Vada in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c11.s3: The Shift in the Debates

Vāda in Theory and Practice: Studies in Debates, Dialogues and Discussions in Indian Intellectual Discourses c11.s3

Language: English

The Shift in the Debates

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The very purpose of legal institutions became a bone of contention for debates. But then these exercises stimulated a dialogue between traditions and modern civilization. The view of law as “a rule prescribed by superior power” was challenged by William Jones who wanted the law to discern the people’s will through local customs and traditions.²⁴

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Rani of Jhansi, Rulers of Mysore as well as several other princes and kings of various states fought legal battles regarding disputes on the inheritance and property from 1770 till the end of British rule in India. These legal fights created a political consciousness together with an awareness of civil rights.

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A celebration on the occasion of the second anniversary of the proclamation of constitutional government in Portugal was organized in Calcutta Town Hall in August 1822. The event was reported in two newspapers — *Bengal Hurkaru* and the *Calcutta Journal*. Raja Rammohun Roy attended this event.²⁵ Speakers referred to struggles for liberty in other places. Roy hosted similar celebrations in Calcutta Town Hall for the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Revolutions between CE 1820-23.²⁶ He learned Vedānta and Upaniṣads from good *paṇḍits* like Mrityunjaya Vidyalankar Bhattacharya (1762–1814) who was well known for his all-round scholarship of Śāstras. Mrityunjaya Vidyalankar however became one of the staunch opponents of Roy and it is believed that he had authored the *Vedāntacandrikā* — a text in refutation of Roy’s propositions on Hinduism and Upaniṣadic philosophy.²⁷

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Anti-*satī* movement was already getting momentum. when Rammohun Roy took up its cause. In fact, before Roy brought out his first tract against the practice of *satī* in 1818, Mrityunjaya Vidyalankar had already recorded his views on *satī* in his official capacity as a *paṇḍit* in the Supreme Court. He had “anticipated most of the arguments later advanced by Raja Rammohun Roy”.²⁸

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In 1822, Rammohun Roy published *Modern Encroachments on the Ancient Rights of Females according to the Hindu Law of Inheritance* showing that “it was the corrupt and defective understanding of Bengal’s Dāyabhāga (laws of inheritance) that resulted in the practice of widow burning”. He also argued that “India had a constitution and it was the decline of this constitution and its checks and balances that had sunk India into backwardness”.²⁹ “Locating Indian history within the wider realm of international constitutional liberalism",³⁰ he further argued in favour of the reform of Parliament and for switching over to the medium of Indian languages for official and judicial purposes.³¹ He employed the term “separation” to suggest the end of British rule and also demanded equal status of Indians in the international fraternity, demanding change in regulation to allow his countrymen to serve in high offices.

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It was time when Spencer was launching his protest against British imperialism in England itself. He was also being jeered as unpatriotic. A decade later Spencer was commemorated by the radical Indian nationalist Shyamji Krishnavarma, who instituted the first Herbert Spencer Lectureship at the University of Oxford in 1904.

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Shyamji Krishnavarma had already made up his mind to fight againt British imperialism when he arrived in London in 1897. He served as a Sanskrit assistant to Monier-Williams. Before going to Britain, he had worked ceaselessly under the reform movement of Swami Dayananda, and served as Swamiji’s “literary legatee”. He then joined with Michael Davitt in support for the movement of the Irish Home Rule Ideologues and also stood in support of Mustafa Kamal Pasha. He edited *Indian Sociologist* and in one of his papers paid tributes to Spencer with a staunch criticism of British imperialism.

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In this scenario, the idea of *svarāj* emerged as a dynamic conceptual framework. The prefix “sva” indicated the self and *rāj* got linked with the idea of freedom at political, social and psychological levels. After Shyamji Krishna Varma, the idea of *svarāj* was to unfold in Gandhi’s criticism of Spencer and liberation of the inner soul of man. *Ātmano mokṣārthaṁ jagad hitāya ca* (for one’s own liberation and for the welfare of the world) this saying of Vivekananda became a central principle of Subhas Chandra Bose.

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This was the time when India was re-emerging and redefining herself in the wake of global debates. Berhamji Malabari approached Spencer for an opinion on the age of consent in marriage. Spencer refused to join the controversy.³² Berhamji Malabari then sought the support of Max Müller which the later willingly provided.

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After the British defeated the Mysore ruler in 1799, constitutional debates raged. Ram Raz assaulted British misrepresentations of Indian history in *An* *Essay on the Architecture of Hindus* published from London in 1834.³³ He used the term *panchayat* which was taken up as a symbol in Gandhi’s idea of “Panchayati Raj”.

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Rammohun Roy is regarded as “the father of modern India” who produced the first identifiable “canon” of modern Indian political thought.³⁴ Silk Buckimgham was a co-proprietor of the *Calcutta Journal* started by him. Buckimgham was against British despotism and fought with the East India Company. After his deportation to England, he continued supporting the *Calcutta Journal* and its movement.³⁵

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In his formative years Rammohun Roy was greatly influenced by the eighth-century group of Arabian thinkers — the Mutazilas. Mutazilas was a rationalist movement founded by Wasil Ata and Amir Ubaid who lived in Basra and Baghdad. They believed in monotheism, denied any resemblance between god and man and human actions resulted out of man’s free will.³⁶ Rammohun Roy wrote and published *Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhiddin* (Gift to Monotheists) in Persian with Preface in Arabian in 1803.

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In the process of finally abolishing *satī* by legislation, Governor- General Lord William Bentinck “consulted several persons, one of whom was naturally Rammohun Roy who was known to be a great fighter against the evil. But to Bentinck’s utter surprise Rammohun opposed the proposal to stop the evil by legislation”.³⁷ Roy perhaps did so because he was confident in the inherent capability of Hinduism to resuscitate and reform itself.

Linked texts (1)

Dāyabhāga — Jīmūtavāhana, Sanskrit