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SKIT RESEARCH JOURNAL

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VOLUME 4; ISSUE 1: 2014 Editor in Chief : Prof. S. L. Surana

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SKIT RESEARCH JOURNAL
Impact of Gandhian Studies on the Present
Era - a Review
1 2
Shiv Singh , Madan SinghRana
1
Central Library, Banasthali University, Rajasthan
2
HNB Garhwal University (a central university) Uttarakhand
Email- 1shivsingh2005@gmail.com, 2msrana_2007@yahoo.co.in
Abstract: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (18691948) is well-
remembered as an apostle of peace and non-violence who became
an icon not only for his contemporaries all over the world, but also
for generations to come because of his inspiring life and works. In
this review an attempt has been made to present the views of
different authors on Gandhian philosophy, Gandhism and the
Mahatma's values. Besides the review, it is also emphasized that
Gandhian study is on the verge of becoming an established
discipline.
1. INTRODUCTION
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (18691948) is a well known
personality in history, who struggled hard to banish hcaste,
class and religious differences. Not only this, he played a great
role in making India free from the British rule. Moreover, his
efforts for Nai Talim are commendable. Rabindranath Tagore
described Gandhi as an infinite soul whose activities were for
the whole universe and called him Mahatma [1].
In this article an attempt has been made to collect all the major
aspects of his personality. Besides the review, this paper also
explores how Gandhian literature is emerging as a discipline.
2. REVIEW
Well-known personalities and eminent authors have presented
their views on Gandhi, his works, his philosophy and its
relevance today.
To the best of our knowledge the pioneering work related to
Gandhi in the context of periodical literature was reported by
B. Houghton [2]. He focused on the reforms in India. T. Gray [3]
raised questions regarding the non-award of the Noble peace
prize to Gandhi, a 'curious omission'as he called it. He
wondered why, when people who acknowledged Gandhi as
their mentor and who followed Gandhi's principles, like Martin
Luther King, Jr and Albert Luthuli ,were duly honoured with the
Nobel prize, was Gandhi himself, "the first to employ
nonviolence in a political perspective never honoured with the
Peace Prize". In his book entitled Gandhi's vision and values:
the moral quest for change in Indian agriculture,V. Pinto [4]
explained how India's crisis can be resolved by following the
Gandhi's path. This book provides valuable information about a
wide range of disciplines including economics, agricultural
economics, political science, religious studies, history and
ethics.
V. Lal [5] emphasized on Gandhi's experiments in
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brahmacharya. He tried to cover all the experiments performed
by Gandhi.
The Gandhian view of conflict resolution has been studied by
M. Arif [6] in his article. He opines that the Gandhian way of
conflict resolution is the only tool that is relevant in the modern
era. Gandhi laid emphasis on individuals in a society. To quote,
conflict in society is not because of conflicting economic and
social interest among the communities or classes. It is because
of different understanding of interest and society. He
explained that Gandhi's approach had been holistic as human
life is synthetic. Gandhi involved all aspects of life in his
philosophy. He concluded in his article that Gandhi's
philosophy is peace and nonviolence. Contemporary societies
are full of conflicts and only Gandhian philosophy of
simplicity, selfless work for others and nonviolence could save
humanity from their disastrous effects.
The importance of the Nobel prize and the reason why Gandhi
did not get it have been speculated by T. Weber [7]. Along with
this he has also discussed other personalities who got the Nobel
prize during the life time of Gandhi.
Bansal and Srivastava [8] have talked about the pillars of
Gandhian political edifice. This article includes the pillars as
well as their impact on the contemporary world. Truth,
nonviolence, service and Swaraj are the pillars on which
Gandhi built his political edifice. In the present work, they
emphasize that politics was not an art of acquiring power for
Gandhi but more than that like any activity for the welfare of the
people. They showed that truth was a matter of religion for
Gandhi. He equated truth with God. Non-violence meant a
victory won without making the opponent feel defeated.
Service meant serving people and the cause without aiming at
power in politics. Further, they defined 'Swaraj' as 'self-
restraints' or 'disciplined rule'. Thus, they have focused on the
unique political edifice defined by Gandhi.
M.K. Mittal [9] talks about the Gandhian service ethos and
compares it with hospital organizational behaviour. He focuses
in his article on the service ethos of Gandhi ji and stated that
Mahatma Gandhi has been a great champion of working with a
sense of service and devotion and without expecting anything
in return. According to Gandhi ji a service rendered with a
selfish motive is of no worth at all.
