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·CULTURAL MOVEMENTS
IN MODERN INDIA
BY
RAM PRASAD PANDEYA, M.A. (Eng.&Phil.)
S R. HIGH SCHOOL, SITAMAL, (C 1.)
WITH A FOREWORD BY
PRINCIPAL P. SESHADRI, M. A.
Government College, Ajmer
AGRA
LAKSHMI NARAIN AGARWAL
EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHER
Price Re. 1/-

·ii effective development lies the future happiness and greatness of India. Pandit Ram Prasad furnishes an admirable background to his work by giving a brief but vivid account of the historical origins of Indian civilization and its progress through its earlier centuries, without which the, 19th century might not have been seen in its proper, perspective, if not actually incomprehensible. It is. followed by a very informing chapter on the great religious movements of modern India, representing a continual spiritual evolution for which the country seems to have a perennial genius. No man understands India without insight into her religious spirit and it is not surprising that the subject should claim a large share of the volume. The progress of Indian education follows next, while Pandit Ram Prasad has also been at pains to give a briet account of the literary revival in India. As was anticipated by Lord Macaulay at the time of the introduction of western education into India, new. political aspirations have been a striking feature of the 19th century, owing to the inspiration of English literature, with its glorious traditions of the love of Freedom. Pandit Ram Prasad traces the growth of the democratic movement in India, bringing the account to our own times, within sight of the new constitution which will undoubtedly open a more spacious chapter in our political life. The concluding section peeps into the future and expresses an earnest aspiration for a happier and more vitalised life for the nation. Though Pandit Ram Prasad's volume is intended

·primarily as a textbook for a part of the Civics course
•in our college, it will be read with absorbing interest
even by the general reader. He writes with knowledge
as well as imagination; he has read widely and with
discrimination; he has a very lucid and a readable
style; he can be detached in his judgment while he is
enthusiastic in his appreciation--these are qualities
which should ensure a cordial welcome to this volume.
I would only say, in conclusion, I have enjoyed reading
the volume and I have no doubt the appreciation will
he shared by a wide circle of readers.
* Brooklyne."
Simla E.,
25th Sept., 1936.
P. SESHADRI,
Principal and Senior Professor
of English Literature.
Govt. College, Ajmer.

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·AUTHOR'S NOTE I am deeply grateful to Principal Seshadri, a scholar and ccluctionist of international reputation, and my constant guide, philosopher and friend, for his glowing Foreword as also for a few, but very valuable, suggestions both regards the matter and manner of this small book. 2S S, R. High School, SITAJAI, C.I. April 27, 1937. RAN PRASAD PANDEYA.

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·CONTENTS
1-19
1. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER :
A Peep into the Past
2. SECOND CHAPTER :
20-52
Religious Movements
3. THIRD CHAPTER :
53-76
Educational and Literary Movements
4.
FOURTH CHAPTER :
77-109
Political and Constitutional Movements
110-116
5. CONCLUDING CHAPTER :
A Vision of the Future
6.
INDEX:
117-122
Principal Institutions and Proper Names

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·INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER A PEEP INTO THE PAST Prof. Roerich in one of his inspiring essays on culture remarks: “Culture is reverence of light. Culture is love of humanity. Culture is fragrance, the unity of life and beauty. Culture is the synthem sis of uplifting and sensitive attainments. Culture is the armour of light. Culture is salvation. Culturo is the motivating power. Culture is the heart." It is very difficult to improve upon this view of culture. The pregnant words and phrases of the Professor comprehend and refer to human achievements in all spheres of life and represent it as the synthesis or the unified spirit of them all. All forms of thoughts and feelings, principles and practices, whether in the sphere of religion or politics or education, issue in cortain modes of behaviour of a people as a whole and the sum total of such modes constitutes the culture of that people. On this view, the cultural history of our country is very ancient. Frankly speaking, no nation can boast of an older civilisation than we. Veda is admitted on all hands to be the oldest book of religion available in the modern world. , It mirrors & society which no rigour of criticism can but pronounce to be highly civilised. It refers to highly The Rig c. 1 ·CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IS MODERN INDIA check the assembly of tho court exercised upon the King. The fact of Rama's continual anxiety to ascertain the wishes of the last man in the realm with regard to his conduct is another concrete evidence to prove the democratic tone of the administration. At this distance of time, whon man's mind is considerably changed in matters of ideals, we may not approve of all that Ram did; but that does not detract in any manner from his glory as a selfsacrificing and democratic ruler. When we pass on 10 the Mahabharat period, the state of society in many splores appears to be ovon moro improved. There are evidences of more wealth and greater luxury and wider imperial extents. Im the great war recorded in the Epic, kings and vassals from far-off' parts of the world participated. Thoy used weapons and iinplements which wore highly scicutific. This shows their progress in science and arts, The English philosophor Herbert Spencer coudemus tho Iliad ainulig other things for the reason that the subject-matter appeals continually to brutal passions and the instincts of the savage. "But, says Monier Williains, 'there aro not wanting ildications in the Indian epics of a higher degree of cultivation than that represented in the Homoric seins, The battle-fields of the Ramayan and the Mahabharat are not inade barbarous loy wauton cruelties and the description of Ayodhya and Lanka imply far greater luxury and retinonient than those ·A PEEP INTO THE PAST of Sparta and Troy. But the fact for which we • admire the Mahabharat period inost is the highly spiritual tono of tho people. The Git:, part of the groat Epic, clelinoates the loftiest philosophy of life, conduct and religion over kuo to the world. The all-embracing religion and philosophy of the Gita stand unparalleled in the history of human thought. What would you say to the liberalism of a scripture which reprosonts God as saying, "I revoal Myself to peoplo as they conceive of Me. vorily all roads of religions of all people load to Mo"? Is not this assurance the religion of all religions ? The nature of what is given in the Hindu epics should not be confounded with that of the tales of the Faery Queen, Paradise Lost and the Divine Comedy, as is often done. There is very great ditforence bot woon our conception of the opic and that of it of the Wost All Hindu rhetoricians usist that the hero of au epic should be a noble historical person. In his k'uryadarsha Dandin says, "The plot of an epic slouhi lo based upon History or upon some other trne fact and its boro should be wise and noblo.' * It is not suggested that the Ramayan and the Mahabharat were composed in accordance with what Dandin ordained, for his tine cannot go to romoter past than the 6th century A. D. What is * इतिहास कथोद्भूतमितराद्वा सदाश्रयम् ! चतुर्वर्ग फलायत्तं चतुरोदात्त नायकम् ॥ (8-8*) ·6 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA sought to be conveyed is only the fact that in Hindu Rhetoric an epic is a far different thing from what it is to wostern rhetoricians and readers. The statemont of landin cortainly represents Hindn viow. He did not invent a new rulo of composition when he said this: he partly followed the ancient masters and partly deduced from the epics bofore him. This fact is amply burno out loy all the stories of our Mahakaryas boing based upon the stories of tho Ramayan and the Mahabharat. No story of illy opic poem is pure fiction. This points to the historical importance of the two great books. Moreover in the books themselves they are sometimes styled as Mahakavyas and sometimes an Itihasas, while in all other books they are distinctly alluded to as Itihasas. The word Itihas occurs twice in the 4th chapter of the Brihadaranyakopanishat along will the words Veda, Upanishad anxi Puran. Our ancient literature speaks of 110 other Itihasas thau tle kamayan and the Mahabhurat. The above allusion, thereforo, must be takou to be tu thieso. The word Puran ineaus simply 'anciont' and Itihas su vorily-wis or matter-of-fact Before detoriuining the exact nature of the -ikstanco of the lindu opics those facts must over be borne in mind. The datod story or luistory of India begins 110 doubt from about the middle of the 7th century B.C. Buí let us have a glinipse of some of the events of ·A PEIP INTO THE PAST 7 1ho centuries before that in the eloquent words of Aunio Bosant (who hases lier information upon the Indian Shipping' of Dr. Radhakumud Mukarji.) Despite the fact that 'India's history only begins with Aloxandor,' is western writers say, we submit in passing that, as above noterd, Babylon was trading with her in 3000 B. C.; ihat Semiramis of Ninovoh invaded India in 2034 B. C. and ponetrated av far as Jammu, as stated on a column erected by hor, and was tinally put to fight by :.1 Iudian Prince, vamed Sirabrobates by Diodorus Siculus: that mummies i Egyptian tombs, laring from 2000 B.C. havo been lound wrapped in ludian muslin of the linest quality, and that their indigo lyo is said 10 havo come from India. that Diodorus Siculus tells of an invasion of India, 981 B. ('by Rameses 11 : that Hiram of Tyre, 980 B. ('., traded with India from harbour's m the Arabian gulf, und Tamil namex for Indian products are found in the Hebrew Bible, Thero is plenty of ovidence by sucli contacts: apart from Indian literature, of a civilisation rivalling at least those of Egypt and Assyria All this is mdisputablo history: but more remains to bo known yet. Tho 6th century B. (. was il poriod of great spiritual awakening for the whole world in general and for India in particular. India may be said to havo boon rather the chief province of that new life.' "llow India Wrought for Freedom--ppt.!!

·8 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA Among them, the Vedas, Upanishads and Gita no doubt embody nearly all that we need to know on the spiritual side of life. But scriptures alone do not matter. Their efficacy, or otherwise, depends upon how they are interpreted, understood and applied. They are mere symbols of truths which reside in the human hearts. Their function is only to rouse and awakon our nature. Between man and scriptures the supremacy rests with the formor. He can easily misapply and misinterpret a spiritual doctrine. The period of which we are speaking was characterisod by excesses. Religio Religion and morality were alike choked by either over speculation or undue insistence on crude and unmeaning ceremonialism. The spirit of the holy words was sinking in obscurity. There was need for a world-teacher who would restore balance in the moral world by emphasising the forgotten truth. Lord Buddha arose to fulfil such a need. IIe struck tho middle path between extremes and gave to India and, through her, to the world the Gospel of Goodness. He declared that each man could gain salvation through character and goodness in life. An aversion to metaphysical speculation, an absence of more theological preaching and ethical earnestness inark Buddha's teaching. People of all religions and of all time should remember that if ihey have any cotribution to make, they ought to make it to the world around them. It is our own life and world which need to be made happier, an ·A PEEP INTO THE PAST 9 nobler and more beautiful. it is futile to seek to add .grace to Heaven. Let the soul of Heaven descend upon this world that it may be a better place to live in. Such were the truths that Buddhism emphasised, and it is no wonder that it soon roused the whole country into a richer and nobler life. Naturally in the wake of this practical view of life awoke also the whole of Bharatrarsha, which enriched the life of the less favoured nations far beyond her boundaries and shoros. India attained to an eminent position under the Maurya and Kushan rulers from the 4th century B. C. to the 3rd century A. D. After a disturbance of about seventy years there arose another inighty oinpire in 308 A. 1). when Chandra Gupta founded the Gupta lino of rulers. It held on vigorously for about four hundred years till the middle of the 7th century. All these twelve hundred years or more were characterised by extraordivary vitality in all spheres of the national life, which is 'evidenced by immense trade and commerce with foreign countries on the one hand and by the thriving of arts and literature on the other. Writing of Chandra Gupta Maurya the great historian E. B. Aryavarta was now both a land and sea power. Its coinmerce and industry yielded large revenues to the state. Chandra Gupta kept up the Arya tradition of road-making. In towirs and forts the chariot roads were paved with stone or laid, like Havell says, ·10. CULTURAL MOVIMENTS IN MODERN INDIA the old forest-ways, with trunks of trees. Tho northern land-route from Pataliputra wont over the Himalayan passes into Tibet and China. A waterway navigable for coasting vessels brought the precious products of Southern India-pearis, corals, diamonds, gold and other metals-right up to the quays of the city harbour. A inain road passing through Kasi and Ujjain linked Magadha with the great seaport Bharukachlia (Broach), wbich Lad traded with Babylon and Egypt froin time imineinorial. Coinmunication with Takshaslila and the northwest was kept up by a royal road, the vici caravan route, along which trees were planted, wells were dug and distances wore marked by pillars. The stato looked after the up-keep and policing of the main routes, building rest-houses for pilgrims and merchants, and post stations for tho imperial messengers. The adjoining villages suppliod labour in lieu of taxos. Foreign merchants, wlien provided with the necossary passports, were assisted with information, and in caso of sickness provided with: inedical aid. The water communications were also well organized, though Kautilya considered the landways safer and less liable to obstruction. The state protected travellers by sea and river from pirates, and maintained harbours, bridges and ferries. It also directly assisted trade by transporting merchandise and passengers in government vessels, and by giving financial facilities to well-known foreign ·A PEEP INTO THE PAST 11 merchants."* Speakinglof the artistic and scientific achievements of the Gupta age the same author writes, "No inconsiderable parts of the foundations of modern western science were laid in the stores of knowlodge accumulated by the Sanskrit literature of this period, which were later on transmittod to Europe by Arabic scholars. Aryabhatta of Pataliputra, Virahmilir of Ujjain (b. A. D. 476) who worked from A. D. 505 to 587, and Bralımagupta (b. 598) were in their own days tho foremost astronomers and mathematicians of we workl. Among the arithmetical and mathematical symbols and mothods borrowed by the Arabs from India were the so-called "Arabic" numerals, the decimal system of notation, the sines and versed sines. Algebra was an Indian rather than an Arabic science. Also in medicine and surgery, physics and astronomy, the Arab schools borrowed from India, though they went further in somo directions. The great schools of architecture, sculpture, painting and metal work connected with 'the Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries of this period arc, owing to the iconoclasm of Islam, only meagrely represented in Indian monumonts now extant. .Nor were Indian armourers, goldsmiths, weavers and dyers behind this high level of achievement in their respective crafts. Their descendants of the eleventh century, sold in the slave markets of Afghanistan, furnished much of the A Short History of India by E. B. Havell, page 55.

·12 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA was wonderful craftsmanship of the workshops of Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus and Samarkand, which has made the reputation of Islam in the art museums of modern Europe."* In spite of some natural and human dangers the Indian sea-ways were much frequented by merchants and pilgrims both. Large ships sailed the open sea to Sumatra and Java and thence to Kambodia. Sumatra, Java, Kambodia and other islands were colonised by the adventurous Indian sailors. Numorous historical finds point to the existence, at one time, of Indian rulers and civilisations in those parts. All available evidences go to prove that the system of education very elaborate from the 6th century B. C. to the time of the great Harsha. All classes of people were mostly literate, while those whoin fortune placed beyond the flings of cares and anxieties cultivated the various sciences, arts and philosophies with uncommon devotion. The Chinese traveller who visited India during the reign of Ilarsha, stayed and studied for some years at the Nalanda University. He says that the great seat of learning provided facilities for the study of all branches of knowledge. In liis time there were ten thousand students and teachers who were supported by its rich endowments. Admirable discipline was maintained among them. There were many students from foreign countries like himself. Learning was not sought only by the middle class *A Short History of India by E. B. Havell, page 96.

