At the turn of the 20th Century, whilst the movement for Swaraj ensued to emancipate the Indian sub-continent from the tyranny inflicted by British Imperialism, the war had to be fought on multiple fronts in the form of politico-ideological, religious and socio-cultural reformationist battles. The dialogical exchange and literature penned by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who upon his return from South Africa (contemporarily referred to as ‘the Transvaal’)was then cementing his status as the forerunner of the Indian independence movement, often serves as the focal point whilst revisiting and analysing these debates – especially that of ‘religious etymology’ of that era.
Gandhi is often regarded as one of the ‘most religious’ political leaders of the time. He embraced the perception of India as a land renowned for her philosophy and religion[1] – as a ‘life force’ intrinsic and inextricably linked to all spheres of one’s day-to-day life. His seminal text Hind Swaraj contains discussion where he addresses religion – not merely at a spiritual level, but also considers its practical implications in real-life scenarios.[2] Moreover, he also stressed upon the importance of religion (inter alia) in a political sense – as the cornerstone for uniting the nation into one large singular unit which ultimately laid foundations for the harmonious and peaceful governance of the country once the object of Swaraj was fulfilled.
A practising Sanatani Hindu himself, Gandhi’s perception of religion naturally was anything but ‘fundamentalist’ in nature. Gandhi’s ever-evolving experiments with religion culminated in him elucidating upon what “God” and “the Truth” meant to him in an issue of Young India:[3]
“To me God is Truth and Love. God is Ethics and Morality. God is Fearlessness. God is essence of life and light and yet He is above and beyond all these. God is conscience. He is even the atheism of the atheist. For in his boundlessness, God permits the atheist to live. He is the searcher of hearts. He is a personal God to those who need his personal presence. He is embodied to those who need his touch. He is the purest essence … He is all things to all men. He is in us and yet above and beyond us.”[4]
While his upbringing in a traditional religious ethos seamlessly permitted the plurality of faith and belief amiable to what he deems as the ‘Sanatana Dharma’, Gandhi was also heavily influenced by the works of Leo Tolstoy and espoused his belief on “the ‘soul force’ being superior to the ‘brute force’” and that there was “no room in any religion for anything other than compassion.”[5] Gandhi was a staunch believer in the ancient Hindu principle of “Ekam Sat Vipra Bahuda Vadanti” which translates into “all the paths lead to one God.” He devoted a majority of his life’s work on religion looking out for those universal principles which transcended religion as a dogma, whilst not superseding them.[6] At the same time, it may be inferred from his views on what constitutes the portmanteau term of “orthodoxy” in common parlance – where he clarified that while he shunned the “orthodox” practices of untouchability and communalism, he would deem himself to be an “orthodox Hindu” if the “orthodoxy” entailed the embracing of the pursuit of living Hinduism to its best light[7] – that he wanted these “so-called religious principles” to primordially appeal to practicality and modern reason, while not conflicting with morality at the same time:
“I exercise my judgement about every scripture, including the Gita. I cannot let a scriptural text supersede my reason. Whilst I believe that the principal books are inspired, they suffer from a process of double distillation…”[8]
Redressing the issue of ‘morality’ in this context, he thus held that no man can be untruthful, cruel and incontinent and claim to have God on his side[9] and went on to dismiss any religion that took account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them, is no religion.”[10] Gandhi’s work with the Harijans was rooted in this very belief that helped him rightly justifying the shunning an allegedly “orthodox Hindu practice”.
Gandhi’s modus operandi when it came to leading his ‘way of life’ was indeed always one based on his personal experiences. His keen interest in the hermeneutics of all the religions of the sub-continent[11] was coupled with his healthy and frequent interactions with the religious leaders, priests and clerics of all faiths, thereby, drawing resounding popularity and reverence from masses – including a large section of non-Hindus. The ‘reverence’ and ‘tolerance’ accorded to the non-Hindu religions[12] by Gandhi were pivotal to this as he insisted on making the effort to see things from their point of view[13] and also desisted from being critical of them owing to his limitations on account of him being “an outsider” to its teachings and expected vice-versa:[14][15]
“It is no business of mine to criticize the scriptures of other faiths or to point out their defects. But it is both my right to point out the defects in Hinduism in order to purify it and keep it pure… Thus my own experience brings home to me my limitations and teaches me to be wary of launching on a criticism of Islam or Christianity and their founders”[16]
Nonetheless, despite Gandhi’s explanations and reasons behind the differential treatment between his own religion and others’, Gandhi’s views drew criticism from certain sections of Hindus, and Muslims and Christians alike. While certain Hindus were angered by his step-motherly treatment towards them whilst being overly liberal towards the non-Hindus, the Christians and Muslims criticised him for being too much of a Hindu and not being tolerant and secular towards other sections.
