Indian Political Thought All Thinkers (Eduseeker)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This book stands on the shoulder of Giants. The

Eduseeker is indebt to the work of Academic Scholar and
teachers who have shared their knowledge of Indian
Political Thought on various platform. First of all thanks
to the major authors of Indian Political Thought i.e.
Thomas Pantham, Bidyut Chakrabarty, Himanshu Roy,
VP Verma, V.R. Mehta, Ramchandra Guha, Akash Singh
Rathore, Donald Mackenzie Brown. Special thanks to
CEC UGC channel of Youtube and Shubhra Ranjan IAS
for providing more insights on Indian Political Thought.
In Last, I don’t have words to express my gratitude to all

students of our channel who kept motivating to make
crash course of Indian Political Thought. It is because of
them this book has come into existence.
Eduseeker
Dedicated to All
Aspirants of UGC NET
Political Science
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Dharmashastra 7
2. Kautilya 12
3. Aggannasutta 21
4. Barani 26
5. Kabir 31
6. Pandita Ramabai 34
7. Bal Gangadhar Tilak 38
8. Swami Vivekanand 42
9. Rabindranath Tagore 46
10. M.K. Gandhi 50
11. Sri Aurobindo 61
12. Periyar E.V. Ramasamy 67
13. Muhammad Iqbal 74
14. M.N. Roy 82
15. V D Savarkar 93
16. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar 101
17. J L Nehru 113
18. Ram Manohar Lohia 123
19. Jaya Prakash Narayan 130
20. Deendayal Upadhyaya 136
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DHARMASHASTRA
Click on play icon to listen lecture
In Ancient Indian Traditions there are two traditions:-

1. Hindu Traditions
2. Buddhist Traditions
According to Bhikhu Parekh, there is a enormous continuity in Indian Thinking

from ancient to modern times. Even Buddhism is not entirely a different tradition.
Buddhism can be considered as ‘rebel child of Hinduism’ or ‘Protestantism of
East’.
Within Hindu Traditions there are two traditions:

1. Dharmashastra
2. Arthashastra
HINDU TEXT
SHRUTI SMRITI
VEDAS DHARMASHASTRA
DHARMASHASTRA
Shrutis: There is no author of Shruti. They are ‘revealed text’ based on divine or
cosmic sounds. Vedas come under this category and they are written in ‘Vedic
Sanskrit’.
Smritis: They are compiled by the ‘Rishis or Sages’. They are based on Shrutis.
Smritis are tend to codify the ‘principle of human life’ for practical application.
Smritis are written in ‘Laukik Sanskrit’.
DHARMASHASTRA
➢ Manusmriti is a part of Dharamshastra.
➢ It was translated into English language by Sir William Jones in 1794.
➢ It is believed that it was the first Sanskrit text translated to English.
➢ There are total 12 chapters of Manusmriti.
➢ It was written between 200 BC- 200 AD
➢ The main objective of Manusmriti is to maintain ‘dharma’ i.e. law and
order. It contains practical rules governing Individual, families, Varnas.
➢ Manu is considered as the first law giver
➢ Manu has told what is Dharma of different Varnas
What is Dharma?
➢ The term Dharma comes from Sanskrit word ‘dhr’ which means to hold. In
Atharva Veda, Dharma is described as ‘Prithvim Dharmam Dhritam’
meaning the world is upheld by Dharma
➢ If there is no Dharma left on earth then it will lead to Anarchy (Arajakta)
and catastrophe (Paralya)
Concepts of Dharmashastra:
Purusharthas: There are four goals of life
a) Dharma
b) Artha
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DHARMASHASTRA
c) Kama
d) Moksha
2. Ashrams: There are four stages of life with specific goals for each stage
a) Brahmcharya (birth-25)
b) Grahstha (25-50)
c) Vanaprastha (50-75)
d) Sanyasa (75-100)
3. Varna: Hindu Society was divided into 4 Varnas
a) Brahmins
b) Kshatriyas
c) Vaishyas
d) Shudras
4. Sanskar: There are 16 essential rituals to be followed by Hindus. These
rituals are called Sanskar.
Starting with Garbhadhan sanskar ending with Anteyshthi
5. Origin of State:
➢ This theory is known as Quasi-Contractual Theory
➢ State is created by a contract between Man and God
➢ Chapter 7 of Manusmriti mentions the ‘theory of state’
➢ In primitive society there was no state i.e. there was Arajakta
(Anarchy)
➢ In this situation Matsya Nyaya was prevalent
➢ Big fish eating small fish i.e. Might is Right
➢ Hence people requested/ prayed Brahma (God)
➢ Brahma (God) created Manu (King)
➢ It is this reason Manu is considered as first king and the law giver
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DHARMASHASTRA
➢ It is this reason Manu is considered as first king and the law giver
➢ Now it is the duty of people to obey the laws
6. Sources of Dhrama: There are five sources of Dharma
a) Veda
b) Samriti
c) Sajjano ka Acharan (behaviour of gentlemen)
d) Anta: Karan (mind)
e) Rajagya (Order of King)
7. Ideals of Kingship
1. King has divine personality: 8 Gods have given a part of their
personality to the King thus king combine Indra, Varuna, Agni, Vayu, Surya,
Chandra, Yama and Kubera
2. There is difference in idea of Kingship in East and West:
➢ west: King used to have divine personality + divine rights
➢ India: King only had Divine Personality
➢ Divine rights symbolize absolute authority
➢ Kings did not have absolute authority. They were under law
➢ Kings were to follow Rajdharma: Dharma as found in Dharmashastras
i.e. as told by Brahmins
➢ if King don’t follow Dharma he will go to hell
➢ king is supposed to be from Kshatriya Varna
➢ Rakshan and Palan are the responsibilities of the King
8. Taxation: Principles of Taxation directly proportion to the fertility of land
➢ 1/6th of produce is king’s share from fertile land
➢ 1/8th produce is from less fertile land
➢ 1/10th produce from least fertile land
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DHARMASHASTRA
King also has share from the other produces:

➢ 1/6th Milk, Honey, Meat, Butter and other trading commodities\
Conclusion: Manusmriti is one of the most controversial texts. Among the
admirers of Manusmriti are: Dr. S. Radhakrishan and Among the critics the
majot critics is: Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who burned Manusmriti during Mahad
Satyagraha on 25 Dec, 1927 and he asked untouchables to put dynamite on
Vedas and Manusmriti
Write us here to remove any error or to improve the quality of

book: theeduseeker@gmail.com
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KAUTILYA
Brief Bio
➢ Born in 350 BC (time of Alexander and his guru Aristotle)
➢ Studied at Takshshila and started teaching there
➢ Patliputra: Head of Sungha ( organsiation for helping poor people)
➢ Patliputra was capital of Magadh Empire ruled by Dhananand
➢ Insult of Kautilya by Dhananand and Kautilya pledge to overthrow
➢ Met Chandragupta: trained
➢ Established Maurya Empire
➢ Chief Advisor (PM) to Chandragupta
➢ Continued PM till Bindusar and then left the empire
Arthashastra:
➢ It was first discovered in 1904 and translated into German by Jacobi in 1909
➢ it consists of 15 books, 150 chapters and 180 topics.
➢ First five books: Internal matters of State
➢ 6 to 13 books: External matters of state
➢ 14-15 books: other issue of states
KAUTILYA
➢ It classified 34 departments of government

➢ Arthashastra belongs to Dandashastra and is also known as Nitishastra.
➢ State Craft is the main focus of Arthashastra. However it also discusses
Dharma and we see the continuity between Manu and Kautilya.
Meaning:
➢ Kautilya defines State Craft as Arthashastra. ‘Arth’ denotes material well
being. According to him, the most important objective of the king is to
secure the material well being of his people.
‘Material Well-being is supreme, attainment of all other goals-
Dharma, Kama, Moksh depends on Material Well being’
➢ In ancient times, land was the main source of securing material well being.
➢ Hence, the main idea of Arthashastra: How to acquire land
➢ It is natural for a state to go for acquiring land.
➢ The first land to be aquired is the land of neighbor
➢ Because neighbours are natural enemies
➢ Hence the relations between 2 states are the RELATIONS OF WAR
➢ Thus, Arthashastra deals with Art of War
➢ Arthashastra can be considered as the ‘First textbook in Geopolitics’
Geopolitics: Science of Capturing Land
Saptang Theory:
➢ It explains the seven limbs of the state. Which also means seven elements of
sovereignty.
➢ it is an example of organic theory of state.
➢ Kautilya systematic view of state. those seven elements are (See fig 2.1)
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KAUTILYA
Seven elements of sovereignty:
AMATYA
DURGA
JANAPADA
KOSHA
BALA
MITRA
(Fig 2.1)
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KAUTILYA
KING:
➢ King is the centre of the state. It is difficult to replace a personality.
➢ King plays the most important role.
➢ If king is strong and other elements of sovereignty are weak, the strong and
the smart King can convert the elements of weakness into elements of
strength.
➢ If other elements are strong but if king is weak it will lead to over all
weakness.
➢ Kautilya emphasizes that King should not be arrogant and give attitude
recognition of other element.
➢ State is a system of interdependence.
➢ In his words ‘in the happiness of the subject lies the happiness of the king’
Amatya: Senior Minister
➢ They are mostly Brahmins.
➢ The most important among them is the ambassador who is representative of
the King / state.
➢ King should choose him very carefully. He should be trusted person and
well vested in Shastra.
➢ He suggested that the king should have at least 3 Amatyas, two can inspire
against, even then one will stay with king. King should have constant vigil
on on ministers. Amatyas can challenge the power of the king. He will
suggest King should keep testing integrity of ministers from time to time.
Durga: Fort
➢ Maurya Empire is known for different types of forts.
➢ Kautilya mentions different fort on hill, water or desert.
➢ Fort are the symbols of defensive and offensive capabilities of state.
➢ Hence King should be constructing fort.
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KAUTILYA
Janpadh: Territory
➢ Places where common man lives operates, conduct business and various
activities.
➢ It is very important as it provides economic resources.
➢ King has to ensure that his people are happy.
➢ Even in case of territory Kautilya suggest to use spies to remain in touch
with public mood.
➢ Kautilya has given a detailed account of spies. He mentions at least 10 types
of spices to be used both for external and internal purpose.
➢ These are:
spies under the guise of fraudulent disciples/student-spies (kāpatika),
recluses (udāsthita), householders (gṛhapatika), merchants (vaidehaka), ascetics
(tāpasa), fire-brands (tīkṣṇa), poisoners (rasada), and mendicant women
(bhikṣukī).
Bala: Military Strength
➢ According to him, army should be comprised of Kshatriyas.
➢ He belives in hereditary basis of recruitement
➢ However, if need arises, other varnas can also be incorporated
➢ Even as far as king is concerned, Kautilya is not particular about varna
➢ He mentions that king can be of any varna but preferably Kshatriya
Kosha: Treasury
➢ It should be sufficient to the extent that not only the king is able to fulfill his
routine obligations he is able to meet any sort of emergency
Mitra: Ally
➢ Friends have a symbolic importance.
➢ As there is no permanent friend/ enemy and it is difficult to identify who is
real and who is pretending
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KAUTILYA
➢ They are symbol of strength of king.

➢ Everyone wants to be the friend of the strong
➢ Hence if country loosing friends to enemy, it is a serious concern
➢ Example: Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal getting close to China
Basic Principle of Mandal Theory:

1. Neighbour is a natural enemy
2. Neighbour’s neighbor is a natural friend
3. Greater is the distance, lesser is the enemy
4. All friendship in international sphere is guided by interest and convenience
5. Relations can’t be taken for granted
12 Kings
Kautilya mentions different kings in forward direction:
1. King
2. Ari
3. Mitra
4. Ari Mitra
5. Mitra Mitra
6. Ari Mitra Mitra
Kautilya mentions four kings in backward direction:
7. Parshvanighra
8. Akranda
9. Parshavanighra Sara
10. Akranda Sara
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MANDAL THEORY
He gives two other kings:

11. Udasina (Neutral): During war if other countries accept the status of any
country as neutral, then that country has to give equal access to its territory to
both countries in War. Ex: Switzerland
12. Madhyana (Buffer State): It is a smaller state between two major powers. Its
purpose is to avoid 2 major powers coming into state of direct confrontation. Ex:
Nepal is ideal buffer zone between India and China
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MANDAL THEORY
Mandal Theory
➢ Context: Rajdharma- Kshatriya Dharma i.e. war
➢ After coronation, King has to start expedition
➢ According to Kautilya, King should have the desire to become
‘Chakravarthi Samrat’
➢ He addresses the King as ‘Vijigishu’ (one who aspires for victory)
➢ Mandhal Sidhant is based on the concept of Geopolitics
➢ According to Geopolitics, State is organism
➢ Organism has to grow. For that it has expand
➢ If it does not expand it will perish
➢ Thus, State are expansionist by nature
Shadguna Niti (6 Fold Policy)
King can adopt following options depending on situation
1. Sandhi (Treaty) : If enemy is strong, go for sandhi. Ex: Shimla agreement
(Pak-Ind)
2. Vighra: Break sandhi when you become strong
3. Aasana (to sit): Stationing of forces near enemy’s territory
4. Yana (Movement): Military exercices near enemy territory
5. Samashrya (Objective): Join hands with those who have similar objectives.
Ex: Quad (to contain china)
6. Dvaidhbhava (Dual Policy): Friendship with one, enemity with other. Don’t
go for war at two fronts
Four Upayas:
1. Sam: Peace i.e. entry into treaty
2. Dam: Economic Diplomacy
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MANDAL THEORY
3. Danda: use of Forces

4. Bhed: division i.e. creating separatist tendencies
Types of War:
1. Parkarama Yuddha: Direct/ open war
2. Koot Yuddha: Guerilla Warfare
3. Tushnim Yuddha: Proxy war
Three types of Victories:
1. Dharmavijaya: By rightful means
2. Lobhavijaya: Economic inducements to enemy’s army
3. Asurvijaya: By unfair means
Origin of State:
Same as Manusamriti
Duties of King
Same as Manusamriti

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AGGANNASUTTA
➢ Aggannasutta is 27th Sutta of 34 Sutta of ‘Digha Nikaya’

➢ There are mainly three scriptures of Buddhism known as ‘Tripitak’ (three
baskets)
➢ The three pitakas are Sutta Pitaka, Vinaya Pitaka and Abhidhamma Pitaka.
➢ ’Digha Nikaya’ is part of Sutta Pitaka of Buddhist Scripture
➢ It is known as Digha (long) because these Sutta have long dialouges, Thus it
is known as ’Digha Nikaya’
➢ There are other Buddhist Text:
Tripitaka, Suttavibhanga, Khandhaka, Parivara, Jatakas, Milinda Panha,
Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, Mahavastu, Buddha Charita, Mahāvibhāsa Śāstra,
Lalitavistara, Divyavadana, Udanavarga, Udana and Bodhi Vamsa
Meaning of Agganna Sutta
➢ Aggan is used to describe origin and Sutta is discourse. Thus, Agganna
Sutta means ‘discourse of origin’
➢ It explains the origin of life on Earth, social order and its structure, caste
system.
➢ The sutta describes a discourse imparted by the Buddha to two brahmins,
Bharadvaja and Vasettha, who left their family and caste to become monks.
AGGANNASUTTA
➢ They were insulted by their own caste member for leaving superior caste
and joining the Sangha of monks
➢ Buddha explains that caste and race can’t be compared with morality or
dhamma, as anyone from the four castes can become a monk and reach the
state of Arahant (Nirvana).
Myth of Supremacy of Brahmins (Part-1 of Sutta)
➢ As we know, Vasettha and Bharadvaja, were insulted for leaving Brahmin
caste
➢ Buddha tells them the fact that women in the Brahmin caste can get
pregnant and give birth
➢ But the Brahmins still say that they are born from the Mouth of the God
Brahma and other (castes), Kshatriya from the arms, Vaishya from the
thighs, and Sudra from the feet of Brahma.
➢ Buddha further elaborates that if any of the caste does the following deeds:
killing, taking anything that is not given, take part in sexual misconduct,
lying, slandering, speaking rough words or nonsense, greedy, cruel, and
practice wrong beliefs.
➢ Then people would still see that they do negative deeds and therefore are
not worthy of respect
➢ Thus, no matter what their caste might be, they can do bad or good deeds
➢ Hence, person should be judge on the basis of its deeds and not caste
➢ Buddha ends this discussion by saying that "Dhamma is the best thing for
people In this life and the next as well."
The origin of Life on Earth (Second part of Sutta)
➢ In this part, Buddha tells about the origin of life on earth
➢ He tells that in the beginning, there was no light, no nature, no moon and
sun, no day and night, there was darkness in all four sides
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AGGANNASUTTA
➢ On Earth, there was only a water like liquid (dhravya). With time there were
chemical reactions on it and consequently there formed a layer on water
similar to a layer on boiling milk. This layer had colour, smell and taste
(like honey).
➢ On this very layer, some creatures were born who survived by eating this
layer. As they ate and ate, their luminous body began to be coated by the
mud substance
➢ then suddenly, the sun and moon were seen, so were the stars, and also
Night and Day began on Earth.
➢ Their body was not fully shaped. Thus, after a very long time, the mud-like
substance began to be exhausted. Then, mushroom like plants began to
grow so fast that they replaced the mud-like ocean.
➢ The creatures started eating it too, then mushrooms replaced by plants. They
ate that too and then differences in their bodies began to notice. The concept
of the beautiful and the ugly were born.
➢ and then plants replaced by rice. They ate rice too. The body of creatures
had become finally evolved. There was already the distinction between
male and female.
NOTE: With this theory we can say that Buddha rejects divine theory of state
and believes in scientific or evolutionary theory of state.
The Birth of Social Order and Castes (Third Part of Sutta)
The Khattiya Caste (Rulers)/ Origin of State (Social Contract Theory of
Buddha)
➢ The rice plants, as mentioned earlier, began to grow in separate plots and
people began to divide lands
➢ They became busy in looking after their own field.
➢ Then, as the evil and greed were aroused, there were people who begin
stealing others' crops.
➢ At first, the others only warned the culprit and the culprit promised that he
would never repeat it again.
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AGGANNASUTTA
➢ But when it was repeated several times, the people began punishing him
with fist, stones, and then sticks.
➢ That is the origin of punishment forms. (This is Buddha’s Dandnitti)
➢ Then, people began to think that they were too busy to stop every crime and
abuse that happened in their society.
➢ So, they appointed someone to rectify what is right and what is wrong, give
warnings to those who need it, give punishment to those who deserve it, and
in return, they will give him a share of their rice.
➢ So, they went to the fairest, ablest, most likeable, and most intelligent
person and appointed him to do the judging and passing out sentences on
the reward of a share of rice.
➢ The appointed person thus agreed and the people bestowed upon him the
title : 'Maha Sammata’ meaning: The People's Choice. Then, they bestowed
also the second title: 'Khattiya' meaning the 'Lord of the Rice Field', and
finally the third title: 'Raja' which means 'Who gladdens people with
Dhamma (or Truth)'.
The Brahmin Caste
➢ Then, amongst the people, some of them begin to think like this: "Evil
deeds have risen amongst us, such as: theft, lies, murders, sexual abuses,
punishment, and banishment. Now let us set aside evil, unuseful, and
impolite things."
➢ The word Brahmins came, as it meant: "They who put aside Evil and
unwholesome things“
➢ They set up retreats and huts in the forests and meditated there.
➢ They came to the city at morning and evening only to gather food and after
finishing gathering food, they returned to their huts and meditations.
➢ People noticed this and 'Those who meditated' were called 'Jhayanti' or
'Jhayaka’.
➢ There are other people, who can't meditate or dwell in huts in the forest. So,
they settled in the cities, did not meditate, but compiled books.
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AGGANNASUTTA
➢ The people called them 'Ajjhayaka' which meant 'They who don't
meditate’.
➢ At first the Ajjhayaka were viewed lower than Jhayaka but in the Buddha's
time, the Ajjhayaka had been viewed higher in status than the Jhayakas.
The Vessa (Traders) and the Sudda (Hunters)
➢ Among the people who had settled and had family, some began to adopt
various trades.
➢ The remainder of these people preferred the work of hunting. The Sudda
caste came from the word 'Sudda' which means: 'They Are Base Who Live
By The Chase’
➢ All of the castes, from Brahmin, Khattiya, Vessa, and Sudda originated from
these people, and not from others; in accordance to the Dhamma and not by
others.
The Ascetics
➢ But from the four castes, there were people who were not satisfied with
their living, left their home and became celibate ascetics.
➢ These are the origin of the fifth caste formed from all the four castes' people
who left their lay life and became an ascetic.

