The Mahatma and Modern India Author(s): Judith M. Brown Source: Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 3, No.

4, Gandhi Centenary Number (1969), pp. 321-342 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/311930 Accessed: 22/08/2010 06:23
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Modern Asian Studzes III,

4 (I969),

pp.

32I-342

fAe

Mahatma

and

Modern
M. BRQWN

Indicl

BY JUDITH

CENTENARY celebrations of the birth of any prominentman attract assessments of his character,careerand influence.Nothing could be more understandable, particularly in the case of M. K. Gandhi,who was by commonconsentone of the greatestleadersAsia has produced in an era of colonialnationalisms and decolonization, who in his own life time was called a saint and a machiavellian politician,and who has becomein independent Indiaboth a nationalmythand an embar rassment. Accounts of the importance of Gandhiin modernIndia tend to fall into two maincategories. Thereare thosewho dismiss him, often regretfully,as an idealist whose utopian plans for a democracyof villagecommonwealths and a non-violent societyhave collapsed in the face of economic and political necessity and the machinationsof unscrupulous politicians. In the wordsofJayaprakash Narayan,'If you considerthe politicalideologiesattainingin India today, you svould find that somehowone who is called the Fatherof the Nation is completely missingfrom all of them'.l Such pessimism assesses Gandhias if he had been solelya dispenser of blue-prints for a bravenew world, and fails to see him as a dynamic leader whose greatestinfluence flowedfromthe type of movementhe led and the techniques he used, ratherthan fromthe peculiarlypersonalidealshe held. On the other hand, thereare thosewho hail him as the Fatherof India and try to drawdirectcausalconnexions betweenhisidealsand manyof the major changeswhich have occurredin India since I947 particularlythe oicial abolitionof Untouchability and the institution of panchayat raj. Butthisis the perspective of the biographer. It underrates the complexities of politicsand societyand theirinteraction, and turnsa blind eye to the innumerable crosscurrents which make up the main streamof Indiansocialand politicalactivity. Bearingin mind these types of analysesand their weaknesses, I have limitedthe scopeof this articleto two objectixles. Firstly,I trace some of the main ideas Gandhiput forward,discussinfluences which coincidewith or militateagainsttheseideas, and investigate theirfate in modernIndia. I conclude that generallyit is fruitlessto look for the Mahatma'sinfluencein contemporaryIndia in terms of direct 1 p. Mason(ed), IndiaandCeylon: Unity andDiz)ersity, London,I967, p. 295.
c

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'legacies'.This may seem a rathernegativeundertaking; but it clears the groundfor the second,morepositivepartof my argument-that to see the influenceof Gandhion India'sdevelopment it is morefruitful to look at his leadership of the nationalmovement,in which he was manifestly posverful, than to searchfor Gandhian'legacies' in solutions to social and politicalproblems.For in such cases, despitethe myth of the Mahatma,his ideals are only one of many contributory and competing factorsin modernIndia. One importantarea of discussion must be the natureand powerof the government, for it is in this spherethat Gandhians like Narayan feel most bitterly that India has deviated from the paths Gandhi indicated.Gandhiwas not a systematic politicalphilosopher, and his ideas changedconsiderably in the courseof his life. But at the root of all his laterthoughtwerethe beliefsset out in his booklet,HindSwaraj.2 Writtenin I909, it showedthat a recentvisit to Englandhad finally persuadedGandhi that western civilization,with its factoriesand machinery,mass communications, noise and violence,was depriving man of quiet and the powerto cultivatethosespiritual qualitieswhich lie at the heartof Gandhian philosophy, particularly thosehe described as truth and non-violence.3 As a corollaryhe turnedagainstthe parliamentary formsof government and the powerof the executivewhich appeared to accompany such civilization, and resisted theirimposition on India under the Britishraj. The precisenatureof the indigenous governmentGandhi favouredfor India changed with the years. At firsthe envisaged a benevolent autocracy; but by I9I8 he believedthat someformof electedgovernment on parliamentary lineswas necessary as an interimstage of politicaldevelopment. Writingto someonehe had met in Londonin I906 and I909 when the idealsof HindSwaray were formingin his mind, he discussedthis apparentinconsistency You have reminded me of what I usedto say in London, viz., that benignautocracy wasthe bestformof Government, and haveaskedme howI reconcile [thiswith]myactivity in connection withtheHomeRule movement. I stillretain theposition heldby mein London. Butthatform of Government is an impossibility today.Indiamustpassthrough the throes of Parliamentary Government and,seeing thatit is so, I naturally support a movement whichwill securethe best type of Parliamentary Government....4 2 Hind Swaraj reproduced in full in fAe Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol.I0,
pp. 8-68. (The Collected Works are in processof publicationby the Government of India, New Delhi; they are cited below as C.W.). 3 Indian 0y7inion, X OctoberI909, C. W., Vol. 9, pp. 3889. 4 Gan&i to Florence Winterbottom, X I }Sebruary I9I8, C. W., Vol. I4, p. 2 I0.

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His ideal by I93I was the witheringaway of the state,what he called thatsuchan idealwasunattainable Butrealizing 'enlightened anarchy'. in reality,he insistedthat in the immediatefuturethe main characterand the istic of the state should be the least possiblegovernment,5 of power. completedecentralization
The end to be soughtis human happinesscombinedwith full mental and moral growth. This end can be achieved under decentralization. with the non-violentstructure as a systemis inconsistent Centralization of society.6

of powerare of Gandhi's plansforthe decentralization The culmination In in a documentdated 30 JanuaryI948, the day of his assassination. as a politicalgroup, of the Congress this he advocatedthe disbanding and the devolution into a socialserviceorganization, its transformation of authorityto three tiers of elected national servants,of which the bottomtier shouldbe the villagepanchayat.7 But after Indian independencewhen leaderswere forging a new constitution it becameabundantlyclear that Gandhi'sideal was only of the Draftone strandin currentthought.Dr Ambedkar,Chairman proclaimed that ing Committee,
The love of the intellectualIndian for the village communityis of course infiniteif not pathetic.... I hold that thesevillage republicshave been the ruinationof India.... What is the village but a sink of localism, a I am glad the and communalism? den of ignorance,narrow-mindedness has discardedthe village and adopted the individual Draft Constitution as its unit.8

of any proposalto constructan Indian Besidesuch radicalcriticisms polity on the basisof the village unit, therewere also the implications of Congress plans for a socialistsociety.In the wordsof the foremost exponentof this streamof thought,JawaharlalNehru, 'Politicalfreebut they were stepsonly wereno doubt essential, dom, independence, in the right direction;withoutsocialfreedomand a socialiststructure of scciety and the State, neitherthe countrynor the individualcould
of Gandhi andJ%ehru I, quotedin S. Abid Husain, The Way 5 Gfoung India,2 July I 93 (2nd edition),Bombay,I96I, pp. 37, 50. 6 Harijan, 8January Ig42, ibid.,p. 36. Agra, of Mahatma Gandhi andSarsodaya, Philosophy 7 V. P. Varma, The Political
I 959, pp. I 99-20 I . C. H. in Formsof Government', and Experiment 8 H. Tinker,'Tradition In India,London, I963, pp. I57-8. (ed), Politics andSociety

