Wacha (left), Naoroji (sitting) and Gokhale London 1897

Disparaging the nationalism that had led to the foundation of the Indian National Congress in December 1885, Bipan Chandra Pal referred to it as a counterfeit construct.

Arguing that it was not genuine he pinpointed its European inspiration and the borrowed, if entirely foreign, principles which infused it as the major disqualification.

To an extent this criticism was justified.

The founding fathers of Congress derived critical inspiration not only from the liberal-democratic ideal propagated by Britain but also from the concept of the nation state that Italy and Ireland upheld and were prepared through armed struggle to effect.

Here was a nationalism that appealed to and was embraced by the middle-class political elite, but it was too esoteric a doctrine to enthuse or indeed involve the masses.

As such it was a nationalism which the British humoured but safely disregarded.

Did critics like Bipan Chandra Pal, however, miss the point?

Was nationalism invalid where it did not tap into a reservoir of mass support?

If tactically it produced results very slowly, was it rendered ideologically unsound because of that?

Consider the point that if a broader-based nationalism was required to give the Indian nation state both substance and momentum, then the moderates laid its necessary foundations.

THE EXTREMIST CHALLENGE

The first generation of Indian nationalist leaders were a small group of western-educated, middle-class Brahmins who embraced a western model of nationalism.

They admired western civilisation, they were imbued with western principles of liberty and equality and they were prepared to agitate for social reform as much as for political advance.

They were not men in a hurry, but gradualists who understood that the task of nation building would require both time and nurturing.

The second generation of Indian nationalists, by contrast, were men in a hurry.

They had no patience for the style of leadership exhibited by the moderates and were frustrated by the kind of organisation the congress had become - more a safety-valve of elite discontent than a focus for popular agitation and potential revolt.

Favouring more frontal methods of protest, they grasped an essential point that protest could not be made effective unless it could attract mass support.

Using symbols of mobilisation that Indians at large would understand, they began not only to wed religion to politics but also to give Congress a degree of muscle.

But did this younger class of impatient political agitators, whom the British described as 'extremists', exemplify a purer and more effective brand of nationalism?

In going for the raj's jugular vein did they promote or impede the development of nationalist sentiment on the sub-continent?

THE HINDU RENAISSANCE

Ganesh

One of the most insidious aspects of colonisation was that it involved a conquest of the mind as well as the territory of India.

From the very beginning the British depicted India as a fallen country, politically despotic, socially backward and religiously primitive and pagan.

It followed that there was considered very little worth preserving, a premium being placed on a total reconstruction of India along 'civilised', European lines.

To be reborn India needed to be culturally destroyed first.

This was the environment in which a Hindu renaissance took root and eventually flourished.

Manifested in three distinct forms - the Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj and the Ramakrishna Movement - it not only countered the British criticism of Hindu culture but importantly turned it around, positioning the superiority of the Hindu East over the materialist West.

In the process Hindu India was bequeathed a new sense of pride in its past and culturally primed to reinforce the nationalist challenge to British rule.

As such the Hindu rennaissance was a necessary input to the nationalist movement if it also served in the end to divide it.

Synoptic Lecture Notes

LECTURE 10: Part I:
      PROTO-NATIONALISM : MODERATE POLITICS

Introduction:

Arguments concerning its essential nature origins.

* When can it be said that nationalism existed in India?

Spectrum of Interpretation

i) Masses Theory - C.H. Heimsath puts this case.

Argues that nationalism dependent on popular mobilisation

Therefore, no nationalism movement in India till Gandhi.

ii) Elites Theory - A. Seal and most others

view that nationalism filters down to the masses from an elite leadership.

iii) A British Creation - because of infrastructure inputs supplied by British

ie: a common language; a uniform administration. Thus roots of nationalist growth planted by the raj itself. But is it a divided growth? British raj blamed for creating communal divisions.

iv) Primordial (historical) vs Instrumental (opportunistic) patterns of identity

Nationalism can be founded on a number of ingredients, or it can coalesce around as little as one.

Example of Pakistan 1947 : Islamic Nation. Islam the core of nationality.

East/Pakistan 1971 : becomes Bangladesh

(ie. Islam not enough; Bengal culture stronger).

Symbols of nationhood : What is chosen depends on circumstance.

Politicisation of Indian Middle Classes 1830-85

Collaborators before the Mutiny, become critics of the raj after Mutiny.

By 1870s Middle Class elite persuaded to take political action.

* But of what kind?

