GANDHI The Traditional Roots of Charisma Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph GANDHI GANDHI The Traditional Roots of Charisma Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London This book originally appeared as part two of The Modernity of Tradition: Political Development in India. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 1967, 1983 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 1967 Paperback edition 1983 Printed in the United States of America 90 89 88 87 345 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Rudolph, Susanne Hoeber. Gandhi, the traditional roots of charisma. Originally published as part 2 of the Modernity of Tradition by Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph. 1. Leadership. 2. Gandhi, Mahatma, 1869-1948. 3. Politics, Practical—Psychological aspects. 4. Courage. 5. Self-control. I. Rudolph, Lloyd I. II. Rudolph, Lloyd I. Modernity of tradition. III. Title. HMI141.R8 1983 303.34 83-1179 ISBN 0-226-73136-7 CONTENTS Preface vii The Fear of Cowardice 6 Gandhi and the New Courage 29 Self-Control and Political Potency 38 This-Worldly Asceticism and Political Modernization 62 The Private Origins of Public Obligation 86 The New Meaning of Old Paths 93 yori pen = Aaah Apeskealiel Talis woa , sist PY ’ ne ! ‘ be id ea an « ae * Mii~n as Fa Le A | ; eT ai eee eh ye naete dy,7 eel 1a , > - © 0 hamlet Cae. age 4 $45 fig talk Je) ty ‘shg arth ie if aea y ij ive WAG)i oge enial > So PREFACE Our interpretation of Gandhi was formed between the mid- 1950s and the mid-1960s, the decade between decolonization and the Vietnam War and fifteen years before the victory in Iran of Islamic revivalism. It was widely believed at the time that “new nations” had to break with—even repudiate—tradition to become modern. Ancient civilizations were not so much dangerous as decadent. Scholars and: statesmen talked of stages of development, take-off, and the prerequisites of democracy. Our interpretation of Gandhi expressed a countercurrent. We called the larger work in which this account of Gandhi first appeared The Modernity of Tradition because we found that social change in India involved adaptation of its past inheritance as much as it did the destruction and displacement of that inheritance. India’s inde- terminant future, it seemed, was being shaped by civilizational con- tinuities and affinities. We did not find this necessarily dangerous or undesirable and we tried to show why. Gandhi, who describes himself in his autobiography as descended from a caste of petty merchants and was in fact the son and grand- son of princely state prime ministers, became for Indians bapu (father) and Mahatma (great soul). How was this possible? How was it done? We find the answers in the traditional roots of his charisma, the subtitle we have given this book. Max Weber, who gave currency to the concept of charisma, found that charismatic leadership arose spontaneously and moved history in hitherto un- likely and even unanticipated directions. Charismatic leadership was a wild card that reordered the values contained in the deck of extant historical determinants. For us, Gandhi’s charismatic leadership was itself in part historically determined, rooted in the aspects of tradition he interpreted for his time. Gandhi’s revitalization of tradition in- volved breaks with its entrenched values, practices, and interests: his vii Preface struggle against untouchability as a world view and social practice; his insistence on the dignity of all callings and the work they entail; and his transformation of the Indian National Congress from a body narrowly concerned with the interests of an anglicized elite to a so- cially concerned mass organization. In pursuing these and other trans- formations of Indian character, society, and politics he used traditional symbols and language to convey new meanings and to reconstitute social action. Gandhi realized in his daily life and his public actions cultural ideals that many Indians honored in their own lives but could not themselves enact. He and his followers shared, for example, the tradi- tional Hindu belief that a person’s capacity for self-control enhanced his capacity to control his environment. This was the key to Gandhi’s political potency. In a self-fulfilling prophecy of mutual expectations and recognitions, Gandhi and those to whom he spoke believed that the more he could realize the cultural ideal of ascetic self-control over enslaving or destructive passions, the more qualified he became as their leader. Gandhi’s “experiments with truth,” the title of his autobiography, never ceased. One result of his experiments was a self-critical, ethical, and inclusive nationalism. Gandhi frequently spoke of swaraj (liter- ally swa “self” and raj “rule”), a word derived from Sanskrit and common to many Indian languages. He used its double meaning, rule thyself and national self-rule, to teach by example and precept that Indians would not be ready for or capable of national inde- pendence until they had reformed themselves and their society. Gandhi’s nationalism achieved an ethical universalism that at- tracted—and still attracts—attention and followers outside India. It was able to do so because Gandhi placed right means (such as non- violence) above desired ends. He instructed a generation that non- violent resistance was a transforming and agentic force rather than a passive tactic of the weak. To protest injustice without hatred and violence required moral and physical courage. Gandhi showed that resolving conflicts by appealing to shared values and interests could replace enmity with community. He depicted truth as a goal rather than as an archetype or a revelation and compared it to a diamond whose many facets exposed a variety of meanings. Because Gandhi gave truth a contextual and experimental form, it could be found in all faiths and realized in the lives of all men. Vili