REMEMBERING A GREAT GANDHIAN SCHOLAR IN INDIA

Dharampal's work has enjoyed a revival after being neglected for decades, largely due to the efforts of his admirers. Re-reading them is crucial to understanding modern India

- MAKARAND R PARANJAPE

ON October 24, friends and admirers of Gandhian scholar and thinker Dharampal will commemorate the 18th anniversary of his passing. To offer a glimpse of just how significant his contribution to post-independence Indian intellectual life was, we might refer to his most widely read and acclaimed book, The Beautiful Tree (1983).

The title came for an almost-forgotten speech by Mahatma Gandhi on October 20, 1931. Speaking at a Chatham House meeting at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Gandhi made the startling claim that illiteracy had increased under British colonial rule: "Today, India is more illiterate than it was 50 or a 100 years ago...because the British administrators, when they came to India, instead of taking hold of things as they were, began to root them out...and the beautiful tree perished (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi vol 54: p 59)".

Gandhi, when challenged by Sir Philip Hartog who met him on December 2, 1931, admitted that more evidence was needed to back his assertion. Decades later, Dharampal rose to the occasion by defending Gandhi's claim and the honour of India.