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M.K. Gandhi & Hind Swaraj Week 5, Lecture 1

Today, we will discuss…

• More on Civilization• Gandhi on Writing • The Mother and the Prostitute• Masculinity• Hindu and Muslim Relations in India • Brute Force vs. Passive Resistance

Civilization

• Gandhi calls modern civilization barbaric• Modern civilization associated directly with the

industrial revolution• Modern civilization associated with disease, slavery,

immorality, • “We are turning away from God.” (TRUTH)• “Railways, lawyers and doctors have impoverished

the country”• “India is being ground down not under the English

heel but under that of modern civilization.” (42)

What is Gandhi’s interpretation of writing?

“Their writings hypnotise us. And so…we are drawn into the vortex.” (35)

Genres discussed in HS:

1. Dialogues*2. Petitions (84-85)*3. Newspapers (32-33)4. Histories (56, 89)

Newspapers• “Newspapers are often dishonest”(32)

• “Their newspaper is their Bible” (32)

• What happens to the English people who read newspapers? (33)

(Please remember, Gandhi is the editor of a newspaper called the Indian Opinion)

History• “[The English] have a habit of writing

history…and hypnotise us into believing them.” (56)

• “History is a record of wars…” (89)

• “ A nation that has no history (records of wars) is a happy nation…”(89)

Gandhi’s Resolution?

• Take note of peace and soul-force in History (89-90)

• “…as so many writers have shown, [India] has nothing to learn from anyone else…” (67)

• Indian Civilization=True Civilization (67)*

The Mother and the Prostitute• “The Mother of Parliaments is like a sterile

woman and a prostitute.” (30, 32)

Sterile: Not producing or incapable of producing offspring

• Paid for services• Have no single Master• No steady movement (No commitment)• No Honesty• No Living Conscience

Continued…• “Women, who should be the queens of

households, wander in the streets, or they slave in factories.” (37)

• “If pleaders were to abandon their profession and consider it just as degrading as prostitution, English rule would break up in a day.” (61)

[Remember, for Gandhi, these are consequences of modern civilization]

“A lady spinning Swadeshi yarn”

“…it behoves every lover of India to cling to the old Indian civilization even as a child clings to its mother’s breast.” (71)

“Mahatma Gandhi in Mother India’s Lap”

(Maha=Great + Atma=Soul)

“A message of love” (1930)

Advertisement (1940s)

“Grief of Mother India”

“Mother India”

“Mother India”

Masculinity• “They lack real physical strength or courage.”

(37)• “We have become emasculated and

cowardly.” (44)• “…render us effeminate…” (44)• “I should prefer to be killed by the arrow of a

Bhil than to seek unmanly protection.”• “Believe me that a man devoid of courage

and manhood can never be a passive resister.” (93)

Hindus and Muslims: How can India be one nation?

• “India cannot cease to be one nation because people belonging to different religions live in it.” (52)

• “In no part of the world are one nationality and one religion synonymous.” (53)

More on Hindus & Muslims• “The fact is that we have become

enslaved…” (54)

• “These thoughts are put into our minds by selfish and false religious teachers.” (56)

• “We Hindus and Muslims would have to blame our folly rather than the English…(56)

Brute Force• Resistance by arms, violence

• “…the force of love and pity is greater than the force of arms.” (84) [case of the thief]

• “Extremists are considered to be advocates of brute force.” (93)

• One of the aims of non-violence is the moral regeneration of the pertpetrator/oppressor

Passive Resistance (Satyagraha)

• Passive Resistance is soul-force (93)

• (Sat=Truth/God/Soul)+ (agraha=force)

• Opposite of “resistance by arms” (90)

More Passive Resistance

• Sacrifice of self (90) [self-improvement]

• Brute Force: sacrifice of others

• “Real home rule is possible only where passive resistance is the guiding force of the people. Any other rule is foreign rule.” (96)

Passive Resistance, continued…

• “Those who want to become passive resisters for the service of the country have to observe… (96)

1. Perfect chastity(Celebacy)

2. Adopt poverty (Simplicity)

3. Follow truth (God)

4. Cultivate fearlessness

Conclusion

Reader: This is a large order. When will all carry it out? (118)

Editor: You make a mistake. You and I have nothing to do with the others. Let each do his duty. If I do my duty, that is, serve myself, I shall be able to serve others.

Editor: I bear no enmity towards the English, but I do towards their civilization.

Passive ResistanceSatyagraha

1. Political Participation

2. Resistance

3. Public Expression

4. Ethical Interactions