·A PEEP INTO THE PAST 13 people for honours and rewards which were plenti- .fully bestowed. Even men of wealthy families took to the path of knowledge without hope of worldly reward, finding “honour only in knowing truth and no disgrace is being destitute." What is said here of Nalanda applies equally well to the many other great and good seats of learning that flourished under the Indian skies of those times. After centuries of peace and prosperity, some form of decadence and decline seems to be the law of nature. After Harsha's death the country soon lost its imperial unity and a host of Rajput rulers began to carve out kingdoms for themselves. Such an attempt broke the backbone of Indian nationalism and planted provincialism in the politics of the land. It was left to the foreign Pathans, Turks and Mughals to give it unity once again from the thirteenth century for more than six hundred years. Under them the Hindus lost their independence for which there is no adequate recompense on earth. “But it would be a sad mistake to think that India gained nothing and lost everything. Apart from the unbroken general economic prosperity of the people, there are some other happy features which no impartial judgment can blink. The Musalmang brought with them a peculiarly dynamic civilisation, by whose impact our own culture was much benefitted. Many a Muslim king was thoroughly just, benevolent and enlightened, and sought to unify ·14. CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA the country into a vigorous nation. In the words of Dr. Ishwari Prasad, "at a time when Philip II of Spain' declared that it was better not to rule at all than to rule over heretics, and when Elizabeth persecuted the Irish Roman Catholics, Muslim ralers like Shor Shah and Akbar preached from the high platform of public interest the gospel of religious toleration and good will towards all communities and faiths."'* The Muslim view of Allah, to the entire repudiation of any minor god or goddess entitled to man's devotion, stressed and strengthened Hindu Monotheism which found expression now in the teachings of Nanak and now in those of Kabir. Shri Ramanujacharya or Madhwacharya, who had proceded them, could not reach or appeal to the common masses, for both the matter and manner of their teachings were rather learnod. Even Surdas and Tulsidas or Tukaram and Ramdas could hold tho imagination only of the caste Hindus. A large number of people beyond the pale of caste would have starved spiritually, but for the timely food provided by Nanak, Kabir, Dadu and a host of other saints who were indisputably the products of the Hindu-Muslim impact of religious ideas. The absolute social equality of Islam encouraged and inspired these teachers to preach the sacred truths to all manner of human beings who would listen to them. This must be pronounced to be an immeuse *History of Medicval India br Ishwarı Prasad, page 575 ·A PEEP INTO THE PAST 15 cultural gain. In the realm of language and literature also the Muslim period proved very productive. All the important vernaculars of the North took their mature form and developed a high class literature., Especially Hindi, enjoyed almost universal patronage at all the courts and was enriched by a vast bulk of noble productions of both Hindu and Muslim writers. What would be greater pride for an ago than to boast of such classics as Surdas and Tulsidas? Among ovor a thousand poets of the period nearly one-fifth were Musalmans soine of whom came from noble families. There was a free spirit of 'give and take between the greater sections of either community. Architecture was not neglected. Nearly all the Moghal rulers were great builders. Thir love of buildings has dotted the whole country with noble edifices some of which are the perpetual wonder and admiration of the world. Wlat greater praise is possible for the Moghal rule in this direction than to name the Taj which summes up all the excelloncies of architectural skill and imagination ? An age to which belong such achievements must be considered to be truly great. Despite the general benevolent toue of the rule of most Muslim rulers there were certain factors which succeeded in creating an impression among the sensitivo sections of the Hindu population that the Hindu religion and culture were in very grave ·16 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA danger and might one day be extinguished altogether. Among other persons and things, the proselytizing doctors of Islamio theology was the most unhappy of such factors. For the preservation of the traditional Hindu thought and practices, it was considered absolutely necessary to recreate a Hindu Raj. Shivaji built up such a Raj in western India, at a time when Alamgir was feverishly busy reducing the whole of Hindustan to the rigour and rigidity of his Sunni administration. The prime ministers (Peshwas) of Shivaji's descendants succeeded in extending the Maratha influence over nearly the whole country, and in spite of the nominal existence of a Moghal Emperor in Delhi the Peshwas, as the Head of the Maratha confederacy, controlled the destinies of India for about one hundred years, that is, during the whole of the eighteenth century. The Delhi Emperor was held as a mere puppet. In practice the Marathas ruled India, save where the new power of the British was gradually making its way, a power against which they broke, as the power of the Musalmans had broken against them. The destinies of England and India were linked together in the charter which Queen Elizabeth gave to 'a company of merchants of London, trading in the East Indies.' Under this charter an English ship reached Surat in 1606, and the traders began to look round. In 1613 Emperor Jahangir gave them written permission to establish factories in Surat, ·A PEEP INTO THE PAST 17 Cambay, Gago and Ahmedabad, and in 1616, the Zamorin of Malabar allowed them to set up one more factory in his capital, Calicut. England began to trade with India with increasing success from year to yoar. The conditions of those times were not similar to those of today. The Company of traders was required to possess and maintain a troop of soldiers for safety and protection. The administratiou of the country was in a mess. The Moghal Enıpire and Emperor, after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, were more names. In point of fact, nearly all the provincial governors were struggling for local power and supremacy, and the rising Maratha tide from west India was gradually subniorging short the sphere of Delhi influence. In such a state of turmoil, a shrewd-man like Clive could not fail to make his bid for political power and influence. battles which he fought between 1751 and 1764, he brought the Company into bold relief as the likely Lord Paramount of India. The Emperor Shah Alam thought it more prudent to grant to the East India Company in 1765 the Divani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and thus accept a position of practical subjection to it than strive to assert his crumbling authority. Affairs moved with such rapidity in favour of the English that the British Parliament was called upon to pass an act in 1773 for the good government of 'the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal' and 'of all In the many c. 2 ·18 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA the territorial acquisitions and revenues in the King-, doms of Bengal, Behar and Orissa.' In the course of less than three decades all power and authority gravitated to the British and Lord Wellesley could safely believe in the thorough superiority of British over any native Indian Government. That conviction enabled him to make annexations right and left without any qualms of conscience.' By then the whole of India had passed into Maratha hands, and when the Peshwa Bajirao signed the treaty of Bassein on the evening of the last day of the year 1802, there was no doubt left that the English Government was the Paramount Power. British supremacy over India was now an accomplished fact and the native supremacy vanished for ever! The establishment of British rule under the regime of the East India Company proved terribly ruinous to the economic life of India. The Company was nothing more and nothing less than a trading concern, fixing its gaze over and anon upon India's gold. It had wanted only to achieve commercial greatness, but it found that all of a sudden, by a stroke of good fortune as though, political greatness also was thrust upon it. This latter greatness it used, to the last bit of its capacity, to strengthen and consolidate the former. From the sixties of the eighteenth to the fifties of the nineteenth century everything possible was done to kill the arts and industries of India, in order to create markets for British manufactures.

·A PEEP INTO THE PAST 19 For untold centuries the beautiful products of the Indian looms had clothed the beauteous forms of the Roman and English courts. After the Company's rule the peasant of India has begun to complain that the native cloth is too rough for wear! He does not feel comfortable except in English cloth! This radical change is the deep consequence of the cruel and destructive policy of ihe Company in that direction. But, as the Revered Pandit Madan Mohan Millaviya once said, einpires come and go, but cultures remain. Traders may come aud traders may go, but the perennial stream of Indian culture goes on for ever. The Indian genins has always assimilated the best of foreign contact and been the richer for it. The various and varied religious, social, educational and political movements that arose duriug the 19th century abundantly prove this.

·SECOND CHAPTER
RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
The Background of these Movements
Before giving an account of the religious move
ments of the 19th century, it is well first to pass in
rapid review the state of the Hindu society during
the 18th century.
During the six hundred years of Muslim rule,
the faith of the Hindus was more often than not felt
to be in danger. The icor.oclastic and proselytizing
tendency of Islam created unrest and a reaction
among the Hindus. The leaders of the Hindu
community laid greater stress upon caste and
symbolic worship (miscalled idolatry), which were
the main points of Muslim attack. Those teachers
who aimed at unifying the two faiths and the two
communities, touched but a fraction of the vast Hindu
fold. The greater bulk of the people stuck to their
traditional practices and professions with newer zeal.
Symbolic worship and caste-rules are only the
exterior of Hinduism. The object of the one is to
provide a concrete basis for the idea of the Divine
among the common masses, while the other is a
mode of easy social organization in correspondance
with the natural facts of life. These do not sum up
the fundamentals of tho Hindu religion, whose pure
essence is far above them. But the way in which
( 20 )

·RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS 21 they were defended against Muslim attacks created the unhealthy impression among the unthinking sections that they alone constituted Hindu Dharm. This is one aspect of Hindu life in the 18th century. There is another fact that deserves notice: Some Musalman rulers were notorious for coveting feminine beauty. Hindu women were therefore shy of public notice. Gradually they became a cramped stay-athome or secluded class. A sort of constant disgraceful alarm made them very narrow in their outlook. For centuries the Hindus had to fight out their life and honour. They could not look to the culture of their womenfolk as well as they ought to have done, or as they did in the hay-day of their country. The condition of Hindu womanhood, therefore, was very pitiable. At the time of the advent of the English, they were generally sunk in darkness. Hindu religious learning also was at its lowest ebb. Under the Musalmans it could not recieve the ştimulus and inspiratian which it enjoyed under an Ashoka, Harsha, or Vikramaditya. There were no big well-organized universities as in the time of yore. Much of the Sanskrit literacy, and therefore the knowledge of Hindu scriptures, was kept up by private zeal. Pundits were enployed here and there to tutor small batches of boys in reading, writing and arithmetic. From the point of view of Sanskrit learning as a whole and particularly from that of religious studies, the 18th century was a period of ·22 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA utter decadence. The Marathas were too busy with warfare and and dissensions to spare thoughts for cultural advancement. The state of government and society all over the country was too anarchic to permit of any such enterprise. The supremacy that the Marathas enjoyed was more a supremacy of taxation than of administration. The utmost that the Peshwas could do to preserve Hindu sanctity was to hold the Hindu holy places as their personal jagirs, so that they might be safe from unholy desecration. Beyond erecting shrines in the protected places and endowing them in a haphazard manner, they could attempt little with any prospects of success. In the midst of this anarchy, insecurity and uncertainty, all at once there appeared a band of Europeans, mostly Englishmen, with dazzling genius for work and organization. The virility of soldiers, the wisdom and cleverness of Clive, Hastings and Cornwallis, the philanthropic zeal of the missionaries, and the devotion to oriental learning of Charles Wilkins, Sir William Jones and Hamilton roused the admiration of all around them. Every Indian began to chide his own religion and culture and to extol in all vehemence those of the West. To people who were being suffocated in the dust of rites and ritual, forms and formalities, both in the religious and social spheres, the free social behaviour and the simple and plain ethical religion of ·RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS 23 .the newcomers at once appeared as the right redeeming message of life. They looked, saw and surrendered. Probably nothing appealed to Indians so nuch and so quickly as the noble air of graceful freedom in which the Western sisters were found to be breathing. No achievement of Christianity seems so great as its emancipation of womanbood. Hardly any class of beings has been so well raised by the religion of Jesus as women. It has bred in them a peculiar confidence. A land whose ancient daughters had for centuries enjoyed that graceful freedom, whose ancient daughters had moved about with an edifying confidence, could not but be struck at this rediscovery of its pristive virtue in a foreign people. In short, all the facts of the new order conspired to wean the Hindus of Bengal and Bombay in particular and of the whole country in general from the traditional practices of religion and society. There grew up an indiscriminate tendency to trampie under foot customs and beliefs native and to raise to beavons those that were foreign. But the true Hindu culture is far too deep to be shaken and swept away like this. "Thiugs are not what they seem.' They have a reality behind them, which can adjust itself to changing conditions. Just as under the stress of Islam there had arisen Tulsidassa and Ramdas in the 16th and the 17th centuries, so also now arose Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami ·24 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA Dayanand, Annie Besant, l'aramhans Ramkrishna aud others who held forth the light of pure Hindu thought and helped the people to see things in their right perspective. THE BRAHMA SAMAJ. Of all the religious muovements of the 19th century, the first to come into being was the Brahma Samaj or the Society of Theists. It was founded by Raja Ranmohan Rai, the man who sumnied up all that was good, great and huble in the century. If there ever lived a inan who was a veritable institution in himself, it was incontestably Rammohan Rai. It would be truer to state even that he was inany institutious. He was born in 1772, the year when Warren Hastings was appointed Governor of Bengal by the East India Company. There is a peculiar fitness in the two events synchronising; for while Warreu Hastings inarked a new era of administrative reforms, the Raja pruvod to be the fountain head of all the religious, social and educational reforms that followed in the wake of the British connection. The Brahman family of his birth had long been connected with the Muhammadan government of Bengal. Both his parents were deeply religious. When twelve years old, he was sent to study at Patna, at that time a famous seat of Mohammaden learning which was then the passport to government service. Within a very short period, he mastered the ·RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS 25 Persian and Arabic languages, and along other secular Subjects learnt all that was sacred in them. The Sufi authors were bis great favourites He returned home when he was fifteen, grand after a lapse of some time, which was spent in travelling here and there in quest of religious lore, he again went to Benares to study Sanskrit and the religious books iu it. Here too in no time he found hiruself fit 10 read critically the Upnishads and the Brahma Sutras of Badarayan. Early in the course of his studies he saw that there was no sanction in pure Hinduism for that rigid idolatry and caste which constituted the distinctive features of the Hindu society and were receiving stress beyond all measure. He wrote and proached against them and strenuously sought to restore Hindu Theism, as he saw it, to its pristine prurity. About the year 1805, he entered the service of the East India Company under Mr. John Digby, and held a responsible revenue office for nine years. During that period he not only succeeded in amassing a great fortune but also in acquiring a sound knowledge of the English language and literature and Christian theology. In order to get at the original sources of the religion of Jesus Christ he studied Greek and Hebrew. This study led him to think that Christianity also had fallen from its original principles and intentions, and he freely criticised the Christology of the time. The life of such a frank and thorough reformer ·26 OULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA could not be easy and smooth. He had to face difficulties both at home and abroad. But he braved them all with wonderful pluck. He had a great desire to go to England and to see and study the oulture of the English people in their own home. He sailed in 1830. Akbarshah II, the Emperor of India but actually a puppet pensioner in the hands of the Company, knew of his intentions in time, and creating him a Raja, entrusted him with a personal petition to be submitted to the King and Parliament on his behalf. He was received with the utmost cordiality and respect in England, and during the brief three years of his stay there exercised mucommon influence with the King, Court and the country. In 1833 he was seized with severe illness and suddenly died in Bristol. "He was a man of large intellect, of wide sympathies and of both courage and force. He was the first Indian who realized the great good which the country would reap from its connection with Britain and from the leaven of Christianity. But he realized to the full that no real blessing could come to India by the mere adoption of Western things unchanged. India, he said, inevitably remain Indian. No gift from the outside could be of any real value except in as far as it was naturalized. His long bold struggle, on the one hand, for religious and social purity, for educational progress and journalistic ·RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS 27 *** freedom, and his brilliant literary work and unchanging fidelity to Indian ideals, on the other, bad made him 'not only the most prominent of all Indians, but the one man able to stand between Indians and Englishmen as interpreter and friend.' Mention has been made above of Rammohan Rai's entering the service of the East India Company. He retired from that service in the year 1814 and settled in Calcutta with a definite purpose of devoting his whole time and energy to the propagation of what he conceived to be the pure religion of the Upanishads and the New Testament alike. He wrote and published tracts on these scriptures as also on Sufism. He made many friends among the Serampore missionaries and was ever ready to assist them in popularising the New Testament among the people of his country, for lie believed that the doctrines of Christ were more conducive to moral principles and were better adapted for the use of •rational beings other he knew. But before long he discovered that it was not possible to collaborate seriously with the missionary friends. Beyond accepting Unitarianism, none was prepared to go with him far in the land of his philosophical religion. He started an independent association styled Brahma Sabha whose first meeeing was held on the 20th of August, 1828. The name was soon altered to Brahma Samaj with a wider denotation. * Modern Religious Movements in India by J. N. Farquhar. p. 36 than any ·28 OULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA In this work he was assisted by a group of learned and wealthy Brahmans, the chief among whom was Prince Dwarkanath Tagore, the grandfather of the world-renowned poet Ravindranath Tagore. This society met every Saturday in the evening from seven to nine for service which included the chanting of hymns from tho Upanishads, a sermon, and the singing of hymus either from the Hindu scriptures or of Rammohan Rai, and his friends coniposition There was no regular organization with any clear-cut creed. The meeting was open to any who was a thiest, who belioved in the trutle of all religions, and who practised pure adoration of the Deity without formal or symbolic rituals. It is highly controversial to determine how far Raja Ram Mohan Kai was restoring the religion of the Upanishads among tho Hindu brethren. Some of the fundamontal views of the Samaj cannot be reconciled with the Upanishads. In the Chhandogya and other books there is clear mention of symbolic worship, Pratikopasana, of God in the early stages, while at the highest stage the devotee is stated to be one with God by roalising the Unity of all that exists. The material world is only a manifestation of God, there being no such thing as Matter separate from and independent of God. The theory of the transmigration of the soul, till it realises its unity with God, is again the bedrock af the theology of the Upanishads and other Vedant scriptures. But ·RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS 29 . - the Samaj has never subscribed to these views. On such points it has rather made hasty concessions to Christianity. Such discussions, however, are foreign to the purpose and scope of the present work. We are only to state the working of the Samaj as it would wish us to. Raja Rammohan Rai and his associates and followers concentrated the attention of the people on the following points, which also constituted their beliefs : 1. God is a personal being with sublime moral virtues. 2. God has never become incarnate. 3. God hears and answers prayer. 4. God is to be worshipped only in spiritual ways. Hindu asceticism, temples, and fixed forms of worship are unnecessary. Men of all castes and races may worship God acceptably. 5. Repentance and cessation from sin is the only way to forgiveness and salvation. 6. Nature and Intuition are the sources of knowledge of God. No book is authoritative. The fortune of the Samaj after Raja Rammohan's untimely death fell into the hands of Devendranath Tagore, a saintly character, who fornially joined it in 1842. This new leader accepted Rammohan's view of Hindu Theism, but did not share his dear reverence for Christ. He believed that 'India had no need of Christianity; probably he never quoted ·30.- CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA a He was the Bible. He was man of realisation, and is rightly known as the Maharshi. Under him the Samaj drew nearer to Hinduism and farther from Christianity. He gave the Samaj a regular shape and progressive size, which insured its continued existenõe. In 1857 a young man joined the Samaj, who made the third great leader. This was Keshawachandra Sen. He came of a well-known Vaidya caste and had had good modern education. very deeply-read in Christian literature, and was a much greater admirer of Christ and Christianity than the founder Ram Mohan. He was not only a religious devotee, but a great enthusiastic social reformer also. Indeed his passion for reform was greater than anything else in him. Devendranath Tagore would retain many innocent Hindu usages and customs. He would leave matters of social reform to the judgments and tastes of the individual members of the Samaj. His attitude to caste was not one of unmixed opposition. He did not think that the Hindu world of his time was prepared for ihe practical adoption of the doctrines of levellers and socialists. But Keshawa would reform society root and branch. He strongly believed that for the religious health of the Hindus drastic changes, both in social Organization and religious observances, were absolutely necessary. It seemed impossible that Devendra and Keshawa ·RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS .31 should pull well together. The latter and his party, therefore, seceded from the Samaj in 1865 and formed the Brahma Samaj of India. Hereafter the first Samaj became known as the Adi Samaj and the second society as the Sadharan Brahma Samaj, (this name it received formally in 1878). In 1864 Keshawa had already established the Veda Samaj in Madras and sown the seeds of the Prarathana Samaj in Bombay, which shot up into palpable existence in 1867. At one time Keshawachandra Sen's views were so much tinctured with Christianity that what he preached was considered to be 'Christianity without Christ.' To Christ too sometimes he would appear to be exclusively devotod. But there is ample evidence in favour of the opinion that after his meeting with Paramhansa Ramkrishna in 1875, which he repeated more than once subsequently, he came back to cosmopolitanism and even to some of the conventional forms of the religion of his forefathers. After Keshaw's death in 1884 it seemed for a time that the Samaj would soon be dismembered, but soon good sense prevailed among the members and the organization has held on steadily. The following are the nine principles of the Sadharan Brahma Samaj as quoted by Dr. Farquhar from the official Report for 1910: 1. There is only one God, who is the Croatok Preserver and Saviour of this world. He is spirit; He is infinite in power, wisdom, love, ·32.' CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA justice and holiness; He is omniprosent, eternal and blissful. 2. The human soul is immortal, and capable of infinite progress, and is responsible to God for its doings. 3. God is to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Divine worship is necessary for attaining true felicity and salvation. To love God and to carry out His will in all the concerns of life constitute true worship. 5. Prayer and dependence on God and a constant realisation of His presence are the means of attaining spiritual growth. 6. No created object is to be worshipped as God, nor is any person or book to be considered as infallible and as the sole means of salvation; but truth is to be reverently accepted from all scriptures and from the teachings of all persons without distinction of creed or country. 7. The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man and kindness to all living beings are the essence of all true religion. 8. God rewards virtue, and punishes sin. His punishments are remedial and not eternal. 9. Cessation from sin accompanied by sincere repentance is the only atonement for it; and union with God in wisdom, goodness and holiness is true salvation.

