Revisiting Modern Indian Thought

Themes and Perspectives

Suratha Kumar Malik, Ankit Tomar

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000416886
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book presents a comprehensive account of the socio-political thought of prominent modern Indian thinkers. It offers a clear understanding of the basic concepts and their contributions on contemporary issues.

Key features:

• Explores the nature, scope, relevance, context, and theoretical approaches of modern Indian thought and overviews its development through an in-depth study of the lives and ideas of major thinkers.
• Examines critical themes such as nationalism, swaraj, democracy and state, liberalism, revolution, socialism, constitutionalism, secularism, saty?graha, swadeshi, nationbuilding, humanism, ethics in politics, democratic decentralisation, religion and politics, social transformation and emancipation, and social and gender justice under sections on liberal-reformist, moderate-Gandhian, and leftist-socialist thought.
• Brings together insightful essays on Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Day?nanda Saraswati, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Pandita Ramabai, Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Dadabhai Naoroji, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, Ram Manohar Lohia, Babu Jagjivan Ram, Vinoba Bhave, Acharya Narendra Deva, Manabendra Nath Roy, and Jayaprakash Narayan.
• Traces different perspectives on the way India's composite cultures, traditions, and conditions inf luenced the evolution of their thought and legacy.

With its accessible style, this book will be useful to teachers, students, and scholars of political science, modern Indian political thought, modern Indian history, and political philosophy. It will also interest those associated with exclusion studies, political sociology, sociology, and South Asian studies.

PART 1
Liberal-reformist thought

1
RAM MOHAN ROY

Anuranjita Wadhwa

The present system of Hindus is not well calculated to promote their Political Interests. It is necessary that some change should take place in their religion at least for the sake of Political advantage and Social comfort.

– Raja Ram Mohan Roy (cited in Majumdar 1967: 24)

I Introduction

Raja Ram Mohan Roy is hailed as the inaugurator of the Modern Age in India. He surged ahead with his tools despite several obstacles; his view to achieve his earmarked goals undoubtedly earned him the appreciation and quality of an Indian patriot. He initiated social reform in the prevalent Hindu social structure. His contribution to the uplifting of Indian society from decadence of socio-religious backwardness signifies a kind of break with the traditions inherited by his generation. Ram Mohan’s originality and greatness lay in his attempt to synthesise Hindu, Islamic, and Western traditions. This implied discrimination and systematic choice, directed by the strands of reason and social comfort. Ram Mohan was a precursor to the awakening of Indian consciousness from the slumbers of socio-religious backwardness in a society ridden with discrimination. His questioning mind led him to assess the worthiness of an idea or an action. His quest for truth in the society of his times continued throughout his life. Tolerance became the key word of his mission to bring out the best in human beings. This quality transcended all narrow frontiers to a vision of a universal man, ‘Raja Ram Mohan Roy’, who truly appears to illuminate the depths of darkness fully entrenched in nineteenth-century India. Susobhan Sarkar wrote:

The central characteristics in the life and thoughts of Ram Mohan Roy were his keen consciousness of the stagnant, degraded and corrupt State into which our society had fallen, his deep love of the people which sought their all-round regeneration, his critical appreciation of the value of modern Western culture and the ancient wisdom of the East alike, and his many untiring efforts in fighting for improving conditions around him.

(cited in Barua 1988: 79)

His holistic approach towards life blossomed into a multifaceted personality with numerous social concerns. His socio-religious ideas, advocacy of the rights of man, particularly freedom of press, indicates a total view of man and society. The wide spectrum of his activities coincided with the range of his interests and concerns.

II Life sketch

Raja Ram Mohan Roy was born on 14 August 1774 to Ramakanta Roy and Tarini Devi in Radhanagar village of Hoogly district, Bengal Presidency. His father was a wealthy Brāhmin and orthodox individual and strictly followed religious duties. He was a revenue official and dependent land holder under the maharani of Burdwan. At the age of 14, Ram Mohan expressed his desire to become a monk, but his mother vehemently opposed the idea and he dropped it. Following the traditions of the time, Ram Mohan had a child marriage at the age of nine, but his first wife died soon after the marriage. He was married for a second time at ten and had two sons from the marriage. After the death of his second wife in 1826, he married for a third time, and his third wife outlived him.