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4
BARANI
➢ Zia-Ud-Din Barani was the most important political thinker of the Delhi
Sultanate.
➢ He lived during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Firoz Tughlaq
His Main Works:
• Fatawa-i-Jahandari
• Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi
Other works
• Salvat-i-Kabir (The Great Prayer)
• Sana-i-Muhammadi (Praises of Prophet Mohammad)
• Hasratnama (Book of Regrets)
• Tarikh-i-Barmaki
• Inayat Nama-i-Ilahi (Book of Gods Gifts)
• Maasìr Saadat (Good Deeds of the Sayyids)
• Lubbatul Tarikh.
• Fatawa-i-Dindari
➢ He used ‘nasihat’ (advice) style for writing.
BARANI
➢ His Fatwa-i-Jahandari is a classic work on statecraft which can be

compared with Kautilya’s Arthashastra and Machiavelli’s Prince.
➢ His Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi is a histotical account from Balban to Firoz Shah
Tughlaq (First 6 years only).
Theory of Kingship
Ideal Sultan
➢ Sultan should be noble born- preferably belonging to the family of the
monarch
➢ Sultan is an agent of god on earth to the welfare of the people (Divine Right
Theory)
➢ Sultan should follow Shariat. In personal life he may or may not follow it
but in public life he has to strictly follow it.
➢ An ideal Sultan is one :-
⦁ who has sense of justice
⦁ wise enough to understand deception and conspiracies
⦁ understand the importance of time and divide it wisely between
his personal and political life’s needs
➢ Sultan must desist from five mean qualities- falsehood, changeability,
deception, wrathfulness and injustice
Nobility
➢ The nobility was the second component of the monarchy.
➢ The nobles were the Sultan’s chosen individuals who were assigned the
right to collect taxes in particular territories/ lands
➢ Land was known as iqta and the one who was incharge of land was known
as iqtadar
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BARANI
➢ The surplus produced by the peasant were distributed among the iqtadaars
➢ Iqtadaars were also required to maintain their army and send same to Sultan
whenever were asked for it
➢ The iqtas (lands) were frequently transferred from one person to another
person which made them non-hereditary
➢ The iqtadaars were also part of Sultan’s royal council which advised the
king on policy matters
➢ That’s why Barani advised Sultan to be careful in their selections
➢ For this purpose Barani assigned main two qualifications:
⦁ the iqtaadar should be noble-born with loyalty (personal and
political)
⦁ they must possess the quality of sound political jusdgement
⦁ to know second quality he prescribed nine conditions
⦁ such as fear of god, knowledge of history, lack of greed,
practical knowledge of state affairs.
Ideal Polity
Laws
➢ Barani Categorised laws into two kinds, the Shariat and the Zawabit
➢ Shariat meant the teachings and practices of the Prophet and of the pious
Caliphs
➢ Zawabit were the state laws created by Sultan according to circumstances
where Shariat was unable to implement
➢ The Zawabit must be in spirit of the Shariat and should follow four
conditions:
1. Zawabit should not negate the Shariat
2. It must increase the loyalty and hopes among the nobles and people
towards sultan
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BARANI
3. Its source and inspiration should be the shariat

4. If it has to negate the Shariat in certain conditions, it must follow
charities and compensation
➢ Thus, for him Zawabit law was an ideal law which could cater the needs of
state and its people without offending any section of the nobility
Army
➢ After the Mauryas, the Sultanate was the largest and most powerful state in
India.
➢ Army was based on Turkish-Mongol model.
➢ It was divided into four parts:
1. Infantry (foot soldiers)
2. Cavalry (horsemen)
3. War Elephants
4. Auxiliary (engineers, transporters, spies etc)
➢ The cavalry was further divided into three wings:
1. mumattab (a soldier without horse)
2. sawar (a soldier with a single horse)
3. do-aspab (a soldier with two horses)
➢ The rank of army was khan, malik, amir, sipashsalar etc. they were either
paid in cash or assigned revenues of different villages.
➢ The main function of the army was security and expansion of state. Barani
advised king to take greater care of army.
➢ The Sultan also maintained personal troops called qalb for his safety
Bureaucracy
➢ The basic function of bureaucracy was to measure the land and fix and
collect taxes
➢ It operated at three levels i.e. cerntre, province and village.
29
BARANI
➢ The Diwani-i-Wazarat headed by a wazir (the head of revenue and finance,

also known as PM)
➢ He was assisted by a naib, Musharif-i-Mamalik, Mustawfi-i-malik and
dabirs
➢ At the provincial level, the administration was headed by muqtis or walis.
➢ Below muqtis or walis was the Diwan (ministry of revenue) i.e. provincial
wazir
➢ At the village level, the head was known as Muqaddam, chaudhari etc.
Justice
➢ Justice, for Barani, was most important in the administration
➢ Because Justice was required everywhere i.e. from remission of land tax to
supply of commodities to buyers at production cost and from dispensing
civil and criminal cases to granting monetary help to the needy
➢ To ensure justice at market, he advised king to set the price of commodities
according to the principles of production cost.
➢ He suggested that Diwani-i-Riyasat (the controller general of market) and
the Shahana-i- Mandi (the superintendent of the grain market) and other
officials should control irregularities in the market.
➢ To dispense justice the courts were divided into civil and criminal
categories and they operated at central and provincial levels
➢ The judges were to be appointed by the king, with himself as highest court
of appeal.
➢ Below him were Quazi-ul-Quzat (Chief Judge), Sadr-us-Sadur or Sadr-ul-
Mulk (provincial judge)
➢ Amir-i-Dad-Bek-i-Hazrat (Central Judicial Officers), Qazi, Amir-i-Dad
(Judicial officers at provincial level), Muhtasibs (Municipal officers and
moral censors)
The king in dealing with religious cases were assisted by the mufti and the Sadr-
us-Sadur while in secular cases he was assisted by Qazi-ul-Quzat.
30
5
KABIR
➢ There is no consensus on the birth date of Kabir.

➢ However, there are three dates of Kabir’s life in the public domain
⦁ 1440-1518 (78 years)
⦁ 1398-1518 (119 years)
⦁ 1398-1448 (50 years)
➢ But what we can assure of is that:
⦁ Kabir was a 15th century thinker
⦁ He was a contemporary of Sikander Lodhi (1489-1517)
His works are complied in:
1. Adi Granth
2. Panchvani
3. Sarvangi
4. Bijak (1660-1670, during the time of Aurangzeb. It consist of three
parts: Ramaini, Sabda and Sakhi)
5. Granthavali (1900-1915)
KABIR
➢ Begumpura, kingdom of God, was an ideal village without

• sorrow
• private property
• taxes
• monarchy
• social hierarchy
➢ It was a land of Saintly people without any: fear, greed, caprice, crime and
scarcity
➢ There was no discrimination on basis of caste, religion and gender.
➢ It was a rationale and humane society
➢ It meant the sovereignty of the citizens and equality among them which
translates into freedom for all
➢ Begumpura is also popularly called ‘India’s Utopia’ on lines of Thomas
More’s work ‘Utopia’ (1516)
➢ This Utopia was to be constructed through bhakti i.e. through collective
participation of people in decision making
➢ Bhakts were considered as venguards of Begumpura
➢ Gail Omvedt’s book ‘Seeking Begumpura The social Visions of Anti Caste
Intellectuals’ (2008)
Comments on Kabir
➢ Ram Vilas Sharma: Compares Kabir with Tulsi
➢ Hazari Prasad Dwivedi: reclaims Kabir as people’s philosopher
➢ Purushottam Aggarwal: Kabir as a philosopher who challenged the power
➢ Tagore: Muktidoot of his and our times
➢ Raja Ram Mohan Roy: Agra Darshak
➢ Ambedkar identified 3 gems of Indian intellectual tradition- Buddha,
Kabir, and Phule
32
KABIR
Context of Kabir Political Ideas

➢ To understand Kabir political ideas we have to understand first 15 th centrury
Banaras (where Kabir Spent most of his life)
➢ During this time trade was flourishing
➢ Trade linked towns and villages
➢ Trade has the tendency to create a monetized economy, to break the old
caste, hierarchical and feudal order
➢ Trade has the potential to create new culture of universal humanism
➢ Trade facilitated opportunities for vertical-horizontal mobility of social
groups and individuals
➢ However, elite reacted against this upward mobility of subaltern
➢ Kabir belonged to low caste and class, he was a weaver and used to visited
the textile market of banaras
➢ He was very critical of discrimination by the elite
➢ Thus Kabir more focused on classes of his time than castes
Criticism of King and his Administration
➢ He was very critical of King’s faulty policies and due to which people had
to suffer (for e.g. Taxation and Zamindari System)
➢ People also suffered due to shifting of capital from Delhi to Daulatabad
➢ Kabir witnessed the consequences of this blundered decision
➢ He was standing against the suffering of the people
➢ He also raised his voice against Kazis, Ulema or priests
➢ Due to which he was charged with ‘sedition’

33
6
PANDITA RAMABAI
➢ Ramabai was born to a liberal Brahmin Pandit, in 1858.

➢ This means she was saved from twin curse i.e. lack of education and child
of marriage.
➢ His father used to teach his wife Sanskrit which was very unlikely in those
times.
➢ However, the adverse material conditions of family leads to death of her
parents and sister
➢ Eventually Ramabai along with her brother moved to Calcutta in 1878, it
was turning point of her life.
➢ Many scholars were impressed in Calcutta from her knowledge in Scripture
and Sanskrit.
➢ Here, she was not only conferred with the titles of ‘Pandita’ and
‘Saraswati’
➢ In Calcutta, Keshab Chandra Sen, the supporter of Brahmo Samaj,
suggested to Ramabai that she read the Vedas and Upanishads.
➢ Soon, her brother died in 1880
➢ Ramabai ignored caste restrictions and married a man of shudra
varna (lower caste), Bepin Bihari Medhavi, an active member of the
Brahmo Samaj.
PANDITA RAMABAI
➢ She lost her husband in less than two year

➢ Subsequently, she moved to Pune in 1882 to set up the Arya Mahila Samaj
to work for the cause of women.
➢ Here, She wrote her first Marathi book, Stri Dharma-Niti (Morals for
Women), which was published in 1882.
➢ With no support coming towards a widows’ institution, Ramabai decided to
go to England to seek British support for her widows’ home
➢ where under circumstantial difficulties, she converted to Christianity and
changed her name to Marry Rama
➢ Here she wrote a new text, written originally in Marathi, titled The Cry of
Indian Women.
➢ After staying for about three years in England, she went to the United States
of America (USA) in 1886.
➢ Here she raised funds for Hindu widows under the aegis of The Ramabai
Association of Boston.
➢ Also here, In 1887, she published The High Caste Hindu Women, known
as India’s first feminist manifesto.
➢ During these years, Ramabai also worked on a Marathi book, United
Stateschi Lokesthiti ani Pravasvritta (The People of United States) which
was published in Bombay in December 1889
➢ In the end, she returned to India in 1889 and worked for the cause of
women.
➢ Then she opened a secular residential school for high-caste widows, the
Sharada Sadan, in Bombay.
➢ For her social reform activities, she was conferred with the Kaiser-e-Hind
gold medal in 1919 by the British government.
Critique of Patriarchy
➢ The reform movements of those times focused on the caste and gender
issues.
35
PANDITA RAMABAI
➢ Gender issues had become the preoccupation of the upper castes, whose
women were the most oppressed.
➢ In Poona, Ramabai, working towards the aim of gender reform, formed the
Arya Mahila Sabha in 1882
➢ She connected the teachings of the ancient literature with the inferior status
of women in society.
➢ Ramabai understood that the patriarchal ideology of the society placed
women within the domestic sphere as a wife/mother/ housewife according
to her sexual, reproductive and home-making roles.
➢ In this caste-ridden, patriarchal society, the highest status for a woman was
that of a saubhagyavati (or blessed woman whose husband was alive) and a
mother of sons, rather than daughters.
➢ A woman only with daughters or one without children had a lower status
and lived under the fear of being deserted by her husband.
➢ A widow had the lowest status, especially a child widow
➢ A widow had to wear a plain borderless sari, no ornaments and had to shave
her head which had to be carefully covered.
➢ A widow was expected to sleep on floor, spend time in ritual acts and eat
little food.
➢ Ramabai’s study of Upanishads, Manusmriti and the Vedas made her realize
how the caste system, the Hindu shastras, society and social customs
helped patriarchy to not only thrive but to grow larger.
Gender Justice and Civil Rights
➢ Imparting education to women was thought to be the best remedy of the
problems.
➢ Pandita’s hope was that women’s education would lead to the rejection of
Brahminism and realize the deception of sacred literature.
➢ But Ramabai was aware of the mindset of the Indian society which was
skeptical of educating women.
36
PANDITA RAMABAI
➢ The few schools that were available as options were often run by
missionaries
➢ and, as a rule, a high-caste Hindu women would prefer death than go to
such schools where there was fear of losing their caste.
➢ Ramabai demanded education for Indian women before Education
Commission, set up in 1882, known as Hunter Commission
➢ She also asked for training women as medical doctors to save women who
could not consult male physicians
➢ In The first meeting of the national Congress in Bombay in 1889 ,She
brought to notice the injustice meted to the widows by depriving her of
property if she married again.
A Controversy
➢ After collecting funds for her a salvation house from America Ramabai built
her’ Sharda Sadan’ in Poona and got into disputes with the reformist elites
in India.
➢ In the meanwhile, the Indian Christian Community began objecting to the
Sharada Sadan’s policy of religious neutrality.
➢ Ultimately, conversions began taking place in good numbers. Hindu widows
began reading the Bible
➢ and this led to great criticism of Ramabai’s women home.
➢ Social reformers slowly dissociated themselves
➢ Press began calling Sadan, a ‘Widows mission house’
➢ In the midst of all this, Ramabai shifted her Sharada Sadan from Pune to
Kedgaon.
➢ Today it is still exist there and known as Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission
Her Main Works
1.Stri Dharma-Niti (Morals for Women)- 1882 2.The Cry of Indian Women
3.The High Caste Hindu Women- 1887 4. The People of United States- 1889
37
7
BAL GANGADHAR TILAK

➢ Also known as Lokmanya Tilak (accepted by people as their leader)

➢ Father of Modern India- Gandhi
➢ Father of Indian Revolution- Nehru
➢ Father of Indian unrest (Britisher- Valentine Chirol)
➢ He was born in 23 July 1856- Ratnagiri (Maharashtra)
➢ His father, Gangadhar Panth, worked in Education Department
➢ His mother, Parvati Bhai, was a religious lady
➢ 1866- Admission in Poona Nagar School
➢ He was 10 year old- mother died | 16-yr Father died
➢ He was 15 year old when he got married
➢ He completed his BA when he was 20 yr and LLB in 23 yr age
➢ He was critique of western education. Thus, in 1880 he opened a New
English School with his colleagues
➢ In 1881 he started two newespapers- Maratha Darpan (eng) and Kesari
(Marathi)
➢ He adopted a new Slogan coined by his associate Kaka Batista: Swaraj
(self-rule) is my birthright and I shall have it
BAL GANGADHAR TILAK
➢ In 1884 he established Deccan Education Society to reform Indian Society

➢ In 1885, This society established Fergusson College
➢ In 1891, Tilak raised his voice against The Age Consent Act,1891 which
attempted to raise the marriage age from 10 to 12. Tilak wrote in Kesari that
such law was interfering in Hindu Religious Practice
➢ In 1893 he started Ganpati Festival
➢ In 1895 he started Shivaji Festival
➢ These festivals were started with the aim of uniting people under one
nationalist agenda and making realization of ‘common history and culture’
possible
➢ In 1916, with the help of Ali Jinnah and Annie Besant he established Akhil
Bhartiya Home Rule League
➢ He was tried for Sedition Charges in three times by British Government in
1897,1909 and 1916
➢ He died on 1 August 1920
His Main Works:
The Orion (1893)
The Arctic Home in Vedas (1903)
Geeta Rahisya or Karmayoga (1915)
Vedic Chronology and Vedang Jyotish (1925)
Religious Ideas
➢ He accepted the notion of a personal God
➢ He believed that religion includes the knowledge of nature of God and soul
and means by which the human soul can attain salvation
➢ He accepted the importance of religious symbols for people of less
developed conciosuness
➢ He also believed in the incarnation of God and accepted that Krishna was
an incarnation of God
39
BAL GANGADHAR TILAK
➢ He was a Sanatanist Hindu and had pride in his religion

➢ He did accept that the specific religious ceremonies could be changed
➢ But as long as they were not formally changed he wanted that they should
be observed
➢ He accepted that Hinduism has many diverse practices
➢ But he believed that Ramayana, Mahabharta and Vedas were our ‘common
heritage’
➢ He has given a very inclusive definition of a Hindu
➢ According to him a hindu is one who accepts the vedas and lives life
according to Vedas, Smritis and the Puranas
The Educational Ideas
➢ The enlightenment of the people is one of the most important techniques of
the rise of nation
➢ In modern India, the growth and rise of nationalism is associated with the
spread of education
➢ Chiploonkar, Tilak and Agarkar were the pioneers of a new educational
movement in Maharashtra
➢ Similarly, Lala Lajpat Rai and Hansraj were the pioneers in the foundation
of D.A.V College in Lahore and Swami Shraddhananda established
Gurukul at Kangri
➢ The New English School established by Tilak had twofold aims:
- Affordable education and Ideal teachers (like in ancient history) for
regeneration of motherland
- To spread education in general
➢ Education was pre condition for political enlightenment and progress
➢ Hence the spread of education was topmost priority for Tilak
➢ In 1884 he founded Deccan Education Society
40
BAL GANGADHAR TILAK
➢ In same year Gopal Krishna Gokhale, political guru of Mahatma Gandhi

joined Poona New English School and also became a member of society
Tilak’s Philosophy of Social Reform
➢ Tilak was in favour of social reforms
➢ He gave priority to political agitation over social reforms
➢ He was not against the social reforms but was hostile to the immediate
social revolution
➢ He wanted a gradual change in society
➢ Because his main aim was to bring nationalistic uprising and hence he
opposed any radical social reforms which could confuse people at that time
➢ He made it very clear that the one who aspire to change the society should
also have Hindu ideals
➢ He gave example of Ireland, Ceylon and Burma countries who had greater
social freedom but were politically backward
➢ He didn’t allow social reformers to use the Congress stage for their agendas
➢ because he wanted that Congress stage should be used only for political
agitation
➢ In 1907, during Surat Session of Congress, because of Tilak stands congress
was divided into two groups i.e. moderates and extremists (Lal-Bal-Pal)

41
8
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
➢ His real name was Narendranath Dutta

➢ He was born on 12 Jan 1863 in Calcutta
➢ His father was attorney at the Calcutta High Court
➢ His mother was a housewife and religious lady. ‘I am indebted to my
mother for the efflorescence of my knowledge’
➢ He was interested in spirituality from a young age. He used to meditate
before images of Shiva, Rama, Hanuman
➢ In 1871, he took admission in Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s School
➢ In 1879, he cleared the Presidency College (Calcutta) entrance exam for BA
❑ He was a good reader:
➢ He finished 11 volumes of Britannica Encyclopedia ( total volume 20)
➢ He read wide range of subjects- philosophy, religion, history, social science,
art and literature
➢ He was also interested in Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana,
Mahabharata and Puranas
➢ He studied the work of David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Hegel, August
Comte, J.S. Mill, Charles Darwin etc
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
➢ He was so impressed with evolutionary theory of Herbert Spencer that he

translated Spencer’s book Education (1861) into Bengali
➢ Because of his sharp memory he is called as Shrutidhara (a person with
excellent memory)
➢ In 1880, he joined Keshab Chandra Sen’s Nava Vidhan
➢ In 1884 he became member of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj
➢ It was Sen who introduced him to Ramakrishna
➢ Inspired from Ramakrishna’s teaching, he accepted him as his Guru
➢ After the death of Ramakrishna (1886), Vivekananda established a Math in
Baranagar (West Bengal)
➢ Here he decided to live the life of monk and took the name of Swami
Vivekananda
➢ In 1888, for next five years he travelled vastly in India
➢ During this period he observed diverse religious traditions and social
patterns. Here he developed sympathy for the suffering and poverty of the
people, and resolved to uplift the nation
➢ He reached Chicago in 1893 where in Parliament of Religions he gave his
famous speech
➢ He began his speech with ‘Sisters and brothers of America’. For which he
received two-minute standing ovation from the audience
➢ In 1897 he returned to India where he received warm welcome
➢ May 1897 in Calcutta, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission for
Social Service
➢ Both Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission have their headquarters
at Belur Math (West Bengal)
➢ Two journals were founded: Prabuddha Bharata in English
and Udbhodan in Bengali
➢ On July 1902, he died while meditating
43
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
Main Works
➢ Raja Yoga (1896)
➢ Karma Yoga (1896)
➢ Lectures from Colombo to Almora (1897)
➢ Jnana Yoga (1899)
➢ My Master (1901)
Philosophy of Neo-Vedanta
➢ Vedanta philosophy believed that God above was real and the visible world
was unreal
➢ the absorption of individual soul in the one supreme soul was the goal of
every human being.
➢ This is called liberation which could be achieved with the help of true
knowledge.
➢ There were three important principles of NeoVedanta philosophy of
Vivekananda:
Vedanta philosophy believed in the oneness between God and man and the
solidarity of the universe.
It did not stand for a life of renunciation but stood for self-less action in
the services of humanity. Hence, service for man should be treated as
services of god.
It propagated the principle of universal tolerance and believed that
different religious faiths were different paths to reach the goal of
liberation.
Idea of Nationalism
➢ He strongly believed that the Indians should be proud of their history,
culture and religion
➢ He believed that religion is the dominant force of nationalism in India
➢ Social reforms are secondary and religion is main theme of India
44
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
➢ He worked to build the foundations of a religious theory of nationalism

which was later advocated by Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurobindo Ghosh.
➢ Vivekananda was highly critical of the British rule in India because he held
that due to their rule Indians lost confidence, famine engulfed the land,
farmers and artisans were reduced to poverty and deprived.
➢ According to Vivekananda, the national regeneration of India would begin
when people became fearless and started demanding their rights.
➢ He was of the opinion that the evils of caste system divided the Indian
society into classes and created the feeling of inferiority and superiority
among them.
➢ Vivekananda held that though there was a variety for languages, cultures
and religions in India, there existed a common ground between Indian
people
➢ For the Indians religion was unifying force as the spirituality
was Blood in the life of India.

