THE COBBLER AND THE MACHINE- SHORT STORY BY MULK RAJ

ANAND

A Project submitted in fulfilment of the course LAW AND LITERATURE,

2ND SEMESTER during the Academic Year 2019-2020

SUBMITTED BY:
Rahul kumar
Roll No. - 2032
B.B.A LL.B

SUBMITTED TO:
Prof. Dr. Pratyush Kaushik
FACULTY OF LAW AND LITERATURE

FEBRUARY, 2019
CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, NAYAYA NAGAR,
MEETHAPUR, PATNA-800001
 DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE

I hereby declare that the work reported in the B.B.A. LL.B (Hons.) Project Report entitled
“COBBLER AND THE MACHINE-SHORT STORY BY MULK RAJ ANAND” submitted
at Chanakya National Law University; Patna is an authentic record of my work carried out
under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Pratyush Kaushik. I have not submitted this work
elsewhere for any other degree or diploma. I am fully responsible for the contents of my
Project Report.

(Signature of the Candidate)

RAHUL KUMAR
Chanakya National Law University, Patna

i
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough”

A project is a joint endeavour which is to be accomplished with utmost compassion, diligence

and with support of all. Gratitude is a noble response of one’s soul to kindness or help
generously rendered by another and its acknowledgement is the duty and joyance. I am
overwhelmed in all humbleness and gratefulness to acknowledge from the bottom of my
heart to all those who have helped me to put these ideas, well above the level of simplicity
and into something concrete effectively and moreover on time.
This project would not have been completed without combined effort of my revered Law and
Literature teacher Prof. Dr. Pratyush Kaushik whose support and guidance was the driving
force to successfully complete this project. I express my heartfelt gratitude to him. Thanks are
also due to my parents, family, siblings, my dear friends and all those who helped me in this
project in any way. Last but not the least; I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our
Law and Literature teacher for providing us with such a golden opportunity to showcase our
talents. Also this project was instrumental in making me know more about the Trade Union
and Caste Discrimination prevailing in India. This project played an important role in making
me understand more about the relation between law and discrimination. It was truly an
endeavour which enabled me to embark on a journey which redefined my intelligentsia,
induced my mind to discover the intricacies involved.
Moreover, thanks to all those who helped me in any way be it words, presence,
Encouragement or blessings...

- Rahul kumar
- 2nd Semester
- B.BA LL.B (Hons.)

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Declaration…………………………………………………………………………………….i

Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………………….ii

Table of Contents…………………………………………………………....……………….iii

Aims and Objectives……………………………………………………………………….…iv

Hypothesis.................................................................................................................................i

Research Methodology......................................................................................................…...iv

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………………….1-3

2. Legal Overview………………...….....................................................................…...4-7

3. Issues raised in the short story..................................................................................8-10

4. The study of the Co-operative principle ………………………................……....11-13

5. View of a common man………………………………...................................…...14-17

6. Conclusion..............................................................................................................18-20

Bibliography……………………………...………………………….....………........………21

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 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The Aims and Objectives of this project are:

1. The researcher tends to throw light on one of the masterpieces of Mulk Raj Anand
‘Cobbler and the machine’.
2. The researcher tends to show legal overview of the book.
3. The researcher tends to throw light on the various issues raised in the book.

HYPOTHESES

The researcher considers the following hypothesis:

1. The impact of race for machination on the poorer fraction of society.
2. social injustice and injustices perpetrated on the underprivileged.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

For this study, doctrinal research method was utilised. Various articles, e-articles, reports and
books from library were used extensively in framing all the data and figures in appropriate
form, essential for this study.
The method used in writing this research is primarily analytical.