Gandhi's view on gender violence and gender equality has been
discussed by A. Kaushik [10]. She has focused on the related
SKIT RESEARCH JOURNAL
aspects of Gandhi in the context of gender equality. Further, she
mentions that it was only Gandhi who talked of establishing
gender equality. Earlier,or in the pre-Gandhian period ,women
were considered commodities in the hands of their husbands
and other male members of their family. She says: In such an
atmosphere Gandhi gave a totally new perspective regarding
gender equality and non-violence. He not only opposed the
harmful practices and encouraged regeneration of women but
gave the idea that women are not just equal and different but
superior to men. She avers that Gandhi opposed harmful
practices like female infanticide, child marriage, female
illiteracy, dowry, sati and the pathetic widow-hood. She
reveals that Gandhi supported the empowerment of women
through education,inheritance of property, economic
independence, franchise, and their equality with husbands ,etc.
She also explains that Gandhi was neither feminist nor anti-
feminist ; he was a great soul who was moved by the plight of
women.H e advocated and worked for gender equality in a way
that motivated women to change their lives.
Morselli and Passini [11] present a hermeneutic content
analysis of the autobiographical speeches and texts of Gandhi,
M. L. King Jr., and Mandela. They declare that the importance
given to parents' value orientation, experiences of injustice
during childhood, and investigation of alternative viewpoints
during teenage years played an important role in structuring
prosocial disobedience in Gandhi. They also conclude that
social responsibility is one of the most important conditions for
facing harassment without neglecting the original goals.
C. Padia [12], in her article, discusses Gandhi's views on 'being'.
She explains that Gandhi was a firm believer in 'being'. She
believes that modern culture has developed a materialistic
character but has decreased the inner morality of a human
being. She focuses on Gandhi's philosophy which can enrich
the Being. She concludes that for Gandhi truth is God that can
only be achieved through ahimsa. To quote: Gandhi in his
pursuit of truth could very well realize that to attain liberation
meant to discover one's own true identity, and his human
identity was not the self-constituting ego but the self
transcending atman in the direction of Brahman". She mainly
focuses on Gandhi as a critic of modern culture.
T. Webber [13]. expatiates on the pains that Gandhi suffered to
be called Mahatma. He spells out Gandhi's vision of family,
social responsibility and a different mission of charity.
According to Webber Gandhi ceased contributing to the family
funds and used his income to help the Indian community in
South Africa. Gandhi called it his immediate family. Further,
Webber discusses Gandhi's views about family. In this context,
he observes ,However, for Mohandas the idea of family had by
now taken on broader dimensions. It is in the fitness of things
that those who are more dependent on me have a greater claim
on me. Webber opines that Gandhi justified his action by
adopting a broader than usual definition of family. This came to
render his relations with his family cold, but it was also
responsible for him to be called Mahatma..
The Gandhian views on democracy have been spelled out by
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K.P. Mishra [14]. He says that recently the nation has faced a
severe debate on Anna Hazare's movement against corruption.
The two vital issues raised by this movement were people's
discontent against corruption and the apparent failure of Indian
representative democracy. He also emphasizes that the
electronic and print media depicted Anna Hazare as another
Gandhi. Thus, after so many years, Gandhi's views are still
alive. Mishra also explains that the Gandhian concept of
democracy is different from the western representative
democracy. In this work, he has covered different aspects of
democracy as explained by Gandhi
3. ECONOMICS
R.K. Sen [15] talks about the economic theory of Gandhi and
the level of living. He shows that the Gandhian economic
theory is a part of his philosophy which is based on the two
guiding principles of truth and nonviolence. He points out that
under the Gandhian economic constitution, no one should
suffer for want of basic necessities. Gandhi believed in
socialism, so he emphasized on the control of society over
production. Sen talks about class struggle that has no place in
the economy of Gandhi. Gandhi's focus was on the possible
ways of lifting the levels of living of the downtrodden. He also
asserts that Gandhi's economic theory depends on the
development of the inner traits. Sen concludes that Gandhi's
economic theory will strive to provide a simple life the chief
characteristics of which will be truthfulness, non-violence,
equality of status and of opportunities and necessary
mechanization. The focus of Gandhi's life long struggle and
sacrifice was India's economic development for which he came
to be known in India as 'Father of the Nation'.
