In February 1921, M.K. Gandhi wrote a piece for his Gujarati weekly Navajivan with the title, “Sanatani Hindu Etale?”, which literary translates as “Who is a Sanatani Hindu?”
Why did Gandhi feel a need to write on the topic of a Sanatani Hindu? One of the reasons, as he mentioned in the very beginning of his article, was being asked why he call himself an orthodox Sanatani Hindu and why he regarded himself as a Vaishnava.
Another possible reason, which he did not explicitly mention, was the constant criticism he faced by factions of the orthodox Hindus and the periodical Gujarati isince the time of the first Antyaj (untouchable) conference at Godhra in 1917. Gandhi had not only gone to the Mahar compound and eaten with the so-called ‘untouchables’, but started a movement against untouchability. These developments brought unease among orthodox Hindus.
When the periodical Gujarati criticised Gandhi’s speeches at the Antyaj Conference, he wrote them a letter titled “A stain on India’s forehead”. He wrote, “It is because of it (untouchability) that, now for two thousand years, Hinduism has been burdened with a load of sin in the name of religion. I call such orthodoxy hypocrisy. You will have to free yourself of this hypocrisy.” In the letter, he criticised quoting verses from the Manusmriti and other scriptures in defence of this orthodoxy. He further added, “A number of verses in these scriptures are apocryphal; a number of them are quite meaningless.”
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In November 1920, Gandhi had a talk with a Vaishnava religious leader in Bombay. An account of this talk with a commentary on it had appeared in the periodical Gujarati. Gandhi responded to this in the December issue of Navajivan, “I cannot stand hypocrisy and sophistry. I saw in Gujarati an account of a talk I had with Maharajshri, as also the comments on it. I have been very much pained by both… I see in both an attempt, deliberate or otherwise, to prove adharma to be dharma. I shall explain next time what this is.”
Exactly 20 days after the publication of this issue, on December 25, 1920, Gandhi was speaking at the Antyaj conference held along with the annual session of the Indian National Congress at Nagpur.
Gandhi reiterated, “The practice of untouchability is a sin and should be eradicated. I look upon it as my duty to eradicate this sin…The practice of untouchability is an excrescence on Hinduism. I believe that the practice of untouchability is a great Satanism in Hinduism.”
He added, “I am a Hindu myself and I claim to be an orthodox one. It is my further claim that I am a sanatani Hindu. At present I am engaged in a great dispute with the Hindus in Gujarat. They, especially the Vaishnavas, reject my claim to be called a sanatani Hindu, but I cling to it and assert that I am one…I have said to the Hindus, and say it again today, that till Hindu society is purged of this sin(untouchability), swaraj is an impossibility…While the practice remains in Hindu society, I feel ashamed and feel unhappy even to call myself a Hindu.” Gandhi was referring to the dispute mentioned in the above paragraphs.
Gandhi was speaking in Nagpur and the Hindu nationalist organisation RSS had yet to be born in 1925. Nathuram Godse was ten years old.
This time around, Gandhi wrote and published “Who is a Sanatani Hindu?”. In this article, Gandhi called the practice of untouchability adharma. He wrote, “To make any persons crawl on their stomach, to segregate them, to drive them to live on the outskirts of the village, not to be concerned whether they live or die, to give them food left over by others—all this certainly cannot be religion..—this is not Hinduism. This is Dyerism.”
Anyone practicing untouchability or discriminating others on the grounds of caste cannot be a Sanatani Hindu, in the eyes of Gandhi. It is interesting to note that no Dalit or member of a backward class has ever become the RSS sarasanghachalak (chief) since its inception in 1925.
In the article Gandhi wrote, “I believe that the most important outward form of Hinduism is cow-protection.” In the May issue of Young India he wrote, “I would not kill a human being for protection of a cow, as I will not kill a cow for saving a human life, be it ever so precious.”
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Gandhi’s cow-protection had deep interpretations. He often wrote on cow protection in later issues of Young India, “Rishis declared that cow protection was the supreme duty of a Hindu and it brought one Moksha (Salvation). Now I am not ready to believe that by merely protecting the animal cow, one can attain moksha. For moksha one must completely get rid of one’s lower feelings like attachment, hatred, anger, jealousy, etc…cow protection…from its very nature include the protection of everything that feels.”
The message was clear, cow vigilantes involved in lynching-killing can be anything but sanatani Hindu.
In the same article, Gandhi explained his understanding of the scriptures. “I cannot claim to have fully read even a single Veda. Nevertheless, I have understood the shastras from the point of view of dharma. I have grasped their real meaning. I know that one can attain moksha without reading the Vedas.”
Almost 15 years later, in a 1936 issue of the Harijan, Gandhi wrote, “I exercise my judgement about every scripture, including the Bhagavadgita. I can not let a scriptural text supersede my reason.”
In another issue of Harijan the same year, an interesting conversation between C.F. Andrews and Gandhi got published. “Whether you are going to accept the position of mutual toleration or of equality of religions. My position is that all the great religions are fundamentally equal. We must have innate respect for other religions as we have for our own. Mind you, not mutual toleration, but equal respect,” Gandhi said.
On the evening of January 30, 1948, Gandhi, 78-year-old man, frail due to fasting, was on his way to a prayer meeting when a fanatic Hindu, Nathuram Godse, fired three rounds of bullets at him. “Hey Ram” were the last words from Gandhi.
It was an outcome of Sanatani Hindu Gandhi’s charisma that Periyar, the father of the Dravidian movement and once a fierce critic of Gandhi’s, passed on a few recommendations to the All India Congress Committee after Gandhi’s death. One of them was the name of India can be changed as Gandhi Desam or Gandhistan.
Mehul Devkala is a poet and an award-winning filmmaker. His short film Kaun Se Bapu is based on Mahatma Gandhi.