Lecture 6: SOCIO-POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
(PART-4)
Misc. Topics
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MEANS AND ENDS
The concept of ends-means relationship is the core of Gandhi’s social philosophy and conflict resolution. For
Gandhi, means and ends are inextricably linked that ends justifies the means and that “an end which requires
unjust means is not a just end”.
In the Hind Swaraj (1909) the Editor (Gandhiji) tells the Reader, who argues in favour of the forcible
overthrow of the British rule in India: “Your belief that there is no connection between the means and the
end is a great mistake. Through that mistake even men who have been considered religious have committed
grievous crimes. Your reasoning is the same as saying that we can get a rose through planting a noxious
weed. If I want to cross the ocean, I can do so only by means of a vessel; if I were to use a cart for that purpose,
both the cart and I would soon find the bottom…. The means may be likened to a seed, the end of a tree; and
there is just the same inviolable connection between the means and the end as there is between the seed and
the tree. I am not likely to obtain the result flowing from the worship of God by laying myself prostrate before
Satan….We reap exactly as we sow”.
Impure means would result in impure end. Justice could not be secured through unjust means; freedom
could not be obtained through unfair means and peace could not be realised by war. Gandhi also stresses
on the close link between the notions of right and duty; to insist on one and forget the other is a redundant
argument.
Gandhi rejects the idea that ends justify the means, a notion which Kautilya and Machiavelli endorsed in
the context of self-preservation and of the raison d’etat’. To restrict the choice of means on grounds of
expediency rather than principle would be unacceptable to Gandhi.
For Gandhi, the end is satya or truth which requires no justification and the means- ahimsa or non-violence
must be justified not only with reference to the end but also in itself. Every act must be justified with
reference to satya and ahimsa.
PURITY OF ENDS AND MEANS
He constantly emphasises that evil means could never lead to good ends. Noble and good ends could never
be attained by evil and/or immoral means. Guided by his belief in the law of Karma he underlines the organic
interdependence between means and ends. He also stresses on the fact that individuals have control over
the means but not over the end.
The concept of relative truth and the Ruskin’s Unto This Last influenced Gandhi’s notion of mean and ends.
Gandhi’s view on the close link between means and ends is also influenced by the idea of dispassionate
action which the Bhagavad Gita advocates. Unless one’s action is performed with a degree of detachment
one would not be free from the anxiety of its future consequences. He contends “if we are sure of the ‘purity’
of the means we employ, we shall be led on by the faith, before which any fear and trembling melt away”.
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Non-attachment does not mean lack of clarity about the ends one desires to achieve. While the cause has
to be just and clear, so must the means and also the recognition that impure means would lead to impure
ends; truth cannot be attained through untruthful means; justice cannot be secured through unjust
measures; freedom cannot be obtained through tyrannical methods, socialism cannot be realised through
enmity and coercion and war cannot lead to enduring peace. Gandhi categorically rejects the notion of ends
justify the means and asserts that moral means is an end in itself because virtue is its own reward.
For means to be pure, Gandhi also insists that the human soul has to be devoid of all impurities and for
attaining purity he recommends fasting and prayer. Gandhi stresses on the purity of means as he finds God
in the whole world. He chooses non-violence and satyagraha as the means for realising swaraj and
categorically rules out its realisation through bloodshed and violence. He desires a social transformation
through change in the character of individuals. In 1942 Gandhi reminded that ‘country’s will to freedom
must not be paralysed by the ‘dread of violence’. I am convinced that we are living today in a state of ordered
anarchy…. This should go…. I should like to believe, that 20 years of continuous effort at educating India
along the lines of non-violence will not have gone in vain and the people will evolve order out of chaos’.
Gandhi is the lone voice among the social and political thinkers to firmly reject the rigid dichotomy between
the ends and means and in his extreme preoccupation with the means, to the extent that they, rather than
the ends become the benchmark for judging action.
GANDHI AND THE PROBLEM OF UNTOUCHABILITY
Untouchability in India rested upon the idea of the superiority of one section of people over another on
account of their birth.
The customs of treating untouchables by our society had greatly lowered their social status. Their dwellings
were outside the villages and were not permitted to use public tanks, ponds, wells and other places. The
very 'touch' of an untouchable was hateful. Untouchability, in practice, has been almost a total negation of
fundamental rights as well as of all criteria of civilized and decent existence. It may appear shocking to people
to imagine that in many parts of India, some decades back, a higher caste Hindu could touch a cow, a goat,
a dog and a cat without being contaminated but the touch of a human being of the untouchable community
could pollute him.