·THE BRAHMA SAMAJ 33 The Brahma Samaj movement as a whole has all been for the good of the Hindu society in particular and for the Indian Nation in general. It has done much to shake the unhealthy citadel of superstitious orthodoxy and stimulate social reforms. The products of the first English education in India were feeling a social and religious void around them, for there was hardly any correspondence between their mental culture and aspiration and the actual facts of life. They truly felt like foreigners at home. Το such the Brahma Samaj provided a fit and agreeable society. This is the greatest national service of the Samaj. In the field of education too it has done no mean service. To say the least, it was the first organized effort to rconcile India to her new educational lot. Barring only the Theosophical Society, no association has done so much to spread and advocate female education as the Brahma Samaj. Its activities have raised women as a class in the estimation of men, of which it can well be proud. THE ARYA SAMAJ Among the social and religious reformers of the 19th century no one is so well-known all over the country as Swami Dayanand Saras wati. Whether in the great towns or in the small villages wherever there is sooial or religious talk, a reference to the Swami or to the Arya Samaj is inevitable. While C. 3.

·84 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA the activities of other leaders and organisations have been confined only to the highly English-educated classes in the cities, Swami Dayanand and the Arya Samaj aro as well known in the villages among the common people as among the cultured sections in the cities. Ever since its foundation the Arya Samaj has exercised a more potent influence than any other cultural movement of modern time. Swami Dayanand was born in a small Kathiawar village named Tankara in the year 1824. His father Pt. Amba Shankar was a wealthy banker and an ardent and devout worshipper of Shiv. He named the baby Mool Shankar and strove his utmost to make the son a learned and devout Pandit. Moul Shankar was known to be a very keen aud quick boy and soon acquired proficiency in Vedic lore. When he became twenty-two years of age, the parents sought to marry hini ; but that was not to be. The buy did not want to iparry and thus to enthral himself in wordly life. His aspirations were much higher; he was impatient to do something to attain liberation. As soon as he heard the marriage talk, he secretly left home and went out in search of a competent Guru, a spiritual preceptor. In 1848, after many earnest entreaties he was initiated into the Saraswati order of Sanyasis, monks, by one Swami Parmanand, and, as usually happens, was given a new name Dayanand Saraswati. He received instructions in the Vedant dootrines ·THE ARYA SAMAJ 35 was more as interpreted by Shankaracharya, bit would not relish them. He found it impossible to believe in and appreciate the dootrine of Unity. He inclined towards belief in the personality of God, separateness of human Soul and Matter. He again wandered far and wide and met in the year 1860 in Mathura a blind Brahman scholar, Pt. Virjanand. This Pandit believed implicitly in the sanctity of only the Vedas and thought that the other books of later age were spreading mischief and superstition. For true spiritual light only the Vedas should be popularised. Such views found an echo in Dayanand who lived with him for more than three years and learnt all he could from him. The nature of what he learnt in Mathura is summed up in the following parting message given to him by his master Pt. Virjanand. "The Vedas have long ceased to be taught in Bharatvarsha, go and teach them; teach the true Shastras, and dispel, by their light, the darkness which the false creeds have given birth to. Remember that, while works by common men are utterly misleading as to the nature and attributes of the one true God, and slander the great Rishis and Munis, those by the ancient teachers are free from such a blemish. This is the test which will enable you to differentiate the true, ancient teaching from the writings of ordinary men. Swarni Dayanand took leave of the Guru in May 1863 and stumped every part of North India with his ·36 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA fresh, fiery and, occasionally, irritative speeches until his end in 1883. To his persuasive tongue he added also a facile pen, and wrote a number of books both in Sanskrit and Hindi to expound his views and theories. His teachings, as embodied in his speeches and writings, are animated by the spirit of the passage quoted above. He met the Christian missionaries, the Brahma leader Keshawachandra Sen and Col. Olcott, thu founder of the Theosophical society, who had come to India in 1879. In the scheme of social reform he would agree with most of them, but in religion proper he strongly differed from them all. "Back to the Vedas” was his watchword. The Brahma Samaj does not believe in revelation ; Christianity believes only in the exclusive revelation of the Bible; the Theosophical Society believes in universal revelation of truth. The Swami believed that only the Sanhita portions of the Vedas are revelations and that they are the first and the last Word of God. While on a visit to Bombay, he founded there the Arya Samaj in the year 1875. Two years later in 1877, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in a magnificent Darbar held in Delhi by the Viceroy Lord Lytton. Swami Dayanand was preseut at it as a guest companion of a native prince. He met some influential Hindus of the Punjab, who earnestly invited him to visit their province. He visited Ludhiana and Lahore. His success in Lahore was ·THE ARYA SAMAJ 37. tremendous. He founded another Arya Samaj here. This society soon rose to greater erinence than that founded in Bombay, and Lahore became the beadquarters of his movement. The acceptance and observance of the following ten principles entitle one to the membership of the Samaj : 1. God is tbe primary cause of all true knowledge, and of everything kuown by its name. 2. God is All-truth, All-knowledge, All-beatitude, Incorporeal, Almighty, Just, Merciful, Unbegotten, Infinite, Unchangeable, without a beginning, Incomparable, the support and the Lord of All, Allpervading, Omniscient, Imperishable, Immortal, Exempt from fear, Eternal, Holy, and the cause of the Universe. To Him alone wo'rship is due. 3. The Vedas are the books of true knowledge, and it is the paramount duty of every Arya to read or hear them read, to teach and preach them to others. 4. One should always be ready to accept truth and renounce untruth. 5. All actions ought to be done conformably to virtue, i. e., after a thorough consideration of right or wrong. 6. The primary object of the Samaj is to do good to the world by improving the physical, spiritual and social condition of mankind. 7. All ought to be treated with love, justice, and due regard to their merits.

·38 OULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA 8. Ignorance ought to be dispelled and knowledge. diffused. 9. No one ought to be contented with his own good alone, but every one ought to regard his prosperity as included in that of others. 10. In matters which affect the general social well-being of the whole society, one ought to discard all differences and not allow one's individuality to interfere, but in strictly personal matters every one may act with freedom. As a religious society the Arya Samaj cannot be said to be any great success. In the scheme of its religious studies the Upanishads and tbe Gita find no place, while the Bhagwat and other Puranas are dismissed as immoral treatises. These books have caught and occupied the imagination of the vast bulk of the Hindu population so long now that it is futile to raise one's voice against them. Especially the Upanishads and the Gita have, for thousands of years, been regarded as the flower of the Hindu scriptures by foreign and native scholars alike. Indeed from Shankaracharya onwards, all great teachers have referred only to the Upanishads as Shrutis, revelations. In the face of this the cry of the Arya Samaj that the Sanhita protions of the Vedas alone are our truo religious books seems to be a cry in the wilderness. If anythipg, it discredits the Samaj in the eyes of thoughtful people. But the Arya Samaj is a great success on the side

·THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
39
of social and educational reform. In the scheme of
its social reform, it has the active sympathy of most
other associations. Its insistence on raising the
marriageable ages of boys and girls, on giving girls
also as good education as to boys, on recognizing
personal merits more thau birth privileges in matters
of caste and on inter-caste dining bas made it more
popular than anything else. The contribution of the
Samaj to education is tremendous. In most of the
big cities of Northern India one can always see a
D. A. V. School or College imparting secular and
sacred education to bands of eager boys and girls.
The two Universities of Hardwar and Briudaban, run
on purely Vedic lines, are doing excellent work.
Viewed as a social reform movement, the Arya
Samaj can easily be given, the first place among all
such progressive societies.
THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
The Theosophical Society was founded in New
York by Madame Blavatsky and Col. Olcott on the
7th of September, 1875. Four years later, the twin
founders came to India on the invitation of Swami
Dayanand, and since then this country has been not
only the Headquarters of the movement but also the
chief field of its activity.
Theosophy arose out of the spiritualism of the
two founders who took keen interest in it from their
childhood. It was a revolt against the materialistic

·40 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA tendenoy of the West on the one hand and the indiscriminate Christian denunciation of the Hindu religion and culture on the other. It believes that Hinduism and Buddhism contain more of the divine truth than any other religion, although none is altogether devoid of it. According to it there is above us a world of liberated souls who are ever ready to help us with wisdom. The creation is an evolutionary process wherein lights aie moving towards the Light. The whole world is a grand brotherhood. Peace and amity are the message of life. The Theosophical society is sympathetic to all religions, and indeed believes that in fundamentals they are one and the same. Only soine of the present day religions have lost the original spirit and hence the apparent differences and conflicts. Particular stress is laid upon Karma, the law of action and reaction, and Punarjanma, rebirth. Perhaps no other society has done so much to inculcate ideas of religious toleration and social solidarity of all classes of human beings as the Theosophical Society. Most Theosophists can be easily marked out as men and women of free and frank behaviour, fine manners and pacific attitude. It is remarkable that this movement owes most of its life and success to the amazing genius and marvellous industry of two ladies, namely H. P. Blavatsky and Annie Besant. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was born on the 12th ·THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 41 August, 1831, in a German family settled in Russia. From childhood she evinced interest in spiritualism, and loved travelling more than anything else. After travelling constantly for about 25 years she arrived in New York on the 7th July, 1873. She came to India in 1879 and passed away, or entered the Peace as the Theosophist would say, on the 8th of May, 1891. She is believed to have received anew the wisdom, originally contained in all the religions, but subsequently forgotten by most of them, from a Mahatma, a liberated soul, in Tibet. That wisdom was given to the world as Theosophy through her extensive speeches and writings. As a world-force the society owes more to Mrs. Annie Besant than to any one else. Irish by birth and English by marriage, Annie Besant suddenly turned a Theosophist in 1888 on reading the Secret Doctrine of H. P. B., which she had been asked to review for The Review of Reviews. She came to India in 1893 and adopted it as her motherland. She served the adopted country with true zeal and devotion until her entering the Peace in 1932. For all practical purposes Mrs. Annie Besant was a Hindu, and was accepted as such by a large section. World's history will provide few instances of a man woman entering into the feelings and living the life of a foreign country as Annie Besant did. India looks upon her as her very own daughter and glories or ·42 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA in, her memery. For about forty years she was a great force in the life of the Indian Nation towards whose building up she contributed not a little. She worked for social and political reform and defended Hinduism against the unfair attacks of Christianity and Islam as no one else did. Her work in the educational sphere was even greater. She founded schools and colleges wherein special provision was made for moral and religious instruction, sadly neglected by the Government and the people alike. The most important of such institutions was the Central Hindu College of Benares founded in 1898, which was made the nucleus of the now grand Benares Hindu University in 1915. All the educational institutions of the T. S. have always been extremely popular centres of learning and have aoted as models in most cases. Their atmosphere is exceptionally instructive and edifying; and each of them can claim to have established a noble tradition. No other institutions encourage the education of girls so zealously as these. Thus the services of the Theosophioal Society to the cultural life of India have been truly great. Theosophy is mostly the hallmark of high culture in men and women. Although Theosophy is a worldmovement yet its substantial work and success both are more evident here than elsewhere, and therefore, it is entitled to be called a religious movment in India.

