv Jayanlı cclcbrations According to Indian practice birth celebra trons of great men are solemn occasions when at least momentarily pcopic display a mode of conduct befitting to the nature and quality of such herocs For instance Gandhi Jayanti is celebrat cd by spinning holding Bhajans doing social service preaching communal harmony non violence and peace Such a celebration symbolizes Gandhiji as he is in the minds of those who commem orate his greatness So how does Shiv Jayanti depict Shivaji ? One who is fond of rousing communal sentiments disturbing religious processions destroying mosques and enjoyiog communal dramas ! The Leadership To a great extent the urban chaos and the regional frame of reference was responsible for the rise of the Shiv Sena leadership as well as its capacity to exploit the situation A few references to the personal background of Bal Thackeray would throw some light on the Shiv Sena leadership Thackeray was a cartoonist In the Free Press Journal of Bombay which like most Englesb newspapers has a large number of South Indians on its staff Like cartoonists all over the world he has bad clashes with news editors and sub editors over the quality of his cartoons Unfor tunately Thakeray being just average came to the conclusion that there was antipathy to him only because he was not a South Indian That such clashes take place in Marathi Newspapers also never struck him Nor did it ever strike him that he owed his prominence as a cartoonist to a South Indian the late Sadanand who gave bim a big boost by training bin to think politically He also overlooked the fact that the best ideas for his cartoons were not his own but were given to him by South Indian News Editors That jospite of such copflicts the Free Press Journal never employed any South Indian to keep him down was never appreciated by him? After the death of Sadanand a number of journalists of the Free Press Journal resigned to start a co operative daily Thackeray also resigoed along with them but 6 Prem Shankar Jha The Lessous of Bhiwandı The Times of India Maga ine 31 5 1970 7 A Bombay Journalist How did it Grow ? Mainstream 6 4 1968 P 13 THE SHIV SENA 131 His grouse 8 he soon left the daily to start his own Cartoon Weekly called Marmık Hts leaving bad ao regional undertone against South Indians became more pronounced during this period His Weekly a family affair ran into difficulties in gett ing advertisements Thackeray used to complain that because the agencies were dominated by South Indians he was not being given adsertisements It was explained to him that this was not SO Advertisement agencies like most organizations operated on a commercial basis If his paper built up a big circulation then advertisements would come in With his regional frame of reference could Thackeray accept this explanation ? No he did not In his desparate attempt for survival he tried maoy techni ques * In the begisping he tried out being anti Muslim He made a big play about the infamous Usha Bhargava case of Jabal pur 9 As this did not click he tried other ways such as oppos 159 Marathi crosswords and finally when he began to use a technique of propaganda which bad already been used and perfect ed during the Samyukta Maharashtra movement there was a dramatic change in his favour Once he began to revive the paranoid feelings of his readers his readership increased and a populist political movement began 10 Thus Shiv Sena was born on June 19 1966 Divine Propaganda and 'Mon-Maharashtrian Conspiracy' The very regional frame of reference was accentuated and exploited by the Shiv Sena in the context of the already described urban chaos of Bombay and through which the Chauvinist more ment was built up It all started with the laudable idea of fight ing the gangsterdom 10 Bombay which in the beginning appealed to all Then Bal Thackeray launched a campaign against the bootleggers of Bombay He claimed that the gangland was dominated by South Indians Though this was mostly incorrect it could not have been particularly difficult for bis Marathi readers and listners to believe this He raised a question Why the gang land should be dominated by non Maharashtrians? And be him self answered that it was because the political parties and trade 8 Ibid Pp 13-14 9 Jold P 14 10 Duip Chitre, Op C# The Hindustan Times 28 2 1969 132 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM unions were controlled by the non Maharashtrians Again this was not truc but whatever might be the arguments and facts against this line of appeal it was likely to provide a satisfactory explanation to the average Marathi reading public at least for the time being since they have been subjected to regional propa ganda for long He declared that all the lungiwalas are criminals gamblers illicit liquor distillers pimps goondas beggars and communists 11 I want the illicit liquor distiller to be Maharashtrian the goonda to be Maharashtrian the Manali to be Maharashtrian 12 This line of propaganda must yreld good results when we realize that there are always rralries among goondas and bootleggers of various groups No wonder if the Maharashtrian goondas and bootleggers found a godfather in Bal Thackeray and his Shiv Sena This must have added to his strength and a now dim son to the movement he initiated In the same manner Thackeray proceeded agaiost Udıpı Hotels and the Taxi trade The demand was Idli Sambbar must stop These hotels are depriving the Maharashtrians of business and employment It was argued that this state of affair is made possible because of the domination of hotel unions by non Maharashtrians Similarly the taxi trade in Bombay city is owned by non Maharashtrians-mainly Punjabis This again according to the Shiv Sena was because of non Maba rashtrian taxı trade union controlled by George Fernandes This was not at all true because the trade was in the hands of non Maharashtrians-Punjabis Parsis and others--ever since its beginning and long before the present trade union leaders were born The next campaigo 15 very rewarding for Thackeray This happened when Shiv Sena took up the plea that non Maha rashtrians should be sent out of Bombay For the first time on October 30 1966 the Sena impinged on the public mind in a big way At a rally at Shivaji Park the venom and vitriol that was poured out as directed against non Maharashtrians But the principal target was Shri George Fernandes who by then had pitted himself against Shri Sh Patil and was vigorously 11 Quoted by Prabhakar Waidya Shiv Sena The Fascist Menace PS 12 TOW PS THE SHIV SEVA 133 canvassing for his own election to the Lok Sabha At the end of the meeting some of the more inflamed members of the crowd stoned Udipi hotels The slogan they shouted were Madra shana Haklum loa (Drive out the Madrass) and Idl. Sambhar Bandh Kara (Stop Idlı Sambhar) 13 This was at a time when recession in Bombay was at its peak Unemployment was increasing and the educated youth was frustrated The plea that outsiders should be driven out of Bombay might have meant many things to the unemployed and the unaccommodated It can easily mislead such people to the belief that jobs and shelters mould be found through this method The South Indian office goers were accused of depriviog the Maharashtrian of his job opportunity Thackeray sent on to publish half truths about statistics of persons employed in various offices in Bombay and showed how the con Maharashtrians were monopolisiog jobs in Maharashtra at the cost of Maharashtrians One of the Shiv Sena publications came to the following con clusion in this regard after making one such so called sursey Though outwardly Maharashtra appears growing rapidly industrially one cannot overlook the fact that the industries are being manned by outsiders They also find that in this land of their birth they cannot get a suitable opening while an outsider of comparable merit gets one for the mere asking because he has a godfather to lookafter his joterests where Maharashtrians have none The truth is that the selection to these posts were