In Search of an Entente- India and Italy From the XIX to XX Century- A Survey (An Old and Rare Book)

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That the Italian Risorgimento worked as a powerful source of inspiration for the makers of modern India over the many decades, is a well documented fact.

But this was not the only channel linking up India and Italy during those times. Italy, from her own part, had already developed a definite attitude towards India, her culture and present political situation, thanks to the works of social thinkers like Romagnosi and Cattaneo. Against this background, India's and Italy's search for an entente developed especially during the inter-war period-a period marked by crucial events, such as the rise of Fascism in Italy and the advent of the Gandhian leadership in India. A close look to these two decades reveals a fairly expanded network of relations, both individual and institutional.

The role played by the Vatican is an interesting case in point, for the urge to spread Christianity among the Indian people made it necessary for Italian missionaries to establish a dialogue between the two cultures.

These and other facets of lndo-Italian relations in modern times are for the first time brought home to the Indian public through this highly informative book, which presents the results of the Author's scholarly endeavor over the last few years and which is bound to stimulate further discussion and research.

Dr. Mario Prayer was born in Rome in 1964. He received his Doctor degree from Rome University, with a dissertation on the Italian attitude towards Gandhi and the Indian nationalism from 1921 to 1945. He has extensively researched Italian and Indian archives, and has been able to throw new light on many aspects of the lndo-Italian intercourse. He has lectured in Delhi, Calcutta and Taipeh (Taiwan) and has published a number of essays on Gandhi’s Interview with Mussolini', Rabindranath Tagore and Benedetto Croce', 'Italian Fascist Regime and Nationalist India', 'The Transliteration of Bengali alphabet'. Dr._Prayer speaks several languages, including Italian, English, German, French and Bengali.

THE following three chapters deal with the results of studies conducted in Italy recently on the subject of Indo-Italian relations in modern times. The subject is not altogether new to the Indian public, as it is closely intertwined with the Indian Renaissance movement and the rise of Indian Nationalism. Italian scholars have recently picked up the issue of the interaction between India and Italy in the XIX and XX century with the aim of unearthing new materials and tapping new sources, mostly Italian, which may help both to integrate the current knowledge on this important aspect of both countries' modern history, and contribute to a more balanced evaluation of already known events. Therefore, whereas an exhaustive review of Indo-Italian relations shall require the concerted efforts of both Indian and Italian scholarships, with their respective fields of specialization, what can be attempted here is the description of some of the main points brought out by the Italian side up to this day. Research work is still going on, however, and it is hoped that further contributions will appear soon.

All the relevant Italian sources will be mentioned in the reference notes. The second and third chapters are partly based on as-yet unpublished research by the author.

The author wishes to extend his thanks to the authorities and academic staff of Calcutta University, as well as to the Italian Consulate General in Calcutta and the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre for the enthusiastic help provided in connection with the present publication, and with the lectures which he was invited to deliver at Calcutta University in May 1993.

THE publication of the papers presented by Dr. Mario Prayer at the University of Calcutta in May 1993 ought to be welcomed by all those who, in Italy and India, have an interest in furthering mutual understanding in the contemporary context.

That such understanding can be deepened through the knowledge of the many facets of reciprocal inspiration the two countries have drawn from each other in the spheres of political thinking, arts and culture, philosophy and economics is a fact that must not be underestimated on account of its being obvious.

In fact, although Indians and Italians never fail to express to each other the deep sentiments of sympathy and friendship which seem to come naturally to both in whichever occasion they meet, and although Italian thought and Indian thought have been the object of reciprocal study for decades, contemporary scholarship in the two countries has somewhat shied away from the task of giving new impetus to research in the historical development of Indo-Italian relations.

The reasons are many, not in the least the fact that both countries having reached the emancipation of modern democracy in relatively recent times are today perhaps more eager to establish firmly their relations on the modern foot of political and economic co-operation than to dwell on reciprocal exchanges which occurred, in modern history, at times painful for both to recollect.

Moreover, the two Liberation movements whose fruits were born almost at the same time had however different objects: the Fascist Regime for Italy and Colonial Domination for India. But both the Indian and the Italian Liberation movements found a unifying factor in that they draw great inspiration from the ideals of the Italian Risorgimento which had brought the Unification of Italy into fulfillment almost a century earlier.

It was perhaps due to the fact that the brewing of the Indian Liberation movement coincided with the Fascist period in Italy that the latter could not serve as a free interlocutor to the former at that crucial time for India, beyond such occasional events as the encounters of Mahatma Gandhi and Tagore with Benito Mussolini, events that surrounded by ideological controversy, were better soon confined by the newly born democratic establishments to historical oblivion.