Philips

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developmuch'.9Implicitin suchplanswas the increaseof statepower to redistribute wealth, to organizeresources and production,and to providethe sanctionof forcebehindlegislative reformof certainsocial practices.It is ironic that Gandhi, who had spent so much effiort decrying the so-called unbridled power of the British raj, found himself at the end of his life in uneasyalliancewith futureIndianrulers who plannedfar greaterinterference in society,and envisagedwider governmental powersthan the Britishhad ever daredto contemplate. It was not only the ideologyof Nehru and the socialists whichjostled with Gandhianideals for prominencein independentIndia's new government. Therewereseverepractical problems, too. AfterPartition large areas of the country were badly disorganizedby communal violence and the influx of refugees,and needed firm administrative control.The structure of government which India inheritedfrom the departingraj was essentiallyauthoritarian, and devolutionon the grandscalewouldprobably have resulted in politicalchaos.Moreover, leaderswho had spent most of their lives in conflictwith the raj for controlof government werenaturally reluctantto relinquish authority to villagecommunities when unfettered powereventuallycamewithin theirgrasp. Out of this conflict of ideals and political necessityemergedthe federalconstitution of India, conferring large powerson the central and state governments. By this time Gatldhiwas dead. It was left to the premier of the U.P. to complainthat the 'constitutioll is a miserable failure.The spiritof Indianculturehas not breathedon it: the Gandhismby which we swearso vehementlyat home and abroaddoes not inspireit. It is just a piece of legislationlike, say, the MotorVehicles Act.'l Since I950, and particularlysince the establishment of the Planrling Commission, government controlhas reachedout fromDelhi and the State capitalsinto nooksand crannies of publiclife wherethe Britishnever ventured,and deep into people'sprivatelives, too. In theory anyway,government regulatessocial customs,it orderswhen childrenshallattendschool,it rationsand distributes foodon occasion, it interestsitself in methodsof agriculture, it determinesthe size of landholdings, it regulatesand initiatesindustrialenterprise as svellas performing the traditional rolesof the tax-collector and the policeman.
9 J. Nehru, 24nJutobiography, London, I936, p. I66. For a study of Nehru's socialist anddemocratic beliefs,see;1:). E. Smith,J%ehru and Democracy, Calcutta,I 958. 10 Address to University Convocation,Agra, I9 November I949, quoted by H. Tinker, 'Traditionand Experimentin Forms of Government',Philies op.cit.,
p. I59.

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'The little Snger has become the whole hand. Government is cvery-whereand inescapable.'ll But amidstthis growthof government powerhas been one development which at frst sightlooksexplicitlyGarldhian in originand substance, the irlstitution of panchayat raj. This entails the devolutionof muchpoweroverlocal concerns and substantial fundsto a three-tiered structure of electedbodiesat the levels of village, developmerlt block and district. The breakthrough towards panchayat raj came with tlle publicationin I957 of the Report of the Team for theStudy of Communaty Projects andJfifational Extension Service. The chairmanof the team which produced the reportj BalwantrayMehta, was a former Gandhian workerfrom Gujarat,and throughhim a direct connexionbetween Gandhi'sideals and panchayat raj can be traced. But Mehta himself insistedthat it was not dogmaticadherence to Gandhianidealswhich promptedthis reform;rather it was administrative necessity.l2 The C:ommunity Developmentprojects of the early I950S, desigrled largely to increasefood production,had not succeededin their object, and it was hopedthat the devolution of somerealpowerto local communities via panchayat rajwouldremedythis.l3 So far politicalcommentators and anthropologists have been unable to produceany comprehensive pictureof the actualworking of thisnew structure, as it is still in its earlystagesand the evidenceis piecemeal. In some areas-Sood productionand the generallevel of village prosperity has increasedrapidly;l4 but these are perhapsexceptional.As a reportfromRajasthan in I960 commerlted, villagerswerewillingto spendcommunal moneyon schools, dispensaries androadswhichwould benefitthem all. But the improvemerlt of irrigationand other amenities, crucial to economic development,rarely benefited the whole village, and consequently panchayats foundit difficultto decidehow to allocatefunds.I5 In otherplaces, as in partsof Gujaratwhere the goahead Patidarcaste is strong,village development forgeson without the help of newpanchayats, whichare evenlookeddownon by villagers
11W. H. Morris-Jones, 7Che Government andPolitics of India(2nd edition), London,
I967 p. I6s

Tinker, 'Tradition and Experimentin Forms of Government',Philips, of. cit., p. I83. 13 G. Rosen,Democracy andEconomzc Change znIndia,(Revisededition),Berkeley and Los Angeles, I967, p. 94. 8 14 For two successful panchayats in Bihar,see K. Nair, Blossoms zntheDust,London, I962, pp. 94-7 15 Report of a Study 7Ceam onDemocratic Decentralization znRajasthan, quotedin Rosen, op.czt.,p.9512 E].

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as somewhatirrelevantgovernment creations.l6 The fate of panchayats reallyseemsto dependon the stateof the individualvillagein the first place whetheror not thereare interested local leaders) whetherthere is a dominant castewillingto use it constructively, or whetherthereare competingcastesor warringfactionswhich use the panchayat as a new arena for their traditionalbattles ratherthan as an agency for selfgovernment and an instrument of development. It is also debatablewhether pa1achayat rajis workingin a way which is really consonantwith Gandhi'svision. Althoughpower has been devolvedto villagelevelsits accompaniment is an armyof development officers and workers fromvillage level upwards. These bring the prestige and authority of government with them, and thoughtheoretically they work in cooperation with the electedpanchayat, there is danger that theirpresencemay makelocal autonomyinto a sham. Similarly, Gandhienvisaged a harmonious, non-violent societyand stateif central power was devolvedto the localities but in many placespanchayats are at the mercy of castes or factions disputinglocal supremacy.I7 In such casesthey do nothirlg to promotevillage harmony.Quite the reverse,they increaseexistingdivisionsand rivalries by providing further prizesfor the successful. Panchayat raj demonstrates at the local level how democracycan most cruelly divide in a complicatedand diversesociety,just as instalmentsof constitutional reformdid at a higherlevel in the last fortyyearsof the Britishraj. A discussion of the natureand extentof statepowerin modernTnclia is important becauseit seemsto be typicalof the fate of so manyof the ideals Gandhiwished India to reflect,ideals and plans which some commentators liketo seeas hls 'legacy' to India.ButinthiscaseGandhi's ideal was only one strandin a conflictof differing ideals and political necessities.It was only put into practice when it coincided with overridingpolitical and economicpressures towardsa similar goal, and even then, the end product,contemporary 15anchayat raj, is often distorted fromthe Gandhian ideal by the necessities of politicalcontrol and the powerof existingsocialgroups. Virtuallyidenticalis the fate of Gandhi'shopes for the economic future of India. His vision was self-sufficient village communities producing the Ilecessities for simple,rurallife, with no need for towns
16 Nair, op.cit., pp. I70-8. For a case where the traditional councilcontinuedto rule the villageand the statutory panchayat was merelyan instrument of liaisonwith the administration, see F. G. Bailey,Politics andSocial Change. Orissa in I959, Bombay, I963, p. 96 17 H. Tinker, 'Tradition and 0p. Cit., pp. I 68, I 84.

