What is liberal
thinking? A simple definition is having an open mind on different issues and
being less inclined to biases, holding prejudices and following conservative
and traditional practices and views.
Since the time of independence, and the start of the Modern
or Contemporary Era, opinions, ideas, feelings and ways of life have begun to
change. The catalysts people say, were the influx of ideas from the West. The
British brought with them new perspectives, the idea of a modern society with
modern norms that were not configured to old traditions and backward ideas
where discrimination and prejudice were inherent. What people fail to see is
that the British cannot be entirely credited with the introduction of “modern
or liberal thinking” to our nation. Rammohan
Roy, a social and religious reformer and philosophical thinker born in 1772
to a moderately prosperous Vaishnavi Hindu family in Bengal, fought against the
policies of sati and child marriage in the early and mid nineteenth century, an
age which was dominated by the Christian missionaries who were on a pursuit to
convert people and the ever non-complying and uber fanatic Hindu priests, the
two of whom never agreed on anything except that Rammohan Roy was coming in
their way. When sati was legally abolished in 1829, the credit was given to
Governor General William Bentinck, without so much as half a mention of Raja
Rammohan Roy who had actually been indispensible in the fight against it. In
his paper, Relations between Men and
Women written in 1818, he has expressed his strong opinion of how women are
not treated fairly and they are subjected to unfair stereotypes, stereotypes that
they are not given a chance to change. He has posed a question to society
asking it that even though women are not given a chance of getting an
education, are called untrustworthy, are married at a young age, are sometimes
treated badly due to polygamy and are charged with want of resolution, even
then how can society tie them down and set them on fire? With sentiments and
expressions like these that we now take for granted but were unheard of in
those times, it is evident that liberal thinking began much before the start of
the Modern Era.
Closely following the footsteps of the Hindu reformer came [Sir] Syed Ahmed Khan, a Muslim Modernist, social activist and
philosopher who possibly influenced by the acclaimed Rammohan Roy, became the
first modernizer of Indian Islam. Born in 1817 to a family of administrative
officials in the time of Emperor Akbar, like the Hindu phisopher, Khan was also
keen for an upgrade to “modern education” which included studying works of
history, science, mathematics and political economy. Khan was bent upon
introducing this new type of education to Muslim men and like Roy was very
motivated towards his cause. Both men actually had an astonishing number of
similarities, some of which include bringing about reforms for their desired
causes (women and Muslims), being prolific at a number of languages which
included Arabic, Persian and English, travelling to England at the same age
(57) though it was years apart and wanting to adopt the “modern education
system” which didn’t focus on the Sanskrit shlokas which Roy believed wasn’t
useful in the daily life. Khan however wanted the “modern curriculum” for a
different reason. He believed that had his countrymen known about the power of
the British Empire, (which would be taught in the new system) they would not
have tried to revolt against the latter and the “unfortunate events” of the
revolt of 1857 could have been avoided.
Born in 1861 to a family of scholars, social reformers and
entrepreneurs, Rabindranath Tagore
is one of the country’s most famous names today. A lauded author, dramatist,
poet, artist and musician he has reshaped Bengal’s literature and music. He is
widely remembered as the first Asian winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
for “Gitanjali” which has been refined and edited by renowned Irish poet W.B
Yeats. Tagore came from a rich and well cultured family. He was educated in
England though he chose to drop out to continue self-education, he was the most
widely travelled Indian of his time having been to all the seven continents
except Antarctica and he was consequently encouraged to have a liberal ideology
and not just follow old Indian norms. Like Syed Ahmed Khan, he too wanted to
begin an institution, which he did in 1921 on family-owned land in Bengal. His
curriculum again differed from that of Roy and Khan’s. Tagore’s institution-
Viswa- Bharti, taught not only science and humanities but art and music as
well, the latter of which had been given virtually no importance in Roy or
Khan’s institutions. After having travelled the amount that he had, he had
reached an understanding of India’s place in the world that was more profound
than any others. Tagore was “a patriot without being a nationalist”. In the
aftermath of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, he repudiated his knighthood
saying that he didn’t want to accept such an honor from a nation that killed
his countrymen. However he wasn’t a xenophobe like everyone around him seemed
to be those days. Tagore’s ideal situation was to have a more civil and nuanced
relationship between India and the British Empire.
Tagore also had a considerably direct connection to Rammohan
Roy. His grandfather was a close associate of the latter and his family was one
of the first to join Bramo Samaj, Roy’s monotheistic reformist movement. Tagore
also mentions Roy in his essay ‘India and
the West’, where he calls Roy “a great man of modern India who has not
allowed any blind belief or ancestral habit to obscure his vision and he has
accepted the West without betraying the East and he did not sell himself by
holding out a beggar’s palms but assessed the true value of whatever he took.”
Liberal thinking is the reason that we have moved past our
ancient rules and make new ones that are better suited to the time and age. The
reason our existence is so much easier than that of our forefathers, is because
of men like these. Rammohan Roy. Syed Ahmad Khan. Rabindranath Tagore. Though
they had slight differences in their main goal of “modern education”, they are
the reason women rights, illegality of child marriage, sati and discrimination
based on caste or religion now exist. Our current education system is most
comparable to Tagore’s institution, which shows the evolution of liberal ideas
from the time of Roy to Khan to Tagore. All these men defied the social norms
by putting forward their ideas, which at that point would have been greeted
which a lot of scorn, anger and disagreement. Therefore this a testimony to
their courage and their belief in doing what was right. As times change, we are
exposed to newer and newer ideas and our way of thinking is becoming more
liberal day by day. However this is an ode to the people who started it all:
the founding fathers of liberal thinking in modern India.
Sources for this thesis: 'Makers of Modern India' by Ramachandra Guha
