Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule, 1909 by M.K. Gandhi

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Showing posts from May, 2009

Moments from the Hind Swaraj Conference at Bodhigram

These are photos shot at the Hind Swaraj Conference at Bodhigram, SIDH, Mussoorie. Rev. Samdhong Rimponche. Sri. Ravindra Sharma, Sri. Pawan Gupta, Smt. Radha Behn, Sri. Ransingh Arya, Sri. Shiv Dutt Mishra, Prof. Sharma, Prof. Navjyoti, Prof. Rajiv Sangal, Sri. Udayan Vajpayee, Sri. Chitaranjan and many others spoke. My report on the event and a note on Hind Swaraj follows. Samanvaya proposes to organize a Hind Swaraj Conference in Tamilnadu in the month of August. Look out for announecement on this shortly.

Blogging from Hind Swaraj Conference

I had earlier mentioned about the Hind Swaraj Conference at SIDH Mussoorie , if it is possible for me to connect from Bodhigram will try and upload photos and blog from there... Later.... well it was not possible to connect and hence couldn't, the photos, reports and comments in the posts that follow.

Hind Swaraj in presenting Venezuela

I doubt whether any of our national dailies will carry escapes from Euro-centricism as necessary step to relieve our education system of its bias. However, it was interesting to read that the HINDU can use Gandhi to present Chavez to us!! Interesting!! The attempts to purge colonial influences from education policy have been evidenced in many former colonies in Asia and Africa. In India, for example, the movement to liberate education policy dates back to pre-independence days. Rabindranath Tagore did not like the system of education promoted by the English rulers, as it only suited their purpose of getting educated clerks to serve the Empire at a low cost. Gandhi, as early as 1909, in his response to Macaulay’s Minutes of Education (1835) observed “The foundation that Macaulay laid of education has enslaved us. (…) Is it not a sad commentary that we should have to speak of Home Rule in a foreign tongue?” (Translation of Hind Swaraj , published in the Gujarat columns of Indian

Introduction to this Blog...

Hind Swaraj was written by Gandhiji in 1909 as a small booklet. He himself says that he just had to write it, that he could not hold it back. It was written on a ship on his way from London to South Africa almost at one go. In fact, he would not change much in it. It is also the only work perhaps that he wrote originally in Gujarati and later himself translated to English. In his opinion whatever he did in the next 39 years was only execute what he had written in Hind Swaraj. He always held it to be his manifesto, if there was one.

This small book even today elicits strong responses from people across the globe. It remains as one of the strongest critics of modernity written and a very good starting point for anyone who wants to challenge modernity or aspires to understand the roots of it and / or is seeking a solution from within. His powerful proposal of soul force in this book is equally significant and perhaps is the major source of discomfort for his own colleagues in the Indian National Congress in later days.

Many serious followers of Gandhiji even today hold this book as the beginning for understanding Gandhiji and his actions. Quite a few (including myself) think that some of the contemporary issues that challenge us today need to be addressed / viewed from the Hind Swaraj framework for a possible change.

This blog has been started as a web place for a discussion on Hind Swaraj. The book itself is available for a full download online, click here.