Experimentin Forms of Government',Philips

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with their factoriesand their endlesspossibilities for exploitingthe poor.l8 This clashed with the plans of other Indian leaders for a prosperous India able to hold its own as a modern, industrialized nation. What could have been more inimicalto the Gandhianideal thanNehru'spronouncement, 'I am all fortractors and big machinery, and I am convincedthat the rapidindustrialization of India is essential . . .' ?19Such a clash obviouslyembarrassed Indianleadersat the height of the natioralistmovement,and a whole section of Nehru's TheDiscoveay of Indiais devotedto reconciling the two views.20 At the heart of the differencewas Gandhi'svision of a non-violentsociety. iFor Nehruit was a questionof makingIndia politicallyand economically strong.He wrote:
It can hardly be challengedthat, in the context of the modern world, no countrycan be politicallyand economically independent,even within the frameworkof internationalinter-dependence,unless it is highly industrialized and has developedits powerresources to the utmost.2l

ForGandhithe overriding necessity wasnot suchconventional strength, but non-violence, as he explainedin I939.
Rural economy. . . eschewsexploitation altogether,and exploitation is the essenceof violence.You have to be rural-minded beforeyou can be non-violent and to be rural-minded you have to have faithin the spinningwheel.22

In practicethe naivetyof Gandhianeconomics has givenway to the Five Year Planswith emphasis on rapidindustrialization. The Second Plan, for example, particularlystressedthe developmentof heavy industriesin order to make India independentof foreignsuppliesof producergoods, and consequentlyable to accumulatecapital and reducethe foreigndebt.23 Such reasoning would have been anathema to Gandhiansimplicity.However,in deferenceto Gandhianideals and the clear need to increaserural incomes, the governmenthas subsidizedcottage industries. But the Third Plan commentedcurtly that under the Second Plan 'the resultsobtainedin respectof both
For a surveyof Gandhi'seconomicideal, see Husain,op.cit.,pp. 39-46. 19J. Nehru, SheDiscovery of India(paperback impression of 4th edition),London, 1960,p. 4I2. 20 Ibidz pps409-I6 21 Ibid.,p. 4I4. 22 Harijan, 4 NovemberI939, quotedin Husain,op.cit.,p. 44. 23 Papers relating to theFormation of theSecond Five-Lear Plan, I 955, quotedin Rosen,
18
Op. Cit., p. I 26.

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production and employment werenot commensurate with the expenditureincurred'.24 In one area of economicpolicy, however,Gandhi'sideas did partially coincidewith those of Nehru and the more socialistleadersof Congress that is, the problem of landlordismand landholding. Gandhi'sideal village was a communityof peasantscultivatingtheir ownland and producing theirownfood,freefromlandlords who might subjectthem to a ruralequivalentof the industrialexploitation he so decriedin towns.Nehru'ssocialist visionincludedruralequality,while his industrialplans needed a sourldagricultural base to supportthe industrial sectorof the economy.Bothlinesof thoughtpointedto some limitationof the great zemindariestates existirlgin parts of India. Gandhiwouldhave preferred the methodto be moralpersuasion, but as early as I928 Nehru had mootedtho limitationof landholdingby law.25 Wherl Corlgress cameto powerit determined to abolish zemindari and othertitlesin land which came betweenthe government and the peasant,and to enforce maximum limitson landholding, in an attempt to lessen rural inequality and to provide incentivesfor productive peasantcultivators. Despiteconsiderable opposition fromthejudiciary, which was corlcerned to protect the propertyrights of individuals,26 by the end of the Second Flve Year Plan all intermediatetitles in land were abolished,and gradually local governments began to enact so-called'ceiling'legislation againstlargelandholders. However,once againsocialconditions, particularly the powerof the dominantlandholdingcastes in each area, conspiredto defeat the ideals of Gandhianand socialistplanneralike. Take Raichurdistrict, once part of Hyderabad,as an example. There in I955-6, out of 2 I 3,953 landholders,only 549 officially possessedmore than the 'ceiling' legislation allowedwhenit waspassed,although thiswasknown to be an area of large estates.27 In Andhraas a whole, as in many other parts of India, landholdersredistributed their lands among their familiesand relatives a legal dodge which doubtlessaccounts for the easewith whichsuchlegislation passesthroughlocal legislative assemblies even thoughthey oftencontainlargegroupsof landholding
representatives.28

The corollaryto 'ceilirlg'legislation,the legislativeprotectionof formertenants,has similarlybeen ineffiective in many places.Former

op.cit.,p. I75 25 Smith,J%ehru andDemocracy, pp. I33-4. For a discussion of the conflictsbetweenNehru and the judiciary,and consequent additionsto the Indianconstitution, see ibid.,pp. I35-4I. 27 Nair, op.cit., p. 6I. 28 Ibid.,p. 62.
24 ROsen, 26

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their lands, apparentlywithout compulsion. tenants often surrender in nameonly.Forfearof the powerful arevoluntary Butsuchsurrenders in the immediate landlordnearby, able to make life uncomfortable circle of the village) is greaterthan belief in protectionthroughthe Moreover,there have been courts or from a distant government.29 tenancy protectionlaws which are eXectsof 'ceiling' and unforeseen As landholders of the legislators. certainlycontraryto the interltions share their lands among their relativesthere is less surplusland for temporarytenants to work; and people who formerlyearned their living by taking on temporarytenuresharrebeen degradedto the some powerfullandlordslike Moreovera positionof day labourers.30 have, throughtheircontrol of Gujarat in the Kairadistrict the Patidars land titles and used some of the of the recordkeepers,manipulated of tenancylaws to evict their terlantsand turn them into provisioIts demonThis hits the low castesparticularly, labourers.3l agricultural it, irl this case stratingthat poweraccruesto thosewho alreadypossess the local dominantlandowllingcastes. Clearly it tleeds more than of powerin ruralIndia. laws to alterthe balarlce well-intentioned So far only the fate of Gandhis political and economicideals has It would be a valid criticismto say that after all been corlsidered. in formulating Gandhi was not primarilyinterestedor instrumental to evaluate plans,andthatit wouldbe fairer andeconomic constitutions on moderrlIndia in an area of life in which he was his influence- a topic to which Gandhi interestedSo let us turnto castesupremely amountof time and energy.ForGandhi,castepresented devoteda rrast two distinctproblems -the rlatureof caste divisionsin general, and the particularissue of Untouchability.To take the more general questionfirst: Gandhis attitudeto the institutionof caste developed up a strictHinduin the Vaishnava overthe years Brollght considerably withoutquestionduringhis time acceptedcastedivisions tradition,-he in South Africaand afterhis returnto India in I9I5* He wrote in a naturalinstitution in I 9 I 6 that castewas'a perfectly Marathimagazine meaning, and a readyagentforsocialand . * * investedwith a religious moralreform.'Thesebeing my views,'he wrote,CIam opposedto the ofthesystem.'32 onforthedestructiorl whicharebeingcarried movements and on intermarriage At this stage he still upheld the prohibitions 64450 Ibid, pp29 lfairnop.cit., p. 64* Congress, Chicago ;National SheIndian in a NewJ%ation. Building 31 NI. Weiner,Party landholders fromOrissacf powerful and London, X967, pp. 8g-go. Similarexamples are given in Bailey,op.cst., pp. 74-5. legislation vitiatingtenancyprotection OctoberI9I6, C. W., Vol. I3, pp. 30I-3. Sevak, 32 Bharat

