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| The
Hindu Phenomenon |
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HINDU
NATIONALISM : THE FIRST PHASE
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| R.
C. Zaehner in his work Hinduism has described Gandhiji's effort as
a struggle for the recovery of India's dignity, self-respect and
soul. This was the heart of the matter. India had to be
independent in order to recover her dignity and self-respect. And it
is indisputable that Gandhiji wanted to re-establish the integrity
of Hindu society, to reactivate it, which is what the recovery of
the soul would imply. This was a complex effort as it was bound to
be. Gandhiji was not a revivalist; he could not have been as
effective as he was if he had been just that. The sensibilities of
modern educated Indians who constituted his battalions had changed
too much as a result of the British impact and reform movements
mentioned earlier. So he reinterpreted the Gita to emphasize the
primacy of karma (action) yoga for the purpose of legitimizing
political activism. Though he professed to be a sanatanist, an
orthodox Hindu, he was one of the greatest reformers Hinduism had
seen. Like other reformers before him he sought solution to the
problem of Hindu decline in social reform, with heavy emphasis on
the removal of untouchability. As a result of his campaigns, for the
first time in history, untouchables gained entry into temples.
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Hindu Nationalism: The First Phase |
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