{"id":359,"date":"2013-07-13T01:27:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=359"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:27:32","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:27:32","slug":"049-shall-india-be-free-u-and-b-r-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\/049-shall-india-be-free-u-and-b-r-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-049_Shall India be Free (U. and B. R.).htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

Shall India be Free<\/font><\/b>
\n?<\/b><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n <\/span>UNITY AND
\nBRITISH RULE<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n   <\/span><\/font>                    
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span>
\nI<\/b><\/font><\/span>T
\nIS<\/span><\/font> a
\ncommon cry in this country that we should effect the unity of its people before
\nwe try to be free. There is no cry which is more plausible, none which is more
\nhollow. What is it that we mean when we talk of the necessity of unity? Unity
\ndoes not mean uniformity and the removal of all differences. There are some
\npeople who talk as if unity in religion, for instance, could not be accomplished
\nexcept by uniformity. But uniformity of religion is a psychical impossibility
\nforbidden by the very nature of the human mind. So long as men differ in
\nintellect, in temperament, in spiritual development, there must be different
\nreligions and different sects of the same religion. The Brahmo Samaj
\nwas set on foot in India by Rammohan Roy with the belief that this would be the
\none religion of India which would replace and unite the innumerable sects now
\ndividing our spiritual consciousness. But in a short time this uniting religion
\nwas itself rent into three discordant sects, two of which show signs of internal
\nfissure even within their narrow limits; and all these divisions rest not on
\nanything essential but on differences of in<\/span><\/font>tellectual
\nconstitution, variety of temperament, divergence of the lines of spiritual
\ndevelopment. The unity of the Hindu religion cannot be attained by the
\ndestruction of the present sects and the substitution of a religion based on the
\ncommon truths of Hinduism. It can
\nonly be effected if there is, first, a common feeling that the sectarian
\ndifferences are of subordinate importance compared with the community of
\nspiritual truths and discipline as distinct from the spiritual truths and
\ndiscipline of other religions, and, secondly, a common agreement in valuing and
\ncherishing the Hindu religion in its entirety as a sacred and inalienable
\npossession. This is what fundamentally constitutes the sentiment of unity,
\nwhether it be religious, political or social. There must be the sense of a
\ncommunity in something dear and precious which others do not possess; there must
\nbe an acute sense of<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-314<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

difference from other communities which have no share in our common possession;
\nthere must be a supreme determination to cherish, assert and preserve our common
\npossession from disparagement and destruction. But the sentiment of unity is
\nnot sufficient to create unity; we require also the practice of unity. Where the
\nsentiment of unity exists and the practice does not, the latter can only be
\nacquired by a common effort to accomplish one great, common and all-absorbing
\nobject.
\n     
\nThe first question we have to answer is — can this practical unity be
\naccomplished by acquiescence in foreign rule? Certainly, under foreign rule a
\npeculiar kind of uniformity of condition is attained. Brahmin and Sudra,
\naristocrat and peasant, Hindu and Mahomedan, all are brought to a certain
\nlevel of equality by equal inferiority to the ruling class. The differences
\nbetween them are trifling compared with the enormous difference between all of
\nthem and the white race at the top. But this uniformity is of no value for the
\npurposes of national unity, except in so far as the sense of a common
\ninferiority excites a common desire to revolt against and get rid of it. If the
\nforeign superiority is acquiesced in, the result is that the mind becomes taken
\nup with the minor differences and instead of getting nearer to unity disunion is
\nexaggerated. This is precisely what has happened in India under British rule.
\nThe sentiment of unity has grown, but in practice we are both socially and
\npolitically far more disunited and disorganised than before the British
\noccupation. In the anarchy that followed the decline of the Moghul, the struggle
\nwas between the peoples of various localities scrambling for the inheritance of
\nAkbar and Shahjahan. This was not a vital and permanent element of disunion. But
\nthe present disorganisation is internal and therefore more likely to reach the
\nvitals of the community.
\n        This disorganisation is the natural
\nand inevitable result of foreign rule. A state which is created by a common
\ndescent, real or fictitious, by a common religion or by common interests welding
\ntogether into one a great number of men or group of men, is a natural organism
\nwhich so long as it exists has always within it the natural power of revival and
\ndevelopment. But as political science has pointed out, a state created by the
\nencampment of a
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-315<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