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 INTRODUCTION

The story The Cobbler and The Machine is dedicated to Aruthur and Ara Calder Marshall.
The story opens with these lines, "Apart from the innocence of old age and youth, Saudagar,
the cobbler of my village, and I shared in common a passion for the ma~hine."~ Saudagar is
interested in only one machine, the small sewing machine which the village tailor wields very
ostentatiously, The narrator likes all kinds of machines which he sees in the town when he
goes to school every morning, He has passion for the big railway engine, the phonograph, the
motor car, the push-bike, the machines in the power house, cotton mills etc. During one of the
young boy's visits to the cobbler's hut, he tells his friend about a wonderful machine he had
seen in town that could stitch together whole boots. 'Is there a machine lie that, son?' says
Saudagar incredulously. Later, when the child finds picture of the machine for uncle
Saudagar, the old man's fancy is caught, and though an outcaste and poor, he eventually
manages to obtain one. Saudagu, the cobbler gets the sewing machine witb the help of Lalla
Sain Das, the notary and cotton dealer, who has gone to vilayat on business. Since, the
cobbler is very poor he buys the machine at his own expense and allows the cobbler to use it
and pay for it, exactly as if it were a loan with a small interest attached to it. When the
machine comes he celebrates the occasion auspiciously by distributing sugarplums among
this brotherhood.

Best of all, as far as the child (the narrator) is concerned, his fiiend (the cobbler) had said to
him, "I will make you a pair of Angrezi boots, since it was really you who told me about it
@. 76). The uncontained joy of the youth is easily understandable. Not only would that pair
of boots confer upon him a unique status among his, peers, but the old man's recognition of
his role in the whole project gives the child almost adult status in his own eyes.

However, the end has already begun. To pay for the machine, once thought of as a toy by the
narrator, the cobbler must spend all his waking hours at work with never enough time to
spare to complete the promised boots. The boy's intuition that something is wrong comes
with his feeling "constrained not to trouble [the cobbler] with [his] demands". "And the
mixture of resentment and pity I felt for the old man become transformed into feelings of hate
for the machine, for, as it stood hard, hard and unbending, it seemed to have become a barrier

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between Saudagar and me and the thing which had emphasized his self-interest so that he
never seemed to put a stitch on anyone's shoes without insisting on being paid for it" (p. 79).

Finally, the old man dies from over-work, and with that death the child passes from the state
of innocence into that of experience.. . . I felt the pain of a silent guilt, as I knew that I had to
some extent been the cause of his death. If only I had known then that it was not enough for
Saudagar . . . to love the machine and work if but to own it . . . (p. 80).

Something from another world had taken its toll on uncle Saudagar, childhood is lost, and the
adult, looking back at that moment, recognizes it for what it was . . . an initiation into
knowledge and pain.

The story The Cobbler and The Machine deals with the impact of modernism on traditional
Indian life. Saudagar, an old rustic cobbler who has a passion for the machine, incurs a heavy
debt in importing a shoe-stitching machine fiam abroad, though he is half afrslid that God
odd curse my fingers and those of my pupils, and make them incapable of sewing at all, if I
began to use, this machine".(P.80) "When the machine arrives, instead of saving his time and
energy, as he had hoped it would, it only brings in ret~ibution." Worn out by the fatigue of
producing &any more shoes than he had ever sewn to pay off his debt, drained of his life-
blood by the sweat that was always pouring off his body, he fell stone-dead one evening.

This story The Cobbler and The Machine is in first person narration. Anand employs this
technique with skill. His use of the first person in the story is similar to the use he was to
make of it in the revised confessional novels, Seven Summers, Morning Face, and Confession
of Lover that is, there are really two narrators combined in the single first person character of
the young boy, the "I". One is the adult man who is recalling an experience from his
childhood and who interprets the meaning and significance of that experience in a way that
no child could. The other is the adult's imaginatively recreated young self, the boy who lives
through and tells the tale. Anand handles this complex technique well. As M. K. Naik says,
"The tone of the story is initially smiling but finally poignant." The story The Cobbler and
The Machine is in a simple language. Anand employs Hindustani words such as "Sahib",
"Vilayat", "Jungly", etc., Anand uses proverbs too in this story. As the cobbler is very poor to
buy a leather sewing-machine he makes use of this proverb in the words of Saudagar

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"Though I don't know what use it is to show a man the likeness of a bunch of grapes when he
will never be able to eat the fruit." (p073).

Secondly Anand makes use of a proverb in the words of his mother when the cobbler hasn't
yet completed the work of mending a good pair of English shoes which he promises to
the'narrator, his mother quotes the proverb: "Never trust a washeman's promise nor a
goldsmith nor a cobbler's." (p.79). The characters in the story go into imagination in one or
two instances. The narrator imagines if the leather sewing-machine comes to his village, the
atmosphere of his village will become splendid, gorgeous wonder-house, in which great big
iron frames, with a thousand screws and knobs assembled through the ingenuity of a
man. 0.73).