45
9
RABINDRANATH
TAGORE
➢ He was born on 7 May 1861 in Calcutta

➢ His father Dabendranath Tagore was active member of Brahmo Samaj
➢ His mother Sarada Devi died in his early childhood and he was raised
mostly by Servants
➢ Tagore’s childhood was spent in an atmosphere of various Arts
➢ His brother and sisters were themselves poet, philosopher, musician or
novelist
➢ Tagore Started writing poems around age eight
➢ His father sent him to England in 1878 to become a barrister
➢ He was less interested in reading law and instead studied English literary
works himself
➢ In 1880 he returned to Bengal degree-less
➢ After returned to Bengal he started publishing poems, stories and novels
➢ In 1883 he married 10 year old Mrinalini Devi
➢ He wrote extensively many works which attracted national and international
audience
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
➢ In 1901, Rabindranath Tagore established a school at Santiniketan which

later known as Visva-Bharati University
➢ In November 1913, he was awarded Noble Prize in Literature for his work
Gitanjali (1912)
➢ In 1915 he was awarded a knighthood by King George V
➢ After the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre he renounced the Knighthood
Main Works
Chokher Bali (1903)
Gitanjali (1910)
Gora (1910)
The Post office (1912)
Sadhana (1913)
Ghar Aur Bahar (1916)
Stray Birds (1916)
Nationalism (1917)
True freedom
➢ True freedom goes beyond the idea of political independence for a country
➢ Tagore said, ‘those people who have got their political freedom are not
necessarily free, they are merely powerful’
➢ True freedom is a condition through which an individual takes himself near
to ‘Supreme Person’
➢ Political independence does not elevate the personality of individuals to the
level of perfection
➢ He visualized four stages of True Freedom:
1. realization of freedom at the individual level
2. realization of freedom at community level
47
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
3. from community to the universe

4. From universe to infinity ( getting near to Supreme man)
➢ This is possible when individual start to isolate himself from the material
things of life and worldly perception of the self-itself
➢ He is basically against the notion of ‘possessive individualism’
➢ Individual should get free himself from bond of self, community and must
widen his view
Nationalism
➢ Idea of nationalism is deceptive and against the notion of true freedom
➢ The idea of nationalism is a product of modern science and technological
advancement in Europe
➢ Due to industrial revolution many people join hand together to maximize
the benefits of this invention
➢ Such mechanical coming together lacks moral and social values which
makes their nationalism aggressive in nature
➢ The European idea of nationalism evolved for political and economic
purpose
➢ Such idea goes against the larger interests of humanity
➢ Thus, nationalism breeds an intense and unending lust for power and money
in the people
➢ Due to which one’s political and economic power determines his social
position
➢ It creates an urge in a group of people to explore and exploit the material
resources of that region
➢ Such nationalism takes the form of colonialism and imperialism
➢ Ultimately this means nationalism gives birth to war, weapons and violence
and does nothing greater for humanity at the end
48
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
➢ Tagore was against the European idea of nationalism but he was not against
the nationalist freedom movement of his time which was mainly focused on
freeing the soul of India from British colonialism
Critique of Gandhi
➢ Tagore Called Gandhi ‘Mahatma’ and Gandhi called Tagore ‘Gurudev’
➢ Tagore was pained at the direction of the Indian national movement taking
under the leadership of Gandhi
➢ He criticized Gandhi for his parochial nationalism, traditional egoism and
instrumentalist anarchism
➢ Tagore said instead of inculcating the spiritual and moral values in freedom
movement Gandhi has confined the movement to Swaraj (Political
independence) only
➢ He described Gandhi nationalism as a aggressive nationalism
➢ Gandhi refuted such claims and said his movement was non-violent and
moral
➢ Gandhi also added that idea of swaraj also includes moral and spiritual
awakening along with political freedom. Gandhi said:
“... a drowning man cannot save others. We must try to save ourselves. Indian
nationalism is not exclusive, nor aggressive, nor destructive. It is health-giving,
religious and therefore humanitarian. India must learn to live before she can
aspire to die for humanity”

49
10
M.K. GANDHI
Click on play icon to listen lecture for biography
➢ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar

(then princely state)
➢ His father Karamchand Uttamchand served as the diwan (chief minister) of
Porbandar state
➢ Karamchand married four times and from fourth wife Putlibhai he had a
fourth child, Mohandas
➢ At age of 9, he joined a school in Rajkot
➢ At the age of 13, in 1893 he married to 14 year old Kasturbai (famously
kasturba)
➢ By 1887, he graduated from high school in Ahmedabad.
➢ In 1888, he went to London for studying Law
➢ In 1891, he returned to India after finishing study of law
➢ Here, he learned that his mother died while he was in London and his
family hid this news
➢ His attempts at establishing a law practice in Bombay failed
➢ In 1893, Gandhi went to South Africa to fight the case of a Muslim
merchant (Abdullah)’s cousin
➢ Here he developed his political views, ethics and politics
M.K. GANDHI
➢ As he reached to South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination because of his

skin colour
➢ During his travel in train in South-Africa he sat in first class coach and he
was thrown out of the train
➢ Gandhi sat in the train station and decided to protest and was allowed to
board the train next day
➢ In 1894, Abdullah case was settled but Gandhi decided to stay their and
fight against discrimination for his fellow-Indians there
➢ He planned to assist Indians in opposing the bill that deny them right to vote
as this bill gave exclusive right to vote only Europeans
➢ However Gandhi Could not stop the passage of bill but his campaign was
successful in drawing attention to the grievances of Indians in South Africa.
➢ After this he continued to experiment his satyagraha techniques as a new
form of protest. At this point he had become a great personality and leader
in South Africa, a voice of voiceless people
➢ In 1915, at the request of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Gandhi returned to India
Champaran Satyagraha (1917)
➢ Chamapran is situated in Bihar
➢ The small peasant started agitation against their British Landlord
➢ Because the indigo crop’s rate had been fixed at low price by administration
➢ They wanted a raise in the price of crops
➢ They went to Gandhi in Ahmedabad for help
➢ Gandhi started a non-violent protest
➢ Finally, administration accepted the demands of peasants
Ahmedabad Mill Strike (1918)
➢ Ahemdabad was the second largest city of Bombay Presidency
➢ In Feb 1918, there was conflict between workers and mill owners over
bonus
51
M.K. GANDHI
➢ Worker demanded a 50% wage hike, Mill owner was willing to pay 20%
hike
➢ Gandhi supported the cause of workers and sat on hunger strike
➢ Finally demands was accepted and workers got a 35% wage increase
Kheda Satyagraha (1918)
➢ Kheda is a city of Gujarat
➢ In 1918, Kheda was hit by floods and famine
➢ The peasants there demanded relief from taxes
➢ Gandhi joined them and started his non-violent protest
➢ Gandhi initiated a signature campaign where peasants pledged non-payment
of revenue even under the threat of confiscation of land.
➢ For five months administration refused but finally accepted the demands in
May 1918
Non-cooperation movement
➢ The Non-cooperation movement was launched on 1 August 1920 by
Mahatma Gandhi
➢ with the aim of self-governance and obtaining full independence as the
Indian National Congress (INC) withdraw its support for British reforms
following the Rowlatt Act of 21 March 1919, and the Jallianwala Bagh
massacre of 13 April 1919.
➢ This movement was later stopped due to Chauri Chaura Incident (4,
feb,1922)
➢ demonstrators attacked and set fire to a police station, killing all of its
occupants.
➢ The incident led to the deaths of three civilians and 22 policemen.
➢ Because of this violence Gandhi halted this movement on 22 Feb, 1922
The Salt March
➢ also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha
52
M.K. GANDHI
➢ was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Gandhi.

➢ The 24-day march lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930
➢ as a direct action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against
the British salt monopoly
➢ Mahatma Gandhi started this march with 80 of his trusted volunteers
➢ Walking ten miles a day for 24 days, the march spanned over 240 miles,
from Sabarmati Ashram, 240 miles (384 km) to Dandi, which was called
Navsari at that time (now in the state of Gujarat)
➢ Growing numbers of Indians joined them along the way.
➢ When Gandhi broke the salt laws at 6:30 am on 6 April 1930, it sparked
large scale acts of civil disobedience against the British Raj salt laws by
millions of Indians.
The Round Table Conferences
were a series of three conferences conducted by the Labour Party-led British
government to deliberate upon and bring about constitutional reforms in British
India during 1930-32. There were three such conferences.
The First Round Table Conference
➢ was held between November 1930 and January 1931 in London.
➢ The Indian National Congress decided not to participate in the conference.
Many of the INC leaders were imprisoned due to their involvement in the
civil disobedience movement.
➢ Although many principles on reforms were agreed upon, not much was
implemented and the Congress Party carried on its civil disobedience. The
Conference was regarded as a failure.
Second Round Table Conference
➢ was held in London from 7 September 1931 to 1 December 1931 with the
participation of Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
53
M.K. GANDHI
➢ The major difference between the first and the second conference was that
the INC was participating in the second one. This was one of the results of
the Gandhi-Irwin Pact (March 1931)
➢ The British decided to grant a communal award for representing minorities
in India by providing for separate electorates for minority communities.
Gandhi was against this.
➢ In this conference, Gandhi and Ambedkar differed on the issue of separate
electorates for the untouchables. Gandhi was against treating untouchables
as separate from the Hindu community. This issue was resolved through
the Poona Pact 1932.
Third Round Table Conference
➢ Was held on November 1932– December 1932
➢ Not much was achieved in this conference also.
➢ The recommendations of this conference were published in a White Paper
in 1933 and later discussed in the British Parliament.
➢ The recommendations were analysed and the Government of India Act of
1935 was passed on its basis.
The Quit India Movement
➢ also known as the August Movement, was a movement launched at the
Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi
➢ It was launched on 8 August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end
to British Rule of India.
Death
➢ At 5:17 pm on 30 January 1948, Gandhi was with his grandnieces in the
garden of Birla House (now Gandhi Smriti)
➢ on his way to address a prayer meeting, when Nathuram Godse, a Hindu
nationalist, fired three bullets into his chest from a pistol at close range.
54
GANDHI’S THOUGHTS
Click on play icon to listen lecture on his thought
Main Works of Gandhi

1. Hind Swaraj (1909)
2. The Story of My Experiments With Truth (1929)
3. Key to Health (1948)
Young India:(1919-1932) English weekly journal, published from Bombay
as a bi-weekly, under Gandhiji's supervision from May 7, 1919, and as a weekly
from Ahmedabad, with Gandhiji as editor from October 8, 1919.
SWARAJ
➢ Swaraj or self rule, for Gandhi, is a ‘mode of conduct which points out to
men the path of their duty’, path of control over desires and the path of
‘mastery over their minds and passions’
➢ It implied an elevation of a personal moral being to limit indulgences and
sees happiness as largely a mental condition
➢ To achieve this state of Swaraj one has to live a life of simplicity and should
not have greed for wealth and power
➢ Why Gandhi is against pursuits of material life?
➢ For Gandhi high thinking is not possible unless one stops running after
material life.
➢ Basically, He wanted create a world where individual followed agricultural
labour (mostly manually labour) and lived independently
➢ its role in a highly divided society like India, swaraj was defined in the
following ways;
A. national independence;
B. political freedom of the individual
C. economic freedom of the individual and
D. spiritual freedom of the individual or self-rule.
55
GANDHI’S THOUGHTS
➢ In his own words, ‘mere withdrawal of the English is not independence. It

means the consciousness in the average villages that he is the maker of his
own destiny, that he is his own legislator through his own representatives’.
➢ The real swaraj, he felt, will come not by the acquisition of authority by a
few but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when
abused.
➢ Swaraj is to be attained by educating the masses to a sense of their capacity
to regulate and control authority.
➢ Economic freedom of the individual is the third dimension of swaraj.
Economic swaraj stands for social justice, it promotes the good of all
equally including the weakest, and is indispensable for decent life.
➢ For Gandhiji, India’s economic future lay in charkha (Spinning
Wheel) and Khadhi (Homespun cotton textile)
➢ If India’s villages are to live and prosper, the charkha must become
universal’.
➢ Rural civilisation, argued Gandhiji, “is impossible without the
charkha and all it implies , i.e., revival of village crafts”.
IDEAL STATE- RAMARAJYA
➢ Group of villages
➢ It would be such a civilization where there would be no coercive power and
functioned through moral persuasion
➢ Gandhi’s objective was to made people capable in such a way that they
themselves resist evil of world and follow godly qualities
➢ It would be society where people were to be guided by the condition of
nature, customary rights and duties and belief in god
➢ It would be a traditional peasant society using elementary technology, based
on subsistence economy and a minimalist state.
➢ The life in such ideal village would be completely different from the
contemporary villages of his times
56
GANDHI’S THOUGHTS
How life in ideal village would be managed politically?

➢ The ideal villages will be managed by temporary national representative
➢ Temporary because people themselves would become capable and after
some period of time they would become so perfect that it would be self-
regulated and there would be no need of representative
➢ After that it would be a state of anarchy where everyone would be his own
ruler
➢ Indvidual will rule himself in such a way that he would never become a
problem to his neighbor
➢ So, in this ideal village there would be no political power because there
would be no state
➢ Every village would be a republic or panchayat, self-sustaining and
managing its affairs so that it could be able to defend itself against whole
world
➢ However, till the time such a state became a reality, the villages could be
ruled by the classical concept of Thoreau, which says ‘that government is
the best which governs the least’,
➢ political power could be used for the sake of reforms to enable people to
better their condition in every sphere of life.
➢ Acquisition and application of political power in the absence of the ability
to govern would leave that power futile, as legislation in advance of public
opinion is ineffective.
What about religion?
➢ The religion would transcend Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, etc., and would
create an ordered moral government of the universe.
➢ Religion and state, however, were to be kept separate.
➢ Religion was to be a personal concern of the citizen, with the state having
no role to play in it.
➢ There was to be no religious teachings in educational institutions aided or
recognized by the state.
57
GANDHI’S THOUGHTS
What would happen to cities?

➢ Cities would not be completely vanished
➢ Gandhi said ‘justice between the town and the village’ has to be maintained
and balanced
➢ Because it was the village which eventually faced burnt of uneven
development
➢ Only a few key industries which were necessary and could employ large
number of people were to be owned by the state.
➢ However, industries were not to be forcibly nationalized and the state was
not to be involved in running private or business establishments as this was
not to be the function of the state.
➢ The state’s role would be limited to providing necessary
infrastructural/technical support required by the people for progress.
GANDHI’S PANCHAYAT MODEL
➢ This system was developed by Gandhi to decentralized power
➢ He used bottom-top system where individual would be the unit of
development
➢ So Gandhi asked for whole reconstruction of polity where power would be
given to a general body
➢ This general body would consist of gramsabha to parliament, at different
tiers of legislature
➢ Every panchayat would have five men or women from the village or
persons committed to the development of the village.
➢ Two such immediate panchayats were to form a working party under a
leader elected from among them.
➢ From a group of one hundred such panchayats, fifty (first grade) leaders
were to be elected.
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GANDHI’S THOUGHTS
➢ in a similar pattern, second grade leaders were to be elected who would

supervise the work of the first grade leaders.
➢ All second grade leaders were to serve jointly for the whole of India and
severally for their respective areas.
➢ The second grade leaders were to elect whenever they deemed necessary,
from among themselves, a chief who was to, during pleasure, regulate and
command all the groups.
➢ The contemporary parliament and the existing structure of polity was just
to facilitate the transition towards the reconstruction of polity.
➢ It was to gradually abdicate its contemporary centralized powers to
the gramsabha and remain confined to only the functions of defence,
currency, international relations and communications.
SATYAGRAHA
➢ The word satyagraha is a combination of two words satya (truth)
and agraha (holding),
➢ Thus it means ‘holding on to truth’, and therefore, Truth force.
➢ Satyagraha means the exercise of the purest soul-force against all injustice,
oppressionand exploitation.
➢ Suffering and trust are attributes of soul-force. Truth is soul or spirit, it is
therefore known as soul force.
➢ It excludes the use of violence because man is not capable of knowing the
absolute truth.
➢ it is not the imposition of one's will over others, but it is appealing to the
reasoning of the opponent, it is not coercion but is persuasion It means urge
for satya or Truth.
➢ It is a moral weapon and does not entertain ill-feeling towards the
adversary, it is a non violent device and calls upon its user to love his
enemy, it does not weaken the opponent but strengthens him morally;
➢ it is a weapon of the brave and is constructive in its approach.
59
GANDHI’S THOUGHTS
➢ Gandhiji recommends several techniques of Satyagraha. The techniques of

Satyagraha may
take the form of non- co operation, civil disobedience, Hijrat, fasting and
strike.
TRUSTEESHIP
➢ The main thrust is on treating resources as a public trust with man being the
trustee, so that the riches of nature and society are equitably used.
➢ The theory was intended to combine the advantages of both capitalism and
communism, and to socialise property without nationalising it.
➢ According to Gandhi, all material property was a social trust. The owner
was not required to take more than what was needed for a moderately
comfortable life.
➢ The other members of society who were associated with the property were
jointly responsible with the owner for its management and were to provide
welfare schemes for all.
➢ A person’s all earnings belong to society and he/she should know this.
He/she is allowed to use his/her earnings for a honourable livelihood. Rest
belongs to society/ community

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11
SRI AUROBINDO
➢ Aurobindo’s original name was Aravinda Akroyd Ghose

