India during the Freedom Struggle: Writing and Thought

K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar in his book Indian writing in English writes If

English is admittedly a link-language in India today, Indian writing in
English, besides being a distinctive literature in its own right, is also a
link-literature in the context of Indias pluralistic literary landscape.
Now let us examine in brief the term Indian Writing in English. When we
come across anything we tend to see things both in their uniqueness and
in their inter-relatedness to everything else. A poem or a novel has its
autonomy certainly but it has also filiations (the term used by Iyengar)
with the larger ever growing body that is literature. Indo Anglian
literature is an expression of the practical no less than creative genius of
the Indian people. Indian Writing in English is Indian literature. But
Indian literature comprises of various languages such as Hindi, Marathi,
Malayalam, and so many more. Indian writing in English is but one of the
voices in which India speaks. Indian writing in English is by a person
Indian in thought and feeling and emotion and experience who submits to
discipline of English for expression. Indian writing in English is also
referred to as Indo Anglian Literature.
Anglo-Indian literature is the product of Indo-English literary relations.
When England and India had come together, out of this development in
the history of India had come the offspring: Indo Anglian Literature.
Indian writing in English has its own distinctiveness but may be
categorised under commonwealth literature. In general, Commonwealth
literature is a vague term which defines English-language works written
in the former British colonies or place which had the status of dominion.
It may also fall under Post-colonial literature (also Postcolonial literature,
New English Literature, and New English literatures) is a body of literary
writing that responds to the intellectual discourse of European
colonization in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
The conquest of India, which could be said to have begun with the Battle
of Plassey 1757)), was practically completed by the end of Dalhousie's
tenure in1856. It had been by no means a smooth affair as the simmering
discontent of the people manifested itself in many localized revolt during
this period. However, the Mutiny of 1857, which began with a revolt of
the military soldiers at Meerut, soon became widespread and posed a
grave challenge to the British rule. Indian Freedom Struggle refers to
period from 1857 to 1947 when India achieved independence.
Before looking into the freedom struggle of India, it is necessary to know
the origin of English in India which later gave rise to Indian Writing in
English. English came to India with the coming of England. Thought the
Company was not interested in the welfare of India there were
individuals (servants of the Company) like Warren Hastings who
established the Calcutta Madrassa in 1781, Sir William Jones who

organized the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1784, Sir Thomas

Munroe etc.
The greatest impact on the development or foundation of English in India
came when the commercial monopoly of the Company was ended in
1813, and the British in India assumed, police functions, educative and
civilizing or administrative functions as well. Missionaries began to enter,
and they helped established printing press which served printing of
grammar books, dictionaries, and translations etc. The printing press led
to newspapers and Hickeys Bengal Gazette was the first Newspaper.
Lastly came private schools imparting English Education. And slowly
colleges came into existence. Hindu College in Calcutta was one such
established in 1817. Raja Rammohan Roy was one of the products of this
college.
The introduction of English to Indians brought various changes step by
step. At first the Indians because of English were introduced to literature
of Europe, Science and other subjects and culture of the civilized world
and to Christianity. Indians were attracted to this strangeness and
welcomed it. People like Raja Rammohan Roy went to the extent of
founding a new religion based called Brahmo Samaaj which advocated
monotheism and assimilated tenets of Islam and Christianity. Raja
Rammohan Roy not only wanted more English in India but he wanted
more Englishmen also. Thus he wrote ...the settlement in India by
European should at least be undertaken experimentally... Among others
who followed in his footsteps was Keshub Chandra Sen, who tried to
forge the links between England and India and Hinduism and
Christianity, thus he wrote: Let, then, India learn from England practical
righteousness. Let England learn from India devotion, faith and prayer.
During the 20 years between 1835 and 1855- the period of the Macaulay
and the Wood dispensations English spread like wild fire but soon people
began to realize the disadvantages of neglecting the vernacular
languages or the native languages and adopting a culture and religion
different from their own. Perhaps in retaliation to missionary practices
Dayanand Saraswati organized the Arya Samaajin 1857whose objective
was to preserve and purify Hinduism and even proselytize Non
Hindu.Next came the Pratharna Samaaj which was established in 1867.
It too didnt dissociate itself from Hindu community and flirted with
Christianity. It focused on the tradition of the prophets and saints of
Maharashtra like Jnanadev, Tukaram and others.
Thus during the early stages of freedom struggle we see that the view of
Indians towards England and the British Raj was changing. A movement
for social, educational and religious reform was started by young man
possessed of idealism and a capacity for intellectual discipline. These
men were not like the Derozio Men. Of these men were Kashinath
Trimbak Telang and Mahadev Govind Ranade. The reforms advocated by
them paved the way for political emancipation.

