Understanding Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Part 1)

Background: The British conquest of India had repercussions of far- reaching significance on India not only politically, socially, and economically but also ideologically. For the first time since the coming of Islam India was faced with an alternative ideology. Western ideas were spread through Western education, foreign officials and administrative methods. Although the peasants on the whole remained unaffected- they farmed the land as they had for centuries and paid taxes in like manner- other segments of the population realized that some modus operandi had to be reached regarding Western civilization as represented by the British. Responses ranged from total acceptance to synthesis to rejection. The former ruling elites, denied their power by the British, with few exceptions, rejected the new ideology and sank into inaction and apathy.

At the other end of the continuum were a small number who saw total acceptance of the new as a solution to their ideological dilemma. In Calcutta a group in- flounced by the Scottish Presbyterian Alexander Duff accepted Christianity as a corollary to their general acceptance of the West. For a time there were quite a few high class converts but with time they found their position almost untenable if they wished to retain their identity as true Indians. Somewhere between the above two groups on the acceptance rejection continuum were the religious elites and merchant and government service castes. Many of the Brahmins, Baidyas and Kayasthas went into the service of the East India Company from similar service In the Moghul system or under the Hindu rajas. They were able to do this because they possessed certain skills "experience in administration and law" entrepreneurial techniques and an accustomed readiness to work in an alien lingua franca ; literacy, and experience in using that literacy in the service of organization." The imposition of British rule meant new opportunities for employment and wealth to those who could adapt linguistically, and to some extent culturally. This implied a degree of alienation from the traditional Hindu culture.

In the process of coming to terms with the new situation each group became involved in the process of forming a new identity. One solution to the identity dilemma was a synthesis of traditional Hindu values with certain aspects of Western culture. Applying Western thought to current Hinduism many urged for renewal and reform in Hinduism. Ram Mohan Roy, a Brahmin from Calcutta, in the early part of the nineteenth century was remarkable in the way he was able to effect a synthesis. Roy felt reason and the rights of the Individual were basic to both Hindu (Upanisads) and Western thought. Indians had the same rights therefore as Europeans and they could reform their society by removing the accretions of ages. On this basis he attacked suttee, the abuses of caste, the status of women and Idolatry. Since the West was not really inimical to Hindu ideas, the Hindus could borrow freely from it. Roy advocated the acquisition and use of English as well as the study of English literature and science.

To spread his ideas he founded the Brahmo Samaj in I83O. Another more orthodox ideological possibility for those faced with the identity problem was that advocated by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. He went back to the Vedas and also rejected caste, idolatry, polygamy, child marriage and the seclusion of widows. But his concept of a glorious Vedic age in the past meant that reform did not mean giving in to the West but returning to the glories of the past. For those who accepted his views "religious conviction eased the fear of becoming westernized, of becoming alienated from one's roots and merely copying the detested foreigner." Dayanand's Arya Samaj offered Indians the possibility of an Ideology they could respect which had traditional roots. Most of the new middle class consisting of technicians, doctors, lawyers, professors, journalists, managers, clerks Joined neither the Brahmo Samaj nor the Arya SamaJ but engaged in their own process of selection and absorption. The majority did not abandon caste or traditional ritual but added to these Western ideas and certain Western social customs. At home, when at ease they would wear the dhoti but at work they appeared in a suit.

Their actions were based on the belief that the Indian and Western systems were not irreconcilable. Change, on the whole, seemed to come much more readily in the realm of ideas than In the realm of social customs sanctioned by centuries of tradition; so Indians might speak for equal rights in public and yet accept caste at home.

Ideas which this class imbibed from their British education were nationalism, civil liberties and constitutional self-government. Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru's father, belonged to the new middle which sought to find its own Identity in a process of synthesis of Hindu and Western ideas, values and customs. As a distinguished and affluent Kashmiri Brahmin lawyer with a Western education he appeared in many ways more Western than Indian. His English education broadened his horizon and implanted in him an admiration for British literature, institutions, liberal thought, science and human reason. It also produced in him a desire for political and social reform. Motilal championed the latter in his early career, especially the efforts to remove the evils of caste and purdah. He also admired English dress and manners and sought to emulate them. Nevertheless his Anglicism had its limits. He did not discard the joint family but faithfully performed his duties as the eldest living male of the household. (His father died before he was born; his brother died when Moti Lal was twenty-six) His wife Swarup Rani remained an orthodox Hindu all her life. Motilal, though rejecting religion Intellectually, joined In the celebration of certain Hindu festivals such as the Holl, Dlwall and Janmashtami.

