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{{Short description|History of Anarchism in India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2016}}
{{Anarchism sidebar|by region}}
'''Anarchism in India''' first emerged within the [[Indian independence movement]], gaining particularly notoriety for its influence on [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas Gandhi]]'s theory of ''[[Sarvodaya]]'' and his practice of [[nonviolent resistance]].{{Sfn|Cohn|2009|pp=1-2}} Anarchism was also an influence on the [[revolutionary movement for Indian independence|revolutionary movement]], inspiring the works of [[Har Dayal]], [[M. P. T. Acharya]] and [[Bhagat Singh]], among others.{{Sfn|Cohn|2009|p=2}}

==Background==
The foundations for anarchism in India were laid by a number of different religious traditions in the subcontinent. [[Buddhism]] and [[Jainism]] both taught of a prehistoric [[state of nature]], in which people lived in harmony and their needs were satisfied by the land.{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=528}} In [[Hindu cosmology]], the [[Satya Yuga]] described a possible stateless society where people were governed only by the "universal natural law of ''dharma''".{{Sfn|Doctor|1964|p=16}} Where much of Hindu political philosophy upheld the [[Divine right of kings#Hinduism and Indic religions|divine right of kings]], the [[Chanakya]] [[sutra]]s held that "it is better to not to have a king then have one who is wanting in discipline".{{Sfn|Doctor|1964|p=26}}

It was through these concepts that Indian anarchism developed out of "non-statism", which held it better to build an alternative society that would make the state redundant, rather than destroying the state outright (as in the Western conception of [[anti-statism]]).{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=528-529}}

==Early libertarian thought==
[[Swami Vivekananda]] derived a form of [[individualism]] from the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]'', arguing that "[[liberty]] is the first condition of growth". He saw individual freedom as something that leads directly to [[solidarity]] and [[social equality]], as individual [[self-actualization]] would necessarily bring people together. He claimed his ultimate goal was "freedom from the slavery of matter and thought, mastery of external and internal nature."{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=529}}

One disciple of Vivekananda was [[Sri Aurobindo]], who applied his libertarian principles to the [[Indian independence movement]], agitating for "[[Nonviolent resistance|non-violent direct action]]". Aurobindo's philosophy was concerned with reconciling individualism and collectivism, proposing a synthesis of individual enlightenment with community outreach. In ''The Ideal of Human Unity'', Aurobindo advocated for the [[nation state]] to be replaced with a form of [[anarchy]], based on [[voluntary association]]s between "free individuals" and the principle of "[[unity in diversity]]".{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|pp=529-530}}

Aurobindo's theory of nonviolent resistance was later developed upon by [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas Gandhi]], who was himself inspired by the Russian anarcho-pacifist [[Leo Tolstoy]] to organize a mass [[civil disobedience]] movement against [[British Raj|British rule in India]]. He viewed the state fundamentally as an expression of violence and feared the expansion of state power, as he believed it would stifle [[individuality]]. Gandhi declared his ideal society to be a form of [[Self-governance|self-governed]] [[stateless society]], which he described as "enlightened anarchy". However, he would end up collaborating with the [[Indian National Congress]] and felt that the temporary existence of an Indian state would be necessary in a transition towards anarchy.{{Sfn|Marshall|1993|p=530}}

==Gandhi and anarchism==
{{see also|Anarcho-pacifism}}
[[File:Portrait Gandhi.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]]]]
The local conditions were pertinent to the development of the heavily anarchic [[Satyagraha|Satyagraha movement]] in India. [[George Woodcock]] claimed [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Mohandas Gandhi]] self-identified as an anarchist.<ref name=woodcock>{{cite book |last=Woodcock |first=George |title=Anarchism: a History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements |publisher=Broadview Press |location=Peterborough |year=2004 |isbn=1-55111-629-4 |pages= 21 |chapter=Prologue |quote="...Gandhi [...] sometimes called himself an anarchist..."}}</ref> Gandhi also considered Leo Tolstoy's book, ''[[The Kingdom of God is Within You]]'', a book about practical anarchist organisation, as the text to have the most influence in his life.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tolstoy and Gandhi's Law of Love |last=Weber |first=Thomas |publisher=SGI Quarterly |date=January 2010 |url=http://www.sgiquarterly.org/feature2010Jan-9.html |access-date=2012-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207132229/http://www.sgiquarterly.org/feature2010Jan-9.html |archive-date=2012-12-07 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

