This set of slides will give the reader a comprehensive view of how Tagore and Gandhi defined and worked towards creating a just equitable sustainable caring and happy , healthy society. In other words a good society.This meant opposing the ideas of Industrialism . What might their visions mean today?

1. Gandhi Tagore (GT) Visions
SWARAJ for EVERYONE
k
Art: Swetha Nambiar
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

2. Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

3. SWARAJ
•For most Indians Swaraj meant getting rid of British
rule by any means and ushering in rule by Indians
•In sharp contrast , for G&T just getting rid of the
British , but accepting , nay welcoming MODERN
CIVILIZATION / INDUSTRIALISM brought in by the
British , was utterly ridiculous and disastrous.
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

4. Swaraj ?
•For Gandhi and Tagore Swaraj meant “ rule
over oneself” or “reforming the soul” and
according to both it was the essence of all of
World’s great religions ----
•overcoming the cardinal sins ---greed, fear ,
envy, pride, lust, hatred ----.
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

5. GT SWARAJ
was their Alternative
to
INDUSTRIALISM
Modern Civilization
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6. MODERN CIVILIZATION/ INDUSTRIALISM ?
•evil force trapping humanity into the vortex of
perpetual material growth
•led by strong centralized Nation States with some
form of representative democracy
•in India and all over the World
•Inevitably resulting in mutual envy, rivalry , hatred ,
violence , inequality,
•unhappiness,
• and rapidly the robbery and destruction of NATURE
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7. SWARAJ as anti INDUSTRIALISM
Implies a search for very different
•Economy
•Technologies
•Political System
•Social – Cultural Sphere
•Psychological Makeup
•Core Values
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

8. Tagore’s description of INDUSTRIALISM
“ City and Village” written in 1924
Read 3 relevant themes in it..
•Story of Moon(ecological destruction)
•Kuber and Lakshmi( redistribution of wealth)
•Democracy( elephant for the clever and rich)
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9. City and Village
•Tagore felt that historically cities and villages had
distinctly different and yet complimentary roles .
But with industrialism this relationship had got
distorted ; and he wanted that synergistic
relationship restored.
•http://tagoreanworld.co.uk/?page_id=68
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

10. Tagore speech 1926
• We have for over a century been dragged by the prosperous West behind
its chariot , choked by the dust , deafened by the noise, humbled by our
helplessness, and overwhelmed by the speed.
• We agreed to acknowledge that this chariot race was progress , and that
progress was civilization.
• If we even ventured to ask , " Progress towards what, and progress for
whom," it was considered to be peculiarly and ridiculously oriental to
entertain such doubts about the absoluteness of progress.
• Of late , a voice has come to us to take count not only of the scientific
perfection of the chariot but the depth of the ditches lying across its path.
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

11. Nationalism
•Both of them had no use for this new intolerant religion
called “Nationalism” which arose with Industrialism .
•Tagore wrote and lectured powerfully against this religion
and in fact angered many of his admirers in Japan and USA
and China to whom he lectured on this, and of course
attracted lots of abuse in Bengal.
•In Gandhi’s vision of the world with universal peace and
harmony , aggressive nationalism had absolutely no
place. No wonder the RSS considered him their “greatest
enemy .
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

12. In 1913, Tagore became the first non-European to
win the Nobel Prize for Literature, largely for the
English Gitanjali.
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13. Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by
narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening
thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, O Father, let my country awake.
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14. जगाओ मेरा देश, जगाओ मेरा देश
मन मे भय क
े बूंद भी न हो, माथा ऊ
ूं चा लहराये
ज्ञान मुक्त आज़ाद ले सााँसे, धरती बूंट न पाये ,
हो धरती बूंट न पाये
सच की कोख से शब्द जनम ले, कमम की धारा
कलकल
दौड़े रेगगस्तान चीर दे नदी गिचार की छल छल
चौड़ा सीना हो अगभमान का, ना हो टुकड़े टुकड़े
भाि सुरीले बूंगदश में हो और सुरीले मुखड़े
प्रहार करो तुम प्रहार करो --
जगाओ मेरा देश
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15. Inclusiveness
•Both for Tagore and Gandhi ---reveling in India’s
diversity and including “everyone” in the
common future was of paramount importance
•Tagore’s poem “Matri Abhishek” is a fine
example of that. This poem continuously talks
about the mingling of races, religions, castes
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16. Matri Abhishek- Anointing the Mother( 1st 2
paras translated)
Who knows by whose call
So many people have come
From so many places
In huge torrents
And have mingled
in this Human Sea of Bharat
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17. Aryans and non Aryans
Dravids and Chinese
Sakas – Hunas –Pathans – Mughals
they have all become one.
The West has opened its doors
today and many are bringing gifts .
There will again be give and take
No one will go empty handed
in this Human Sea of Bharat
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

18. Village Reconstruction
•Tagore , very consciously used this word “Rural
Reconstruction” , and came up with a 15 point charter
in 1906.
•Gandhi saw cities embodying the rapacity of
industrialism and wanted India to be almost wholly
rural. He also came up with his recipe called
“Constructive Program” in 1938.
•As expected many of the items in these two charters
are the same.
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19. TAGORE GANDHI
Shalishi / Village Arbitration
Brotherhood among Hamlets
and Villages
Community Grain Bank (
Dharmagola )
Community Centre
Research and Documentation
Help with Village, District,
Regional, and National work of
Congress.
Untouchability
Provincial Language
National Language
Economic Equality
Labour
Adivasis
Lepers
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20. Village based Manufacturing
•Both were highly interested in ---handicrafts and
cottage industries.
•Gandhi formed All India Village Industries
Association in 1927 which became very active
after Kumarappa took over in 1934 .
•Tagore brought in technology and expertise from
all over the World to upgrade traditional village
crafts and start new village industries
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

