Education -- India; India -- Politics and government -- 1857-1919; India -- Social conditions
Although reluctantly, I must add that the lower services of the
Government are filled by men who passively help extremism. They form the
bulk of the total constituency of our public Press. That is a fact to
show their political inclinations. Even they do not hesitate to use
their little arts to worry a man known to be "anti-political" whenever
he happens to come in contact with them. An agriculturist friend of mine
who belonged to the caste to which I have the honour to belong once
came to me and asked me why I was taking a particular step connected
with the political movements in Kolhapur. The reason he gave for his
attempt to dissuade me from participation in any anti-Brahmanical
movement was that every Jain would be put to immense trouble in his
dealings with pleaders and clerks simply because another Jain (in this
instance myself) was against the leaders of their caste! Another class
which always forms a check on a pro-government man is composed of the
chiefs, sirdars, landholders, &c., who belong to the agitators' caste
and who certainly cherish admiration for the doings of the "patriots."
Many of us have to come in contact with some one or other belonging to
this class and if he be known to favour anything against the great
figures of the city-politics, his business is sure to be spoilt.
This is in brief the doleful tale of the loyalist in the Deccan. I shall
briefly touch upon one or two things with reference to what will
strengthen the hands of the loyal citizen. The first thing is that the
Government should boldly come forward to help on the coming into
existence of a bigger class of educated men among the backward or lower
classes of the Deccan. The suspicion that they too will join hands with
the agitator must vanish once for all. The half-heartedness due to such
lurking suspicion gives a fine tool in the hands of Government's
enemies. The English people should realize the probable danger of this
and should use their vast resources to create a strong body of educated
men from the ranks of the loyal castes. H.H. the Maharaja of Kolhapur,
in his attempts to break down Brahmanical supremacy, found nothing so
useful as the bringing into being of such a class and for this he is
doing the best he can. Unless this example is followed by the
Government, there is no hope of a strong loyal party coming forth to
combat the evil work done by Extremists. The strengthening of the loyal
Press such as it exists and adding to it is another measure the
Government might wisely adopt.
NOTE 25
HINDU THEORIES OF GOVERNMENT.
Englishmen are apt to ignore the hold which ancient Hindu traditions
concerning the rights and duties of kingship and the old Hindu theories
of government derived from the sacred books of Hinduism still have on
the Indian mind. They have been recently reviewed in an article
contributed to _The Times_ from a very scholarly pen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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