Mahatma Gandhi as a cultural icon

As the world celebrates the 140th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi or Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, it is interesting to look back on his rich legacy as a leading freedom fighter in the Indian independence struggle.

If Jawaharlal Lal Nehru was the political leader behind the Indian independence struggle, it was Mahatma Gandhi who gave the struggle a spiritual dimension as a spiritual leader. He was a living monument of Indian culture. As the newly Independent India emerged, Mahatma Gandhi's larger than life image and his spiritual leadership formed the moral contours of the nation. His role as a cultural icon is as important as that of a political leader.

Non violence as a tool of struggle

It was Gandhi who, for the first time, used non-violence civil disobedience campaign as a tool of struggle. Apart from his extensive writings on his struggles, numerous other sources suggest that he commenced his non -violence campaign as a young lawyer in South Africa. It was during the struggle of the resident Indian community in South Africa for civil rights that Gandhi employed non-violent civil disobedience.

Following his return to India in 1915 and subsequently assuming the leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi widely practised non-violence campaign to achieve independence of India. He also campaigned against poverty, for women rights, building religious and ethnic harmony, against the oppressive Indian case system and above all for economic self-reliance. Perhaps, among his numerous peaceful struggles, most famous was the Dandi Salt March in 1930. Gandhi with his thousands of followers marched in a non-violence non cooperation movement against the salt tax imposed by the British. Gandhi was imprisoned both in South Africa and India. He is considered as the Father of the Nation.

His early life

Examining his early life it was evident that Gandhi came under the influence of Indian culture. Hindu life coupled with its vegetarian culture and Indian classics had a lasting impression on Gandhi's life. Particularly, the stories of Shravana and Maharaja Harishchandara from the Indian epics had a lasting impact on his childhood and adult life as a person committed to uphold truth and love as most important values in his life.

However, the important factor is not that Gandhi came under the dominant cultural ethos of the day but that he lived through an era which defined the quintessential political cultural ethos of the nation to be born. Despite hundred years of British rule in India, the Indian culture centred on Indian classics in general and epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata in particular remarkably survived the onslaught of overarching British influence on Indian life.

Revival of Indian culture, character, and stature of a proud nation which assimilated the best from the British discarding what is alien to its culture, can largely be attributed to the spiritual and cultural revival spearhead by Mahatma Gandhi. The robust modern nation of Indians emerged under the larger than life image of Mahatma Gandhi. His perpetual cultural shadow is cast upon, perhaps, every aspect of Indian life from the currency notes to his omni- presence in portraits in every nook and corner of the nation.

Among other things, his efforts at promoting ethnic harmony have immensely contributed to the creation of a nation which celebrates unity in diversity. India's heterogeneous population, though divided on linguistic, cultural, ethnic lines at local level, is united by the spirit of nationhood.

Mahatma Gandhi's life and time not only marked the end of the British rule in India but also the emergence of a proud nation with its cultural and linguistic heritage going back to Vedic era. As the wave of modernity swept like a whirlwind throughout the continents following the ideological collapse of Communism together with its centrally planned system of economy, Indian government embarked on a programme of economic reforms, opening up the economy to the direct foreign investment. Compared the Indian experience with the rest of the Asian countries, significant aspect of the phase of modernisation that took place in India was Indian culture showed a remarkable degree of resilience against the alien system of values that came along with modernization and industrialization.

Indian mode of modernity

For instance, the English language which had been a unifying factor throughout India's long march to freedom subsequently became indigenous by the creation of a regional verity of English which is known as Indian English.

Though there may be pros and cons of such regionalisation or indiginisation of an International language, the important fact here is that the Indian culture is so resilient that it effectively absorbed English into it. The Indian English grows over the years assimilating worlds from hundred of provincial languages in India and by now it has become a recognised variety of English capable of expression authentic Indian experiences.

Another significant feature of Indian modernisation is that India's innate ability to create its mode of modernisation. The very perception of modernity is often associated with Western civilisation. The invariable component of that modernity is the socio-cultural ethos of the West. Most of the westernised elite in the Asian countries are not only proud of their ability to speak in several European languages but also of their inability to speak in indigenous languages. This has virtually made them brown sahibs who are almost European save their colour and nationality which are often confined to the passport. The important lessons that the Indian type of modernity offers is the manner in which the positive aspects of modernity is absorbed into the mainstream society while discarding the unsavoury aspects of it. This ideology has been aptly summed up by a popular slogan which says "India welcomes microchips but not potato chips". The potato chips symbolise the fast food culture which has been proved unhealthy Microchips symbolises. The latest technologies and industrialisation that the market economy would bring about through healthy competition. Unlike some Asian countries India does not throw overboard everything that colonial rulers left behind.

For instance, independence judiciary, strong bureaucracy and dynamic system of education which the British bequeathed had been effectively used to build up a firm foundation for a modern nation that is India today. India is regaining its pre-eminence position that it held over centuries as the centre of trade and seat of learning in Asia. It is against this backdrop that one should look upon the ideals enunciated by Mahatma Gandhi and his role as a cultural icon.