S. Narayansamy [16] observes in his article 'Eradication of
poverty: the Gandhian Way' that Gandhi had his own way to
eliminate poverty and to develop the country. Naryansamy
says that the 21st century belongs to Gandhi and now there is
greater awareness of the Gandhian model of development. He
observes that Gandhi believed in nonviolent methods to get rid
of poverty.He focused on ways like trusteeship, non-
possession, voluntary poverty and simplicity, upliftment of
women, Panchayat Raj etc. He did not stir the people for a
turbulent revolution but suggested the path of the non-violence
and truth.
T. Webber [17] refers to the influence of Gandhi and his
philosophy on Arne Naes, John Galtung and E.F. Schumacher
in his article 'Gandhi: Deep Ecology, Peace Research and
Buddhist Economics.' He observes that Gandhi not only
insisted on non-violent activism but also influenced the
concepts of new environmentalism. He attempts to show that
the new environmentalism in the form of deep ecology, the
discipline of peace, research and what has become known as
Buddhist economics very closely mirror Gandhi's philosophy.
Gandhi preferred living in harmony with the environment. This
very thought was the basis of Naess' deep ecology. The idea of
'self'as defined by the Mahatma also inspired Naess. He further
states that Gandhi's wide conception of non-violence included
not treating others with less dignity and it inspired universal
SKIT RESEARCH JOURNAL
peace. Gandhi's ideas on Swadeshi and Khadi became the basis
of Buddhist economics.
R. Diwan [18] has empirically tested the assumptions of
Gandhian economics vis-a vis mainstream economics. He has
explained the basic principles of Gandhian economics in terms
like swadeshi, aprigrah, trusteeship, bread labour, non
exploitation and equality. He further developed a caring
relation into a new concept of "relational wealth". He also
formulated a functional relationship between material and
relational wealth. These tests established the coexistence of
economic progress with the general malaise and also predicted
that the GDP growth ultimately leads to a decline in "relational
wealth".
The overall socioeconomic thought of Mahatma Gandhi as the
origin of alternative development has been explored by K. Ishii
[19]. He has juxtaposed Gandhi's criticism of modern
civilization and economics and Marxist socialism and
communism. Along with this he has also analyzed his ideas for a
post-modern construction of India. For this he has
investigated Gandhi's views on Swadeshi, his theory of
trusteeship and his vision of an ideal village economy.
B.S.R. Anjaneyulu [20] has analyzed Gandhi's 'Hind Swaraj'
and his concept of 'Swadeshi'. He shows that for Gandhi Swaraj
means self governed and non-violent persuasion of others, so
that group living also becomes self-ruled and self sufficient.
'Hind Swaraj' was written by Gandhi for the solution of human
problems. He discussed Gandhi's correct meaning of Swaraj
that goes beyond native self government. Gandhi's meaning of
swaraj is freedom for self-rule at the individual level or freedom
for everyone to rule over one self. Further, he shows the process
of attaining the ability of self-rule. It depends upon our internal
strength, upon our ability to fight against the heaviest odds. He
discussed that there should be proper proportion between
outward freedom and inward freedom. The author shows that
Gandhi,s belief in all for one and one for all is reflected in
village life because the people of villages co-operate with each
other. The second phase of the process is passive resistance that
is termed 'Satyagraha:' the self-rule of the individual. It shall be
so deep and strong that it can influence others to follow and also
make them understand that problems can only be solved
through love and persuasion.
B.N. Ghosh [21] brings out the meaning of dialectics as well as
the salient features of Gandhian dialectics. Dialectics involves
the process which can explain the growth and evolution of a
system. The said article also unfolds the dialectical method that
was applied in Gandhian political economy.The six senses of
Gandhian dialectics are-contradiction, creation of opposite
effects by the same force, unity in diversity, systemic
development by neglecting related concepts, change from
quantity to quality and lastly interaction holism of aberrations.
The article proposes that truth became the sole objective of
Gandhi and it went under changes with the passage of time. To
quote ,This interactive way of looking at the matter will reveal
that truth is the basis of everything in the Gandhian system
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4. NONVIOLENCE AND SATYAGRAHA
G. Pontara [22] notices Gandhi's rejection of violence in
conflict resolution. He answers the question: on what
arguments did Gandhi base his rejection of violence? Secondly,
since he rejected violence, why did he on so many occasions
advise others to use it and actually, on some occasions ,take
direct part in it himself? Pontara studies the arguments given by
Gandhi. He states ,Gandhi denies the alleged necessity of
using violence by showing to the world that non-violent
methods of solving group conflicts work, and actually work in a
far better and more sure way than violent ones.. But Gandhi
also said, Though violence is not only lawful when it is offered
in self-defence and or for the defence of the defenceless, it is an
act of bravery far better than cowardly submission. Pontara
makes it clear in his article that Gandhi does not give fixed rules
for 'himsa' and 'ashimsa' because he believes that life does not
permit such fixities. He rejected violence as well as supported it
also because he believed that evil & good are relative terms.