not at all made on the score of merit 14 But a Maharashtrian scholar in a learned paper has expressed altogether a different view on this issue 1asistence on the strict adherence to rational principles of selection is fully justified However there is a lurking fear amongst the Marathi people that even if the rational principles are strictly followed they stand little chance of surpassing the South Indians in white collar and profe ssional jobs In interviens and opinions published in the Marathi press at that time Marathi officers and employers had acknow ledged the South Indian s skili in stenotyping his better know ledge of English and his industriousn ss In business industry administration in technical and scientific fields South Indians She says 13 GN Acharya The Growlog Tiger Vainstream 64 68 14 Kapılacharya Shu Sena Speaks Pp 13-14 134 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM have earned influential positions by merit and hard work 13 Whatever might be the truth the unemployed and the frustrated Maharashtrian youth would find easier to believe the Shiv Sena line rather than taking paias to know the facts Men placed under such circumstances can hardly think of the fact that Maharashtra has about 22 per cent of India s total capital investment and at the same time has only 9 per cent of India s population On the other hand the four Southern states with a population of 25 per cent of the total population of the country has only 15 per cent of the total capital sovestment The capital investment per head in Maharashtra is Rs 135 where as in the four southern States it is only Rs 33 per head 16 Again UP with a population of 16 65 per cent of the total population has only 7 25 per cent of the total investment May be these facts do not attract the unemployed Maharash trians While capital flows to Maharashtra from other parts of India naturally non Maharshtrians also will flow to Maharashtra in search of employment If this is prevented and if people in other states decide to boycott goods made in Maharashtra what will happen to maharashtra and the country? How will the Shiv Sena line of driving away the non Maharashtrians affect the estimated four million Maharashtrians in other States of India 717 It is instructre to know that in every 10 000 people in Maha rashtra only 275 are Hindi speaking whereas in Madhya Pradesh alone there are 266 Marathi people in every 10 000 of the popu lation In Maharashtra there are 159 Kannada speaking people in every 10 000 population while there are 488 Marathi speakiog people in Mysore in every 10 000 of the population 18 It is futile to think in these lines for those who have accepted the truth of Indian pationhood However this shows how Chauvinism can boomerang and wbat damage it can do to those whose cause it 15 Sudha Gogate Rise of Regionalism in Bombay City Paper read at the seminar on Regionalism and National Integration (January 25 to 28 19 0) under the auspices of National Integration Council and the University of Rajasthan See Mainstream 28 3 1970 P 23 Also Gangadharan and Sudha Gogate The Shiv Sena Phenomenon P 19 16 The data as per Annual Survey of Industries 1961 Vol I quoted by Prabhakar Waidya Op Cu Pp 16-17 17 1bid P 16 18 Ga etteer of India Toll Appendix VII - Proportion of persons speaking major languages in each of the States 1961 TRE SHIV SEVA 135 is pretending to plead Evidently Thackeray s sympathetic listners and readers do not bother to them the simple solution offered by a man obviously out to exploit the misfortune of people around him look very attractive In all this propaganda there has been a continuous under current of the idea of non Meharashtran conspiracy against the Maharashtrians Non Maharashtrian dominated trade union conspiracy against Maharashtrian South Indian conspiracy in the job market to keep out the Maharashtrians Udipi people s conspiracy against Maharashtrians tariwalas conspirary and so on and so forth This scapegoatism in the background of cultu rat factors already stated awakens in the mind of Maharashtrians strong in group feelings as well as the spirit of Shivaji to drive away the alien and fight against the imagined injustice More over it helps to console one s misfortune-unemployment in competence or whatever it might be—and shifts it all to the conspiracy of others The accusation that the present Union finance Minister Shri YB Chavaa was a concealed supporter of the movement was raised by some of the critics of the Shiv Sena In a typical ethnocentric style Shiv Sena exploited this in two First, this was cited as a typical example of non-- Maharashtrians conspiracy to oust the only Maharashtrian leader at the all India level Second the Shiv Sena s defence of Chavan brought handsome dividend in the form of Chavan s sympathizers who are large in number in Maharashtra coming closer to itIt may be recalled that the Shanti S na chief of UP after his visit to Bombay immediately after the 1969 riots observed that the Shiv Sena supporters genuinely b lieve that Union Minister YB Chavan is sympathetic to them Imported Bossism Like an octopus Shiv Sena became powerful as it had spread its tentacles to various directions--the gangsterdom the unemployed youth the capitalists the ruling circle and even some of the opposition parties came under its gup due to different reasons By defeating a politician of Krishna Menon s standing twice during 1967 elections to the Parliament the Shiv Sena demonstrated its unmistakable potentiality as an institution of fold ways 19 A Bombay Journalist Op C P 37 Mainstream 5 6 1968 136 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM political Bossism and attained a notoriety and status that brought it closer to seats of power-both political and economic-in the city of Bombay Sk Patil s local man theory became effective only when it converged with the sons of the soil cry of the Shiv Sena to defeat the 'Lungiwala and crypto-communist This brought recognition to Shiv Sena from various sources opposed to the leftist ideology and the trade union movement The frequent announcement from the police authorities that the Shiv Sena has nothing to do with this riot or that riot the common belief in Bombay that the police do not deal with the Shiv Sena the way they should the idea that the Government itself is partisan the admitted fact that the Police Commissioner made an unscheduled stop of former Finance Minister Morarjo Desai s car on the way from aerodrome to facilitate the presenta tion of a memorandum by Shiv Sena-an incident which led to the unprecedented riots of 1969 in Bombay-are all facts which gave the Shiv Sena an image of being powerful and resourceful 20 During the 1969 riots Bal Thackeray who was put behind the bars was allowed to confer with political party leaders and issue statements Moreover police vans were used to broadcast his statement Then comes the propaganda of deeds such as preventing and permitting of cinema shows sioning and looting of shops protec ting and condoning of shopkeepers who pay their mite to the Shiv Seda to buy security of business and safety of their skin social services such as establishm nt of Shiv Sena stalls preventing sale of Municipal shops to non Maharashtrians and threats of picket ing of teashops unless rates are reduced These deeds must have proved sery remunerative to the Shiv Sena the earlier practice of certain gooodas collecting flafia from peity shopkeepers for providing them security thus got elevated to the level of a social movement whose leadership has approaches to the State Ministers police officials political parties and captains of industry All these gre an impression of imported American bossism of the Tammany Hall tyre ? Though some respects the Shiv Sena looks to be American in conception there is more of Hitlerismo in its approach 20 L Gangidharan Shiv Scna-Anti Social Movement Mainstream 21 1578 TIIE SIITY SEVA 137 His entry 3 4 Shiv S ni m etings are big affairs carefully planned to build up the Senapati (Commander in Chief Bal Thackeray) to