Indian Renaissance - National Identity

     Examine the linkages between the nineteenth century ‘Indian Renaissance’ and the emergence of "national identity"

The word renaissance is known in the context of "Revival or Resurrection" of European classical art and literature. The social and religious movements used the direction of leaders as a path to the enrichment of ideas and expression of freedom. The then leaders were revered as personalities of the renaissance.

The chief proponents who are considered as renaissance questioned the status quo and lead as change agents in society. In the Indian context, the period of a renaissance is spread across the ancient, medieval and modern times of history. The classification is not fully correct because for the modern period the west countries are enjoying a lot of wealth and victorian art. whereas the eastern countries and African countries are suffering in the hands of colonial masters (we still use the global accepted chronological expression for describing the period). Due to delayed changes and reforms, the path of the Indian renaissance was unique and beautiful. This needs to be understood by living in India for vast number of years and living with all types of communities.

 India which has a rich source of civilization values and history can count as living civilization but there are also dark patches of superstition and conservative thoughts that need serious reforms and transformation right from the ancient period.

Photo by Shahbaz Khan on Unsplash

Some of the evils of Indian which are known mostly are:

• Sati 
• The taboo on women education/working
• The taboo on widow marriage
• Religious hate
• The taboo on Inter-caste marriages
• Blind beliefs/Black magic/Superstitions

In order to achieve freedom from social and cultural backwardness, many leaders and personalities worked with people along with the independence movement. To bring the motivation and positive change many educated and reformists during the pre-independence period struggled using different methods.

The eminent personalities include Basavanna, Rabindranath tagore, Ishwar chandra vidyasagar, Kandukuri veeresalingam, Swami Vivekananda, Annie besant, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, Jyotirao Phule, Dayananda Saraswati, K C Sen, Savitribai Phule, Narayana Guru, Raja Ravi Verma, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Pandit ramabai, Mahtma Gandhi, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Begum Rokeya, Abdul Kalam, Anna hazare. 

Image by Eugenio Hansen, OFS from Pixabay 

The first phase of the renaissance was embodied in socio-cultural aspects. The propagators of the change understood the superstitions of the day. the misery that it bought to people and taken action for reforming. In the case of Sati, the pioneers like Rajarammohan rai sensitized people on the rights of women for stopping the practice of Sati. He took the help of religious text for stopping such barbaric practices for the emancipation of women.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was one such reformer who worked for a widow remarriage campaign, Veeresalingam Pantulu in southern India worked for the widow remarriage and  Narayana guru a pioneer for universalism, etc. During the first phase, the influence of western thought and systems existed among the educated and wealthy class but only people with mission motive and spirit participated in reforming the socio-cultural context. 

The second phase of the renaissance was not restricted to the socio-cultural aspect. It extended to political struggle and turned out to be an anti-colonial movement. In order to free the country from economic exploitation, many leaders opted for paths for anti-colonial struggle. The success of the first revolution gave a platform for political equality, freedom of thought, expression. After witnessing the changes in U.K, USA, France, Japan.

 Many reformers, visionaries, and leaders navigated the second phase of the renaissance. Some of the prominent people are M Gandhi, Ambedkar, Nehru, C Rajagopal Chari, Anni besant, Tilak, Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose. Swami Vivekananda, Aurbindo gosh, Madam Bikaji Cama, Rani gidalu, vinobha bhava etc. The ideas of women's involvement, art and music took shape during the anti-colonial period and strengthened the national identity. The maintenance of its own military wing INA under Subhash Chandra Bose heightened the nationalism philosophy among the citizens. This commitment to the nation got legalized by believing the India's written constitution. 

The third phase of the renaissance is due to the over-accumulation of wealth and class differences. The ideas and philosophy of the left were accommodated by many intellectual classes and academicians. Many opted for Marxist ideas for economic justice for true nationalism. After post-economic liberalization, the national identity again got elevated as highest priority to the left ideology. The values of previous reforms like gender, secularism, freedom got extended by humanity in the third phase of a renaissance. 

 In the modern age climate change, environmental degradation, greenhouse gases, equal pay to female, nuclear issue are the outcome of the successful modern world along with economic growth. Due to globalization and privatization, the emergence of cooperations, enterprises came into existence. The fourth phase of the renaissance can only come from such an established organization or business chain. The material society is stagnated and movement of reform can only be initiated from the technological interventions and cultural change. 

Reference:

https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/three-phases-of-indian-renaissance/article9541139.ece