Word: indias
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...beds of live coals, or twisted their attenuated bodies into knots. Gandhi had gone but a few times to the great popular Hindu festivals, sternly condemned the orgiastic frenzy and the exhibitions of extreme asceticism. Now, however, Gandhi belonged not only to the ages but to the people, and India celebrated his last rites in its own un-Gandhian fashion. At water's edge, the ash-laden urn was transferred to the white (for mourning) superstructure of an army "duck." With eight other ducks, it churned noisily into the river, while army planes swooped overhead, dropping flowers...
Disrespect in the Soles. Two of the chief mourners on the duck which bore Gandhi's ashes were Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel, both clad in white dhotis, both barefoot. The two men on whom India's hopes were now pinned-the gentle, philosophical Nehru, who agreed with Gandhi's policy of conciliation toward Moslems, and the hard man of action Patel, no conciliator-seemed united in grief and respect for Gandhi's wishes. Their first step had been to strike at the extremist communal organizations, Hindu and Moslem, which had been fomenting religious hatred...
...Vinayak Godse, was a member. Some 1,200 leaders and members were arrested for questioning. The secret R.S.S.S., which had mushroomed to a membership of about 2,000,000 since the communal riots began last year, drew most of its strength from the warlike Mahratta people of western India, who have always regarded the Moslems as invading interlopers...
...R.S.S.S. had been to make India a Hindu state, with rule based on Hindu customs and scriptures, where Moslems and other non-Hindus would be at best tolerated strangers. In recent months R.S.S.S. recruits (beginning at eight years of age) have been drilled to hate Congress leaders. One exercise was to smash pictures of Gandhi. Another: to wear pictures of Gandhi and Nehru on the inner soles of their shoes, a supreme mark of disrespect...
...government also banned two extremist Moslem groups. The politically powerful Mahasabha (Great Society), which has worked for all-Hindu rule in India, escaped official outlawing by resolving to shun political activity. But so far it had not dared to strike at the fiercely anti-Moslem Sikh groups. As the 13-day official period of mourning for the Mahatma ended, Hindus and Moslems waited to see what would come next...