What is good under certain circumstances can become an evil or
a sin under a different set of conditions.
M.B. Byles [23] discusses the basic necessity of violence and
non violence.For this , Byles has considered Gandhi's concept '
violence is better than cowardice'.Its meaning is clear: violence
is far better than submission. She concludes that whether the
action is violent or non- violent, truth,non attachment and
ahimsa are necessary elements to achieve the desired effect.
A.Nakhere [24] spells out the meaning of non-violence as
developed by Gandhi.He says,In spite of Gandhi's
development of satyagraha and developed mode of non violent
action and its dramatic use in India,the process that explains the
meaning and working of a satyagrah is neglected.In Nakhere's
article it becomes clear that the non-violence of the non-violent
movement was developed by Gandhi. Subsequently,
A.Nakhere elaborates the meaning and process involved in the
working of non violence on the basis of three nonviolent
movements: Bardoli, Pardi and Rajkot and their respective
leaders.The major force behind these movements was the
Gandhian theory of Satyagraha.,Further Nakhere focused on
the nature of Satyagrah,whether it is a creed or a tactic. To quote
Nakhere again,In the various non violent campaigns that
Gandhi led or supported, he never tired of reminding the
participants that Satyagrah is a creed or way of life rather than a
mere tactic.
'Perspectives of Peace and Non-violence'has been studied by
R.Parikh [25]. He observes that Gandhi strove for the
establishment of peace and non violence aas a pillar for society.
In this regard he says, Mahatma Gandhi'',who founded the
Gujrat Vidyapeeth in 1920, spent his life in the quest of peace
and struggled for a social order conducive to peace as a way of
life.He also explains the major responsibility of the centre.
Further , Parikh concludes that Gandhi propounded a system of
education which aimed at the establishment of a non violent
social order.
The links between Gandhian social philosophy and conflict
resolution literature have been studied by T. Weber [26]. In
SKIT RESEARCH JOURNAL
addition to this he has also argued that Gandhian satyagraha
should be directly positioned within conflict resolution
discourse.
K.K. Mishra [27] talks about Gandhi's thoughts on sovereignty
and the state. He affirms that Mahatma Gandhi's contribution to
Indian politics has been immense. Gandhi's political thoughts
depend upon his premise of truth and satyagraha. The present
article deals with his implicit faith that a good deed produces a
good result. Mishra also shows that for political sovereignty
Gandhi laid emphasis on 'Loka-sakti' and not on 'Raja-sakti'. In
the view of Gandhi 'Loka-Sakti' is the non-violent, self-reliant
civil power and Raja-sakti is negation of it. He points out in his
article that throughout his life Gandhi experimented with
nonviolence and tried to apply it to all spheres of life.
5. PEACE
A. Bose [28] analyzes the perspective of Gandhi on peace in her
article entitled 'Gandhian Perspective on Peace'. She observes
that human values were essential in the peace developed by
Gandhi.. She describes Gandhi as a practical philosopher and
activist who believed in taking the people, even his opponents,
into confidence. She concludes that the revolutionary mode of
action known as 'satyagraha' was the key to understand the
Gandhian perspective on philosophy and his challenging goal
of 'sarovodaya' (meaning the welfare and good of all). The
depth of wisdom like overcoming evil by suffering,
conquering violence by truth and non-violence were the major
points covered by Bose, in order to explain Gandhi's
perspective in detail.
T. Webber [29] has compared the views of Mahatma Gandhi
and John Galtung (father of modern the peace research) on
peace. He observes that both are similar in their philosophical
background. In fact, Galtung derived the idea of positive and
negative aspects of peace as well as structural violence from
Gandhian principles of peace. Webber concluded that modern
research in peace can be understood only with the contribution
of Galtung. Although, Galtung's work does not have any roots
without a knowledge of Gandhi's influence on his thoughts. He
also discusses the major points underpinning the Gandhian
concept of peace.