the stage accompanied with the coterie of subordinates the saffron flags the garlanded bust of Shuaji singing of martial songs (Poradas) that speak of Maratha glory in the battlefield and the blast of Tutarı to the martial notes of which Shivaji s legion galloped to battle and the fact that the organisation is no democratic nonsense deserie special mention The Pramukhi that is Senapan has several Shakha pramukhs who take orders from him There is no committee no election nothing of the kind? It is interesting to note the following words of Bal Tharkaray Yes I am a dictator why should we have so many rulers? It is a Hitler that is needed in India today Why should India sant democracy? We must have a Hitler here In his Marmik he published the blessings of a reader who says Be famous as Hitler be a Chhatrapati a king like Shivaji and rule over us 25 This reminds one of Nazi Germany where national pride became chauvi015m suspicion of non Germans turned into consuming hatred and faith in leadership became blind dependency Shiv Sena in the Interactional Setting A social movement does not grow in isolation in a demoracy bike ours it has to compete with other movements their appeals and ideologies Then how could Shiv Sena grow in a situation in which there eristed strong trade union movements Communist and Socialist parties the Indian National Congress with its professions of secular democracy and socialist pattern the Jana Sangh with its extraordinary sense of nationalism and its advocacy of unitary government and patriotic fervour and also the ideology of free competition of the Swatantra type ? Apparently the Chauvinist fascist type of Shiv Sena bas not even the slightest chance to survive in the company of these powerful forces which by their professed ideologies have to be in opposition to Shiv Sena But the fact is entirely different Each one of them in actual practice nursed the Shiv Sena with varying degrees of 22 HR Pardivala The Shiv Sena hy ard Why Not? Pp 8 9 23 Nowa Kal (19 8 1967) Quoted by Prabhakar Vaidya Og Cit P 4 24 Quoted Ibid P 4 25 Quoted Ibid P 27 138 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM affection When onc sct of trade unionists were attacked by the Shiv Sena the mal trade unionists did not mind And at last in the heart of the working class in Parcl the Girni Lamkar Union office was attacked by the Shis Scna and Bal Thacharay issued a statement I am proud of the Shiv Sainiks who fought the reds Communists and other progressive elements who opposed the Shiv Sena ucrc inhibited by their regard for mass appeal They probably thought they should not offend the feet ings of the masses cien if they were wrong So the normal tendency was to disagree with the strategy and tactics but to agrec with the grievances of the Shiv Sena The Maharashtra Congress and the BPCC or S i Patul had rivalry of long standing So it is believed that the leadership of the Maharashtra Congress ſound an instrument in the Shiv S na to Maliarashtrianize Bombay and nullify the non Maharashtran dominated BPCC and its leader SK Patil The BPCC liked the Shiv Sena on two counts First for the help it wanted to defeat Krishna Menon Second the anti trade union and anti Communist stand of the Shiv Sena was to the liking of the capitalist financiers of the BPCC It may be recalled once when S K Patil was embarrassed by the Shiv Sena he told the Sena to make use of the money they were getting for the purpose for which it was given Similarly the PSP with its chronic hatred to Communists became comrades in arms of the Shiv Sena and together fought the Municipal elections It is believed the PSP has lost many of its workers to the Shiv Sena in the process The Jana Sangh too liked Shiv Sena to defeat Krishna Menon Moreover anti Communism was very much to its taste So also the Swantantra Party found a very effective weapon of strike breakers and trade union breakers in Shiv Sena Thus Bal Thackaray s exploitation became the function of exploitability of a situation And in all this Chauvinism that was whipped up with its historical background and the present existential basis was such that it almost inhibited the other parties in calling a spade a spade and directly opposing it, even if they wanted to 26 Free Press Journal 30 12 1967 quoted load P 7 THE SHIY SENA 139 1 Amoral and Hirable Instrument In the context of these social processes and forces in the urban life of Bombay and the neighbourhood one may ask what is the function of Shiv Sena ? And whom does it serve and how? As we have already seen Sena has activized strong regional consciousness and ethnocentric feeling-a type of atavism towards the Maratha imperial days which is not only irrelevant and unrealistic today, but positively harmful for the nation 2 It has employed this heightened regional frame of reference to create a split between the Maharashtrians and non Maharashtrians 3 On an irrational and linguistic basis it has wrongly educated the people to misunderstand the urban chaos and the misery that exists in the city by making scapegoat of outsiders Thus by diverting the attention of the people to the wrong direction it plays the role of a shield to all those agencies—the Government of Maharashtra the capitalist employers who fail to provide amenities and accommodation to their workers and also to the local administration 4 Under the pretext of driving out the outsiders Shiv Sena s pseudo social service of slum clearance actually hits the poor Maharashtrians The fact is that the biggest and the most important single linguistic group in the million hutment dwellers is Marathi Thackaray s demand that demolish and burn all the hutments if implemented the first and foremost victims will be the Marathi people 27 Hutment dwellers associations are mostly Left oriented bodies Attacking them serves the dual purpose of weakening the left and providing the land thus cleared of hutments to the rich class of speculators and blackmarketeers of luxury flats 28 Similarly the drive against street vendors under the pretext that it was against loon giwalls would really hurt the Maharashtrians because among the vendors the biggest chunk are the Marathi next come Sindhis and Uttar Bharatiyas and last come the Tamilians and Keralıyacs 9 27 Prabhakar Waidya lbid P 23 28 Ibid 29 Ibid 140 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM 5 The Shiv Sena s main role has been to break the trade union movement-by disrupting meetings playing the role of blacklegs attacking trade union offices and even allegedly attacking and murdering trade union leaders 6 It persistenty opposes the Communists and all shades of leftists and promises to keep the Bombay city safe from the Red menace 7 It is closely allied to the Swatantra Party and the reactionary elements in the Congress party or presently the Congress parties Shiv Sena had been actively campaigning for many reactionary Congressmen during the elections 8 The Shiv Sen chief Bal Thackeray has openly declared that Tatas and Birlas were the Bread givers and friends of the Marathi people 30 SK Patil once commanded Shiv Sena to utilize the financial resources received by it from certain sources for the purpose for which they are received 31 One may safely conclude from these activities of the Shiv Sena that the revivalist and malignant regionalism that it whips up is only an effectie yet unscrupulous form of mass appeal which has nothing to do with the welfare of even the Maharashtrains except that it helps the Sena to grow The power so gathered by the Shiv Sena goes to the making of an amoral institution of Political Boss which objectively speaking becomes a hirable instrument or a sword arm to defend the rich capitalist class and their collaborators in politics because revivalism which has no social basis today and if at all it has any that basis cannot be that of the masses would naturally be an instrument in the hands of the upper classes to confuse and confound the forces opposed to bem This is 30 SG Sardesa! Cause for Concern Mainstream ES 68 P 