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M. BROWN

interdiningbetweenpeople who belongedto differentvarnas, though not betweenmembers of differentcasteswithin each of the four great divisions.In I93X, however,he came out against all restrictions on intermarriage and interdining; and in I946 it was announcedthat no couplescould be marriedat his Sevagramashram urllessone of them was an Untouchable. Somewhere in the intervening years,mostclearly between I9I6 and I926 he had begun to distinguish betweencaste as actuallyfound in India, and his ideal of caste, what he called varnashrama. Varnashrama was a cooperative societywith its members divided into occupationalgroups,each fulfillingtheir own functions,but all of equalstatus:and it was thisideal of casteto which Gandhiadhered for the rest of his life.33In upholdingvarnashrama as opposedto the current practice of caste distinctions,Gandhi was compromising between the claims of orthodoxy and reform. But in his attitude towards Untouchabilitythere was no element of compromise.As early as I907 he condemned the practicewithouthesitation;34 and in I9I5 wrote, 'If it were provedto me that this is an essentialpart of Hinduism, I for one would declare myself an open rebel against Hinduismitself. . .'.35 Thereareseveral strands in Indianthoughtfromthe laternineteenth centuryonwards which tie up with Gandhi'sattitudeto caste.Within the spectrumof the early social reformmovementthere were many shadesof opinion,rangingfromthe most timid to the most radical.36 But graduallythe radicalbegan to predominate, particularly as the spreadof educationand communications helped to weakenparochialisms of all kinds,includingthe distinctions and loyaltiesof caste. By the I9XOS there was a body of opinion which called for the entire abolitionof caste, and an even stronger feelingamongstthe educated that the practiceof Untouchability shouldbe prohibited if India was to stand on equal terms as a modernnation with westerncountries. The personalexampleof Gandhi, whose activitieswere reportedin mirlute detail during the national movement, was undoubtedlyof great importancein making these ideas acceptable in India. But
33 For the development of Gandhi'sview of varnashrama (also called varnadharma and varnashramadharma), see D. Dalton, 'The GandhianView of Caste, and Caste after Gandhi',P. Mason,of. cit., pp. I59-8I. A collectionof Gandhi'swritingson caste compiledby R. K. Prabhuis M. K. Gandhi,Yarnashramadharma, Ahmedabad, I 962.

Gandhito ChhaganlalGandhi,2I April I907, C. W., Vol. 6, p. 435. Speechby Gandhion I May I9I5, EheHindu, 3 May I9I5, C. W., Vol. I3, p. 69. Fora surveyof the socialreform movemerlt, see C. H. Heimsath,Indian J%ationalismandHindt4 Social Reform, Princeton,I964.
34

36 36

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Congress socialism and the actualparticipation of lowerand Untouchable castesin civil disobedience alsocontributed to a radicalapproach. At orlepoint it looked as if the Untouchables under Dr Ambedkar's leadership wouldtryto finda solutionto theirproblem through political separatism. But Gandhi's greatfastleadingto the PoonaPactscotched this plan. Instead, Congressretainedtheir allegiance,but was committedto abolishing Untouchability when it came to power.37 Consequentlyin the I 950 Constitution Untouchable statuswas abolished, and thiswasreinforced by the I 955 Untouchability OXences Act, applicable to the wholeof India.38 On the positiveside,scholarships wereprovided for Untouchables in schoolsand colleges,specialseatswere allottedto themin the Lok Sabhaand StateLegislative Assemblies, and a certain percentage of government jobs werereserved for them. But what of actual practice?Untouchability is sanctionedby the traditionof generations, an embeddedattitudeand social habit hard to root out. Moreover, as a ritualstatusgiven to certainoccupational groups,it cannotbe abolishedby the strokeof a legislator's pen, but only as those groupsfind new occupationsand increasingprosperity to free them fromtheirdegradedstatusand give them in eXecta new statusto replacethe old. In towns this happensmore rapidly,except whereUntouchables live in casteblocs or keep their traditional occupations.But in villagesthereis still plentyof evidencethat Untouchability is as real a statusas ever it was.39 Althoughthe problemof the erstwhileUntouchablesis essentiallyan economic one, such is the complexity of Indiansocietythat sometimes the very prosperity which should undermineold ritual distinctionsbecomes an incentive for retainingcommunalidentityand degradedstatus.40 Even the protective discrimination given to ex-Untouchables in educationand government has backfired, makingformerUntouchability a statusin which men have a substantialvested interest.4lClearly despite Gandhi's
37 A. M. Muzumdar, SocialWelfare in India.Mahatma Gandhi's Contributions, New York, I964, pp. 56-73 38 For the scope of the Constitution and the UntouchabilityOffencesAct, see M. Galanter,'ChangingLegal Conceptions of Caste',Milton Singerand Bernard S. Cohn (ed), Structure andChange in Indian Society, Chicago,I968, pp. 3I2-I5. 39 H. Orenstein,'Leadership and Castein a BombayVillage', R. L. Parkand I. Tinker (ed), Leadership andPolitical Institutions in India,Princeton,I959, p. 4I7. Nair, op.cit.,pp. 80, I 87. 40 For the case of the Chamars whose traditionally degradingleatherwork has becomeextremely profitable, see L. I. and S. H. Rudolph, TheModernity of Tradition. Political Development in India,Chicagoand London,I967, p. I34. 41 The Maharsof WesternIndia are one of the clearestexamplesof a group deliberatelytradingon the new benefitsavailableto them if they admit to being

