Politics
Answering Calumny-III: Non-Hindu Sources Of Gandhi's Satyagraha?
Aravindan Neelakandan
Jun 29, 2023, 09:47 PM | Updated Jun 30, 2023, 05:23 PM IST
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A vital argument of the 'Frontline' article on Veer Savarkar is how it positions Gandhiji.
This is the third article in a five-part series. You can read other parts here: Part One, Part Two, Part Four, Part Five.
"The Reformation (which led to the birth of Protestantism) in Europe had gained popular support and established itself through non-violent struggle. It served as the model for all the later democratic movements across Europe. Exposure to this mode of resistance was the reason the European Christians could appreciate Gandhi’s methods when he staged his satyagraha. Post-Reformation, many such popular resistance movements took place in Europe. Gandhi modelled his democratic ways on their example as well as on the Endurance-and-Sacrifice-based protests carried out by Jains in India"
Here, the streams flowing into Gandhi's Satyagraha are Christianity and Jainism. Hindu Dharma, mainly the Vaishnava tradition, is absent. In this context, even the argument that the Vaishnavism of Gandhi—Pushtimarga—was actually Jain-influenced, is a demonstrably false.
This perspective is associated with the Ramachandra Guha school of thought, which seeks to de-Hinduize Gandhi. According to this school, any Hindu influence on Gandhi, particularly from the Vedic tradition, is downplayed or disregarded.
An example of this is seen in Guha's rejection of any Advaitic (non-dualistic) basis to Gandhi's ecological vision even when Arne Naess, the famous philosopher of ecology, wrote so.
Sri Aurobindo's Similar, Superficial Criticism of Gandhi
It's worth noting that Sri Aurobindo had also criticized Gandhi along similar lines.
... what he (Gandhi) preaches is not Indian spirituality but something derived from Russian Christianity, non-violence, suffering, etc. The gospel of suffering he is preaching has its root in Russia as nowhere else in Europe - other Christian nations don't believe in it. ... All his preaching is derived from Christianity, and though the garb is India the essential spirit is Christian. He is largely influenced by Tolstoy, the Bible and has a strong Jain tinge in his teachings; at any rate more than by the Indian scriptures - the Upanishads or the Gita, which he interprets in the light of his own idea.October 1922
Sri Aurobindo's criticism of Gandhi and the Guha-school's de-Hinduizing depiction may appear similar but have significant differences in context, intention, and content.
Further, Sri Aurobindo's was a critical but contemporary observation and not a definitive statement. Gandhi was then around to refute and respond. In contrast, the Frontline article presents its claims as historical facts about Gandhi without considering his own perspective, disregarding the principle of truth that Gandhi held dear.
Sri Aurobindo criticised Gandhi for the perceived Christian nature of his concepts. But he pointed out that it was more the Russian Christianity that had influenced Gandhi. He also did not hide the fact that Gandhi himself attributed his Ahimsa to Hindu scriptures - particularly the Upanishads and Gita. Yet, he considered Gandhi's interpretation not wholly correct.
For Sri Aurobindo Gandhi's connection was influenced by Russian Christianity (mainly as presented by Tolstoy). However, The Frontline essay falsely portrays Gandhi as continuing the legacy of the Western Reformation-Protestant movement in India.
European Reformation-Protestantism Influenced Gandhi?
The Reformation period in the West, along with the Protestant movement, and the Renaissance, along with the Enlightenment, are distinct but interconnected processes, often mistaken for one another.
The Renaissance boasts a legacy that includes figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus, Michelangelo, Giordano Bruno, Galileo, Descartes, and American transcendentalists.
Protestantism, in a sense, increasingly reacted against the Enlightenment. Protestantism viewed the Enlightenment as more Pagan than Christian, and this perception was not entirely unfounded.
Over time, narratives emerged that blurred the boundaries between the values of the European Enlightenment and Protestantism, particularly to justify colonial missions.
Within the realm of the European Reformation, violence and massacres were prevalent, rather than a democratic process.
The defining moments of this period were marked by massacres, primarily targeting peasants.
Paradoxically, while Protestantism opposed the power structure of the Catholic Church, it also violently suppressed peasant uprisings. These uprisings, even those with vague Protestant influence, similarly turned violent.
The year was 1525 CE in Germany - a year before the First Battle of Panipat in India.
In India, standing before the might of a fierce Mongol warlord invader and fanatic, Guru Nanak spoke in verses against the hardship people were suffering because of his invasions.
Guru Nanak criticized the officials who imposed taxes and oppressed the people. He used the metaphor of hunters employing a tamed deer to capture others:
Deer, hawks, and government officials are known to be trained and clever. When the trap is set, they trap their own kind; hereafter, they will find no place of rest. He alone is learned and wise, and he alone is a visionary scholar who practices the divine Name. First, the tree puts down its roots, and then it spreads out its shade above [to protect people from sun]. The kings become tigers—[beasts of prey]—and their officials become greedy dogs; they go out and awaken the sleeping people to terrorize them. The public servants inflict wounds with their nails: O dogs! Lick the blood and marrow of the poor.
During the same time period, Martin Luther utilised the new technology of the printing press to widely publish a pamphlet addressing grievances raised by peasants.
In his writings, Luther expressed that the peasants should know their place and, if necessary, be killed or even massacred, likening them to mad dogs. Luther kept a record of the peasant massacres, occasionally feeling sadness but mostly rejoicing that he had been an instrument of God in prompting the aristocracy to quell the uprising. In a final pamphlet, Luther argued: 'everyone who can must run, uncalled and unbidden and as a true member, help to rescue his ruler by stabbing hewing and killing and risk his life and goods for the sake of the head.'
