ABSTRACT
At the core of Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of nationalism laid his concept of Swaraj or self-rule or more particularly the control over the self. This idea of Swaraj, in Gandhi’s philosophy, was not only based on independent Indian economy, but was equally important in terms of its moral and spiritual connotation. To Gandhi, this could radiate out in Ahimsa, first to the village and community and later to the country at large. Gandhi believed that this controlled self would replace the impositions of colonial administration and would relieve India from western material culture. He saw British industrial culture as having created limitless desire and corruption. From this perspective, his non-cooperation movement and his philosophies of the charkha (the spinning wheel) and Khadi were a moral act of renunciation of this material culture, apart from the renunciation of English cloth. In making a critical study of the writings and correspondences of Gandhi, P.C. Ray and Tagore, this chapter discusses their debates and arguments over the concept of Swaraj. In this endeavour, the chapter would bring forth the different ideas of the postcolonial nation as envisaged by these three visionary thinkers of modern India.
