Assignment Two
My character, Dayananda Sarasvai, would most likely get along with Rabindranath Tagore best. Tagore was a Bengali poet who shared many of the same views as Sarasvati. Primarily, Tagore felt India’s future could be saved by looking to the past. They both believed that traditional Indian culture was to be held in the highest respect and traditional values should be taught to every generation. Tagore believed that Indians should control their own economy by limiting how many mass-produced items they bought, instead increasing “indigenous industries.”
Also, Tagore was vehemently opposed to British rule, as was Sarasvati. He declined knighthood in 1919 in protest of a massacre that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Indian protesters. Sarasvati also believed that the British should be forced to leave India if they did not comply; using violence if necessary.
Sarasvati would most likely have not been able to get along well with Jamshedji Tata, one of the most leading businessmen of India’s textile industry. Sarasvati believed that cloth should only be hand-made in concordance with the Rig Vedas, where as Tata believed mass-production was the secret to making India a great country. Also, Tata exported cotton and steel all over the world, primarily to the British. Sarasvati hated the British presence in India and to openly trade with them was far too much.
Tata also believed in the advancement of social services and sciences throughout India. Sarasvati felt that India should revert to its traditional values and culture. Everything should be prescribed word from word from the Rig Vedas, anything else went against Hinduism. Sarasvati believed in a strict education from an early age based on Indian traditions, while Tata felt an “updated and modern” education was essential. `
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