21. But Big Machinery ??
•In 1920s Tagore wrote powerful dramas “Muktodhara” ,
“Raktakarabi” which depict Big Machine taking over the
human soul and also destroying Nature
• Gandhi , of course, was quite extreme about this in “Hind
Swaraj” written in 1909. Over the years he refined his
critique of Big Technology and laid out fairly strict criteria of
what machinery to support and which to oppose .
• In 1970s these basic principles were put into nice
theoretical frameworks by E.F. Schumacher in “Small is
Beautiful” Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

22. Industrialism Gandhian
Big Small
Complex Simple
High Capital required Low Capital
Concentrated ( urban) Spread out ( rural)
Labour saving Labour intensive
Environmentally harmful Env Friendly
Massive transport reqd Minimum transport
Standardized Diversified
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

23. Rural Institutions & Democracy
• Both Gandhi and Tagore had ideas about reviving and
creating rural institutions and an indigenous form of
democracy .
• Tagore experimented with cooperatives ,
community grain banks , secular village festivals, rural
bank, village level arbitration courts .
• He came up with this distinction of “somaj prodhan
desh” vs “rashtro prodhan desh” basically claiming
that India was more suited to having the Primacy of
“Society” over ”Nation-State”
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

24. Rural Institutions & Democracy ( contd)
• Gandhi : Last Will and Testament : Disband Congress .
• Party workers to be converted into village workers.
• And he came up with a “panchayats system” which
would go right from village up to the national level with
the nice imagery of “oceanic circles” as opposed to a
“power pyramid”.
• In his 1906 charter Tagore also talks about bottom up
organization building similar to Gandhi’s
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

25. Composite Religious Culture
•Both were proud of this aspect of India. And put in
enormous efforts to see that the mutual hatred and
violence between different religions would end .
•Tagore’s twist to traditional “Rakhi” as a bond of
brotherhood between Hindus and Muslims during the 1905
Swadeshi Movement and personally leading the movement
in the streets of Kolkata through poems, songs , meetings.
•When things fell apart , the number of times Gandhi put his
own life on the line are legendary ; and paid the ultimate
price
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

26. •Both saw that there has to be a balance between
“Struggle against the evil” ( Satyagraha) and
“Coming up with alternatives” . It is nicely
summed up by the phrase
Sangharsh aur Nirmaan
•Gandhi’s Nirmaan work upset many leaders of
Congress and other political parties.
•But for Gandhi those constructive activities were of
supreme importance
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27. Sangharsh aur Nirmaan (Tagore )
•Tagore felt very strongly that before throwing
out the seemingly evil , it was absolutely
mandatory to experiment with and come up
with alternatives ..
•This is depicted in his wonderful novel “Ghare
Baire” written in 1916 and made into a film by
Satyajit Ray.
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

28. Happiness as Goal
•For Tagore a life worth living had to be full of Ananda
( Bliss) .. Life had to be full of color, poetry, music,
dance, drama, pattern and craftsmanship ---all of
them linked with material simplicity . . That also
ensured that your Ananda was not at another’s
expense.
•Gandhi mentions Happiness as crucial in his Hind
Swaraj of 1909 in the chapter “What is true
civilization” and delinks happiness from wealth as
also Tagore had done.
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

29. Gandhi Tagore
Anti Industrialism
Swaraj Universalism
Not aggressive
Nationalism
Village
Reconstruction
City-Village
Synergy
Industries
Cottage scale –AT
; anti Big
Machines
Bottom Up Rural
democracy .
“shrunk” nation
state
Sangharsh
Nirmaan
Satyagraha
Ananda
happiness
Inclusiveness
Sarvodaya
Diversity
Composite
Religions cultures
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

30. How does this
Gandhi Tagore Legacy
matter
or help us today ?
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31. “.
“
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32. https://rebellion.earth
A future of less
consumption
and less
convenience is
inevitable.
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33. Gandhi’s letter to Nehru :Oct 1945
I must not fear if the world today is going the
wrong way. It may be that India too will go that
way and like the proverbial moth burn itself
eventually in the flame round which it dances
more and more furiously. But it is my burden to
protect India and through India the entire world
from such a doom.
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

34. In GT Visions of anti Industrialism:
What is Out ? Neti Neti
•Material/GDP Growth:
•Fossil Fuels
•Massive Transportation and Trade
•Big Companies & Organizations : Private or
Public
•Integrated World Economy
•Upward Economic Mobility & Inequality
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

35. Out
•Urbanization
•Formal Educational Institutions : schools and
universities
•Massive Centralized Powerful Nation State
•Representative Democracy
•Social Inequalities
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

36. When to start ?
•Tagore : Jodi tor daak shune keu naa ashhe , tobe
ekla cholo re (If no one heeds your call, walk alone -
• And this became one of Gandhi’s favorite songs.
• Gandhi writes in HS : “ It is Swaraj when we learn to
rule ourselves. It is, therefore, in the palm of our
hands. Do not consider this Swaraj to be like a dream.
There is no idea of sitting still “ ( implying that we can
start anytime)
Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP

37. Living Utopias slides developed by Sujit Sinha and Pallavi VP