Eradication of untouchability was one of the central concerns of Gandhi. Gandhi sought to revolutionize the
entire Hindu society. For him, the interdependence of Dalit and Hindu society is crucial. The two societies
are organically linked with each other. There is no point in changing 'myself', excluding the 'other'. The 'other'
also should experience a process of change. The inseparability of 'the self' and the 'other', which was the
philosophical mainstay of the Bhakti movement, was invested by Gandhi with a new kind of radical
militancy. The upper caste liberals romanticise the poor and the untouchables. For them, guilt is the only
authentic emotion vis a vis untouchability. Gandhi transformed the notion of historical guilt into a concrete
model of action for the present.
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He opened schools for them, afforded them an honourable place in his Ashram, fought for their temple
entry at numerous places, lived amongst them and participated in their social and religious functions.
He sought to convince and convert the caste Hindus and mobilise their energies by means of moral and
religious appeals. He aimed to awaken them to the moral enormity of untouchability and to inspire them
both individually and collectively to do all in their power to eradicate it. He encouraged them to undertake
welfare activities among the untouchables in a spirit of remorse and guilt. He thought that this would have
desirable effects on both. It would 'cleanse' the caste Hindus, redeem their guilt and draw them physically,
morally and emotionally closer to the untouchables. It would also give the latter a measure of pride and
dignity, increase their self-confidence and improve their habits and ways of life, thereby removing some of
the causes of caste Hindu prejudices against them.
He shocked the Hindu orthodoxy by his repeated declaration that untouchability was not a vital part of
Hinduism, but was, as he used to say, only a plague.
Gandhi maintained that in Hinduism there was no sanction for treating a single human being as
untouchable. The Bhagavad Gita has never taught that a chandala was in any way inferior to a Brahmana.
He argued that the “idea of superiority and inferiority is repugnant to the most elementary principles of
morality. A Brahmana who considers himself superior to any single creature of God ceases to be a Brahmana.
If we are children of the same God, how can there be any rank among us? .... What will happen to the body,
if these members begin to quarrel about rank? .... The verses in the Smritis about Sudras deserve to be
summarily rejected as being contrary to the spirit of humanity.”
Gandhi remarked, “Hinduism has sinned in giving sanction to Untouchability. It has degraded us, made us
pariahs.” He argued, that the shastras “cannot be above reason and morality.” He also said, “ ... if it is proved
to me that it is an essential part of Hinduism I for one would declare myself an open rebel against Hinduism
itself.”
Thus in his own gentle but terrifically powerful way, Gandhi tried to demolish the religious foundation of
untouchability. By so doing not only did he bring the criteria of conscience and right reason to bear their
impact on this institution but he damaged its centuries old scriptural support. Untouchability in its extreme
form always caused him so much pain, because he considered himself to be a Hindu.
He felt that if religious equality was provided to the Dalits, their political and economic conditions would
quickly improve. His view of the problem of untouchability is basically a religious and spiritual one.
GANDHI’S VIEWS ON CASTE SYSTEM
Gandhiji supported Varna Vyavastha and Ashram Vyavastha as organizing principles of Indian society,
however he condemned the current caste system. Gandhi believed that Hindu society in its pristine state –
during the Vedic times – was based on Varnashramadharma, or the law of varna and ashrama. According to
Gandhi, this was society’s “predominant characteristic”. This implied two things – that dharma or “social
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conduct” (as he termed it) varied, firstly, according to each class of society and, secondly, according to the
four stages in the life of the individual.
The former is called Varnadharma and the latter, Ashramadharma. Gandhi believed that this form of social
classification was purely functional and did not have any hierarchical or iniquitous connotations. But the
law of the ashrama was a “dead letter today”, he said.
Each of the varnas, which he referred to as social classes (while also using the term, castes, for them
elsewhere), was determined by birth and to each was assigned a particular hereditary calling with no
implication of superiority or inferiority. In this form, Gandhi did not consider varna to be a manmade insti-
tution, but “the law of life universally governing the human family”.
He believed that it provided the basis of an egalitarian society. One important attribute of varna, writes
Gandhi, is that while it is determined by birth, it can be retained only by observing its obligations. One who
fails to do so loses his title to that varna. On the other hand, a person, though born in one varna, but
displaying the predominant characteristics of another, is regarded as belonging to the second varna.
There is ambiguity in this analysis because Gandhi talks of varna being determined by birth, even as he
recognizes the possibility of a person being born in one varna and belonging to another by virtue of his
qualities. What is important, perhaps, is his conviction that the social structure delineated in ancient times
was true in conception and that the blemishes seen now were a result of faulty practice.
