Swadeshi or Indigenous Enterprises

The swadeshi spirit also found expression in the establishment of swadeshi textile mills, soap and match factories, tanneries,

Views

Swaraj or self-government is essential for the exercise of swadharma. Without swaraj there could be no social reform, no industrial progress, no useful education, no fulfilment of national life. That is what we seek, that is why God has sent us to the world to fulfil Him.

—B.G. Tilak

Swadeshism during the days of its potency coloured the entire texture of our social and domestic life.

—Surendranath Banerjea

Swaraj is the fulfilment of the ancient life of India under modern conditions, the return of satyuga of national greatness, the resumption by her of her great role of the teacher and guide, self-liberation of the people for final fulfilment of the Vedantic idea in politics, that is the true swaraj for India.

—Aurobindo Ghosh

banks, insurance companies, shops, etc. These enterprises were based more on patriotic zeal than on business acumen.

V.O. Chidambaram Pillai’s venture into a national shipbuilding enterprise—Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company—at Tuticorin, however, gave a challenge to the British Indian Steam Navigation Company.