·THE VEDANT SOCIETY 43 THE RAMKRISHNA VIVEKANANDA MISSION Or THE VEDANT SOCIETY. Of the three societies whose accounts have been given in the foregoing pages, the Brabma Samaj and the Theosophical society are more or less eclectic in their religious outlook, culling flowers of wisdom and truth from all, but indentifying themselves with no one religion, while the Arya Samaj professes and preaches a religion which is Hinduism narrowed down to the earliest portions of the Vedas, as especially and rather oddly interpreted by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. Among them none have accepted and interpreted to the moderu world the whole of Hinduism, which cannot be tied down to one book or teacher. Studied in its true perspective Hinduism is truly the Eternal Religion of mankind in the sense that it believes in evolution of religious ideas at particular stages of the Creation, suited to all types of Humanity according to their moral and spiritual aptitude and need. God is the one cause of all that exists. He is eternally manifesting Himself in His 'Creation. World's history is the self-revelation of God. “God fulfils Himself in many ways." All the religions and all their prophets are true. Every one is a manifestation of God and His wisdom. There is no need of conversion in the un-Hindu sense of the term, for such a conversion is too rapid to be wholesome. In the larger sense, ·44 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA conversion is going on constantly in one and all of us, wbich can be known on bold introspection of oneself. It is foolish and non-sensical in the extreme, according to Hinduism, to hold that all God's truth was delivered only at one time by one prophet. In the right sense of the term all the teachers of the world are incarnations of God. No one should fight shy of this term. God is accepted to be the one Reality by all, and further all religions hold that He is the creator of the world. It very easily and clearly follows that such grand creations as the Vedio seers, Krishua, Zoraster, Buddha, Christ and Mohommad are God's work. As such they all must be accepted as bearers of truth. To the laynian light and darkness are antithetical terms, but the scientists knows that there is only light, diffused thickly and thinly. Similarly in the religious realm there is no untruth. Everywhere there is truth and truth only, thickly or thinly diffused. The fundamental fact of religion is God. If we believe in Him and concieve of Him as an all powerful and all-pervading entity, we have the essence of religion. Given this one can concieve of Him as personal or impersonal, pray to Him in any fashion that suits one, and regulate the details of religious life accordingly. There should be quarrel or conflict over these minor facts. With the growth of moral and spiritual sense the ultimate truth in the form of Unity will of itself take possession of ·THE VEDANT SOCIRTY -45 the man. That this is an incontestable fact 'is 'proved by the existence of mystics among Christians, Sufis among Muslims and Adwaitins among the Hindus. If we analyse facts dispassionately, we shall at once see that the same stream of divine consciousness is flowing into the many channels of all the religions of the world. Honest and serious practice of any religion will help one to realise God, and that is all. Such, in brief, is the message of the Vedant, The first to preach it to the 19th century world was Swami Ramkrishna Paramhans. He was born as Gadadhar Chatterji on the 20th February, 1834, in the village Kamarpukur in the Hoogly district. His parents were poor but orthodox Brahmans. In his boyhood Gadadhar showed wonderful powers of memory and great interest in religious books. His father died while he was seventeen and he had to assist his elder brother who was a Pujari, minister, in a temple at Dakshineshwar, four miles north of Calcutta on the Hoogly river. But the young priest Was so much given up to study and meditation that he soon proved quite useless in the temple, and had to give up the job. He moved into a neighbouring wood and continued his meditation with greater freedom. In his realisation he was helped first by a nun, a retired Brahman lady of considerable learning and personal grace, and later by Totapuri Maharaj. Both ·46 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA 1 of them instructed him in the monistic dootrines of the Vedant. The ascetic Totapuri eventually made him a Sannyasi with the name Swami Ramkrishna. Ramkrishna attained to such greatness in the order that people began to call him Paramhans, a title given to the highest type of Sannyasi. He spent his life of Sannyas in a living realisation of God and the truths of all religions. Just to demonstrate the fundamental unity of all religions he lived and behaved for years as a Christian and then as a Muslim. From actual experience he proclaimed that all religions are true and are so many different paths of Godrealisation. Before he died in 1886 he had coine to have a large number of devoted disciples. On the master's death, they gave up the ordinary obligations of life and became Sannyasis for the purpose of propagating his teachings The greatest and most famous of them was Narendranath Datta, later known as Swami Vivekanand. He was born on the 9th January, 1862, in a Kayastha family of Calcutta. He took the B. A. degree with distinction in Philosophy. As a student he was much under the influence of the Brahma Samajists. In 1882 his uncle took him to see Swami Ramkrishna. This meeting proved to be an instance of love at first sight, so to speak. Narendranath saw in the Swami his Guru and the Swami in Narendranath his prime disciple. Narendranath soon became a Sannyasi, with the name Swami ·THE VEDANT SOCIETY 47 Vivekanand and spent his life in spreading the light 'of Vedant all over the world and serving the sick and the poor with a band of willing social servants. He represented Hinduism in the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in the month of September, 1893. This at once brought him and the Vedant doctrines into the lime-light of the Western world. This is what the New York Herald wrote of him : "Vivekanand is undoubtedly the greatest figure in the Parliament of Religions. After hearing him we feel how foolish it is to send inissiouaries to this learned nation." Swami Vivekanand organized the Ram Krishna Mission and founded inonasteries for training the missionaries in religion, realisation and social service at Belur near Calcutta and st Mayawati near Almora. In America and Europe also a number of societies were formed for the study of Vedant. They are steadily growing in strength and importance. The Swami passed away on the 4th July, 1902. In the work of spreading the teachings of Vedant Swami Vivekanand received silent help from another Sannyasi Swami 'Ram Tirath, who gave up his professorship of the Lahore College and toured India, Japan, America and Europe lecturing on Vedant to admiring audiences in his charmingly simple and persuasive style. Among all the modern interpreters of await Vedant Swami Ram Tirath stands out as a very prominent figure. While his ·48 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA truths are of a profound philosopher, his language is that of a child, and this fact accounts for his greater popularity. Perhaps no other works on Vedant are read by the English-educated sections of the Indian population so much as the collections of Swami Ram Tirth's lectures and discources under the title, In Woods of God-realization. All along Swami Ram seems to be talking from actual feeling. This is the greatest charm of the speeches. His extremely useful life was prematurely cut shoru in 1906 at the young age of 33. THE RADHASWAMI SATSANG Besides the above four great religious movements there have been a few more. But their influence is either confined to their particular locality or to the small group of people who follow them. They have not touched the national life at major points. The chief among such is the Radhaswami Satsang. Writing about it in 1914 Dr. Farquhar said, "There is one side of Radhaswami influence which is very curious, their want of touch with modern movements. The Gurus discourage study. The members show no national feeling whatsoever, nor any serious interest in the life of the country. If any member were to occupy a public position of any prominence, he would be looked down upon. Economic, literary or educational progress is no part of the ideal of the sect. This neglect of public affairs is what takes the place ·THE RADHASWAMI SATSANG 49 of the old ascetio renunciation."* We need hardly remind the reader that this estimate of the Satsang is absolutely out-of-date today. Under the present Guru Sir Anand Swarup ji Maharaj, the Radhaswami Satsang has developed its many sides so wonderfully that not a fraction of the above statement is true now. It is fast getting into touch with national life; learning and study are being zealously encouraged. Anand Swarupji Maharaj has already come to occupy a position of importance and prominenco ; and the industrial activity of Dayalbagh (Agra) is the wonder and admiration of all other industrial organizations in the country. The Satsang may be said to have been founded in 1861 when Shri Shiv Dayalji Maharaj first proclaimed the doctrine of the Surat Shabdyoy. Born in 1818 in a Kshattriya family of Agra, he was a flourishing banker at this time. He died in 1878 and was succeeded on the Gaddi by Rai Saligram Saheb Bahadur, the second Guru, who was again succeeded in the positiou by the third Guru, Shri Brahma Shaukar Misra Saheb in 1898. The first Guru know only Hindi and Urdu. But the second and the third were fairly educated in English also, the Misra Maharaj Saheb being an M. A. For the last more thau thirty years the headship of the sect has been adorned by Shri Anand Swarupji * Modern Religious Movements in India by J, N. Farquhar, pp. 170-171. C. 4 ·50 CULTURAI. MOVEMLNIS IN MODERN INDIA Maharaj who is a rare combination of learning, faith, devotion, idealism and action. Until his time there were no fixed headquarters, but he has made Dayal Bagh the centre of the movement. Dayal Bagh is now an ideal colony of a people whose life is a happy blend of moral, material and spiritual progress. Dayal Bagh has a well-equipped Intermediate College, many large factories manufacturing a large variety of fine articles and an excellent municipal organization. Beautiful and useful articles worth lakhs are being sold out from Dayal Bagh from year to year. Dayal Bagh goods have come occupy a position of prominence in Indian life, at least in the North. Of Shri Sahebji Maharaja's spiritual height we are not entitled to say anything beyond the fact that he is the head of a sect which believes him to be the incarnation of God. To the people at large, he is known to be a man of lofty character and deep and wide attainments. He has a practical idealism all his own. Verily he is "true to the kindred points of heaven and home.” That his greatness is recognized by the public and the Government alike is proved by the fact that less than two years ago he was asked to address the annual convocation of the Agra University and early this year (1986) he has been knighted. The religion of the Satsang is somewhat difficult to define. It believes that God is the totality and ·THE RADHASWAMI SATSANG 51 that He has three states, spiritual, spiritual-inaterial and material-spiritual. Each soul (Surat; is a particle of God (Shabd) and through sustained concentration on the life-current, which pervades every part of the body and which is the force-manifestation 'of the Reality, can attain to that state. The actual method of meditation is not known except to the initiates. It is said that with the help of the Guru praticants see heavenly scenes behind the physical eyes. The Guru is the one authority, being the source of wisdom ind truth. As said above, he is treated as God incarnate. There is no caste distinction among the Satsangis. Any man or woman can become a member of the Satsang. Further it is not necessary that he or she should renounce the existing religion. Being a Hindu, a Muslim, or a Christian one can yet be a Satsangi, as a Theosophist. Love receives the greatest stress in this sect. In terms of Sanatan Dharm the religion of the Radhaswami Satsang may be called Bhaktiyog. Common Elements of the Religious Movements. A close and careful study of the religious movements sketched above will easily reveal the following facts :- 1. The ancient religious thought of the Hindus has provided the productive soil for the growth of most of the modern movements. 2. In most cases ouly Hinduism has been purged of its superstitions and been res- ·52 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA tored to its pure spiritual form. 3. Monotheism is the common basis of all the movements. 4. Moral life and spiritual worship have been stressed in all alike. 5. With the unfortunate exception of the Arya Samaj all the movements have been extremely friendly to all religions; they have emphasised the unity of all religions. 6. They all have sought to emancipate the Indian woman from her inferior position, ignorant condition and secluded life. 7. The caste system of the Hindus, as practised at present, is sought to be abolished and a more rational basis is provided for social classification and distinction. 8. All the movements have together liberalised the Hindu thought in particular and the Indian mentality in general. 9. They have tended to remove mutual differences and to unite the various castes and communities of India. 10. Lastly, thoy have prepared the way for the vigorous march of modern Indian Nationalism.

·THIRD CHAPTER EDUCATIONAL AND LITERARY MOVEMENTS Educational Movements In ancient times India was generally a land of universal education. The Ramayan of Valmiki says that all the subjects of King Dashrath were educated. The Bhojprabandha of Vallal, who flourished about 1100 A. D., delineates a society of universal scholarship. There is certainly exaggeration in either work. But the statements clearly suggest that with the idea of universal education the ancient mind of India was not unacquainted. It ever existed as a dearly cherished idoal. Ashoka's getting the principal teachings of Buddha engraved upon rocks and pillar, scattered over the country in rich profusion, is incontestable historical evidence that there was common literacy among the people in the third century B. C., for otherwise they would not be relied upon to make use of them. It is, in fact, in the nature of every Indian boy and girl, at least of the higher sections, to claim education as their birth-right. The ancient indigenous governments left education into the charge of learned Brabmanas, themselves taking care only to make adequate provisions. The government aid was considerably augmented by private charities, so that it was possible for the Vishwa-Vidyalayas (Universities) to impart free education to all their scholars. It has not been in the Indian habit to look up always to the government for education ( 53 ) As a ·[ 54 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA nation India has been self-reliant in this sphere. This accounts for the existence of sufficient literacy among Indians even across the chaos of bad governments for over a century before the coming of the English. When the rule of the East India Company was firmly established, it was thought by the authorities that the indigenous learning should continuo. With this object in view a Madarasa for Musalmans in Calcutta and a Sanskrit College for Hindus in Benares were established in 1782 and 1791 respectively. At the renewal of the Charter in 1813 the Company was required to spend one lakh of rupees over the education of Indian subjects. There were some Indians and Englishmen who thought that English education would benofis India more than purely Indian. Raja Rammohan Rai was all for Western oducation and was instrumental in the opening of a Hindu College in Calcutta in 1817 to instruct "the sons of Hindus in the European and Asiatic languages and sciences." The missionaries also thought that their object of converting Indians to their faith would be better achieved by educating Indian boys and girls in English. They founded schools and colleges in convenient places. Private Englishmen too who came to India about this time were anxious to help the Indian Nation, and thought that English education should receive special bias. There was another consideration that influenced the side of Eng- ·EDUCATIONAL MOVIMENTS 55 lish. Experience of some years of administrative work showed that without Indians all the work could not be carried on. Both economy and political wisdom demanded that Indians should be associated with the official work as far as possible. For this purpose English education was the only means, for most of the official work was carried on in English. All these considerations, strengthened by the powerful advocacy of Macaulay, made Lord William Bentinck openly declaro in 1835, that English oducation was the ideal and policy of the Government. Just a century of this education has been completed, and we are forced to adinit that far from being a failure it has been a splendid success from the national point of view ospecially. It has imbued India with the Western ideals of liberty and freodom and has roused a wonderful national consciousness. There is much force of truth in the following words of Mrs. Annie Besant, “Literary education, however, designed to supply coinpetent clerks and subordinate administrators, was seized upon by the great Brahman caste and turned to higher ends; they quickly began to assimilato the spirit of English Literature, and to breathe with delight the air of liberty which permeates its noblest master-pieces; they studiod with keenest interest the development of English institutions, and saw how freedom broadened down from procedent to precedent."* India : A Nation by Annie Beasnt p. 129.

·56.. • CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA From 1835 to 1854, the English education was inainly for the learned professions. Elementary mass education was criminally noglected. On the famous despatch of Sir Charles Wood, the Government realised the imperative need of mass education and established "Departments of Public Instruction intended to combat the ignorance of the people, which inay be considerod the greatest curse of the country." The Despatch also proposed the establishment of t.le three Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, which come into being in 1857, the year of the Mutiny. The system of grants-inaid was also introduced, which enabled many private schools to be opened. The spread of education roceived further impetus from the Government of Lord Ripon, a great friend of India, and it seemed that the country's education would advance by leaps and bounds. But Lord Curzon, that strange mixture of benevolence and malevolence, perceived some danger in it. To determined upon a policy of greater official control of the universities and a "healthy decreaso in the nuniber oť matriculations." The Universities Act of 1904 was very hotly opposed by the public of India under the able leadership of the great leader and patriot Gopal Krishna Gokhale of beloved memory, but all in vain. It was not until after the publication of the Saddler Commission's Report that Indian education came back into Indian hands through the establishment of ·EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS 57 teaching and residential universities of an autonomous nature. The Hindu University of Benares was the first to be established on the new model in 1915, and has since led the way to the founding of half a dozen great seats of learning. There are at present eighteen universities in the country. Their control and management and the underlying ideals are not all alike. They greatly vary in these respects; bul they are alike in being practically under Indian control, which fact has been made further easier by Education being a transferred subject under the Reform Act of 1919. Education is now making great progress both in raaterial achievement and moral tone. If the Education Minister's could command the purse as they command the policy, the progress would be more marked. The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh have been the scene of the greatest development of university oducation of an extremely useful and inodern type. They now boast of five universities only one of which is an examining body, the other four being residential and teaching. Of these four the two universities of Beifares and Aligarh occupy positions of peculiar importance iu the country. They have been established by acts of tho Goverument of India and are all-India seats of national learning. Both of thein are truly national and actually represent the educational aspirations of the two major communities Hindu and Muslim. The imparting of moral and ·58 CULTURAL MOVEMINIS IN MODERN INDIA religious instruction along with secular education is their great especiality. While their doors are open to boys and girls of all castes and creeds, they specialise in teaching Hindu and Muslim cultures in judicious combination with that of the West. These universities stand for the bigh ideal of uniting the wisdom of the East with the energy of the West, for the meeting of the East and West. Their atinosphere is prculiarly cultural, which can only be breathed and felt, not described. The average boy leaves his alma mater with an everlasting admiration for the West and a pride in his own past. Indeed while the education given in other places is mostly a .graft, that given in Benares and Aligarh is a growth, for every attempt is made there to refer the knowledge of the modern western countries to the wisdom of the ancient East. A harmonious and happy blend of the ancient and the modern, the East and the west, is their raisen d'etre. No man can be a good nationalist, much less an internationlist, unless he is a good man; and he cannot be a good man unless he is God-fearing. Moral and religious instruction is the only means to make a man God-fearing. Such instruction is difficulu to impart effectively except in institutions belonging substantially to a particular community. This is the line of thought upon which these denominational institutions have been founded, and it must be said to their credit that they are sending out every year ·EDUOATIONAL MOVEMENTS 59 to the nation a steady stream of sturdy nationals. Their products make for communal peace and good will, and stimulate interest both in the West and the East. The Muslim University has not grown and developed so well as it ought to. Much expansion is still needed to make it a first class university. But the Hindu University has been singularly lucky in having Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya its founder and loader. His amazing powers of collecting funds and organizing the manifold departments of the University have already mado Benares a truly all-India seat of learning. Besides the Arts, Science, Agricultural, Medical, Oriental and Theological Colleges the University has a first class Engineering College which imparts higher instruction in the various branches of mechanical engineering and other applied sciences. It is the only college of its kind in the whole of India, and the Hindu University is rightly proud of it. No University is more popular all over the country than this. In its classes and hostels may be met students from almost every district of India. In practice and profession both this seat is national. Our foud wish is that there should be more such universities. The working of the Benares Hindu University marks a great epoch in the educational history of India. So far we have dealt with only the growth of schools, colleges and universities which are chartered ·60 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA by the Government of the country. There is another stream of national education that demands attention. There are three seats of such education, Brindaban, Hardwar and Bolpur. At the first-named two places there are Gurukulas, Vedic Universities. They are the work of the Arya Samaj, and impart instruction along purely ancient Vedic system. After their admission into then the scholars are not allowed to have any connection with the family or the outside world. They lead the life of a Brahmachari as required by the educational treatises of Vedic times. It is only after graduation that thoy return to the family. The average period of their stay in the Gurukul is twelve years. Whether such Vedic education is a success cannot be asserted without arousing controversy. Whatever the ideals of education, its products must find themselves worthy of being fitted into the social order aud of earning their way. But this is what is not found in case of the products of the Gurukulas. It seems that the Gurukulas aro far behind the times. No educational institution meant for the masses can thrive in complete isolation from the Govery mont of the country. The Vishwabharati at Bolpur is the embodiment of the educational idoals of the Indian Poet-Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. It imparts instruction in arts and literatures through the Bengali medium up to the school stage. Regular prayer and religious sermons

·LITERARY MOVEMENTS
61
form another important feature of this place. But
the thing that has made Vishwabharati famous all
over the world is the international outlook and
character of the university courses. Attempt is being
made to advance the study of the religions and
philosophy, arts and literatures of all the principal
nations of the world. Its message is peace through
mutual understanding. It is as yet immature to
determine how far this scheme is a such. Of course
within its limitations the Vishwabharati is doing
excellent work towards the establishment of world
peace.
LITERARY MOVEMENT
More than a century has passed since the English
education was introduced in andia. It was more or
less in the nature of a venture. No one was quite
sure whether the actual results would bo those
desired. But the lapse of time has now fully
demonstratod that the step was absolutely healthy.
The higher English education has been generally
conducive to the growth and development of a higher
standard of thought and action. It has brought
about a great intellectual ferment the working of
which is visible in almost all the spheres of our life.
In the realm of letters the first effects of the
study of a foreign language, literature, science and
pbilosophy were either an imitative scholarship or
an absorbing interest in the ancient Indian culture.

