Serving the Nation

Abstract This book offers an innovative analysis of social service, and charitable and philanthropic initiatives in late colonial north India during the first two decades of the twentieth century. It also shows the crucial interdependency between an active citizenry and a vibrant associational culture or civil society as revealed in groups such as the Arya Samaj, The Servants of India Society, the Theosophical Society, and the Seva Samiti of Allahabad, among others. How foreign ideas of social service, charity and philanthropy were negotiated by Hindu living traditions of seva, dana, karmayoga, sannyas and brahmacharya are also discussed. The book also analyses different social processes exemplifying the complex nexus between tradition and modernity in these decades. The author feels that the Indian belief in the bio-moral connection between healthy bodies and patriotic action making for 'manly' citizens was part of a global trend. How changing practices in the overlapping fields of charity and service, and the creation of active and patriotic Indian citizens affected politics, nation-building, and civil society in India is detailed.