15 31 Ibid P 15 CHAPTER VII Modernization, Not Revivalism The analysis of revivalism made in the historical back ground of Indian social structure reveals various dimensions It is intimately connected with a vague and imaginary reference group of the past constructed partly on the basis of details drawn from the ancient scriptures and partly as a matter of projection of revivalists current interests and world view into the past Dimensions of Revivalism 1 Racial The major strain of revivalism as it is traced back to past becomes racism which invokes a process of un pleasant and rival memories in the racial mosaic of India 2 Linguistic The fallacious claim of the revivalist that all languages of India are of Sanskrit origio had its repercus SIODS For instance according to Dr S K Chatterjee Brahmi nical orthodox scholarship sought to find in Tamil just a dialect of the Aryan language-a kind of Dravidian Prakriti And now owing to political and other reasons the pendulum has swung to the other end and some ardent Tamilophils are trying to derive Sankrit and the Aryan speech from the old Tamil 1 In the multilingual background of Indian culture revivalism is bound up with linguism 1 The Galetteer of India Tol L P 369 142 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISHI 3 Cultural Invocation of mythological stories and culture heroes of the past with reference to group rivalries suc cess and defeat in a style likely to arouse group consciousness and identification with opposite camps by the present generation In the context of contemporary regionalism and communa lism some of the culture heroes become regional and communal symbols and lose their symbolic value as integrating forces Shivaji is a rather recent example to this effect 4 Intellectual Revitalism is basically anti jatellectua lism and thrives on sentiments Its self defence falsifies history and culture and is an obstacle to objective self evaluation and change 5 Social The social outlook of revivalısm is obscurantist and it tries to defend all outmoded institutions like caste monarchy and other elements of feudal social order and is oppo sed to the idea of equality of sexes 6 Political Politically revivalısm is chauvinistic paro chial, antı liberal and expansionistic 7 Economic The revivalist outlook on social structure if read along with its economic view would amount to a plea 10 defence of the sectarian interest of the upper castes or classes The organismic view held by the revivalist permits the exploitation of the small fry for the benefit of the big brothers silently and for the common good as it is said of the totality 8 Ethical The activist ethics of revivalısm is highly ethnocentric and communal and advocates double standard of morality It is antı humanitarian The revivalism rather than integrating and strengthening the nation promotes racial and linguistic Tivalries causes counter movements often revivalist in character Employment of mythology and symbols of the past such as the frequent reference by Golwalkar that mapliness lies in establishing his superiority over the rakshasas and vanquishing rakshasas has been our tradition since hoary times might prove disastrous in a country wbere there are ten crores of scheduled castes and tribes How such attempts at invokiog communal or even racial consciousness amoag a section of people are bound to recoil can be understood if one can think of the reaction to such ideas among the people

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146 socio OXY OF ILIVality The Three t'hases of Retinalism In the course of our trealrent of realism #e found that il was born in a peculiar confrontation of cultures -a situation comprising of feudat India a forcign ru'cand a foreign languag and aspects of modern administration and chang introduced at the instance of the British At that juncture for th- conservative and the anti-chang- clementi revivalim became th- tolony or defence And because of the presence of foreign rule whkh was also the agcnt of change teemalism gol mned up with n2liona lusm #hen such clements joined the freedom struggle But during the Gandhi Nehru era when under the impact of mass movements of non violent activism and secularization of national struggle along with the propagation of social equality, the main body of revivalism gol separated out of the mainstream Thereacr rcsivalism went underground drawing inspiration from aggressiic religious activism and also from the last of the Hindu empires it went on organizing till it crupted in Gandhi Murder As the political power was passed on to Indians and a democratic polity began to function revivalism was found handy for the furtherance of group interests representing landlords rich peasants traders and also backward section of capitalists Modern means of communication technology rational organiza tion propaganda techniques and parliamentary democracy-all became uscful instruments in the hands of revivalists With the result superstitious religious celebrations melas meetings and congregations of yogis and gurus became unprecedentedly widespread and popular Take sadhus and Babas began to receive national publicity which helped to cultivate their national image Astrology palmistry omens of all kind auspicious numbers and Occasions were also widely publicised through newspaper columns This in a country of illiterate and backward millions proved to be more effective mass education in orthodory than all other efforts to the contrary Thus in a developing situation of mixed economy, democratic institutions religious propaganda and secular state and of science and technology urbanization and industrialisation there appeared certain chaotic and con tradictory conditions which could give a new lease of life to MODERNIZATION, NOT REVIVALISI 147 revialism Such conditions contemporary India may be briefly mentioned 1 Linkage between Politicians and Spiritualists Religious and revivalist clements--sadhus gurus and astrologers--and the ruling circl establish mutual linkage for the bencfits of each others The ministers whose fortunes fluctuate frequently satisfy their superstitious needs of knowing their future besides making a democratic investment of their image among the ignorant masses and devotees of such religious men On the other hand such fake sadhus and gurus secure an amount of Governmental protection which they are often badly in need apart from serving the need of publicising their superstitions through bigher circles even to the extent of influencing the government in many ways 2 Democracy and Prescrration of Status quo The mass awakening and structural changes in society is disturbing the upper segments and their vested interests At the same time the society stands on a sublerranean mass of primitive superstitions and ignorance Such of those who wish to oppose change find it easy to exploit this uofortunate situation and make use of democratic institutions and modern mass media for the furtherance of revivalism which in fact for tbem is resistance to change or preservation of status quo 3 Secularism and Multi religious State Secular state in India has been completely under the sway of the multi religious society Consequently tolerance of multi religious existence is equated as secularism in India This reality when translated through the ballot box becomes a state depen ding upon multi religious votes and therefore a multi religious state This may be a truism cheapest and easiest to practice However instead of the state reflecting the religiously divided and superstition ridden social structure the opposite process could also have been possible—the secular state and its leader ship could have initiated change in such a manner that secularism could have got an upper hand over religious and revivalist elements in society In the absence of this latter process religious orthodoxy often secured state patronage and protection for their propagation of superstitious customs and celebrations 148 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIYALISY 4 