British had introduced had
turned out an Indian _intelligentsia_, conversant with the English
language and saturated with Westernism.

This new _intelligentsia_, convinced as it was of the value of Western
ideals and achievements, could not fail to be dissatisfied with many
aspects of Indian life. In fact, its first efforts were directed, not so
much to politics, as to social and economic reforms like the suppression
of child-marriage, the remarriage of widows, and wider education. But,
as time passed, matters of political reform came steadily to the fore.
Saturated with English history and political philosophy as they were,
the Indian intellectuals felt more and more keenly their total lack of
self-government, and aspired to endow India with those blessings of
liberty so highly prized by their English rulers. Soon a vigorous native
press developed, preaching the new gospel, welding the intellectuals
into a self-conscious unity, and moulding a genuine public opinion. By
the close of the nineteenth century the Indian _intelligentsia_ was
frankly agitating for sweeping political innovations like representative
councils, increasing control over taxation and the executive, and the
opening of the public services to Indians all the way up the scale.

Down to the closing years of the nineteenth century Indian discontent
was, as already said, confined to a small class of more or less
Europeanized intellectuals who, despite their assumption of the title,
could hardly be termed "Nationalists" in the ordinary sense of the word.
With a few exceptions, their goal was neither independence nor the
elimination of effective British oversight, but rather the reforming of
Indian life along Western lines, including a growing degree of
self-government under British paramount authority.

But by the close of the nineteenth century there came a change in the
situation. India, like the rest of the Orient, was stirring to a new
spirit of political and racial self-consciousness. True nationalist
symptoms began to appear. Indian scholars delved into their musty
chronicles and sacred texts, and proclaimed the glories of India's
historic past. Reformed Hindu sects like the Arya Somaj lent religious
sanctions. The little band of Europeanized intellectuals was joined by
other elements, thinking, not in terms of piecemeal reforms on Western
models, but of a new India, rejuvenated from its own vital forces, and
free to work out its own destiny in its