on his Promethean errand he goes on undaunted with the inspiration of a Hebrew prophet. There is hardly a popular doctrine or doctrinaire that he does not challenge, hardly a religious dogma or stigma that he does not subject to the hammer of merciless logic. His mind reels when he thinks of the oblivion that surrounds us. His microscopic analysis harrows him with fears and hurries him to despair and he declares, “If at any time the Indian nation ceases to live, it will undoubtedly be a case of suicide and not of murder.”
This is the line of thought that Swami Dharma Theertha, develops in his masterly thesis, THE MENACE OF HINDU IMPERIALISM, perhaps the most outspoken and potent contribution to contemporary socio-religious literature. It is very difficult indeed to predict how far the book will succeed in reorienting and rationalising the mind and outlook of our social reformers and thinkers, but about one thing there cannot be any doubt: that in Swamiji we have a critic of almost unique equipment for the multi-sided nature of his task. He is a pure intellectualist for whom there can be none of the emotional softness, none of the warmth and tenderness, which belongs to a different, and frequently a more influential, type of thinker. His task, like that of the surgeon, is to lay bare the seat of the disease. He therefore pierces into the most sensitive depths of our popular ideologies, utterly regardless of the wincing, or even of the cries of pain, when some deeply hidden prejudice or complacency feels the touch of the steel. Not unoften does he bite us with the cobras of his tongue and ‘sting us with the scorpions of his pen. But he is cruel only to be kind.
He tells us bluntly. “We rely for success more on a clever and often false presentation of our case than on a, just settlement of accounts”. If therefore a correct balance sheet were drawn, we shall find ourselves an altogether insolvent nation, threatened at every moment, with voluntary liquidation. According to him, no people had more warnings of their inevitable doom and more extended opportunities of retrieving the disaster than the Hindus. But warnings have produced no effect and opportunities have been callously disregarded. We have never thought that nationality has to be built on self-know-ledge and self-culture, on a correct understanding of the past and a courageous shaping of the future. Nationality, he points out, is the capacity of a people to organise and function as an organic unit. It is more of the nature of a dynamic impulse than of a static unity already attained. But instead of being the true inheritors of the pasty possessors of the present and builders of the future, we seek consolation in the records of bygone ages ‘like the pauper who delights in going over the pages of old account books relating to his thriving business prior to his insolvency’.
The institution of caste and Brahmanism are the chief targets against which he directs his artillery fire. What have they stood for, he pertinently asks, except social and religious injustices, inequalities, intolerances and exploitation? What have they meant except the intellectual and moral stagnation of the Hindu masses, the emasculation of the nation forced to live or die in an atmosphere of inferiority and disunion and the submergence of all true religion in a flood of ceremonization and its prostitution for the exploitation of the masses? ‘The caste divisions not only make the Hindu society a mere congregation of innumerable “Pakistan’s” but also make Hinduism a standing insult to humanity.
These are unpalatable statements that would make our great Pundits frown and fumble. But they are just unpleasant. We have the verdict of history before us and the experience of centuries behind us, Few of us would have the courage to deny that Brahmanism has dug the grave of the mighty Hindu empires in the past and is responsible for all the strife and dissension of the present. If we are out to rise as a, nation with peace at’ home and security abroad, we must extricate ourselves from the Brahmanical social order. A golden nationality cannot be built on leaden foundations.
The dilemma of Hamlet faces India to-day, To be or not to be—that is the question that looms large before her. We have been the ‘physicians’ of the world in the past. To-day that great physician is on his bed of convalescence. Ironical though it may seem, the physician to-day must cure himself! Can we regain our lost vitality and cure our debility? Yes. But not through external amputations massaging and bandages but through a course of proper dietetics and an internal bath.
Swamiji has lost faith neither in the future nor in the recuperative power of the race.
He desires to introduce a new currency of social conduct which may effectively demonetize the old.
We feel grateful that in these days of cheap journalism and cheaper politics, we have at least one man amongst us whose vision is neither clouded nor contaminated and who has nerves enough to declare with utmost frankness and candour, that which he sees.
- “Guardian”, Madras—
This is a book which every unbiassed patriot should read, mark and digest … In truth it is an attempt to interpret Indian history with a view to discover the true sources of our weakness. This analysis is under-taken to clear the way for true national progress . . . The true quarrel is with imperialism and those who champion it and not with any community. The author has taken for his authority Hindu writers who cannot be accused of bias, such as R. C. Dutt, Ranade, Jadunath Sarkar, Vydia, etc. .