The pathos in the story is that Sadagas the pictun of the waning Saudagar: "And as he sat tied
to the chariot wheels of doom, he also began to be more and more reticent as if he were
turning in upon himself to drink his own blood in the silent places of his heart, and the
illumination of his natural manner disappeared behind a pale, shadowy face that was always
dirty and grimy with a layer of scum of the sweat-covered beard." (p.79). Anand employs
only one image in this story The Cobbler and The Machine. That is the leather sewing-
machine which stands an example for industrialization of the world. In the view of the
narrator the use of the machine symbolizes the superiority of modernity over the old ways of
the countryside.

In this story also Anand exposes the caste distinction in the traditional Hindu-Society. The
organized Hindu religion has the concept of untouchability deep-rooted in its caste system.
Manu, a codifier of the laws of organized Hindu religion has said that the untouchables
should live outside the village. As an outcaste Saudagar, the cobbler lives in a dark straw hut
outside the narrator's village.

Anand exposes superstitious beliefs of the age-old people in the traditional society. Saudagar
superstitiously believes that if he begins to use the machine, god will curse his fingers and
those of his pupils and makes them incapable of sewing at all. After Saudagar's death, the
villagers believe that he is killed by the devil disguised in the image of the sewing-machine.
Again, this story deals with the impact of mechanization which makes to suffer in the lives of

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the poor people. However, Anand is not against the industrialization of the world. It is the
sewing-machine which causes the ultimate death of Saudagar, the cobbler that makes the
story a tragedy.

His love of the cobbler and love of the machine are in conflict and the response is mixed. He
rises to the heights of great art when he shows the cobbler dying.. .killed by the machine..
.with the following words on his lips.
"The days of your life are ending
And you have not made your accounts with God." (p.80).

Strange that Anand, whose own predilections are for the machine and against religion, should
let himself be swayed by the overwhelming human impulse rts against the machine which
seeks to stifle it and let the story proceed on traditiod lines.. .such is his fidelity to the life
around him that he lets the character seek his fulfillment in the only way known to his sate of
life, class, and the milieu to which he belongs.

In this story The Cobbler and The Machine, Anand suggests that it is not enough if thc
machine is accepted, but it is necessary to see that man masters it and does not become its
slave.

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 LEGAL OVERVIEW

In The Cobbler and the Machine by Mulk Raj Anand we have the theme of tradition,
gratitude, modernity, enthusiasm, poverty and guilt. Taken from his Selected Short stories
collection the story is narrated in the first person by an unnamed narrator and the reader
realises from the beginning of the story that Anand may be exploring the theme of tradition.
Saudagar sees no use for a sewing machine preferring to carry out his craft as it has always
been carried out, traditionally. However as the story progresses Saudagar is persuaded by the
narrator to get a sewing machine. Believing that he will not only earn more money but that
his life will be easier. However things do not work out for Saudagar. Throughout Saudagar is
trying to pay off the money he borrowed for the sewing machine. Something that has to be
done but the effects on the narrator are great. He is still waiting for his boots to be made as a
sign of gratitude to the narrator. Although this never happens. It might also be important to
remember that with the sewing machine comes modernity and Saudagar cannot keep apace.
His work load is heavier but he still seems unable to pay off the debt of the swing machine.

There is also no doubting that the narrator is enthusiastic about Saudagar getting a sewing
machine and if anything pushes him to do so. This may be significant as by the end of the
story the narrator blames himself for Saudagar’s death. Having worked him to the ground
while also waiting for his own new pair of boots. It is as though the narrator loses interest in
Saudagar because he has not made him his boots. Angered by this the narrator stops visiting
Saudagar. If anything the narrator’s mother’s quoting of a proverb about cobblers not being
trusted rings true for the narrator. Though still he doesn’t not fully let go and persistently asks
Saudagar about his new boots. Where others would walk away immediately the narrator does
not. Instead he walks barefoot rather than have his mother buy him cheap Indian shoes. This

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may be important as it could suggest that the narrator still has faith in Saudagar or at least
appears to till the end of the story.

