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Political Science

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Published in: Political Science
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Thoery of War. Important for 12th class.

Shailesh S / Delhi

7 years of teaching experience

Qualification: Masters of Arts

Teaches: Business Studies, Geography, History, Political Science, Algebra, All Subjects, Mathematics, Social Studies, AFCAT, Bank Clerical, Railways Exams, SSC Exams, GMAT, GRE, IELTS, TOEFL

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  1. MAHATMA Gandhi AND RABINDRANATH TAGOREwere two leading Indian thinkers in the 20thcentury, they were two great rivers like souls overflowing with divine spirit. Jawaharlal Nehru on learning about Tagore's death wrote in his prison diary.."Gandhi andTagore , two types entirely diff from each other and yet both of them typical of India both in line of India's great men... what good fortune for me to have come into close contact with them." Tagore admired Gandhi greatly but had many disagreement with him on a no of issues including nationalism, patriotism, importance of cultural exchange and the idea of rationality. He encouraged more of reasoning and less of traditionalist view, and a greater interest in science and objectivity generally as clearly expressedin his poem Gitanjali RABINDRANATH TAGORE- THE ROOTED COSMOPOLITAN Europe now has her lamp ablaze. We must light our torches at its wick and make a fresh start on the highway of time. RABINDRA NATH TAGORE was a patriot without being a nationalist. He was born in 1861 ina family of scholars, social reformers and entrepreneurs. He was educated at home and through travels and was one the most travelled Indians of his generation. He made several trips to Europe , visited china , japan and Russia deepening his understanding of other countries . He wanted to assert India's right to independence but believed India had much to learn from other cultures and abroad ( not necessarily west ).After the Jallianwala incident in Amritsar 1919 he returned his knighthood. He was afraid that rejection of westinfavor of Indian tradition could easily turn into hostility towards influence from abroad. Christianity, Judaism and Islam had all come thru immigrants and had a strong presence in India. AGAINST NATIONALISM... He was extremely dismayed by the xenophobia of the swadeshi movement and wrote many essays in Bengali advocating a more nuanced understanding of relation between east and west. In the middle of first world war he went he went to japan and usa , and warned his audience against equating love for one's nation with celebrity of one's powers. His novel Ghaire Baire ( the home and the world ) has much to say about it. The protagonist Nikhil, keen on social reforms but cool on nationalism says" I am willing to serve my country. But to worship it as god is to bring curse upon it." The isolation of Nikhilesh depicted in the novel reflects Tagore's own isolation
  2. from the upper/middle-class Bengali society. His complete rejection to Sandip's political methods shows his severe objection to Hindu nationalist politicians who have hard-pressed their politics on the innocent countrymen and completely ignored its corrosive effects on their lives. Georg Lukcas ( one of the detractors) absurdly calls Sandip's character as a contemptible caricature ofGhandhi .group can lead to hatred of another even in minds of humane nationalist leaders like Gandhi(!)He said we prefer to remainaloof, irresponsive and unwilling to give and take, making India poorer. But great men of modern India have always tried to bring an approachment with the west. The chief example is Raja Ram Mohan Roy who accepted the west without betraying the east. He represented India in fullness of truth, the truth based not on rejection but comprehension. Gandhi on the other hand thoughtRoy would have been a better greater reformer and Tilak a better scholar if they didn't think and transmit their thought in English. ON MODERNIZATION.. UNLIKE Gandhiji Tagore did not resent the development of modern industries in India , Tagore insisted that the west could never have risen to eminence by merely the strength of brute OF machine. "Through the dust of markets her moral nature has shown bright". In Europe we have seen noble minds who have stood for the right of the others irrespective of their caste ,colour, creed and were ready to make reparations for the wrong done in past by their own nation. HE WANTED PEOPLE TO BE NOT DOMINATED BY MACHINES BUT MAKE GOOD USE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY. The east always criticizes the west for discriminating against them and describing them as yellow brown or black. But aren't we guilty of the same, when we insult humanity by dividing people in caste and creeds. ON NON CO OPERATION AND SWADESHI.. The non co operationmovement by Gandhi increased his reservation about nationalism. When the student asked if should leave their schooL he emphatically advised them against it, as anarchy of emptiness didn't tempt him.He believed it to be a great injustice to tempt them away from their career before providing them with other real provisions. TAGORE DID NOT APPROVE THE GANDHIAN MOVT OF BURNING CLOTH. Writing in his articles ' THE CALL OF TRUTH' AND 'THE CULT OF CHARKHA' He exhorted Gandhi 's followers for following him blindly and said it would be better to give them to poor's.On this Gandhi replied by saying 'l refuse to insult the naked by giving them clothes they don't need , instead I insist giving them work which they sorely need.' Over the years Tagore's criticism of the Britishadministration wasconsistently growing. He protested against them on a number of occasions, like the movement to resist split of Bengalprovince in two in 1905 , a plan which was eventually withdrawn due mass resistance.But he made a special effort to distinguish his criticism of the west from denigration of British or western culture. Tagore believed