·+ 62 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA A band of English-educated people tried to ape and imitate European culture, and endeavoured hard to be English in thought and life, manners and customs. But they soon discovered that their attempts were futile. It is not possible 10 cut oneself adrift from the cult and culture of one's ancestors in the course of a generation or two; one is doomed to disappointment and failure. Ere long, therefore, they turned to the things of the soil and brought their accurate and critical judgment to bear upon things hitherto neglected. Michael Madhusudan Datta represents this class. At one time he had permitted himself the indiscretion to imagine that he would be another Shakespeare or Milton. But before long he discovered that his English poetry was not calculated to be ranked as high cless things; it was sure to be forgotten in the course of a few years. He, therefore, turned his attention to native language and theme, and among others produced the long Bengali epic Meghnadbadha which has immortalised him. The wiser class of products of the English education was represented by R. C. Datta. From the very beginning of his scholarly maturity be decided to handle Indian themes. He rendered the Ramayan and the Mahabharat into English verse and soon got recognition from England and American scholars as an eminent author. His two other books Ancient India and Economic History of India embody laborious researches and keen judgment. They are classics in ·LITERARY MOVEMENTS 63 their class. Anandkumarswami belongs to a class which has utilised its scholarship in interpreting the ideals of Hindu art. Mahadeo Govind Ranade was interested in economic and social problems and has to his credit three volumes of brilliantly written essays on them, which continue to be found inspiring. Indian History, Politics and Economics continue to attract native talents, and almost at every university there are great authors in them. Lokmanya Tilak's Orion and The Arctic Home in the l'edas published in 1893 and 1903 respectively, for the first time opened the eyes of the outside world to the immensely long past and deep antiquity of the Hindu civilisation. His yet greater contribution will be noticed presently under philosophy. Harbilas Sharda's Hindu Superiority taught every thoughtful Indian to raise his head in pride as to the achievement of his forefathers. From the necessity of the times all our great men and women have during the last fifty years or more spokon ou public platforms in English, and such speeches have now been brought out in excellent books by the talented editor and publisher Mr. G. A. Natesan of Madras. These books form a class of intensely interesting literature upon India. A perusal of the speeches serves to give a connected political and cultural history of the times and reveals the increasing complexities of the national problems, Great as the achievements of our scholars have ·- 64 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA been in these departments, their higher distinction lies elsewhere-in a branch of knowledge which is truly ours. India has always been noted more for its philosophy and philosophers than for anything else. This greatness goes on unbroken. The impact of Western thought has stimulated fresh thinking and nearly half a dozen thinkers have made original contribution to Philosophy. The name of Lokmanya Tilak must occupy the place of honour in such a mention. His Gita-Rahsya, originally written in Marathi but soon translated into all the principal languages of India, has revolutionized the religious philosophy of the Hindus and through its English translation, published recently, is sure to present before the thinking world a practical idenlism in religion and ethics, hitherto unthought. The achievements of the Lokmanya in other spheres are many and each is quite great. But this philosophic production is the grandest thing that he has given to the world. Mahatma Gandhi has very rightly said that on the attainment of swaraj many will forget his selfless work in the political field, but the Rahasya will live on. It will be read and admired by every successive generation. Dr. Bhagwan Das of Benares is a robust thinker and author, and his Science of Peace, Science of Religion and Science of Emotions have all been translated into the principal languages of Europe, which is evidence of his really good service to the moral and mental sciences.

·LITERARY MOVEMENTS 65 He is an earnest philosopher and ever strives to give to the world helpful and constructive thought. Sir Radha-Krishnan has risen to high international reputation and fame by his masterly representation of a synthesis of Eastern and Western thought. The splendour of his language, the culture of his mind, and his deep earnestness have made a tremendous impression upon the thinking section of the world. Easily he towers above all the philosophers of the East and the West. His An Idealist View of Life is reckoned by competent thinkers to be the greatest book on Philosophy of the century. It marks an epoch in the history of thought His other works, which together run to about two thousand pages, are equally great and stimulating. The great English thinker and author C. E. M. Joad has made a special study of Radha-Krishnan, which is embodied in his excellent book Philosophy of Radhakrishnan or Counter Attack from the East. Our philosopher is now the Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics in the University of Oxford. All this must please and satisfy us. Among the younger generation Krishnámurti bids fair to be a great religious thinker. His frank, bold and practical philosophy presented in the more than half a dozen volumes has already brought him into the limelight of religious thought. He is a trųe young prophet. History and science are perhaps receiving greater C. 5 ·66 OULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA attention to day than they did ever before. The products of the Indian Universities have achieved distinction in these branches of knowledge also, as in others. The first generation of scholars mostly busied themselves with constructing the history of our ancient civilisation. The contributions of Lokmanya Tilak, Dr. Bhandarkar and R. C. Datta, among others, were of this type. Even now such researches are continued by Dr. Jaiswal of Patna and Dr. Radhakumud Mukerji of the Lucknow University. They are bringing to light much of which we may be proud. Jaiswal's Hindu Polity and Mukerji's Self Government in Ancient India and Indian Shipping have conclusively proved that Ancient India was as much advanced in the science of administration and industry as in literature and philosophy. Sir Jadunath Sarkar has done much to construct the history of the Moghul times. His five volumes on Aurangzeb and another on Shivaji Maharaj have given us a world of fresh knowledge and insight. Sardesai of Bombay continues, and may well complete, the work of Maratha history, so ably begun by the late Pandit Ranade in his admirable Rise of the Marathas. Major Basu's Rise of the Christian Power gives a searching account of how the English people gradually occupied India primarily in their own interest. Of the younger batch of historians Dr. Ishwari Prasad of Allahabad seems to have earned for himself a position of great importance. His ·LITERARY MOVEMENTS 67 History of Medieval India is recognized to be a classical work on that period. Of the scientists, the names of Sir J. C. Bose, Dr. P. C. Roy and Raman are known all over the world. Raman is also the recipient of the Nobel prize. In pure mathematics Dr. Ganesh Prasad whose distinguished life was immaturely' cut short last year by the cruel hands of Fate, was a world figure. The learned Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, Sir Suleman, is giving the world a new theory of relativity, of which fact every Indian heart must be proud. This is a brief account of what the products of the English education have thought, spoken and written. Some have achieved high distinctions in another rather unexpected branch also. The dull and discouraging medium of a foreign tongue has not deterred some of our poetic geniuses from singing in English. In any account of the English poetry of the last fifty years the Indo-Anglian poets are sure to occupy a prominent position. Indeed some of the highest modern English poetry is the work of Indians. They have given a direction to the English muse, which was not very familiar before. If the English have captured the land of Indians, the latter have adequately retaliated by capturing and cultivating the field of English poetry. And the future may show them to be' superior conquerors, for sooner or later the English occu- ·68 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA pation of India will cease and disappear, but what Indians have contributed to the English language will ever remain its proud possession. The poetry of Tagore, Sarojini Devi and her brother Harindranath Chattopadhyay, of miss Toru Datta, Arbind and Seshadri will last for a long time. They have interpreted Indian life and sentiments under the best poetic laws of art and high seriousness, and are read and relished all the world over. Alongside of this stream there has also been flowing the stream of Vernacular literature. The more patriotic talents have always given their best to the mother-tongue. They realised early that English cannot be made the people's language in India. That need can be fulfilled by the native language alone. For the last about fify years there has risen and flowed a patriotic Wive, and that is visible in the rise of Indian languages. They have developed more or less under the model and inspiration of English literature. Most of the prose literature may be said to be a product of the English contact. It is a matter of pride that some Bengali, Marathi, Hindi and Gujarati works are highly admired in Europe and America. It is a healthy sign of the times that more and more stress is being laid upon the mother tongue, and some of the best products of our universities are using it as the vehicle of their expression. The printing press has not only made serious ·LITERARY MOVEMENTS 69 literature cheap and easy, but has also given rise in modern times to another class of topical literature never known to ancients. Under the English contaot India has fully shared this literary activity with the rest of the world. The history of her journalism, both Vernacular and English, extends now over six score years or more. The missionaries of Serampur started a paper entitled 'The Mirror of Intelligence' in 1818, which was exclusively devoted to religious and political discussions and criticism. Raja Rammohan Rai published the first Vernacular paper-The Moon of Intelligence'-in 1821. It was strongly critical of Christianity and discussed social and religious reforms. The paper was meant for and generally circulated among the masses. Later on he started another journal mainly to discuss provincial and imperial political matters for the English-educated classes. A few more papers were also founded, but none made any mark. Most attempts of those times proved abortive or spasmodic owing partly to the repressive press laws of the Government and partly to the lack of subscribing and reading public. The removal of obnoxious restrictions from the press by Sir Charles Metcalfe in 1835 went à long way to encourage journalistic venture. Forty-three years later, however, Lord Lytton again laid the axe. His legislation was directed against the Vernacular press, which shows that the native press wielded ·70 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA some considerable influence at the time. In 1882 Lord Ripon once more gave freedom to publicists. This chequered history of the press-legislations certainly had its effect upon the newspapers, but journalistio fervour was never damped altogether. Adventurous publicists went on cutting their way through thick and thin. At the time of the foundation of the Indian National Congress many papers were running their useful course, the chief of them being The Indian Mirror, The Indian Union, The Indian Speculation, The Tribune, The Hindu and The Maratha. Within a few years of the Congress session were started the Bengali, the Advocate and the Comrade. Of these papers it is the singularly good fortune of the Hindu, the Tribune and the Maratha still to serve tKe Indian public. All others have ceased to appear long ago. The Bengali was very ably edited by S. N. Banerjee, that writer of writers and speaker of speakers. He was the uncrowned king of his province and a trusted leader of the whole country during the moderate period of our politics. It is a pardonable pride with which he has styled his brilliant autobiography as 'A Nation in Making’, for, being mostly the centre of the literary and political awakening, he did help in the making of the Indian Nation for about forty years. The Advocate of Lucknow and the Comrade of Delhi were very shortlived weeklios ; but they contributed to the national life some of the sanest ·LITERARY MOVEMENTS 71 and ablest standards of political and literary judg- "ment. Their editors Babu Ganga Prasad Varma and Mr. Mohammad Ali were scholars of rare acumen and learning. The Hindu of Madras has been all along its long caroer a first-class newspaper. It has been lucky in being edited by such able men as Mr. G. Subramania Iyer and Mr. Rangaswami Iyengar, whom we now live to mourn. Under the latter, especially, it rose to great heights of journalistic excellence. It is running its course with unabated dignity. The Tribune of Lahore also continues to advocate and disseminate advanced nationalism. The New India of Madras, the Amrit Bazar Patrika of Calcutta, the Leader of Allahabad, and the Bombay Chronicle are among those Indo-English dailies that were founded early in the present century, and with the only very regrettable exception of the late Mrs. Besant's New India all the others continue to guide and educate public opinion. The Leader from the day of its first publication has been edited by Mr. C.Y. Chintamani except for the period of about three years that he was minister of education in the U.P. Government. He is a veritable encyclopaedia of political wisdom and information. His memory of facts and figures is amazing and his mastery of the English language is the despair of many an able and experienced English journalist, as Mr. F.W. Wilson, one time editor of the Pioneer of Allaha- ·72" CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA bad (now published from Lucknow) and the Indian Daily Mail of Bombay (now defunct), once confessed in the columns of the latter paper. The Leader has won an international reputation for its sane and sound views and extremely reliable news. The Nero India of Mrs. Besant was a mighty model for English dailies as she was a mighty model for personalties. Since it ceased publication about twelve years ago there has not been seen another paper of equal excellence, charm and variety. Of the weeklies of this period the Indian Social Reformer of Bombay continues to disserninate sound and progressive views of Mr. K. Natarajan who is an impeccable model of culture. The Young India of Mahatma Gandhi bore the stamp of his austere purity, as the People of the late-lamented Lala Lajpat Rai that of his wide publicist experience, during tlie short period of its publication. The publication of monthlies is the exclusive feature of the twentieth century in our country. The first to be started was the Hindustan Review of Allahabad (now published from Patna). Soon the Indian Review was founded by Mr. G. A. Natsan in Madras, which was followed about eight years later by the publication of the Modern Review first from Allahabad and later as now from Calcutta. During the last less than ten years half a dozen other monthlies have come into being, latest being the Twentieth Century of Allahabad which is an eminently readable high class ·LITERARY MOVEMENTS '73 periodical. It is a matter of no mean pride that most of these have won not only the recognition of this country but also of Europe and America for their excellence. The Anglo-Indian press was certainly the forerunner of the Indo-English press in the country. At one time in its early stages it was the mouthpiece of the English traders and frankly criticized the Government of the day; but now it is mostly the enemy of Indian nationalism and more often than not opposes. measures of political reform. To be convinced of the truth of this statement one has only to read through the columns of either the Stateman or the Civil and Military Gazette. It is a relief to have to acknowledge that the Times of India of Bombay has been of late showing more fairness than expected. As in the case of permanent literature, so also here the Vernacular press has been fairly active, and every principal language both in the North and the South can boast of a dozen first-rate monthlies, weeklies and dailies. All this is evidence of the fact that the national life is progressive. What schools and colleges do for the young, the press does for the adult and the old. Newspapers and periodicals are a powerful means of popular education. An active and strong press is the accompaniment of vigorous national life. PAINTING. Until a few decades ago the West had settled ·74 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODKRN INDIA down to the feeling that there was no such art sa. painting in India, but it has now discovered, to its rather agreeable surprise, that Indians may be as proud of their pictorial art as of any other arts and sciences. Those who are familiar with our classical works can easily recall that most of the heroines are represented as having thorough acquaintance with painting. In a number of instances, they draw up pretty pictures of scenes or persons, acts or activities at the more spur of the moment. In actual life we may find scores of women in almost every village, who know and practise a crude sort of drawing and painting. They paint the walls of their houses or the religious vedis (altars) on festivals. A few men also are experts in this art, and their services are requisitioned to decorate the house-walls of the simple villager on marriage and other festive occasions. This is strong evidence of the fact that our forefathers were once great lovers of the pictorial, art and practised or encouraged it to a considerable extent. During the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century Delhi and Lucknow in the United Provinces, Lahore and Amritsar in the Punjab, Nathdwara in Rajputana, and Mysore and Tanjore in the south were places where painting was practised, partly from love and partly also from hope of gain. Raja Krishnaraja Wodeyar of Mysore ·LITERARY MOVEMENTS 75 was a great patron of painting and encouraged much of it in the first half of the 19th century. The name of Raja Ravi Varma conjures up the rise of the prosent art of painting. He was a scholar of Sanskrit and a close student of Kalidas, and has embodied his appreciations of the beautiful and attractive scenes of the Raghubansha, Shakuntala and Meghadut in a large volume of fine and fascinating paintings. The brushes of Nathdwara painters continue to be busy with the charm and attraction, grace and gaiety, of Radha and Krishna, Gopis and cows. Early in the present century was founded the Calcutta School of Oriental Art, the development of which has been phenomenal as regards the number of artists who have been drawn into the movement, and also as regards the recognition of the quality of its work in the critical centres of Paris and London. Abanindranath Tagore, a nephew of the Poet Tagore, is the centre of this movement. He has devoted his artistic skill to the illustration of the poetic genius of his illustrious uncle. He may rightly be credited with ushering into existence the Bengal School of painting which is marked by a very high degree of impressionism. The early paintings of this school were mostly puranic, but of late it has produced excellent specimens of natural paintings also. Nand lall Bose, Asitkumar Haldar and Chanchal Kumar Banerjee, among others, have made valuable contributions to the various branches of the pictorial art.

·76
CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA
In an appreciation of the modern Indian painting.
the famous Irish Poet and Scholar James H. Cousins,
who has been in India for very many years now,
writes, "It sets every jewel, it speaks in every curve,
and to-day, while the young civilisations of the west
are trembling into a ruin of ideals and action in the
Great War, it is a consolation and an inspiration to
contemplate the achievements and prophecies of the
modern Indian School of painting, and to bathe in
the joy of renascent youth that has behind it the
steadying tradition of ages and the ageless vision of
eternal Beauty.
The total effect of their art is to
give a sense of vibration raised one or more octaves ;
and whereas, in other schools of the painting art,
one is oppressed by the feeling that a fragment of
the spirit has been made fixed and finite, in the work
of these Indian painters there is a joyous sense of
release from the tyranny of the symbol and a passing
through the seen to the unseen. In a word, they
have learned the secret of raising the static to the
ecstatic.'*
The Renaissance in India, pp. 110-111.

·FOURTH CHAPTER Political and Constitutional Movements POLITICAL MOVEMENTS India A Nation. The English word 'nation' is derived from the Latin root 'nascor' meaning to be born. In modern usage it implies 'a people inhabiting a certain extent of territory, and united by common political institutions. At one time in its life every such people had also a common descent, history and language. But soon they were joined by other groups, who came to them as invaders from other parts, and assimilated with them. Thus almost every nation of today is a mixture of at least half a dozen different people with different descents, histories and languages. Take the English nation. The first people who lived in Britain centuries before the Christian era were the Iberians. About 55 B. C. it was peopled by Celts who had migrated there in two vast hordes from the east of Europe. In that year the island was invaded by the Romans under Julius Cæsar, and from A. D. '43 to 410 was occupied and held by them. In 446 Britain was visited by the Angles from the north-west of Germany, in 449 by the Jutes from northern Denmark, and later on by the Saxous from the basins of the rivers Rhine and Elbe. These three Teutonic tribes made it their (77) .

