{"id":348,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:28","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=348"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:28","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:28","slug":"131-back-to-the-land-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/01-bande-mataram-volume-01\/131-back-to-the-land-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-131_Back to the Land.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nBack to the Land<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/font>                 
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>T<\/font><\/span>HE<\/font><\/b> life of a nation is always rooted in its villages but that of India is so deeply
\nand persistently rooted there that no change or revolution can ever substitute
\nfor this source of sap and life the Western system which makes the city the
\ncentre and the village a mere feeder of the city. Immense changes have taken
\nplace, great empires have risen and fallen, but India is still a nation of
\nvillagers, not of townsmen. This has been perhaps an obstacle to national unity
\nbut it has also been an assurance of national persistence. It is an ascertained
\nprinciple of national existence that only by keeping possession of the soil can
\na nation persist; the mastery of the reins of government or the control of the
\ntrade and wealth of a country, does not give permanence to the people in
\ncontrol. They reign for a while and then the virtue departs out of them and they
\nwither or pass away and another takes their place; but the tillers of the soil,
\nground down, oppressed, rack-rented, miserable, remain, and have always the
\nchance of one day overthrowing their oppressors and coming by their own. When a
\nsmall foreign oligarchy does the trading and governing and a great indigenous
\ndemocracy the tilling of the soil, it is safe to prophesy that before many
\ngenerations have passed the oligarchy of aliens will be no more and the
\ndemocracy of peasants will still be in possession.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>When the poison of Western education was first poured into our veins, it
\nhad its immediate effect, and the Hindus, who were then the majority of the
\nBengali-speaking population, began to stream away from the village to the town.
\nThe bait of Government service and the professions drew away the brightest
\nintellects and the most energetic characters by their promise of wealth,
\nprestige and position. They won for their community the rewards which they had
\nset out to win. The Hindu community has now a monopoly of Government service, of
\nthe professions, of prestige, wealth and position; but it has lost possession of
\nthe soil, and with the loss of the soil it has sacrificed the source<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-732<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nof
\nlife and permanence. The Amrita Bazar Patrika <\/i>has long been drawing
\nattention to the dwindling of the higher castes, and Mr. A. Chowdhuri at the
\nPabna Conference pointed out what has been known to the few for some time but
\nnot the general public, that this decrease is not confined to the higher castes
\nbut is common to the Hindu population. We are a decadent race, he cried, and
\ninconsistent as the cry may seem with the splendid and leading position which
\nthe Bengali Hindu occupies in the public and intellectual life of the country,
\nit is perfectly true. Intellectual prominence often goes hand in hand with
\ndecadence, as the history of the Greeks and other great nations of antiquity has
\nproved; only the race which does not sacrifice the soundness of its rural root
\nof life to the urban brilliance of its foliage and flowering, is in a sound
\ncondition and certain of permanence. If the present state of things is allowed
\nto continue, the Mahomedan will be the inheritor of the future and after a brief
\nperiod of national strength and splendour the Bengali Hindu, like the Greek,
\nwill disappear from the list of nations and remain only as a great name in
\nhistory. Fortunately, the national movement has come in time to save him if he
\nconsents to be saved. With the deepening of the movement, as it turns its eyes
\nmore and more inwards, it is earning wisdom and acquiring insight, and one of
\nthe more powerful tendencies of the moment is the reversion of interest to the
\nvillage. Srijut Jogesh Chowdhuri has an instinct for the need of the moment and
\njust as he threw himself into Swadeshi activity long before the leaders of the
\nhour awoke to its importance, so now he has started his Palli Samaj propaganda
\nwhile the rest of the political leaders are unable to extend their view beyond
\nthe fields of activity already conquered. Srijut Rabindranath Tagore at Pabna
\nlaid stress on the same necessity. "Back to the land," is a cry which
\nmust swell with time and, if the Bengali Hindu is wise, he will listen and obey.
\nSwadeshi was the most pressing need of the nation till now, because we were
\nthreatened with a commercial depletion which would have rendered agricultural
\nlife impossible by turning famine into a chronic disease. The peasant must live
\nif he is to keep possession of the soil, and a flourishing national commerce is
\nthe only sure preventive of famine. But now Swadeshi has become an integral<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-733<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\npart
\nof our politics, the gradual growth of Indian industry is assured until this
\ngrowth is complete, the struggle with famine will continue and this also is
\ngetting to be recognised as an essential part of our political activity. We must
\nnow turn to the one field of work in this direction which we have most
\nneglected, the field of agriculture. The return to the land is as essential to
\nour salvation as the development of Swadeshi or the fight against famine. If we
\ntrain our young men to go back to the fields, we shall secure the perpetuation
\nof the Hindu in Bengal which is now imperilled. They will be able to become
\nmentors, leaders and examples to the village population and by introducing
\nbetter methods of agriculture and habits of thrift and foresight and by
\norganising the institution of Dharmagolas and securing more equal position for
\nthe peasant in his dealings with the merchant and the moneylender they will
\nmaterially assist the Swadeshi manufacturer and the organiser of famine relief
\nin the fight for survival. To settle more Hindu agriculturists on the land is
\nthe first necessity if the Hindu is to survive.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n           
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>National Education has followed the trend of the political movement and
\nits first energies have been devoted to literary and technical instruction. In
\nthe latter branch it has already, in spite of insufficient help from the public,
\nachieved a signal success; if it has been able to make only a beginning, yet
\nthat beginning has been so sound, so admirably and intelligently done, that we
\ncan already perceive in this little seed the mighty tree of the future. We
\nunderstand that the literary instruction is now being organised with a view to
\nmake the College in Calcutta a home of learning and fruitful research as well as
\na nursery of intelligence and character. But we look to the organisers of the
\nCollege to make equal provision for agricultural training, so that a field may
\nbe created for its students on the soil whence all national life draws its sap
\nof permanence. The establishment of the Pabna School is of good omen in this
\nrespect, but a single institution in East Bengal will not be sufficient, as the
\nconditions of Pabna are not universal in Bengal, and model farms on drier soil
\nsuch as we have in Comilla and West Bengal will also be needed. If the work is
\ntaken in hand from now, it will not be a moment too soon, for the problem is
\nurgent in its call for a solution,<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-734<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nand
\nthe mere organisation of village associations will be only partially effective
\nif it is not backed up by a system of instruction which will bring the educated
\nHindu back to the soil as a farmer himself and a local leader of the peasantry
\nof the race.<\/font><\/p>\n


\nBande
\nMataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i> <\/font> March 6, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-735<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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