Peaceful Struggle for a Righteous Society

Peaceful Struggle for a Righteous Society

Word Count:1766

Date: December 7th 2017

Mahatma Gandhi’s “Hind Swaraj”, discusses the adverse consequences of British colonialism, and how it impedes the Indian way of life. A major theme is the inherent right for local people to govern one another, which Gandhi refers to as Sawraj. This theme relates to Gandhi’s belief that Britain has a dependence on India, when conversely, people believed the opposite. British colonialism therefore remains in India because Indian people support British trade, once this support stops colonialism will be removed. Gandhi believed that the British can be advocated against through non-violent resistance methods integrated with Hindu virtues called swadeshi and soul-force.

Gandhi’s motive to remove British colonialism is to create a self-ruling society for Indian people to live a more satya/truthful lifestyle. This satya lifestyle consist of rural life before British colonialism brought over modernization. By having the opportunity to govern one another Indians will be able to reside in a society where they can “lead a life of simplicity, cooperation and self-sufficiency”.^[1] Throughout the book Gandhi can be seen constantly comparing how rural life is superior to modern civilization. Gandhi claims that modernization is a “disease” that makes “people lazy”, and has created a civilization that is “turning away from god”.^[2] By attempting to educate Indian people on life before modernization, Gandhi is participating in the Hindu belief of dharma. Dharma is to educate virtues and beliefs for “the right way of living”, where moral laws and ethics are based on religion. A clear example of this can be seen when Gandhi refers to modern civilization as “the Kingdom of Satan” and the “ancient" civilization as “the Kingdom of God”.^[3] He further backs up his statement of modern society being “unholy” by claiming their ancestors knew about British technologies, but ultimately decided not to adapt them because machinery makes people “become slaves and lose our moral fiber”. ^[4]

Gandhi believed that methods of problem solving were more meaningful before modernization occurred, claiming that people should not find “means of overriding the [human] limit.^[5] Therefore, in order to live peaceful satya lifestyle Gandhi demanded the removal of three British inventions, doctors, lawyers, and railways. Gandhi claimed that these three inventions “have impoverished the country so much, that if we [the Indian people] do not wake up in time we shall be ruined”. These three Inventions were “the true inwardness of the evils of civilization”, and in-doing so “seduces” India people away from a satya lifestyle.^[6]  Gandhi believed that doctors were evil because they gave temporarily reliefs of the body through medication; this in turn promoted forms of gluttony and unnatural abuses to the body. Lawyers were evil because they took advantage of people; and “advanced quarrels instead of repressing them”, which ultimately made situations worst. Lastly, railways were evil because they made “holy places of India become unholy”, as only “real devotees visited such [holy] places” in the ancient days. ^[7]  Gandhi claims that holy places have now become places where any individual can go to “practice their roguery”.^[8] Therefore Gandhi believed that in order to return back to a state of a more satya lifestyle these three inventions adapted through modernization had to be removed.

To promote a satya/rural way of life Gandhi was able to persuade Indian people by creating a belief that they have the power to remove British colonialism. Gandhi states that the “English have not taken India, [but] we [the Indians] have given it to them”. By welcoming Merchants into the Indian people have implicitly modernized India.^[9] These merchants were referred to as mischievous and threatening because “their presence had an enchanting effect” by introducing products that were addictive.^[10] Gandhi claimed Indians were partially responsible for the modernization because “we wore Manchester clothes” and that is the reason “why Manchester wove it”.^[11] Therefore, by accepting British products Indians started adapting British technology, such as machinery, which in turn modernized India. Gandhi blames machinery as another reason why India is “improvised”, as machinery is the “the chief symbol of modern civilization”, and that “it represents a great sin”.^[12] Therefore, to remove British colonization Gandhi believed that he had to attack “the root of the matter”, which he claimed was the desire for trade (foreign products).^[13] 

Attacking trade is crucial for Gandhi as he believes removing the desire for foreign goods will prevent India from getting colonized again by another country. By convincing Indian people to stray away from foreign products Gandhi can be seen as participating in asceticism. Which is the Hindu belief to leave everything behind and focus on religion. Gandhi used the example of a retailer and a bhang drinker for his argument. Although India may kick out the retailer (the British), India will still be inviting in another colonizer due to their desire for trade. Gandhi claims that “if a particular retailer is driven away, will not another take his place?”.^[14] Gandhi is therefore able to question where the root problem truly is, stating that the British only “hold whatever dominions they have for the sake of their commerce”.^[15] Only if Indians were to remove their desire for trade, will a retailer (colonizer) truly be driven away. Gandhi further promotes isolation from foreign goods by claiming that Indians should “remain passive about worldly pursuits and active about godly pursuits”.^[16] Which shows him guiding Indians further away from a modern lifestyle to one that is completely devoted to religion.