Spiritual Trade and the Infra structure of Revivalism Gods festivals celebrations and yogis are trade and com merce for many in a comp titive society Hence there is com mercial and occupational interest deeply mixed up with all such religiosity and revivalism There are gods and babas specialised in giviog protection to criminals right advice to punters mudha 11 alas and lotteryticket holders For the blackmarketeers smug glers and speculators who ride the high tide of uncertainty in the ocean of success Gods and saints are a week end recreation of casing their nerves so that they may start afresh with a clear conscience Increasing such uncertainties and insecurities of life is help, to multiply their tribe particularly in chaotic urban centres Such men and women and their institutions constitute the infra structure upon which the organized an politicalized revivalism thrives at present 5 Monolithic Reviyalısm and Federal Structure Indian revivalism with the aid of religion and culture has been attempting to build up a monolithic society Since there are many cultures and religions and also the federal state it is impossible for revivalism to be monolithic Hence revivalısm in reality becomes regionalism in India Ethnocentric appeal as it works through the federal Indian state politics can easily degene rate into regional chauvinism of the DMK brand or Punjabi Suba pattern and not to speak of Shiv Sena regression which is a class by itself Cultural and linguistic basis and contemporary poverty and unemployment become inextricably mixed up at the hands of political manipulators-and in a phenomenon like Shiv Sena this happens even at the instance of its financiers and food givers who make use of the institution of political Boss for the furtherance of their sectarian interests 6 The Absence of Radical Social Reform Movement Unless serious efforts are made to reform and educate the people democracy in a highly traditional society may mean revitalism or democratization of ignorance and superstitions After a p riod of social reform movemcat when there was a real debate and an attempt to change the outlook of the people the country parti ularly after independence seems to hase given up MODERNIZATION, NOT REVIVALISY 149 that initiative At present the conscious sections of our people confine to political parties and there the democratic compulsions of vote catcbing seems to inhibit them from entering into a debate on sensitive religious and social issues Thus the absence of a mass movement or even a determined well organized public opinion against obscurantism leaves the field free for revivalism without any social constraint Masquerading sangasis make encroachment upon footpaths fictitious temples appear suddenly on road sides and block the traffic ministers display reluctance to take oath during inauspicious days Babas under the patronage of ministers bureaucrats and businessmen demonstrate the miracle of producing foreign made watches and rings out of thin air-and all this in the secular republic of India go on uncon tested in the absence of a radical social reform movement one that is consciously rational and scientific in approach in the midst of traditionalism and backwardness to preach the maxim of sor popul is vor der in matters of social life and outlook becomes a political quackery and the least line of resistance Modernization and Not Indianization Revivalısm or Indianization is helpless for the integration of Indian society This is obvious from the analysis made so far Its backward looking approach and techniques eliminate and antagonize many religious groups and castes and tribes and also deprives them of their historical identity Its agtediluvian and obscurantist world view is dysfunctional in the contemporary society except to a microscopic section of political religious and economic exploiters of the common man It is also noticeable that ethnocentric revivalism in the federal structure of lodian nation easily degenerates into regional chauvinism Moreover there is greater danger from revivalism in the context of a capita listic democracy under which both the advantages of demoeratic jostitutions and the technological development are likely to be musled for the furtherere of rewalsm esp crawlig mite unte tion of religious oriented fascism Thus revivalist model is unsuitable for India what else is the alternative? Modernization After more than a century of n odern cence and techno logy in this country now there is hardly anyotesistaħte to modera 150 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALIS: tools and other material cultural traits In the days of first railway travel from Bombay to Thana people were afraid of breaking their bones by sitting in the railway carriages But today Indians are well adapted to jet trave! That is the measure of our acceptance of modern material culture Material cquipments and items hasc a capacity to convincingly demons. trate their utility and quality so that the people from traditional cultures do not find it difficult to change over But in the field of ideas attitudes and institutions this is not true Mainly because mental dispositions of people are conditioned by the traditional culture at an carly stage of their personality develop ment It is in the field of outlook or perspective of Indians moder nity is generally lacking and marked contradictions exist This of course means se have a concept of modern man from whom Indians as a class differ Here for this purpose we accept the concept of modern man as formulated by Alex Inkeles as a part of a study of modernization process among workers and peasants in sıx developing countries • The modern man is characterised by (1) readiness for new experiences innovation and change (2) a disposition to form opinions on a large number of problems not only in his immediate environment but also outside of it (3) orientation to the present or the future rather than to the past (4) Belief and involvement in planning as a way of handling life (5) Efficacy-belief that man can learn to dominate his environ ment to advance his own purpose and goals rather than being dominated entirely by the environment (6) Calculability-does pot agree that everything is determined either by fate or by the abıms of others belief in reasonably fawful world under human control (7) stress on dignity and respect of others (8) faith in science and technology (9) belief in distributive justice or rational distribution of rewards Even if these characteristics are relative and vague-1t would not be incorrect to say that the overwhelming majority of Indians are far from this configuration of qualities Though science and technology is spreading the hold of tradition is hardly wabing With the result there is pronounced contradıc tion in the behaviour of our people in the areas of customs S Alex Inkeles Modernization of man (in Moderni ation-The Dynamics of Gronth Ed by Myron Weizer) Pp 141 144 MODERNIZATION NOT REYTYALISM 151 beliefs and rituals associated with traditional life even those who are educated and scieatifically trained go on playiog the time old and fossilized roles as if they were unaffected by their training and knowledge Hence we have the South Indian scientists working in a meteorological institution who are known scrupu lously to avoid anything important during the time believed to be presided over by the inauspicious Rabu • Recently after the split a very important and urgent meeting of Congress (0) at Delhi was reportedly put off with due regard to Rahu kala A wide range of our educated and occupationally modernized people believe in stark superstitions about omens auspicious numbers and dates and magical performances of all kind The impact of science and especially the scientific out look has not been long or intense enough to bring about radical changes in vast areas of life other than the occupational or official roles Indian renaissance was name sake and short lived and hence reason is yet to enter into our social outlook In this situation there is