·78. CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA home and succeeded in overpowering the other older inhabitants. The Celts who had gone to and conquered the island were in the habit of painting their bodies. 'Brit' was their word for painted. The name Britain was derived from the 'brit' inhabitants. Now that it became the home of Angles, it got the new name England. This shows the influence of the Augies. Towards the close of the 8th century England was invaded by bands of Danes and in the course of less than a century was again occupied by them in parts. Three Danish Kings ruled in England from 1016 to 1142. The last foreign people to go to and conquer and occupy England were the Normans. Thus what is the English nation today is the mixture of no fewer than seven different peoples. The English civilisation, language and literature are of so many civilisations, languages and literatures. It is through a process of gradual evolution that a nation is made. All that is needed in that making is a common government. The community of interests, culture, language and literature are the concomitants of a common political institution. The idea of an all-India Empire has persisted throughout our exceedingly long history. In ancient times the emperors were known as Chakravartins or Samrats or Maharajadhirajas, and their conquest and sway were termed as Digvijay. The great Epics and made up ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 79 other later books bristle with descriptions of Digvijayas, that is, universal conquest. The long line of emperors from Ashoka to Aurangzeb is part of a common man's knowledge. Now the English occupation bas given India a common government once again. Such a politioal unity is the strongest claim to our being considered and called a natiou. There are other factors also that strengthen this claim. In the Hindu period Sanskrit was the common language for the whole country and works were composed and read in it as much in Kashmir as in Camorin, as much in Kathiawar as in Kamrup. Even now Sanskrit continues to hold that sway over the oldfashioned classes of Pandits. Sanskrit-knowing scholars go on pilgrimages to the south, east and west of the country and feel quite at home everywhere through the channel of this language. All the Vedas, Smrits, Darshanas, Puranas and the Epics and other secular works in the Sanskrit language have always been the common pleasure and pride of the whole Hindu community all over the country. The names of Ram, Krishna, Buddha, and the thoughts of the Gita and the l'panishads thrill, arouse and awake us in a similar manner. Our holy places are in the extreme north, extreme south, extreme east and extreme west. Before taking bath every Hindu daily remembers the principal. rivers of all the parts and imagines himself to be bathing in a ·80. CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA mixture of their holy waters.* What is all this if not the fundamental unity of Bharatvarsha ? The impact of Islam and Hinduism also resulted in the creation of a common culture, some differences of religion and theology notwithstanding. The Hindi or Urdu or Hindustani language, Sikhism and Kabirism indicate some of the mental phases of that cultural fusion. The Musalman rulers treated India as their home and sought to decorate and beautify it with noble works of art, which are our common pride and admiration today. Hindus and Muslims alike go in raptures over the Taj. All Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Christians who live in India are proud of her various glories and sing of her as of a common motherland. The study and spread of the English language and literature, science and philosopny is bringing all classes of Indians still All educated India now thinks in terms of common political and cultural aspirations, that is, Swaraj. This is evidence of a strong and vigorous Indian nationality. The history of the Indian National Congress is a record of our growing national outlook and life. The Indian National Congress Before the establishment of British rule in India she had governed herself for thousands of years. She could not, therefore, reconcile herself to it 8:ो गंगे च यमुने चैव गोदावरी सरस्वती । नर्मदे सिन्धु कावेरि गलेऽस्मित सन्निधिं कुरु ॥ nearer.

·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 81 . without hard struggle. From about the middle of the 18th century to the revolt of 1857 she offered armed resistance. But the severe defeat in the last war convinced the country at large that the British Raj had come to stay and that it was futile to offer armed opposition. Discretion was t ought to be the better part of valour and reconciliation and co-operation became our guiding principles. From 1858 to 2884 we passed through a period of quiet settlement. But the religious movements that had been set afoot since the time of Raja Rammohan Rai, lad instilled into the Indian mind not only a love of its native religion but also an aspiration for association with the government of the country. On the conclusion of the Theosophical convention in Adyar in the year 1884 seventeen of its mombers thought of holding an 'Indian National Conference' at Poon, wherein they and other leaders of the various parts of the country would discuss matters of common concern. It was to form the gern of a native parliament and gradually to constitute a claim to representative government. The names of those seventeen men should be known to every son and daughier of India. They were Messrs. S. Subramania ſyer, P. Raugiah Naidu, P. Anand Charlu, Narendranath Sen, Surendranath Banerji, M. Ghosh, V. N. Mandlik, K. T. Telang, Dadabhai Naoroji, C. Vijiaranga Mudaliar, Pandurang Gopal, Sardar Dayal Sinha,' Harishchandra, Kashi Prasad, Lakshmi Narayun, Shri lain C. 6 ·82 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA and Charuchandra Mitter, that is, five from the provinces of Agra and Oudh, four from Bengal, five from Bombay and three from Madras. They were truly good and great svuls who first conceived the idea of the now grand Indian National Congress. Delegates from all parts were invited to that conference to be held from the 28th to the 30th of December, 1885. Unfortunately Poona was suddenly visited by an epidemic of Cholera and the venue was changed to Bombay, and exactly on the day previously fixed the conference met at 12 noon in the hall of the Gokuldas Tejpal High School as 'The Indian National Congress.' 72 leading men, interested in public affairs, attended it. Among them were Sir S. Subramia Iyer, Rao Bahadur P. Anand Charlu, Messrs. P. Raugiah Naidu, C. Subramania Iyer, M. Veeraraghava Chariar, and P. Keshawa Pillai from Madras ; Messrs. Dadabhai Naoroji, Javerilal Gajnik, Pherozeshah Mehta, Dinshaw Wacha, R. M. Sayani, K. T. Telang, N. C. Chandravarkar, A. M. Dharamsey, S. H. Chuplankar and G. G. Agarkar from Bombay ; Messrs W. C. Banerji, Narendranath Sen and J. Kosal from Bengal; Messrs Ganga Frasad Verma, Shri Ram, Harishchandra and Sardar Dayal Sinha from Agra and Oudh. Government officials of those days were not precluded from participation in a national political assembly, and among them, retired or in active service, who were present, the names of Messrs A. O. Hume, William Weddernburn, M. G.

·POLITIOAL MOVEMENTS 83 Ranade, R. Raghunath Rao are inescapable. Nearly all ihe big cities were represented. "There were barristers, solicitors, pleaders, merchants, land owners, bankers, medical men, newspaper editors and proprietors, principals and professors of independent colleges, headmasters of schools, religious teachers and reformers.” No gathering of that small number could be more representative of the whole nation. The organization truly marked a new era in the political history of the country. Mr. W. C Banerji, an erudite scholar and a commanding lawyer, was elected President. He delivered a simple and straightforward address whose theme was a demand for reforms. Ho summed up the objects of the Congress in these words: (1) "The promotion of personal intimacy and friendship amongst all the more earnest workers in vur country's cause in the various parts of the Empire. (2) The eradication by direct friendly personal intercourse of all possible race, creed, or provincial prejudices amongst all lovers of our country, and the fuller development and consolidation of those sentiments of national unity that had their origin in their beloved Lord Ripon's ever memorable reign. (3: The authoritative record, after this has been carefully elicited by the fullest discussion, of the matured opinions of the educated classes in India on some of the more important and pressing of the social questions of the day.

·84 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA (4) The determination of the lines upon and methods by which during the next twelve months it is desirable for native politicians to labour in the public interests. The abolition of the Council of the Secretary of State, the expansion and reform of the Legislative Councils, simultaneous competitive examinations in England and India, retrenchment of the military expenditure, and the separation of jndicial from executive functions were the concrete demands considered and passed by the Congress. The second session of the Indian National Congress was held in Calcutta under the presidency of Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji. The delegates of the first session had not been elected by any body, but those of this were duly elected by Public bodies and the public at large. They numbered 436. All the provinces and most of the districts were represented. Nearly the same demands were repeated. The nu nber of delegates to the third congress, which met in Madras under Mr. Badruddin Tyabji, rose to 607. The next Congress assembled at Allahabad under somewhat disturbed. conditious. The organization had begun its existence by looking socio-political, but it was soon found out that to bring the whole nation under its flag it should take up for consideration only political matters. This proved rather unpalatable to the Government of India as well as to that of the Agra province. Sir Auckland ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 85 Colvin, the Lieutenant Governor of the province, and Lord Dufferin, the Viceroy, made no secret of their open opposition. But, thanks to the patriotic zeal of the late Maharaja Bahadur of Darbhanga and Pt. Ayodhyanath of Allahabad, the Congress met with greater enthusiasm and strength than before. Mr. George Yule, a great merchant of Calcutta, was elected President, and everything passed off quietly but with much vigour. Sir William Weddernburn presided over the fifth meeting held at Bombay. It was attended by 1889 delegates besides thousands of other visitors, and was pronounced to be the greatest session so far. It was at this session that Mr. Gopal Krishna Gokhale of revered memory made his first appearance. Many new iopics of national importance were covered by the speeches and resolutions. In all 6000 people are reported to have attended it. The tone of the session can be judged from the following passages selected from the speeches of Pandits Bishan Narayan Dar and Gopal Krishna Gokhale. The former, while secondivg a resolution for the reform of the legislative councils, said, The chief plank of the Congress platform is the elective principle, and we are not going to be satisfied with a thing that will be a snare, a mockery, and a delusion, leading men to believe that they have something which they do not really possos8. What we want is not sham, but reality; . .

·86 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA . . . . not shadow, but substance ; not nomination, which is another name for deception, but representation, which is the essence of political reform... In the course of his speech on the infamous despatch of the Secretary of State on the Report of the Publio Service Commission, which made the position of Indians worse than before, Mr. Gokhale said, “ Fifty-six years have come and gone since the promise was first made that no distinction of race or creed or colour should be allowed to stand in the way of the prospects of preferment of any native of India. That noble promise then made-a promise worthy of the highest and most generous attitude of England towards any of the countries with which she has ever come into contact-was reiterated in yet stronger terms in the proclamation of 1868. The terms of the enactment of 1833 and of the proclama. tion of 1858 are so explicit that those who now try to withhold from us the privileges then assured to us must be prepared to face the painful dilemma of hypocrisy or treachery-must be prepared to admit that England was iusincere when she made those promises, or that she is prepared to break faith with us now. "Gentlemen, you may be aware that an English udge famous (or infamous) in a way, did not scruple to accept this latter position, and propound the preposterous doctrine that the proclamation of 1858 was never meant to be seriously taken. I hope, ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS .87 however, that there are not many Englishmen of i hat kind. With these noble promises of 1833 and 1858 before us, I ask you, are we not entitled to say that the least we expect from our English rulers is that they should always show a steadily progressive tendency towards the fulfilment of these proniises ?” The great national assembly began to meet year after year with increasing success and popularity. The partition of Bengal, a measure of extremely doubtful wisdom, agitated the whole country in 1905 and the following few years. The Congress of 1906 in Calcutta was marked by scenes of wild fury on the wrong done to Bengal. Moved to righteous auger the President, Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, a grand old man of 82, went beyond partial reforms, and declared that Indians should control India as Englishmen controlled England. This was "absulutely necessary” for the progress and velfare of the Indian people. He put tlie soul of the national aspiration into these memorable words. "The whole matter can be comprised in one word, Self-Government, or Swaraj, like that of the United Kingdom or the Colonies... Self-Government is the only and the chief remedy. In Self-Government lie our hope, strength and greatness. ...Be unitod, persevere, so that the millions now perishing by poverty, famine and plague, and the scores of millions that are starving on scanty subsistence may be saved, and India may once more occupy her proud position ·88 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA of yore among the greatest and civilised Nations of the West." These words are as fresh and meaningful to-day as when they were first uttered thirty years ago. Among the rt solutions passed the most memorable may be considered to be thuse that recognized and advocated the boycott of British goods and promotion of Swadeshi as political weapons for bringing pressuro upon the British Government. Speaking on the resolution relating to boycott Mr. Bipin Chandrapal suggested also a mild form of non-cooperation with the Government. The next Congress met at Surat, but was provented from transacting business by the left-wingers under the leadersnip of Lokmanya Tilak. His party had opposed Dr. Rasbihari Ghosh being elected President and was highly offended at its leader not being allowed to address the audience. Since the Benares session of 1905 among a section of congressmen political foolings had been rising very high, and by the Surat session that section had become quite powerful. But the majority of congressmen were yet moderates. They would not listen to the extremits. There was so much uproar and commotion in the Pandal that the session had to be suspended sine die. From 1907 to 1916 the Congress was in the hands of the riglut-wingers. The left wingers were looking out for an opportunity to capture the national orga- ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 89 pization. But patriots of extreme views were hardly permitted freedom by the Government. A large number of them were clapped into prison here or deported abraod. A very momentous session of the Congress was held at Lucknow under the Presidentship of Mr. Ambikacharan Mazumdar in the year 1916. Once again all the parties and communities were represented on it. Among others there were to be seen Lokmanya Tilak, Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya, Dr. Rasbihari Ghosh, Sir Surendranath Banerji, Mr. G. S. Arundale, The Raja of Mahmudabad (a few years before his death he was made a Maharaja), Mr. M. A. Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi (then modestly known only as Mr. Gandhi). This meeting is further remarkable for its, being attended by the Lieutenant Governor of U. P., Sir James Meston with Lady Meston and his staff. Of the many decisions two deserve special notice. So far the Muslims had mostly kept aloof from the Congress with a few noble exceptions. Their separate organization was the Muslim League. But attempts at uniting the two sister communities resulted in the acceptance by the Congress of what is known as the Congress-League Reform Scheme, the main feature of which was separate communal election with weightage to the minority community. The other important decision was to set up a committe to investigate into the causes of the extreme discontent ·90 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA among the tenants of the European Indigo-planters of North Bibar. That inquiry afforded Mahatma Gandhi an opportunity to practise pa sive resistance or Satyagrah which has since risen to tremendous effectiveness as a political weapon. The Partition of Bengal was modified consideraably in 1911, and other Indian demands were further sought to be satisfied by partial reforms granted in 1909 and again in 1915. These acts did produce some quieting effect for a time. But the extremist politicians, organized under the leadership of Lok. manya Tilak and Mrs. Annie Besant, wero not salisfied. If Dadabhai Naoroji had for the first time declared Swaraj to be the objective of the Indian nation, it was given to the Lokmanya powerfully to assert that 'Swaraj is our Birthright.' With this slogau he started the Home Rule Leaguo on the 23rd of April, 1916. Very soon a similar League was founded by Mrs. Besant. Later on both the Leagues amalgamated. This Home Rule Movement spread over the country liko a wild fire, filling every Indian breast with a longing for freedom. On invitation and appeal India was heartily co-operating with the Empire in fighting the Great War. England's participation in a war which had been waged in the name of freedom and self-determination for all, and especially weak, nations, naturally encouraged us to believe that our destiny was in safe and good hands and that England would practise charity at home.

·POLITICAL MOVIMENTS 91 But somehow she did not like the Home-Rule agitation, aud arrested, imprisoned or deported a large number of our leaders. This enraged the Indian patriots and the agitation became keeper than ever. The Congress of 1917 met in Calcutta, Mrs. Besant being elected President. It adopted the tricolour national flag, which is the symbol of national unity, and reiterated its demand for freedom. Mr. Tilak and Mrs. Besant were strongly of opinion that England must be made to make a definite promise to grant India Swaraj in return for her help and co-operation in the War. Mahatma Gandhi and others, however, were opposed to any such bargaining spirit being displayed. But being outvoted on this point did not prevent Lokmanya and Mrs. Besant, along with others, from exhorting the country to offer the best help it could in men and money. All through the war India proved of great assistance to England. Before the annual session was held in Delhi under the Presidentship of Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya the moderate statesmen, who were opposed to any form of direct action being sponsored by the national organization, seceded from it and formed themselves into the All India Liberal Federation. Its first session was held in the month of November of that year under the Presidentship of Sir Surendranath Banerji. Since then it has come to stay and has been holding its session year after year. The Government of India ·92 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA took a very unwise step in 1919 by enacting the Rowlatt Act on the 3rd of March. It was considered to be subversive of all civio and political life by all sections of people. There arose a wave of anger against it. A country-wido Hartal was observed on the 6th of April in protest of the Act The Government became sterner than before and began to suppress the agitation with altogether satanic severity.. Drs. Satyapal and Kitchlew of the Punjab were arrested and sent a way to some unknown destination A large deputation of the citizens of Amritsar wanted to wait upon the city Magistrate, but it was refused access and was fired upon to disperse. All manner of public meeting was prohibited. Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Shraddhananda started to go into the province to study the situation, but were held up and sent back by a special train to Bombay. On the 13th of April was held a monster meeting of the people at Amritsar in the Jallianawala Bagh. Some twenty thousand people are reported to have attended it. They wanted to pass resolutions of protest against the conduct of the Government. General Dyer appeared on the scene and asked them to disperse. But they were not in a mood to obey immediately. In anger and fury machine-guns began to be fired upon the helpless crowd. In the words. of Dr. Annie Besant "when bis ammunition was exhausted, he and his soldiers marched away leaving. the ground strewn with dead and wounded. As he.

·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 93 said afterwards, "that was not his job; he meant to give a lesson.* That was followed up by much worse aots of cruelties, shocking humiliation, and tortures. All the evil forces of hell seem to have been lot loose. Very soon the facts leaked out and the whole country "went mad with pity, grief and horror.". "And yet, for all the boiling wrath, Indians were just, They did uot take revenge, but they asked for justice and that justice was denied." of Sir Michael 0' Dwyer and General Dyer were praised and acclaimed by the British Government and the public alike. This new wrong took away from Mahatma Gandhi and others the last grain of hope from the foreign government. The Mahatma could no longer bear with the satanio administration. He started his Non-00-operation movement. He was immensely reinforced by the Ali Brothers and other feeling Muslims who were smarting under the dismemberment and break-up of the Turkish Empire as one of the consequences of the Great War. „The Congress of 1919 was held under the presidentship of Pt. Motilal Nehru in the city of Amritsar. It passed resolutions condemning the beaurocratio excesses and requesting the British Crown to recall Lord Chelmsfoud, the Viceroy of the time. On the Reform Act of that year opinion was keenly divided. Nothing clear and definite was decided upon. Only * The Future of Indian Politics p. 242. + The Future of Indian Politics p. 243.