In many ways the narrator wants Saudagar to succeed. That is till his own emotions of hatred
take over and he feels as though he has been taken for a fool. Something which would have
never been Saudagar’s intentions. Saudagar had no option but to pay his loan back and only
took on paying work. Though some critics might suggest that Saudagar is being selfish this
may not be the case. He was looking after paying customers so that he could eventually own
the sewing machine outright and then help the narrator. Material for the boots and shoes that
Saudagar had to be paid for and it is possible that Saudagar is living hand to mouth. There is
no mention of him doing anything but working hard in order to pay off his debts. Which may
leave some readers to suggest that Saudagar had thrown himself into his work and hopes to
be able to turn a profit the quicker the better. So that he can make the narrator’s boots.
Though this is not pleasing to the narrator. If anything some might suggest that the narrator is
acting a little impatiently for his boots. It is imperative that Saudagar makes a profit before he
can decide upon making free boots for the narrator.

The end of the story is also interesting as feelings of guilt begin to seep into the narrator’s
mind. As to whether he blames the sewing machine for Saudagar’s hasty death is unclear.
However he does feel guilty about the pressure he put Saudagar under to make him his boots.
What should have been an exciting and progressive time for Saudagar and the narrator has
turned into a nightmare. Saudagar is dead form overwork and the narrator particularly blames
himself for this. It is as though the narrator is thinking that should he have not influenced
Saudagar’s decision making when it came to getting a sewing machine, Saudagar might still
be alive. As for walking barefoot it is no longer something that bothers the narrator. He
would much prefer to have his friend alive than to see him die suddenly. It might also be a
case that the narrator was as overwhelmed by the new sewing machine just as much as
Saudagar. Modern technology took over both persons lives with drastic consequences.
Consequences that neither person could have foreseen and would not have occurred should
Saudagar stuck to the traditional way of making shoes.

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One way in which Marxism is evident in Anand's short story is the presence of Marxist stages of
economic development. The premise of the story focusing on a worker, one who works himself to
death, is reflective of Marxist ideas regarding wealth and the dehumanization that comes with it.

One example of Marxist thought is rooted in the story's depiction of the different stages of economic
development. Marx believed that economics underscores all human interactions. The economic
structure that subsumes individuals is a part of this dynamic. For Marx, capitalism was preceded by
the feudal and agrarian stage of economic development. This is seen in the text when the cobbler is
enamored with the idea of the Singer sewing machine. The awe with which the cobbler speaks of the
machine is reflective of the economic stage of development where pre- technological means of
consciousness collided with the technological advent of the wealthy: "I have heard that there is a
machine which can do the work of my hand, but I have never seen it. Ever since I saw the ready-
made saddles, reins and collars in the stables of Thakur Mahan Chand, I knew they were made by a
defter hand than that of man." The presence of technology is awe- inspiring, reflective of the pre-
technology or agrarian/ cottage industry stage of economic development.

Another aspect of Marxist thought evident in the story was that technology was in the domain of the
wealthy. The cobbler says that he is not worthy of such technology because he is "an outcast" who
could not "presume to eat like the Sahibs and be like them." For Marx, technology is a means for the
wealthy to maintain power and control over the poor. Marx makes the argument that technology
ensures individuals are kept in stratified forms of being. The appropriation of technology by the
wealthy enables them to maintain their control. The cobbler reaffirms this with his self- description as
an outsider who could never hope to "sit at a chair, sewing shoes," using technology that the wealthy
themselves possess. The perception of technology residing in the domain of those who own the
means of production is a Marxist idea that is evident in the Anand story.

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 ISSUES RAISED IN THE SHORT STORY

The Court describes two seemingly contradictory positions - one, that the law is valid on
grounds of Article 25 since reform of religious practices has been brought about by it. Two, if
the institution of polygamy were to be reviewed, it could not be regarded as discriminatory
under the Constitution, casting doubt on the assertion that doing away with it was reform in
the first place. Simply put, if the institution is not discriminatory.
The attitude of Supreme Court of India has been inconsistent when it comes to testing laws
based in religion against the other rights provided under Part III of the Constitution, even
though the Constitution expressly empowers the Court to do so. On the rare occasion that
these laws are reviewed, they are almost inevitably found to be constitutional. In fact, as long
as the case involves a religious angle, the Supreme Court of India’s judgments tend towards
acceptance of the stance of the dominant religious group in India. A number of pretexts have
been deployed by Supreme court of India in rationalizing this tendency. These range from
artificially carving out Hinduism as a way of life, rather than a religion, to empowering itself
through dangerously flexible devices such as the “essential practices” doctrine to rule
whichever way it deems fit. In a series of cases (such as the cow slaughter cases) the Court
has tried to camouflage its Hindu tendencies with secular facades, but the subtext is strong,
and often overwhelming. As has been discussed earlier, most cases involve pitting religion
against the public good- perhaps something, which is to be expected- given the ameliorative