This pristine law, in Gandhi’s opinion, fell into disrepute because it became distorted by rigidity in its
observance by high class, orthodox Hindus. The four original varnas became subdivided into innumerable
groups called jatis, or castes, and they began to represent gradations of high and low. Self-control, which
was the hallmark of the original law, was now replaced by selfishness and exploitation.
Gandhi-Ambedkar Controversy
Gandhi and Ambedkar looked at the problem of untouchability from two very different perspectives.
Gandhi had a very keen sense of justice and human dignity, but it was conditioned by his religious
convictions. Ambedkar's views were shaped by personal experience of the inequities of the caste system; he
had personally suffered the humiliations and insults meted out to an untouchable by a caste ridden society.
Ambedkar has defined the problem in terms of building an independent political identity for Dalits in the
structures of social, economic, and political powers, whereas for Gandhi it was purely a religious question,
that too an internal one for Hinduism.
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Perspective of Ambedkar
He had a radical view of caste system and called for annihilation of caste system. He considered
Gandhian view as utopian where castes should voluntarily come forward to bridge their differences
and Varnisation of caste system will only make it stronger. So, legislative measures and political
empowerment are the only way to get rid of untouchability. According to him in a liberal society
where merit and equality are the guiding principles there should be no place for heredity status.
Ambedkar analyzed the impact of the division of the society into Varnas on the Hindu social order.
He argued that because of this division the Hindu social order has failed to uphold liberty, equality
and fraternity — the three essentials of a free social order. He also recommended abolition of
religion and state appointed priests in temples selected on basis of merit and not caste. Ambedkar
saw that intermarriage would be the structural antidote to the religiously administered social poison
that was causing that ‘hideous’ degradation and alienation in modern India.
EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
Gandhi respected traditions of the society, but not at the cost of loss of individual dignity. He never hesitated
to criticize the evils which had gripped the Indian society, and tried to mobilize public opinion against such
evils. He realised that there were deep-rooted customs hampering the development of women, and
women's freedom from such shackles was necessary for the emancipation of the nation. He assumed a
pioneering role in attempting to eradicate the social wrongs committed against the women of the country
through ages.
When Gandhi emerged on to the political scenario, social evils like child marriage and dowry system were
rampant. The percentage of women with basic education was as low as two percent. The patriarchal nature
of the society confined women to the status of an inferior sex subordinate to their male counterparts. The
purdah system was in full vogue in Northern India. Unless accompanied by their male guardians, the women
were not permitted to venture out on their own. Only a handful few could avail of education and attend
schools. It was in such a dismal milieu that Gandhi took the responsibility of shouldering a social crusade that
led to a major reorientation of the common notion of women in the Indian society.
He realized that certain customs and traditions of the Indian society were antithetical to the spirit of
development of the women of the nation. His practical and dynamic advice was, "It is good to swim in the
waters of tradition, but to sink in them is suicide".
The system of purdah came under Gandhi's attacks and he questioned the very foundation of this practice.
For him, the purdah system was no less than a "vicious, brutal and barbarous" practice. The predicaments
of the devadasis, a part of the lower, untouchable segment of the society, had an indelible effect on the
sensitive mind of the Gandhi. The pathetic conditions of the child prostitutes disturbed him immensely.
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He left no stone unturned for rehabilitating this segment of the society, as for him guarding the honour of
women was no less than protecting cows. According to Gandhi, one of the first tasks that need to be
accomplished as soon as the country won freedom was to abolish the system of devadasis.
Women under his aegis, took a milestone step towards re-establishing their identity in the society. Gandhi's
inspiring ideologies boosted their morale and helped them to rediscover their self-esteem.
With the emergence of Gandhian Philosophy, a new conception of women gradually gained currency. For
Gandhi, women were not mere toys in the hands of men, neither their competitors. Men and women are
essentially endowed with the same spirit and therefore have similar problems. Women are at par with men,
one complementing the other. According to Gandhi, education for women was the need of the time that
would ensure their moral development and make them capable of occupying the same platform as that of
men.
In Gandhi's views, women can never be considered to be the weaker sex. In Gandhi's words, "To call women
the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to women." In fact, women for Gandhi were embodiments of
virtues like knowledge, humility, tolerance, sacrifice and faith. These qualities were essential prerequisites
for imbibing the virtue of Satyagraha. The capability of enduring endless suffering can be witnessed only in
the women, according to the Mahatma. The doctrine of ahimsa as preached by Gandhi incorporates the
virtue of suffering as is evident in the women. Therefore, Gandhi envisaged a critical role for women in
establishing non-violence. Gandhi invoked the instances of ancient role models who were epitomes of
Indian womanhood, like Draupadi, Savitri, Sita and Damayanti, to show that Indian women could never be
feeble. Women have equal mental abilities as that of men and equal right to freedom.