We will now be exploring Gandhi’s interactions with the Abrahamic religious traditionalism, specifically: Islam and Christianity – while his work surrounding the former was comparatively more along political lines (albeit the occasional socio-cultural reformationist dialogue), his interactions with the latter was more along the lines of a socio-cultural dialogue.
Gandhi encountered pan-Islamism both at a political and socio-religious level. As for his interaction at a political level,[17] Gandhi believed that while the Khilafat movement did not directly have a lot to do with the Indian independence movement and Hindus, he saw it as a great opportunity to integrate the Muslims into the nationalist movement and prevent it from turning violent.
While Gandhi largely desisted from commenting on many socio-cultural issues on account of him being an “outsider” to Islam, he commented about the nature of Islam, the Quran and the Prophet whilst making a clear distinction between Muslims as a religious community and Islamic morality. In line with his theories of universal transcendentalism in the context of religion,[18] Gandhi suggested that Muslims were not the exclusive proprietors of the message of Islam and that the evocation of universally acceptable Islamic ethics was compatible with his interpretation of all religions merely serving as different paths to the one “truth” –
“… all religions are more or less true. All proceed from the same God, but all are imperfect because they have come down to us through imperfect human instrumentality.”[19]
Congruently, Gandhi was well-aware of the socio-cultural realities between the Hindus and Muslims and upon a suggestion by a prominent Muslim group that both communities revere and submit to the other’s Gods in a multi-faith gesture of goodwill, he rejected it observing:
“The solution was not quite so simple… (it)… might be good enough for the cultured few, but it would prove ineffective for the man in the street. For the Hindus cow-protection and the playing of music even near the mosque was the substance of Hinduism, and for the Mussalmans, cow-killing and prohibition of music was the substance of Islam.”[20]
On the highly-sensitive subject of cow-slaughter and the ensuing rife in communal harmony, despite having gone to the extent of saying that as a cow worshipper he would sacrifice his own life to save the cow’s,[21] Gandhi still said that he would rather the Mussalmans give up voluntarily the “sin” viz. the slaughter of cows as an act of ‘communal harmony’ towards their fellow countrymen – the Hindus, rather than a law being imposed on the same.[22]
While Gandhi studiously refrained from stoking the religious feelings of Muslims, he employed the theory of Islamic morality to counter religious obscurantism and several regressive social-cultural issues prevalent the Muslim communities. He openly opposed ‘Parda’ system as a curse on Muslim women,[23] remained critical of the practice of stoning to death in the name of Islam, suicidal expedients as such as the ‘hijrat’,[24] and denounced the forced conversion of Hindus to Islam.[25]
Further, whilst referring to the image of violence that had come to be associated with Islam with time Gandhi had affixed the tag of “bullies”. Gandhi argues that contrary to popular perception, the sword was no emblem of Islam[26]and that it is the ethos and environment in which it was born that depicts a misleading picture. He felt that message of Jesus has proved ineffective since the environment was unready to receive it … The sword is yet too much in evidence among Mussalmans. He believed that it must be “sheathed” for the realisation of the true message of the Prophet and for Islam to be what it meant – peace. Gandhi, in consonance with his universal principles of non-violence, calls for the reliance upon the sword to be inconsistent with the reliance upon God.[27] Further, Gandhi argues that the history of imperialism synonymous with Islamic expansion transformed the Muslims into a fighting community.