To Gandhi, the root of all social problems lay in violence and therefore in the state, which maintains a [[monopoly on violence]],{{Sfn|Doctor|1964|p=36}} holding that "the nearest approach to purest anarchy would be a democracy based on nonviolence."{{Sfn|Doctor|1964|p=37}} He advocated for the implementation of ''[[Swaraj]]'' ([[self-governance]]) starting with individuals, before moving up through the village, region and finally the national level.{{Sfn|Doctor|1964|p=38}} ''Swaraj'' was thus based in a form of [[individualist anarchism]], rejecting [[majority rule]], [[parliamentary sovereignty|parliamentarism]] and [[political parties]], while holding that individual morality should be the guiding force of the wider society and that any collective organization should be subordinate to the will of the individuals which make it up.{{Sfn|Doctor|1964|p=44}}

In his essay "Reflections on Gandhi" (1949), [[George Orwell]] noted that anarchists and [[pacifists]] had claimed Gandhi as an adherent of their own traditions, but argued that in doing so they ignored "the other-worldly, [[anti-humanist]] tendency of his doctrines." Orwell argued that [[Gandhian thought]] required religious belief, and so could not be reconciled with anarchists' [[humanism]].<ref>{{cite book|first=George|last=Orwell|author-link=George Orwell|chapter=Reflections on Gandhi|orig-year=1949|page=526|title=The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Volume 4: In Front of Your Nose 1945–1950|editor1-first=Sonia|editor1-last=Orwell|editor1-link=Sonia Orwell|editor2-first=Ian|editor2-last=Angus|editor2-link=Ian Angus (librarian)|publisher=Penguin|year=1968}}</ref>

==Bhagat Singh==

Before 1920, a partly anarchist inspired movement was represented by one of the most famous [[revolutionary|revolutionaries]] of the [[Indian independence movement]], [[Bhagat Singh]]. Though a [[Marxism|Marxist]], Bhagat Singh was attracted to anarchism.<ref name="Niraja Rao ">{{cite journal|url=http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv3n1/bsingh.htm|title=Bhagat Singh and the Revolutionary Movement|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001141654/http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv3n1/bsingh.htm |archive-date=1 October 2015 |first=Niraja |last=Rao |date=April 1997 |journal=Revolutionary Democracy |volume=3 |issue=1 |location=[[Delhi]] |oclc=50471733}}</ref> Western anarchism and [[communism]] had influence on him. He studied the writings of [[Mikhail Bakunin]], [[Karl Marx]], [[Vladimir Lenin]] and [[Leon Trotsky]].<ref name="adams">Adams, Jason. ''[http://raforum.info/article.php3?id_article=3225&lang=en Non-Western Anarchisms: Rethinking the Global Context] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001143403/http://raforum.info/article.php3?id_article=3225&lang=en |date=2015-10-01 }}'' Zalabaza Books, Johannesburg, South Africa.</ref> Singh wrote in an article:<ref name="Niraja Rao "/>
{{cquote|The ultimate goal of Anarchism is complete independence, according to which no one will be ... crazy for money ... There will be no chains on the body or control by the state. This means that they want to eliminate ... the state; private property.}}

Singh was involved in the [[Hindustan Socialist Republican Association]] and [[Naujawan Bharat Sabha]] (Translated to 'Youth Society of India').<ref name="adams"/><ref name="Kamat">{{cite web|url=http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/sbsingh.htm|title=Martyrdom of Sardar Bhagat Singh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223025552/http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/sbsingh.htm |archive-date=December 23, 2007|url-status=live|first=Jyotsna|last=Kamat|date=March 23, 1999|access-date=February 19, 2021|website=Kamat's Potpourri}}</ref> By the mid-1920s Singh began arming of the general population and organised people's militias against the British. From May 1928 to September 1928, Singh published several articles on anarchism in Punjabi periodical "Kirti".<ref name="Niraja Rao "/>