➢ He was born on 15th August 1872 in Kolkata.
➢ His father was a district surgeon in Rangapur in Bengal
➢ His father wanted his children to be educated in Britain, free from any kind
of Indian influence.
➢ After a few years of schooling in Loreto Convent, Darjeeling, Aurobindo
and his two elder brothers were sent to Manchester, England, in 1879.
➢ Later, in order to fulfil his father’s wishes to have his sons in the Indian
Civil Services (ICS), he joined King’s College, Cambridge University.
➢ He successfully achieved a higher rank on ICS exam.
➢ However, by the end of the two-year probation period, he felt that he was
serving Britisher only. He decided not to join ICS.
➢ Instead, after an arranged meeting with the Maharaja of Baroda, Sayajirao
Gaekwad III, in England, he joined the Baroda State Service.
➢ He left England soon after and arrived in India in February 1893.
➢ In Baroda, later, he settled as the vice-principal of Baroda College.
SRI AUROBINDO
➢ It was only while at Baroda that he taught himself, Bengali, which was his
mother tongue, Hindi and Sanskrit.
➢ Because his father never wanted him to had influence of Indian culture, he
even could not learn his mother tongue.
➢ Here, he also started taking interest in political movement against British
Rule
➢ He developed his critique against moderates in the congress in a weekly
paper ‘Bande Mataram’
➢ By 1905, the year Bengal was partitioned, he was active in nationalist
politics.
➢ He attended the Banaras session of the Congress in 1905.
➢ He moved to Kolkata in 1906 and became very active in organizing and
promoting revolutionary activities.
➢ He was charged with sedition for his articles in Bande Matram but was
later acquitted.
➢ In 1907, Surat split of Congress, he along with the Bal Gangadhar Tilak led
the extremist group.
➢ In May 1908, he was arrested in connection with Alipore Bomb Case.
➢ He was released after a year of isolated confinement.
➢ Once out of the prison he started two new publications, Karmayogin in
English and Dharma in Bengali.
➢ He also delivered the Uttarpara Speech hinting at the transformation of his
focus to spiritual matters.
➢ Britisher were still worried by his growing influence
➢ Lord Minto thought him to be the ‘most dangerous person we have to
reckon with’
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SRI AUROBINDO
➢ Lord Minto thought him to be the ‘most dangerous person we have to

reckon with’
➢ he finally left British territory and moved to the French colony of
Pondicherry in 1910, where he concentrated on his spiritual activities
➢ In 1914, he started a monthly philosophical magazine called Arya
➢ Sri Aurobindo died on 5 December 1950
Main Works
➢ The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, Essays on The Gita, The Secret of
The Veda, Hymns to the Mystic Fire, The Upanishads, The Renaissance in
India, War and Self-determination, The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human
Unity and The Future Poetry
➢ His letters, most of which were written in the 1930s, numbered in the
several thousand These were later collected and published in book form in
three volumes of Letters on Yoga.
➢ He also wrote: Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol which is an epic
poem in blank verse, based upon the theology from the Mahabharata.
Critique of Moderates
➢ In the beginning Aurobindo had great expectation from the congress party.
➢ However, later he felt disappointed with the motive and methods of
Moderates in Congress
➢ He described moderates as ‘loyalists’ to British Rule
➢ Because of their allegiance to and faith in the British government and
colonial rule
➢ He was against the ‘reformatory goals’ of Moderates and wanted complete
political independence from Britisher
➢ He considered foreign rule as ‘unnatural and foreign to a nation’ as it does
not give ‘space to the indigenous capacity and energies’ to flourish rather
than crush them down to meet the colonial interests.
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SRI AUROBINDO
Idea of Passive Resistance

➢ He advocated the idea of ‘passive resistance’ over ‘active resistance’.
➢ ‘Active resistance’ involves assassinations, riots, strikes, agrarian risings,
etc.
➢ He never favoured armed revolt against British
➢ Because he knew it very well that it was almost impossible to fight British
Military
➢ By passive resistance he thus meant ‘organized defensive resistance to the
alien rule’
➢ by ‘reducing the dependency of nation on the foreign bureaucracy’
➢ It involved two things: first constructive activities like creating institutions
of need, parallel to government, such as the opening of schools, local
community courts etc and
➢ secondly opposition of foreign schools and foreign courts. Both had to go
simultaneously.
➢ Thus passive resistance did not mean only institution of swadeshi but
resistance of Videshi at the same time
➢ After all Congress was also engaged in the constructive programmes like
opening of schools, colleges to impart education but it lacked the second
part, i.e., boycott of schools and colleges run by the alien ruler.
➢ Hence self-help and boycott, two complementing strategies, constituted
operating methods of passive resistance.
➢ He also advised to use the violent techniques if Britisher failed to use legal
procedure.
➢ That means if bureaucracy was engaged in brutal suppression of the
movements through illegal means, then non-retaliation on part of the
passive resisters would be cowardice.
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SRI AUROBINDO
➢ He attacked Gandhian preaching of healing ‘heat by love, injustice by

justice, sin by righteousness’.
➢ He said that it was possible for only few saintly people, one out of thousand
and unfortunately ‘politics is not about rare individuals but masses’.
Aurobindo wrote: ‘to ask masses of mankind to act as saint is desirable but
not a tenable proposition’.
Cultural Nationalism
➢ India for him was not a name for a geographical territory.
➢ It was not merely a piece of land but a living divine entity, hence, sanatan,
or imperishable.
➢ India, for him, was rather an incarnation, an avtar, an eternal force, and a
divinely appointed shakti, who had to perform a god-given work
➢ Which would immerse into the universal energy after performance of its
divinely ordained tasks.
➢ Nationalism, for Aurobindo, was not a ‘mere’ political movement for
political ends but a religious act in itself, because it amounted to working
for the will of god.
➢ For him, enslavement was denial of the creation of Almighty
➢ Therefore, working for liberation from the clutches of colonial rule was not
less than serving the god itself.
➢ He therefore argued that for a nationalist it is a must to have faith in god and
he should always remember the fact that he is discharging merely a godly
appointed mission.
➢ And since it is a divine work a true nationalist for him should be fearless
from persecution of any kind
➢ He should always be ready to sacrifice every thing for the sake of the
nation.
65
SRI AUROBINDO
➢ Though Aurobindo defined nationalism as a manifestation of divine on the

earth, the way Bipinchandra described it as manifestation of
‘Viratpurusha’
Caste System
➢ He condemned the practice of social evils such as the oppressive caste
system.
➢ Aurobindo’s view on caste was almost similar to that of Mahatma Gandhi.
He too considered caste as a sociofunctional category that had nothing to do
with birth and heredity at all.
➢ Moreover, it was not wrong and oppressive from the beginning. Over the
period of time time it started ‘purporting the principles of inequality’.
➢ While he accepted the degeneration in the institution, he did not approve of
the idea of conversion or separate representation for the lower castes in the
political institutions as a solution.
➢ because of realization that, it would further lead to a permanent divide in
the Hindu society which ultimately would weaken the national movement.

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12
E.V. RAMASAMY PERIYAR

➢ Erode Venkatanaicker Ramasamy (1879–1973), better known as Periyar

(‘respected’ one or elder’).
➢ He was born on 17 Sept, 1879- in a rich business family of the backward
caste of Naickars in Erode, a town in the former Madras Presidency (Now
Tamil Nadu).
➢ He studied only up to the fourth standard.
➢ as a young man left home to tour the nation. He even lived the life of an
ascetic in Banaras.
➢ It was here that he learnt the deceptions spread in the name of religion.
➢ Back home, he reflected his proficiency in business and became active in
public activities.
➢ He was the Chairman of the Erode Municipality and an honorary
magistrate.
➢ E.V. Ramasamy married when he was 19, and had a daughter who lived for
only 5 months. His first wife, Nagammai, died in 1933.
AS CONGRESS LEADER
➢ He joined the Indian National Congress in 1919
➢ He held the positions of the Secretary and President of the Tamil Nadu
Congress Committee.
➢ In Congress, he faced caste prejudices within the organisation.
➢ First case, he was elected the first non-Brahmin President of the Tamil Nadu
Congress party.
➢ Very soon, no-confidence motion was brought in on absurd grounds. It was
however defeated.
➢ Second case, In 1925, when his resolution for the ‘communal
representation’ at the Kancheepuram Congress, was disallowed in the open
session.
➢ he left the Congress once and for all, declaring it as the ‘fortress of Brahmin
imperialism’.
AS HERO OF VAIKKOM
➢ In 1924, he led the famous Vaikkom Satyagraha in Kerala.
➢ The Ezhavas were not allowed to enter the streets around the Vaikkom
temple because of their ‘low birth’.
➢ On 14 April, Periyar and his wife arrived in Vaikom. They were
immediately arrested and imprisoned for participation.
➢ In spite of Gandhi's objection to non-Keralites and non-Hindus taking part
➢ Periyar and his followers continued to give support to the movement until it
was withdrawn.
➢ Ultimately he succeeded in his satyagraha and was declared the hero of
Vaikkom (Vaikom Veeran)
SELF-RESPECT MOVEMENT
➢ Meanwhile, he launched the Self-Respect Movement
➢ ‘dedicated to the goal of giving non-Brahmins a sense of pride based on
their Dravidian past
68
➢ ’The first Self-Respect Movement was held at Chengalpattu in February

1929.
➢ A Tamil weekly Kudi Arasu started in 1925,
➢ while the English journal Revolt started in 1928 carried on the propaganda
among the English educated people.
➢ The Self-Respect Movement began to grow fast and received the sympathy
of the heads of the Justice Party from the beginning.
AS JUSTICE PARTY’S LEADER
➢ Thereafter, he associated himself with the Justice Party which he headed in
1938.
➢ Six years later i.e. in 1944, he converted it into the non-political social outfit
Dravidar Kazhagam.
➢ In 1949, Periyar’s close associate C. N. Annadurai, established a separate
association called the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)
➢ The original formation has now been sidelined and its offshoots—the DMK,
AIADMK, and MDMK—dominate the politics of Tamil Nadu today.
➢ The Dravidar Kazhagam continued to counter Brahminism, Indo-Aryan
propaganda, and uphold the Dravidians' right of self-determination.
THREE MAJOR CONTROVERSY OF LIFE
FIRST CONTROVERSY
➢ In 1956, Periyar organised a procession to the Marina to burn pictures of the
Hindu God Rama.
➢ Periyar was subsequently arrested and confined to prison.
➢ Periyar used to support that version of Ramanayana where Ravana was not
shown evil person
69
➢ In India there are few places where Ravana is still worshiped (For details
check link)
SECOND CONTROVERSY
➢ on 9 July 1948, E.V. Ramasamy married Maniammai
➢ Controversy is that E.V. Ramasamy married Maniammayar when he was 70
and she 32.
➢ Those who defend this bond says that Periyar did not has any legal heir and
➢ thus the marriage was purely an arrangement to secure his property while
satisfying the law
THIRD CONTROVERSY
➢ UNESCO didn’t awarded Periyar any tiltle of ‘The Socrates of South East
Asia’
➢ This award was presented to him by the then Union Education Minister
Triguna Sen and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi in
Madras (Chennai).
➢ the organization that provided such an award was actually called
‘UNESCO MANDRAM’ and Not Actual UNESCO of UN
➢
VIEW ON CASTE
➢ Periyar, confronted denial of basic dignity to large number of people
➢ He was of the view that all men and women should live with dignity
➢ And everyrone should have equal opportunities to develop their physical,
mental and moral faculties
➢ In order to achieve this, he wanted to put an end to all kinds of unjust
discriminations
➢ This unjust discriminations were associated with caste system through
hierarchy of social, economic and political conditions
70
➢ This hierarchal order is maintained by what Periyar said as ‘Brahminism’

➢ In this order, Brahmin occupied the highest position, not ritually but in
every respect
➢ All other castes were graded superior or inferior in relation to each other
except the Brahmin sitting at the top. All other castes are low/untouchables.
➢ And this order was propagated as divine creation
➢ The worst aspect of this order was the practice of pollution and purity
➢ This were so extreme that even the sight and shadows of the outcastes, the
lowest in the social order, were considered polluting.
➢ He theorized that reason all social suffering is because of casteism
➢ Such system has been imposed by Aryans on people of south
➢ The system is sanctified by the basic Aryan Scripture i.e. the Vedas
➢ It must be noted here that Periyar was against Brahiminism and not the
Brahmins
➢ To Him, Brahminims was the basis of caste system which justified social
inequality, untouchability and many other problems.
WOMEN EMANCIPATION
➢ Apart from caste, gender discrimination was major issue for Periyar
➢ He said women were themselves responsible as they did not feel that they
deserved total freedom
➢ ‘’The way man treats women is much worse than the way landlords treat
servants and the high-caste treat the low-caste …
➢ Women in India experience worse suffering, humiliation and slavery in all
spheres than even the Untouchables’’
➢ Women were denied education so that they did not have the ability and
intelligence to question their slavery.
➢ However, the most important factor for women’s subjugation, Periyar held,
was that they lacked the right to property.
71
➢ Women must get rid of their slavish mentality and they should realize that
being civilized was not about dressing fashionably or looking good but
living on equal terms with men.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WOMEN EMANCIPATION
➢ He suggested education for inducing rational thinking for women
➢ changes in the custom of marriages and
➢ birth control for the sake of women’s liberation.
➢ He considered the terms, ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ inappropriate
➢ and called them companions and partners.
➢ He also rejected the words, ‘wedding’ or ‘marriage’ and termed it as a
‘contract for companionship in life
RATIONALISM
➢ Human’s suffering and bondage due to lack of rationality among people
➢ He differentiated scientific approach from traditional belief system
➢ Example of Poverty:
✓ Gods, religions, preachers and scriptures all for instance told people that an
act of kindness to the poor guaranteed a place in heaven
✓ whereas modern science would work for finding the causes of poverty and
try to eliminate it
➢ Periyar asked people to not accept every tradition, custom, religious
practice uncritically.
➢ People can become rational only through scientific education on western
lines
➢ People need to develop their faculty of reason
➢ He also said that God is not a reality, the concept of God was draining
energy of people
➢ As God has never revealed himself to anyone
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➢ He conjectured that worship in the old human societies as well as the

modern ones had its origin from fear and dread of the unknown natural
phenomena.

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13
MUHAMMAD IQBAL
➢ Muhammad Iqbal was born on 9 November 1877 in Kashmiri Family in

Sialkot (Punjab, Pak).
➢ Iqbal often mentioned about Kashmiri lineage in his writings and he was
proud it
➢ Kanhaya Lal was Iqbal's grandfather. His son, Rattan Lal, converted to
Islam and was given the name Nur Mohammad. He married a Muslim
woman — Imam Bibi.
➢ Iqbal’s mother Imam Bibi, from a Kashmiri family, died in 1914 in Sialkot
EARLY EDUCATION
➢ At age of four, he was admitted to a Mosque to learn about the Quran.

➢ He learned the Arabic language from his teacher, Syed Mir Hassan.
➢ In 1893, he finished his matric at Scotch Mission College in Sialkot
➢ In 1897, he completed his BA in philosophy, English Literature, and
Arabic at Government College University.
➢ In 1899 he received MA degree in same college. Shortly afterwards he
joined as junior professor at Govt College, Lahore
HIGHER EDUCATION
➢ In 1905, He went to England for higher studies.

➢ He was already influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, Henri Bergson and
Rumi.
MUHAMMAD IQBAL
➢ In 1906, He obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Trinity College,

University of Cambridge
➢ In 1907, Iqbal moved to Germany to pursue his PhD.
➢ In 1908, he earned a PhD degree from Ludwig Maximillian University
of Munich.
➢ Iqbal's doctoral thesis was entitled The Development of Metaphysics in
Persia.
POLITICAL CAREER
➢ After coming back to India, in 1908, he associated himself with All-India

Muslim League (formed in 1906)
➢ He remained active in League and was close to Muhammad Shafi and M.
Ali Jinnah.
➢ He was a critic of mainstream INC, which he regarded as dominated by
Hindus.
➢ He was also disappointed with the league, during 1920s, when league was
divided into two factional groups i.e. pro-British group led by Shafi and
the centrist group led by Jinnah
➢ He believed in Jinnah political leadership
➢ In, Nov 1926, with encouragement of friends and supporters, Iqbal
contested the election for a seat in Punjab Legislative Assembly from
Lahore
➢ He successfully won this seat
➢ Iqbal was elected president of the Muslim League in 1930 at its session in
Allahabad in the United Provinces, as well as for the session in Lahore in
1932.
➢ In 1930 Allahabad session he gave his famous speech.
➢ Some people believe that in this speech the idea of two nation theory was
given by Iqbal
LITERARY WORKS
➢ Iqbal became prominence since 1899, when he recited Nalay e Yatem at

the annual meeting of Anjuman-e-Himayat-e-Islam, Lahore.
➢ In 1904, he published, Tarana-e-Hind (popularly known as Saare Jahan
Se Achcha), in the weekly journal Ittehad
➢ In 1915, he published his first collection of poetry, the Asrar-i-Khudi
(Secrets of the Self) in Persian.
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MUHAMMAD IQBAL
Prose book in Urdu

➢ Ilm ul Iqtisad (1903)
Prose books in English
➢ The Development of Metaphysics in Persia (1908)
➢ The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (1930)
Poetic books in Persian
➢ Asrar-i-Khudi (1915)
➢ Rumuz-i-Bekhudi (1917)
➢ Payam-i-Mashriq (1923)
➢ Zabur-i-Ajam (1927)
➢ Javid Nama (1932)
➢ Pas Cheh Bayed Kard
ai Aqwam-e-Sharq (1936)
➢ Armughan-e-Hijaz (1938)
Poetic books in Urdu
➢ Bang-i-Dara (1924)
➢ Bal-i-Jibril (1935)
➢ Zarb-i Kalim (1936)
DEATH
➢ In 1933, after returning from a trip to Spain and Afghanistan, Iqbal
suffered from a throat illness.
➢ After suffering for months from his illness, Iqbal died in Lahore on 21
April 1938.
➢ Today he is known in Pakistan as ‘Allama Iqbal’ and ‘Spiritual Father of
Pakistan’
IDEA OF KHUDI
➢ Khudi is not idea of individuality
➢ Liberalism’s idea of individualism believes that Individual is the center of
universe.
➢ Individual is the owner of his mind, body and self (J.S. Mill)
➢ State was created to protect this individuality and individual’s rights
(social contract theory)
➢ Iqbal rejected this idea of ‘possessive individualism’ (term coined by
Macpherson)
➢ Because such idea does not promote the commitment of individual to
his/her society
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MUHAMMAD IQBAL
➢ Even Gandhi had a problem with idea of liberal individualism

➢ Like, Iqbal he also believes that Individual for his/her survival and self-
development takes loan from parents and teachers or society.
➢ So he/she has to repay those loans
➢ Marx also holds the same idea when he says that your freedom should be
guaranteed with my freedom.
➢ I exist because you exist
➢ My purpose of life is engaging with other human being
➢ Thus, similarly Iqbal says Self can’t survive without others. Other is very
important dimension
➢ Iqbal thought that notion of self is need to redefine
➢ On one hand we have to retain the autonomy of individual
➢ And on other hand we also have commitment to community
➢ These two ends Iqbal wanted to meet
SELF-GOD DIMENSION
➢ Human mind is capable of going beyond physical dimensions
➢ Human mind can connect with the God.
➢ God is not an entity (exist independently) but and abstraction (idea, not
having a physical existence)
➢ God is the epitome of highest from of being
➢ You access yourself access would mean accessing the God i.e. connecting
with God
➢ Its not western but eastern thinking
➢ One has to access three layers to accessing the self
1. Physical Existence (self)
2. Relational Existence (others)
3. Universal Existence (God)
➢ These three layers are part of being self
➢ Iqbal was always opposed to the people who liked to live in high
abstraction or ecstasy (परमानंद)
➢ One has to live at three level simultaneously
➢ This is very similar to Gandhi idea of Swaraj and Tagore idea of True
freedom.
After achieving higher-self, human being will emerge as better human being
➢ By doing this you become more democratic
➢ Iqbal used here concept of ‘Superman’ given by Nietzche. He used here it
as ‘Insan i Kalim’.
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MUHAMMAD IQBAL
➢ This is a foundation of new politics:

- Politics of selflessness
- Politics for humanity
- Welfare of People
DEMOCRACY
➢ For Iqbal, ethics become very important in democracy
➢ His idea of democracy is basically an idea of ethical democracy
➢ Khudi is the basis of his idea of democracy
➢ He believed that if you give importance to khudi very much then you will
be never undemocratic
➢ Khudi is all about that all humans are equal
➢ That everyone has the rights to access the best possible of self
➢ Then there will be no racism, no discrimination on any grounds
➢ His democracy is not majoritarianism
➢ Because Iqbal thought that majoritarian democracy might not work
➢ He believed that democracy is about building a decent society
➢ Where human being will go beyond selfish interest and not merely
sticking to majoritarianism
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MUHAMMAD IQBAL
➢ Iqbal idea of democracy is rather highly egalitarianism

➢ There is no need to creating any new institutions that will ensure true
egalitarian society
➢ Islam already has those Institution.
➢ Even Gandhi believed in oceanic circle (community based life) and not
party system
➢ Both Iqbal and Gandhi were drawing upon their respective tradition
(Islamism and Hinduism) were typing to convey that there were
alternative to modern/western institution.
NATIONALISM
➢ Iqbal like Tagore believes that dividing the humanity is not a good idea
➢ Because nations build on single identity which creates the idea of
otherness
➢ The more is otherness the more will consolidation of nation take place
➢ Instead of nation state, think of community- As said by Tagore
(internationalism) and Gandhi (village civilization)
➢ Society should be egalitarian and every individual should have
opportunity of possible highest development of self
➢ If that is provided the human being will be guided by Khudi i.e. God will
➢ Such Godly human will not need any nation State
➢ Nation always creates boundaries
➢ he crticised Machiavelli for arguing for separation of politics from
religion, calling him as messenger of Satan
PAN ISLAMISM
➢ Iqbal wanted to bring fraternity and unity among Muslims in various parts
of world irrespective of geographical location
➢ For him, pan-Islamism, defies all barriers of race, caste, geography or
other worldly barriers
➢ He tried to reorient Islam from being a religious faith of people to a
worldview of Muslim brotherhood
➢ That Muslim should feel united, liberated from all worldly restrictions
➢ Iqbal called this common bond as Millat.
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MUHAMMAD IQBAL
REVIVAL OF ISLAM
➢ Iqbal's six English lectures were published in Lahore in 1930, and then by
the Oxford University Press in 1934 in the book The Reconstruction of
Religious Thought in Islam.
➢ He tried to reform the Islam with modern philosophy and Science
➢ He seems contradictory sometimes when he gave slogans of ‘go back to
old Islam’ and
➢ at the same time, he argued for a modernized, dynamic and
accommodative nature of Islam
➢ He criticized Sufism for only focusing on spiritual world
➢ The negation of physical world can lead to social stagnation
➢ The distinction between Zahir (visible) and Batin (hidden), as propunded
by Sufists, inculcate the attitude towards the indifference towards world
and its pressing problems
TWO NATION THEORY
➢ During his early life, Iqbal hoped that Muslims would be given due share
of participation in the country after Independence
➢ However, during his stay in Europe, he found that some efforts were being
made to demolish the elements of Islamic religion and culture
➢ This made him doubtful of the well being of Muslims in Plural Societies,
Including India.
➢ Till, 1929 he did not call for the partition of country
➢ It was only in 1930 during his presidential address at Allahabad session of
Muslim League, he made first attempt to reorganization of India:
“[I] would like to see the Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province, Sind and
Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within the British
Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-
West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims,
at least of North-West India”.
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MUHAMMAD IQBAL
WHO IS WRONG, WHO IS RIGHT ?
➢ One view read this statement as separate Muslims nation from India
➢ Another view read this statement as autonomous Muslim administrative
area/state within India
➢ By whatever view this statement could read, we could have been more
ensure through actual implementation of this proposal by Iqbal himself
➢ Which never happened during his life
➢ Nevertheless, he remained the ideological inspiration behind the creation
of Pakistan.

