Gandhi and Gita (was Indology Lists A,B,C,D)

[Guest guest]

Gandhi's views on caste were complex. While I do not

have references with me, the following essay on the web is in

correspondence with what I know :

 

http://members.aol.com/bfgmuc/rahim.htm

 

The following is extracted from there :

 

 

(1) Spiritual sea-changes late in life.

In the 1920s and '30s, Gandhi had considered prohibition or at

least self-imposed restriction against marrying outside one's own

varna [basic caste] to be "essential for a rapid evolution of the

soul".*7 But in 1940 he congratulated a caste-Hindu for marrying a

Harijan [untouchable] and thereby "breaking through the rock of

caste superstition";*8 in 1945 he said that "If... castes and

sub-castes as we know them disappear as they should we should

[then] unhesitatingly accord the highest importance to marriages

between Ati-Shudras ["untouchables"] and ["touchable"] caste-

Hindus";*9 and in 1946 he vowed never again to attend a wedding

between two Hindus unless one of them was an "untouchable"*10

and he said: "If I had my way I would persuade all [upper]

caste-Hindu girls coming under my influence to select Harijan

husbands."*11

 

Therefore, I think some study will be needed to see what Gandhi

justified with the Gita and what he argued otherwise (and not

take Swami A.B.'s word for it).

 

-Arun Gupta