Gandhian Nonviolent Struggle and Untouchability in South India: The 1924-25 Vykom Satyagraha and Mechanisms of Change

by Mary Elizabeth King

Overview

In the 1920s, in the south Indian village of Vykom, a nonviolent struggle sought to open to everyone the roads surrounding the Brahmin temple there. For centuries, any person or animal could walk those roads but not the so-called untouchable Hindus, whose use of the roads would "pollute" the high castes. From April 1924 to November 1925, Gandhi waged a satyagraha to put an end to this blatant discrimination.

Gandhi believed that the Vykom struggle would eliminate severe practices of untouchability, unapproachability, and unseeability, as the nonviolent activists would "convert" the high castes "by sheer force of character and suffering." Within a decade of the Vykom campaign, a narrative emerged that corroborated Gandhi's beliefs and cited the success of the satyagraha as testimony to his methods.

This mythic narrative has persisted to this day; yet fresh evidence presented by King shows that Gandhi's confidence was misguided, and the volunteers' suffering was ineffective in "converting" the upper-caste orthodoxy. This book for the first time explores what actually happened at Vykom, including its controversial settlement. Correcting misunderstandings, it addresses the rarity of conversion as a mechanism of change, and evaluates shortcomings of Gandhi's leadership.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199452668
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	10/30/2014
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Mary Elizabeth King is Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies for the UN-affiliated University for Peace, main campus, Costa Rica, and Distinguished Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford, UK.

Table of Contents

List of figures and Maps
Foreword by Bhikhu Parekh
Preface
Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 Travancore Society: Early Stirrings of Organized Opposition against Caste
Chapter 2 The Ezhava Community Awakens
Chapter 3 The Satyagraha
Chapter 4 The Maharani Regent and Travancore Governmental Change
Chapter 5 The Settlement
Chapter 6 The Vykom Compromise: Gandhi's Role and Broader Implications
Chapter 7 Impact of Vykom on a Tool in International Theory
Chapter 8 An Historic Campaign Holds Contemporary Lessons

Conclusion

Glossary

Appendix I Timeline
Appendix II Mechanisms of Change

Select Bibliography

Index

About the Author
Contents
List of figures and Map
Foreword by Bhikhu Parekh
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Travancore Society: Early Stirrings of Organized Opposition against Caste
2. The Ezhava Community Awakens
3. The Satyagraha
4. The Maharani Regent and Travancore Governmental Change
5. The Settlement
6. The Vykom Compromise: Gandhi's Role and Broader Implications
7. Impact of Vykom on a Tool in International Theory
8. An Historic Campaign Holds Contemporary Lessons
Conclusion
Glossary
Appendix I Timeline
Appendix II Mechanisms of Change
Select Bibliography
Index
About the Author