R.S. Yadav [30] has talked about Gandhian world order in order
to establish international peace. He observes that a number of
theories have been adopted for this purpose but all have failed to
achieve the desired end. He also suggests that Gandhi used a
holistic approach integrating individuals, the village,the state
and the international system. In simpler words, Gandhi wanted
to establish peace through the reformation of society by
transforming the information through Satyagraha. He
concludes by saying that Gandhian way is unique and an
alternative model for the establishment of international peace.
M. Bajaj [31] studied the various views on peace, education and
Gandhian studies. In her work, she examines the similarities &
differences of both the field through an exploration of their
content, institutional development and globalization since the
mid 20th century. She analyzes the observations and concludes
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that both the fields have the potential to offer each other
important lessons based on their own unique trajectories. She
writes: Thousands of books have been written on Mohandas
'Mahatma'. In fact his work has been so influential that, over the
last 60 years Gandhian studies have emerged as a disciplinary
field.. She summarizes that the Gandhian studies are
sometimes considered a localized variant of peace education.
She also compares Gandhi and Peace Education in India as well
as in other countries. Peace education means imparting
knowledge that is helpful to establish peace. In Peace Education
Centre, Gandhi's life is proffered as a final solution. Gandhi and
peace education have become synonyms of each other.
J. Galtung [32] in his article studied the influence of Gandhi's
ethics on Arne Naess. He observed that the political ethics of
Gandhi enlivened many of Arne Naess's philosophical projects.
He focused on the significance of peace derived from Gandhian
ethics by Naess in his writings on Gandhi. He tried to show that
Naess had attempted a systematic reconstruction of Gandhi.
Naess summarized the intellectual strategies to explore
Gandhian ethics in three steps in this paper (i) forms of non-
violence like non-cooperation and civil disobedience ,(ii)
general norms, like code to conduct such as do not fight
antagonist but the antagonism (iii) the comparative analysis of
his metaphysics with others, like Gandhi's insistence on the
unity of mankind as opposed to individualism. Galtung
concluded that they talked long on empathy and nonviolence
but short on creativity.
A study on the theory of conflict resolution has been conducted
by A. Kaushik [33]. She starts with peace education and
concludes with the Gandhian way of resolving conflicts, a
proper and ultimate model. This article affirms that people are
not peace loving, so conflicts are obvious; and it consists of
three components : incompatibility, action and actors. Further
she avers that John Galtung and Kenneth Boulding, the
founders of peace studies in the west were influenced by
Gandhi. However, today's western way of peace study is very
different from that of Gandhi. She believes that Gandhian peace
demands a great deal of sacrifice from the practitioner; that
truth and nonviolence are the very foundation stone of
satyagraha. Truth functions in the form of nonviolence or love.
6. SWARAJ
R.C. Heredia [34] has interpreted Gandhi's Hind Swaraj in his
article entitled 'Interpreting Gandhi's Hind Swaraj'. He
reinterprets 'Hind Swaraj' in the context of civilization.
Gandhi's Hind Swaraj is not totally separated from modernity.
He discusses Gandhi as a great synthesizer and explains his
views in detail. Gandhian views. Gandhi criticized the modern
west for begetting evils like colonial imperialism, industrial
capitalism and rationalist materialism. According to him
colonialism was something that should be overcome in our own
consciousness. Heredia demonstrates that Gandhi's 'Purna
Swaraj' means a proper balance between rights and duties, head
and heart, individual and community, faith and reason,
economic development and spiritual progress ,etc. Further, he
comes to Gandhi's concept of 'Moksha' and compares it with
SKIT RESEARCH JOURNAL
Iris Murdoch's concept of 'broken totality'.
P.C. Joshi [35] deals with Gandhi's epoch-making visit to
Uttarakhand in 1929 as a crucial link between the nation's
struggle for swaraj and the ongoing people's movement in the
region. Gandhi's visit encouraged the process of giving the
freedom movement in Uttarakhand a mass base.
