202 ESS'AYS IN NATIONAL IDEALISM.

and formalism, "before we awaken to the fact that we have-
neglected the one thing vital, that is, the music living in
the hearts of peasants, uneducated and illiterate—but
more truly Indian than their ' educated J * superiors.7 We,.
too, in time to come, shall be intent upon the instruction
of the people in their own folk-songs.* "Would it not be-
wiser to bethink ourselves in time, to save what is with us
now, instead of making so needlessly hard the task of those
that will come after us, and so needlessly barren our own
lives and the lives of those who like some of us have not
understood ?

These are the days of nation-building. Yet how
many ' nationalists' are in truth * denationalise in their
lives and aspirations ! They want to be ' free,' to compete
with Europe on her own lines, to be * progressive,' c advan-
ced,' to gain political power and material success. It is
not with these that the future of India lies. It lies in the
lives of those who are truly Indian at heart, whose love for
India is the love of a child for its mother, who believe that
India still is (and not merely may be. when duly * educat-
ed ') the light of the world, who to-day judge all things
by Indian standards, and in whom is manifest the work of"
the shapers of India from the beginning until now. "With-
oiit these, there can be no Indian future worth the name.
How may they be known ? Like answers unto like ; bntr.
if an empirical test be asked for, I believe that the love of*
Indian music and the comprehension of Indian art are
tests unfailing.

The direct results of making Indian music an
essential part of the educational ideal may be many

* In speaking of folk-music in India, it must be understood
that there is not in India that marked divorce between folk-music
and art-music which, like the distinction between decorative and
fine art, is so unfortunate a feature of European culture.