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campaignagainstUntouchability, and despitevirtuallyrevolutionary legislation,Untouchablestatus persistsand is even being artificially prolonged in modernIndia. It is difficult to generalize about the power and importance of caste distinctionsas a whole comparedwith the specificissue of Untouchability,since these distinctionscover so many areas of life and vary in differentregions.But it seems that graduallythe ritual importanceof caste is weakeningas education spreadsand as the endogamouscircle begins to sviden.42 However, though the ritual implicationsof caste may weaken, caste and sub-castegroups are finding new areas of activity in public life which make norlsense of Gandhianideals of a harmonious society of interdependent groups. Educational arldeconomicdevelopment, and the devolution of power, firstfrom an imperialto an Indian raj and then down throughState to jianchayat, have disturbedold balances of power, provided new opportunities for social and economicadvancement,and with them the meansof obtainingcorresponding politicalinfluence.This process of changeand modernization might be expectedto weakencaste ties, but in someunforeseen waysit has servedto reinforce them. One way is throughthe reservation of jobs and seatsin legislatures for 'backward' classes,a categorywhich includessome low castes as well as ex-Untouchables. As in the case of the latter, some low castes like the Lingayatsof Mysore,are determinedto retain the status of 'backward' for the politicaland economicadvantagesit now affiords them thoughiIl fact theireconomicpositionhas so improved that they llo longerdeserve the title 'backward'.43 In another waypoliticalchange has throwncaste groupsinto prominence. Operatingwithirlthe new systemof massfranchise politicianshave to find appropriate methods of courtingpoliticalsupport;and the castegroupwith its local leaders and supra-village networksis a ready made instrumentfor political mobilization if politicians callcapture itsloyalty.Realizingthispolitical potential, political scientistsand anthropologists have studied the modernpoliticalrole of caste in considerable detail. One thing that
Mahars.Even Christians and Muslims,theoretically castelesscommunities, in some placesnow claim vigorously that they have among them ex-Untouchables who are eligible for governmentbenefits. See H. R. Isaacs, India'sEx-Untouchables, (ISt Indian edition),Bombay,I965, pp. II7-20, I7I. 42 M. N. Srinivas, SocialChange zn Modern India,Berkeley& Los Angeles, I966,
pp. 43 I28, I38-9.

A. Betaille,'The Futureof the Backward Classes:The Competing Demandsof Statusand Power',M:ason, op.cit.,p. 89. For a discussion of the diEcultiesinvolved in findinga suitablecriterionof 'backwardness', see D. E. Smith,Indiaas a Secular State, Princeton,I 963, pp. 3I 6-22.

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emerges from the recent voluminous literature on that role is the great regions, among different castes, and at variety to be found in diffierent diffierentlevels of political life. In State level politics alone there are several distinct patterns of caste activity. Sometimes whole castes go consciously into politics as organized groups.44In other cases groups of castes form political alliances to preserve or better their position.45 Sometimes caste loyalties are only one of a number of means which politiclans use to attract votes: economic, cultural and social loyalties and interests are also called into play.46But though the factors which 'dilute' the power of caste in politics are increasing, caste is certainly a live issue and a powerful weapon, and where it operates it increases bitterness in politics hence the derogatory use of the word 'casteism' in contemporary Indian political jargon. The harmonious ideal of is still an ideal and no reality. Gandhi's varnashrama The cases on which this discussion has so far centred make it clear that Gandhi's ideals have often left little mark on Indian society and politics; and where they have been influential they have often been distorted in practice by social conditions. B7hat is left by the Mahatma in modern India is not a social and political reformation,but merely a tiny group of devoted Gandhians. Some, under the leadership of the welfare Jayaprakash Narayan, preach the doctrines of Sarvodaya, of all. Like Gandhi, they believe that the future of India lies with village communities and the end of partzrpolitics and factional strife. Others, led by Vinoba Bhave, have since I952 toured the country, askingfor gifts of larld and goods to form the basis oScooperativevillage communities on the Gandhian model.47Their political power in terms of numbers and institutionsis minimal. But they have caught the public imagination by sourldinga note of simplicity and tradition in a period of rapid change and deviation from traditional paths. In a strange way they provide a focus for much of the current political discontent in India, even though many of their ideas are virtually impossible to enact. They are present as a constant reminder of the heroic days of the
44 E.g., the Nairsof Kerala,Rosen,op. Cit.,p. 77; theJatavsof Agra,O. M. Lyneh, A CasefromAgra,India',Singerand Cohn, op. cit., 'The Politicsof Untouchability: pp. 227-35 haveadmittedlowercasteKolisto the statusof of Gujarat 45 Recentlythe Rajputs Sabhain orderto capturepowerfrom and alliedwith themin the Gujarat Kshatriya Congress,M. N. Srinivas,'Mobilityin the Caste System', the Patidar-dominated

from the simple form of political The Vanniyarsof Madrashave progressed stagewheremanynon-caste activityin overtlycastepartiesto thismoresophisticated factorseompetefor theirpoliticalloyalty,Rudolphs,op.cit.,pp. 26-7, 88-I03* cit. movement,see Varma,op. of the Sarvodaya 47For a discussion
46

pp. ibid.,

I98.

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nationalist movement, andarea standing critique of anyIndiangovernment. But surelyit is to the daysof the nationalist movement that we must turn if we are to see the influenceof Gandhion modernIndia? To look for directcausallinks betweenhis ideals and what is happening in contemporary politics and society is really to pose the wrong questions. Gandhiwasnot a formulator of constitutions or a plannerof economies;nor even a full time politician,since for long periodshe would retire almost completelyfrom politics, and devote himselfto the serviceof the Untouchablesand to filling India with spinningwheels.The concretepreparation for the government of independent India was done by the Nehrusand Patelsof the nationalmovement. They were the creatorsof a party machineand the architectsof the new state, and one could rightlyask what their directlegacy was to modernIndia in termsof policiesand institutions. Gandhiprovided the inspirationand the dynamic leadership,particularlyat critical momentsin the movement,and it is his leadershipwhich has left indeliblemarkson contemporary India ratherthan his specificplans for socialand politicalreform. Gandlli'srole as a leader can be describedas essentiallythat of a mediatorbetweenvariousgroupsand forces.In the firstplace, though on occasion not evena Congress member, he becamethe acknowledged leaderandsymbolof the anti-British agitation. As such,he heldtogether a groupof politicalleaders,mediatingbetweentheirdiverseideologies and aims.His very riseto powerin I920 was basedon this mediatory function. The Congressesheld at Calcutta and Nagpur in I 920 completelyreversedthe earlierCongress policy of cooperating in the Montagu-Chelmsford constitutionalreforms. The reason for this dramatic revision lay in the politicalforcesGandhicontrolled, and the way he usedthem.Congress fromits inceptionuntil I920 had been the preserveof educated groups, predominantly Hindus of high caste, who came fromthe three Presidencies which had been longestunder Britishinfluence.They alone were equippedby their educationto fencewith the raj in westernstyleinstitutions for politicalpower:they alone had the qualiScations which would makethem the beneSciaries of the concessions of place and powerin government serviceand the LegislativeCouncilswhich were the heart of their politicaldemands. Standing outside this tiny, sophisticatedworld of the professional politicians werevast groups,areasand communities whoseaims might be very differentif their politicalpotentialwas ever released.It was this potentialwhich Gandhibeganto releasein I920. His strength,as