foreign race
\namong a conquered population and supported in the last resort not by any section
\nof the people but by external force, is an inorganic state. The subject
\npopulation, it has been said, inevitably becomes a disorganised crowd.
\nConsciously or unconsciously the tendency of the intruding body is to break down
\nall the existing organs of national life and to engross all power in itself. The
\nMoghul rule had not this tendency because it immediately naturalised itself in
\nIndia. British rule has and is forced to have this tendency because it must
\npersist in being an external and intruding presence encamped in the country and
\nnot belonging to it. It is doubtful whether there is any example in history of
\nan alien domination which has been so monstrously ubiquitous, inquisitorial and
\nintolerant of any centre of strength in the country other than itself as the
\nBritish bureaucracy. There were three actual centres of organised strength in
\npre-British India — the supreme ruler, Peshwa or Raja or Nawab reposing his
\nstrength on the Zemindars or Jagirdars; the Zemindar in his own domain reposing
\nhis strength on his retinue and tenants; and the village community independent
\nand self-existent. The first result of the British occupation was. to reduce to
\na nullity the supreme ruler, and this was often done, as in Bengal, by the help
\nof the Zemindars. The next result was the disorganisation of the village
\ncommunity. The third was the steady breaking-up of the power of the Zemindar
\nwith the help of a new class which the foreigners created for their own purposes
\n— the bourgeois or middle class. Unfortunately for the British bureaucracy it
\nhad in order to get the support and assistance of the middle class to pamper the
\nlatter and allow it to grow into a strength and develop organs of its own,
\nsuch as the Press, the Bar, the University, the Municipalities, District
\nBoards, etc. Finally the situation with which British statesmen had to deal was
\nthis: — the natural sovereigns of the land helpless and disorganised, the landed
\naristocracy helpless and disorganised, the peasantry helpless and disorganised,
\nbut a middle class growing in strength, pretensions and organisation. British
\nstatesmanship following the instinctive and inevitable trend of an alien
\ndomination, set about breaking down the power it had established in order to
\ndestroy the sole remaining centre of national strength and possible re-
\n<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage-316<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

vival. If
\nthis could be done, if the middle class could be either tamed, bribed or limited
\nin its expansion, the disorganisation would be complete. Nothing would be left
\nof the people of India except a disorganised crowd with no centre of strength or
\nmeans of resistance.
\n        It was in Bengal that the middle class was most developed and self-conscious;
\nand it was in Bengal therefore that a quick succession of shrewd and dangerous
\nblows was dealt at the once useful but now obnoxious class. The last effort to
\nbribe it into quietude was the administration of Lord Ripon. It was now sought
\nto cripple the organs through which this strength was beginning slowly to feel
\nand develop its organic life. The Press was intimidated, the Municipalities officialised, the University officialised and its expansion limited. Finally the
\nPartition sought with one blow to kill the poor remnants of the Zemindar’s power
\nand to influence and to weaken the middle class of Bengal by dividing it. The
\nsuppression of the middle class was the recognised policy of Lord Curzon. After
\nMr. Morley came to power, it was, we believe, intended to recognise and
\nofficialise the Congress itself if possible. Even now it is quite conceivable,
\nin view of the upheaval in Bengal and the Punjab, that an expanded Legislature
\nwith the appearance of a representative body but the reality of official
\ncontrol, may be given not as a concession but as a tactical move. The organs of
\nmiddle class political life can only be dangerous
\nso long as they are independent. By taking<\/span> <\/span>away<\/font>
\n<\/span>their independence
\nthey become fresh sources of strength for the Government<\/span> <\/span>
\n—<\/span>
\n<\/span>of weakness for the
\nclass which strives to find in
\nthem its growth and self-expression.
\n        The Partition opened the eyes of the threatened class to the nature of the
\nattack that was being made on it; and the result was a widespread and passionate
\nrevolt which has now spread from Bengal to the Punjab and threatens to break out
\nall over
\nIndia. The struggle is now a struggle for life and death. If the bureaucracy
\nconquers, the middle class will be broken, shattered perhaps blotted out of
\nexistence; if the middle class conquers, the bureaucracy are not for long in the
\nland. Everything depends on the success or failure of the middle class in
\ngetting the people to follow it for a common salvation. They may get this
\nsupport<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-317<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

by taking
\ntheir natural place as awakeners and leaders of the nation; they may get it by
\nthe energy and success with which they wage their battle with the bureaucracy.
\nIn Eastern Bengal, for instance, the aid of a few Mahomedan aristocrats has
\nenabled the bureaucracy to turn a large section of the Mahomedan masses against
\nthe Hindu middle class, and the educated community is fighting with its back to
\nthe wall for its very existence. If it succeeds under such desperate
\ncircumstances, even the Mahomedan masses will eventually follow its leading.
\n        This process of political disorganisation is not so much a deliberate policy on
\nthe part of the foreign bureaucracy, as an instinctive action which it can no
\nmore help than the sea can help flowing. The dissolution of the subject
\norganisation into a disorganised crowd is the inevitable working of an alien
\ndespotism.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nBande Mataram<\/i>, <\/i>May 2, 1907<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage-318<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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