==Har Dayal's anarchist activism in US==
{{see also|Buddhist anarchism}}
Indian revolutionary and the founder of the [[Ghadar Party]] [[Har Dayal|Lala Har Dayal]] was involved in the [[Anarchism in the United States|anarchist movement in United States]]. He moved to the United States in 1911, where he became involved in [[industrial unionism]]. In [[Oakland]], he founded the ''Bakunin Institute of California'' which he described as "the first [[monastery]] of anarchism". The organisation aligned itself with the ''Regeneracion'' movement founded by the exiled [[Mexico|Mexicans]] [[Ricardo Flores Magon|Ricardo]] and [[Enrique Flores Magón]]. [[Har Dayal]] understood the realisation of ancient ''[[Arya (spiritual)|Aryan]]'' culture as anarchism, which he also saw as the goal of [[Buddhism]]. The [[Ghadar Party]] attempted to overthrow the [[British Raj|British]] in [[India]] by reconciling western concepts of social revolution - particularly those stemming from [[Mikhail Bakunin]] - with Buddhism.<ref>''Ghadar Movement: Ideology, Organisation and Strategy'', Harish K. Puri, Guru Nanak Dev University Press, Amritsar: ''"The only account of Hardayal's short stay in that island [[Martinique]], comes from [[Bhai Parmanand]], a self exiled [[Arya Samaj]]ist missionary from [[Lahore]], who stayed a month with him there. Har Dayal used that time, says Parmanand, to discuss plans to found a new religion: his model was the Buddha. He ate mostly boiled grain, slept on the bare floor and spent his time in meditation in a secluded place. [[Guy Aldred]], a famous English radical and friend, tells us of Hardayal's proclaimed belief at that time in the coming republic "which was to be a Church, a religious confraternity . . . its motto was to be: atheism, cosmopolitanism and moral law' Parmamand says that Har Dayal acceded to his persuasion to go to the USA and decided to make New York a centre for the propagation of the ancient culture of the Aryan Race."'' (page 55) and ''"the ideal social order would be the one which approximated to the legendary Vedic period of Indian history because, as Har Dayal affirmed, practical equality existed only in that society, where there were no governors and no governed, no priests and no laymen, no rich and no poor."'' (page 112), referencing ''The Social Conquest of the Hindu Race and Meaning of Equality''.</ref>

==Dave Andrews==
[[Australians|Australian]] [[Christian anarchist]] [[Dave Andrews (activist)|Dave Andrews]] lived in India between 1972 and 1984. In 1975, he and his wife founded and developed a residential community in India called Aashiana (out of which grew Sahara, Sharan and Sahasee – three well-known Christian community organisations working with slum dwellers, sex workers, drug addicts, and people with HIV/AIDS). When [[Indira Gandhi]] was [[assassinated]] in 1984, thousands of [[Sikhs]] were murdered by violent mobs. Andrews resisted this through non-violent methods of intervention. The Andrews couple were forced to flee India soon thereafter.<ref name="ABCSept2005">
{{cite web| title= The Spirit of Things| website= [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]]| url= http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/spirit/stories/s1464469.htm| access-date= 2007-12-25| quote= Look, we looked out the window and mobs of people were chasing down Sikhs because a Sikh had killed the Prime Minister, and people were in the backlash, slaughter the Sikhs. But I said, 'If it was your father, or your husband, or your son, wouldn't you want somebody to intervene?' And I can remember at the time Ange said, 'Yes, of course I would.' The framework for a global ethic is recognising we're all part of the same family, and realising that we've got that responsibility. Am I my brother's keeper? Yes, I am, because I'm part of the same family, and that was an impulse to respond, to intervene, and to save some people's lives. And that was I think highly significant.| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080110132815/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/spirit/stories/s1464469.htm| archive-date= 10 January 2008| url-status= dead| df= dmy-all}}
</ref><ref name="CanYouHearTheHeartbeat">{{cite book
|title=Can You Hear The Heartbeat?
|author=Dave Andrews
|author2=David Engwicht
|publisher=OMF Literature
|year=1989
|location=Manila
|url=http://www.daveandrews.com.au/bios.html
|quote=There is one thing you need to know about Dave Andrews. He is dangerous. For example, after Indira Gandhi was shot, two or three thousand people were killed in twenty-four hours in the riots that followed. Mobs rampaged through streets looking for Sikhs to murder. Dave convinced Tony, a friend , that it was their job to go out and save these Sikhs. Finding a besieged house, they put themselves between an armed mob and a Sikh family and saved them from certain death. That's why Dave Andrews is dangerous. He is ordinary, yet believes ordinary people should take extraordinary risks to confront the cruelty in our world.
|access-date=2008-01-01
|archive-date=2022-03-09
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309070959/http://www.daveandrews.com.au/bios.html
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref name="LionPublishing">
{{cite web
|title=Lion Hudson: Christi-Anarchy - Dave Andrews
|url=http://www.lion-publishing.co.uk/features/0745942342.htm
|access-date=2008-01-01
|quote=Graduated from Queensland, Australia, and went to India in 1972 with his wife Angie to set up a home for junkies, drop-outs and other disturbed people in Delhi. They subsequently founded a community for Indians, which they developed and ran until they were forced to leave India in 1984.
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050421015113/http://www.lion-publishing.co.uk/features/0745942342.htm
|archive-date=April 21, 2005
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