81
14
M.N. ROY
Early life
➢ Manabendra Nath Roy, original name Narendranath Bhattacharya
➢ He was born on 21 March 1887, at Arbelia, a village in 24 Parganas district
in Bengal.
➢ His father, Dinabandhu Bhattacharya, was head pandit of a local school. His
mother’s name was Basanta Kumari.
Early Education
➢ Roy early schooling took place at Arbelia
➢ In 1898, the family moved to Kodalia
➢ Roy continued his studies at the Harinavi Anglo-Sanskrit School, at which
his father taught, until 1905.
Higher Education
➢ He later enrolled at the National College under Sri Aurobindo
➢ Then he moved the Bengal Technical Institute ( present Jadavpur
University), where he studied Engineering and Chemistry.
➢ Much of Bhattacharya's knowledge was gained through self-study,
however.
As a Nationalist Revolutionary
➢ Towards the end of 19th Century, Bengal was witnessing spread of
revolutionary nationalism
M.N. ROY
➢ During this period, Roy was particularly inspired by the writings of

Bankimchandra Chatterjee and Swami Vivekananda
➢ Roy began his political career as a militant nationalist at the age of 14, when
he was still a student.
➢ He joined an underground organization called Anushilan Samiti, and when it
was banned,
➢ he helped in organizing Jugantar Group under the leadership of Jatin
Mukherji.
➢ In 1915, after the beginning of the First World War, Roy left India for Java,
Indonesia in search of arms for organizing an insurrection to overthrow the
British rule in India.
➢ From then on, he moved from country to country, using fake passports and
different names in his attempt to secure German arms.
➢ Finally, after wandering through Malay, Indonesia, Indo-China, Philippines,
Japan, Korea and China, in June 1916, he landed at San Francisco in United
States of America.
➢ Roy’s attempts to secure arms ended in a failure.
➢ The Police repression had shattered the underground organization that Roy
had left behind. He had also come to know about the death of his leader,
Jatin Mukherji, in an encounter with police.
As a Communists
➢ In a local daily, news of Roy’s arrival at San Francisco was published
➢ Roy was forced to flee to Palo Alto, California near Stanford University
➢ Here, he changed his name from Narendra Nath Bhattacharya to Manbendra
Nath Roy
➢ During this period he also met Lala Rajpat Rai and several American
radicals, also he used to visit New York Public Library
➢ Here he developed communists thought
➢ Roy also went to public meetings with Lala Rajpat Rai
➢ The discussions in these meetings made Roy wonder whether the
exploitation and poverty would ever end after India’s independence
Roy in Mexico
➢ Bothered by British Spies, Roy fled to Mexico in July 1917
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M.N. ROY
➢ Here he founded Mexican Communists Party in 1919, inspired from

Russian Revolution, it was the first communist Party outside Russia
➢ Later, Roy developed friendship with Michael Borodin, a representative of
the Communist International
➢ it was because of long discussions with Borodin that Roy accepted the
materialist philosophy and became a full-fledged communist.
➢ On the basis of a grateful Borodin's reports on Roy's activities;
➢ In 1920, Roy was invited to Moscow to attend the second conference of the
Communist International.
➢ Here famous Roy-Lenin debate emerged on the issue revolution in colonies
➢ Over a period of time we witness Roy rapid growth in International
communist groups
➢ By the end of 1926, Roy was elected as a member of all the four official
policy making bodies of the Comintern.
Roy expulsion from Comintern
➢ In 1927, Roy was sent to China as a representative of the Communist
International.
➢ However, Roy’s mission in China ended in failure
➢ On his return to Moscow from China, Roy found himself in official
disfavor.
➢ Stalin was ruling the country at this point
➢ In September 1929, he was expelled from the Communist International for
“contributing to the Brandler press and supporting the Brandler
organizations.”
➢ Heinrich Brandler was a German communist who was blamed for failure
the German Revolution of 1923.
Return to India: Prison Years
➢ Roy returned to India in December 1930. He was arrested in July 1931 and
tried for his role in the Kanpur Communist Conspiracy Case. He was
sentenced to six years imprisonment.
➢ Here, Roy re-examined Marxism
➢ Over a period of five years in jail Roy wrote nine thick volumes books
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M.N. ROY
➢ The ‘Prison Manuscripts’ have not so far been published in their totality,
and are currently preserved in the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
Archives in New Delhi.
➢ Some scholars noted that Roy here sow the seeds of the philosophy of new
humanism
Radical Humanism years
➢ Immediately after his release from jail on 20 November 1936, Roy joined
Indian National Congress along with his followers. However, in December
1940, Roy and his followers left Congress owing to differences with the
Congress leadership on the role of India in the Second World War.
➢ Thereafter, Roy formed the Radical Democratic Party of his own in 1940.
➢ This signaled the beginning of the last phase of Roy’s life in which he
developed his philosophy of new humanism.
➢ In 1947, Roy published New Humanism – A Manifesto
Death
➢ In 1948, Roy started working on his last major intellectual project i.e.
Reason, Romanticism and Revolution is a monumental work (638 pages)
➢ For the next six years Roy focussed on Radical humanist activities
➢ On January 25 1954, M.N. Roy died of a heart attack
M.N. Roy’s main writings:
1. India in Transition- 1922
2. The Future of Indian Politics- 1929
3. Historical Role of Islam- 1939
4. From Savagery to Civilization 1940
5. Poverty and Plenty 1944
6. Revolution and Counter Revolution in China- 1946
7. New Orientation- 1946
8. Beyond Communism- 1947
9. New Humanism- A Manifesto (1947)
10. ReasonRomanticism and Revolution- 1952
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M.N. ROY
Roy Lenin- Debate:

Background
➢ In 1917, Lenin led Russian/ Bolshevik revolution remained successful
➢ Lenin and his supporter aimed for same revolution in European countries
➢ However, no other European state except Hungary witnessed any successful
revolution
Lenin Theory of Imperialism
➢ Lenin developed a theory to understand International Capitalist System
➢ He observed that Metropolitan countries (e.g. Britain) are deeply connected
with their colonies (India)
➢ Stability at both sides was necessary for the survival of the International
Capital System
➢ The Breakdown of this system was necessary in order to finish imperialism
(Lenin theorised that imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism)
How to successfully achieved this breakdown?
➢ Lenin gave this idea in his ‘Pre-draft thesis on the national and colonial
question’
➢ He suggested that this breakdown/rapture was possible only through
revolution in colonies
➢ He asserted that revolutions in the colonies would be brought by bourgeois
class (i.e. capitalist class)
➢ Communists task in colonies was “to assist bourgeois democratic liberation
movement in these countries”
➢ He warned that it should be a temporary alliance and communists should
not merge with it
➢ They were supposed to radicalised its activity/ content
Roy’s position was different from position of Lenin. He applied ‘late capitalism’
thesis of the Marx on colonies
What is ‘Late Capitalism thesis’?
➢ Marx developed this thesis for Germany in his article ‘Bourgeoisie and
counter revolution (1849)’.
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M.N. ROY
➢ In this thesis, Marx pointed out that because German Bourgeoisie class
arrived late, it would face two historical contradiction:
1) Their contradiction with feudal class
2) Their contradiction with rising proletariat (working class)
➢ In this case, Bourgeois class tended to arrive at compromise with feudal
class to tackle proletariat
Roy analysis of Colonies
➢ Roy was of the view that Capitalist structure in world could be broken only
from the side of the colonies and not from the metropolitan countries
➢ Thus, revolution should first come in colonies
➢ Kuo Min Tang (KMT) in China and Non-cooperation in India reaffirmed it
➢ Roy argued that compared to other colonies, Bourgeoisie in India was
highly developed
➢ Roy warned that the bourgeois political group like congress would
compromise with feudal and Imperialist interests
➢ Roy, anticipated that any political organisation of the bourgeoises would
‘surrender to imperialism i.e. they would ‘sell-out’ to imperialism
➢ They would betray the national movement
➢ It was the only the class of proletariat and petty bourgeoisie that would
bring actual social revolution in India
Analysis of Indian Society
➢ M.N. Roy in his work ‘India in Transition’ apply Marxist analysis on Indian
history
➢ Perhaps it was a first systematic Marxist analysis of Indian history
➢ In this analysis he strongly criticised national thought on Indian history in
1920s
➢ He strongly criticised:
“Thanks to the painstaking researches of modern historians, one can
learn how many sacks of kishmish the great Aurangzeb consumed in
his life”
➢ But there was a little research of the social history of the Indian people
➢ For the analysis of Indian society, he used Marx’s analysis of classes
➢ Class analysis was seen as method as a method which Marxists applies to
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M.N. ROY
➢ For this kind of analysis on any society these must be considered:

1. What was its economic structure?
2. It form of production
3. Which were its major social classes?
4. And how they were likely to behave?
➢ Roy asserted that it was the Britisher flourished capitalism in India
➢ Roy found that there were four classes in India
1. The bourgeoisie
2. The petty bourgeoisie
3. The peasantry
4. The proletariat
➢ Roy declared ‘India was not under feudal system’.
➢ Feudalism has been destroyed in a peaceful process by the emergence of
local bourgeoisie and the gradual domination of the entire economy by
British capitalists
➢ Before the advent of colonialism in India, there were few commercial
activities but industrial bourgeoisie came to the scene after colonialism
➢ Because Industrial capital emerged under British rule
➢ Since 1880s, Indian bourgeoisie remained limited to lower industries
➢ The British laws that were made for flourishing British capital only, further
obstruct the growth of Indian bourgeoisie
➢ Thus, Roy, argued that Indian national movement was nothing but it was
movement led by Indian bourgeoisie class
➢ to protect their capital interests against the unfavourable British laws
➢ That’s why Roy pointed out that the early moderates in INC was just trying
to alter the laws of Imperialism by petition for their own interests and not
for the masses of country
INC Critique
➢ To Lenin, capitalist class was the actual revolutionary class in colonies
➢ To Roy, Capitalist class in colonies was not fighting for only national
liberation, it was also their struggle against the economic and political
monopoly of the imperialist capitalist class
➢ In other words, Indian National Congress and its leaders were the capitalist
class in India
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M.N. ROY
➢ They were not fighting for national liberation

➢ Rather, they were fighting for saving their economic interests against
capitalist class of British
➢ It was not a struggle between Indian masses against Britisher
➢ Rather, it was a struggle between two capitalist classes i.e. Indian capitalist
class with British Capitalist class in gaining economic and political
monopoly in India
➢ In this struggle, Roy anticipated that Congress would compromise with the
imperialist interests
➢ Instead of winning over imperialists power, Congress would accept a lower
position to imperialist bourgeoisie
➢ They would fight against colonial rule not for the liberation of Indian
society but for better economic wages / economic position.
➢ Congress would be ‘sell-out’ to Imperialism.
Gandhi Critique
➢ Roy pointed out that Gandhism historically was his greatest enemy
➢ Roy criticism of Gandhi is full of inconsistency
➢ During the period of 1920’s he strongly criticised the role of Gandhi in
Indian national movement, particularly the failure of non-cooperation
movement
➢ However, during later years of his life, he praised Gandhi for various
reasons
➢ For Roy, Gandhi failed to understand the changing nature of social and
political forces of national movement
➢ He believed that Gandhism ‘will fall to its own contradiction’
➢ The Indian national movement with the spirit of non-cooperation was bound
to fail
➢ For him, Non-Violence was a cloak
➢ “If the end of nationalism is to glorify the privileged few, then non-violence
is certainly useful
➢ but to nationalism of a broader kind, which is the expression of the desire of
the entire Indian people, it is a positive hindrance”.
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M.N. ROY
➢ Thus, for Roy non-violence was protecting the vested interests and non-
cooperation was the best strategy in containment of revolutionary spirit of
masses
➢ Like Tagore, he was also against Gandhi’s Charkha and Khaddar
➢ He argued that these two would have been successful if
(a) charkha must be introduced into every house
(b) khaddar must be worn by all.
➢ After Gandhi’s death in his article ‘Message of Martyr and homage to
Martyr (1948)’ he praised Gandhi:
➢ As humanist, who consolidated congress and purified politics of India.
Marxist Critique
➢ Roy was strongly against the Marx for neglecting the aspect of human
freedom i.e. individual freedom
➢ Roy wanted to bring out human aspects of Marxism by not limiting it to
only theory of economic determinism
➢ Roy criticised Marx for neglecting the role of man in creating human
history
➢ He also pointed out that Marx never realised that his idea of dialectical
materialism is itself is nothing but idealism
➢ Dialectical materialism is materialistic interpretation of history is
inadequate. Marx gives minimum role to mental activity in shaping history
➢ Both idea and matter create history
➢ Marx talks about the disappearance of middle class but middle class grows
in number
Radical/New Humanism
➢ Renunciation of Marxism
➢ New Humanism, new, because it is Humanism enriched, reinforced and
elaborated by scientific knowledge and social experience gained during the
centuries of modern civilisation’
➢ Core of this theory: greater emphasis on Individual as human being
➢ He criticised Marxism for the undue stress of class struggle where human
being lost its individuality
➢ At the same time, he criticised framework of nationalism which ignores
individual identity of human being with ideas like nation and nationhood
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M.N. ROY
➢ He was very categorical in saying that ‘Radicalism thinks in terms neither

of nation nor class; its concern is man; it conceives freedom as freedom of
the individual’
➢ Three fundamental elements of New Humanism: Rationality, Morality and
freedom
Rationality:
➢ There is huge diversity can be found in vast number of people
➢ But it is the rationality which is common in every human being
➢ Roy believed that every human being is rational
➢ However, they sometimes appear irrational due to some differences in the
patterns of life in various parts of world
➢ It is the rationality that actually helps the human being in discovering the
law of nature
➢ Discovery of law of nature will free the human from hidden bondages
Morality:
➢ Roy was quick enough to discarded the claim that morality is based on
intuitive understanding of human being
➢ Rather, he argues that morality comes out of the scientific application of
human rationality
➢ (e.g. apologizing after knowing that it was your fault, by this way you can
keep a good relation with other
➢ Acc to Roy morality is an unifying and creative value of society
➢ Morality aims at translating into reality the collective and common good of
whole society
Freedom:
➢ Human beings are bounded by restrictions imposed by nature
➢ By finding laws of nature and understanding the functioning of the cosmos
the human beings can get themselves free from natural restrictions
➢ Therefore, he believed that freedom emerges out of man’s struggle for self-
survival, self-protection and reproduction.
➢ Thus, freedom is not spiritual as Aurobindo Ghosh, Tagore and Gandhi
Believed.
➢ Freedom is materialistic, spiritualism only reduces the scope of human
action.
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M.N. ROY
Economic dimension of Radical Humanism

➢ As far as economic dimension of New Humanism is concerned, Roy wanted
economic reorganization of society.
➢ Such society will be free from exploitation of one man by another
➢ Such society will be based on cooperative economy
➢ He suggested planned economic development with the virtues like
cooperation and decentralization
➢ State will regulate only minimum economic activities; for him, it seems,
state is a necessary evil (idea of Thomas Paine)
Organised Democracy; Party-less democracy
➢ He was against parliamentary democracy proposed by liberal democracy
➢ At the same time, he was against the idea of democratic centralism,
proposed by communists
➢ He proposed a system where local people’s committees would be
established at the root of democratic system
➢ And, they would remain the source of power for the higher levels of the
democratic institutions
➢ He criticised party-based politics as instead of serving masses this it has
become business of collecting money
➢ He therefore advocated the abolition of all political parties
M.N. Roy: A Remarkable Failure?

➢ Sudipta Kaviraj writes in his work ‘The Heteronomous Radicalism of M.N.
Roy’:
“M.N. Roy was a most remarkable failure in the history of the
Indian national movement.”
➢ He says so because he notes that when a person does not manage to do what
he/ she intends to do would be a remarkable failure
➢ He also says that, as an individual, Roy had a great qualities of intellect and
character but as a political actor he was a classic failure
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15
V D SAVARKAR
Click on play icon to listen lecture part-1 of Bio
NOTE: Eduseeker channel has extensively researched on Savarkar’s life. We

have uploaded two videos on his life. The two videos have more details but here
only brief information is being provided to students on Savarkar’s life and
thoughts.
➢ Early Life
➢ 28 May 1883 - Born in Bhagur, a tiny village in Dist. Nasik, Maharashtra

➢ He was born in a family of Chitpawan Brahmins
➢ Vinayak’s father, Damodarpant Savarkar, was a deeply religious person, poet
and an admirer of Tilak
➢ Damodarpant Savarkar married to Radhabai, daughter to the Dixit family of
Brahmin Scholar
➢ Of this couple were born three sons and one daughter
➢ The first was Ganesh (popularly known as Babarao), the second Vinayak, the
third was a daughter named Mainabai, and the fourth was Narayan
➢ Damodarpant used to recite several passages from the epics of Mahabharata
and Ramayana to his children.
➢ Also he used to read out Ballads on Pratap, Shivaji and the Peshwas
➢ Such legends, historical episodes and mythological stories greatly
contributed to the mental development of the child Vinayak Damodar.
V D SAVARKAR
Education
➢ Vinayak joined local government school when he was six

➢ He completed his primary education at the village school and moved to
Nasik with his elder brother for high education.
➢ He shown very keen interest in reading newspapers and books at his young
age
➢ He was eager to learn English language in order to read the books that were
present at home
➢ 1892 - Lost his mother Radhabai, she died of cholera.
Early Revolutionary Activities
➢ In 1900, Savarkar Founded Mitra Mela, a secret revolutionary society

➢ It met on every weekend and the Mela meetings would stress on armed
revolution and political freedom
➢ Savarkar didn’t fully believe in the politics of Congress and Gokhale
(moderates) nor he had faith in Tilak’s initiative. He felt that for complete
liberation it was not enough.
➢ In 1902, at the age of nineteen, Vinayak enrolled in Fergusson College,
Pune, and continued with his revolutionary activities.
➢ In 1904, Vinayak proposed new name for Mitra Mela i.e. Abhinav Bharat
(Young India Society)
➢ This title was inspired by Giuseppe Mazzini’s ‘Young Italy’
➢ The Abhinav Bharat called for total and complete freedom, to attain which
armed revolution was considered as inevitable means
➢ During the Bengal partition of 1905, Savarkar participated in bonfire of
foreign goods
➢ He was later expelled from the college for his radical views and participating
in boycott of foreign goods movement. Thus, he became the first Indian to
be expelled from college for his radical views
In London
➢ Savarkar applied for scholarship in London for study law. It was accepted
and he travelled to London
94
V D SAVARKAR
➢ Within six months of his arrival in London, he translated Mazzini’s

biography into Marathi.
➢ On 10 may 1907, 50th Anniversary of the outbreak of 1857 Rebellion was
celebrated as the British victory over the rebels
➢ Over the next two years (1908-9), Savarkar completed his own monumental
text on 1857 Rebellion.
➢ He published his book, titled as The Indian War of Independence of 1857 in
Marathi
Nasik Conspiracy Case
➢ On 21 Dec 1909 Anantrao Laxman Kanhere killed AMT Jackson, Nasik

district collector with pistol sent by Savarkar and his friends from London
➢ Savarkar was extradited to India. He was found guilty in Nasik Conspiracy
Case.
➢ He was given double life imprisonment and Thus, he became the first person
amounting to fifty years of incarceration in the Andaman Jails i.e. double life
imprisonment
Click on play icon to listen part-2 of Biography
In Cellular Jail (Andaman)
➢ In this cellular jail, The atrocities on the prisoner were at such level that
Savarkar himself had suicidal thoughts.
➢ He wrote many mercy petitions to Britisher (for detail watch part-2 of video)
Transformation in Savarkar
➢ Savarkar noticed that Muslim in jails are converting Hindu prisoners.