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conception of secularism in India. But, more often than not, the verdict seems to severe the
interests of a particular group, rather than mitigation of social evils. 
The Supreme Court of India rulings regarding the constitutionality of religious practices or
laws have been confused, and are incredibly inconsistent for a country that is so committed to
the doctrine of stare decisis. Cases with religious undertones present an even bleaker picture
with the Hindu perspective seeming to guide most decisions of the Supreme Court of India.
In India, the Judiciary’s self-imposed restraint might also be sourced to its constant battles
with the Executive and those who have dared to dissent have had heavy costs to pay. The
dark period of the Emergency has surely done a lot to shake the faith of a Judiciary that dares
to express dissent with the Executive. Even as recently as late 2010, an Supreme Court of
India order saying that food in government storehouses should be distributed before it is
allowed to rot was met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s scathing remarks on how the
Judiciary should not meddle with policy making. 1 It is no wonder that the Judiciary chooses
time and again to believe that it does not have the power to review personal laws. The weight
of precedent and innovative interpretations of the definition of “law” provide the perfect
platform to execute this plan. In part this may be because of the personal bias and orthodoxy
of some judges that gets reflected in judgments - Justice Markanday Katju, has been known
to refer to the growing of beards by young Muslim men as “Talibanisation” 2 and Justice
Krishna Iyer, has been known to suggest that judges must remain insulated “like a Hindu
widow.”3 But, there seems to be a systemic bias that cannot be explained by individual
instances.
Perhaps the realist explanation is the best one. Majority of the population is Hindu, as has
consistently been majority of the bench. It is natural for these judges to view everything
through a Hindu lens, not because they are corrupt or anti-secular, but simply because they
are Hindu. A Hindu mindset might find it hard to understand the insistence of a Muslim
student to grow a beard and might find it much easier to dismiss his claim as “Talibanisation”
than someone who actually does grow a beard as part of his own religion, or knows what it’s
like to not have people understand the relevance of their religious traditions because they are
unfamiliar to the majority. it is almost expected that the pervasive Hindu ideology is

1
Nirmal Sandhu, The Grain Drain (2010), available at http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100913/
nation.htm#11
2
Express India News Service, SC Judge Apologises For ‘Taliban’ Remark On Muslims, July 6, 2009, available at
http:/ /www.expressindia.com/latest-news/SC-judge-apologises-for-Taliban-remarks-on-Muslims/485727/2/.
3
Judicial Selection Coalition, Bar To Judgeship, Feb. 19, 2011, available at http://www.judicialselection
coalition.org/bar-to-judgeship.htm

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embraced more easily by Supreme court of Indiaunless expressly forbidden by the
Constitutional text.
This is dangerous ground for a State that insists vehemently that it is secular. India has gone
to great lengths to ensure a non-partisan, impartial Judiciary. The jury system has been
abolished on the assumption that a trained judicial mind will be more impartial than the
layperson. But, a bias seems to be reflected consistently. Whether this is conscious or
subconscious remains anybody’s guess although the likelihood is that it is a little bit of both.
The differing historical roots of both nations are another key difference. In India, initially, the
British relied on the advice of “native law officers” such as pundits (in case of Hindus) and
kazis (in case of Muslims) while dealing with personal law matters. 4 Eventually, suspicious
of the natives, in an effort to rationalize the law, the post of native law officers was abolished
altogether and the British judges themselves referred to religious texts and scriptures in order
to adjudicate upon matters of personal law. Obviously, their understanding of these personal
laws was not only imperfect, but also tempered heavily with their common law leanings. In
much the same way, Indian courts have taken upon themselves the onus of referring to
ancient texts to decide for themselves what does and does not qualify as the “essential” part
of a religion. This unfettered power is a dangerous thing, since it is the sole discretion of the
judge that can declare an age old practice (for instance, the slaughtering of cows by Muslims
on Bakr-Eid) to be non-essential overnight.
Most importantly, this is expositive of the approach adopted by the Supreme Court The
Supreme Court in India reverts to religion to justify its stance, even when it is ruling against
the assertion of some community. To take the aforementioned example forward, Supreme
court of India referred extensively to the Holy Koran and other Muslim texts before
concluding that cow slaughter was not the only way of celebrating Bakr-Eid even if it was an
option in Islam. This made it non-essential. The trend in India is to de-secularise.
A case in point is the Babri Masjid case 5, which was essentially a property dispute between
Hindu and Muslim religious bodies, the former claiming that the property in question is the
birthplace of Lord Rama, the latter claiming that it is a mosque. The infant Lord Rama was
joined as a party in this “property” dispute, and one third of the property was actually
awarded to this Hindu deity!6 Most agreed that this was a workable compromise, but lacking