C. Kripalani [36] proposed to analyzed the ideology of Gandhi
and the Utopia of 'Hind Swaraj'as shown in some popular Hindi
films. There are films like- 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahi Mara', 'Hey
Ram' etc which attempt to keep the father of the nation alive for
the present generation. Kriplani points out that these popular
films that are obviously nationalistic, subtly represent the
iconic stature of Gandhi. Kriplani avers
that Gandhi's definition of Hind Swaraj as the founding of an
ethical state-provides the blue print for the Hindi film industry's
depictions of nationhood. Further, Kripalni says that Gandhi's
view of 'Hind Swaraj' as being village centered did not change
throughout his life. It envisaged an idyllic society in which each
individual would be liberated and so be an active contributor to
the community. Kriplani states that the popular film industry
has a long history of producing socially conscious films with a
political subtext that upholds nationalist ideals. These ideas
have their origin in Gandhi's Hind Swaraj. Further, in the same
article it has been shown that when Munna Bhai is confronted
with troublesome issues, he reaches conscientious decisions
through Gandhiigiri (Gandhism). Thus, he shows that Indian
films have been influenced by Gandhian ethics of Hind Swaraj.
M. Jain [37] has analyzed modern culture in his article entitled
'Modern culture with reference to Hind Swaraj'. Modern culture
is based on science and technology. He points out that Gandhi
challenged this culture in his 'Hind Swaraj'. Gandhi said that
modern culture is monoculture and loses unity in diversity. It is
based on the principles of commercialization, power game &
mechanization. He further lays out some solutions given by
Gandhi to control the damages done by modern culture. He tells
us that Gandhi in Hind Swaraj highlighted the value of self-
control, voluntary simplicity, peaceful life, self-rule, physical
work and sharing moral education.He emphasizes moral
education because it teaches one to live a moral life. Jain also
talks about Gandhi's concept of 'swadeshi'. Further, he observes
that in 'Hind Swaraj' Gandhi was not looking at the people of
India only, but of the whole world in terms of ideal political,
social economic, moral, cultural, educational and equal
structure.
R.C. Pradhan [38] observes in his article that Gandhi's abiding
faith evolved due to his sojourn in South Africa. He developed
his basic ideas like 'swaraj' and 'swadeshi' and his major
methods like ashram living, prayer, brahmacharya, due to
working through an integral and dialectical process of inner
illumination and outer challenges. Gandhi found his 'inner
voice' most effective and equated it to the 'voice of God'.
Pradhan sums up the article pointing to the development of
Gandhi's personality and faith.He is of the opinion that it was
faith on which Gandhi tried to build the social fabric of a
secular, united and independent India free from the bonds of
region, religion, caste and creed.
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7. EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT
S.N. Prasad [39] has thrown light on the development of peace
education in India after independence. He says that in spite of
fact that India has contributed a lot to world peace through the
policy of Panchsheel and non alignment, there is no trace of
peace education in the form of a discipline at the university
level in India. However, he observes that peace education is
popular in research centres. He has also given a list of such
centres and institutes in India.
Devdas and Rajan [40] conducted a study on the philosophy of
education in Gandhian terms. They consider education to be a
very important element in economic development. An
educational system is that system which integrates the needs of
the individual,the nation and all humanity on the one hand and
harmonious development of the body, mind and soul on the
other. They also observe that Gandhi ji recommended that kind
of educational system. He regarded education as a means of
social revitalization. Gandhi ji considered literacy not as an end
or beginning of education but the means through which men
and women can be educated. They further observe that Gandhi
ji emphasized intellect and physical exercise. He prescribed
'productive craft' as the medium of education. It is based upon
the concept of 'learning by doing' and 'learning while earning'.
In Gandhian philosophy of education ,work plays a pivotal role
because it is a centre of all institutions. According to Gandhi,
education should invoke good habits in students so that they can
be useful for society. He paid a tribute to faith and religion and
asked the students to study the tenets of a faith other than one's
own. Prayer has also got an important place in Gandhian
philosophy of higher education because it is an instrument
through which faith, fearlessness and cultured life can be
cultivated. They concluded that Gandhi proposed 'New
Education' which was not only a method of education but a
philosophy of life. This new education stands for the dignity of
all aspects of human work. Psychological, sociological and
biological soundness has been the summary of Gandhi ji's
philosophy of education. Furthermore, it is suggested that
Gandhi's philosophy is a combination of philosophical
doctrines like naturalism, idealism and pragmatism. His
educational philosophy meets the requirements of multi-
dimensional problems of development in the modern era.