Ranade was a scholar, economist and jurist. He wrote in English his

classic Rise of the Maratha Power; and he believed that the various races
of India could really fuse into a nation. Later, Gopal Krishna Gokhale who
was one of the founding social and political leaders during the Indian
Independence Movement, became Ranades disciple, and carried forward
the work Ranade had begun. Like Ranade and Telang, Sir Narayan
Chandavarkar was also journalist, judge, orator, politician, Pratharna
Samajist, all rolled into one. His speeches and writings on social reform
and education and literature drew upon his vast knowledge and
experience. He was a leading reformer and was elected president of
Indian National Congress in the 1900. Among the many learned and
Indian and a prominent personality in the early Indian Freedom Struggle
was Dadabhai Naoroji. He taught at Elphinstone College. Naoroji is also
credited with the founding of the Indian National Congress, along with
A.O. Hume and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha. His book Poverty and Un-British
Rule in India brought attention to the draining of India's wealth into
Britain. The book was written in English and is one of the important
piece of work related to Indias freedom struggle. In his book he writes:
I need only say that the people of India have not the slightest voice in
the expenditure of the revenue, and therefore in the good government of
the country.
Literature played a significant role in Indias freedom struggle. At the
beginning the educated gentry wrote in English and at later stage to
promulgate the ideas of Swaraj and Independence among common
masses. Various newspapers, journals, were written in vernacular
languages.
More and more writers began to employ literature for patriotic purpose.
Even when freedom from the British Rule had not yet emerged as a
programme for any major political organization or movement, and the
Indian National Congress was concerned only with constitutional
agitation, the realization of subjection and the need for freedom had
begun to be clearly expressed in literature. With the passage of time, as
the freedom movement began to attract larger sections of the people,
and the demand for freedom became more insistent, literature
strengthened the growing idealism of people. But it also did something
more. Besides inspiring people to make all kinds of sacrifices for the
cause of countrys liberation, literature also brought out weaknesses of
the nationalist movement and its leaders.
Noted writers during the Indian Freedom Struggle are Rabindranath
Tagore, Sri Aurobindo, Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
Rabindranath Tagore opposed imperialism and supported Indian
nationalists, and these views were first revealed in Manast, which was
mostly composed in his twenties.
Sri Aurobindo was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher,
yogi, guru and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from
British rule, for a while became one of its influential leaders and then

turned into a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human

progress and spiritual evolution. His main literary works are The Life
Divine, which deals with theoretical aspects of Integral Yoga; Synthesis
of Yoga, which deals with practical guidance to Integral Yoga; and Savitri.
Gandhi was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism. Gandhi was a
prolific writer. One of Gandhi's earliest publications, Hind Swaraj,
published in Gujarati in 1909, is recognised as the intellectual blueprint
of India's freedom movement. For decades he edited several newspapers
including Harijan in Gujarati, in Hindi and in the English language;
Indian Opinion while in South Africa and, Young India, in English, and
Navajivan, a Gujarati monthly, on his return to India. Gandhi also wrote
several books including his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments
with Truth.
His other autobiographies included: Satyagraha in South Africa about his
struggle there, Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule, a political pamphlet,
and a paraphrase in Gujarati of John Ruskin's Unto This Last.
Nehru was a prolific writer in English and wrote a number of books, such
as The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, and his
autobiography, Toward Freedom.
Like Shakespeare, Marlowe and the likes, although we cannot list
Rammohan Roy, Ranade, Gandhi, Tagore, and others as the poets and
contributors to the Indian literature, nevertheless it should be noted that
these stalwarts used language as forceful means of communicating their
ideas to India and the world. These stalwarts were among makers of
independent India and what they said and wrote must be cherished as
our national literature. English, then, is one of our national languages
and Indo-Anglian literature too is one of our national literatures.

References:
1. Dadabhai Naoroji, Poverty and Un-British Rule in India (1901), Swan
Sonnenschein & Co., Lim pi-x
2. K.R.S. Iyengar. Indian Writing in English. Asia Publ. House
Online refrences:
www.wikipedia.org