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shownin thevotingpatterns at Calcutta andNagpur,lay in the support of sections of the Muslimcommunity, rousedto activityin the Khilafat movement,in the supportof representatives from regionswhich had previouslyplayed a peripheralpart in politics-Bihar, U.P., the Punjab,Gujaratand the Hindi-speaking parts of C.P.-and in the supportof merchantgroupswhose loyaltieshad previously lain with the raj. It was not that Gandhicompletelyswampedthe older style politicians,but rather that this novel supportmade him the most dangerousopponent and the most powerful potential ally in the politicalsituationof Ig20.48 Even B. G. Tilak, in the weeksbeforehe died, was acutely awarethat his followerswere faced with a critical decisionby Gandhi'sincreasing power.According to a contemporary report,one of 'Tilak'slast coherentutterances duringhis final illness' was 'that Gandhishouldbe regardedas a politicalpowerand not be lightly thwartedor opposedby the Nationalists lest they shouldfind themselves in a minorityand lose their lead in politics . . .'.49 The Presidency politiciansrealizedtheir predicament and many of them turnedto Gandhiat the end of I920 ratherthan slide into obscurity; while Gandhiforhis partmediatedbetweenthemand his own supporters so that the older politiciansretainedinfluence,if not leadership, in the nationalmovement.One Bombaypoliticianput the situation neatly:
We have expressedour diSerencesas regardsthe programmeof Nonco-operation to MahatmaGandhirecentlyand he has concededProvincial autonomy so far as it agreed with the fundamentalprinciples of his Non-co-operation and thus we are now in a positionto workout the programmeas it may suitus best.... The timeis ripefor us all now, reserving the right to ourselves to expressour diffierences amongstourselves whenever a properoccasionarrives,to close up our rarlks and oXera united frontto the Government underthe guidanceof the only man-Mahatma Gandhi who can be somewhatof a leader to us, under the present
circumstances.50

But preciselybecauseof the increasingdiversityof those who had begun to participate in politicswith their own particular aims under
48 For an analysis of votingpatternsin the Calcuttaand NagpurCongresses and an investigation of the sources of Gandhi's power,seeJ. M. Brown,'Gandhiin India, I9I5-20: his emergenceas a leader and the transformation of politics'(Cambridge Ph.D. dissertation, I 968 ), pp. 4 I 4-72 . 49 BombayPresidency Police, SecretAbstractof Intelligenceof I920, par. I2II, S. B. BombayPresidency, Poona,27 August. 50 M.R.Jayakar toB. S. Moonje,sJanuary Ig2I,JayakarPapers, Chronological Correspondence File No. I2, SerialNo. 2.

Gandhi'sleadership, his mediationbetweenthe differentgroupshad on occasion to be dictatorial. Oneoftheearliest examples of thisoccurred in June I920 at a meetingof the Xl-India Khilafat Conference, when Gandhiwas tryingto ride both Hindu and Muslimhorses. Congress had deferreda decisionon non-cooperation over the Khilafatissue until the specialsessionin September,and Gandhi's unenviabletask was to keep the Muslimssufficiently happy and under his controlso as not to alienatethe Hindusby wild speechesor actions. He did this by deliveringarl ultimatumto the Muslims: they could have his mediationand a potentialHindu allianceon his termsonly, otherwise he wouldretire.The Governor of Bombayreported this incident:
He informedthe KhilafatCommitteethat in orderto carry out his programmeit would be necessary that arlinternalcommitteeof two or three of which he shouldbe the dictator(he used this word) shouldbe formed, and he proposedthat this should be styled the Martial Law Committee of the Khilafat Movement. He explained the choice of this name by sayingthatjust as ordinarylaw was suspended in the use of Martiallaw, so in the case of the KhilafatCommittee its powerof action and criticism should be suspended pro tem., if they desiredhis co-operation, in favour of himselfand his 'committee'. This was silentlyaccepted.5l

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Both the mediationand the dictatorialtendencywere presentfrom then throughoutGandhi'scareer.There were those who refusedto accept both.Mostspectacular wastlle refusal of the Muslimcommunity afterthe brief rapprochement with Congresson the Khilafat issue, despiteGandhi'sinsistencethat his life's workwas to bring together Hindus and Muslims.SomeHindusas well turnedagainsthim, particularly those under the influenceof SubhasChandraBose, and the members of the Hindu Mahasabha.But on the whole the Hindu politicians preferred to stick togetherunder Gandhi and preservea unitedanti-British front in a Congress which became a coalition of different interests. One writerhas gone so far as to call the modernCongress an entire party systemirl itself, in which conflictinggroupsand interestsfind expression, conciliation and compromise.52 This processcould be seen until recentlynot only in the central Congressparty, where Nehru continued Gandhi'smediatoryactivitiesafter the Mahatma'sdeath, but alsoin the localities. At the local level Congress success in retaining
51 Sir George Lloyd to E. S. Montagu,25 June Ig20, MontaguPapers, India Office Library,Mss.EUR.D.523 (25). 52 R. Kothari,'The Party System',She Economic Weekly,3 June I 96I, quoted in Rosen, op. cit., pp. 64.

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powerand insuringunity has restedvery largely,too, on its poweras the Government partyto mediatebetweenlocal groups,and to provide them with meansof expression and roads to power.53 The inclusive, synthesising nature of Congresshas undoubtedlycontributedto the comparativestability of Indian politics in the two decades since independence,and the successful workingof elected, parliamentary forms of government-phenomena rare in the post-independence historyof Asian and Africanstates.ModernIndia owes much to the Mahatmafor this, becausethe nature of Congress was very largely determinedby his ideal of it as the voice of all India, and by the mediatory qualitiesof his own leadership. In a secondway Gandhiwas a mediatorduringthe nationalmovement-between the educated, high caste groups who had moved easilyin politicssincethe late nineteenth century,and the widersocial groupswhich have movedinto politicssince the FirstWorldWar. It is often said that Gandhiwas instrumental in creatingmasspolitical awareness and participation in India, and that from I920 onwardshe harnessed togetherthe Seelings of the massesand the ambitionsof an elite. As more work is done on the actual mechanicsof Gandhi's politicalleadership it becomesclearthat this is an over-simplification. It is quite true that Gandhimovedwith easein the club-rooms of the IndianBarsand the politicalassociations of the professional politicians, as well as in the markettownsand villages,interpreting the different groupsto each other. But it was between the politiciansand those whomone mightcall ruraland smalltown elitesthat Gandhiactedas politicalmediator,and rarelybetweenthe politiciansand the masses. The legendof the Mahatma's success in makingmasspoliticalcontact makesthis sound like-heresybesidethe dogmasof Indian nationalist history;and of coursethere were occasionswhen Gandhihad direct politicalinfluenceon ordinary villagerswith no claimsto the statusof an elite group. For example,during the I920 electionsin one U.P. village not a singlepersonvoted afterGandhihad visitedthe district the previousday.54Occasionslike this doubtlessmultipliedwith the yearsas he becamea truly all-Indiafigure.But generallyspeakingto the really poor and illiterateGandhi'smessageand appealwas social and religious.To the moreprosperous peasants,and the tradersand professionalmen of small towns his appeal became more overtly political:while at the highestlevelsof politicalparticipation he could couch demandsin the language of legislatures arld constitutions. It
53 Weiner,op.cit., pp. 469-72. 54 V. Chirol,IndiaOldand New, London, I92I, D pp. 20I-2.

