Lesson 6: Modern India

• Modern Indian literature began with the establishment of civil service training schools and printing presses


  19th century
• India became more aware of its literary heritage when the British advisor on Indian affairs scornfully dismissed the entire Indian literary heritage
• The disdainful attitude inspired among the people a fervor for Indian literary works and the vernacular
• Cultural renaissance


  Awareness of Indian heritage and exposure to Western literary and philosophical writing
• English language schools


  English became a major tool for political and social reform as well as for literary expression
• Literature in English began to shape vernacular writing
• Pioneer writers of the period

  • Raja Rammohun Roy
  • Mahavir Prasad Dvivedy
  • Arunacala Kavi
  • Michael Madhusudan Dutt
  • Jayashankar Prasad
  • Sir Rabindranath Tagore
  • Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
  • Hari Narayan Apte
• The first plays modeled on Western drama were written by Madhusudan Dutt
• Nationalist leaders like Mahatma Gandhi


  Influenced the social realism of the early works
• Writers of post-Independence India experiment with surrealism, symbolism, and other new forms of writing while keeping alive the sentimental romanticism of the 19th century
• Many writers have achieved fame not only in India but also in the international community
• Santha Rama Rau was born to a wealthy family in India
• Santha Rama Rau spent more of her life abroad than in India
• On Learning To Be An Indian records Santha Rama Rau's experiences after her return from abroad and subsequent reacquaintance with her Indian heritage
• India has one of the world's oldest and richest civilizations going back more than five thousand years
• India has a bittersweet history of conquest, struggle, and painstaking search for freedom
• Indians worked for freedom and it was granted to them

  1947
• The power of the ruling Mughal Empire in India declined in the second half of the 1700s due to constant wars between provincial rulers
• The decline of the Mughal Empire enabled the British East India Company to seize control of Bengal, laying the foundation of the future British Empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Mahatma Gandhi: 'Always standing by the side of mercy, love, and compassion'
• Mahatma Gandhi: 'Spokesperson of the lowly and downtrodden all over the world, more particularly of the Untouchables'
• Gandhi was considered the architect of Indian independence through nonviolent revolution
• Gandhi was the spokesperson of the lowly and downtrodden all over the world, particularly of the Untouchables in his own land
• Mahatma


  Great Soul
• Gandhi helped free India from British control by using a unique method of nonviolent resistance called Satyagraha
• In Satyagraha, the way people behave is more important than what they achieve
• Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India


  October 2, 1869
• Gandhi's family background


  • Middle-class Hindus belonging to the Vaisyas (merchant) caste of Hindus
  • Ranked just below the Brahmans (priests, scholars) and the Kshatriyas (noble men, warriors)
• Gandhi got married at the age of thirteen in accordance with Indian tradition and had four children
• Gandhi studied law in London and returned to India after passing the examinations
• In 1893, a Moslem company sent Gandhi to South Africa to do some legal work where he faced discrimination
• Gandhi's active nonviolence began after being forcibly taken off a train in South Africa due to discrimination
• While in South Africa, Gandhi led campaigns for Indian rights and promoted civil disobedience campaigns as part of Satyagraha
• When Gandhi returned to India in 1914, he became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement and initiated programs for economic, social, and political freedom
• In 1930, Gandhi led a march to the sea to protest against the Salt Acts, making salt from seawater
• During World War II, Gandhi continued his struggle for India's freedom through nonviolent resistance and spent several years in prison for political activity
• India was granted freedom in 1947, but the partition into India and Pakistan grieved Gandhi
• Gandhi urged Hindus and Muslims to live together in peace
• On January 13, 1948, Gandhi began a fast to end the bloodshed among Hindus, Muslims, and other groups
• On January 18, 1948, the leaders pledged to stop fighting, and Gandhi broke his fast. Twelve days later, in New Delhi, while on his way t