Mahamana Malaviya Mission Library

man and its contribution in the cause of the freedom struggle is unique in our history. Throughout his long political career he responded will to several political situations that came in his way. He powered a bridge between the Moderates and the Extremists. He of course had differences with the Congress programme after 1919 but he deserted the organisation and attended its sessions regularly. In fact he had dis-agreement with Gandhi’s programme of non-cooperation movement, but he joined the Congress volunteer organization and tried his best to keep the national spirit and morale of Congressmen after Gandhi was arrested in March 1922. In 1930, when Gandhi launched the Salt Satyagraha and the Civil Disobedience Movement, he actually participated in it and courted arrest. In the built India Movement, he, could not participate on account of his in different health, but he always offered his spontaneous support to all those who suffered during this period. He was against the policy of boycott of educational institutions and did not want that students should suffer by giving up their studies by adopting the policy of boycott. Thus he did not hesitate in giving vent to his feelings freely when such a movement came in his life. In the long-drawn political struggle in our sub-continent, the role of Madan Mohan Malaviya is more than seven decades. He passed through several crucial stages of the movements launched by Mahatma Gandhi. Indeed his participation in the freedom struggle is most significant. SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY-

Modan Mohan Malaviya was a great social reformer of the twentieth century. He understood well that the social customs in Hindu society which were injurious to the community would die hard. He opposed child marriage as it greatly affected the physique of the youths. He was against untouchability and suggested several reforms for the socio-economic upliftment of Harijans. He wished to see then social and economically prosperous by raising their educational standards. His spirit of compromise was thus coupled with his determination and strength of will. Undoubtedly his role as a member of the legislature is unique in the annals of our freedom struggle. He was a fine orator and his powerful and comprehensive arguments in the legislature greatly influenced the British bureaucracy. He fought consistently for the basic right of Indians which included education, adequate representation in services along with the British bureaucrats and last but not the least the demand for Swaraj. He was well- conversant with the culture and traditions of Hinduism. He had indeed comprehensive knowledge of Vedas, Upanishad, Ramayana, Mahabharata and other Hindu scriptures. He favoured the concept of charity, but opined that charity should be given to a proper for a right cause. The development of education was dear to his heart and for the collection of funds he never hesitated to contact the ‘smallest and the greatest’ man on earth. He lamented that crores of rupees were given in charity every year, but the same was not always well spent. If that money, could be diverted to education, that would help both the cause of education and of religion .in his opinion, providing a man with education and ‘means of livehood’, was the greatest Dharma. The recipient of the alms, therefore, must be pious man, for the objective of charity is not to make the recipient idle or a parasite. Giving of alms, thus, is a social phenomenon, and it must lead to some social good. To those who deposited ‘mantras’ or ‘Ramnaam’ in a religious bank, his advice was to offer them in ‘diksha’. To Malaviya, the dearest thing on earth was religion and the religion was the Sanatan Dharma. The essence of the religion according to the Mahabharata is that “one ought not to do that unto another which he would not like another to do unto him. One should do that unto another which he would wish that other to do unto him”. The essence or truth as enunciated by Veda Vyas in the Mahabharata is shared by all other religions Malaviya was proud of belonging to a Dharma which he held to be the oldest and the holiest religion on earth. He claimed never to have departed from the path laid down by the shastras, and sincerely wished that his people should go back to the purest dictates of the Shastras that we live under in the old system, which was no half so bad as it is today.” Both the Shastras and the Karamakanda or rituals were dear to him.What, however, distinguished Malaviya from the orthodox was the fact that he claimed to have interpreted the Shastras in the light of both there letter as well as spirit. He was a social reformer in our society. He favoured the idea of social upliftment of women and opined that they should be properly educated. He supported widow remarriage and opposed child marriage both for boys and girls. In his speeches and writings he always talked about the equality of men and women in our society.