The work of the society is carried on under the direction of the Branches. Those who are members give their whole time and work to public service, while the students give their annual term of six months. A few of them are told off annually to make arrangements for the meetings of the National Congress. They do all they possibly can to help such movements as primary education, female education, and the uplifting of the Depressed Classes. In Berar a great deal has been done to help the Co-operative Credit Societies of the Province. During the serious fodder-famine from which Gujarat suffered in 1912, ten members and six volunteers were fully engaged for ten months, and did priceless service.

After the five years of studentship are over, a member receives only fifty rupees a month of salary, even if he be a married man with a family. There are at present twentysix members in all. The expenses of the society already run from twenty to forty thousand rupees per annum. Mr. Gokhale raises the bulk of this large sum himself from private friends.

The following paragraphs copied from a brief prospectus of the society will give a clear idea of the spirit of the undertaking:

For some time past, the conviction has been forcing itself on many earnest and thoughtful minds that a stage has been reached in the work of nation-building in India, when, for further progress, the devoted labours of a specially trained agency, applying itself to the task in a true missionary spirit, are required. The work that has been accomplished so far has indeed been of the highest value. The growth during the last fifty years of a feeling of common nationality, based upon common traditions and ties, common hopes and aspirations, and even common disabilities, has been most striking. The fact that we are Indians first, and Hindus, Mahomedans and Parsees or 1 The Servants of India Society, to be had from the Society.

Christians afterwards, is being realized in a steadily increasing measure, and the idea of a united and renovated India, marching onwards to a place among the nations of the world worthy of her great past, is no longer a mere idle dream of a few imaginative minds, but is the definitely accepted creed of those who form the brain of the community — the educated classes of the country. A creditable beginning has already been made in matters of education and of local self-government; and all classes of the people are slowly but steadily coming under the influence of liberal ideas. The claims of public life are every day receiving wider recognition, and attachment to the land of our birth is growing into a strong and deeply cherished passion of the heart. The annual meetings of Congresses and Conferences, the work of public bodies and associations, the writings in the columns of the Indian Press all bear witness to the new life that is coursing in the veins of the people. The results achieved so far are undoubtedly most gratifying, but they only mean that the jungle has been cleared and the foundations laid. The great work of rearing the superstructure has yet to be taken in hand and the situation demands on the part of workers devotion and sacrifices proportionate to the magnitude of the task.

The Servants of India Society has been established to meet in some measure these requirements of the situation. Its members frankly accept the British connection as ordained, in the inscrutable dispensation of Providence, for India's good. SelfGovernment within the Empire for their country and a higher life generally for their countrymen is their goal. This goal, they recognize, cannot be attained without years of earnest and patient effort and sacrifices worthy of the cause. Much of the work must be directed toward building up in the country a higher type of character and capacity than is generally available at present; and the advance can only be slow. Moreover the path is beset with great difficulties; there will be constant temptations to turn back; bitter disappointments will repeatedly try the faith of those who have put their hand to the work. But the weary toil can have but one end, if only the workers grow not faint-hearted on the way. One essential condition of success in this work is that a sufficient number of our countrymen must now come forward to devote themselves to the cause in the spirit

in which religious work is undertaken. Public life must be spiritualized. Love of country must so fill the heart that all else shall appear as of little moment by its side. A fervent patriotism which rejoices at every opportunity of sacrifice for the motherland, a dauntless heart which refuses to be turned back from its object by difficulty or danger, a deep faith in the purpose of Providence which nothing can shake-equipped with these, the worker must start on his mission and reverently seek the joy which comes of spending oneself in the service of one's country.

Mr. M. K. Gandhi,' who did such excellent service in the struggle with the South African Government for justice for the Indian, has signified his intention of becoming a worker under the Society.

d. The Seva Sadan

The progress of thought and the march of events, working together in India, have forced many women's problems to the front during the last few years.

The Seva Sadan, or Home2 of Service, was founded in Bombay in July, 1908, by Mr. B. M. Malabari, the Parsee Reformer whose pamphlet on Child-marriage and Widowcelibacy published in 1887 is mentioned above,3 and Dayaram Gidumal, a Hindu from Sindh, a retired judge. These two vigorous men collected large sums of money and guaranteed a steady income for the institution. During the last three years they paid in Rs. 45,000 between them, and raised an Endowment and Building Fund of Rs. 82,000. But Malabari is dead, while Gidumal has fallen away from

1 See M. K. Gandhi, a sketch of his life and work. Madras, Natesan,

as. 4.

2 I owe practically all my information on the Seva Sadan to a letter from Miss B. A. Engineer, the General Secretary, and a few pamphlets which she kindly sent me.

* See p. 87.

social reform; so that the Seva Sadan must now rely on other friends.

Perhaps the following lines cut from one of their publications will most readily give a clear idea of the work:

OBJECT: Social Educational and Medical Service (Seva) through Indian Sisters, regular and lay.

The Society maintains the following institutions:

1. A Home for the Homeless.

2. An Industrial Home with various departments.

3. A Shelter for the distressed.

4. A Dispensary for Women and Children.

5. Ashrams (or Sisterhoods) - Hindu, Parsi and Mahommedan.

6. A Work-Class, also Home Classes in Chawls (i.e. large tenement houses).

All these are for the benefit of women.

A resident lady doctor gives her whole time to the work; and two others give a certain amount of help. A social service nurse is also available for outdoor work; and there are lay sisters, Hindu, Parsee and Muslim, who move about among the poor. Young probationers are sent for training to various medical schools.

The society also publishes tracts for free distribution on medical, sanitary and moral subjects.

The Home has now its own building in Gamdevi Road, Bombay. The annual expenditure is about Rs. 20,000. There are branches in Poona and Ahmedabad which are also doing excellent work.

One might reasonably mention here certain other forms of social work, such as Widows' Homes, the Social Service being done by students, and especially the Nishkāma Karma Matha,1 which is very similar in purpose and in work to the 1 See below, p. 403.

Seva Sadan; but our aim in this chapter has been to group together the new movements which shew a decidedly nationalist purpose, while in other chapters we have dealt with those which are more sectarian in character,1 or are clearly inspired by social considerations.2

4. FINE ART AND MUSIC

The Government School of Art, Calcutta, has been for several years the centre of a very promising revival of Indian painting, sculpture, wood-carving and other fine arts. Mr. E. B. Havell, who was for several years Principal of the School, has been the leader of the movement; but he has been ably seconded by a group of very promising Indian painters, the most prominent of whom is Mr. Abanindra Nath Tagore. The purpose in view is to produce a genuinely Indian school of art. A number of beautiful reproductions of both ancient and modern pictures have been published at moderate prices by the Indian Society of Oriental Art, which is closely connected with the Calcutta School; and in London the India Society is doing similar work.

Mr. Havell and Dr. A. K. Coomaraswamy, who is connected with Ceylon, have for several years led a crusade to convince the world that Indian art has high spiritual qualities which set it at least in the front rank of the world's art, if not in advance of all other art. This high argument, which is parallel to the claims made on behalf of Hinduism, Buddhism and other Oriental faiths by the revivalists, has proved of large value; for it has led to a far more intelligent appreciation of Indian sculpture and painting than was possible in former years, and to the recognition of fine qualities in them hitherto unnoticed, and has also given great 1 Chap. IV. Chap. VI.

2