“The Mussalman, being generally in a minority, has as a class developed into a bully. Moreover, being heir to fresh traditions, he exhibits the virility of a comparatively new system of life. Though, in my opinion, non-violence has a predominant place in the Koran, the thirteen hundred years of imperialistic expansion has made the Mussalmans fighters as a body. They are therefore aggressive. Bullying is the natural excrescence of an aggressive spirit.”[28]
In fact, despite his reverence for the Prophet, Gandhi launches a scathing critique against the actions of the Caliph Umar himself:
“ I fear that the acts of this great and just man are being presented to the Mussalman masses in a most distorted fashion. I know that if he rose from his grave, he would disown the many acts of the so-called followers of Islam which are a crude caricature of those of the great Umar himself.”[29]
Ergo, in line with this, Gandhi calls upon Muslims for an unequivocal mass condemnation to this incorrect interpretation of Islam and the Prophet’s message which he calls an “atrocity”. The fundamental premise underlying all his arguments that – all religious communities should discover the moral truth of religion without compromising upon the universal ‘spirit of equality and justice’ – thereby, remained consistent throughout.
Gandhi’s consistency in thoughts on universal transcendentalism in the context of religion is resonated yet again in his thoughts on Christianity as he expressed that Jesus Christ – whom he had a great admiration for, belonged not solely to Christianity, but to the entire world.[30] [31] Although Gandhi revered Jesus as a great historical character, he disagreed in his “exclusive divinity”[32] and that he was the closest to perfection.[33] While Gandhi was grateful to the Church for better showing him the defects in Hinduism, he did not agree with the notion that Christianity was by any means perfect or the greatest of all religions.[34]
Moreover, Gandhi suspected that there were strong links between Christian Missionaries and the British Government and that it was not unusual to find Christianity synonymous with ‘denationalization’ and ‘Europeanization’[35] – something which he perceived to be the anathema of Indian civilisation.[36] Gandhi tackled in-depth with the question of Christian missionaries and conversion, rejecting them with a set of arguments. In his article ‘Deploring Conversion’,[37] he regarded conversion to be contrary to his fundamental belief of the equality of all religions –“Conversions are but one small result of the disease. Remove the cause, and the conversions will cease, as also many worse results.”[38]In consonance with his ideal that religions were but different paths to attain “the ultimate truth”, Gandhi rubbished the purpose of converting:
“You will then say, ‘Yes, for me there is the Bible.’ If they were to ask me, I would present to some the Quran, to some the Gita, to some the Bible and to some Tulsidas’s Ramayana. I am like a wise doctor prescribing what is necessary for each patient.[39]
He regarded conversion as contrary to his fundamental belief in the equality of all religions and rejected the missionaries’ modus operandi and suspected them of being vitiated by ulterior motives. Christianity’s claims of a “monopoly over truth and superior sovereignty” were rejected by Gandhi.[40] The usage of terms like “show the light”, “saved”, “pagan”, and “infidels” are evident of the fundamentalist approach of the Abrahamic religions. He thus, challenged the claims of proselytization of missionaries that there was only one ‘Son of God’, by stating that everybody is a son of God if one realises the divinity inside them. In a dialogical exchange with C.F. Andrews, Gandhi famous remarked:
“If a person wants to believe in the Bible let him say so, but why should he discard his own religion? This proselytization will mean no peace in the world … We must have innate respect for other religions as we have for our own. Mind you, not mutual tolerance, but equal respect”.[41]
Inter-religious marriages were another Western ideal which was not “practically plausible” as per Gandhi. His main contention lies in the socio-cultural barriers faced by the couple whilst upbringing their children. In fact, Gandhi had suggested that a European Christian wife of a Hindu husband convert to Hinduism to circumnavigate these problems. That being said, it must be noted that he only gave this suggestion as a last resort and this is by no means an indication of hypocrisy in his actions but is rather indicative of his emphasis on working through the practicalities offered by life.[42]
While Gandhi was ‘common’ in terms of his understanding of life being rooted in the Sanatana Dharma that facilitated a religious ethos that was amiable to the plurality of faith, it was his dedicated efforts towards establishing ‘communal harmony’ and practical approach in the elevation of the moral being (et al.) that accorded him the title of Mahatma. Religion for him was not just a virtue attainable but, also a phenomenon that ensured order in society – a thread that knits the society together for the ultimate good. It is only fitting that a man as deeply rooted to his religion as Mohandas Gandhi, who devoted a substantial amount of his life’s work towards finding a clarion call for active non-violence and communal harmony amongst the peoples of India – often reminisced for the hymn “Ishwar Allah Tero Naam” being on his lips – continued to live by his ideals and rules till his very last breath that ended with “He Ram”.