==List of anarchist organizations==
* The Scarlet Underground<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://enoughisenough14.org/tag/scarlet-underground-collective/|title=Enough 14 -- Its time to revolt! - -Scarlet Underground collective|access-date=2021-11-13|archive-date=2021-11-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113100720/https://enoughisenough14.org/tag/scarlet-underground-collective/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thetrinityriverlookout.com/f/burma-anarchists-ask-for-support-countering-the-military-junta|title=Burma Anarchists ask for support Countering the Military Junta|access-date=2021-11-13|archive-date=2021-11-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211113101150/https://thetrinityriverlookout.com/f/burma-anarchists-ask-for-support-countering-the-military-junta|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Anarchism in Bangladesh]]
*[[Communism in India]]
*[[Indian independence movement]]
*[[Socialism in India]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{cite book|first=John P.|last=Clark|title=The Impossible Community: Realizing Communitarian Anarchism|location=[[New York City|New York]]|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]]|year=2013|chapter=The Common Good: Sarvodaya and the Gandhian Legacy|pages=217–245|isbn=978-1-4411-5451-4|oclc=859374886}}
*{{cite encyclopedia|title=Anarchism, India|first=Jesse|last=Cohn|year=2009|editor-last=Ness|editor-first=Immanuel|encyclopedia=The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest|location=[[Malden, Massachusetts]]|publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]]|doi=10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp0059|isbn=9781405198073|oclc=8682129071|pages=1–3}}
*{{cite book|last=Doctor|first=Adi Hormusji|year=1964|url=https://archive.org/details/anarchistthought0000doct/|title=Anarchist Thought in India|location=[[Bombay]]; [[New York City|New York]]|publisher=Asia Publishing House|oclc=16762946}}
*{{cite journal|first=J. Daniel|last=Elam|title= The 'arch priestess of anarchy' visits Lahore: violence, love, and the worldliness of revolutionary texts|journal=Postcolonial Studies|volume=16|issue=2|year=2013|pages=140–154|doi=10.1080/13688790.2013.823258}}
*{{cite journal|first=Ole Birk|last=Laursen|title=Anti-Colonialism, Terrorism and the 'Politics of Friendship': Virendranath Chattopadhyaya and the European Anarchist Movement, 1910-1927|journal=[[Anarchist Studies]]|volume=27|issue=1|year=2019|pages=47–62|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2190923320|id={{ProQuest|2190923320}} }}
*{{cite book|first=Peter H.|last = Marshall|author-link=Peter Marshall (author)|chapter=India|title=[[Demanding the Impossible|Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism]]|year=1993|location=[[London]]|publisher=[[HarperCollins|Fontana Press]]|isbn=978-0-00-686245-1|oclc=1042028128|pages=528–535}}
*{{cite book|title=The Gentle Anarchists: a study of the leaders of the Sarvodaya movement for non-violent revolution in India|first1=Geoffrey|last1=Ostergaard|authorlink1=Geoffrey Ostergaard|first2=Melville|last2=Currell|location=[[Oxford]]|publisher=[[Clarendon Press]]|year=1971|isbn=978-0198271796|oclc=201279}}
*{{cite book|title=Decolonizing Anarchism: An Anti-authoritarian History of India's Liberation Struggle|first=Maia|last=Ramnath|year=2011|publisher=[[AK Press]] and the [[Institute for Anarchist Studies]]|location=[[Edinburgh]]|isbn=9781849350822|oclc=939097339}}

== Further reading ==
*''The Libertarian''. (quarterly, 1951- ) Bombay: Bombay Socialist Institute.
*"The Perennial Appeal of Anarchism" in ''Polity'', Vol. 7, No. 2. (Winter, 1974), pp. 234–247 by Michael R. Dillon

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