ARTICLE : Sri Aurobindo on the Hindu-Muslim Issue

Posted By Srinivasa Chakravarthy (srini@monod.neusc.bcm.tmc.edu)
Mon, 09 Dec 1996 10:56:14 -0600

"The real problem introduced by the Mussalman conquest was not that
of subjection to a foreign rule and the ability to recover freedom, but
the struggle between two civilizations, one ancient and indigenous, the
other
mediaeval and brought in from outside. That which rendered the problem
insoluble was the attachment of each to a powerful religion, the one
militant and aggressive, the other spiritually tolerant indeed and
flexible,
but obstinately faithful in its discipline to its own principle and
standing
on the defence behind a barrier of social forms. There were two
conceivable
solutions, the rise of a greater spiritual principle and formation
which could reconcile the two or a political patriotism surmounting the
religious struggle and uniting the two communities. The first was
impossible in that [Mughal] age. Akbar attempted it on the Mussalman
side
but his religion was an intellectual and political rather than a
apiritual creation and had never any chance of assent from the strongly
religious mind of the two communities. Nanak attempted it from the Hindu
side, but his religion, universal in principle, became a sect in
practice.
Akbar attempted also to create a common political patriotism, but his
endaevor too was foredoomed to failure. An autocratic empire built on
the
Central Asian principle could not create the desired spirit by calling
in
the Administrative ability of the two communities in the person of
great men and princes and nobles to a common service in the creation of
a united Imperial India: the living assent of the people was needed
and that remained passive for want of awakening political ideals and
institutions. The Moghul empire was a great and magnificent construction
and an immense amount of political genius and talent was employed in its
creation and maintenence. It was splendid, powerful and beneficient and,
it may be added, in spite of Aurangazeb's fanatical zeal,
infinitely more liberal and tolerant in religion than any mediaeval
or contemporary European kingdom or empire and India under its rule
stood
high in military and political strength, economic opulence and
the briallance of its arts and culture. But it failed like the empires
before it, ..., and in the same way, crumbling not by external attack
but
by internal disintegration. A military and administrative centralized
empire
could not effect India's political unity..."

"Two remarkable creations embodied in the period of
disintegration
the last effort of the Indian political mind to form the foundations of
a new life under the old conditions, neither proved to be of a kind that
ccould solve the problem. The Mahratta revival inspired by Ramadas's
conception of the Maharashtra Dharma and cast into shape by Shivaji
was an attempt to restore what couls still be understood or rememberd
of the ancient form and spirit, but it failed as all attempts to
revive the past must fail, in spite of the spiritual impetus and
the democratic forces that asssisted its inception. The PEshwas
for all their genius lacked the vision of the founder and could only
establish a military and political confederacy. And their endeavor
to found an empire could not succeed because it was inspired by a
regional patriotism that failed to enlarge itself beyond its own limits
and awaken to the living idea of a united India. The Sikh Khalsa
on the other hand was an astonishingly original and novel creation and
its face was not turned to the past but the future. Apart and singular
in its theocratic head and democratic soul and structure, its spiritual
beginning, its first attempt to combine the deepest elements of
Islam and Vedanta, it was premature drive towards an entrance into the
third or a spiritual stage of human society, but it could not
create between the spirit and the external life the transmitting
medium of a rich creative thought and culture. And thus hampered and
deficient
it began and ended within narrow local limits, achieved intensity
but no power of expansion. The conditions were not then in existence
that could have made possible a successful endeavor.

"Afterwards came the night and a temporary end of all political
initiative and creation. The lifeless attempt of the last generation
to imitate and reproduce with servile fidelity the ideals and form
of the West has been no true indication of the political mind and genius
of the
Indian people. But again amid all the mist of confusion there is still
the possibility of a new twilight, not of an evening but a
morning yuga-sandhya. India of the ages is not dead nor has she spoken
her last creative word; she lives and has something to do for herself
and the human peoples. And that which must seek now to awake
is not an Anglicized oriental people, docile pupil of the West
and doomed to repeat the cycle of the occident's success and failure,
but still the ancient immemorable Shakti recovering her deepest self,
lifting her head higher towards the supreme source of light and strength
and turning to discover the complete meaning and vaster form of her
Dharma."

Sri Aurobindo
From "Foundations of Indian Culture"
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