a real possibility of integration of Indian society and that has to be around the concept of modern man as we have described one who believes in the present and the future and accepts the idea of material progress and human capacity to control his destiny The revivalist attempt at integration through Indianization splits the people because of its atavistic focus In fact not only Hindu religious attempt but any religious attempt of integration in the contem porary society-particularly in a multi religious situation bound to split the national consciousness into contending and mutually suspicious group consciousnºss The Hindu revivalists in their folly by advocating Hinduization or Indianization have made themselves and the community which they claim to represent a negative reference group in the eye of the minonties This has made integration almost a repelling word for the minorities Integration therefore is possible only when the various sections of Indians move forward to a new ground-a ground in which sectarian past and its identities are replaced by the factors of modernity Such a process will involve a radical movement calculated to clean up the superstitious irrelevencies IS 6 MN Srinivas Seminar 128 P 12 150 "OCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM tools and other material cultural traits In the days of first railway travel from Bombay to Thana people were afraid of breaking their bones by sitting in the railway carriages But today, Indians are well adapted to jet travel That is the measure of our acceptance of modern material culture Material equipments and items base a capacity to convincingly demons trate their utility and quality so that the people from traditional cultures do not find it difficult to change over But in the field of ideas, attitudes and institutions this is not true Mainly because mental dispositions of people are conditioned by the traditional culture at an early stage of their personality development It is in the field of outlook or perspective of Indians moder nity is generally lacking and marked contradictions exist This of course means we have a concept modern man from whom Indians as a class differ Here for this purpose we accept the concept of modern man as formulated by Alex Inkeles as a part of a study of modernization process among workers and peasants in six developing countries. The modern man is characterised by (1) readiness for new experiences innovation and change (2) a disposition to form opinions on a large number of problems pot only in his immediate environment but also outside of it (3) orientation to the present or the future rather than to the past (4) Belief and involvement in planning as a way of handling life (5) Efficacy-belief that man can learn to dominate his environ ment to advance his own purpose and goals rather than being dominated entirely by the environment (6) Calculability-docs not agree that everything is determined either by fate or by the whims of others belief in reasonably lasful world under human control (7) stress on dignity and respect of others (8) faith in science and technology (9) belief in distributive justice or rational distribution of rewards Even if these characterist cs are relative and vaguc-it hould not be incorrect to say that the overwhelming majority of Indians are far from this configuration of qualities Though science and technology is spreading the hold of tradition is hardly waning With the result there is pronounced contradic tion in the behaviour of our people in the areas of customs 5 Alex Inkeles odernization of man (In Haderni atlon-The Dynamics of Growth Ed by Vyron Wciace) Pp 141 14 MODERNIZATION NOT REVIVALISY 151 beliefs and rituals associated with traditional life even those who are educated and scientifically trained go on playing the time old and fossilized roles as if they were unaffected by their training and knowledge Hence we have the South Indian scientists working in a meteorological institution who are known scrupu lously to avoid anything important during the time believed to be presided over by the inauspicious Rahu. Recently after the split, a very important and urgent meeting of Congress (0) at Delhi was reportedly put off with due regard to Rahu kala A wide range of our educated and occupationally modernized people believe in stark superstitions about omens auspicious numbers and dates and magical performances of all kind The impact of science and especially the scientific out look has not been long or intense enough to bring about radical changes in vast areas of life other than the occupational or official roles Indian renaissance was pame sake and short- Jived and hence reason is yet to enter into our social outlook In this situation there is a real possibility of integration of Indian society-and that has to be around the concept of modern man as we have described one who believes in the present and the future and accepts the idea of material progress and human capacity to control his destiny The revivalist attempt at integration through Indianization splits the people because of its atavistic focus In fact not only Hindu religious attempt but any religious attempt of integration in the contem porary society-particularly in a multi religious situation 1S bound to split the pational consciousness into contending and mutually suspicious group consciousness The Hindu revivalists in their folly by advocating Hinduization or Indianization have made themselves and the community which they claim to represent a negative reference group in the eye of the minorities This has made integration almost a repelliog word for the minorities Integration therefore is possible only when the various sections of Indians move forward to a new ground--a ground in which sectarian past and its identities are replaced by the factors of modernity Such a process will involve a radical movement calculated to clean up the superstitious irrelevencies 6 MN Srinivas Seminar 128 P 12 14: textotoxy or XIALIST from all group of mirnfilis and mimi mir d at t1 building up of a new soal structure and only six h a rorosal d structure couli frosid the necessary support for 1 trilly secular stalc and only th n and thered mocracy could he miningful In this process it would not the onesty to aduocta acccp rcc of any lodics religious herres custom and festivals as the rallying points of nationalem T- common hond of national community unuld automatierlly emrinale from th- secular stale And its cultural economic soal recreate and symbolic life Thus the reu focicly so de clored will be retter Ilindu ner Muslim or of any other religion Th rcforc in such 1 secularly integrated and modern Indit non of the groups would have any feeling of comparative deprivation and on the other hand all will have similar sonic or belongingness BIBLIOGRAPHY 2 Banerji I Bailey FG Caste and Economic Frontier Oxford 1938 Surendra A Nation in the Making London nath 1925 3 Bell WN Rammolian Roy Calcutta 1933 4 Bendıx B and Lipset Class Status and Power London SM 1961 5 Baxter Craig The Jana Sangh Philadelphia 1969 6 Black Max The Social Theories of Talcot Parsons 1961 7 Bottomore TB Sociology A Guide to Problems and Literature London 1962 8 Caldaeil Robert Å Comparatie Grammar of the Draudian Family of Language Madras 1875 9 Cantril H The Psychology of Social Movements New York 1941 10 Chaudhuri Nirad C The Intellectual in India New Dulhi 1967 11 Chaudhuri Nirad C The Continent of Circe Bombay 1965 12 Chand Tara History of Freedom Movement in India Delhi 1961 13 Chattopadhyaya Debiprasad Indian Pkslosophy New Delh: 1984 14 Chintamani CY Indian Politics since Mutiny Waltair 15 Chintamani CY Indian Social Reform Madras 1907 16 Chirol Valeutide Indian Unrest London 1910 17 Complete Works of Suami I nekananda Almora 1932 18 Coser A Lens & Sociological Theory New York 1957 Rosenberg Bernard 19 Colgrove Stephen The Science of Society London 1967 154 SOCIOLOGY OF REVALIS 20 Curran Jcan Ajr, iluant llin luism in Inshan Politics Study of RSS New York 1951 21 Dalla ha Dan of Renasceni India Bombay 1964 22 Dange SA Incha from Primlmc Communism to Slner) Bombay 1949 23 Desai AR Receni Trends in Indian Nationalism Bombay 1960 24 Desar AR Social Background of Indian Nallona lism Bombay 1966 25 Dodacl III The Cambride Ilustory of India Vol VI London 1932. 