Though his father was very orthodox, he wanted his son to pursue higher education. Ram Mohan got Bengali and Sanskrit education from the village school. After that, he was sent to Patna to study Persian and Arabic in a madrasa. Persian and Arabic were in high demand at that time, as it was still the court language of the Mughal emperors. He studied the Qurʾān and other Islamic scriptures. After he completed his studies in Patna, Ram Mohan went to Benaras (Kashi) to learn Sanskrit. He mastered the language in no time and began studying scriptures, including the Vedās and Upaniṣhads. He learnt English at the age of 22. He read the works of philosophers, like Euclid and Aristotle, which helped shape his spiritual and religious conscience.

In 1803, Ram Mohan went to Murshidabad after the death of his father. In 1809, he entered the services of the East India Company as a clerk. He worked in the Collectorate of Rangpur, under Mr John Digby. He was eventually promoted to be a dewan, a post that referred to a native officer entrusted with the role of collecting revenues. But in 1814, he gave up his service under the East India Company and went to Calcutta. In 1816, he started the Atmiya Sabha – “spiritual society”. In 1818, Ram Mohan began his celebrated crusade for the abolition of sati, and in 1829 Lord William Bentick, the Governor General of India, declared sati illegal by Regulation XVII. Ram Mohan’s crusade to free Indian women from the ill practices prevalent at that time certainly won immortal recognition (Varma 1974: 16–17).

III Liberalism and Indian renaissance

In the backdrop of British domination over India, a new middle class grew in Bengal. Western education had created revolutionary thinkers imbibed with the characteristics of Western education, such as rationalism, intellectualism, individualism, a critical attitude towards scriptures, and a synthetic approach to religion, secularism, cosmopolitanism, and humanism. The spread of Western education led to the inauguration of new awakening in India heralded by Ram Mohan. The liberal and revivalist thoughts of nineteenth-century India were greatly influenced by the liberal thoughts of the West, which stemmed from the renaissance in Europe in the fifteenth century. The European renaissance was a reassertion of classical rationalism. It was with a sharp gesture of impatience that Europe turned away from the vast literature of scholastic commentaries which the pendants of the Middle Ages had created (Tagore 1975: 1). The flowering of Indian renaissance in the nineteenth century had two fundamental concepts not found in fifteenth-century Europe. Ram Mohan had not failed to notice plural religions on the Indian soil and the lack of amity amongst them. Thus, the synthesis of the religions and unqualified support to democratic struggles for freedom of oppressed people around the world were important ideals towards which Ram Mohan strived, and he had to choose his own path.

As the “Father of Modern India”, Raja Ram Mohan Roy is regarded as the pioneer of all religious, social, and educational reforms in the Hindu community in the nineteenth century. As a father of modern Hindu reform, Ram Mohan identified a break with tradition. To restore the moral and rational basis of Hinduism, Ram Mohan championed a version of monotheism. To resuscitate classical Hinduism, Ram Mohan upheld that true realisation of man is his inner consciousness. His rationalistic mental makeup is clearly implicit in his writing Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin, written in Persian. Through this writing, Ram Mohan points out the general unity of thought among all human beings regarding belief in the existence of one Supreme Being (Tagore 1975: 7–9). He noted that “by giving peculiar attributes to that Being and… by holding different creeds consisting of the doctrines of religion and precepts of haram (the forbidden) and halal (the legal)” (Bishop 1982: 35), people develop discord amongst themselves. Thus, Ram Mohan concluded that the reformation of religion is a prerequisite for social reform and modernisation. Accordingly, he founded the Atmiya Sabha in 1815, the Calcutta Unitarian Association in 1821 and the Brahmo Sabha, or the Congregation of the Absolute, in 1828.

The Brahmo Samaj was founded to promote the vision of Hindu monotheism. Ram Mohan worked to deliver to the world the idea that the crux of all religion is the dichotomy between religion and morality. The belief in one ultimate being who is regulating the collective universe was the teaching of Brahmo Samaj, and the realisation of this power could be made through compassion and benevolence towards our fellow beings. Brahmo Samaj, popularly called the “society of worshippers”, met for the first time in Calcutta on 20 August 1828. Without any organisation or membership, the gathering were encouraged to feel the presence of Supreme God, which Ram Mohan referred to after his reading of Upaniṣhads, called Vedānta. The year 1830 was marked by a new level of organ-isation and accomplishment with the publication of the Brahmo Trust Deed. With this document, Ram Mohan’s desire to create a public form of worship of the ultimate Being irrespective of creed is translated to inculcate the spirit of service to mankind.