To sum up in Gandhi's words; "The wife is not the husband's slave but his companion and his help-mate and
an equal partner in all his joys and sorrows - as free as the husband to choose her own path." Gandhi's
reformist spirit seasoned the role that he played in uplifting the status of women in India.
Gandhi called upon women to join national movement with the idea that there can be no national
awakening without the awakening of women. He was of the view that once the women of India were
awakened, national awakening would not be delayed. Gandhi brought women to the frontline of the national
fight.
Through their participation in Indian struggle for freedom, women of India broke down the shackles of
oppression that had relegated them to a secondary position from time immemorial.
Gandhi made women into a subject, making her realize that she had freedom, qualities and attributes which
are crucial to contemporary society. In a radical reconstruction, he gave her confidence in herself and in her
essence. He made woman realize that she has a significant and a dominant role to play in the family, that
both she and her husband are equal, and that within the family they both have similar rights. In a path-
breaking intervention, he made it possible not only the involvement of women in politics, but made them
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realize that the national movement could not succeed without their involvement in the struggle. Gandhi
ultimately empowered woman in the family and in marriage.
OTHER IDEAS
On Prohibition
According to Kirplani, in consonance with his idea about the simplification of life through the limitation of
wants, necessary for a healthy, cultural and moral life, Gandhiji wanted India to be free from the evil of the
use of intoxicating drinks and drugs.
Gandhiji says: "Having identified myself with labour. I know what ruin drink has brought to the home of
labourers given to drink. I know that they will not touch liquor if it was not within (their) reach. We have
contemporaneous evidence that drinkers themselves are in many cases asking for prohibition."
It was as to why did Gandhiji insist on prohibition by law, when he knew that the law in this respect was
said to have failed in America. Gandhiji says that India is not America.
The American example is a hindrance rather than a help to us America drinking carries no shame with it. In
America, it is the fashion to drink. Gandhiji further says: "In no part of the world is prohibition as easy to
carry out as in India, for with us it is only a minority that drinks. Drinking is generally considered
disrespectable. And there are millions, I believe, who have never known what drink is."
On Cow Protection
The Cow is a poem of pity. One reads pity in the gentle animal. She is the mother to millions of Indian
mankind. Protection of the cow means protection of the whole dumb creation of God.
The appeal of the lower order of creation is all the more forcible because it is speechless.
The cow is the purest type of sub-human life. She pleads before us on behalf of the whole of the sub-human
species for justice to it at the hands of man, the first among all that lives. She seems to speak to us through
her eyes: 'you are not appointed over us to kill us and eat our flesh or otherwise ill-treat us, but to be our
friend and guardian.
Cow worship, he said, was a unique contribution of Hinduism to the evolution of humanitarianism. It is a
practical application of the belief in the oneness, and therefore, sacredness of all life.
Mother cow is in many ways better than the mother who gave us birth. Our mother gives us milk for a couple
of years and then expects us to serve her when we grow up. Mother cow expects from us nothing but grass
and grain. Our mother often falls ill and expects service from us. Mother cow rarely falls ill.
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MCQS FOR PRACTICE
Q.1 Consider the following statements:
1. The book “Unto This Last” greatly captivated and transformed Gandhiji. So much so that he translated
it into Gujarati.
2. Gandhi’s weekly paper ‘Harijan’ was started in the year 1933 from Ahmedabad
Which of the given statement/s is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
ANSWER. A
Q.2 Consider the following statements:
1. Gandhi ji supported Child marriage
2. Gandhi ji supported widow remarriage
3. Gandhi ji did not support Women Education
Which of the given statement/s is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
ANSWER. B
Q.3 Consider the following statements:
1) Gandhi ji supported Idol worship
2) Gandhi ji supported Cow Protection
3) Gandhi ji supported Dowry System
Which of the given statement/s is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
ANSWER.C
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MAINS QUESTIONS FOR PRACTICE
Q1. Critically examine Gandhiji’s views on Varna system.
Q2. Why does Gandhi insist on purity of means for realising the end?
Q3. Write a short note on the Gandhi-Ambedkar controversy over caste and untouchability?
Q.4. Gandhi liberated women from shackles of patriarchy and contributed in their empowerment.
Comment.
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