26 Dutt R Palme India Todan Bombay 1949 27 Clenjimitham The Philosophy and fction of RSS for Anthony Ilind Swaraj Bombay 1951 28 Fairchild Dictionary of Sociology 29 Farquhar JN Modern Religious Movements in India New York 1915 30 Fourth General Elec An Analysis New Delhi 1967 tions 31 Gandhi Mh Sarıodaja Ahmedabad 1958 32 Gangadharan ha The Shiv Sena Phenomenon New and Gogate Sudha Delhi 1970 33 Ghosal UN Alhistory of Indian Political Ideas Bombay 1959 34 Ghose Sankar The Renaissance to Militant Nationa lisnt in India Calcutta 1969 35 Ghurye GS Caste and Class in India Bombay 1957 36 Ghurye GS Social Tensions in India Bombay 1968 37 Golwalkar MS or Our Nationhood Defined Nagpur 1947 38 Golwalkar MS Bunch of Thoughts Banglore 1968 39 Gopal Ram Lokmanya Tilak Delht 1956 40 Gough Matrılıneal Kinshup Berkley 1961 41 Goyal, OP Studies in Moderr Political Thought Bombay, 1964 BIBLIOGRAPHY 155 42 Guffiths Sur P 43 Griffiths Sir P 44 Hans Toch, 45 Heimsath, Charles H 46 Herberle R. 47 Hitler Adolf 48 Hitler Adolf, 49 Kabır Humayun 50 Kapılacharya 51 Karunakaran KP, 52 Karunakaran, KP 53 Karunakaran KP The Bruish Impact on India London 1952 Modern India London 1957 The Social Psychology of Social Porements London 1966 Indian Nationalism and Hindu Social Reform Princeton 1964 Social Movements An Introduction 10 Political Sociology New York 1951 My New Order New York 1941 Mein Kampf New Delhi 1968 The Indian Heritage Bombay 1955 Shiv Sena Speaks Bombay 1967 Modern Indian Political Tradition New Delhi 1962 Continuty and Change in Indian Pol nics New Delhi 1964 Religion and Political Awakening in India New Delhi 1965 IVestern India in the Nineteenth Century London 1968 Resolving Social Conflicts New York 1967 Political Man London 1963 The Malabar Madras 1887 Socio Economic Change and Religious Factor in India New Delhi 1969 The History and Culture of Indian People Vol IX and X Bombay 1965 Three Phases of India s Struggle for Freedom Bombay 1961 Pars and Carlare off inuta Bonday 1965 Polmical Thoughts from Ram Mohan to Dajanand Calcutta 1934 Ideology and Utopia London 1936 Essays on Sociology and Social Psy chology London 1953 54 Kumar Rabindar SS Lewin Kurt 56 Lipset SM 57 Logan William 58 Loomis Charles P and Loomis Zona k 59 Majumdar RC et al 60 Majumdar RC 5. Majumdar DN 62 Majumdar P 63 Mannheim Karl 64 Mannheim Kari 156 SOCIOLOGY OF RELIL ALISY 65 Mannheim har! Essays on the Sociology of kouledge London 1952 66 Martindale Don Social Life and Cultural Change New York 1962 67 Mary and Engels German Ideologi London 1938 68 Menon KPP Iristory of Kerala Ernakulum 1933 69 Merton Robert Social Theory and Social Structure Columbia 1956 70 Metraux Guy S and Studies in the Cultural History of Crouzet Francois India Agra 1965 71 Moddie AD The Brahminical Culture and Moder Bombay 1968 72 Mokashi Umakant How does Shiv Sena Profess to Provide Jobs and Home for Afarar 18? Bombay 1967 73 Morrison John Men Ideas in India During the Nine teenth Century London 1907 74 Mukherji DP Modern Indian Culture Allahabad 1942 75 Mukherji DP Dicrsities New Delbı 1958 76 Mueller Max Ram Mohan 10 Ram Krishna Calcutta 1952 77 Myrdal Gunnar Asian Drama London 1969 78 Narain D Hmdu Character Bombay 1957 79 Natrajan S A Century of Social Reform in India Bombay 1959 80 Nehru Jawaharlal Achru on Communalism Ed Nand Lal Gupta New Delhi 1965 81 Nehru Jawaharlal The Discovery of India Pombay 1961 82 North Canara Gaze tteer 83 O malley LSS Modern India and Ile Il est London 1941 84 Pal Bipin Chandra Story of my Life and Times Calcutta 1932 85 Panikhar L M The Foundations of a India London 1963 BIBLOGRAPHY 157 86 Panikkar, KM 87 Panikhar M Hudu Society at Cross Roads, Bombay 1961 A Suney of Indian History Bombay 1947 Sankarasmriu Trichur 88 Parameshwaran Moosad TC 89 Pardıvala HR 90 Parvate TV 91 Piggot Stuart 92 Pillai EK 93 Pillai Ek 94 Prakash Indra 95 Purohit BR 96 Rai Lajpat 97 Ram Mohan Roy The Slm Scna Bhi ? and I h Not? Bombay 1967 Bal Gangadhar Tilah Ahmedabad 1958 Pre hustoric India Middlesex 1950 Some Problems of Kerala History 1955 Language and Literature through Centuries hattayam 1956 A Review of the History and Work of the Hindu Mahasabha and Hindu Sangathan Movement Delhi 1952 Hindu Rensalism and Indian Nationa lism 1965 Young India New York 1916 The English Borhs of Raja Ram Mohan Rov Calcutta 1935 Arya Samaj and Poltics The Message of Mahatma Gandhi New Delhi 1968 Social Change in Malabar Bombay 1957 The Growth of Indian Liberalism in the Nineteenth Century Mysore 1951 Tilak and Struggle for Indian Free dom New Delhi 1966 The People of India New Delhi 1969 Prophets of New India London 1930 Comm.inalism and the Il riting of Indian History New Delhi 1969 India through the Ages Calcutta 1928 Hudufia Poona 1942 98 Ram Munsbi 99 Rao Mohan US 100 Rao MSA 101 Rao Krishna MV 102 Reisner IM and Goldberg NM 103 Risely Herbert H 104 Rolland Romain 105 Thapar Romila et al 106 Sarkar Jadunath 107 Savarkar VP 158 SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM 108 Saxena Surendra A Study of Rashtriya Sayamsevak Babadur, Sangh Agra University, M A Thesis (1959) (Unpublished) 109 Sharma Ram Sharan Some Economic Aspects of the Caste System in Ancient India, Patna 1952 110 Shastri Shakuntala Women in the Vedic Age Bombay Rao 1954 111 Shirer WL, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Greenwich 1962 112 Shils E The Intellectual between Tradition and Modernity The Indian Suuation The Hague 1961 113 Shri Guruji The Man and His Mission Delbi 1957 114 Smith DE, India as a Secular State, Princeton 1963 115 Singer Milton Traditional India Structure and Change Philadelphia 1959 116 Singer, Milton and Structure and Change in Indian Coho Society Chicago 1968 117 Sorokin Pititrim Contemporary Sociological Theories New York 1964 118 South Canara Gazetteer 119 Spratt P, Hindu Culture and Personality, Bomabay 1966 120 Srinivas MN Social Change in Modern India New Delhi 1966 121 Srinivas MN Religion and Society Among the Coorgs of South India Oxford 1952 122 Srinivas, MN Caste In Modern India Bombay, 1962 123 Sardesa. S G Fascist Menace and Democratic Unity New Delhi 1970 124 The Gazetter of India, ol I New Delhi 1965 125 Tylor EB Primiti e Culture London 1891 126 Uontban TKN et Towards a Sociology of Culture in al India New Delhi 1965 127 Unnithan TKN et Sociology for India New Delhi, al , 1967 BIBLOGRAPHY 159 128 Varma, BN 129 Vyas hc 130 Waidya, Prabhakar, 131 Weber Max Contemporary India Bombay 1964 Social Renaissance m India Bombay, 1957 Shiv Sena The Fascist Menace- Behind the Pseudo Maharashtrian Mask Bombay 1968 The Religion of India The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhusni Modernization The Dynamics of Growth New York 1966 India Vedic and Post Vedic Calcutta 1952 132 Weiner, Myron 133 Wheeler JT, JOURNALS AND PERIODICALS 1 Sociological Bulletin 2 Sociologist 3 Seminar 4 Secular Democracy 5 Mainstream 6 The Marrubhumi Weekly 7 The Illustrated IVeekly of India 8 Bharat Jyoti 9 Free Press Journal 10 The Times of India 11 National Herald 12 Patrior

