{"id":2069,"date":"2013-07-13T01:39:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2069"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:39:14","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:39:14","slug":"64-the-transvaal-indians-vol-08-karmayogin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/08-karmayogin\/64-the-transvaal-indians-vol-08-karmayogin","title":{"rendered":"-64_The Transvaal Indians.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n\t\t\tThe Transvaal
\n\t\t\tIndians <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTHE VISIT of Mr. Polak has
\nexcited once more a closer interest in the Transvaal question and associations
\n\t\t\tare being formed for the agitation of the question. It will
\n\t\t\ttherefore be opportune
\nto consider the practical aspect of the struggle in the Transvaal and the
\npossibility of help from India. There can be no two opinions outside South
\nAfrica, and possibly Hare Street, as to the moral aspects of the question; for
\n\t\t\tit must be remembered that the Indians in the Transvaal are not
\n\t\t\tclaiming any
\npolitical rights, but merely treatment as human beings first, and, next, equality
\nbefore the law. It is open to the South Africans to exclude Indians altogether,
\nbut, once they are admitted, they are morally bound to refrain from a treatment
\n\t\t\tof
\nthem which is an extreme and unpardonable outrage on humanity. To degrade any
\npart of the human race to the level of cattle is in the present stage of progress
\nan insult and an offence to the whole of mankind. It would be equally
\nreprehensible to whatever race the humanity so degraded belonged, but the
\n\t\t\tfact that these men are Indians has made their sufferings a national
\n\t\t\tquestion to
\nus and a standing reproach to the British people who, out of selfish fear of
\noffending their own kith and kin, allow this outrage to be committed on their own
\nsubjects whom they have deprived of all means of self-protection. The great
\n\t\t\tglory
\nof the Transvaal Indians is that while men under such circumstances have always
\nsunk into the condition to which they have been condemned and needed others to
\nhelp them out of the mire, these sons of Bharatavarsha, inheritors of
\n\t\t\tan unexampled moral and spiritual tradition, have vindicated the
\n\t\t\tsuperiority of
\nthe Indian people and its civilisation to all other peoples in the globe and all
\nother civilisations by the spirit in which they have refused to recognise the
\ndominance of brute force over the human soul. Stripped of all means of
\nresistance,<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-347<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\ta helpless handful in a foreign
\nland, unaided by India, put off with empty professions of sympathy by English
\nstatesmen, they, ignored by humanity, are fighting humanity's battle in the
\n\t\t\tpure strength of the spirit, with no weapon but the moral force of
\n\t\t\ttheir voluntary
\nsufferings and utter self-sacrifice. Mr. Polak has well said that the Indian
\nnation is being built up in South Africa. The phrase is true in this sense that
\nthe supreme example of the moral and spiritual strength which must be behind
\n\t\t\tthe formation of the new nation, has been shown first not in India but in South
\nAfrica. The passive resistance which we had not the courage and unselfishness to
\ncarry out in India, they have carried to the utmost in the Transvaal under far
\n\t\t\tmore arduous circumstances, with far less right to hope for success.
\n\t\t\tWhether they
\nwin or lose in the struggle, they have contributed far more than their share to
\nthe future greatness of their country. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWe must consider their chances of
\nsuccess, and though we do not wish to speak words of discouragement, it will not
\n\t\t\tdo to hide from ourselves the enormous difficulties in the way. For success,
\neither the Government in England must interfere and compel the Transvaal to do
\nright, or the Transvaal must be stirred by shame and by the interest of the
\npoorer part of the Boer community to reverse the laws, or the Indian Government
\nmust intervene to protect its subjects. The first course is unthinkable. It would
\nmean a quarrel with the newly conciliated Transvaal, the marring of the work of
\nwhich the Liberal Government is justly proud, and a resentment in South
\n\t\t\tAfrica which the English ministry will not face for the sake of all
\n\t\t\tIndia, much
\nless of a handful of Indian coolies and shopkeepers. The poorer Boers will be
\nonly inconvenienced, not seriously hurt by the extinction of the Indian
\nshopkeeper, and, in any case, they are not a class who are wont to act
\npolitically. The Transvaal Government is not likely to yield to any sense of
\nshame. The Boers are a stark race, stubborn to the death, and the grit they showed
\nin the face of the British Empire, they are also likely to show in this very
\nminor trouble. Nor are they likely to have forgotten the action of the Indians
\nwho rewarded the<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-348<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tcomparative leniency of the Boer
\nGovernment previous to the war by helping actively in the British attack on the
\nliberty of the Transvaal. With their slow minds and tenacious memories they are a
\npeople not swift to forget and forgive; we do not rely greatly on their present
\nprofessions of friendship to the Power that took from them their freedom, and
\nthey are wholly unlikely to put from their minds the unpardonable intrusion of
\n\t\t\tthe
\nIndian residents into a quarrel in which they had no concern or status. <\/font>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThere
\nremains the Indian Government, and what can the Indian Government do? It can
\nforbid, as has been suggested, Indian cooly recruitment for Natal. This would
\nundoubtedly be a great blow to the planters and they would throw their
\n\t\t\twhole influence into the Indian scale. But, on the other hand, the
\n\t\t\tmass of the
\nNatal whites are full of race prejudice and their desire is for that impossible
\ndream, a white South Africa. A more effective measure would be the suspension of
\ntrade relations by the boycott of Colonial goods and the cessation of the
\nimportation of Indian raw materials into South Africa. But that is a step
\n\t\t\twhich will never be taken. Even if the Indian Government were
\n\t\t\twilling to use any
\nand every means, the decision does not rest with them but with the Government in
\nEngland, which will not consent to offending the colonies. The Indian Government
\nwould no doubt like to see an end of the situation in the Transvaal as it
\n\t\t\tweakens such moral hold as they still have over India, and they
\n\t\t\twould prefer a
\nfavourable termination because the return of ruined Indians from the Transvaal
\nwill bring home a mass of bitterness, burning sense of wrong and standing
\ndiscontent trained in the most strenuous methods of passive resistance. And many
\nof them are Mahomedans. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe one favourable factor in favour of the Transvaal
\n\t\t\tIndians is their own spiritual force and the chance of its altering the
\nconditions by sheer moral weight. It is India's duty to aid them by financial
\nsuccour which they sorely need and the rich men of the country can easily afford,
\nby the heartening effect of public and frequently expressed moral sympathy and
\nby educating the whole people of India literate and<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-349<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tilliterate in an accurate knowledge of what is happening in the
\nTransvaal. This is the only help India can give to her children over the seas
\nso long as she is not master of her own destinies. <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tOTHER WRITINGS BY SRI AUROBINDO
\nIN THIS ISSUE <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe National Value of Art IV <\/font>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tAnandamath XI <\/font>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe Birth of Sin
\n(poem)<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-350<\/font><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Transvaal Indians   THE VISIT of Mr. Polak has excited once more a closer interest in the Transvaal question and associations are being formed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-08-karmayogin","wpcat-44-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}