{"id":2723,"date":"2013-07-13T01:43:28","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2723"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:43:28","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:43:28","slug":"210-bande-mataram-1-4-08-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/06-07-bande-mataram\/210-bande-mataram-1-4-08-vol-06-07-bande-mataram","title":{"rendered":"-210_Bande Mataram 1-4-08.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBande Mataram<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t
\n\t{
\n\tCALCUTTA, April 1st, 1908 } <\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nIndia and the Mongolian
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhen Srijut Bipin Chandra Pal in his speech at the Federation Ground was speaking of the possibility of China and Japan
\noverthrowing European civilisation, how many of the audience understood or appreciated the great issues of which he spoke?
\nWe have lost the faculty of great ideas, of large outlooks, of that instinct which divines the great motions of the world. This huge
\ncountry, this mighty continent once full of the clash of tremendous forces, stirring with high exploits and gigantic ambitions,
\nloud with the voices of the outside world, has become a petty parish; the palace of the Aryan Emperors is now the hut of a
\ncrouching slave, small in his ideas, mean in his aspirations, his head sunk, his eyes downcast, so that he cannot see the heavens
\nabove him or the magnificent earth around. If one speaks to him of his mighty possibilities, of great deeds that he yet shall do, or
\nseeks to remind him that he is the descendant of kings, he takes the speaker for a madman talking vain things and a derisive
\nsmile of pity is his only reply. We hold it to be the greatest injury of all that England has done us, that she has thus degraded
\nour soul and dwarfed our imagination. It is only by the grace of God that a reawakening has come, that we are once more
\nbecoming conscious of our divine inheritance and the grandiose possibilities of our future.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nOf all the minds that have stirred to the breath of God among us, refreshed themselves from the fountain of strength
\nand inspiration and risen to their full height and stature, Srijut Bipin Chandra’s is the most penetrating, the most alive to the
\nthoughts that are filling the modern world, the first to divine the future and prophesy the movements of God in the nation. While
\n   <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
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\n

\nothers were the slaves of Western ideals, his mind first caught
\nthe meaning of the sudden arising of India, first proclaimed the spiritual character of the movement, first discovered that it was
\nnot only the body but the soul of India that was awaking from the sleep of the ages. On Saturday when he spoke of India as
\nthe saviour of Europe, he again gave expression to a prophetic thought, again looked with more than human insight into the
\nfuture. The truth was not one which his hearers could grasp; many must have gone away scoffing, few could have appreciated
\nthe luminous penetration of insight which lay behind the thought of the speaker. The awakening of Asia is the fact of the twentieth
\ncentury, and in that awakening the lead has been given to the Mongolian races of the Far East. In the genius, the patriotic
\nspirit, the quick imitative faculty of Japan; in the grand deliberation, the patient thoroughness, the irresistible organization
\nof China, Providence found the necessary material force which would meet the European with his own weapons and outdo him
\nin that science, strength and ability which are his peculiar pride. The political instinct of the European races has enabled them
\nto understand the purpose of the Almighty in the awakening of the Mongol. A terror is in their hearts, a palsy has come
\nupon their strength, and with blanched lips they watch every movement of the two Eastern giants, each wondering when his
\nturn will come to feel the sword of the Mikado or what will happen when China, the Titan of the world, shall have completed her quiet, steady, imperturbable preparation. The vision of a China organized, equipped, full of the clang of war and
\nthe tramp of armed men, preparing to surge forth westwards is the nightmare of their dreams. And another terror of economic
\ninvasion, of the Mongol swamping Europe with cheap labour and stifling the industries of Europe adds a fresh poignancy to
\nthe apprehensions which convulse the West. Hence the panic in America, in Australia, in Africa, the savage haste to expel
\nthe Asiatic at any cost before the military strength of China is sufficiently developed to demand entrance for her subjects
\nwith the sword emphasizing her demand. This is the Yellow Peril, and every European knows in his heart of hearts that it is
\n   
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t
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\n

\n\tonly a question of the time necessary for his vision to translate
\nitself into the waking world. But one thing the European has not yet perceived and that is that the Mongolian is no wild
\nadventurer to go filibustering to Australia or bombard with his siege-guns San Francisco or New York before Asia is free. The
\nfirst blow given by the Mongolian fell upon Russia because she stood across the Asiatic continent barring the westward surge
\nof his destiny. The second blow will fall on England because she holds India.