➢ He made some efforts to reconvert them and started Shuddhi (reconversion/
purification) practice in prison. He adopted this practice from Arya Samaj.
95
SAVARKAR BIO PART-2
Going Towards Hindutva
➢ Savarkar advocated the cause for a larger Hindu sangathan , or unity,

movement while in jail.
➢ He imagined a pan-India coalition of Indic faiths of all castes—Sikhs,
Sanatanis (orthodox Hindus), Arya Samajis, Jains and Buddhists.
➢ He also asserted on the promotion of Hindi language which he believes
could be very helpful for national unity generally and unity among Hindu
society specifically
➢ He also promoted inter-dining of different castes members from Hindu
community
➢ In 1921, he was shifted from Andaman jail to Ratnagiri Jail
Khilafat Movement
➢ The Khilafat movement which was started in 1920 and supported by Gandhi,
attracted the criticism of many including Savarkar
➢ In August 1921, the Khilafat Movement ended in the Moplah rebellion in
Malabar (Northern Kerala)
➢ The rebellion was intitally against the British government and Hindu
landlords
➢ But later it turned communal at such level that it witnessed large-scale
violence which saw systematic persecution of Hindus and British officials.
Many homes and temples were destroyed.
➢ The Khilafat Pathans in the Ratnagiri jail rioted and Sawarkar witnessed
these all events
➢ It was in Ratnagiri Jail where Savarkar wrote his most debated text Hindutva
(1923) and sent it out secretly. It was published under the pen name
‘Mahratta’
➢ His 1926 novel titled, What Do I Care, or The Revolt of the Moplahs gave
graphic daetails of Muslims attacking Hindus, including the ‘defilement of
Hindu women.’
➢ Savarkar also took a shot at writing plays—for instance, Sangeet Unshraap
(1927) which was a sharp critical social commentary around the issues of
untouchability, conversion, and sexual violence against Hindu women.
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SAVARKAR BIO PART-2
Going Towards Hindutva
➢ Savarkar advocated the cause for a larger Hindu sangathan , or unity,

movement while in jail.
➢ He imagined a pan-India coalition of Indic faiths of all castes—Sikhs,
Sanatanis (orthodox Hindus), Arya Samajis, Jains and Buddhists.
➢ He also asserted on the promotion of Hindi language which he believes
could be very helpful for national unity generally and unity among Hindu
society specifically
➢ He also promoted inter-dining of different castes members from Hindu
community
➢ In 1921, he was shifted from Andaman jail to Ratnagiri Jail
Khilafat Movement
➢ The Khilafat movement which was started in 1920 and supported by Gandhi,
attracted the criticism of many including Savarkar
➢ In August 1921, the Khilafat Movement ended in the Moplah rebellion in
Malabar (Northern Kerala)
➢ The rebellion was intitally against the British government and Hindu
landlords
➢ But later it turned communal at such level that it witnessed large-scale
violence which saw systematic persecution of Hindus and British officials.
Many homes and temples were destroyed.
➢ The Khilafat Pathans in the Ratnagiri jail rioted and Sawarkar witnessed
these all events
➢ It was in Ratnagiri Jail where Savarkar wrote his most debated text Hindutva
(1923) and sent it out secretly. It was published under the pen name
‘Mahratta’
➢ His 1926 novel titled, What Do I Care, or The Revolt of the Moplahs gave
graphic daetails of Muslims attacking Hindus, including the ‘defilement of
Hindu women.’
➢ Savarkar also took a shot at writing plays—for instance, Sangeet Unshraap
(1927) which was a sharp critical social commentary around the issues of
untouchability, conversion, and sexual violence against Hindu women.
97
SAVARKAR BIO PART-2
Releasing from Jail
➢ On 10 May 1937, he was released unconditionally after completing 27 years

of confinement
➢ From Savarkar previous activities it was evident that he would continue to
work for the consolidation of Hindu society
➢ After his released he declared his political mission that ‘his aim was to
establish a free Independent Indian State on the bedrock of the Hindus,
the nation majority’ (Keer, 1966.p. 227)
➢ On Dec 1937, he was elected as president of Hindu Mahasbaha and he
remained on this position for next seven years
Two Nation Theory
While addressing the 19th session of the Mahasabha in Ahmedabad, he

declared: “There are two antagonistic nations living side by side in
India. Several infantile politicians commit the serious mistake in
supposing that India is already welded into a harmonious nation, or that it
could be welded thus for the mere wish to do so…. India cannot be
assumed today to be a unitarian and homogenous nation. On the contrary,
there are two nations in the main: the Hindus and the Muslims, in
India.”
➢ Thus, the theory of two nations, first proposed in Essentials of Hindutva,

was passed as a resolution of the Mahasabha in 1937.
➢ Three years later, the All-India Muslim League, led by Jinnah, adopted the
concept in its Lahore session.
➢ On August 15, 1943, Savarkar said in Nagpur, “I have no quarrel with Mr
Jinnah’s two-nation theory. We, Hindus, are a nation by ourselves and it is a
historical fact that Hindus and Muslims are two nations.”
Hinduise All Politics and Militraise Hindudom
➢ On his 59th birthday, Savarkar writes a letter to his supporter on 25 May,

1941. In this letter he popularised a slogan: ‘Hinduise All Politics and
Militarise Hindudom’
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SAVARKAR BIO PART-2
➢ Hinduise All Politics: “elect only those Hindus to represent them in the
Legislatures and all other political bodies as Hindu representatives who
pledge themselves openly and uncompromisingly to safeguard, to defend,
and to promote uncompromisingly the interests of Hindudom as a whole”.
➢ Militarise Hindudom: let every Hindu youth who is capable to stand the
test, try his best to enter the army, the navy and the air force or get the
training and secure employment in the ammunition factories and in all other
branches connected with war crafts.
Coalition with Muslim League
➢ In 1942, Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim league ran coalition government

in Sind and Bengal
➢ Savarkar defended this coalition in his presidential speech to 24th session
of Hindu Mahasabha at Kanpur in 1942:
‘’In practical politics also the Mahasabha knows that we must advance
through reasonable compromises”
➢ Hindu Mahasabha also joined coalition government with Muslim League
in NWFP (North Western Frontier Provinces)
➢ However, despite running the coalition government, Savarkar was against
the idea of Pakistan (Islam, 2016. p. 113-114)
Accusation of Gandhi’s Murder
➢ On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was shot dead by Nathuram Godse, who had
been member of the Hindu Mahasabha.
➢ Savarkar was one of the accused in the conspiracy to kill Gandhi
➢ However Court acquitted him due to lack of evidence
➢ On March 22, 1965, a commission of inquiry was set up, with former SC
judge J.L. Kapur as its chairman
➢ On January 30, 1948, Gandhi was shot dead by Nathuram Godse, who had
been member of the Hindu Mahasabha.
➢ Savarkar was one of the accused in the conspiracy to kill Gandhi
➢ However Court acquitted him due to lack of evidence
➢ On March 22, 1965, a commission of inquiry was set up, with former SC
judge J.L. Kapur as its chairman
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SAVARKAR BIO PART-2
Concept of Hindutva
➢ In this concept, Savarkar answer to the question of what is Hindu?
➢ He explains that Hindu could be anyone who considered this land of
Bharatvarsha, from the Indus to the Seas, as his Fatherland (pitribhu) as
well as his holyland (punyabhu).
➢ Thus, territorially, a Hindu is one who feels being attached to the
geographical tract extending between the rivers Sindhu (Indus) and
Brahmaputra, on the one hand, and from Himalayas to the Cape Comorin,
on the other.
➢ Racially, Savarkar considered a Hindu as the one ‘whose first and
discernible source could be traced to the Himalayan altitudes of the Vedic
Saptasindhu.’
➢ Culturally, Savarkar maintains that a Hindu must feel the pride and
commonality of his cultural roots with the other people of Hindusthan.
➢ In short, according to this concept Christians, Muslims and Jews can’t be
called Hindu and such community can’t feel pride in being Hindustani.
Because for them Hindustan can be their father land and but not Holyland.
Their love is divided. For Christians their holyland exist in Rome, For
Muslims it is Mecca-Medina, For Jews it is Jerusalem.
➢ Thus Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists can be considered into definition of Hindu
because these community believe Hindustan their fatherland as well as
holyland
➢ So, if Muslims, Christians and Jews have to convert into Hindu, they have
to accept Hindustan as their holyland too. They have to accept Indian
Culture and its roots. They have to show undivided love for this land.

100
16
Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR

Early life
➢ His original name was Bhimrao Sakpal
➢ He was born on 14 April 1891 in Mhow, near Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
➢ He was the 14th and last child of his parents.
➢ His father name was Ramji Maloji Sakpal who held the rank of Subedar
in Army.
➢ His Ancestors served in Indian British Army
➢ He was born when people like Jyotirao Phule started Satyashodak
movement for the cause of depressed classes
Discrimination
➢ Because he was untouchable he faced discrimination in school

➢ He had to sit separately on gunny sack and he was not allowed to drink
water from vessels
➢ Only school peon used to pour water from a height
➢ In case peon was not available he had to go without water; he described
this situation in his autobiography (Waiting for Visa) as “No peon, No
Water”
Sakpal to Ambedkar
➢ His father retired in 1894 and the family moved to Satara two years later
Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
➢ Of his brothers and sisters, only Ambedkar passed his examinations and
went to high school
➢ His original surname was Sakpal but his father registered his name as
‘Ambadawekar’ on his native village ‘Ambadawe’ (Ratnagiri district)
➢ His Brahmin teacher, Krishna Keshav Ambedkar, changed his surname
from 'Ambadawekar' to his own surname 'Ambedkar' in school records.
Early Education
➢ In 1907, he passed his matriculation exam

➢ Next year, he enrolled in Elphinstone College, and became the first
person from his Mahar caste to do so
➢ By 1912, he obtained degree in economics and political science from
Bombay University
Higher Eduaction
➢ In 1913, he moved for his postgraduation at Columbia University in

USA
➢ In 1915, he presented his thesis of MA titled as ‘Ancient Indian
Commerce’
➢ It’s only because of scholarship given by Sayajirao Gaekwad III, he was
abled to study in abroad
➢ In 1916, he completed his second thesis, ‘National Dividend of India- A
Historic and Analytical Study’ for another MA
➢ On 9 May, 1916 he presented his first paper on Cast titled as ‘Castes in
India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development’
➢ In June 1916, he left the Colombia University after completing his work
➢ In Oct 1916, he enrolled for the Bar course at Gray’s Inn, London
➢ At the same time he enrolled at the London School of Economics for his
doctoral thesis
➢ His thesis was on “The problem of the rupee: its origin and its
solultion”
Changing Professions
➢ In June 1917, he returned to India because his scholarship from Baroda

ended.
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Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
➢ In July 1917, He was appointed Military Secretary to the Gaikwad but

had to quit in a short time.
➢ For making a living for his family, he worked as a tutor, as an accountant
and then established investment consulting business.
➢ But it failed when his clients learned that he was an untouchable.
➢ In 1918, he became Professor of Political Economy in the Sydenham
College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai.
➢ Although he was successful with the students, other professors objected to
his sharing a drinking-water jug with them.
Demanding Separate Electorate
➢ In July 1918, Ambedkar had been invited to testify before the

Southborough Committee, which was preparing the Government of
India Act 1919.
➢ At this hearing, Ambedkar argued for creating separate electorates and
reservations for untouchables
Different Shades of Life
➢ In Jan 1920, he began the publication of the Marathi weekly Mooknayak

(Leader of the Silent) in Mumbai for the cause of depressed classes
➢ From 1920-23 he rejoined the London School of Economics
➢ In June 1924, he started practice in Bombay High Court
As a Leader of Depressed Classes
➢ He defended the rights of depressing classes through periodicals like

Mook Nayak, Bahishkrit Bharat, and Equality Janta
➢ In July 1924, he founded ‘Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha' for the uplift of
the depressed classes.
➢ He also founded the organisations like ‘Samaj Samata Sangh’ and
‘Samata Sainik Dal’ in 1927 to fight for the cause of emancipation of the
untouchables.
Beginning of Satyagraha
➢ By 1927, Ambedkar had decided to launch active movements against

untouchability.
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Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
➢ He began with public movements and marches to open up public drinking

water resources. He also began a struggle for the right to enter Hindu
temples.
➢ On 20 Mar, 1927, he led a satyagraha in Mahad to fight for the right of
the untouchable community to draw water from the ‘Chowder Tank ’of
the town.
➢ Ambedkar drank water from the tank and thousands of untouchables
followed him.
➢ To purify the tank cow-urine, cow-dung, milk, curds, butter were used.
➢ 108 pots containing a mixture of these products were emptied into the
tank while Brahmins recited mantras.
➢ The tank was then declared fit for upper caste Hindu consumption.
Burning Manusmriti
➢ In a conference in late 1927, Ambedkar ceremonially burned copies of

Manusmriti, for ideologically justifying caste discrimination and
"untouchability", text.
➢ On 25 December 1927, he led thousands of followers to burn copies of
Manusmrti.
➢ Thus annually 25 December is celebrated as Manusmriti Dahan Din
(Manusmriti Burning Day) by Ambedkarites and Dalits.
➢ In 1930, he launched Kalaram temple entry movement with 15000
satyagrahis
Communal Award
➢ He participated in various round table conference (1930-1932) for the

purpose of securing separate electorate for untouchables
➢ Hence, In 1932 ‘Communal Award’ was announced
➢ But Gandhi went for fast unto death in Yerwada Jail, Poona against
separate electorate for untouchables
➢ Because he believed that it would separate the untouchables from Hindu
Community forever
Poona Pact
➢ Finally on 25 September, the Poona Pact was signed
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Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
➢ The agreement gave reserved seats for the depressed classes in the
Provisional legislatures, within the general electorate.
➢ Due to the pact, the depressed class received 148 seats in the legislature,
instead of the 71 as allocated in the Communal Award
“[T]he
Communal Award was intended to free the Untouchables from the
thraldom of the Hindus. The Poona Pact is designed to place them
under the domination of the Hindus” – Ambedkar
‘I would not die a Hindu’
➢ After, The Poona pact he remained no more sure of the potentiality of the
Hindu religion to reform itself
➢ He cut off his seven years of temple entry satyagraha with an
announcement in 1935, Nasik confernce that he ‘would not die a
Hindu’.
➢ Henceforth, he started finding the way for conversion into other religion
➢ And also he started safeguarding the interests of the untouchables through
constitutional means
Party Politics for Depressed Classes
➢ In 1936, he founded first political party i.e. Independent Labour Party

➢ His party contested the 1937 Bombay election to the Central Legislative
Assembly for the 13 reserved and 4 general seats, and secured 11 and 3
seats respectively.
➢ However, he did not get much success in party politics as congress
candidate was winning from reserved seats
➢ In 1942, he founded second party i.e. Schedule Caste Federations to
unite untouchables all over India.
➢ In last year of his life i.e. in 1956 he founded third political party, The
Republican Party. It was an attempt to unite all untouchables, STs, the
working man and the poor
Working for ‘Untouchables’
➢ In 1942, he was appointed Labour member in the Viceroy’s Executive

Council, and he held this position until 1946
105
Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
➢ In this posts, he was able to secure such benefits for SCs as a Mahar
batallion in the Indian Army
➢ And overseas scholarships for untouchable boys
➢ The years between 1942 and 1946 were also years in which Ambedkar
was harshly critical of the Congress
Father of Indian Constiution
➢ Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, the new Congress-led

government invited Ambedkar to serve as the nation's first Law
Minister, which he accepted.
➢ On 29 August, he was appointed Chairman of the Constitution Drafting
Committee, and was appointed by the Assembly to write India's new
Constitution.
Towards Buddhism
➢ Around 1950s, he began devoting his attention to Buddhism and traveled

to sri lanka to attend a meeting of the World Fellowship of Budhhists
➢ In 1955, he founded the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha, or the Buddhist
Society of India.
➢ He completed his final work, The Buddha and His Dhamma, in 1956
which was published posthumously.
➢ Ambedkar publicly converted on 14 October 1956, at Deekshabhoomi,
Nagpur, over 20 years after he declared his intent to convert.
➢ Around 380,000 of his followers converted to Buddhism at the same
ceremony.
➢ He died in his sleep on 6 December 1956 at his home in Delhi

106
Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
Works of Ambedkar
1.Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development-1916

2.Mook Nayak (weekly)-1920
3.The Problem of the Rupee: its origin and its solution-1923
4.Bahishkrut Bharat (India Ostracized)-1927
5. Janta (weekly)- 1930
6. The Annihilation of Caste-1936
7.Federation Versus Freedom-1939
8.Thoughts on Pakistan- 1940
9. Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah- 1943
10. Mr. Gandhi and Emancipation of Untouchables1943
11. What Congress and Gandhi have done to the Untouchables- 1945
12. Pakistan Or Partition Of India- 1945
13.State and Minorities- 1947
14. Who were the Shudras- 1948
15. Maharashtra as a Linguistic Province- 1948
16. The Untouchables- 1948
17. Buddha Or Karl Marx- 1956
18.The Buddha and his Dhamma- 1957
19.Riddles in Hinduism- 2008
20. Manu and the Shudras
Political Thought of Ambedkar
Caste System
➢ Understanding the dynamics caste system in India is very important part

of his social thought.
➢ Because he himself experienced the discriminations at different walks of
his life.
➢ Ambedkar oscillate between two assumption:
1. He wanted the promotion of untouchables in Hindu society or in the India
nation as a whole
2. He also wanted to separate the untouchables from Hindu society through:
• separate electorate,
• separate Dalit party
• Conversion outside Hinduism
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Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
Origin of Caste
➢ His first ever essay on caste was published in 1917, ‘Castes in India,
Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development’.
➢ He noted that from the earliest times, Hindu society was consist of classes
i.e.
1. Brahmans (the priestly class),
2. the Kshatriya (the warrior class),
3. the Vaishayas (the trading class)
4. the Shudras (the artisans or the menial class).
➢ One could switch between these classes provided that he earned the
essential qualities of that class
➢ It was a natural division of labour given the diversity in the society to
fullfill the needs of all set of people
➢ Gradually, however, these subdivisions started losing their open-door
character of the class system
➢ and became self-closed units called castes.
Who closed this system?
➢ The beginning in this regard seems to have been made by the priestly class
(Brahmin)
➢ They would have detached themselves from the rest of classes
➢ And closed the door for other classes
➢ Which means now no person from other class could become brahmin or
hold the priestly position
➢ Thus the idea of ‘closed class’ (caste) helped in emerging the idea of
Endogamy (marriage within same caste)
➢ Ambedkar also rejected the origin of caste theory given in Pursha Shukta
(Rig Veda)
Rejecting Divine Theory
➢ This divine theory believes that caste origin from the sacrificial
dismemberment of the divine man i.e. Virat Purusha
➢ the Virat Purusha whose various limbs gave birth to various castes in the
following order:
➢ ‘His mouth became the Brahman
➢ the Warrior [Kshatriya] was the product of his arms
108
Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
➢ His thighs were the Artisan [Vaishaya]