·94 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA all were emphatic in holding it to be "unsatisfactory and disappointing." Both the special and ordinary annual sessions of 1920, held respectively in Caloutta and Nagpur, after much impassioned and heated discussion decided in favour of the non-co-operation scheme of Mahatma Gandhi. The history of the Congress since 1920 is practically the history of the non-co-operation movement. Mahatma Gandhi with the Nehrus (alas, the Senior Nehru is no more !) has wholly captured the organization and has until recently been its virtual dictator. Passive resistance, boycott, picketing, and civil disobedience have been some of the schemes and programmes of the Congress during these years. The use of hand-spun and hand-woven Swadeshi cloth has figured more prominently than any other scheme. Other programmes have undergone considerable changes and modifications from time to time, but the Khadhar talk goes on unabated. Thre Watchword of Mahatmaji is "spin and weave, spin and weave. This is his most effective weapon of winning Swaraj with. Non-co-operation proper, that is the boycott of government institutions, has failed. Civil disobedience has been tried now and then, but the country has been found to be not prepared for this direct action. Khadi has grown popular, but insistence is laid by larger sections of patriots that it should be superseded by Swadeshi cloth, including the products ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 95 of the Indian mills also. Therefore the Khadi programme may also be considered to be a failure. All this is true. But, for all this, has the Indian National Congress also failed? To this we must say an emphatio "No." During the last sixteen years the Congress has grown enormously in strength and popularity, and its activities, although at times foolish and futile, have changed the temper of Indian politics. The British prestige has been sincerely shaken. Every Indian heart is to-day burning with passions of freedom. There is the Liberal Federation, the rump and remnant of the old Congress, with its implicit belief in constitutional agitation. But it is a pigmy before the Congress of to-day, which boasts of a membership of nearly one crore. There is an unprecedented national awakening. The political movement has become a mass movement in a very true sense. The basis of public life has bocome broader and deeper. Early in 1928 was appointed the Simon Commission to report upon the working of the Indian constitution and to formulate proposals for further reformis. It was an all-white commission and as such was boycotted by all section of Indian politicians, including those also who had been working the Reform Aot of 1919. The whole country left it severely alone. Meanwhile the Congress was offering all manner of active opposition to the Government. The Simon- Seven practically united the whole nation in opposi- ·96. CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA tion and protest. The Congress of 1929, whose session extended into the succeeding year for a day, declared for independence. In 1930 ap intense civil disobedience was decided upon. The manufacture of salt was the item to begin with. Before launching this open defiance and breach of Government Laws Mahatma Gandhi wrote a letter to Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, wherein he innumerated, the chief grievances against the British rule, and evidently asked for a peaceful settlement of the Indian problems. The Viceroy returned a very blunt reply. The national leader had appealed for bread, but got stone. The Mahatma, therefore, started his famous Dandi March on the 12th of March, 1930, with a gallaut band of seventy-nine heroes. The batch of Law-breakers went to the Dharasana Salt Depot to raid it. Gandhiji was arrested on the 5th of May. But no amount of lathi-charges would deter the people from courting imprisonment through defyiog laws. The Government on its part started, as though, a whirlwind of charge, arrest and imprison maut. But is seemed that the Indian nation had awakened never to sleep again. About seventy-thvusaud people are believed to have entered the Government jails in connection with the civil-disobedience movement. Through the good offices of Messrs Sapru aud Jayakar a truce was declared and on the 25th of January, 1931, all political prisoners were released ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 97 unoonditionally, and the Congress suspended civil disobedience. Mahatma Gandhi was invited to meet the Viceroy to discuss the terms of peace between the Congress and the Government. The famous Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed on the 5th of March, 1931. The Congress, among other things, called off the civil disobedience movement and the Viceroy promised to hear and meet the substance of the Congress demands. The good Lord Irwin practically promised to secure for India Dominion status with some safeguards in the interests of India during the transitional period. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact marked the highest water-mark of the rise of the Indian National Congress. It had never before risen to that eminence and enjoyed that prestige in its past history of about forty-six years. March 1), 1931, was the day of its greatest glory. It is a matter of extreme regret, however, that the national organization soon fell from its hieghts. Perhaps the Pact turned the head of some Congressworkørs. The first Round Table Conference was already over Lord Willingdon assumed charge of the Indian Government in April, 1931. Mahatma Gandhi and Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya represented the Congress view-point at the second Round Table Conference. During its session in November, 1931, nearly all the thoughtful leaders of the country were away in England. Here in India Pandit Jawahirlal started the no-rent campaign and in England at the 0.7 ·98 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA conclusion of the Conference the Mahatma, made two irritating speeches which convinced the British Government that the demands of the Congress, as voiced by Mahatmaji, could not be satisfied The Government of India under Lord Willingdon was not prepared for a second loss of prestige. The Pact was declared broken and a repression of unprecedented severity was at once started. On return from England the Mahatma sought an interview with the Viceroy, but Lord Willingdon was not in a mood to listen. He was determined to crush the Congress. At the time of leaving the Indian shores he certainly had the satisfaction. But rendering impossible any direct action is not the same thing as crushing the National Congress. Whether or not the Congress has been crushed may be judged from the scenes of the Lucknow session of it held early this year. The truth of the matter is that the Indian National Congress is the greatest national organization and is far too deeply rooted to be annihilated. It lives in the righteous aspiration for national-freedom. Until that is achieved every Indian is a Congressman at heart. All eyes are fixed upon the Congress and all hearts wish it success. Movement Towards Swaraj The enactment of the Regulating Act in 1713 may be regarded as the starting point of the modern constitutional history of India, It created a Goverpor-Generalship with a Council of four members, ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 99 who would be responsible for the Indian administration to the British Parliament, and required the Directors of the East India Company to submit all papers relating to Indian administration to the King's ministers for perusal. Eleven years later the Pitt's India Act gave to the Governor-General the right to override the decision of his Council and to act on his own responsibility, if he deemed that course to be essential to good government, and created in England a Board of six Commissioners for the affairs of India. This Board of control, as it was popularly known, was given power "from time to time, to check, superintendent, and control all acts, operations, and concerns which in any wise relate to the civil or military government or revenues of the territories and possessions of the said United Company." "The control of the Governor-General and Council over the minor presidencies was enlarged, and was declared to extend to 'all such points as relate to any transactions with the country powers, or to war or peaco, or to the application of the revenues or forces of such presidencies in time of war.'” The Council of the Governor-General did both executive and legislative business, while the administration of justice was the charge of a supreme Court of Judicature at Calcutta with a Chief Justice and three judges, all appointed by the Crown under the Regulating Act. This arrangement continued until the year 1853 ·100 OULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA when it was provided that when the Council sat for law-making, it should be strengthened by six more members, and that the Governor-General should cease to be the Governor of Bengal, it being placed under a separate Lt. Governor. Of those six members one was the chief justice of Bengal, one a judge and four officials nominated by the provincial Governments of Bengal, Madras, Bombay and Agra. The next advance took place in 1861. The Councils Act of that year provided that in addition to the members of the Executive Council there should be members, not less than six and not more than twelve in number, who were to be nominated by the Governor-General and to remain in the Council for two years. Of these additional members not less than half were to be non-officials. Similar changes were introduced into the provincial governments also. The Act of 1892 is the next landmark in the development of the Indian Legislative Councils. It increased the number of additional and non-official members in the Imperial Council. In the provincial Councils the number of additional members was increased so that there could be a maximum of twenty in Madras and Bombay, and one of fifteen in the other Councils. At least one-half of the additional members of Bombay and Madras and onethird of the other Councils, were to be non-officials. The chief departure embodied in this Act was the ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS · 101 re introduotion, in practice, of a system of election. The non-official members of the Legislative Councils of Bombay, Madras, Bengal and the U. P., and the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce each elected a representative on the Imperial Council. Public bodies, such as municipalities and local boards, elected presentatives on the provincial Councils. The Act of 1909, which followed the scheme of reform drawn up by Lords Morley and Minto, made a step further in the elective direction. It introduced the following changes : 1. The Executive Council with the addition of as many as sixty members would form the Imperial Legislative Council. 2. Of these sixty members not more than thirtyfive could be nominated by the Governor-General. The remaining twenty-five were to be elected by the non-official members of each of the Provincial Councils, by the big Landholders of certain provinces, by the Mohammadan community in certain provinces, and by the Bombay and Bengal Chambers of Commorse. 3. In the Provincial Councils the official majority was replaced by non-official majority. 4. To each of the provincial Executive Councils, where they existed, as of the central Government there was to be appointed an Indian member. The Reform Act of 1919 made a substantial advance towards the establishment of Representative ·102 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA and Responsible Government in India. It awakened an active interest of the British Parliament in the affairs of India, abolished the official Presidential Block in the various Legislative Councils in the centre as well as in the provinces, gave an overwhelming majority of elected members to all Legislative Councils, and transferred the nation-building departments in the provinces to the control of Indian Ministers responsible to the Legislature. The other provincial subjects, not so transferred, are known as reserved and are under the Governor in Council. But the Executive Councils of the Governors in all the provinces have always contained one half Indians. Thus, out of two Executive Councillors of the U. P. Governor one, Home Member, has always been an Indian, while out of four of those of the Bombay Governor two have always been Indians. The number of Ministers in the various provinces has Varied from two to three. This division of the Executive in the provinces into Reserved and Transferred is called Dyarchy. But in the centre there is yet no such division, all subjects being reserved for administration by the Governor-General and his Executive Council. Of the eight such Executive Councillors three have always been Indians. There are three Indian Members in the India Council in England also. The Act created for the first time a High Commissioner for India in England, who has always been an Indian.

·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 103 But when all these things have been said, the fact remains that under the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms the responsibility of the British Parliament for the government of India, both central and provincial, is preserved fundamentally intact. The Viceroy's Executive Council is responsible for the Government of India as a whole and is accountable for it to the Secretary of State and not to the Legislative Assembly and the Governors are responsible for law and order and finance in the provinces and are accountable for them to the Viceroy and the Secretary of State and not to the legislatures. It is only secondary functions like Education, Sanitation, Local Self-government, Public Works, Forests and Fisheries which are transferred to Ministers who are limited by the Governor's control of finance. In effect these reforms have given India influence and not responsibility, and "Influence is not Government; as George Washington is reported to have observed once. At the introduction of these reforms in 1921 the following Royal Message was delivered to Legislature : "For years, it may be for generations, patriotic and loyal Indians have dreamt of Swaraj for their Motherland. To-day you have the beginnings of Swaraj within my Empiro, and widest scope and ample opportunity for progress to liberty which my other Dominions enjoy." our ·104 OULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA In pursuance of thie policy India has now been given further reforms as embodied in the Government of India Act 1935. "There is, admittedly, no jubilation anywhere about the Act." But there is no denying the fact that it does imply movement towards swaraj, albeit slow and cautious. It seeks to unite the British and Indian India under one Federal Government and transfers the centre of political gravity in India from British to Indian hands. It takes us beyond "influence" and gives us "government." "Under it the primary responsibility for every aspect of India's internal government-including law and order and finance -----will rest on Ministers responsible to legislatures, both provincial and federal, in which there will no longer be any official blocks. The direct administrative responsibility of the Viceroy, for which he will be accountable to the Secretary of State, will be limited to the defence of India against external attack and foreign policy. The responsibility of both Viceroy and Governors in internal affairs will be limited to the right to intervene should there arise a grave menace to the peace and tranquillity of the country or if the legitimate interests or statutory rights of the Princes, minorities, or the services are menaced, or, in the case of the Viceroy only if the financial stability or credit of India is impaired. Should one of these situations arise, the Viceroy and Governors will be endowed with ample constitution- ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS . 105 al powers to make their intervention legally effective. But the initiative will rest in Indian hands. Thus, the basis of the new Act is responsibility and not influence, and unless every bit of experience in England, in the Dominions and in Europe is to be falsified, once the principle of parliamentary initiative and responsibility for finance and law and order is introduced, power will pass steadily and inevitably into the hands of the representatives of the people, provided, as has been the case in the Dominions, the legislatures prove competent to give good government The most salient provisions of the Act, which comprises 478 sections and covers 431 pages in print and is the largest piece of constitutional legislation so far enacted in the world, may be summarised thus: For purposes of Federation sovereign units are required. The native states enjoy internal sovereignty and can make fit federating units. The British Indian provinces, in order to be such units, cease to be gubordinate to the Central Government; they derive their power and authority directly from the Crown. Section 49 provides that "the Executive authority of a province shall be exercised on behalf of His Majesty by the Governor, either directly or through officers subordinate to him " Section 50 provides that "there shall be a Council of ministers The Marquis of Lothian, in a brilliant article published in the Twentieth Century for September 1935.

·106. OULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA to aid and adivse the Governor in the exercise of his functions, except in so far as he is by or under this Act required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion." Such ministers will be chosen and summoned by him from amongst the elected members of the Provincial Legislature, but will be responsible to the Legislature rather than to him. Their salaries also will be determined by it. Section 60 makes provision for the Provincial Legislature which in Madras, Bombay, Bengal, the United Provinces, Bihar and Assam will consist of two chambers and in the Punjab, the Central Provinces and Berar, the North-West Frontier Province, Orissa, and Sind will consist only of one chamber, and of His Majesty, represented by the Governor. The Upper Chamber, where it exists, will be known as the Legislative Council, and the lower or the single chamber as the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative Assembly will continue for five years, but the Legislative Council will be a permanent body not subject to dissolution. One-third of the members of the latter will retire in every third year in favour of new comers. Every minister will speak and take part in the proceedings of the Provincial Legislature, but cannot vote. The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, who will conduct the legislative deliberations, will be chosen by the members of the Legislature from amongst themselves. Such ·POLITIOAL MOVEMENTS 107 officers of the Upper Provincial Houses will be called Presidents and Deputy Presidents. Their salaries will be determined and fixed by the Legislature. The Governor can sometimes address the Legislature, but will not preside over it. In the United Provinces the Legislative Assembly will consist of 228 members and the Legislative Council of not less than 58 and not more than 60 members. Chapter II of the Act makes provisions for the Federal Government. The Federal consecutive authority will be exercised on behalf of His Majesty by the Governor-General, either directly or through officers subordinate to him. "There shall be a council of ministers, not exceeding ten in number, to aid and advise the Governor-General in the exercise o: his functions, except in so far as he is by or under this Act required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion." Section 10 provides that "the Governor-General's ministers shall be chosen and summoned by him, shall be sworn as members of the council, and shall hold office during his pleasure. A minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of either Chamber of the Federal Legislature shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a minister. The salaries of ministers shall be such as the Federal Legislature may from time to time by Act determine and, until the Federal Legislature so determine, shall be determined by the Governor- ·108 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN XODERN INDIA General." The functions of the Governor-General with respect to defenoe, ecolesiastical and external affairs, exoept the relations between the Federation and any part of His Majesty's dominions, will be exercised by him in his discretion. To assist him in such matters he may appoint counsellors, not exceeding three in number, whose salaries and conditions of service will be such as may be prescribed by His Majesty in council. Section 18 provides that "there shall be a Federal Legislature which shall consist of His Majesty, reprosented by the Governor-General, and two Chambers, to be known respectively as the Council of State and the House of Assembly (in this Act referred to as "the Federal Assembly"). The Council of State shall consist of one hundred and fifty-six ropresentatives of British India and not more than one hundred and four representatives of the Indian States, and the Foderal Assembly shall consist of two hundred and fifty representatives of British India and not more than one hundred and twentyfive representatives of the Indian States." The life and nature of these Houses are like those of the Provincial Houses, that is to say, the Upper House is & permanent body whereof one-third members will retire in every third year to make room for now comers, and the lower House will ordinarily continue for five years. The President and Deputy President of the Council of State will be chosen from 1 ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 109 amongst themselves by its members. Such officers of the other House will be chosen similarly, but hey will be called speaker and Deputy speaker respectively. The salaries of these officers will be determined and fixed by the respective Houses. Once elected such Presidents will continue to hold office as long as they are members of the Council or until they are removed by a majority vote of the full and complete Council in session. The Speakers will continue to hold office until the first meeting of the next elected Assembly. As in the Provinces so also here the ministers with the counsellers and the Advocate-General will have the sight to speak in and otherwise to take part in the proceedings of either chamber, out will not be entitled to vote. The India Council will, under this Act, cease to be; but the Secretary of State for India may appoint three to six advisers for himself. The High Commissioner will continue to function as under the old Act of 1919. The new Act (1935) enfranchise 35 million people or about 43 p. o. of the adult population of British India. Burma will cease to be a part of Political India. It will be a separate country with a separate Government. The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh will send 20 members to the Council of Siate, of whom 10 will fill seats originally for three years only and the remaining 10 for six years, and to the Federal Assembly 37 members.