It is perhaps only today when the two democracies have matured beyond return and can afford to shed all forms of reluctancy, that such events can be again looked into with a dispassionate eye and in this sense much of the work of Dr. Prayer is precious in that it establishes that democracy finds a place in scholarship too whereas censorship finds no justifications.

I feel it would be to the benefit of both the Indian and the Italian scholarships if the path threaded by Dr. Prayer serves as inspiration for a long due revival of research on Indo-Italian relations in modern times and I look forward particularly to the contribution of Indian scholars on this subject. An interesting topic of common research that I wish to mention could be that of the influence of Gandhian thought on Italian modern political and social thought.

I wish to thank Prof. R.N. Basu, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta, the oldest in India, who with untamed enthusiasm arranged for Dr. Prayer's lectures, all of which received the benefit of the engaged participation of an interested and enlightened audience.

DR. Mario Prayer, a young and highly promising 'scholar on Indology delivered three lectures on the theme-"In Search of Entente: India and Italy from the XIX to the XX Century"-in the University of Calcutta in June 1993. Two of these lectures namely, "Distant Sources of Inspiration from the XIX to the XX Century" and "Nationalist India, Fascist Italy and the Catholic Church" were delivered at the Department of Political Science and the third on, "Tagore and Italy" was delivered at the Institute of Linguistics of this University. I sincerely thank Dr. Mario Prayer for the very fruitful deliberations.

I am delighted that Dr. Claudio Glaentzer, Consul General of Italy in Calcutta, and the principal architect of our present warm relations between the University of Calcutta and the Italian academics, has taken the initiative to publish Dr. Prayer's lectures.

Dr. Mario Prayer's doctoral thesis, "The Indian Nationalist Movement and Italian Publicists between the Two World Wars", has firmly established his credentials in the field of Indo-Italian relations particularly in the first half of this century. His other publications such as, "Gandhi and Indian Nationalism in the Publications of the Fascist Regime 1921-1938", "Gandhi-Mussolini Interview, Italian Notes from Mahadev Desai's Dairy", "Italian Fascist Regime and Nationalist India", "Contribution to Tagore's Biography-His meeting with Benedetto Croce", clearly show his deep insight, clarity of thought and purpose and the role of a neutral observer and analyst which is essential for a critical appraisal of contemporary history.

In his foreword, Dr. Mario Prayer has admitted that the three lectures are the result of studies conducted in Italy recently after unearthing new materials and tapping new sources, mostly Italian. But an exhaustive review of Indo-Italian relations requires the concerted efforts of both Indian and Italian scholars. Dr. Prayer has come out in his lectures with new interpretations of some of the main points brought out recently by the Italian side. I shall be eagerly awaiting the reactions of the Indian scholars and of the knowledgeable public interested in contemporary history.

I do agree with Dr. Prayer that the Italian Renaissance clearly inspired the makers of modern India; those who were in the forefront of the Indian Renaissance, from Raja Ram Mohan Roy to Rabindra Nath Tagore, including among others, men like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Michael Madhusudan Dutta. There was a close interlink between the Italian Renaissance and that of India and subsequently the origin and rise of Indian nationalism. The story of the unification of Italy was a text in this University's undergraduate and postgraduate studies in history even during the British rule. The names of Garibaldi and Cavour became known to many Indians and it is no wonder that the early apostles and architects of Indian freedom movement, leaders like Surendranath Banerjee, Bipin Chandra Pal, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh, Lala Lajpat Rai and others were greatly influenced by them.

In the second lecture, "Nationalist India, Fascist Italy and the Catholic Church", Dr. Prayer has first dealt with "India and Fascism", and has most dispassionately analyzed the events relating to the efforts of Indian leaders like Gandhi and Subash Bose to seek Italian assistance for their national cause, and the inherent contradiction of fascism. In this connection, the Gandhi-Mussolini interview is not only very interesting-but it also shows how the two leaders were thinking at different wave lengths. Dr. Prayer states that the only relevant Indian personality with whom a direct and effective contact was established by the Italian side was Subash Chandra Bose. Mussolini held him in a much higher esteem than did Hitler. This particular point and subsequent events, relating to Subash and Italy need further examination by the historians of,Indian freedom movement. The second section of the second lecture deals with the Catholic Church and the State over their respective jurisdictions in human welfare. Moreover, the problem of double identity, challenge from the Protestants, the fluid situation in Europe between the two World Wars further aggravated the problems of the Catholic Church. In India, the problems were two-fold; the British rulers were Protestants and were opposed to the Catholic Church which is identified with Italy and secondly, the reform and revival of Hinduism as an integral part of Indian Nationalism would hardly accommodate a foreign religion.

**Contents and Sample Pages**