Bengal

Moreover, the sepoys, or native soldiers, employed by the company had many reasons for discontent, including the fact that they had to bite off the ends of cartridges which they believed were greased with the fat of cows, sacred to Hindus, and pigs, forbidden to Muslims.

The sepoys mutinied in 1857, and from Bengal in the east rebellion spread like wildfire up the Ganges Valley.

The sepoy mutiny, as the rebellion is called, was crushed at a terrible cost of life.

The leaders were punished, some of them being blown to bits from the mouths of cannon.

And there are Aryan Hindus who together with the great mass of mixed descent constitute the Hindu majority of the population.

No national language binds the diverse elements together.

Hindi is spoken by almost a third of the population, Bengali by one-sixth, and by lesser numbers dozens of other tongues are used.

It is hard, very hard, to form a nation out of such discordant elements.

Moreover, the sepoys, or native soldiers, employed by the company had many reasons for discontent, including the fact that they had to bite off the ends of cartridges which they believed were greased with the fat of cows, sacred to Hindus, and pigs, forbidden to Muslims.

The sepoys mutinied in eighteen fifty-seven, and from Bengal in the east rebellion spread like wildfire up the Ganges Valley.

The sepoy mutiny, as the rebellion is called, was crushed at a terrible cost of life.

The leaders were punished, some of them being blown to bits from the mouths of cannon.

And there are Aryan Hindus who, together with the great mass of mixed descent, constitute the Hindu majority of the population.

No national language binds the diverse elements together.

Hindi is spoken by almost a third of the population, Bengali by one-sixth, and by lesser numbers dozens of other tongues are used.

It is hard, very hard, to form a nation out of such discordant elements.

Moreover, the sepoys, or native soldiers, employed by the company, had many reasons for discontent, including the fact that they had to bite off the ends of cartridges which they believed were greased with the fat of cows, sacred to Hindus, and pigs, forbidden to Muslims.

The sepoys mutinied in 1857, and from Bengal in the east rebellion spread like wildfire up the Ganges Valley.

The sepoy mutiny, as the rebellion is called, was crushed at a terrible cost of life.

The leaders were punished, some of them being blown to bits from the mouths of cannon.

There are Dravidians in the south, and there are Aryan Hindus who together with the great mass of mixed descent constitute the Hindu majority of the population.

No national language binds the diverse elements together.

Hindi is spoken by almost a third of the population, Bengali by one-sixth, and by lesser numbers dozens of other tongues are used.

It is hard, very hard to form a nation out of such discordant elements.

and pigs, forbidden to Muslims.

The Sepoys mutinied in eighteen fifty-seven, and from Bengal in the east rebellion spread like wildfire up the Ganges Valley.

The Sepoy Mutiny, as the rebellion is called, was crushed at a terrible cost of life.

The leaders were punished, some of them being blown to bits from the mouths of cannon.

There are Dravidians in the south, and there are Aryan Hindus who together with the great mass of mixed descent constitute the Hindu majority of the population.

No national language binds the diverse elements together.

Hindi is spoken by almost a third of the population, Bengali by one sixth.