Philosophy of Protest borrowed from the West

- concept of nationalism itself borrowed

Tactics of Agitation borrowed also

- Example of Home Rule Ireland

Ireland = revealed nationalism in Victorian context.

it is first Victorian 'colony' to revolt

Supplies 'operational hints'

Lord Salisbury's Victorian Domino Theory 1883.

Irish Model of Protest boasts following features

a) ceaseless agitation at political level

b) but backed up by Agrarian agitation

c) centralised organisation of people via formation of a Nationalist Party

Indian National Congress 1885-1905

Characteristics c 1885

- initially a 'ramshackle collection of local linkages' [A.Seal]

- 'Schoolboy's debating society?

But INC merely tip of nationalist Iceberg.

It was only this tip which the British saw.

1. Membership - gradual but impressive growth

Lord Dufferin [Viceroy, 1884-88] dismisses INC as a 'Microscopic Minority'.

- But he is worried by its 'Celtic' potential

- And he is worried by its anti-government tone.

Role

British Conception

A.O. Hume : INC as a 'Safety Valve for harmless middle-class discontent'.

Indian Reality

INC gave Indians a feel for Politics and a feel for Protest

But : Platform for Protest had to be laid.

Ideology

* What sort of ideology could unite Indians who were linguistically and culturally separated?

Program had to be 'bland'

Process : Argument, propaganda, pressure but put in such a way that INC is not seen as a threat.

expressions of loyalty and affection for Queen Victoria and for raj.

* Was this sychophancy or strategy?

There was despite this a cutting edge to INC rhetoric

Naoroji's Drain theory (which painted the raj as an exploitative regime).

Demands

They look selfish, but were they?

Success

In terms of concessions from British (1885-1905), not much.

But in terms of sowing seeds of notion of an Indian nation, and Swaraj, quite a bit achieved.

Part II:
      EXTREMIST NATIONALISM

Extremism vs Moderation

Some basic differences :

i) Attitude to British rule

Mods - Britain plays providential role.

Extrems - Britain reps. power for evil.

ii) Methods

iii) Ideology. Extremists broaden the base of nationalism.

Criticisms of Moderate nationalism

Bipan Chandra Pal.

Moderates = Mendicants

Tagore - Moderates too enamoured of things British to be healthy.

Extremism

Essentially a regional based movement

Tilak - Poona [Maharashtra]

Lajpal Rai - Lahore [Punjab]

Aurobindo Ghose - Calcutta [Bengal]

Regional Platforms constructed, but limitations.

Tilak : A Case Study?

Was Tilak the archetypical extremist?

i) Myth of the Lokamanya = 'One who is revered by the people'

ii) Style : Difficult man to deal with

Litigious

Exponent of theory that - 'Everything is fair in politics'

Tilak a political animal, who plays many roles (depending on the context).

Classic Example: Age of Consent Bill Controversy 1890.

iii) Background :

From Poona. A Chitpavan Brahmin.

Rivalry with Gokhale

Only political platform/slogan - 'Swaraj is my birthright and I will have it'.

iv) Methods

a) Ganapati Festival 1893

b) Shivaji Cult

c) Famine Campaign 1896/7

The 'Parnell' of India?

* What does Tilak's approach tell us about Extremist Nationalism?

- Degree of Opportunism

If we took Aurobindo Ghose as case study, different reading/findings would result.

Aurobindo Ghose

Precursor of Gandhi in terms of 'passive resistance'.

i) Brown Englishman in the making

ii) Creation of Indian Nationalist

Extremist version initially

Flirts with revolution

Admires patriots (like Irish, Italians, French)

'purified by blood and fire'

iii) Cultural nationalism

Love of country = love of culture, religion, literature

Cultural identity = antidote to foreign dominion.

Aurobindo is the connection between nationalism as a political movement and nationalism as cultural movement.

MODERATES - I.N.C. MEN

1. Bengal : S.N. Banerjea, W.G. Bonnerjee, M. Ghose, Narendra Nath Sen

2. Bombay : Naoroji (Parsi), Tyabji (Muslim), Mehta (Hindu)

3. Poona : Ranade, Chitpavan, Gokhale, Brahmins

4. Madras : Subramania Aiyar

EXTREMISTS

No cohesive party but provincial leaders, forming a faction within Congress.