➢ From his feet were born the servant [Shudras]
➢ He rejected such theory on account that no society has such fixed and
permanent gradation i.e. the upper part of body is being given more
importance than the lower part
Who Were Untouchables: The Origin
➢ He gave the idea of untouchables in his work ‘The Untouchables: Who

were they and why they became untouchables?’ published in 1948
➢ In this work he gave the idea of ‘Broken Men’
➢ Broken Men were those who were broken into bits and wandered in
various parts of land after getting defeated in tribal wars
➢ Such broken men in India, over the years, became the followers of
Buddhism
➢ As Buddhism’s emphasis was on the equality and dignity every person in
the society
➢ According to Ambedkar, it explains why Untouchables do not employ
Brahmins as their priests
➢ Also they do not even allow to them enter their quarters
➢ This why Brahmins regarded them as Untouchables
➢ The Broken Men hated the Brahmins because the Brahmins were the
enemies of Buddhism
➢ and the Brahmins imposed untouchability upon the Broken Men because
they would not leave Buddhism.
➢ Even the food habits of two is completely different
➢ the Brahmins regarded the cow a sacred animal, the Broken Men
continued to eat beef, thus it widens the gap between two
Annihilation of Caste
➢ Annihilation of Caste is one of the most thought provoking text of

Ambedkar. ‘undoubtedly the best known of all’ says Jaffrelot
➢ Originally this text was a speech written for the annual conference of the
Jat-Pat Todak Mandal of Lahore in 1936 by Ambedkar
➢ However, the organizer of the conference found the view expressed in
text unbearable which led to the cancellation of the conference
➢ Subsequently it was published in the form of a book in the same year
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Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
➢ Division of labour is based on false notion

➢ It does not bring any economic efficiency
➢ Every caste is a mix race now days
➢ Hence, he ridicule the idea of biological purity
➢ Caste system is a blot on the Hindu religion
➢ Neither inter-dinning nor the abolition of sub-caste would killed the caste
➢ The abolition of caste, Ambedkar argues, can be achieved only by
intermarriage
➢ Because he believes the fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of
being kith and kin
➢ Also to abolished the caste, one has to denounce the all fundamental
religious notions associated with it
➢ Since Caste has a divine basis, he advised that the authority of Shastras
and the Vedas must be destroyed
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Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
But who will do this task?
➢ Brahmins would be the first to block this task since he is enjoying privilege
position in this caste system
➢ Similarly those caste who are in top of hierarchy of caste will also not show
interest in this task
➢ He also clarifies that only practical regulations of religion which justify
the exploitative character of caste system must be destroyed
➢ While the principles (intellectual norms) of the religion may be retained as
long as they provide egalitarian order in society
Principles/ Regulation for Untoucables
1. Stop tradition job like dragging the dead cattle out of village, stop eating
beef
2. Education is must for them since feeding them, or clothing them will not
solve the problem
3. Education will remove inferior complex
4. Untouchables must be represented by their own representatives
5. The government must take responsibility for the welfare of their own
people, thus he advocated strong center
6. And thus today we have concept of reservation
7. All forms of caste must be abolished and the function of the Brahmins
as priest should be done by a trained person under state supervision
111
Dr. B.R. AMBEDKAR
112
17
J L NEHRU
Early life
➢ He was born on 14 Nov, 1889 in Allahabad
➢ His father Motilal Nehru (1861-1931), was a wealthy barrister, Kashmiri
Pandit and served twice as President of INC (1919,1928)
➢ Nehru was the eldest of three children, two of whom were girls
➢ The elder sister, Vijay Lakshmi, later became the first female president of
UN General Assembly
Education
➢ He described his childhood as a ‘sheltered and uneventful one’

➢ He grew up in wealthy homes including Anand Bhavan
➢ He was educated by private tutors at home
➢ In 1907, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge and graduated in natural
science
➢ In 1907, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge and graduated in natural
science
➢ In 1910, he moved to London and studied law at Inner Temple Inn
J L NEHRU
➢ During this period he was influenced from Fabianism thinkers like B.Shaw
and Webb
➢ In Aug 1912, he started practicing advocacy in Allahabad High Court
➢ However, he was not successful like his father in legal practice due to lack of
interest
Indian Politics and Nehru
➢ By the time he was in Britain, he had developed the interest in Indian

Politics
➢ Within month of his return to India in 1912, He attended the annual session
of INC in Patna
➢ Congress in 1912 was the party of moderates and elites
➢ He was influenced by Gandhi’s activities in South Africa
➢ He did not like GK Gokhale’s moderate politics who said that it ‘was
madness to think of independence’
➢ He was influenced by Home Rule League movement (1916-17) initiated by
Tilak and Annie Besant
➢ In 1920, he participated in Non-Cooperation movement and led the
movement in UP
➢ Chauri Chaura incident led to closure of movement by Gandhi
➢ Few congress leaders got dissatisfy with Gandhi’s move
➢ Motilal Nehru and CR Das formed their new own party i.e. Swaraj Party in
1923
➢ Bur JL Nehru did not join his father and remain loyal to Gandhi
Background of Purna Swaraj
➢ In Nov 1927, British government appointed the Simon Commission to

review the working of GOI Act 1919 and purpose Const reforms
➢ Because the commission did not have a single Indian member there were
nationwide protest
➢ In Dec 1927 Madras session of Congress, two decisions were taken:
1. Boycotting the Simon Commission
2. Set up of All parties conference to draft a Constitution of India
➢ The Conference, on 19 May 1928, constituted a committee to draft the
Constitution.
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J L NEHRU
➢ Motilal Nehru was the Chairman of the Committee

➢ The Committee submitted its report to the All Parties Conference in
August 1928.
➢ This report came to be known as Nehru Report
➢ In this report Congress demanded dominion status for India within British
empire
➢ In Irwin Declaration on 31 Oct 1929, Lord Irwin declared dominion status
of India without mentioning the date
➢ Neither the Simon commission nor the Irwin declaration could satisfy
congress
➢ However the Nehru report was passed by Congress in its Calcutta session
of Dec 1928
➢ Meanwhile in April 1928, the “Independence of India League” was
formed with Jawahar Lal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose as Secretaries
and S. Srinivasa Iyengar as President.
➢ The Congress session at Calcutta marked an almost split among the
leaders who wanted dominion and leaders who wanted complete
Independence.
Demanding Purna Swaraj
➢ Ultimately it was resolved that if the British parliament accepts the Nehru
report by 31 December 1929, Congress would adopt the report as it is
➢ Or else will demand complete independence
➢ On 19 Dec 1929, Congress in its Lahore session passed the historic ‘Purna
Swaraj’ (total independence) resolution.
➢ One year deadline passed, there was no response from British government
➢ On the midnight of Dec 31, 1929 and 1 Jan 1930, Jawahar Lal Nehru
unfurled the Flag of India’s independence on the bank of River Ravi in
Lahore.
➢ CWC met on Jan 2, 1930 and on that it was decided that last Sunday of
Jan should be observed as Poorna Swaraj Day
➢ And coincidentally it was Jan 26
➢ Nehru gradually emerged as paramount leader of Indian Independence
movement
➢ In 1936 despite opposition he was chosen as President of Lucknow
session
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J L NEHRU
Negotiations with British Govt
➢ During the second World War Nehru supported the British government on
certain conditions like full independence, Const Assembly to frame
constitution etc.
➢ For the purpose of this, Cripps mission was constituted in Mar 1942.
➢ Sir Stafford Cripps was the friend of Nehru
➢ But he fails to give any satisfactory promise to Indian leaders
➢ Congress under the leadership of Gandhi declined his proposal and instead
launched Quit India movement in Aug, 1942
➢ Nehru also joined it, after brief hesitation
Dawn of British Rule
➢ Nehru was arrested with along other leaders

➢ They were released prior to the arrival of the Cabinet Mission to India in
1946
➢ The agreed plan led to elections of the provincial assemblies where
congress won majority of seats
➢ Nehru headed the interim government as the PM
➢ He took office as the Prime Minister of India on 15 August, and delivered
his inaugural address titled "Tryst with Destiny".
➢ He was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1955
➢ He remained unchallenged leader for 18 years, he died in 1964.
Political thought of Nehru:
National Unity
➢ ‘We must give the topmost priority to the development of a sense of unity in
India’
➢ Over the centuries we have been subjected to foreign rule
➢ Because we lacked strong central government, a nationwide authority
➢ We were divided in narrow regional loyalties
➢ So much so that people did not mind inviting outsiders to help to settle their
old scores
➢ He thought that Constitution of India for the first time in its history given a
strong state
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J L NEHRU
➢ With strong central government which also take cares of regional autonomy
➢ Modern state could not grow stronger unless it enjoyed undivided loyalty
and unrivalled domination
➢ For years Nehru, was strongly against the demand for linguistic
reorganization
➢ He was only in favour of reogransitaion on the basis of administrative
convenience
➢ He said to divide India on linguistic, ethnic and other grounds was to plant a
non-rational, emotional and alienatIion
➢ Which will confuse identity, and pave the way for its eventual disintegration
➢ He was of the opinion that industrialistaion would bind the country together
➢ Through network of economic interdependence and planning would ensure
inclusive growth of all regions
➢ Nehru showed little interest in culture as the bases of national unity
➢ He thought Hindu India lacked unifying cultural elements like Europe had
i.e. one language, one scared text and the church.
➢ It was the Gandhi, who revived the unifying elements through reinterpreting
traditional memories, images and symbols.
➢ For which Nehru complimented him
Parliamentary Democracy
➢ PD was the second ‘national goal’ for Nehru

➢ He was convinced that India needed a democratic form of government
➢ Not because it respected the individual and liberty, but it would help a
diverse, vast and divided country to held together
➢ He also thought that national and state election bring out the masses into the
public affairs
➢ He did not think much of alternative to PD, as advocated by Viveaknanda,
Aurobindo, M.N. Roy, Gandhi etc
➢ Of the various forms of liberal democracy he favoured Westminster
parliamentary model
➢ Because it was already familiar to India and guaranteed stability
➢ Parliamentary democracy involved such conventional institutions as
universal adult suffrage, free and fair elections, the separation of powers, an
independent judiciary, free press, civil liberties and constitutionally
guaranteed basic rights.
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J L NEHRU
What about opposition in this PD of ‘Congress System’?

➢ For him PD is not possible without strong and united opposition
➢ But during his time period it was unlikely to have one for some time
He explored ways for compensating the absence of opposition:
• He regularly briefed opposition leader

• He encouraged internal debates and welcome dissent
• On many occasions he internalized the opposition and himself acted as the
leader of opposition
• publicly criticising his colleagues and even himself and acknowledging
his mistakes
• He also encouraged the press to play the oppositional role
• But none of it fills the role of a strong opposition party
Industralisation
➢ Industralisation was the third component of the national ideology

➢ He was of the opinion that cottage and small-scale industries were helpful in
tackling the problems of poverty and unemployment (Gandhian idea)
➢ But he saw them as temporary measures only until India became fully
industrialized
➢ He held that ‘If technology demands the big machine. Then it must be
accepted’
➢ India was fallen into prey of British rule because its production methods
were traditional
➢ For Nehru Industry not agricultural was the lever of economic development
➢ Nehru and his colleagues uncritically accepted European experience of
industry
➢ B. Parekh writes ‘He was also in a hurry, and thought that industry-led
growth transformed the economy far more quickly and effectively than
agriculture-led growth’
➢ For him Agriculture was a primitive and culturally inferior activity
➢ It also fragmented the country, confined man’s vision to the narrow limits of
his village, and was a breeding ground of ignorance, traditionalism
➢ During his Cambridge days, he was inspired from Fabianism of Bernard
Shah and Webb
➢ Fabianism emerged from the activities of the Fabian Society, which was
founded in London in 1884
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J L NEHRU
➢ whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via

gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary
overthrow.
Socialism
Nehru believed that socialism has two forms

1. scientific method of social analysis
2. normative doctrine that describe ‘a desirable society’
1. Scientific method of analysis:

• Socialism was based on a belief in the primacy of the economic factor.
• Which means he was strongly believe that economic interests shape the
political views of groups and classes
• It is the socialist method which explains that British had colonized India
not to civilize people but to produce cheap raw material and a captive
market for their goods
• Even the religious conflict in India had an economic origin; every
communal demand in the final analysis a demand for jobs
2. Socialism as ‘normative doctrine’

• Socialism was a way to transform humanity
• It was not only limited to end Capitalism or class-war, revolution,
economic determinism
• It was classless, democratic, provided the material and moral conditions
necessary for the fullest development of the human potential
• It encouraged co-operative and non acquisitive impulses.
• Production was planned, organized on co-operative lines, and
• Directed towards the satisfaction of human needs rather than accumulation
of profit,
• And the basic freedoms and rights of citizens were fully guaranteed
How his Socialism was different from Marx?
• He did not emphasis on man as producing being

• He did not talk about popular participation, gradual withering away of
state
• His socialism was basically aesthetic and liberal, concentrating on the
individual rather than community
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J L NEHRU
➢ whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via

gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary
overthrow.
Socialism
Nehru believed that socialism has two forms

1. scientific method of social analysis
2. normative doctrine that describe ‘a desirable society’
1. Scientific method of analysis:

• Socialism was based on a belief in the primacy of the economic factor.
• Which means he was strongly believe that economic interests shape the
political views of groups and classes
• It is the socialist method which explains that British had colonized India
not to civilize people but to produce cheap raw material and a captive
market for their goods
• Even the religious conflict in India had an economic origin; every
communal demand in the final analysis a demand for jobs
2. Socialism as ‘normative doctrine’

• Socialism was a way to transform humanity
• It was not only limited to end Capitalism or class-war, revolution,
economic determinism
• It was classless, democratic, provided the material and moral conditions
necessary for the fullest development of the human potential
• It encouraged co-operative and non acquisitive impulses.
• Production was planned, organized on co-operative lines, and
• Directed towards the satisfaction of human needs rather than
accumulation of profit,
• And the basic freedoms and rights of citizens were fully guaranteed
How his Socialism was different from Marx?
• He did not emphasis on man as producing being

• He did not talk about popular participation, gradual withering away of
state
• His socialism was basically aesthetic and liberal, concentrating on the
individual rather than community
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Practicing Socialism
➢ In 1929 Lahore session of congress vaguely accepted socialism principles.

➢ In 1931 Karachi session of congress accepted a definite economic program
➢ Socialism was not a mere economic doctrine for Nehru ‘It is a vital creed
which I hold with all my head and heart’ he stated in 1936 (Lucknow session
of Congress)
➢ In the same session he expressed the desire that Congress should become
socialist organization
➢ It frightened many of his colleagues and led to several resignation from
CWC
➢ In 1955 Awadhi session of congress, he declared socialistic pattern of society
Socialistic Pattern of Society
➢ In 1955 Awadhi session of congress, he declared the ideals of socialistic

pattern of society:
• Social ownership of the principal means of production (nationalization)
• Growth of national production
• Equitable distribution of wealth of the nation
• He explained the difference between welfare state and socialistic pattern
of economy
• He explained that without increasing national wealth a welfare state was
not possible.
• Thus to distribute wealth one has to create wealth and which could be
possible through socialist pattern of society
Secularism
➢ Nehru concept of Secularism was complex and vague

➢ He distinguished between spiritual and ideological-cum-institutional
dimensions of religion
➢ He was in favour of spiritual dimension and was hostile to second dimension
Spiritual Dimension:
• It is that dimension of the religion which finds the answer of questions
like: purpose of human life, its relation with non-human world
• He broadly defined such dimension as advaita
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• Which means spirituality consisted in recognising the presence of a

creative force or vital energy at work in all living beings and appreciating
the unity of life.
• Spirituality thus falls outside the domain of science and state
Ideological and Institutional Dimension:

• By ideological he meant theological dogmas including the belief in the
existence of god and after life.
• By institutional he meant organized church, religious organizations and
religiously prescribed rules and practices
• For him this part of the religion encouraged ignorance, superstition,
discouraged science and rationality
• It had also hindered economic and social progress, sanctioned oppressive
and exploitative system
State role in Nehru’s secularism

1. State cant’ depend on religious morality and values. It has to find agreed
body of values and morals based on shared conception of material
interests.
2. Religion had to be kept out of political life. The state should neither
patronize nor associate itself with any of them
3. So for Nehru, State was a ‘public’ institution and religion was an entirely
‘private’ matter
4. He condemned religious political parties and although he did not ban
them but he refused to have any dealings with them
So will the state remain neutral?

• State can’t ever remain neutral
• State has to work for country’s integrity, its economic and social
development, and protection of the constitutional rights of all its citizens
• If some religious beliefs come in the way of these goals state will act against
it
• That’s why untouchability was abolished, Hindu Code Bill was passed
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18
RAM MANOHAR LOHIA

Early life
➢ He was born on 23 March, 1910 at Akbarpur, Faizabad district, UP.
➢ He was born to a family of merchants
➢ His mother died when he was just two year old and he was raised by his
father, Hiralal
➢ His father, a teacher by profession, was a freedom fighter and a follower of
Gandhi.
➢ The nationalist and teaching background of his father impacted Lohia's
personality
➢ First, he was introduced to Indian national movement at very early age
➢ Second, he was inspired to take his education carrier seriously
Education
➢ In 1918 he accompanied his father to Bombay, where he completed his high

school
➢ He completed his B.A. degree from Vidyasagar college, Calcutta in 1929
➢ In 1932, he earned his PhD degree from Berlin University on the subject
‘Salt and Satyagraha’
RAM MANOHAR LOHIA
Initiation In National Movement
➢ His interest in national movement marked by two features:

➢ One, his meeting with Gandhi with his father and listening to his views on
issues like Satyagraha, non-violence and struggle for independence
➢ Influenced his young mind of Lohia that he became full time Gandhian for
his life
➢ Two, his love for motherland made him freedom fighter at early age
➢ Especially when he organized a small mourning shut down on Tilak’s death
in 1920 and protest against Simon in 1928 when he was a student
Working with INC
➢ He returned to India from Berlin in 1934.

➢ In Berlin he developed deep interest in knowing India’s relations with rest of
the World
➢ Moreover, his participation in proceedings of League of Nations sowed the
seeds of internationalism in him
➢ On his return to India, though Lohia joined the Indian National Congress
(INC)
➢ In 1934, he helped set up the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) and became
an editor of a weekly Congress Socialist
➢ In 1936, he was selected by Jawaharlal Nehru as the first secretary of the
Foreign Department of the Congress
Role in National Movement
➢ In June 1940, he was arrested for two years because of his anti-war speeches
➢ In 1942’s Quit India Movement, he broadcasted regularly on the Congress
Radio to spread the news of movement
➢ In May 1944, he was captured and tortured in Lahore Fort.
➢ He led a remarkable struggle for the freedom and civil liberty of the people
of Goa in 1946.
Lohia’s Politics After Independence
➢ Because of disagreement on several issues with JL Nehru, Lohia and other

CSP left the congress in 1948
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RAM MANOHAR LOHIA
➢ Later, he became member of Praja Socialist Party upon its formation in

1952
➢ However, he was not happy with the new party and launched his own
Socialist Party.
➢ He became the chairman as well as editor of its journal, Mankind.
➢ He lost to Nehru in 1962 general election in Phulpur
➢ Finally, in 1963 he was elected to Lok Sabha seat after by election in
Farrukhabad
➢ In 1965 he merged the Socialist Party (Lohia) into the ranks of the
Samyukta Socialist Party.
➢ The two socialist factions merged, split and re-merged several times.
➢ He won Lok Sabha general election of 1967 from Kannauj, but died a few
months later.
Main Works of Lohia
1. Wheel of History (1955)

2. Guilty Men of India’s Partition (1960)
3. Marx, Gandhi and Socialism (1963)
4. India, China and Northern Frontiers (1963)
Political Thought of Lohia:
Critique of Capitalism
➢ According to him capitalism has its roots in individual rights with particular
focus on right to private property
➢ He asserted that such philosophy leads to economic inequality
➢ Lust for profits leads to accumulation of wealth in hands of few
➢ Which in turns leads to establishing monopoly over the market forces
➢ This leads to gradual destruction of the rules of fair play
➢ Which also put in danger the freedom and liberties of society
➢ Lohia notes that European socialism was not the solution of all ills of
countries like India
➢ India has to develop it’s own socialism
➢ He explained that European socialism was, remained gradual, constitutional
and distributive
➢ its transplanted development in non-European societies had been
revolutionary, extra-constitutional and production-oriented
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RAM MANOHAR LOHIA
➢ Thus for developing societies and particularly India, Lohia attempted to

evolve New Socialism
Lohia’s Socialism
➢ Lohia developed his idea of socialism from time to time

➢ His presidential speech ‘The Doctrinal Foundations of Socialism’ in
Pachamrhi convention of 1952 is imp here
➢ He opined that socialism has lived on ‘borrowed breath of capitalism or of
communism’
➢ He wanted that socialism should be developed into independent ideology
➢ For the purpose of this he borrowed some elements from Gandhism:
1. Satyagraha
2. Theory of end-means
3. Small machine based economy
4. Political decentralisation
Why Gandhism’s elements?