4
History of the Uttar Kannada Court, available at http://kar.distcourts.kar.nic.in/aboutCourt kar.
5
Ram Janm Bhoomi-Babri Masjid Ayodhya Bench ruling (2010), available at http://www.allahabad
highcourt.in/ayodhyabench4.html
6
NDTV, Ayodhya Verdict: Allahabad High Court Says Divide Land In Three Ways, Oct. 1, 2010, available at
http:// www.ndtv.com/article/india/ayodhya-verdict-allahabad-high-court-says-divide-land-in-3-ways-56063;

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any sound legal basis. While some commentators feel that there is no real need to unpack
“legal niceties”, some eyebrows have certainly been raised at the deliberate introduction and
consideration of the religious element in a dispute that should not have been viewed with a
religious lens at all. In India, this opposition is headed by the minorities who feel that the
enforcement of any uniform code will be driven only by the experience of the majority
religion, and the SUPREME COURT OF INDIA’s rulings in the past have not done much to
invoke any faith in a truly secular judicial attitude. For the same reason, intense “Hindu”
groups have been known to support the cause of a uniform civil code.

THE STUDY OF THE CO-OPERATIVE PRINCIPLES

The short-stories of Mulk Raj Anand represent a literary discourse. A literary discourse in a
story or a novel is already an organized discourse by the writer, who has created characters
and situations which deal with specific socio-cultural aspects of society. The interrelation
between the characters is deeply informed by their social standing, age, relation, the place,
etc. and the communicative exchanges between them are influenced by all these factors.

Before we undertake pragmatic analysis of the interactions between the characters in the
stories, it is necessary to state here, that the conversational situations in such literary
discourse are varied, and either very short, like quick repartees or rather longish, involving
complex set of maxims of interaction. Naturally, the theoretical model of analysis may need
additions in terms of different moves. Secondly, though introduction is devoted to analysis of
the interactions in certain selected short stories by applying Cooperative Principle, these
interactions may involve the maxims of Politeness Principle as well. As Leech (1983) points
out „Politeness . Principle might act as a necessary complement‟ to the Cooperative
Principle, to save the situation. As Leech says, socio-cultural interactions, PP can take a
higher regulative role to maintain the social equilibrium and the friendly relations.‟ Naturally,
though this chapter undertakes analysis of CP, the role PP plays in these interactions will be
highlighted where necessary. While going through the literary discourse in these short-
stories, it is realized that the characters indulge in maxim-flouting, violate the relevance, or
respond to the turns in an apparently unexpected ways. The situations and the inter-relations
Nivedita Menon, The Second Demolition: Ayodhya Judgement, September 30, 2010, Oct. 2, 2010, available at
http:// kafila.org/2010/10/02/the-second-demolition-ayodhya-judgement-september-30-2010/.

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between the characters compel them to respond in unexpected ways. In these communicative
situations, the participants‟ strategies depend on their purpose, the way they wish to influence
their partners or interlocutors‟ while going through the literary discourse in these short
stories, it is realized the characters indulge in maxim flouting, violate the relevance or
respond to the turns in an apparently unexpected ways. The situations and inter-relations
between the characters compel them to respond in the unexpected ways. In these
communicative situations, the participant use strategies depending on their purpose, the way
they wish to influence their partners or interlocutors. Following the maxims or violating them
depends on a number of different factors, such as emotional states of the characters, their
social statures, formality and so on. Similarly, there can be different ways of following as
well as violating maxims.
The underlying assumption behind the Cooperative Principle is that the Speaker and the
Hearer cooperate with each other obeying the four maxims of Quantity, Quality, Relation and
Manner. Whether the participants obey these Principles or flout them depends on the situation
and the interpersonal relationship.

