Young India: An interpretation and a history of the nationalist movement from withinLajpat Rai, Lala
History
Young India: An interpretation and a history of the nationalist movement from within
Lajpat Rai, Lala
India -- Politics and government -- 1765-1947
Even before he reached India, he gave up English dress and began to
eschew all the peculiarities of English life. He took to Indian shoes,
Indian cap, Indian Kurta (shirt), Indian Pajama (trousers) and wrapped
himself in an Indian shawl. He would not even mix with Mohammedans and
Christians. For a time he was a strict Hindu in form, though not in
religion. When his old master, Principal Rudra of the Delhi St.
Stephen’s College, called on him at Lahore, he would not shake hands
with him nor offer him a seat on his mat, because he was a Christian (he
had no chairs). His cult at that time was a wholesale and complete
boycott of British government and British institutions. He aimed to
establish an order of Hindu ascetics to preach his ideas and to spread
his propaganda. With that view he collected about half a dozen young men
about him, who, under his inspiration, left their studies as well as
their homes and showed their readiness to do as he would wish them to
do. He lived a life of purity and wanted others to do the same. At that
time he did not believe in or preach violence. He discussed, argued,
preached, and wrote for the press. His writings began to attract
attention, and so did his activities, and it was feared that the
Government would soon find some means of putting him out of the way. So
he decided to leave the country, and in the beginning of the second half
of the year 1908 left India for good. He went to England, with the idea
of preaching his gospel among the Indian students in England. He stayed
there for some time and found out that there was not much scope for his
type of nationalism. He also feared that the British Government might
arrest him. So he left England and for about two years travelled, to and
fro, to find a place where he could live very cheaply and without fear
of molestation from the British Government and carry on his propaganda.
He was for over a year in France, where he came in contact with the best
political thought of Europe. Here he made friends with Egyptian
nationalists and Russian revolutionists. His knowledge of the French
language was good. He could not only speak that language fluently, but
could compose in it. He used to write occasionally for the French press.
He can use the German language also. Eventually he came to America and
settled here. The contributions that he made to the Indian press during
the first year of his sojourn in the United States did not indicate any
very great change in his views on Nationalism, but a year after he was
quite a different man. His political nationalism remained the same, but
his views on social questions, on morality, on Hindu literature and
Hindu institutions, underwent a complete metamorphosis. He began to look
down upon everything Hindu and developed a great admiration for
Occidental ideas of freedom. There is, however, one thing about him that
has stuck fast, and that is his hatred of British rule in India. His
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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