Sites of the Satyagraha, India's nonviolent freedom movement
Under the title Sites of Satyagraha, India's Nonviolent Freedom Movement , India's permanent delegation to UNESCO put 22 individual sites, routes and ensembles of historical sites on the tentative list of world cultural heritage in 2014 . All are linked to India's independence movement in the first half of the 20th century. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1868–1948) developed a practice of nonviolent resistance, Satyagraha , which was studied by civil rights movements worldwide.
According to the applicant, the selected sites meet two criteria of a world cultural heritage:
- Criterion iv: architecture directly related to a particular period in human history;
- Criterion vi: Sites associated with ideas or beliefs of global relevance.
description
Gandhi was convinced that satyagraha was a basic attitude that had to be practiced before it was available in political conflict. He established ashrams in which he taught satyagraha. In these places people in the spirit of Gandhi were healed of religious, political and economic undesirable developments. You experienced a personal transformation. Alternative forms of economy were also tried in the ashrams. The khadhi weaving is known, with which the poorest were enabled to develop self-confidence through their own actions.
The next step was the non-violent political action of large sections of the population against British colonial rule, for example through demonstrations, protest marches and boycotts.
On the one hand, several ashrams were proposed as world heritage, on the other hand, places that are linked in a special way to actions of the non-violent Indian struggle for independence.
Ashrams
Ashram Kochrab
This ashram near Ahmedabad ( Gujarat ) was Gandhi's first establishment and dates from May 25, 1915. This is where Swadeshi was experimented for for the first time : products from the British colonial empire were boycotted and replaced by Indian, self-made goods. Ahmedabad is a traditional center of hand-weaving and appeared to be a convenient base from which to revitalize this home industry. Jivanlal Desai rented his bungalow in Kochrab to Gandhi's circle. The center was named Sevashram . 25 men and women lived here like a family according to a common rule. A family of so-called untouchables joined the Ashram, which plunged the foundation into an existential crisis after just a few months. All financial support stopped. But then the tide turned. "The fact that it is strictly Orthodox Hindus who have borne the daily growing cost of the Ashram is perhaps a clear indication that the untouchability has been shaken to its very foundations."
The reason to move away was the outbreak of the plague in the village of Kochrab and the resulting danger for the children in the ashram. "It was impossible to immunize ourselves from the effects of the lack of health care around us, as scrupulously as we might observe the rules of cleanliness within the ashram," Gandhi wrote in retrospect.
Ashram Sabarmati
Gandhi lived in this ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati River (Gujarat) for twelve years (1917–1930). Associated with the ashram was a school devoted to manual labor, agriculture and literacy.
The community was looking for suitable land for its own settlement near the city of Ahmedabad and found it in the vicinity of the central prison. Gandhi found this place ideal, as it was a satyagrahi's everyday life to be imprisoned. The community had grown to over forty people who initially lived in tents and built a hut for the common kitchen.
All members of the Ashram decided to forego factory-made clothing altogether and to make the required clothing themselves. A number of hand looms were procured for this purpose. However, since none of the group had any experience with handicraft, the solution was initially to hire local weavers to make the necessary fabrics. They were reluctant to process the relatively coarse yarn from Indian spinning mills. Through these efforts of the Ashram, however, a revaluation of Indian products started, as Gandhi had hoped for. Gradually, spinners and weavers were also found who passed on their expertise. In this way, the Ashram members were finally able to make their clothes themselves and the quality of them was getting better and better.
After Gandhi moved to the Sevagram Ashram, a large part of the Ashram was converted into a museum (Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalay) . The simple, small apartments in the local architectural style are particularly noteworthy.
Ashram Sevagram
In 1936 Gandhi moved to this ashram near Wardha (Maharashtra). It became a center of the Indian independence movement, where strategic decisions were made. The ashram has a series of small huts, a kind of village architecture.