[1] Max Muller, ‘India: What Can It Teach Us.’, J.W. Lovell Company, New York, (1991) p.13.
[2] Anthony J. Parel (ed.), Gandhi: Hind Swaraj and Other Writings, New Delhi, Cambridge University Press, (2009), p. 89-90.
[3] M.K. Gandhi, ‘Young India’, 5 March 1925, p.187.
[4] ibid
[5] Ramin Jahanbegloo, ‘Religious Pluralism and Gandhian Values’, The Mint, <https://www.livemint.com/news /india/in-search-of-the-muslim-gandhi-11569831643651.html> accessed 30 September 2019.
[6] M.K. Gandhi, Harijan, 10 February 1940.
[7] Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (New Delhi: Publications Division, 1958), Vol. 35, pp. 334-35.
[8] M.K. Gandhi, Harijan, 5 December 1936.
[9] M.K. Gandhi, Young India, 24 November 1921.
[10] M.K. Gandhi, Young India, 07 May 1925.
[11] Both ones that originated in India viz. Hinduism and Buddhism as well as foreign imports viz. Islam and Christianity.
[12] In particularly, Islam and Christianity.
[13] M.K. Gandhi, Young India. 21 December 1927.“… mine is a broad faith which does not oppose Christians … not even the most fanatical Mussalman … I refuse to abuse a man for his fanatical deeds, because I try to see them from his point of view. It is that broad faith that sustains me. It is a somewhat embarrassing position I know – but to others, not to me.”
[14] M.K. Gandhi, Harijan. 13 March 1937.
[15] Ravi K. Mishra, ‘Gandhi and Religion, Gandhi Marg Quarterly, 41(4), (2019) p. 396.
[16] M.K. Gandhi, Harijan, 13 March 1937, p. 34.
[17] Which will be kept brief owing to brevity and the nature of this paper.
[18] For which Gandhi was heavily inspired from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden (1854).
[19] M.K. Gandhi, Young India, 29 May 1924, p. 180.
[20] Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 29, p.187.
[21] Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 76, p. 386.
[22] M.K. Gandhi, Harijan, 15 September 1946, p. 310.
[23] M.K. Gandhi, Young India, 3rd February 1927.
[24] Hillel Ahmed, ‘Muslim Bullies and Gandhi’s Islam’, <https://www.newslaundry.com/2017/07/26/muslim-bullies-and-gandhis-islam> dated 26 July 2017, accessed 5 December 2020.
[25] K.N. Panikkar, Culture and Consciousness in Modern India (Delhi: People’s Publishing House, 1990), p. 25.
[26] M.K. Gandhi, Gandhi and Communal Problems, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, (1994), p.38.
[27] M.K. Gandhi, Young India. 30 December 1926, p. 234.
[28] ibid
[29] Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 29, p.134.
[30] The Modern Review, October 1941, p. 28.
[31] M.K. Gandhi, Young India, 29 May 1924, p. 180.
[32] Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 55, p. 260.
[33] Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 65, p. 82.
“To say that he was perfect is to deny God’s superiority to man.”
[34] M.K. Gandhi, ‘My Experiments with Truth’, New York: Dover (1983), Part II. (In Ch. Religious Ferment).
[35] Robert Ellsberg, ‘Gandhi on Christianity’, Orbis Books, New York (1991), Part XII, p. 42.
[36] Anthony J. Parel (ed.), Gandhi: Hind Swaraj and Other Writings, Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, (2009), p. 35-38.
[37] M.K. Gandhi, Harijan, 22 March 1935.
[38] Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 60, pp. 327.
[39] Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 60, pp. 325–26.
[40] Ravi K. Mishra, ‘Gandhi and Religion, Gandhi Marg Quarterly, 41(4), (2019) p. 393.
[41] M.K. Gandhi, Harijan, 28 November 1936.
[42] Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Vol.75, p. 375.
“I have been and still as strong an opponent of either party changing the religion for the sake of marriage, religion is not a garment to be cast off at will”.
Bhrigu A. Pamidighantam 
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