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was between these latter groups that Gandhi acted as a political mediator. This processcan be tracedin Gandhi'scareerright from the time when he launchedhimselfinto Indian politicswith the Champaran satyagraha of I9I7. In Champaran, thoughhe movedthroughthe villages, his key men were a small group of professional men from Bihar towns, most of whom were lawyers. Among them was Rajendra PrasadfromChaprawho was to becomeone of Gandhi'schiefhenchmen in Bihar.The only one of the groupwho had hithertohad much real political experiencewas Braj KishorePrasad,who had been a memberof the BiharLegislative Council,and had attendedCongress. AmongGandhi's helperswerealso business men fromlocal townswho realizedthat if Gandhi'scampaignagainst the planting community was successful it mightincreasetheirown powerand prosperity in the area. Of the four main peasantleaderswhom Gandhiused, the most prominentwas the son of a prosperous Brahmincultivatorwho had personalgrievancesto vent againstthe planters.55 Clearlysuch mer belongedto a ruraland urbanelite, and association with themwas not politicalcontactwith the masses.Similarlyin the Kaira satyagraha of I9I8 Gandhi'sworkwas not with the poorestpeasants,but with the prosperous Patidarcommunityof this districtof Gujarat,while his most importanthelperswere either Patidarsthemselvesor lawyers from Gujarati towns,workingthroughthe infantpoliticalassociations they had begun,particularly the GujaratSabha,the GujaratPolitical Conference and the local branchesof the Home Rule League.Both Patidar and lawyer, Vallabhbhai Patel was the foremostof these associates.56 The same patternof leadershipappearsin the Rowlatt satyagraha of I9I9 and in the rlon-cooperation movementbegun in I920. In everycase Gandhiused a middlegroupbetweenthe masses and the politicians in the role of politicalsub-contractor. In Biharin I920 this middlegroupconsistednot only of small town pleadersbut also of Muslim religiousleaders,particularly the maulvis, who were interested in the Khilafatcause.57 In Maharashtra the policereported that the ordinaryvillagersunderstood virtuallynothing of what was said at non-cooperation meetings,but that village officialslike the
55 For a description of Gandhi's associates in Champaran, see undatedletterfrom W. H. Lewis,Subdivisional Officer,Bettiah,to the Commissioner, Tirhut Division, B. B. Misra(ed),Select Documents onMahatma Gandhi's Movement inChamparan I9I7-I8, Bihar, I963, pp. 339-43. 56 J. M. Brown,'GandhiIn India, I9I5-20', pp. 207-I0. 57 Searchlzght, 29 April I920, Government of India, Home Political,A, September I 920, Nos. I oo-3.

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would dependon did, and villagers'behaviour talatis, patels and shrofs theirbidding.58 did not createmasspoliticalawareleadership But thoughGandhi's glibly suggestedwithout a detailedstudy of the ness as is sometimes mechanicsof that leadership,his kind of political sub-contracting both in significantly extendedthe rangeof real politicalparticipation in the changing This has been reflected townsand in the countryside. parties, wherethe highcaste,educacomposition of somelocal Congress ted few have had to give way to, or at the very leastsharepowerwith, powerful ruralelitestakingactive part in politicsfor the firsttime. In a dramatic Belgaum, forexample,by the mid I g30stherehad occurred who were the earliestleaders decline in the power of the Brahmins, agriculin local politics,in the face of non-Brahmin and participants An interestingcorollaryto the Lingayats.59 tural castes,particularly this is the very recentindicationthat in some places the rural elites in politics or challenged mobilizedby Gandhiare now beingdisplaced by groupsfrom below them in social and economicranking groups who were barelytouchedby Gandhi'sleadership.In the Mahatma's of Gujarat,the Patidarswho followedhim from I9I8 home territory made up the local Congresswere in I962 onwardsand effiectively alliance under the defeated in Kaira district by a Bariya-Rajput Sabha.60 bannerof a Kshatriya From I9I7 onwardsGandhimediatedbetweenthe small groupsto whompoliticshad becomea naturalactivityoverseveraldecadesand a widerspreadof groupswho beganto be activein politicsfor the first time. As he did so he traineda new kind of leader who has risento The Nehrusand Patels prominence in the years since independence. of politics urbane,fluent in English,often educatedin Englandor qualifiedat the EnglishBar are giving way to, or at leastneedingthe assistance of, men like Kamarajwho until recentlyspokeno English, the late PrimeMinisterShastriwho had neverleft India until he took and up ofiice.This new style of leaderis betterequippedto represent understandthe rural groups whose power has increasedsince the and to deal with local partybossesthan introduction of adultsuffrage, of the dayswhenpoliticswerestillthe preserve werethe politicalleaders of an urban elite.6l India's comparativelysmooth transitionfrom
Police, SecretAbstractof Intelligenceof I920, par. I49I BombayPresidency Poona, I2 November. 60 Ibid., pp I5-I 59 Weiner,op. cit.,pp. 234-5. of adult suffragehastenedthe proeessof expandingpolitical 61The introduction participation, and shiftedpowereven more quicklyto the dominantruralcastesin ofpanchayat the regions,casteswhiehthengainedmorepowerthroughthe institution
58 (2I),

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elitistpoliticsto a stage of far widerparticipation in politicalactivity owesmuchto Gandhi's abilityto interpret betweendifferent groups and to trainnew leaders who couldtap a widerrangeof support thaxltheir predecessors. This is a political dividend of very great value to an ex-colonial territory whereviolencecan so easilyeruptfromthe bitterness of social, economicand regionaldivisionsif those divisionsare reflected in a monopolyof politicalpower. In a thirdspherealsoGandhi's rolewasthat of mediator in matters of socialand politicalideology.Compared with an oldergeneration of politicians who owed much of their politicalthinkingto educationon Englishliberallines,and madeCongress the sobermorning-dress affair that it once was, Gandhiappearedboth in outwardappearance and in his attitudesand arguments to be far more traditionallyIndian. Indeed this was part of his strengthas he stretchedout to groupsnot yet involved in the sophisticated game of western-style politics.But in many ways he reinterpreted traditionallyIndian ideas to justitr moremodernor westernattitudes,and similarly interpreted the more modern in tertns of the traditional. One of the mostobviousexamples of this was his attitudetowards castedivisions. His egalitarian ideasowed muchto his westerneducation,but he took carealwaysto clothethese ideasin traditional forms,stressing that varnashrama was a purification of corruptHindupractice,and not a departure fromHindu tradition. Similarlyhe emphasized that his criticismof the contemporary treatment of womenin India was not an attackon Hinduismfromoutside, but a call to returnto the originaltenetsof Hinduism.
These statements of mine may have verbalsimiIarity with the occasional attacksof Christians, but, apartfrom this similarity,there is no commorl groundbetweenus. The Christians, in their attacks,seek to strikeat the roots of Hinduism.I look upon myself as an orthodoxHindu and my attackproceedsfromthe desireto rid Hinduismof its defectsand restore it to its pristineglory.62

