ABSTRACT
Civilizations and debates around them are constructed based on differences between the self and the other, between the ‘civilized’ and ‘uncivilized’. With special reference to Gandhi’s contribution to the civilizational debate, this essay seeks to understand how it is framed in India. First, four variants of the Indian civilization debate are discussed: (a) the positive romanticism of the 18th-century East India Company ‘Orientalists’, who viewed Sanskritic civilization as equal to the West; (b) the Utilitarian and Evangelical positions, which pedestalized Western European over Indian civilization; (c) pre-nationalist and nationalist variants; and (d) post-independence formulations. Within the subset of the nationalist variant is where Gandhi’s views on civilization as contained in the Hind Swaraj can be placed, with the objective of replacing colonial power through a broader resistance to modern civilization, by exploring the realm of moral reasoning. This essay explicates Gandhi’s argument for a civilization characterized by good conduct, and mastery over the mind, where even civilizational learning is pursued in collaboration.