The chief interlocutors in the story, The Cobbler and the Machine, are the school-going boy
and the old Cobbler in the village. The narrator is the boy himself, who tells us the story in
the first person. The narrator had a great attraction for machines, from railway engine, the
phonograph, the car to the sewing machines in the tailoring shop. He had seen a leather-
sewing-machine in the town, and he wanted Saudagar, the Cobbler, to have one.
The story unfolds through the interaction of the narrator with the cobbler. The narrator has a
passion for machines. He shares his passion with the cobbler telling him about the leather-
sewing-machine. The boy narrator saw how the cobbler stared at the cloth-sewing machine of
a tailor across the street. He too must have dreamed of having such a machine for sewing
leather. His interaction with the boy brings out his latent desire to have such a machine. In
this story the boy (narrator) and the Cobbler are the only interlocutors. The narrator initiates
the topic of the leather-sewing machine pointing out to the Cobbler how wearisome and time-
taking it is to sew shoes with hands.
In The Cobbler and The Machine, Saudagar, an old rustic cobbler who has passion for the
machine, incurs a heavy debt in importing a shoe-stitching machine from abroad, though he is
half afraid that god "would curse my fmgers and those of my pupils, and make them
incapable of sewing at all, it I began to use this machineV. When the machine arrives, instead
of saving his time and energy, as he had hoped it would, it only brings in retribution: Worn
out by the fatigue of producing many more shoes than he had ever sewn to pay off his debt,
drained of his life-blood by the sweat that was always pouring off his body, he fell stone-&ad
one evening.

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 CONCLUSION

Religion is the "belief in a super human controlling power, especially in personal God or
Gods entitled to obedience and worship", claims Oxford Dictionary. According to the Indian
spiritual leader, Swami Vivekananda, religion "is based upon faith and belief and in most
cases consists only of different sect of theories that is the reason why we find all religion
quarrelling with each other". Conflict thereby is seemingly inevitable between different
religious ideologies. Secularism is a white flag to such clashes- a bridge that links the gaps
between the divergences that different religions pose. It is true that about 82 percent of
Indians are Hindus but India also has over 100 million Muslims and that qualifies it with the
remarkable distinction of having the third largest Muslim Population in the world. India also
has a Christian population of 2.3 percent, a Sikh population of 2 percent, and other religions
like Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism etc comprise of less than 2 percent. But
given a population of more than one billion, these single digit percentages represent
significant numbers. Quite a few religions co-exist in India and despite having a Hindu
majority, it isn't a Hindu nation.
The Preamble of the Indian constitution declares India a "secular" nation. Articles 15, 25, 26,
27, 28 and 30 of the Indian Constitution contain elements of religious freedom and introduce
protective clauses to religious minorities. In Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, the
Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court of India clarified that secularism was a part of the
basic structure of the Constitution. This view was further confirmed in the case of S.R.
Bommai v. Union of India. Given the secular nature of the Indian Constitution and the fact
that it guarantees freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion of one's own
choice, what we often overlook that religion forms the foundation of Indian culture and
society. Is it possible to uphold secularism in a religious society? This essay explores the
nature of secularism in India. Is it only a black and white word enshrined in the Constitution
in order to adorn it with elements of modern polity? Or is it a promise of a truly secular state
which gives voice to every religion without letting any particular one sit in the driver's seat?
Despite distancing the State from "religion" the Constitution itself provides for religious
rights as fundamental rights. Does that not defeat the whole "secular" agenda?
To answer the above questions, it is important however to dwell on what secularism means.
Secularism was coined by G.J. Halyoake in the year 1851 to mean a social order separate

