Gandhism: Difference between revisions

{{short description|Body of ideas}}

[[Image:Badshah Khan.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan]] of the [[Khudai Khidmatgars]] and [[Mohandas Gandhi]] of the [[Indian National Congress]].]]

'''Gandhism''' is a body of ideas that describes the inspiration, vision, and the life work of [[Mohandas Gandhi]]. It is particularly associated with his contributions to the idea of [[nonviolent resistance]], sometimes also called [[civil resistance]]. The two pillars of Gandhism are truth and [[nonviolence]].

In the absence of a "Gandhism" approved by Gandhi himself, there is a school of thought that one has to derive what Gandhism stands for, from his life and works. One such deduction is a philosophy based on "truth" and "non-violence" in the following sense. First, we should acknowledge and accept the truth that people are different at all levels ("truth"). Second, that one should never resort to violence to settle inherent differences between human beings at any level: from between two people to two nations to two races or two religions ("non-violence").

This advocacy of violence led some of his staunchest supporters, including his nephew, Maganlal Gandhi, to question whether Gandhi was forsaking his non-violent ideals.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi|last=Gandhi|first=Mohandas|publisher=The Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.|year=1965|volume=Vol.14|location=Ahmedabad|pages=504–505}}</ref> In a July 1918 letter replying to his nephew, Gandhi stated that any conception of non-violence that prohibited self-defense was erroneous. To support this argument, Gandhi criticized the ethics of love and absolute ahimsa (non-violence) he observed in the teachings of Swaminarayan and Vallabhacharya. According to Gandhi, this love was mere "sentimentalism", and its concomitant absolute ahimsa "robbed us of our manliness" and "made the people incapable of self-defence". Gandhi wrote that Swaminarayan and Vallabhacharya had not grasped the essence of non-violence. Instead Gandhi argued for a non-violence that would "permit [our offspring] to commit violence, to use their strength to fight", since that capacity for violence could be used for the benefit of society, like in "restraining a drunkard from doing evil" or "killing a dog…infected with rabies".<ref name=":3" />

By 1924, however, Gandhi's criticism of Swaminarayan and his ethical teachings had turned into admiration. While arguing in a Navjivan newspaper editorial that it was a duty to resort to violence for self-defense against Afghani terrorists, Gandhi admitted that he could not personally adopt this approach because he had chosen the path of love even against his enemies. Gandhi explained that, according to the Hindu scriptures, a single such self-controlled person could eradicate violence from the hearts of one's opposition. It was through this power of love that Gandhi asserted, "what was accomplished in Gujarat by one person, Sahajanand [Swaminarayan], could not be accomplished by the power of the State". Moreover, he said that "The Age of Sahajanand has not come to an end. It is only devotion and self-control like his that are wanted". Ultimately, Gandhi said that while he was attempting Swaminarayan's approach himself, he did "not have the strength of heart to act upon" it the way that Swaminarayan had successfully done.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi|last=Gandhi|first=Mohandas|publisher=The Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India.|year=1965|volume=Vol.23|location=Ahmedabad|pages=468–469}}</ref>

Over time, Gandhi's religious thought showed a further influence of Swaminarayan's teachings, as, by 1930, he had included many hymns composed by Swaminarayan poets in his ''Ashram Bhajanavali'', a book of prayers which were used in his twice-daily prayer service.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gandhi's Religious Thought|last=Chatterjee|first=Margaret|publisher=The Macmillan Press, LTD.|year=1983|isbn=978-1-349-05367-4|location=London|pages=156}}</ref> In his writings, he often drew inspiration from the spiritual teachings of Swaminarayan saint-poets [[Nishkulanand Swami]] and [[Muktanand Swami]], the latter being the author of his most frequently used prayer.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/hinduwisdomforal00fran/page/51|title=Hindu Wisdom for All God's Children|last=Clooney|first=Francis X.|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|year=2005|isbn=1-59752-068-3|location=Eugene, Oregon|pages=[https://archive.org/details/hinduwisdomforal00fran/page/51 51]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Rule, Protest, Identity: Aspects of Modern South Asia|last=Robb|first=Peter|last2=Taylor|first2=David|publisher=Curzon Press|year=1978|isbn=978-0391008663|pages=121}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Mahatma Gandhi at Work: His Own Story Continued|last=Gandhi|first=Mohandas|publisher=Routledge|year=2019|editor-last=Andrews|editor-first=C.F.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/gandhireadersou00gand/page/8|title=The Gandhi reader : a source book of his life and writings|last=Gandhi|first=Mahatma|publisher=Grove Press|year=1994|isbn=0802131611|editor-last=Homer|editor-first=Jack A.|edition=Rev|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/gandhireadersou00gand/page/8 8]|oclc=32833421|orig-year=1956}}</ref> Indian sociologist and Gandhian contemporary, N. A. Thoothi, had argued by 1935 that Mahatma Gandhi was "most influenced in his inner-most being… by the teachings of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya above all". Thoothi concluded that "most of [Gandhi’s] thought, activities, and even methods of most of the institutions which he has been building up and serving, have the flavor of Swaminarayan, more than that of any other sect of Hinduism".<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Vaishnavas of Gujarat: Being a study of methods of investigation of social phenomena|last=Thoothi|first=N.A.|publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co, LTD.|year=1938|location=Calcutta|pages=279}}</ref>

Gandhi espoused an economic theory of [[simple living]] and [[self-sufficiency]]/import substitution, rather than generating exports like Japan and South Korea did. He envisioned a more agrarian India upon independence that would focus on meeting the material needs of its citizenry prior to generating wealth and industrialising.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Mia Mahmudur Rahim|author2=Sanjaya Kuruppu|editor1-last=Ngwu|editor1-first=Franklin|editor2-last=Onyeka|editor2-first=Osuji|editor3-last=Frank|editor3-first=Stephen|title=Corporate Governance in Developing and Emerging Markets|date=2016|publisher=Routledge|url=http://www.tandfebooks.com/isbn/9781315666020|chapter=Corporate Governance in India: The Potential for Ghandism}}</ref>

Gandhi also adopted the clothing style of most Indians in the early 20th century. His adoption of [[khadi]], or homespun cloth, was intended to help eradicate the evils of poverty, social and economic discrimination. It was also aimed as a challenge to the contrast that he saw between most Indians, who were poor and traditional, and the richer classes of educated, liberal-minded Indians who had adopted Western mannerisms, clothing and practices.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

The Khadi movement, which formed part of the larger swadeshi movement, employed the symbol of burning British-made cloth imports in order to manipulate attitudes towards [[boycott]]ing British goods and rejecting [[Western culture]] and urging the return to ancient, precolonial [[Culture of India|Indian culture]]. Gandhi obtained a wheel and engaged his disciples in spinning their own cloth called Khadi; this commitment to hand spinning was an essential element to Gandhi's philosophy and politics.<ref>{{cite journal | pmc=2156064 | pmid=18048775 | doi=10.2105/AJPH.2007.120139 | volume=98 | title=Spinning for India's independence | year=2008 | journal=Am J Public Health | pages=39 | last1 = Brown | first1 = TM | last2 = Fee | first2 = E}}</ref>