When Jawaharlal was born he had a horoscope prepared by the court astrologer of the Khetrl state. Moti Lal belonged to the English elite who were very Western in many respects, yet had deep Indian roots and an Indian feeling for life. Jawaharlal resembled his father in this respect. The Ideological currents which influenced him were mainly Western in origin yet in his own Inimitable way he was able to retain his identity as an Indian. His parental home, as already noted, was Western in many ways and yet there was also a strong Indian influence. Nehru's mother and a widowed aunt who lived with them, told him stories from Hindu mythology and from the Ramayana and Mahabaratha when he was young. They were both very religious and scrupulously performed their pujahs and rituals. On occasion he accompanied his mother to the Ganges for a dip and he developed a sentimental attachment for the Ganges which remained throughout his life. Sometimes he visited temples in Allahabad or Benares with her or even went to see a sanyasin.

The great religious festivals were celebrated with lights and processions, noise, merriment and sweets. Memories of these occasions were not eradicated or made shameful by his increasing Western education. At the age of twelve he underwent the Upanayana or sacred thread ceremony which initiated him into the adult male ranks of the Brahmin caste. At the age of twenty-six he was married within his own caste by parental arrangement. Motllal chose Kamala Kaul, the daughter of a prosperous Kashmiri businessman of the same caste, to be his bride. The marriage took place on Vasanta Pachaml the day which heralds the coming of spring, and the ceremony followed the prescribed Hindu rituals. Kamala remained the more traditional member of the family and never really felt at home In a Westernized atmosphere. Nehru, though very Western in his outlook retained his Brahmin pride and a certain Indian sensitivity for life. He characterized himself as an individual suspended between two worlds and belonging neither to India nor to the West. "I have become a queer mixture of East and West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere. Perhaps my thoughts and approach to life are more akin to what is called Western than Eastern, but India clings to me as she does to all her children, in innumerable ways; and behind me lie somewhere in the subconscious, racial memories of a hundred generations of Brahmins. I cannot get rid of either the past inheritance or my recent acquisitions. They are both a part of me, and, though they help me in both the East and the West, they also create in me a feeling of spiritual loneliness not only in public activities but in life itself. I am a stranger and an alien in the West. I cannot be of it. But in my own country also, sometimes I have an exile's feeling."' Edward Shils maintains that the contention of feeling alien In India, common to many of the intellectuals, is superficial- "a romantic distortion of a partial, very fragmentary truth." British administrators and publicists who preferred the Indian peasant to the Indian who had a Western education and who wished to derogate restless and dissatisfied educated Indians originated the accusation. In time many came to believe it of themselves Nehru belongs to this group. Most of Nehru's ideas had an exogenous origin but he nevertheless cannot be called rootless; he retained a strong Indian identity throughout his life.

'' In this post the writer will attempt to examine the development of Nehru's political world view before he assumed power as prime minister in 1947. Nehru never adopted one ideology in toto but strands of various ideologies such as liberalism, nationalism, socialism, and internationalism can be found in his thinking. Nehru's background, education, external events and other determining factors will be analyzed with particular reference to his nationalism, socialism and internationalism. Since Nehru was a fairly voluminous writer and much has also been written by scholars about him, this is a formidable task.

Prof (Dr.) Kanayalal Raina specializes in spiritual teaching besides providing management consultancy services. His strategic plans are being used for obtaining funding to run various programs conducted by NFP nonprofit and business organizations. He strengthens NFP and business organizations through education, empowerment of leadership and mentoring, personal growth and strategic counselling. Areas of expertise are Govt. funding and preparation of Business Plans, Strategic Plans, Marketing plans, Sales and Pricing Plans, Balanced Scorecard, and Business Performance Management. 

The inputs for the series of articles which I am planning to write here is based on the thesis presented to University of Manitoba Canada.