Khadi Pratishthan and Ashram
This was Gandhi's second residence near Sodepur (14 kilometers north of Calcutta ) in the east of the country. In 1921, Satish Chandra Dasgupta, a chemist and inventor, had the settlement built. Gandhi was very impressed by the innovations. Khadi spinning took place here, hand-made paper was made, and other products of the ashram were ink, ghee, cheese and honey. While the nation awaited independence in August 1947, Gandhi had retired to this ashram and passed the days in solitude and prayer. In contrast to the three aforementioned ashrams, which are open to tourists, all nine rooms of the khadi ashram were permanently locked in 2017 and in a state of decay.
Sites of the Indian independence movement
Amongst other things:
- Mani Bhavan ( Mumbai ). Center from where important Satyagraha actions from 1917 to 1934 started.
- Stations of the Salt March (1930) from the Sevagram Ashram to the village of Dandi on the coast. The protesters covered 390 kilometers in 24 days. On the seashore, they deliberately violated the British colonial government's salt law by extracting their own salt from seawater.
- Stations of the Vedaranyam March. Southern and smaller counterpart of the salt marsh.
- Sites of the Champaran-Satyagrah. Every tenant in Champaran was obliged to plant three-twentieth of his land with indigo . Gandhi, who as an outsider was called to support the farm workers, gained practical experience with Ahimsa here . He realized that the ignorance of the farm workers was the underlying problem. "They let their children either wander around or work hard in the indigo plantations from morning to night for a few copper coins every day." Gandhi founded primary schools in six villages and got doctors to teach basic hygienic skills in the villages. These projects were successful but limited in time.
- Sites of Kheda-Satyagrah and Sites of Bardoli-Satyagrah. There were protests against the high taxes that were imposed on smallholders even during famine. Since they had the right to defer their duties in the event of crop failures, the government simply declared that there were no crop failures. Under Gandhi's guidance, the farmers in Kheda jointly vowed, knowing that the crop failures were real, not to voluntarily pay the taxes to the government for a year: “We will allow the government to take all legal steps it deems appropriate, and will happily bear all the consequences of our refusal to pay. ”The government gave in, but from Gandhi's point of view the campaign was unsuccessful. The poor were supposed to receive a moratorium, but the people were not able to get the recognition they needed to be poor.
- Dharasana Satyagraha (Salt Mine). Another site of protest against the UK Salt Act.
- Sites of the Flag Satyagrah. There were protests here for the right to fly the Indian national flag.
- Guruvayur Temple. Here the right of so-called untouchables to enter the temple was fought for.
- Sites of the non-cooperation movement. These are places in Chauri-Chaura associated with reactions to Rowlett's Act and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre: for example, refusal to buy British goods or attend British schools.
- Sites of the Quit India movement. Here the complete withdrawal of the colonial power from India was demanded.
- Sites of protest in Kerala against the Hindu caste system and the exclusion of the Dalits from society.
See also
- Republic Day - the constitutional day of the young state, Republic Day, always on January 26 (meaning the day in 1950 )
- Independence - Independence Day, (meaning the day of the year each on August 15, 1947 )
Web links
- UNESCO Tentative Lists: Sites of Saytagrah, India's non-violent freedom movement
literature
- Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography. The story of my experiments with the truth. Based on the English translation from the Gujarati by Mahadev Desai. Translated into German by Fritz Kraus. Freiburg / Munich 1960.
Individual evidence
- ^ Sites of Satyagrah, India's non-violent freedom movement. In: UNESCO Tentative Lists. Retrieved November 14, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography. The story of my experiments with the truth . S. 347 .
- ↑ Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography. The story of my experiments with the truth. S. 348-349 .
- ↑ Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography. The story of my experiments with the truth. S. 351 .
- ↑ a b Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography. The story of my experiments with the truth. S. 375 .
- ↑ Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography. The story of my experiments with the truth. S. 426-427 .
- ↑ a b c Prasun Chaudhuri: 'I shall try to treat Sodepur on the same footing as Sabarmati'. In: The Telegraph (India). August 13, 2017. Retrieved November 14, 2018 .
- ↑ Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography. The story of my experiments with the truth. S. 355 .
- ↑ Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography. The story of my experiments with the truth. S. 368 .
- ↑ Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography. The story of my experiments with the truth. S. 381 .