➢ Gandhian principles in socialist philosophy would make socialism more
practical to the Indian situation
Why not co-opt with Congress’s socialism?

➢ Lohia developed his ‘equidistant theory’ in response to such questions
➢ the equidistant theory stood for maintenance of equal
➢ distance from both the Congress as well as the Communists on such
issues.
➢ Thus Lohia, developed his own notion of socialism:
1. Small machines
2. Cooperative labour
3. Village government
4. Decentralised planning
New Socialism
➢ Lohia came up with the conception on New Socialism in 1959.

➢ New Socialism was founded on the basis of six fundamental elements
consist of both domestic and international aspects of the life of people:
1. Egalitarian standards in the areas of income and expenditure,
2. Growing economic interdependence,
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RAM MANOHAR LOHIA
1. World parliament system based on adult franchise,

2. Democratic freedoms inclusive of right to private life,
3. Gandhian technique of individual and collective civil disobedience,
4. Dignity and rights of common man.
Chaukhamba State
➢ Chaukhamba State means Four Pillar State

➢ Four Pillar State comprised of the village, district, the province (state)
and the centre
➢ He rejected two-tier (centre-state) administration
➢ He believed that Chaukhumba model was the solution of all
administration problems of India
➢ All these four pillar of state would work independently
➢ The sovereign power must not reside with the centre
➢ All four pillar would have sovereign power with their own legislature and
executive
➢ Unlike Panchayat system which had given only executive power to
villages
➢ Four-Pillar State would be based on division of power
➢ Lohia warned that such State should not be confused with Gandhian idea
of the self-sufficient village
➢ He holds that human wants are growing day by day
➢ And no village can fulfill all those demand alone by itself
➢ The village must stay in close relationship with numerous other villages
and also the world at large
➢ This is why he argued for the creation of the ‘fifth pillar’ also, which
would be in the form of the world government
Sapta Kranti
➢ Lohia came with the idea of ‘seven revolutions’ or sapta Kranti for the
betterment of Indian social system
➢ These seven revolutions were:
1.for equality between man and woman;
2.against political, economic and race-based inequalities;
3.for the destruction of castes;
4.against foreign domination
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RAM MANOHAR LOHIA
5. for economic equality, planned production and against private property;

6.against interference in private life ;
7. Against proliferation of arms and weapons, more reliance on Satyagraha
Banish English
➢ Lohia was against the using English as official language of the country.
➢ He advocated for the Hindi over English, not because of the Hindi
supremacist
➢ But because of use of English language to suppress the provincial or rural
Indians, who spoke in their mother tongue. It was vehicle of inequality.
➢ Interestingly, Lohia himself was well-versed with number of foreign
languages such as German and English
➢ He believed that democracy could not delved deep in the hearts of the people
unless Hindi becomes language of administrative and judicial systems in
India.
Father of Anti-Congressism
➢ ‘Opposing the Congress was no religion to him’ writes Yogendra Yadav

(2010)
➢ For Lohia, this was a temporary shift in political tactics
➢ When socialists decided to leave the congress (after 1947), Lohia was among
the few leaders who opposed the decision and argued for staying in the
congress
➢ Through 1950s, Lohia opposed socialists taking part in the politics of
alliances
➢ It was only after the third general election (1962) that Lohia began to
seriously look at the possibility of forming a coalition
➢ Lohia might have convinced that one party rule could pose more danger than
any communal party like Jan Sangh
Three ‘Sins’ of Lohia
➢ Yogendra Yadav in his article ‘On Remembering Lohia’ published in EPW

(2010) writes
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RAM MANOHAR LOHIA
➢ During his life, Rammanohar Lohia paid the price for three “sins” that the
opinion-making class could never forgive him for –
1. He attacked Nehru repeatedly at a time when Nehru was god-like,
2. He led a vigorous and voluble campaign against English and
3. He publicly questioned upper caste dominance and advocated
caste-based affirmative action.

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19
JAYA PRAKASH NARAYAN

Early life
➢ He was born on 11 Oct 1902 in Sitabdiara village, United Province, British
India.
➢ His father, Harsu Dayal was a junior official in Canal Dept.
➢ JP was 9 years old when he left his village to enroll in the 7th class of
collegiate school at Patna
➢ He was a brilliant student and completed school in 1918. He won a district
merit scholarship to Patna College
Higher Education
➢ For his higher studies, he moved to the United States in 1922.

➢ He did several odd jobs to pay for his education there
➢ and these experiences made him aware about the difficulties faced by the
working class.
➢ He initially enrolled at Berkeley, Uni of California and
➢ later transferred to The University of Iowa when fees at Berkeley weas
doubled.
➢ He was again forced to transfer to many other universities.
Influences on him
➢ After several difficulties he managed to study his favorite subject Sociology

under guidance of Prof. Edward Ross
➢ He got inspired form Karl Marx’s works particularly Das Capital
➢ He was also deeply influenced by M.N. Roy
➢ He also read the works of Lenin, Trotsky, Plekhanov and Rosa Luxemburg.
Joining INC
➢ He returned from US to India in 1929 as Marxist.

➢ He joined the INC on the invitation of Nehru
➢ He became very active in Indian Independence movement.
➢ He participated in civil disobedience movement and was imprisoned in 1932
➢ During his imprisonment he met Ram Manohar Lohia and other like minded
socialists
Socialist Leader
➢ After his release, he founded Congress Socialist Party with other leaders in
1934
➢ He was made its General Secretary
➢ During Quit India movement in 1942, he started an underground movement
➢ He was arrested again in 1943
➢ Finally he was released in 1946
➢ Between 1947 and 1953, JP was President of All India Railwaymen’s
Federation, the largest labour union in the Indian railway
➢ In 1948, left the Congress Sociality Party and later became member of Praja
Socialist Party in 1952
Bhoodan Movement
➢ After he lost interest in Party politics, he joined Bhoodan Movement,

founded by Vinoba Bhave in 1951
➢ It is also known as Land Gift Movement.
➢ It attempted to persuade wealthy landowners to voluntarily give a percentage
of their land to landless people
131
Back to Politics
➢ He again showed interest in politics

➢ When in 1959 he argued for ‘reconstruction of Indian Polity’ by means of
four tier hierarchy of village, district, state and union councils
➢ People of India saw him as a great leader in late 1960s
➢ After the nation suffered high inflation and unemployment among other
problems in 1974,
➢ the Nav Nirman Andolan movement of Gujarat asked Jayaprakash to lead a
peaceful agitation.
➢ Jayaprakash Narayan led the Bihar Movement which was initiated by
students in Bihar in 1974 in protest against the corruption in the government
of Bihar.
Call for Total Revolution
➢ On 5 June 1974, JP in his famous speech at Gandhi Maidan in Patna,

demanded ‘Total Revolution’
➢ This Bihar movement later came to be known as ‘Total Revolution
Movement’ or ‘JP Movement’
➢ On the midnight of 25 June, 1975, Indira Gandhi proclaimed national
emergency
➢ JP protested against in in Ramlila grounds with 1 lakh people.
➢ He recited the famous poem of Ramdhari Singh Dinkar here: Singhasan
Khaali Karo ke Janata Aati hai.
JP’s Win
➢ JP was detained by the government

➢ He was released in 12 Novemeber 1975 on account of his kidney failure
➢ JP movement remained successful in establishing the India’s first non-
congress party i.e. Janta Party at the centre in 1977
➢ On 8 Oct, 1979, just three days before his 77th birthday, he died In Patna,
Bihar.
132
Awards
➢ 1965 he was presented with the Ramon Magsaysay Award for public service.
➢ He was posthumously honored with the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian
award, in 1999 in recognition of his social work.
Works
1. Why Socialism? (1936)

2. A Plea for Reconstruction of Indian Polity (1959)
3. Communitarian Society and Panchayat Raj (1970)
4. Prison Diary, 1975 (1977)
5. Towards Total Revolution (1978)
JP’s Political Thought:
Socialism
Jp’s socialism has no significant difference from Lohia’s Socialism. Thus, we

will briefly understand JP’s socialism here. In 1946, in the article ‘My Picture of
Socialism’, he emphasized the
following features:
1. Cooperative farms run by village panchayats
2. Large-scale industries owned and managed by the community
3. Small-scale industries organised under producers’ cooperatives
4. State’s role to be limited and to be democratised.
Sarvodaya
➢ JP borrowed this idea from Gandhi

➢ He articulate Gandhi’s idea in his vision of decentralized, participatory and
egalitarian socio-eco-political order for the country
➢ Sarvodaya means absence of government
➢ Even if government exists, the power of it should be decentralized at such
level that no one should be able to dominate anyone
➢ JP does acknowledge that human beings have evil spirits
➢ but this can be overcome by educating people and by inculcating the values
of cooperation, generosity etc.
133
THREE DIMESNIONS OF SARVODYA
1. Social
➢ It is based on the principles of equality, justice,
and inclusiveness
➢ Society would seek the welfare of each and
every individual
➢ Hence, there would be no discrimination
➢ It would be the selfless youth of the society
whose visionary mindset will reconstruct the
society
➢ In such society, Voluntarism would be major
plank to get people to do welfare of the society
2. POLITICAL
➢ Political system would be rest on decentralized and participatory system of

democracy
➢ Such system would thrive on panchayati raj
➢ It would have lokniti (politics of people) and lokshakti (power of people) in
place of the existing dependence on rajniti (politics of power) and rajya
shakti (power of state).
3. ECONOMIC
➢ Sarvodaya order would seek to establish a balanced and equitable economic

setup in the country (no rich poor gap)
➢ JP, knew that India was a agricultural country, so he gave first place to agri
activities in the economic life of people
➢ He also argued for organizing collective farming under collective ownership
and management of the whole village
➢ Like Gandhi he advocated for village and cottage industries.
➢ He also advocated for Heavy Industries
Implementation of Sarvodaya Order
➢ JP stopped believing in the violent methods of Marxism after he witnessed

Stalin regime in Soviet Russia
134
➢ He started preaching non-violent, satyagraha to achieve any social

revolution
➢ He didn’t advocate liberal methods of social change i.e. through legal
provisions and institutional arrangements
➢ It is only through education we can bring change in the society
➢ He does not talk about academic education, but education which can
improve human beings through service, love, examples,preaching,
reasoning and argument
Total Revolution (T.R.)
➢ The idea of Sampurna Kranti was first evolved by Vinoba Bhave during
1960s
➢ The idea was picked up by JP in 1975 against the Indira Gandhi’s
government
➢ JP didn’t want to bring cosmetic reforms in the country
➢ He wanted to transform the whole gamut of socio-eco-pol, cultural,
spiritual and educational life of people
➢ Through Total Revolution he wanted to decentralized the all powers in the
hand of masses
T.R At Political level:

➢ JP observed that current parliamentary system and elecrotal system, party
based politics led to concentration of power in one person i.e. Indira
Gandhi
➢ That’s why he wanted a new kind of electoral system and he wanted to
dissolve all legislative bodies of India
➢ Because they had been failed in fulfilling their purpose i.e. upliftment of
people
T.R. At Economic level:
➢ JP wanted to stop the concentration of economic power in hands of few
➢ He advocated for full recast of economy
➢ He suggested for mixed economy system
➢ Which can fulfill basic needs like food, cloth and shelter for all people
➢ His idea of sampattidan was nothing but a call for sharing one’s wealth
and economic resources
➢ He advocated for socialization of means of resources through cooperative
societies and voluntary associations
135
20
DEENDAYAL UPADHYAYA
Early life
➢ He was born in 1916 in the village of Nagla Chandraban, now called
Deendayal Dham, near Mauthra District
➢ His father, Bhagwati Prasad Upadhyaya, was an astrologer and his mother,
Rampyari Upadhaya was a homemaker
➢ Both of his parents died when he was eight years old and then brought up by
his uncle
Education
➢ He attended high school in Sikar, Rajashtan

➢ The Maharaja of Sikar gave him a Gold medal and monthly scholarship of
Rs.10
➢ He took a BA degree at the Sanatan Dharma College, Kanpur.
➢ In 1939 he moved over to Agra and joined St. John's College, Agra to pursue
a master's degree in English literature but could not continue his studies.
Joining RSS
➢ While studying in SD college, he came into contact with RSS through a

classmate in 1937
➢ He met the founder of RSS, K.B. Hedgewar
➢ He started full-time work in the RSS from 1942
DEENDAYAL UPADHYAYA
➢ He attended various training camps of RSS

➢ He became a lifelong pracharak of RSS, after completing the 2nd year
training in RSS Education Wing
Working with BJS
➢ In 1951, Syama Prasad Mookerjee founded the BJS (Bhartiya Jan Sangh)
party
➢ Upadhyaya was appointed as General Sec of its UP branch and held this
position for next 15 years
➢ He contested by-poll for the Lok Sabha Seat of Jaunpur from UP in 1963 but
could not win
➢ In the 1967, Lok Sabha election, BJS got 35 seats and became the third
largest party in the Lok Sabha
➢ He became the president of party in Dec, 1967.
Non-Congress Coalition
➢ The BJS became the part of Northen states party’s coalition i.e. Samyukta
Vidhayak Dal
➢ This was the anti-congress coalition
➢ Upadhyaya during his presidential speech in Dec, 1967 talked on multiple
aspects of coalition. He developed the ideology of BJS.
Mysterious Death
➢ But we don’t witness any major events during his presidentship due to his
mysterious death in Feb, 1968
➢ His body was found on a railway track near Mughalsarai Junction
Railway Station
➢ This station has been renamed for him
➢ Even today, his family and others demands the reopening of inquiry into
his death
137
DEENDAYAL UPADHYAYA
Main Works
➢ His speeches and writings, in Hindi, were published in followiong

collections:
1. Rashtra Jivan ki Samasyaen, or ‘The Problems of National
Life’, 1960;
2. Ekatma Manavavad, or ‘Integral Humanism’, 1965; and
3. Rashtra Jivan ki Disha, or ‘The Direction of National Life’,
1971.
4. Political Diary, 1968
Political Thought of Upadhyaya:
Integral Humanism
➢ This concept was drafted by Upadhaya

➢ It was adopted in 1965 as official doctrine of the BJS and has
subsequently inherited by the BJP
➢ According to this concept, Humankind consist of four parts body, mind,
intellect and soul
➢ Even though there is diversity in humans, but still it is the soul or atman
is the common among all
➢ Thus, world may looks diverse but it is idea of Ekatmata or the unifying
soul that pervades the world
➢ It is important to develop all elements of humankind i.e. body, mind,
intellect and soul only then society will progress
➢ While material development is important for society but spiritual
development is also important
➢ This is why ‘Bhartiya culture’ had placed four objectives, Purusharthas
i.e.
1) Artha (wealth)
2) Kama (pleasure, love)
3) Dharma (moral duties)
4) Moksha (salvation)
➢ Western society just focus on Artha and Kama
➢ But there should be fulfilment of all goals, since Ekatmata ensured that
individual and society are mututally complemantary
➢ The desire for the welfare of humanity comes from the consciousness of
unity
138
DEENDAYAL UPADHYAYA
Nationalism
➢ He criticized the Western idea of nationalism

➢ He does not believe in the concept of territorial nationalism i.e. nation is a
territory in which people reside
➢ According to him, a nation is not a geographical unit.
➢ The primary need of nationalism is the feeling of boundless dedication in
the hearts of the people for their land.
➢ Our feeling for the motherland has a basis: our long, continuous habitation
in the same land creates, by association, a sense of “my-ness”.
➢ The western idea of nationalism was emerged from French revolution.
➢ This idea was based on common race, religion, land, traditions, shared
experience of calamities, means of transport, common political
administration and so on.
➢ Such ideas, he believed, missed the essential ethos of nationalism—love
for the motherland.
Hindu Nation: Muslim Position?
➢ In India, ‘there exist only one culture’ and i.e. Hindu, ‘there is no separate
culture here for Muslims and Christians’
➢ Therefore, every community including Muslims and Christians ‘must
identify’ themselves with the age-long national cultural stream that was
Hindu culture in this country’.
➢ His logic was that ‘unless all people become part of the same cultural
stream, national unity or integration is impossible.
➢ Muslims and Hindus, said Upadhyaya, even related differently to India’s
past
➢ Aggressions by Mohammed Ghori or Mahmood Ghazni naturally fill us
with agony. We develop a feeling of attachment to Prithviraj and other
patriots. ‘’
➢ Thus he concludes that Muslims sought ‘to destroy the values of Indian
culture, its ideals, national heroes, traditions, places of devotion and
worship’, and
➢ therefore ‘can never become an indivisible part of this country.’
139
DEENDAYAL UPADHYAYA
Merchant of Hate?
➢ A.G. Noorani in his article ‘Merchant of Hate’ calls Upadhyaya a

‘viciously communal’
➢ Noorani writes that ‘he hated and distrusted muslims’
➢ He further writes, Upadhyaya and Jan Sangh, believed in the idea of
‘purification’ i.e. Non-Hindus had no place in his Bharat unless they were
purified and became Hindus.
➢ Which means that they have to adopt ‘Bharatiya culture’ and ‘Bharatiya
Culture is Hindu culture’
➢ Basically this idea of cultural nationalism against which Noorani and
others criticize upadhyaya

140
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This book stands on the shoulder of Giants. The

In Last, I don’t have words to express my gratitude to all

In Ancient Indian Traditions there are two traditions:-

According to Bhikhu Parekh, there is a enormous continuity in Indian Thinking

Within Hindu Traditions there are two traditions:

King also has share from the other produces:

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➢ It classified 34 departments of government

Seven elements of sovereignty:

➢ They are symbol of strength of king.

Basic Principle of Mandal Theory:

He gives two other kings:

3. Danda: use of Forces

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➢ Aggannasutta is 27th Sutta of 34 Sutta of ‘Digha Nikaya’

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➢ His Fatwa-i-Jahandari is a classic work on statecraft which can be

3. Its source and inspiration should be the shariat

➢ The Diwani-i-Wazarat headed by a wazir (the head of revenue and finance,

➢ There is no consensus on the birth date of Kabir.

➢ Begumpura, kingdom of God, was an ideal village without

Context of Kabir Political Ideas

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➢ Ramabai was born to a liberal Brahmin Pandit, in 1858.

➢ She lost her husband in less than two year

BAL GANGADHAR TILAK

➢ Also known as Lokmanya Tilak (accepted by people as their leader)

➢ In 1884 he established Deccan Education Society to reform Indian Society

➢ He was a Sanatanist Hindu and had pride in his religion

➢ In same year Gopal Krishna Gokhale, political guru of Mahatma Gandhi

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➢ His real name was Narendranath Dutta

➢ He was so impressed with evolutionary theory of Herbert Spencer that he

➢ He worked to build the foundations of a religious theory of nationalism

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➢ He was born on 7 May 1861 in Calcutta

➢ In 1901, Rabindranath Tagore established a school at Santiniketan which

3. from community to the universe

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➢ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar

➢ As he reached to South Africa, Gandhi faced discrimination because of his

➢ was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Gandhi.

Click on play icon to listen lecture on his thought

Main Works of Gandhi

➢ In his own words, ‘mere withdrawal of the English is not independence. It

How life in ideal village would be managed politically?

What would happen to cities?

➢ in a similar pattern, second grade leaders were to be elected who would

➢ Gandhiji recommends several techniques of Satyagraha. The techniques of

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➢ Aurobindo’s original name was Aravinda Akroyd Ghose

➢ Lord Minto thought him to be the ‘most dangerous person we have to

Idea of Passive Resistance

➢ He attacked Gandhian preaching of healing ‘heat by love, injustice by

➢ Though Aurobindo defined nationalism as a manifestation of divine on the

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E.V. RAMASAMY PERIYAR