Ram Mohan’s idea of a unitarian God was directed in eradicating idolatry and polytheism. He believed monotheism paved the way for a universal moral order based on reason. The significance of this was recognised by Bentham when he wrote, “Ram Mohan Roy had cast off thirty three million of Gods and had learnt from us to embrace reason in all the important aspect of religion” (cited in Hatcher 2006: 57–80).¹

IV Social and religious reforms

The reform movement spearheaded under Ram Mohan’s leadership challenged the religious ideas and practices of orthodox Hindu religion. Of all the abominations associated with the faith of the Hindus, which had become the object of derision of the people of an enlightened world, perhaps the greatest was the custom of sati, or woman burning. Ram Mohan from an early period came to abhor the custom of blood and murder connected with religious belief and practices. But moral pressure as well as other difficulties had their effect. This provided an apt canvass for Ram Mohan and his liberal group to launch their campaign against the inhuman custom, not only by counter-petitioning government but by publishing tracts to show that the practice was not approved by the Hindu Śhāstras, as had been asserted by its votaries. The appearance of Ram Mohan’s first tract on sati was an innovation for the philanthropist, humanist, and administrator alike. The Calcutta Gazette remarked:

The question itself is of the highest importance, and the true interpretation of the religious law which has stained the domestic history of India for so many ages with blood will no doubt diminish, if not extinguish the desire for self-immolation. The safest way of coming to a right understanding on a point so interesting to humanity, is a rigid investigation of the rules of conduct laid down in the books which are considered sacred by the Hindus.

(Sarkar 1975: 114)

The government could not act against the barbarous act and continued to follow the policy of religious tolerance. They were reluctant to authorise a general prohibition and satisfied themselves by giving a wide discretion to the local authorities regarding the prevention of the custom. The assumption of the office of Governor-General by Lord Bentinck in 1828 gave a new aspect to the agitation. He was one of those who strongly felt that time had come for the heinous practice to be prohibited by legislation with safety. It was largely the efforts of Ram Mohan that yielded to the adoption of the bold and forward measure for the prohibition of the detestable practice in 1829.

The emancipation of women from centuries-old traditions did not stop with the abolition of sati; Ram Mohan also advocated other progressive social reforms, such as the prevention of Koolinism and the sale of girls, the introduction of widow remarriage, female education, and women’s right to property (Majumdar 1941: xxviii–xxxix). Ram Mohan tried to prove the unjustifiability of the caste by holding that “God makes no distinction of caste and that our division into castes… has the source of want of unity among us” (Bishop 1982: 21).

V Political ideas

Social and religious reform movements were considered a precursor to India’s political advancement. Ram Mohan considered the prevalent social and religious aberrations as causes responsible for India’s falling prey to foreign conquest and social degeneration. He stated his convictions on political advancement in the following words:

I regret to say that the present system of religion adhered to by the Hindus is not well calculated to promote their political interest. The distinction of castes, introducing innumerable divisions and sub-divisions among them, has entirely deprived them of political feeling, and the multitude of religious rites and ceremonies.… I think, necessary changes should take place in their religion at least for the sake of political advantage and social comfort.

(cited in Chandra 1989: 76)

Ram Mohan idealised Indian society on the lines of democratic values propagated in the West and desired to amalgamate Western liberal learning and Western ethics in the Indian social structure. He believed the Western system was conducive to the enjoyment of extensive civil and political rights. Ram Mohan thus appreciated the liberal aspects of British rule, and his political thought incorporated these aspects. After a thorough study of the English Constitution, Ram Mohan strongly made a demand for individual liberty as enjoyed by the masses in the West. He had a passionate love for liberty of thought. The universal appeal of liberty transformed along political lines with nationalism making ground on the Indian soil.

Ram Mohan, though appreciative of the British rule, w...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Preface and acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part I Liberal-reformist thought
• Part II Moderate-Gandhian thought
• Part III Leftist-socialist thought
• Index