Nehru and History

Historians of nationalism have regarded the growth of an consciousness as one of the vital factors contributing to the development of nationalism, especially in the non-Western countries.' This new awareness was certainly part of the complex of ideas comprising the phenomenon of nationalism in India. Almost every nationalist leader of note used the Indian past almost as defense against the despondency created in the public mind by subjection to British rule. Gandhi consistently pointed to this greatness whenever occasion demanded it, as did Jawaharlal Nehru.2 Nehru, however, was unique in his awareness and differed significantly in his treatment of the past from Gandhi. Unlike Gandhi, who found his being completely within the core of the Hindu tradition, Nehru was, in his own words, a queer mixture of the East and the West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere and his thoughts and approach to life were more akin to what is called Western than Eastern.' Where Gandhi was totally immersed in India, Nehru, because of his early fascination for Marxism and Socialism, often attempted to view the Indian past within the context of the world at large. The differences in the consciousness of the two reflected the interplay of tradition and modernity in the history of Indian nationalism. Gandhi (1869-1948) was older than Nehru (1889-1964) by two decades, but the difference in historical time was much greater than the chronological. They represented the two ends of the Indian social and intellectual spectrum. Gandhi, Bania by caste, lived his childhood in the lingering memories of the feudal past of Gujarat in western India and was raised in family steeped in the Vaishnava tradition. Nehru was Kashmiri Brahman, son of successful and affluent Westernized attorney

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