In an essay titled Rashtraniti o Dharmaniti (1902) (State Law and Religious Law), Rabindranath Tagore levels a satirical criticism against the colonial British attitude towards the “Mild Hindu[s]”. He refers to two incidents, the one which immediately serves the context for the essay took place in Allahabad in 1901. A peace-loving Hindu named Someshwar Das objected to the forceful relocation of some of the flower pots of his residence by a Briti…