  3. Indiahas much to gain from discussions centered around Shakespearean s drama , Bryon's poetry and large hearted liberalism of 19th century English politics. On his last birthday he gave a lecture which was later published as a pamphlet with the title CRISIS INCIVILISATION .1n his writings he insist strongly that its important to maintain distinction between western culture and western imperialism .He saw it as a tragedy that while upholding dignity of human relations had been one of the truly best things in the western civilization, it had no place in British administration of ourcountry.TheBritish had established a reign of law and order making a mockery of their civilization and can claim no respect from us. The westwhich used its power for its own selfish needs was a curse to the world which should rather help the weak and educate the ignorant. MOHANDAS K. GANDHI returned to his homeland from South Africa in January 1915. Within four yrs. of his return, he had become the most famous and controversial leader. He organized 3 major campaigns against colonial rule - non-cooperation movement in 1920s, civil disobedience movement in 1930s and quit India movement in 1940s. In his life time he was declared the father of the nation, but he was equally the mother of all battles concerning the future of his country.Abolition of untouchability,promotion of Hindu Muslim unity and revival of village and artisanal economy were some of his abiding concerns. HIND SWARAJ OR INDIANhome rule is a small tract of 20 short chapters written by Gandhi nearly 100 years ago in 1908 on a voyage back to south Africa from London in a boat. Its cast in the form of dialogues betweenGandhi, the editor who answers the queries of reader. It was a critique of colonialism and western civilization. He believed it was not the British but the glitter of the modern world that has seduced India and made it captive.in a chapter entitled" Why Was India" lost he says the English have not takenlndia but we have given it to them . They are not here because of the strength butbe cause we keep them (p 38). By emulating the western institutions,lndia was destroying itself. The former haps on acquisition of wealth by any means destroying the moral fiber of any society. For him India strength was linked with ethical behavior. He strongly believed in nationalism and its strength to solve the problem. In a speech delivered in 1920 in Madras he said " I want my self-respect and I want my Absolute equality with them. If I can't gain any equality from Britishpeople I do not want the British connection Swaraj or self-rulehave a duality in meaning. The first isself-control and lays the foundationanother self-government.Self-respect, the self-reliance, the self-sufficiency are its 3 foundation pillars for. But we have none of it because the west is the center of our world andwe have condemned ourselves to remain on the periphery . This is what Gandhi tried to symbolize with the chakra and khadi, both much misunderstood symbols today Gandhi says that the partition of Bengal was the factor that awakened against the Britishers.He says many like the way the British rule us and also like the law and order of the British people but nobody wants them.When the reader asks him that we want English rule without the Englishman. You want
  4. tiger's nature but not the tiger he says this not the kind of swaraj I want". Replacement of white rulers with brown ones would have little consequence if they govern with same principles of modern civilization. He says that the modern civilization has a terrible effect on India. The people of India have moved away from religion . By saying so he means that the people are moving away from god and are searching for worldly possessions which are not what religions teach.lf one is not religiously bound he is sure to commit sin without the play of conscience. Gandhi realized that the factory civilization is the hall mark of modern civilization, itwidens the gap between rich and poor, displaces the latter, profit is allowed to degrade labour, where the machines are valued more than humans, where automation is preferred to humanism. He extends his critique to the professions of medicine and law (HS, Chs 11, 12). The poor hardly benefit from these professional services, though they are often their victims.Men take up that profession, not in order to help others out of their miseries, but to enrich themselves. For lawyers its one of the avenues of becoming wealthy and their interest exists in multiplying disputes. ayurvedic is in many ways superior to the allopathic medicine as "the doctors induce us to indulge, and the result is that we have become deprived of self-control and have become effeminate. To study European medicine is to deepen our slavery".Ch 12 He backs up his criticism of these professions in Hind Swaraj with a later suggestion for nationalization.lndian nationalisms is not exclusive , aggressive or destructive. Its health giving, religious and humanitarian. Responding to Tagore's concern about leaving the government school he says. His experience said ones moral height and character building are independent of literary training. They have rendered us helpless and godless. The govt is keeping us as slaves, by making clerks and interpreters. Non cooperation is nation notice that its no longer satisfied to be in tulage. The swaraj of poets dream can only be achieved through nonviolentnon cooperation. The Mahatma argued that a colonized nation should discover itself first before discovering the world. The poet thought that there is a fine line between nationalism and xenophobia. Hatred of foreigners can later turn into hatred of Indians different from oneself. He was skeptical that non cooperation can solve hindumuslim differences. As the French novelistRomain Rolland noted Tagore never tired of criticizing the charkha. He argued the charkha doesnot require anyone to think one has to endlessly turn the wheels of the spinning wheel and made little economic sense. However gandhi's advocacy of charkha went beyond economics. He wanted the people who are better off and doesn't need to spin identify with the less fortunate. The STRUGGLE Was being waged against imposition of modern methods of exploitation masked under the name of civilization. CONCLUSION
  5. It seems both Gandhi n Tagore missed something in their criticism and argument.lnspite of their differences Tagore salutes Gandhiji's spirit and the sea change he had brought into the lives of Indians but was unable to follow him in his steps. However, Rabindranath was not hesitant of paying his tributes to Gandhiji. Tagore himself had a profound impact on Gandhi and Nehru. The exploration of pan Asianism idea by Nehru owed a great deal to the work of Tagore. He was a great essayist, poet and novelist. His book NATIONALISM was a great non fiction. But the note on the official Nobel Prize website does not mention it. Thus confirm the common belief that he perhaps should be known for his poem and stories alone. RE-FRENCES 1. 2. 3. HIND SWARAJ BY GANDHI THE MULTIPLE AGENDAS OF GANDHI, MAKERS OF MODERN India BY RAMMCHANDRA GUHA TAGORE AND HIS India, ARGUMENTATIVE INDIAN BY AMARTYA SEN

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