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\tThe position of India makes her the key of Asia. She divides the Pagan Far East from the Mahomedan West, and is their
\nmeeting-place. From her alone can proceed a force of union, a starting-point of comprehension, a reconciliation of Mahomedanism and Paganism. Her freedom is necessary to the unity of Asia. Geographically, she occupies an impregnable position
\nof strength commanding the East of Asia as well as the West, from which as from a secure fortress she can strike the nations
\nof the Persian or the Chinese world. Such a position held by an European Power means a perpetual menace to the safety of Asia.
\nIt will therefore be the first great enterprise of a Chino-Japanese alliance to eject the English from India, and hold her in the
\ninterests of Asiatic freedom and Asiatic unity. This necessity of India’s position is one which neither the English nor the Mongolian can escape. No treaties, no attempts to reconcile conflicting interests will stand against the secret and inexorable necessity
\nwhich forces nations to follow not the dictates of prudence or diplomacy, but the fiat of their environment. When the inevitable
\nhappens and the Chinese armies knock at the Himalayan gates of India and Japanese fleets appear before Bombay harbour, by
\nwhat strength will England oppose this gigantic combination? Her armies which took two years to overcome the opposition
\nof forty thousand untrained farmers in the Transvaal? Her fleets which have never fought a battle with a trained foe since Trafalgar? They will be broken to pieces by the science and skill of the Mongolian. And the key of Asia will pass into Mongolian
\nhands and the strength of India, the Sikh and the Rajput and the Mahratta, the force of Mahomedan valour and the rising energy
\n   <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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\n

\n\tof new nations in Bengal and Madras will all be at the service
\nand under the guidance of the Mongolian who will not fail to use them as England has failed, letting them run to waste, but will
\nhammer them into a sword of strength for the fulfilment of his mission, the extrusion of the European from Asia, Africa, Australia, the smiting down of European pride, the humiliation of Western statecraft, power and civilisation and its subordination
\nto the lead of the dominant Asiatic.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe doom is drawing very near and the awakening of Bengal
\nhas come just in time to give India a chance of recovering her freedom of action. If she strains every nerve to use the chance,
\nif she is able to develop her self-consciousness, her unity, her warlike instincts, her industrial independence, she will be in a
\nposition to assert her own will, to offer herself as an ally and not an instrument, it may be even, as Bipin Babu suggested, to
\nmediate between the civilisation of Europe and Asia, both of them so necessary to human development. Two great obstacles
\nstand in her way. The blindness of the bureaucracy which is straining every nerve to crush the Indian renascence in the vain
\nhope that it can continue to rule, is the least of the two. Far more formidable is the greater though more excusable blindness of
\nthe people themselves who still persist in connecting their future with the rule of England. Our Moderate politicians refuse to
\nallow their minds to shake off the delusion that the British rule is a dispensation of Providence and meant to endure. All their
\nthoughts of the future assume that the present is perpetual, that what is, will be. As one long in darkness cannot see the light
\nwhen it enters suddenly his prison, so our people even when the dawn has come, cannot believe that it is really daybreak. They
\npersist in assuming that the night will continue and are content with merely turning a little in bed instead of rising and swiftly
\naccoutring themselves for the work of the day. The warning which Srijut Bipin Chandra addressed to the British people, is
\nalso a warning to the people of India. British rule can only continue in India, if India is willing that it should continue and
\nstrong enough to defend it against all comers. If a rejuvenated India decides to be free, it depends on the present action of the
\n   
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 991<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tbureaucracy whether free India will be a friend of England and
\na mediator between Europe and the triumphant Mongol or an ally of the latter in the approaching Armageddon. Even if the
\nmovement in India is crushed, it will not be England that will reap the fruit of her crime in strangling an infant Nationality.