S. Bala [41] in her study focuses on the Gandhian perspective
of education and its relevance in modern times. She observes
that Gandhi's conception of education is considered to be the
first blue print of national system of education. She opines that
it was a vocational or job oriented education that emphasized
action rather than theory. In the Gandhian scheme, a child
should be more social-minded and co-operative. Gandhi's
scheme included some important aspects-like free compulsory
education, craft as a centre, self-supporting aspect of education,
cult of nonviolence, education for democratic values and adult
education. She concludes with the fact that the essence of basic
education lies in drawing out the best in a child or a man, body,
mind and spirit. In the Gandhian scheme education lays
emphasis on manual labour and self-sufficiency, so that people
SKIT RESEARCH JOURNAL
can choose their vocations. She observes that modern education
is theory based and leads to unemployment. So, a reorientation
of basic education has become a need for modern society in
order to increase the growth of the nation.
The evolution of peace education and peace studies in India has
been examined by Tint and Prasad [42]. They enumerate the
factors that influence the possibility of this development,
including the philosophical underpinnings of peace education,
ideological issues concerned with the relationship between
academia and politics, and the structural and economic
conditions in India. They have also touched upon Gandhi's
legacy. Moreover, they have analysed the launch of a Peace and
Conflict Resolution Centre at the University of Madras.
A. Damn [43] has written about Gandhi's view of character
education in nonviolence. The essay presents Gandhi's
education as a model for strengthening non-violence in
students. Damn observes that character has a very special place
in the educational principles of Mahatma Gandhi. To quote,
The end of all knowledge must be building up of character.
Further, A. Damn observes that Gandhi offers methods for
fostering non-violent character, namely, the teaching of world
religions, service learning, etc. He shows that Gandhi suggested
three methods for imparting a non-violent character to students.
He concludes that we should apply educational principles
espoused by Gandhi to the teaching of religious studies in an
effort to nurture non-violent character, without being religious.
8. GANDHIAN PHILOSOPHY
N.A. Nikam [44] talks about the philosophy of Mahatma
Gandhi. He observes that Gandhi's pilosophy, an experiment
with truth, was not a philosophy in which he merely interpreted
or analyzed things for himself. Gandhi made experiments to
change himself and his environment. In his philosophy he
applied eternal truth to one's daily life and problems. In the
present article Nikam showed that Gandhi experimented with
six major virtues of Hindu thought & practice like devotion to
truth, application of the external truth' to the problems of daily
life, God as a centre and concept of state and the individual &
social order, etc. Further, Nikam stresses the re-orientation of
the traditional cardinal virtues of Hindu thought like Ahimsa,
Asetya, Brahmacharya & Abhaya in Gandhi's experiments with
truth and non-violence. Gandhi believed that God is not God to
be God but must rule the heart & transform it. In his
philosophy, he stresses that truth is God.
N.F. Gier [45] carries out the comparison between Gandhi and
Confucius on the major issues related to philosophy and the
virtue of aesthetics. The present paper deals with the
similarities between the two philosophers. Their thoughts on
human nature and the self-society world relationship are
similar, but they differ from each other on some issues. 'Graded
love' of Confucius caused a difference because Gandhi sided
with the doctrine of unconditional love. The present paper also
shows how these thinkers diverged on relishing meat and
performing animal sacrifice. Confucius believed in them but
Gandhi did not accept these things in his life. Gier shows that
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apart from these differences, they were in profound agreement
on fundamental issues like the unity of truth, goodness and
beauty.
A. Bilgrami [46] writes about the integrity of Gandhi's thought
as well as the philosophy behind the politics in the Gandhian
way. Bilgrami considered Gandhi a great thinker due to his
philosophical ideas. He observes,I remember thinking that it
was like being asked to climb the Western Ghats when I was
taking a detour to climb Mount Everest. He believes that
Gandhi was a man of integrity in the sense that he tried to make
his actions live up to his ideals. But he did even more than that.
His mean of integrity was related to something abstract, that his
thought was highly integrated, his ideas about very specific
political strategies in specific contexts flowed form ideas that
were very remote from politics. Bilgrami makes it clear that
Gandhi was the first person to introduce non-violence to the
nationalist efforts against the British. Bilgrami also points out
Gandhi's idea of thinking beyond constitutional demands. He
demonstrates that Gandhi knew that making constitutional
demands was not going to be particularly effective with the
British. So he introduced his own strategy of civil disobedience,
at once a non-violent and yet a constitutional strategy.
The relevance of Gandhian philosophy in dealing with peace,
development and social justice has been examined by David
and Soest [47]. They explain the five core concepts of Gandhian
thought, namely , styagraha, ahimsa, swadeshi, bread-labour
and equality. In order to deal with violence, oppression, and
exploitation they suggest a professional peace consciousness
for social work based on Gandhian beliefs.