The Bhakti movement in India and the Reform movement in Europe, both had parallel growth and both took diametrically opposite views with regard to the relation of the people and the rulers.
It is not hard to see to which tradition Gandhi belonged to.
The Explicit Western Influences:
There are three sources from the West, particularly larger Christendom, which could be seen as having an influence on Gandhi:
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862);
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), and;
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
Of the three, Tolstoy and Thoreau were influenced by Hindu tradition and thought. Of these three, the one who had the main influence on Gandhi's Satyagraha was Thoreau.
Tolstoy's influence could be found in Ahimsa whereas Ruskin's influence could be seen in the Antyodaya and Sarvodaya concepts.
While Tolstoy initially had some criticisms of Hindu concepts, he eventually became more open to them; and Thoreau, profoundly influenced by the Bhagavad Gita, in turn influenced Gandhi's adoption of the term "Civil Disobedience":
One of the crowning achievements of the Gita was to connect knowledge and action by its injunction to act out of duty while not getting entangled in desire and the results of action. Thoreau was not convinced by the Gita’s argument and he did not, in Walden, achieve or even set himself the goal of achieving a compromise, but when we take that main work together with his political essays such as 'Civil Disobedience' and 'A Plea for Captain John Brown,' and his own personal political activism, we find that he did achieve such a compromisePaul Friedrich, Gita Within Walden, SUNY, 2008, p.125
Now coming to the crucial question:
What did Gandhi himself have to say about the influences on him?
He was very clear that he was rooted in his Sanatana Hindu heritage - particularly his Vaishnava Vedanta. Gandhi repeatedly gave the example of Prahalada, Harishchandra and Mirabai as Indian instances of Satyagraha.
It is interesting here he did not include Buddha or the Tirthankars.
Conceptually, he linked Satyagraha to the primacy of Brahmin over arms-bearing Kshatriya in Varnashrama Dharma:
The way of varnashrama is a necessary law of nature. India, by making a judicious use of it, derives much benefit. Even the Muslims and the English in India observe this system to some extent. ... The highest place in India is assigned to the brahmana dharma—which is soul-force. Even the armed warrior does obeisance to the Brahmin. So long as this custom prevails, it is vain for us to aspire for equality with the West in force of arms. It is our Kamadhenu. It brings good both to the satyagrahi and his adversary. It is ever victorious. For instance, Harishchandra was a satyagrahi, Prahlad was a satyagrahi, Mirabai was a satyagrahi. Daniel, Socrates and those Arabs who hurled themselves on the fire of the French artillery were all satyagrahis.Mahatma Gandhi, 2-September-1917
One should note here that all the Indian examples he gave, historical and Puranic, were from a Vaishnava context.
Further, the principle of the superiority of Truth or Satya (and hence Vak) over the sword was derived from his understanding of Varnashrama Dharma in which Brahmin has primacy over Kshatriya and not from Jain concept of non-violence.
Definitely, his absolute non-violence had Jain influence. But in transforming this into a social form of resistance, it was his Vaishnava tradition that played a crucial role.
However, it is not a coincidence that he gave Vaishnav examples.
In northern India under Mughal occupation, and even in Deccan, the resistance to both tax tyranny and forced conversions came through the Vaishnava Bhakti movement.
A striking parallel to Gandhian nonviolence can be found in the Chaitanya Bhagavata. In this instance, a Muslim Qazi ordered that Haridasa, a disciple of Chaitanya, be publicly whipped and dragged through 22 places. Remarkably, Haridasa accepted the punishment. Vrindavana Dasa Thakura, the author of Chaitanya Bhagavata in the sixteenth century, recounts the following as the words of Vishnu to Haridasa:
When the Muslims were dragging you through the streets whipping you, I felt the pain, and I descended from Vaikuntha to strike them down. But I could do nothing, because you were thinking good things about your abusers. So I laid my-self on your back and absorbed the beating; see, here are the marks still on my body. Because I could not bear your pain, I quickly became incarnated.
Renowned historian Dharampal (1922-2006), inspired by Gandhi, shed light on pre-Gandhian civil disobedience movements that took place in early colonial India.
These movements, although limited in geographical scope, shared striking similarities with the Gandhian movement in terms of their principles and methodologies.
The incidents Dharampal highlighted occurred prior to 1857, specifically between 1810-1812 in Varanasi.
According to archival reports from the East India Company, they did not involve pre-planned acts of open violence. Instead, their aim was to provoke the government into responding with violence.
Dharampal emphasized the continuity between these earlier movements and the later Gandhian ones, drawing from a British report to support his assertions:
The happenings at Patna, Saran, Murshedabad (though seemingly of lesser intensity) and at Bhagalpur appear to be of the same nature and similarly conducted as at Benares. ... They continued assembling in thousands, totally unarmed and even the ‘women, and their children seemed to have no dread of the consequences of firing among them, but rather sought it.’ If the dates, (1810-12) were just advanced by some 110 to 120 years, the name of the tax altered and a few other verbal changes made, this narrative could be taken as a fair recital of most events in the still remembered civil disobedience campaigns of the 1920s and 1930s.Civil Disobedience in Indian Tradition (Dharampal Collected Works, Vol-II, Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan, 1971), p.42
It is not hard to see from where Gandhi derived Satyagraha from. It was not from European Reformation and Protestantism, but from his traditional Vaishanava, and hence, Sanatana, tradition.
[To be continued]
Aravindan is a contributing editor at Swarajya.
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