The main thesis of the author may be stated in the following propositions:—(i) That we should leave our smug satisfaction with ourselves and become critical of ourselves if we desire to advance; (ii)- that we should fight imperialism inside us much as we abhor it in our rulers; (iii) that for the union and advance of India we must synthesise our communal cultures into an Indian national culture; (iv) that for the evolution of an unified Indian nation we have to discard caste, idolatry, and mythology and reinstate in their place brotherhood, monotheism and worship in spirit; (v) that the unity of India cannot be achieved through political devices but by social and cultural rapprochements; (vi) that all the reform forces should unite to create a moral and social revolution; (vii) that revolt against Hindu Imperialism is necessary for the security of Hindu democracy.
We think we have summarised accurately the crucial points of the author. We cannot imagine any serious thinker or sincere patriot refusing to acknowledge the force and appropriateness of every one of these points. We hope that the book will hasten the social revolution long since overdue.
- “Obsever”, Cuttack-
It is a book which has been written with a strong faith in action to revivify the Hindu Society purging the dross out of it. The method suggested is not bad. But how to change the mentality of the inactive Hindu mind? Most of the Hindus perform’ ceremonies based on caste and latter day puranic scriptures. They have no active faith in these doings. But the old momentum is great, as great as when the Himalayas or for the matter of that, the very earth was set in motion which is being carried on still out of the old momentum. Who is the giant to stop it? But the impact of the Mussalmans, the Christians and in the past of the Huns, the Sakas, etc., has slowed the motion to a great extent. Out of the puddles of Hindu is to-day, priestcraft, and caste must not be saved but must be drowned. The book excites, inspires and also provokes the reader to think furiously. The Hindu-Muslim Unity Will be possible when the Hindu Society will be more active, and dead -to formalities and forms of old.
- Sir Jogendra Singh, Simla—
It is written with a distinction of style and clearness of vision. In all my writings from my youth upward I have held that an Indian-nationhood cannot prosper unless it overcomes some of the evils which we have been nursing for centuries. I hope the book will find a wide circulation and win approval.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Bombay—
The book is written from a point of view which I ;appreciate very much. I am myself writing a book in which I have touched many of the points which I find .are dealt with in the book. The book was therefore a very welcome thing to me.
- “The Theosophist,” Madras—
This is a useful and well-written book, inspired by .sincere philanthropy and zeal for reform, and based on ‘,scholarly researches into Indian history and modern :movements.
- Sir Abdul Qadir, Lahore—
I have read the book with great interest. I ,think the author has done a great service to the country by -writing so frankly and so vigorously about some of the weak points of the Hindu social system … . I am also :glad to notice that Swamiji has laid stress on the promotion of the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity .
- Young men of India, Calcutta—
The political and the cultural conflicts which have been going on in India during the past decades have -been stimulating a, new ferment within the Hindu Society. On the one hand there are apologists like Sir -Raciha Krishnan, who have given a new interpretation to the old religious practices and forms of thought, and on the other hand there are writers like Panniker and the author of the book under review, who, with a courageous frankness, acknowledge the prevailing evils of the Hindu Society and suggest ways and means of a new orientation.
The Menace of Hindu Imperialism is written with a keen insight into the historical development of Hinduism from the earliest times. While, the Hinduism of the Vedic period was pure, and free from fatal defects, the rise and domination of Brahmanism has been the cause which has contributed the most to the deterioration and disintegration of the Hindu system. This thesis is put forward, maintained and supported by a careful’ citation of facts of history, based on a wide and discriminating study. The writer is not an enemy of Hinduism, bent on its destruction and degradation, but rather he is a keen reformer devoted to the cause of reformation through a thorough-going purge of the demonical features of the Hindu Society. He writes his book with a freshness of mind, and a spirit of constructive rehabilitation. He puts forward a scheme for the inauguration of a representative All-India Hindu Congress with the object of-bringing about solidarity and oneness of aim within the Hindu household. Apart from the regeneration of the Hindus, he sees no political emancipation of India. The caste is a deadly enemy “No Freedom with Caste”.
“The revival of Caste-Raj in any form is the greatest menace of the present crisis which all liberty-loving people, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians, should unite in combating.
The book is well worth a careful reading.