9. GANDHI : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
S. Prasad [48] in his article 'Towards an Understanding of
Gandhi's View on Science', observes that Gandhi's thoughts
about science were totally different from that of Nehru and
other thinkers. It is wrong to believe that Gandhi was anti-
science.According to Prasad a look at his various experiments
and the difference of methods makes it clear. Gandhi created a
space for an alternative science for civil society. Prasad believes
that Gandhi emphasized non-physical resources while Nehru
focused on experiments on physical resources. He describes
Gandhi's early criticism of science as well as the changed
attitude towards it. Gandhi talked about a'satyagrahi scientist'
who was radically different from Nehru's scienist. Prasad also
illustrates Gandhi's new cosmology of man- nature and fact-
value relations. The entire article revolves around Gandhi's
attitude to science in his experiments
J. Ezer [49] talks about information technology, its impact on
development and Gandhi's philosophy. The impact of
information technology on development is the subject of an
ongoing debate. The article discusses the role of universities
because education shapes the attitudes of people towards
technology. He concludes that ICT education perpetuates an
attitude of deep reverence for science and technology. It focuses
on one's personal development rather than the development of
the poor. But Gandhian philosophy is different. The study also
SKIT RESEARCH JOURNAL
emphasizes that the nuclear test of 1998 was Gandhi's second
assassination; then perhaps the current sociology of education,
particularly higher ICT education in India, is Mahatma
Gandhi's third assassination."
10. GANDHIAN LITERATURE AS AN
EMERGING DISCIPLINE
The above review, clearly indicates that Gandhian thoughts
won a lot of appreciation during pre and post independence
period at both national and international levels. But most of the
authors have started writing on him after his death. Thus today
Gandhi's thoughts are known as Gandhism, Gandhiana,
Gandhian teachings and Gandhian literature. The wide range of
aspects of Gandhi's life made him so popular that there are
numerous centers of Gandhian studies in the present time.
Various kinds of research done on Gandhi's works provide a
new dimension to his teaching principles in the modern era.
Lots of efforts have been made to establish organizations,
institutions in order to enhance Gandhian studies. The study of
the history of this subject shows that Gandhian principles and
the principles of peace education have become a part of the
fundamental architecture of many Indian universities. Earlier,
the elements of Gandhian philosophy were used by several
schools in their names and operational structures but now there
are dozens of Indian universities which offer a degree in
'Gandhian studies'. Not only this, many centres are still coming
up. The sole purpose of these departments is to enhance peace
research and national unity. Gandhigram University in Tamil
Nadu & Mahatma Gandhi University in Kerala bear the name of
Mahatma Gandhi. Apart from these universities,a number of
other universities are running courses in this field. Punjab
University Chandigarh, Banasthali University, Rajasthan,
IGNOU New Delhi, VMOU Kota, Gandhigram University
etc.are among them. In 1960 some conferences were held by
this university to prepare peace workers for conflict areas.
Gandhigram University trained the first group of students in the
Gandhian principle of non-violence. In the 21st century,the
University Grants Commission (UGC) started supporting such
centres as are directly or indirectly related to Gandhian Studies.
A huge amount has been infused to increase the number of such
centres, so that today there are 500 centres of Gandhian studies
in Indian colleges and Universities.The UGC has made all
possible efforts to enhance the field of Gandhian Philosophy. It
also established the Gandhian centre for peace and conflict
studies on 1st April 2004.
These endless efforts and the increasing popularity of Gandhi
have resulted in the institution of a national competitive exam
for admission to post graduate and research courses in
Gandhian education. The Punjab University has a two-year
interdisciplinary programme in Gandhian studies. IGNOU has
also been running a programme in Gandhian studies since 2012.
Nagindas Khandwala College also runs a centre for Gandhian
studies. Presently the number of Gandhian studies centre under
the scheme of Epoch Making is sixty one.
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11. SUMMARY
To sum up it can be said that 65 years after his death Gandhi is
even greater than before, and will remain alive in the hearts of
forthcoming generations.Already, Gandhian literature is an
independent discipline thanks to the endless efforts of the
various Gandhian centres, institutions and universities that are
running courses on his philosophy. Even the young generation
is taking interest in these courses and is fascinated by Gandhi's
thoughts and way of living. The interest of the present
generation in Gandhian methods is clearly reflected in the
crowds at the satyagraha by Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev etc.
Hence, it is hoped that the present article will be relevant for the
upcoming scholars in this field.
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