Gandhi and Hinduism
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556118820453 |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Gandhi and Hinduism
Ravi K. Mishra1
Abstract
Gandhi’s relationship with Hinduism and other religio-cultural traditions has
generally been understood as part of a narrative of uniformity in which there is
little scope for internal variations and ambiguities. One of the most important
consequences of this uniformity is that the complexities and subtleties of Gandhi’s
approaches to the questions of religious and cultural spheres as well as identities
are often not given the attention they deserve. Whereas Gandhi carried on a
lifelong campaign for the reform of the Hindu society, his self-description as an
orthodox or sanatani Hindu also holds important meanings for our understand-
ing of him, especially in view of the fact that he was among the few leaders and
thinkers of modern India who accepted and defended what may be described
as popular Hinduism. The idea of the equality of all religions implying that all
religions are equally true provided the template for his interface with Islam,
Christianity and other traditions, without, however, denying the existence and
relevance of difference in forms between various religions. Approaching politics
as a deeply religious man, he had a lifelong engagement with Hindu leaders and
organisations wherein the complexities of his perspective are clearly expressed.
Keywords
Gandhi, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism
Introduction
I am a Hindu not merely because I was born in the Hindu fold, but I am one by convic-
tion and choice. As I know it and interpret it, it gives me all the solace I need both here
and hereafter.1
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
65(1) 71–90, 2019
© 2019 IIPA
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DOI: 10.1177/0019556118820453
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1 Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti Bhavan, New Delhi, India.
Corresponding author:
Ravi K. Mishra, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti Bhawan, New Delhi 110011, India.
E-mail: ravikmishrain@gmail.com
72 Indian Journal of Public Administration 65(1)
Few leaders in modern India could have reposed more faith in Hinduism than is
evident in the above statement issued by Gandhi in 1933. It is but natural, there-
fore, that one should try to locate the grounds on which his ‘choice’ and ‘convic-
tion’ stood, as also the manner in which he knew and interpreted Hinduism vis-à-
vis others’ understanding of it in itself as well as in its nuanced interplay with
other traditions, such as Islam, Christianity and Buddhism,2 keeping in mind the
important fact that Gandhi’s understanding of Hinduism was achieved in an evo-
lutionary mode and, therefore, does not always follow the rules of temporal con-
sistency. In this article, I propose to focus, if only for the sake of a more meaning-
ful analysis within the limited scope of the endeavour, upon two broad areas of
Gandhi’s ideas and activities which might be considered relevant to the topic.
These are Gandhi’s views on Hinduism in itself as well as in relation to other
religions such as Islam and Christianity and his opinions and attitudes regarding
other Hindu leaders and the movements led by them. However, the two broad
areas mentioned above are not like watertight compartments; there is a lot of
overlap between them.
Gandhi’s years in South Africa are generally regarded as the formative years
of his life, and so it was regarding his views on Hinduism, too. During the
period, he was already trying to grapple with what many describe as the enigma
of Hinduism. Curiously enough, he described the Hindus, at this stage, as that
branch of the Aryan people that had migrated to the trans-Indus districts of
India3 and even maintained that ‘Aryanism would have been a better descriptive
word than Hinduism’.4 The influence of the theory of Aryan migration is quite
explicit in these views expressed by Gandhi.5 Some other views expressed by
him at this juncture are even more revealing. Thus, addressing a conference of the
Theosophical Society in 1905, he said: ‘Thus, we have seen how there have been
three assaults on Hinduism, coming from Buddhism, Islam and then Christianity,
but on the whole it came out of them unscathed.’6
This description of Hinduism makes two important points. The first deals with
the relationship between Hinduism, on the one hand, and Islam, Christianity and
Buddhism, on the other. This point would be taken up later. The second point
relates to Gandhi’s understanding of the antiquity and historicity of Hinduism. For
him, Hinduism is not a category that was non-existent in the ancient period—a
belief which gained wide currency among historians and other social scientists
in the 20th century (Thapar, 1996). Rather, for Gandhi, it is something that had
been there before the advent of Buddhism and has continued to hold its sway over
the last several millennia. It is not a religion that came into existence through the
process of conflict and competition with the representatives of Semitic tradition,
such as Islam and Christianity—a view that has been held by many influential
historians. Thus, Hinduism, for Gandhi, is a historically legitimate category that
has had an independent existence of its own from the ancient period. This belief
of his may be debatable from a purely historical point of view. It is important
to note, however, that for the purposes of this enquiry it is not very important
whether or not Gandhi’s categorisation of Hinduism is valid from the perspective
of professional historiography. Gandhi’s acceptance of Hinduism as a historically
legitimate category, in the same sense that other categories such as Islam and
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