In somewhat the sameway Gandhi's ideal of an Indiannation, and a goodIndian,at firstowedmuchto examples of nationalism andheroism fromoutsideIndia. In SouthAfricahe set himselfthe task of uniting the Indian communityand educatingits members in the qualitieshe thought made nations great, using his writingsand the columnsof Izadiaza Opinion in particular. He drewheavilyon the lives of nationalist
raj. Thisshift in the balance of powerto the countryside isone of the mainthemesdealt with in Rosen,op. cit. 68 Speechby Gandhion 20 February I9I8, C. W., Vol. I4, p. 204.

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KamalPasha;64 and Mustafa leadersfromoutsideIndia,like Massini63 to followmenas diverseas OliverCromwell, arldexhorted his audience in the beliefthatnations and Florence Nightingale, George Washington By the time he returned were as great as the peoplethey contained.65 western farlesstowards wereorientated to India, however,his writirlgs Indianon the traditionally examples,and his stressfell increasingly on vernahis emphasis and swaleshi, hencehis use of wordslike swaraj This and the wearingof khadi. cular education,village communities he builtup structure was part of the ideological new kindof exposition of sstyagraha, truth or soul force. roundhis conceptof the supremacy were Much of that ideologyand the resultingpersonalidiosyncracies of westernpoliticalideals rejectedin India, but Gandhi'srestatement in overtlyIndian,even Hindu,terms of nationhood and independence importance to the leadersofthe and symbols was of greatpsychological nationalmovement.It removedthe stingof the chargethe Britishhad representing alwayslaid againstthem, that they were 'denationalized', It also helped babus. a groupof over-educated nothingbut themselves, by stressing the in the movement to unifythe groupswho participated whichBritish ruleandinfluence to the divisions traditional in opposition Even in the mundanemattersof dress had causedor exacerbated.66 and exhortingthem to the leadersin khadi and language,by dressing speak a vernacular,Gandhi broughtthem closer to the rest of the between rich and population,appearingto iron out the differences Gandhi poor, educated and illiterate. Literallyand metaphorically clothedthe leadersof modernIndia in the robesof tradition,and thus eased India'spassageinto the modernworld.67
C.W., Vol. I0, pp. 40-I; an article in Invdian 63 E.g., a passagein HindSwsraj, pp.R7-8; numerousreferencesas in Indisn Opinion, 22 July I905, C.W., Vol5, Opinion, 4 April Ig08, C.W., Opinion, 27 July I907, C.W., Vol. 7, p. I22 and Indian Vol. 8, p. I75 March I 908, Leader') Indian Opinion,28 entitled 'Egypt's Famous 64 A course ofarticles +April I 908, I I April I 908, I 8 AprilI 908,C.W.,Vol. 8, pp. I 66-7, I74-6, I 87-8, I99. g September I905, C.W., Vol. 5, pp. 6I-2; IndianOpinion, 65 Indisn Opinion, 27 July Ig07, C.W.,Vol. 7, p. I22. the traditionaland the Hindu also involveddangers.The 66 Of coursestressing of the nationalmovementhelped to alienateMuslims increasingly Hindu character and to push them into demandsfor a Pakistanwhere they would be free from the It also, was fraughtwith uncertainties. danger of Hindu raj. Use of vernaculars, might bring educatedand uneducatedtogether,but it might also emphasizethe difEerences betweenthe regionsof India and the claimsof theirvariousvernaculars and use. for officialrecognition 67 This processof using traditionin the service of modernityis workedout in by the Rudolphsin a sectionof their some detail in relationto Gandhi'sleadership recent book, entitled, 'The TraditionalRoots of Charisma:Gandhi', iEtudolphsF ap.cit., pp. I 57-249.

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In discussingMahatmaGandhi'sinfluenceon modernIndia it is misleadingto studyhis idealsand to try to see them as legaciesleft to his country,thoughthisis a temptingway to celebratehis centenary. Societyand politicsarefartoo complexto reflectthe idealsof one manj eventhoughhe was one of the greatest leadersIndia has produced and at timesevenseemedto personify the Indiannation.Only the collusion of idealswithsocialand economic pressures can produce radicalchange in traditional societies:wherethe ideal alone is present,in practiceit is eitherforgottenor distorted. This can be seen in microcosm in the fate of satyagraha and its political applicationin non-violentpassive resistance. This above all was Gandhi'smessageto India. It was for him the manifestation of a consuming visionof a non-violent world,as well as a superblyadaptabletechniquefor conductingand resolving conflicts. But in modernIndia the ideal has gone by the boardboth in external relationsand in internal politics. Military interventionin Goa, and wars with China and Pakistanhave ended an era of nonviolence in foreignaffairsand of the diplomacyof non-alignment.68 Within India since Nehru's death the coalition he held togetheris splitting up, andpoliticalstrifehasbecomemorebitterandincreasingly erupts irlto open violence. Moreover, the technique of satyagraha, which Gandhihopedwouldneverbe usedin an India whichhad won swaraj,69 has become a method of last ditch political blackmail.70 Political,economicand social pressures have conspiredto distortthe Gandhian original. Solutionsto the problemsof modern India have to be, and are being,forgedby the politicians of the '60s and '70s,in response to the needs of the day, and not accordingto an ideologyfashionedin the early I9OOS by one who had no experience of the pressures of administrativeand economicnecessityin a vast under-developed country, and whosemainconcernwas to rousehis countrymen to a visionof an independent destiny.The Mahatmawas not the Fatherof the Nation in the sense that he bequeathedto it a blue-printfor a new order; but ratherbecausehe bridgedthe gap betweenthe old orderand the new.
68 For evidence of this change, see the figuresfor the increasein government expenditure on defencesince I962, Rosen, op.cit., p. 37. 69 W. H. Morris-Jones,'Mahatma Gandhi Political Philosopher ?', Political Studies, Vol. VIII, I960, p. 30. 70 E.g., the resort to satyagraha by people hoping to get certaintowns and areas includedin theirown linguisticprovinces,Weiner,op.cit.,pp. 250-I. The samedistortionof the Gandhianoriginalcan be seen in the threatsof politicalleadersto fast to death when they have been unableto get theirway throughthe normalconstitutionalchannelsof politics.