and by lesser numbers dozens of other tongues are used it is hard very hard to form a nation out of such discordant elements there is an even greater difficulty created by religion to be sure the core of india is hindu the two hundred and seventeen million hindus form a majority in most of the provinces and two-thirds of the total population but on the outskirts of india there are eleven million buddhists in burma three million sikhs in punjab twenty-five million moslems in eastern bengal and eleven millions in punjab worse there are millions of moslems scattered all through india traditionally hostile to the hindus into whose midst they originally came as conquerors to remain in some states as rulers in others as oppressed minorities in all there are about seventy million moslems still worse the hindus themselves are divided into castes originally perhaps the higher castes were the conquerors and priests the lower castes the conquered and lowly today the castes are social classes within which each person is bound by religion to live and marry at the bottom of the social scale are millions of outcasts to touch whom would contaminate a proud brahman that such divergent elements should have been fused in an ardent nationalism would be inconceivable were it not for british imperialism britain has made india a nation partly by giving political unity to the great peninsula which had been a welter of warring principalities partly by giving english education to indians of the upper class who thereby imbibed the european idea of nationalism but most of all by giving india a universal sentiment which could serve as a bond of union that sentiment is antagonism toward british rule perhaps no other could have brought brahman and pariah hindu and moslem marathi and bengali together but they have been welded together in the heat of resentment against what they consider as the wrongs done to them by england the nationalist torrent which has raged in india of recent years is a flood swelled by innumerable rivulets of discontent but its main current has been the desire for swaraj self-government indian youths mostly of the higher castes and wealthier classes having studied at english universities returning to india found much to criticize in the british administration here and there local associations were formed to agitate for reform at length in eighteen eighty five was held the first meeting of the indian national congress neither national since it included only upper-class hindus nor a congress since it was composed of delegates without authority and without mandate from the people it was simply a gathering of those hindus who felt new impulse toward unity and self-government it began by asking great britain to appoint a commission to investigate the administration of india little by little it grew bolder in its criticism and more representative in its composition until it could claim to voice the aspirations of hindu india disregarding of course the lower classes for years the chief figure in the national congress was g k gokhale a hindu who with a temperate but determined spirit fought for the gradual emancipation of india long after the hindus had become aroused the sixty million mohammedans of india remained inert and inarticulate for they seemed to be a minority which could hardly join forces with the hindu nationalists nor claim separate nationality for themselves but in due time the mohammedans bestirred themselves and in nineteen twelve founded a moslem league which held annual meetings like those of the national congress and like the congress criticized british despotism the two movements were brought into alliance in nineteen sixteen during the great war which indirectly gave tremendous impetus to the demand for self-government in india as in every other subject country in nineteen sixteen the two organizations agreed to make a joint demand for representative government in nineteen eighteen for complete self-government to be achieved by degrees within the next fifteen years what grievances against british rule could be strong enough to accomplish this miracle of uniting hindu and moslem in a nationalist movement perhaps we had best let one of the nationalist writers lajpat rai explain all indians he asserts will agree

Moreover, the sepoys, or native soldiers, employed by the company had many reasons for discontent, including the fact that they had to bite off the ends of cartridges which they believed were greased with the fat of cows, sacred to Hindus, and pigs, forbidden to Muslims.

The sepoys mutinied in 1857, and from Bengal in the east rebellion spread like wildfire up the Ganges Valley.

The sepoy mutiny, as the rebellion is called, was crushed at a terrible cost of life.

The leaders were punished, some of them being blown to bits from the mouths of cannon.

And there are Aryan Hindus who, together with the great mass of mixed descent, constitute the Hindu majority of the population.

No national language binds the diverse elements together.

Hindi is spoken by almost a third of the population, Bengali by one-sixth, and by lesser numbers dozens of other tongues are used.

It is hard, very hard, to form a nation out of such discordant elements.

Moreover, the sepoys, or native soldiers, employed by the company had many reasons for discontent, including the fact that they had to bite off the ends of cartridges which they believed were greased with the fat of cows, sacred to Hindus, and pigs, forbidden to Muslims.

The sepoys mutinied in 1857, and from Bengal in the east rebellion spread like wildfire up the Ganges Valley.

The sepoy mutiny, as the rebellion is called, was crushed at a terrible cost of life.

The leaders were punished, some of them being blown to bits from the mouths of cannon.

There are Dravidians in the south, and there are Aryan Hindus who together with the great mass of mixed descent constitute the Hindu majority of the population.

No national language binds the diverse elements together.

Hindi is spoken by almost a third of the population, Bengali by one-sixth, and by lesser numbers dozens of other tongues are used.

It is hard, very hard to form a nation out of such discordant elements.