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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Hind Swaraj, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Passive Resistance and Indian Independence
Modern Civilization and Colonialism
The Personal and the Political
Indian Nationhood and Identity
Summary
Analysis
The reader asks the editor about education, which has become a major political issue. The editor replies that modern English education is useless—it’s just knowledge, which can be used for either good or evil. A farmer doesn’t need literacy and arithmetic, just morality. While Englishmen like professor Thomas Huxley say that education should strengthen people’s rationality, will, and sense of morality, English education doesn’t actually do so in India. The reader suggests that the editor is wise because of his education, but the editor disagrees: he learned nothing about morality in school, and he doesn’t need his modern education to communicate with most Indians. He concludes that true education must emphasize morality and character.
Education is a significant issue for the independence movement because it speaks to the kinds of values that Indians want to pass down to future generations. It’s also significant to Gandhi’s audience, who were generally well-off professionals who could attribute their success to their education. Therefore, Gandhi takes a bold step by calling English education valueless: he wants these readers to see that morality and spiritual awareness are the rightful measures of their success in life, not wealth and status. However, Gandhi does not reject the principle of having a school system: rather, he thinks that it’s far more important to teach children morality than math.
Themes
The reader asks whether Indians should learn English. The editor says both yes and no. The English language has enslaved India—Indians must write in English to reach a wide audience, and India’s government, newspapers, and courts are all in English. Nevertheless, English can also help Indians educate themselves, communicate with English people, and build a resistance movement across linguistic boundaries. Still, Indians should strive to communicate, read, and learn in their native languages whenever possible. Their education system should focus on ethics, and all Indians should learn multiple Indian languages. Hindi should be the national language, but it should use both the Persian and Nagari scripts. And truly ethical teachers should replace the charlatans who currently teach religion.
Linguistic policy has always been a hot topic in India: the population speaks more than 1,500 different languages, of which more than 20 are official today. This linguistic situation represents a vast cultural wealth, but also presents a practical challenge for governing the nation. Accordingly, Gandhi tries to address both halves of this equation in his proposal for a limited use of English, which he views as both a relic of colonialism and a valuable tool for intercultural and international communication. But he also sees the chance for Indians to study and teach in their own native languages as a chance for the country to reinvigorate its ancient civilization. Similarly, he views the chance for Indians to learn other Indian languages as a way for India’s diverse regional groups to strengthen their common identify as Indians. To promote religious harmony, he proposes using Hindi in both the Persian (or Arabic) script and the Nagari (or Sanskrit-based) one. This is a way of explicitly giving equal standing to Muslims and Hindus,
Themes
