Gandhi’s idea of Indian Civilisation
Though a Hindu, Gandhi was deeply attached to miscellaneous
values and deified all faiths as representing comprehensions of the supreme
verity. He was proud of India’s ancient heritage and, as similar, he was
acutely conscious of the striking discrepancy presented by contemporary
society.
He was induced that
India’s present decline was the result of her people’s love for copying the
west and attention on adding fleshly comforts as opposed to spiritual uplift.
Gandhi’s idea of Indian Civilisation His perception, in other words, was that Indian society had acquired a
defective value system and abandoned its own pure roots.
Gandhi bemoaned the fact that India, which was formerly
famed for its godly knowledge and was the cradle of persuasions, was “ getting
nonreligious”. Gandhi’s idea of Indian Civilisation He wasn't pointing at any particular religion, but at the
abecedarian morality that underlay all persuasions. Religious superstition had
taken the place of this abecedarian morality and led to a lot of atrocity and
contest among different sections of the people.
The so- called
clerisy of the country wasn't completely committed to public development,
according to Gandhi. He rued the fact that exercising attorneys, who had some
influence on public opinion in India, confined their political exertion to the
many rest hours they got from their tennis and billiards.
“ I don't anticipate … attorneys will bring us mainly near
swaraj,” he wrote, and further, “ I want at least the public workers among them
to be whole- timekeepers and when that happy day comes, I promise a different
outlook before the country.” Gandhi’s idea of Indian Civilisation In other words, one could say that Gandhi didn't
find the rudiments of ultramodern civilization and social groups as advancing
cohesion or strength to the Indian social terrain.
Gandhi noted the “
general degeneration” in the value system of Indian society with anxiety and
concern. He wrote considerably about the fraud, insincerity and injuries he
noted everyplace. The yawning gulf between the rich and poor came out indeed at
social functions, where he saw the extravagant waste indulged in by the rich at
the cost of the poor. “ We make too important flashiness,” he wrote, “ rather
than really enjoy ourselves, we make a show of enjoyment, rather of unfeignedly
mourning we make a show of mourning.”
Another effect of similar lavish spending by the rich was
that the poorer sections tried to emulate them to gain social recognition and
ended up incurring ruinous debts. Gandhi noted that the poor contributed
whatever they could spare for the public cause, whereas the rich “ anticipate
to gain everything by speeches and judgments. They're keeping back a nation
ready for immolation.” Gandhi’s idea of Indian Civilisation The elite in society are generally conceded to be the
leaders of social conduct, which is emulated by the rest. But Gandhi saw the
nobility as poor inaugurators of social or political reform.
The religious
leaders, he plant, were no different from the social elites. They were sunk in
ignorance and superstition. Of them, he wrote, “ Gandhi’s idea of Indian Civilisation Our religious heads are always
one sided in their thinking. There's no harmony between their words and deeds.
Ournon-violence is an unworthy thing.
The south of India, formerly famed for its culture and
tradition, hadn't escaped the prevailing process of social degeneration. In Madras
( now Chennai), he noted, in numerous places, the outside form of religion
remained and the inner spirit had dissolved. Gandhi’s idea of Indian Civilisation The Harijans in that region
suffered more dises than they did in nearly any part of the country.
He noted too that the Brahmins there were more sprucely separated from thenon-Brahmins than anywhere differently. “ And yet,” he writes sarcastically, “ no other region makes similar abundant use of sacred ash, sandalwood paste and vermillion greasepaint. Gandhi’s idea of Indian Civilisation No other part of the country has relatively so numerous tabernacles and is so generous in furnishing for their conservation.”