1. Poona : Tilak (Chitpavan), Kelkar, Kespande, Despande

2. Punjab : Lajpat Rai

3. Bengal : Aurobindo Ghose, Bipin Chandra Pal, B.C. Chatterjee

Part III:
       THE HINDU RENAISSANCE

Aurobindo - Precursor of Gandhi in terms of 'Passive Resistance'

Aurobindo is the connection between nationalism as political movement and nationalism as cultural movement.

Three Expressions / Three Distinct Chronological Phases of Hindu Renaissance

Brahmo Samaj

Founded c.1820 by Rammohun Roy

Expanded by Dedendranath Tagore

Distorted by Keshab Chander Sen.

- movement of cultural defence

Essence of Approach - Defuse Western Critique and Criticisms of Hinduism.

'Me - too - ism'.

Method: Select from past texts, religions attributes that show Hinduism as monotheistic and socially reformist. In this case Upanisads.

Arya Samaj

Founded c.1870 by Dayananda Saraswati

- a movement of Cultural Offence.

Introduces two innovations :

Education : Arya Samaj Schools

Reconversion [Shuddhi]

Resurrecting 'Indian' Pride in Hindu past.

Method: Select from Vedic texts to show that all worthwhile knowledge contained in them.

Ramakrishna Movement

Founded c.1890 by Vivekananda

West has nothing to teach India. In fact India should teach West.

- Movement, in a sense, of cultural arrogance.

Conclusion:

Hindu Renaissance not overtly political, but runs parallel with nationalist movement and fertilises it in the process.

Tutorial Questions to be Addressed

1. Explain the appearance and development of an Indian nationalist class 1830-1885:
Why do they embrace nationalism?

5. The Hindu Renaissance.
In what ways did it fertilise the movement against the British?

Core Reading

Masselos, Nationalism on the Indian Sub-Continent

H.V. Brasted, 'Indian Nationalist Development and the Influence of Irish Home Rule, 1870-1886', Modern Asian Studies, 14, 1980

R. Cashman, The Myth of the Lokamanya [Tilak]

B. Southard, 'The Political Strategy of Aurobindo Ghose', MAS, 14, 1980

K.W. Jones, Arya Dharma: Hindu Consciousness in 19th Century Punjab

H.V.Brasted, 'Irish Models and the Indian National Congress, 1870-1922', South Asia, 8, 1985

Additional Reading

S. N. Banerjea, A Nation in Making

D. Argov, Moderates and Extremists [Banerjea and Lajpat Rai. Traditional View]

L. A. Gordon, Bengal : the Nationalist Movement

J.C. Masselos (ed.), Struggling and Ruling: The Indian National Congress, 1885-1985

B.R. Nanda, Gokhale: The Indian Moderates and the British Raj

L.A. Gordon, Bengal: The Nationalist Movement 1876-1940, [Aurobindo Ghose]

A. Seal, The Emergence of Indian Nationalism

R. Sisson and S. Wolpert, Congress and Indian Nationalism

A. Tripathi, The Extremist Challenge, 1890-1910

S. Wolpert, Tilak and Gokhale

B.N. Dasgupta, The Life and Times of Rajah Rammohun Roy

A. R. Desai, Social Background of Indian Nationalism

J. N. Farquhar, Modern Religious Movements in India. (The most comprehensive, if traditional, book on topic)

P. R. Ghosh, 'Ramakrishna - Vivekananda Movement'. In S. P. Sen (ed.), Social Contents of Indian Religious Reform Movement

C. H. Heimsath, Indian Nationalism and Hindu Social Reform (Useful)

J. T. F. Jordans, Dayananda Saraswati : His Life and Ideas

D. Kopf, The Brahmo Samaj and the Shaping of the Modern Indian Mind

P.J. Marshall (ed.), The British Discovery of Hinduism in the 18th Century

Articles

A. Seal,, 'Imperialism and Nationalism in India', Modern Asian Studies, 7, 1973

L.A. Gordon, 'Portrait of a Bengali Revolutionary', Journal of Asian Studies, 27, 1968.

R.P. Tucker, 'Hindu Traditionalism and Nationalist Ideology in Nineteenth Century Maharashtra, MAS, 10, 1976

N. G. Barrier, 'The Arya Samaj and Congress Politics in the Punjab 1894-1908', Journal of Asian Studies, 26, 1967

A. Bharati, 'The Hindu Renaissance and its Apologetic Pattern', Journal of Asian Studies, 29, 1970

K. W. Jones, 'Communalism in the Punjab; the Arya Samaj Contribution', Journal of Asian Studies, 28, 1968