\nShe will before long be swept out of India by the Mongolian broom and the latent forces which she refused to utilize will be
\nused against her by a bolder and more skilful statesmanship. The people of India too will have to reap the fruits of their present
\nKarma. On them far more than on the bureaucracy it depends whether they will meet the coming Mongolian as a destined slave
\nand instrument, an ally or an equal whose voice shall override all others in determining the fate of the world.
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t__________<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tReligion and the Bureaucracy <\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tThe measure of the panic into which the new movement has thrown the
\n\tbureaucracy can be taken from its interference with the religious life of the people. Time was when the rulers shrank
\nfrom any interference with religion lest it should arouse what they were pleased to call the fanaticism of the people. But one
\nghost drives out another, and the old fear of fanaticism has given place to the greater fear of the new Nationalism, just as the fear
\nof the Mahomedans has given place to the more tangible terror of the resurgent Hindu community. The expulsion of a religious
\npreacher from Travancore is significant of the direction in which the fears of
\n\tthe bureaucracy are tending. That this act of tyranny was not the work of
\n\tthe Maharaja goes without saying, since no Hindu prince would dream of
\n\tinterfering with the religion of his subjects. The dictation of the Resident
\n\tis the only explanation of this political act. Whatever activity may help
\n\tthe growth of national spirit or foster self-respect in the people, is now
\n\tsuspect to the rulers and will be stopped wherever possible, impeded where
\n\tdirect prohibition cannot be exercised. The famine relief work of Lala
\n\tLajpat Rai is being interfered with as seditious, and the religious
\n\tpreaching of the Madras Brahmin has been vetoed <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
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\n

\n\tbecause it calls on the people to revive the spiritual glories of
\nancient India. The struggle will soon overpass the political limits; for the next stage in Swadeshi will be a return of the nation to its
\nold spirituality and active habit of philanthropy with the revival of the nation as its motive. When the bureaucracy interferes with
\nthis development as it will be driven to interfere by the instinct of self-preservation, as it has already begun to interfere, the true
\nstruggle will begin, the avatar <\/i>will be ready to manifest himself and the end will come.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\t__________<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tThe Milk of Putana <\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\tA spirit of conciliation is evident in some of the recent acts of the
\nbureaucracy, such as the separation of Judicial and Executive of which Sir Harvey Adamson has given the details in his speech in
\nCouncil. The policy of Sir Sydenham Clarke in Bombay is of the same type, and from the Mofussil we hear of politician Magistrates who are busy re-establishing the use of foreign articles by skilful exhibitions of sympathy attended with intimidating of
\nSwadeshists carried out through the instrumentality of Indian subordinates on whom the whole blame is thrown. This is the
\nmilk of Putana by which Kansa hoped to poison the infant Krishna. The modern Kansa comes of a
\n\tshop-keeping breed and
\nis careful only to let the infant have as much of the milk and no more as will do his business for him. The separation of Judicial
\nand Executive functions, the pet scheme of the old mendicancy, will be carried out only in a district or two of Eastern Bengal as
\nan experiment. The policy of Sir Sydenham Clarke has confined itself to sweet words and abstention from repression, and the
\nmilk of Mr. Morley’s sympathy is limited to so much as can be bottled for use in a Council of Notables. So too the politician
\nMagistrates take care to do nothing except occasionally rescind oppressive orders which they have already issued in the names
\nof their Indian subordinates. Their policy is to throttle Swadeshi with one hand while stroking the District paternally on the head
\nwith the other. What shall we do with this milk of Putana?    <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 993<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tSri Krishna drained the breasts of Putana and killed her, and if
\nthe bureaucracy begins giving real concessions, that will be its fate. But this watered milk of Morleyan sympathy is a different
\nmatter. To drink it is to weaken ourselves and help the adversary.   
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t
\n\tPage \u2013 994<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bande Mataram { CALCUTTA, April 1st, 1908 }   India and the Mongolian   When Srijut Bipin Chandra Pal in his speech at the Federation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-06-07-bande-mataram","wpcat-54-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723","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=2723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}