·110 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA CONCLUDING CHAPTER A vision of the Future. Prophecy is a futile practice. It may lead us into practical errors of a serious nature. But what we propose to do here is not propheoy in the medieval sense of the term ; we strive rather to catch a glimpse of the future of our nation as it shapes itself to our imagination, busily engaged in sorting, sifting and determining the various tendencies of to-day. We do not believe in miracles. Everything which comes to the surface of our experience, may be traced to certain antecedents. There is such a thing as the law of causation. Every event is subject to its rigorous working. What is to-day was yesterday, only not so express and manifest, and what may come to-morrow is sure to be much after what we do and desire to-day. As such we may safely, in a measure, speculate about the march of events in the future. Until a few months ago no party of Indian politicians seemed enthusiastic about the Government of India Act 1935. It was greeted with a chorus of condemnation. All were wise to do so. Their demands and expectations had been pitched very high. Frankly those expectations have not been realised. In terms of the Gandhi-Irwin Past England was to concede to India a Reform embodying Resposibility at the Centre, Federation and Provincial Autonomy with safeguards in the interest of ·POLITICAL MOVEMENTS 111 India. The Act actually received seemed to reduce such concessions to melancholy meagreness by the multitude of its meticulous and multiplied safeguards. It would appear to us to be a shadow and not substance, with the unlimited powers of the Governor- General and the Governors. But that was only tliv agitationist mind in the nation. The Act is a settled faot. As the Right Hon. Dr. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru observed in his learned artiole on "The Constitutional Scheme" in the Twentieth Century of Allahabad, it will work us, if we will not work it. He has been heeded. For the past few months we have been perceiving great interest and activity over the imponding elections in the Provinces. Congressmen and all are busy convassing and capturing seats. то what use the Congressmen will turn their prospective membership, they have not yet disclosed. But that they are going to work the Reforms is quite certain. Judging from their past strength, we cannot think that they may be in a position to paralyse the machinery. They will in all probability form a solid opposition. That will be a right good thing. The Liberals and the propertied classes will surely figure prominently.* The initiation being essentially in our hands, it is * These lines were penned in September, 1936. At the time of publication in August, 1937, it is very pleasing to have to write that the congress party is in solid majority in the Legislative Assemblies of six major provinces, where it has formed ministries also. This is very gratifying. We wish the party all success in government.

·112 OULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA possible to get and exercise the substance of powers of Provincial Autonomy, if only the right sort of men and women are returned to the Legislature. It does not easily come within our imagination that a Governor will think of resorting to his especial powers very often. He has to play only the defensive part of the game. It should be open to us to baulk him of all opportunities to hit us effectively. A strong and stable character, with ability of course, is all that is needed in us. A sensible and intelligent conduct of business on the part of our members and ministers may make it altogether impossible for the Governor to have to resort to any special measure. The introduction of the Federal Scheme at the Centre is contingent upon the establishment of a Reserve Bank, entrance of at least half the Princes into the Federation, and the Provincial Governments not being wrecked by the Congress. There is the Reserve Bank already established and functioning. As we have said above Congress cannot command the requisite majority to wreck the Reforms.* Brom all that we have so far seen of the Princes' attitude it is clear that they will join the Federation. The present Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, is out to expedite matters. His Excelleuoy is very auxious that a lovg time should not intervene between the establish- Congaess does command the requisite majority, but it is turning this advantage excellent account by working the Act in statesmanship ·A VISION OF THE FUTURE 113 ment of Provincial Autonomy and the introduction of reforms at the Centre. All these are signs that the Federation will come into being in near future. In working the central reforms naturally more patience and tact will have to be exercised. Some people have expressed a fear that the representatives of the States may retard progress. We do not subscribe to that view. Let us remember that such members will represent states which are altogether sovereign powers. Naturally they will seek powers and privileges sooner than surrender those which the states are already enjoying. They cannot afford to side with the Government, even if some of them had the will to do so. They can as such bo very easily won over by the British Indian representatives. It is not unlikely that these two sections will upite and offer mostly a united front to the Government, as at the first Round Table Conference. It is all a matter of accommodating each other. There is no reason to think that chosen Indian statesmen may lack in this, capacity which is of the very nature of statesmanship. Worked thus in the right spirit the Act way bring us Dominion Status or Swaraj, even though neither term occurs in it. The voice of even partially autonomous India will be too powerful for England to resist. The working of the Federation will naturally lead to a oloser unifioation of the two Indias and 0.8 ·114 OULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA their people. In most of the native states the nultural life is very backward at present. Indeed they are living more than a century behind the times. This state of affairs will, we think, disappear very 800n. No doubt the states are to enter the Federation on their internal rights being safe-guarded ; but they cannot escape a powerful influence of the sister British area. All those state subjects who have no voice in the administration will demand it and the rulers will concede those demands, if from no higher motive, at least from that of looking progressive in an age of progress and in the company of those in enjoyment of such progress. There are certain aspects of citizenship which are to be shared by the states people also. This fact certainly will have its own effect upon the rulers' attitude to reforms. With a due voice in the administration everywhere the general progress of the people will naturally be spacious and speedy. That wider diffusion of education is our orying need is admitted on all hands. Even if the present pace of progress is maintained, in the course of the next fifteen or twenty years we would have made great headway. Under the new reforms there is bound to be displayed more enthusiasm in this field than hitherto. The actual result, therefore, will surely be quite satisfactory. British Indian Provinces have a fair number of Universities. Of the states only Hyderabad and Mysore have established universities of their ·A VISION OF THE FUTURE 115: Own, There is no reason why there should not be a few more in other states. In Central India and Rajputana it is not difficult to found two. So far there is no regular occasion for concerted action. The Federation will give that. And it is not unlikely that the first measure of reforms in these areas may be the foundation of a Central India and Rajputana University with its headquarters either at Ajmer or Indore. With a higher level of thought derived from university education our future youths all over the country will surely half create and half preserve their culture. In the earlier parts of this book we have seen that there is twofold tendency towards adaptation and preservation. There is no reason to think that tihe same tendency will not grow stronger from decade to decado. We cannot be all and only Indian. We cannot be all English. A happy compromise between the two is the only wise course. We have known and recognized this. There seems to be much force in the thought of some great men that India has been selected for the birth of a new culture wherein the East and the West will meet in delightful embraces. Such a meeting is already in evidence. The study of the Literature and Philosophy of the West, the spread of Christian thought, and the association of Europeans are surely effecting an orientation in our outlook. Such a spirit of give and take has come to stay ·116* OULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA and will strengthen in future. Our culture, however, is so wide and catholio that it is adapting itself to the changing ciroumstances without surrendering its essentials. Indeed some adaptations are only adoptions of our own in disguise. Within the last one hundred years or so India has produced a long roll of great men and women. She has given birth to a Mahatma like Gandhi, to a Dharmatma like Malaviya, to a poet like Tagore, to & statesman like Tilak, to a thinker like Radha Krishnan, to a patriot like Jawahirlal, to daughters like Sarojini and Kamla Nehru, to gentlemen and scholars like Sapru, Seshadri, Bose, Ganesh Prasad and a host of others. Through these Iudia has made no mean contribution to world-progress. In future she will occupy an increasingly more important position in the comity of nations. Her glorious past is a sure prophecy of her glorious future. "'Into that heaven, my Father, let my country awake."

·47, 48 INDEX. Principal Institutions. Agra University 50, 57 Vedant Society 43, 45, 46, Aligarh University 67, 58, 59 Vishwabharti, Bolpur Allahabad High Court 67 60, 61 Allahabad University 57 All India Liberal Fede- Proper Names. ration 91 A Arya Samaj 33, 34, 36, 37, Adyar 81 38, 39, 43, 60 Afghanistan 11 Benares Hindu University Agarkar, G. G. 82 42, 57, 58, 59 Agra 49, 57, 82, 84, 100, Bombay University 56 109 Brahma Samaj 24, 27, 29, Ahamedabad 17 30, 31, 33, 43 Akbar Shah II 26 Calcutta School of Oriental Akbar the Great 14 Art 75 Alamgir 16 Calcutta University 56 Alexander 7 Gurukul, Brindaban 60 Aligarh 57, 58 Gurukul, Hardwar 60 Allahabad 71, 72, 84, 85, Indian National Congress 111 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, Almora 47 88, 89, 91, 93, 94, 95, 96, Ambashankar 34 97, 98 America 47, 68, 73 Lucknow University 57, 66 Amritsar 74, 92 Madras University 56 Anandkumarswami 63 Oxford University 65 Anandswarup Maharaja Parliament of Religions, 49, 50 Chicago 47 Arundale, G. 89 Radhaswami Satsanga 48, Aryabhatta 11 49, 50, 51 Ashoka 21, 53, 79 Theosophical Society 36, Assam 106 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 Assyria 7 ·118 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA Aurangzeb 17, 66, 79 Buddha 8, 44, 53, 79 Ayodhya 4 Burma 109 Ayodhyanath 85 C B Caesar, J. 77 Babylon 7, 10 Cairo 12 Badcayan 20 Caloutta 45, 47, 54, 56, 71, Baghdad 12 72, 75, 84, 99, 101 Banerjee, C. K. 75 Calicut 17 Banerjee, S. N, 70, 81, 89, Cambay 17 91 Camorin 79 Banerjee, W. C. 82, 83 Chandra Gupta 9 Basu, Major 66 Chandrawarkar, N.O. 82 Belur 47 Chariar, M. V. 82 Benares 43, 54, 57, 58, 64, Charlu, P. A. 81 88 Charlu, R.B, P. A. 82 Bengal 19, 23, 24, 82, 87, Chatterjee, G. 45 90, 100, 101, 106 Chattopadhyaya, H. 68 Bentink, Lord W.55 Chemsford, Lord 93, 103 Berar 106 Chicago 47 Besant, Annie 7, 24, 40, China 10 41, 55, 72, 90, 91, 92 Chintamani, C. Y. 71 Bhagwandas, Dr. 64 Christ, Jesus 23, 25, 44. Bhandarkar, Dr. 66 Chaplankar, S. 6. 28 Bharatvarsha 9, 80 Ciculus, D. 7 Bharukcha 10 Clive, Lord 22 Bihar 19, 90, 106 Colvin, Sir A. 85 Blavatsky, H. P. 39, 40, Cornwallis, Lord 22 41 Curzon, Lord 56 Bolpur 60 Consius, G. H. 76 Bombay 23, 31, 56, 72, 73, 82, 85, 92, 100, 101, 106 D Bose, J. C. 67, 116 Dadabhai Naoroji 81, 82, Bose, N. 75 84, 87, 90 Brahma Gupta 11 Dadu 14 Brindaban 39, 60 Dakshineshwar 45 Britain 26, 78 Damasous 12 2 ·INDEX 119 Dadi 96 Germany 77 Dandin 5, 6 Ghosh, À 68 Dar, B. N. 85 Ghosh, M. 81 Darbhanga 85 Ghosh, R. B 88, 89 Datta. Miss T. 68 Gokhle, G. K. 56, 85, 86 Datta, H. M. 62 Gopal, P. 81 Datta, N. 46 H Datta, R. C. 62, 66 Dashrath, King 3, 53 Haldar, A. 75 Dayalbagh 49, 50 Hamilton, Mr. 22 Dayanandsarswati, Swami Hardwar 10, 39 24, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39 Harishachandra 81, 82 Delhi 16, 17, 70, 74 Harsb, King 12, 13, 21 Dharamsey, A. M. 82 Hastings, Warren 22, 24 Dharasana 96 Havell, E. B. 9 Digley, John 25 Hiram 7 Draupadi 3 Hoogly 45 Dufferin, Lord 85 Hume, A. 0.82 Dyer, General 92, 93 Hyderabad 114 E India, 6, 7, 16, 20, 36, 47, Egypt 7, 10 68, 74, 76, 84, 91, 98, Elbe 77. 102, 103, 104, 108, 109, Elizabeth, Queen 14, 16 110 England 16, 17, 78, 84, Indore 115 86, 87, 97, 107, 110 Irwin, Lord 96, 97, 110 Europe 12, 47, 64, 68, 73, Ishwari Prasad, Dr. 14, 66 105 Iyengar, R. 71 F Iyer, C. S. 82 Farquhar, Dr. 48 Iyer, S. 71, 81, 82. G J Gago 17 Jahangir, Emperor 16 Gandhi, Mahatma 64, 72, Jaiswal, Dr. 66 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96, Jalianwala Bagh 92 97, 110, 116 Jammu 7 Ganesh Prasad, Dr. 67,116 Japan 47 ·120 CULTURAL MOVEMENTS IN MODERN INDIA Java 12 Jayakar M. R. 96 Jinnah M. A. 89 Joad C. E. M. 65 Jones, Sir W.22 K Kaliñas 75 Kambodia 12 Kamla Nehru, Mrs. 116 Kamrup 79 Kashi 10 Kashiprasad 81 Kashmir 79 Kathiawar 34, 79 Kichlu, Dr. 92 Krishna, Bhagwan 2, 3, 44, 75, 79 Krishnamurti, J. 65 Kosal, J. 82 Kautilya 10 L Lahore 36, 47, 74 Lakshminarayan 81 Lanka 4 Linlithgow, Lord 112 London 10, 75 Lucknow 70, 74, 89 Ludhiana 36 Lytton, Lord 36, 69 M Macaulay, Lord 55 Madhwacharya 14 Madras 31, 56, 63, 71, 82, 84, 100, 101, 106 Magadhg 10 Malabar 17 Malaviya, Pt. M. M. 59, 89, 91, 97, 116 Mandalik, V. N. 81 Mathura 35 Mayavati 47 Mazumdar, A C. 89 Meston, Lady 89 Meston, Sir J. 89 Metcalfe, Sir C. 69 Mehta, P. 82 Milton, J. 62 Minio, Lord 101 Mitter, C. C. 82 Mohammad, Prophet 49 Montagu, Mr. 103 Moolshankar 34 Morley, Lord 101 Mudaliar, C. V. 81 Mukerjee, Dr. R. 7, 66 My ore 74, 114 N Nagpur 94 Naidu Mr. P. R. 81, 82 Naland 12, 13 Nanak 14 Natesan, Mr. G. A. 63, 72 Nathdwara 74, 75 Natrajau, Mr. K. 72 Nehru, Pt J. 94, 97, 116 Nehru, Pt. M. L. 93, 94 Newyork 41 Nineveh 7 0 Odeyar, Raja, K. 74 Sir M. 93 Olcott, Col. 39 O'Dwyer, ·INDEX 121 2 Trissa 19, 106 Rhino 77 Sudh 57, 82, 109 Ripon 56, 70, 83 Alord 65 Roerich, Prof. I P Roy, P. C. 67 Rukmini 3 Pal, Mr. B. C. 88 Paris 75 S Parmananda, Swami 34 Samarkand 12 Pataliputra 10 Sapru, Sir T. B. 96, 111, Patna 24, 72 116 Philip II (of Spain) 14 Sardesai 66 Pillai, P. K. 82 Sarkar, Sir J. N. 66 Pitt Mr. 99 Sarojini Devi, Mrs. 68, 116 Poona 81, 82 Satyapal, Dr. 92 Punjab 36, 74, 92, 106 Sayani, R. M. 82 R Semiramis 7 Radha 75 Sen, K. C. 31, 36 Radhakrishnan, Sir 65, Sen, N. 81, 82 116 Serampur 69 Ragozin, Prof. 2 Seshadri, Principal P. 68, Rai, Lala L. 72 116 Rai, Raja R. M. 23, 24, Shah Alam, Emperor 17 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 54, 69, Shakespeare, W. 62 81 Shankaracharya, Swami Rai Shaligram Saheb 35, 38 Bahadur 49 Sharda, D. B. H. 63 Rajpytana 74, 115 Sharshah, Sultan 14 Ram, Bhagwan 2, 3, 4, 79 Shivadayalji Maharaja 49 Raman, Sir C. V. 67 Shivaji, Maharaja 16, 66 Ramanujacharya 14 Shraddhananda, Swami 92 Ramdas, Swami 14, 23 Shri Brahmashankar Rameses II 7 Mishraji 49 Ramkrishna, Paramhansa Shri Ram 81, 82 46 Simon, Sir, J. 95 Ram Tirtha, Swami 47, 48 Sind 106 Ranade, M. G. 63, 66, 83 Sinha S. D. 81, 82 Rao, R. R. N. 83 Sita 3 ·CULTURAL MOVEIENTS IN MODERN INDIA . Spencer, H. 4 U Strabrobates Ujjain 10 Suleman, Sir, S. 67 V Samatra 12 Vallala 53 Surat 16, 88 Valmiki, Maharshi 8, 68 Surdas 14, 15 Verma, G. P. 71, 82 T Verma, R. 75 Tagore, Dr. R. 28, 60, 68, Vikramaditya, King 21 Viotoria, Queen 36 75, 116 Virahmihir 11 Tagore, A. 75 Tagore, Maharshi, D. 29, Vivekanand, Swami 47 Virjananda, Pandit 35 30 Tagore, Prince D. N. 28 W Takshashila 10 Wacha, Sir D. 82 Tanjore 74 Washington, George 103 Tankara 34 Woddernburn, Sir W. 85 Tejpal, G. 82 Wilkins, C. 22 Telang, K. T. 81, 82 Williams, M. 4 Tibet 10, 41 Willingdon, Lend 97, 98 Tilak, Lokmanya 63, 64, Wilson, W. 7 66, 88, 89, 90, 91, 116 Wood, Sir C. 66 Tolapuriji 45, 46 Y Tukaram, Sant 14 Yajnik, J. 82 Tulsidas, Goswami 14, 15, Yudhishthir 2, 3 23 Yule, G. 85 Tyabji, B. 84 Z Tyre 7 Zoraster, Prophet 44 Printed by Radha Raman Agarwal at the Modern Press, Agra Published by Lakshmi Narain Agarwal, Educational Publisher, Agra

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