Lala Lajpat Rai’s Ideas on Caste: Conservative or Radical?
| DOI | 10.1177/2321023018762672 |
| Author | Vanya Bhargav |
| Date | 01 June 2018 |
| Published date | 01 June 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Conservatism in India |
Conservatism i n India
Lala Lajpat Rai’s Ideas on Caste:
Conservative or Radical?
Vanya Bhargav1
Abstract
Descriptions of Lala Lajpat Rai as a Hindu nationalist or an Arya Samaji Hindu revivalist are unhelpful
in evaluating whether he can be called conservative. Taking the desire to preserve the traditional
hierarchical order as a defining feature of Indian conservatism, this article examines Lajpat Rai’s ideas
on caste through this understudied category. Exploring the nuanced reasoning that undergirded his
intellectual stances, it reveals that while at particular historical junctures, Lajpat Rai articulated ideas
towards the caste hierarchy that can be described as radical, at other points he adopted conservative
stances.
Keywords
Lala Lajpat Rai, Hindu revivalism, Arya Samaj, Hindu Sabha, conservatism, caste hierarchy, equality
Lala Lajpat Rai is remembered in popular imagination first and foremost as a fervent anti-colonial
nationalist who sacrificed his life for India’s freedom. Apart from an exponent of such ‘extremist’ nation-
alism, he appears in historical scholarship as a prominent leader of the Arya Samaj, which is often
viewed as embodying a form of ‘Hindu revivalism’ (Bandyopadhyay, 2004, pp. 234–235, 240; Heimsath,
1964, pp. 299, 309; Sarkar, 1983, pp. 70–76). More recently, he has been evaluated as a ‘Hindu national-
ist’ or ‘proto-Hindu nationalist’ (Bhatt, 2001, Chapter 2; Jaffrelot, 1999, pp. 11, 18, 2011, pp. 81–86).
This article systematically examines Lajpat Rai’s thought on caste and analyzes it through the category
of ‘conservatism’. In doing so, it constitutes a novel undertaking in three ways. First, while Lajpat
Rai has appeared in histories of ‘extremism’ (Tripathi, 1967), the Arya Samaj (Adcock, 2013; Jones,
1976) and Hindu nationalism (Jaffrelot, 1999, 2011), his thought has, to a very large extent, remained
unanalyzed. In the rare instance when it has been examined somewhat more closely (Bhatt, 2001),
analysis is based on selected portions of his thought rather than the outcome of systematic intellectual
study. Second, while certain other aspects of his thought—his views on the Hindu ‘community’ or the
nation—have been occasionally touched upon (Bhatt, 2001; Nair, 2011), his thought on caste has been
entirely ignored. In undertaking a systematic intellectual study of Lajpat Rai’s ideas on caste, this essay
takes a step towards filling these two significant gaps in scholarship. In addition, it seeks to evaluate his
ideas through a hitherto neglected category: conservatism.
1 D. Phil. Candidate, St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK.
Studies in Indian Politics
6(1) 15–26
© 2018 Lokniti, Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/2321023018762672
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/inp
Corresponding author:
Vanya Bhargav, St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK.
E-mail: vanya.bhargav@sant.ox.ac.uk
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