Abstract
Shyamji Krishnavarma was a freedom fighter, who strongly and violently opposed British rule in India. He was born in Mandvi in Gujarat in 1857 and grew up to became a citizen of the colonial Indian Ocean, receiving his education in Bombay and Oxford. Settling in London, he started a radical journal, The Indian Sociologist. His ideas were derived from Hinduism, revolutionary struggle, and the sociology of Herbert Spencer. In the latter half of the twentieth century, there was little interest in his legacy. In more recent times, however, Krishnavarma has been promoted as the counterpoint to Gandhi and to a waning vision of Gujarati identity. In this paper, I chart the international geography of his life and resurgent ideas.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
In particular, he worked with the Arya Samaj, an organisation which worked to restore ancient values through the reform of contemporary religious practices.
- 3.
The Indian Sociologist, IV (8), pp. 30, 32; IV (9), pp. 34, 36.
- 4.
The Indian Sociologist, IV (4), p. 14.
- 5.
1918. East India (Sedition Committee, 1918) Report of Committee Appointed to Investigate Revolutionary Conspiracies in India. London: His Majesty’s Stationary Office, p. 12; also, Chirol (1921, p. 122).
- 6.
V (9) to X (2) of The Indian Sociologist were issued in Paris and X (8–12) were issued in Geneva. In 1920, the journal was rejuvenated and was issued for two further years; also see Fischer-Tiné (2007) for Krishnavarma’s international connections.
- 7.
The university is called Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University.
- 8.
The biography by Pandya and Pandya was first published in 1997 and reissued in 2003. The authors reproduce the text of a partial run of Krishnavarma’s journal; also Vishnu Pandya’s (1985) biography of Krishnavarma in Gujarati .
- 9.
In Krishnavarma’s creed the “Anglo-Indian” was complicit as either a supporter or beneficiary of British rule in India.
- 10.
Indulal Yajnik (1950, p. 110).
- 11.
The Indian Sociologist, IV (1), p. 2.
- 12.
The Indian Sociologist, IV (3), p. 11.
- 13.
The Indian Sociologist, I (1), pp. 3–4.
- 14.
The pages of his journal are oriented around a few select quotes from Spencer. This odd intellectual relationship has also been noted by the eminent A.M. Shah (2006).
- 15.
The Indian Sociologist, IX (10), p. 38. The quote is from Spencer’s (1873, p. 185) The Study of Sociology .
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Simpson, E. (2019). The Transnational Life and Political Philosophy of Shyamji Krishnavarma. In: Keller, S. (eds) Knowledge and the Indian Ocean. Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96839-1_14
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