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INDEX AGARLAR 49 108 Bhiwandi communal riots in Age of Consent Act 1891 37 129 Akhil Bharatiya Gohatya Bhoodan Movement 81 93 Nirodh Samiti 54 109 Bihar Literacy in 116 per Akhil Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh capita income in 117 votes 110 cast for Jana Sangh in 1967 Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi elections 115 Sabha 54 Blavatsky Madam 34 Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Bombay agitation for 125 Parishad 110 126 Shry Sepa 10 126 127 Andhra literacy in 116 per Bose Raj Marain 36 capita income in 118 votes Brahmachari Prabhu Dutt 54 cast for Jana Sangh in 1967 Brahminism 13 15 57 oppo elections 115 sition to 13 15 Andie Besant Dr 34 Brahmins Brahmin population Anti Reformist Movements in different states 114 115 42 4 opposition to Brahminism Arya Samaj 33 36 43 Shuddhi 13 15 origin of 7 social movement of 43 status of 579 Assam Literacy in 116 per Brahmo Samaj 29 32 34 46 capita income in 118 votes British impact on social life cast for Jana Sangh in 1967 20 7 elections 115 Buddhism 3 4 6 9 57 BATHIS FRANCIS 51 CALDWELL, 61 Bengal Hindu Mela in 42 Caste system 11 52 57 revivalist trends in 36 impact of the British rule Bentinck William 51 on 25 origin of 6 Bhagwad Gita 145 Chanda RP 86 Bhandarkar 49 Chatterjee Bankim Chandra Bharat Dharma Mahamandala 33 37 43 Chaudhuri Nirad C 27 on Bhartiya Vidyalayas 109 Hindu intellectual approach Bhat Balaji Vishwanath 105 27 Bhare Acharya Vinoba 17 59 Chavan YB 135 5 In Br(IOICE OF RISITIS Chirol Valentin on Tilil Gotha Gopalkoishana 28 Chilpnian Brahmins 19 (0 1 105 1058 imriant Chitra Golsillor VS 9141S 39 sans 1068 crisin of 9 598 89 94 111 cthical ( JOS risc of 10 values propagated by 94 Chitre Dilip 123 impli ations of th- Hindu Christians 9 21 29 nation ttcory of 89 89 on Civil Warmisc Act 187 1! the houndan 1 of Indnt 75 Chic I ord 19 76 on communum 77 on Cos cult 53 teel ciling in economic Istucs 81 on ancient India 5 SS Hindu nation 78 81 on Cunningham 34 Hinduism 74 77 78 on Indian constitution 79 on DAYANAND SAR ISWATI minoritics 74 79 80 on 31 33 53 Indianization 78 81 myths Desat AR on capitalism in gathered around 112 113 India 18 on Indian on the National Flag 95 nationalism 17 on secularism 80 81 1101$ Desai Morarji 123 on ciste system 76 77 on Desai Ranjit 124 stolence 82 83 world view Dharam Parishads 43 of 72 73 82 Duit Ramesh Chandra 55 Golwalkarism 83 99 102 comparison with Hitlerism ENGELS FREDERICK 21 99 102 critique of 83 102 Goralshını Sabha 53 FERNANDES GEORGE 132 Guru Dakshina 112 GANAPATI CELEBRA HARIJAN 14 15 TIONS 38 104 124 Haryana sotes cast for Jana Gandhi Mahatma 43 assist Sangh in 1967 elections 115 nation of 112 Hedgewar 104 Gandhism comparatıse study Himachal Pradesh literacy in with Golwalkarism 97 99 116 place of minorities in 98 Hindu Code Bill 44 53 92 Ghose Aurobindo 37 42 Hindu Mahasabha 39 108 Ghurye GS 57 109 affinity with RSS and Girni Kamkar Union 138 Jana Sangh 109 leadership Godse Gopal 98 of 109 Godse Nathuram 106 Hindu Mela 42 Gobatya Nirodh Samıtı 54 109 Hindu Rashtra 14 15 INDEX 163 10 Hindu Samrajya Diaotsava 104 13 16 Hinduism 3 4 10 11 33 90 Indianness 3 4 iodentification divergence among different of 46 Sects of 3 4 10 11 90 Indus Valley Civilization 34 2mpact of British rule on Inkeles Alex 150 20 21 Islam 6 Hinduization difficulties in 56 S7 JANA SANGH 44 53 54 56 Hindusthan Samachar 110 70 72 92 93 96 98 103 Hodgson 34 109 114 21 affinity with RSS 103 109 11 economic INDIA capitalism in 120 philosophy of 93 factors compensation payable to sustaiding 114 21 ideology zamındars in regionwise of 119 strength in different 116 117 constitution of states 115 119 symbols 12 expenditure on educa adopted by 128 votes cast tion and health in statewise for in 1967 electrons breakup 118 impact of the different states 115 British on traditional struc Jainism 3 4 6 55 ture in 20 27 on joint Jayakar MR 109 family system 25 literacy Joint family system 5 25 in statewise 116 percentage Jones William 34 35 of valid votes in 1967 elec tions statewise breakup KANE PV 55 59 117 position of women in Kanekar Vasant 124 traditional India 44 45 Karve Maharishi 59 108 reaction to change in 29 35 kayasthas 13 status organization in pre helkar NC 109 British period 22 6 Kerala caste system ID 62 Indian National Congress 137 landlordism in 64 6 Iite- Iodianization 15 9 16 20 43 racy in 116 per capita 149 150 consequences of income in 118 process of 4 10 19 implications of sanskritization in 60-71 911 16 urrelevance of 8 vegetarianism m 63 votes 9 12 mechanism to achieve cast for Jana Sangh in 1967 12 model for 4 7 pre elections 115 requisites of 8 9 repercus Krishna Menon ук 135 sions on foreign relations 9 138 on linguistic groups in the country 10 symbols of LAJPAT RAI LALA 108 109 116 per 164 SOCIOLOGY OI ACVIVALISY MADHOK BALRAJ 110 Narayan Jai Prakash 17 Madhya Pradesh 115 17 lite Nationality Promotion Society racy in 116 per capita 36 income in 117 votes cast Nehru Jawaharlal influence for Jana Sangh in 1967 of 43 elections 115 Maharashtra 36 9 72 107 ORISSA literacy in 108 123 7 caste interaction capita in omc in 118 votes 107 108 militant cast for Jana Sangh in 1967 nationalism in 37 regional elections 115 consciousness in 125 7 revivalism in 369 72 PAL BIPIN CHANDRA 37 Shivaji cult in 123 124 108 Malabar Marriage Commis Panikkar K M 59 sion 67 Patil Sh 132 138 Malabari Byramji 37 479 Patriotism concept of 19 contribution of 47 48 Patterson Maureen on Cbit Malaviya Madan Mohan 43 pavan Brahmins 107 Malkani KR 110 Patwardhan Achyut 108 Mannheim Karl 22 Pendharkar YD 124 Manu 8 Phadke Vasudeo Balwant 106 Marx Kar! 21 Phulmani incident 47 9 Max Muller 34 35 48 51 on Piggot S 86 Pillai EK 65 Max Weber 55 Purandara BM 124 Mitra Justice 45 Mitra Mabagopal 36 RAJASTHAN literacy 10 Modernization 149 52 116 per capita income jo Mukerjee DP 22 35 39 on 117 votes cast for Japa the impact of British rule Sangh in 1967 elections 22 an Tilak 39 115 Mukerjee Shyama Prasad 110 Ranade MG 28 32 49 $2 Muslims 4 15 16 53 59 108 on revivalism Mysore literacy 10 52 capita income in 118 votes Rashtriya Utsav Mandal 129 cast for Japa Sangh in 1967 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh elections 115 (RSS) 15 18 39 44, 54 70 72 73 90 91 93 96 NAMBUDIRIS 61 62 64 70 98 104 107 III 18 120 social status of 64 70 121 143 affinity with satt 51 116 per NDEX 165 foreign totalitarian ideolo Savarkar Gan sh 106 gres 113 Chitparan domi Savarlar Vinayak Damodar nation in RSS leadership 39 42 59 106 109 107 factors sustaining 114. Schopnhauer 35 18 festivals celebrated by Schwietzer Albert 55 104 finances of 112 ideo Secularism 147 148 logy of 19 44 54 70 72 San Keshey Chandra 28 29 90 91 93 96 mission of 32 46 73 origin of 104 process Sharma Mouli Chandra 110 indoctrination adopted by Shishu Mandirs 109 111 relations with Jana Shiv Sena 16 103 122 131 Sangh 103 109 11 wea 40 activities of 138 40 pons training given to the birth of, 131 factors res cadre 112 ponsible for the growth of Religious nationalism 35 7 123 124 126 growth of Revivalism consequences of 131 6 leadership of 130 19 dimensions of 141 3 131 instruments of 144 origins Shivaji Chhatrapati 15 16 of revivalism in India 29 95 128 129 symbolic 32 phase of 146 147 value of in Maharashtra Revivalist movements 41 3 128 129 Risley Herbert 111 114 115 Shivaji Mela 42 95 104 122 Roy Ram Mohan 25 29 32 124 41 50 51 on san (custom) Shuddhi Movement 36 43 50 Shuddhı Sabha 42 Rukhmabai episode 47 Sikhs 34 Singh Yogendra 115 SADHU SAMAJ 17 Smartas 33 Samyukta Mabarashtra Move Srinivas MN on sanskritiza ment 123 131 tion 58 Sanatan Dharma Sabha 42 43 Sudras social status of 57 Sankalia HD 55 Swatantra Party 120 138 Sankara Smriti 66-8 Sankaracharya 7 TAGORE DWARKANATH Sanskritization 56 58 71 in 32 herala 60 71 Tamil Nadu (Madras) literacy Sasadhar Tarka Chudamani in 116 per capita income 31 in 118 votes cast for Jana Sastri HP 144 Sangh 19 1967 elections Sati 8 83 50 51 115

166
SOCIOLOGY OF REVIVALISM
Thackeray Bal 130 2, 134,
115
136 137, 138
Theosophical Society 34 VAISHNAVISM 55
Tilak, Bal Gangadhar 16 37 Varnashram system 5 9 14
9, 42 49 104 106 8 145 99 118
conservatism of 49 festi Vedas 1,7 144 views of HP
vals started by 52 4 72 79 Sastri on 144
104 stand taken on Phul Vidyasagar Iswar Chandra 25
mani incident 47
on 46
Rukhmabai episode 47 Vivekanand Swami 35 37
Tylor, EB, 3
WEST BENGAL literacy in
UTTAR PRADESH Brahmın 116 per capita income 18
population in 115 literacy 118 votes cast for Jana
in 116 per capita income Sangh in 1967 elections
in 117 votes cast for Jana 115
Sangh in 1967 elections

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Front matter

Sociology Of Revivalism