Civilising the Native Educating the Nation

Civilising the Native

Educating the Nation

(Solutions)

Let's Recall

1. Match the following:

Column A	Column B
William Jones	Promotion of English education
Rabindranath Tagore	Respect for ancient cultures
J. H. Knowels	Translation of Rajtarangni
Thomas Macaulay	Gurus
Mahatama Gandhi	Learning in a natural environment
Pathshalas	Critical of English education
M. A. Stein	Collection of folk tales of Kashmir

Answer:

Column A	Column B
William Jones	Respect for ancient cultures
Rabindranath Tagore	Learning in natural environment
J. H. Knowels	Collection of folk tales of Kashmir
Thomas Macaulay	Promotion of English education
Mahatama Gandhi	Critical of English education
Pathshalas	Guru
M. A. Stein	Translation of Rajtarangini

2.State whether true or false:

(a) James Mill was a severe critic of the Orientalists.
Answer: True
(b) The 1854 Despatch on education was in favour of English being introduced as a medium of higher education in India.
Answer: True
(c) Mahatma Gandhi thought that promotion of literacy was the most important aim of education.
Answer: False
(d) Rabindranath Tagore felt that children ought to be subjected to strict discipline.
Answer: False

Let's Discuss

3. Why did William Jones feel the need to study Indian history, philosophy and law?
Answer: According to William Jones this will not only help the British learn from Indian culture but it would also help Indian to rediscover their own heritage. This would establish the British as guardians of Indian culture and gain total control.

4. Why did James Mill and Thomas Macaulay think that European education was essential in India?
Answer: The reasons why James Mill and Thomas Macaulay supported European Education were; 

1. They felt that the knowledge of English would allow Indians to read some of the finest literature that the world had produced; it would make them aware of the developments in Western science and philosophy. 
2. The teaching of English could thus be a way of ‘civilising’ people, changing their tastes, values and culture. 
3. They felt that  Indians should be made familiar with the scientific and technical advances that the West had made, rather than with the poetry and sacred literature of the ‘Orient’.

5. Write a short note on Orientalist literary project in Kashmir.

Answer: Orientalist project was started in Kashmir under George Bhuler who was a noted Sanskritist and Professor of Oriental language at Elphinstone College, Bombay. The project focussed on unearthing Kashmir's Sanskrit text in general and Rajtarangini in particular. Sanskrit tradition of Kashmir was institutionalised by Dugra ruler Maharaja Ranbir Singh through a series of measures such as establishment of Raghunath Temple and Raghunath Pathshala. By the virtue of the projects, M. A. Stein in 1900 published two volumes of English Translation of Rajtarangni. Dr. Elmsile authored the vocabulary of Kashmiri language and T. R. Wades wrote the grammer of Kashmiri language. J. H. Knowels collected Kashmiri procerbs. 

6. Why did Mahatma Gandhi want to teach children handicrafts?
Answer: Mahatma Gandhi wanted to teach children handicraft because that would develop their minds and their capacity to understant, know how different things operated and would help them to have lived experience and practical knowledge.

7. Why did Mahatma Gandhi think that English education had enslaved Indians?
Answer: According to Mahatma Gandhi, english education, created a sense of inferiority in the minds of Indians. It made them see Western civilisation as superior, and destroyed their pride in their own culture. Thus charmed by the West and by everything coming from the West, the Indians educated under the colonial system would end up being the admirers of British rule in India; thus, willingly forgetting their enslavement.