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from religion. A secular State is a State that "purports to be officially neutral in matters of
religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion". A secular State therefore is to treat all its
citizens equally regardless of religion. Going by this definition, a uniform civil code seems a
pre-requisite of a secular state. In fact, the Indian Constitution pens a uniform civil code as
one of the directive principles of state policy. But the uniform code remains in the pages of
our sanctified Constituted. As Granville Austin very sharply points out that the pressure of
religious communities against the legislation and enforcement of a uniform civil code poses
serious problems to India as a secular nation. According to Justice R.M. Sahai, "Ours is a
secular democratic republic. Freedom of religion is the core of our culture. Even the slightest
of deviation shakes the social fibre. But religious practices, violative of human rights and
dignity and sacerdotal suffocation of essentially civil and material freedoms are not autonomy
but oppression. Therefore, a unified code is imperative, both, for protection of the oppressed
and for promotion of national unity and solidarity." But of the many obstacles that
implementing the Universal Civil Code is faced with, perhaps the greatest is drafting. It
would obviously be extremely difficult to resolve whether the Uniform Code be a blend of all
personal laws or should it be a completely new one though abiding by the constitutional
mandate. The minorities argue that under the guise of a Uniform Civil Code, Hindu Law
would be imposed on them. Does the lack of a Uniform Civil Code therefore make India "less
secular"? This question cannot be answered conclusively but can only be deliberated upon.
It is generally argued by scholars that the concept of secularism in India as embodied in the
Constitution of India is very different from the way it is viewed in the West. We have already
established how "secularism" implies the separation between State and religion. Such
implication is clear in the reading of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which
offers, "The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion which includes the freedom
to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in
public or private, manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and
observance." However Article 25 of the Indian Constitution confers the right to "freely
profess, practice and propagate religion" but such freedom is subject to Public order, morality
and health. Union Government and State Governments retain the right to make legislation in
order to restrict/control religious expressions to uphold public order. Thus the freedom of
religion guaranteed is not absolute. The Constitution of India creates a right for religious
minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice and to conserve
their script, language and culture. The nature of the provisions in the Constitution of India

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clearly indicates its endeavour to build up in India the philosophy of secularism on freedom,
equality and tolerance in the field of religion and not building a wall of separation between
state and religion. The nature of the Indian secularism is possibly best described in the
famous Ayodhya Case which runs as follows:
"It is clear from the constitutional scheme that it guarantees equality in the matter of ail
individuals and groups irrespective of their faith emphasizing that there is no religion of slate
itself The Preamble of the Constitution read in particular with Article 25 to 28 emphasizes
this aspect and indicates that it is in this manner the concept of secularism is embodied in the
constitutional scheme as a creed adopted by the Indian people has to be understood while
examining the constitutional validity of any legislation. The concept of secularism is one
facet of the right to equality woven as the central golden thread in the fabric depicting the
pattern of the scheme in our constitution."
Secularism in India renders it a mosaic of all religions- each maintaining its own
distinctiveness and at the same time practicing tolerance towards the "other". Indian
secularism is not less secular than the western secularism; it just has a colour of its own. India
has seen its socio-political arena blooded by the communal violence- there are both dividing
as well as eliminatory traits. In the wake of the 9/11 attack, religious fanaticism has seen a
rise- effecting not just the Muslims but also other religions. The Indian State has been secular
only in theory. The reality is a whole new ball game. When comes to communal clashes and
when the extreme forms of transgressions occur, more often than not, the Government looks
the other way, adopting a "pushing it under the rug" approach. However, the role of the Press
and the Judiciary has been extremely positive. There still is a long way to go and secularism
must play a more decisive role in the present Indian democracy and that obviously cannot be
brought about by law alone but would need what we call the "collective consciousness".

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Statutes
1. The Constitution of India, 1950
Books
1. MulkRaj Anand. (2017).The Cobbler and the Machine, The Old Bapu. New Delhi;
Sahitya Academy. Pp.69-74.
2. Marlene Fisher. (2016). The Shape of Lustiness: MulkRaj Anand’s Short Stories,
(The Journal of Indian Writing in English, Editor: G.S.Balanuna Gupta, Vo1.2.
January Gulbarga, Karnataka, l974, No. I), pp. 1-2.

Websites
1. http://www.lawcourts.org/LPBR/reviews/Jacobsohn03.htm

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2. https://indconlawphil.wordpress.com/2015/02/25/guest-post-iii-secularism-and-the-
freedom-of-religion-reconsidered-old-wine-in-new-bottles/
3. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14736480802548111
4. http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/1835/Judicial-Response-to-the-concept-of-
Secularism-in-India.html
5. https://eprints.ucm.es/12247/1/Palomino-secularism.pdf

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