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I
read PD's "Readers Write" columns from time to
time. Reading it brought to my mind a statement
that the great historian & polemicist E. P.
Thompson made about India. Thompson was a
critical social commentator with wit and a
perceptive one, described the most impressive
aspect of India as he saw it:
"All the convergent
influences of the world run through this
society: Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Secular,
Stalinist, Liberal, Maoist, Democratic,
Socialist and Gandhian. There is not a thought
that is being thought in the West or East that
is not active in some Indian mind."
One way it is a
major tribute to what has happened in India, and
it is my opinion, Thompson gets it absolutely
right: If one asks me what India's main
political achievement is, I would say that it
has maintained this aspect of the freedom of
mind. India has been remarkably successful in
this respect and her achievement here contrasts
sharply with what has happened in many other
countries, not just in the democratic world but
also in some of the rich or "free world" nations
where political or any intellectual views are
very much polarized and limited. In an age of
growing xenophobia, I commend PatnaDaily for
providing a platform to share thoughts and
keeping Bihar's windows open on the world.
Commenting on a
recent letter, one writer describes a generation
of modern India's architect and self sacrificing
freedom fighters who hurled themselves into the
struggle against the British rule "as power
hungry who just filled the vacuum left by the
British. Our national anthem is outdated and
should be banned". It is really so amazing.
India has seen and gone through countless
kingdoms, Saltnats, Takths and foreign
occupation, but modern India will remain strong
and shine with time for a long, long time to
come and our pride in our national anthem will
never fade away. Even Sun and Moon have to face
a phase of eclipse from time to time, however
they emerge back with same kind of brightness,
similarly I believe that respect for our
national heroes will be not diminish and
generations to come will never forget their
sacrifices.
People believing in
conspiracy theories unfortunately learn the
lessons of history very reluctantly and they
will, in this case, try to justify that "Jan Gan
Man" was written by Tagore for the British
monarch.
Fact is in 1912, a
year prior to receiving the Noble Prize for his
Geetanjali, indignant at the request that he
contribute a song honoring King George V on his
visit to India for his coronation as the
country's "King-Emperor", Gurudev Rabindranath
Tagore composed a hymn in praise of God, as
India's real Lord. After independence, the
hymn's first verse was adopted as India's
national anthem. Although Tagore is known
primarily as an epitome of poetical genius, he
is nonetheless a major political icon and
inspiration for freedom fighters of modern India
against the British rule.
The partition of
Bengal in 1905 swept him into the maelstrom of
Indian politics where he participated vigorously
in the agitation against the British. Even
though he rejected the violent efforts of much
younger nationalists like Sri Aurobindo Ghosh
during Bengal partition, Tagore wrote a poem at
this time in his honour, hailing him as the
"voice incarnate, free, of India's soul". In
1919 he renounced his Knighthood because of the
massacre of Indians by British troops at
Jallianwalla Bagh in Punjab.
Although Tagore had
publicly opposed Mahatma Gandhi on various
issues, the two remained friends and continued
to have healthy debates. He saw, perhaps before
many of his countrymen, that Gandhi of South
Africa fame promised to give an altogether new
turn to the Indian struggle for freedom and
recognized the great soul in him. As early as
February 1915 we find Tagore referring to
Gandhiji as "Mahatma" and Gandhiji readily
adopted the form of addressing Tagore as "Gurudev".
Tagore stood throughout his life as symbol of
freedom, humanity and tolerance and any
misguided group pointing finger to suggest that
he wrote "Jan Gan Man" in praise of British
monarch is absurd.
If one understands
and listens "Jan Gan Man" hymn with reverence
one would experience the true spiritual bliss;
it lifts our mind to a level where glorious
nature of our motherland reveals as if waves of
Ganga and Yamuna could sing, trees of Himalaya
and Vindhya's forest could speak and even God
joins people in chanting auspicious name of this
ancient sacred land in her glory.
This also reminds me
of a spontaneous remark made by Late Ustad Amir
Khan Sahib in midst of his singing when, with
closed eyes, he muttered in Urdu: "Nagma to usi
ko kahte hain jise Rooh sune aur Rooh sunaye".
He must have felt the same experience!
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Comments: |
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I thank the reader for this
wonderful article. It is well
written articles such as this that
make my visit to the oasis of PD
such a delight. Even if one does not
agree one hundred percent with all
that is said, it allows the reader
to imbibe, not only a mature and
educational treatment of a subject
pertaining to our identity, but also
to pick up some new thoughts and
viewpoints to mull over.
I have had mixed feelings about our
national anthem myself. Most people
have sung it for years without any
understanding of its meaning. For it
to touch the "rooh", the
understanding of the underlying
meaning of the words is very
important. Unfortunately most
(including myself) do not know what
we sing in the anthem. I have read
an explanation of the verses and
have found them to be so complex and
alien to the tersest form of Hindi /
Sanskrit that they got lost on me. I
would appreciate if someone posted a
translation with an explanation of
the linguistic roots of the verses.
On another note...
Our lives are too short to feel the
impact of the gradual amputation of
our territory. If, say Ram Lal (a
figment of my imagination), lived to
be a few thousand years old, he
would have seen the amputation of
the province of Gandhar of the Saka
dynasty (modern day Afghanistan. The
early Muslim invaders crossed the
Hindukush mountain range (literally
meaning "Kill Hindus" in Farsi)
mountains in Afghanistan to kill the
Hindus on the other side. They did
kill thousands, but the rest of the
terrified populace converted to
Islam to save the harassment and
came to be known as the Afghans. Ram
Lal would also see the subsequent
slicing away of Pakistan (East and
West) and the modern day struggle in
Kashmir and the northeast to
de-annex.
It is not smart to let the feeling
of our spiritual superiority and
glorious History deaden the
knowledge that our land is under
siege. It must also be understood
that the only way to preserve what
we have, is not by being
fundamentalist or extremist but by
pushing religion to the backseat and
putting strict control on flagrant
public expression of religion. An
Indian identity should supersede
religious, regional or caste
identities. Religion, like intimate
behavior, should stay confined to
people's homes and should not be
dragged into the work place or
public places. It may sound like a
bitter pill, but I feel that is what
we need to rid ourselves of the
gangrene that has gnawed away our
limbs over centuries. - ARECEE
1/11/05
As
regards to Mr. Shekhar's letter,
here I must disagree as to the true
heroes of India. Mr. Shekhar told us
how "indignant" Mr. Tagore was that
he HAD to write a poem for the
British Monarch.
"When he came down, he said to one
of us, 'Here is a poem which I have
written. It is addressed to God, but
give it to Congress people. It will
please them. They will think it is
addressed to the King.' All Tagore's
own followers knew it meant God, but
others did not." (The Indian
Express, June 3, 1968)
In
other words, Tagore purposely
allowed this confusion out of his
own purported self-righteous disdain
for a slavish people. Self righteous
pseudo-intellectuals who look down
on Indians without acknowledging
their own leadership short comings
has been a land mark of the so
called "greatest Indian leaders" --
those whom I think used the British
propaganda machine to have political
gain. Besides that "jana gana mana"
is a weak song without any power
compared to "Bande Mataram". Let us
not forget that it was "Mahatma"
Gandhi who shamelessly said, "Hindus
are cowards, Muslims are bullies"
while presenting himself as some
effeminate weak bodied Hindu
throughout the world and without
Bhagat Singh did not want FULL
independence for India.
Right now the truth of Indian's TRUE
great freedom fighters and those
that betrayed India in the name of
freedom fighting is slowly being
exposed. The difference lies in
those who believed in Indians to
rise and those who insulted the very
people who they claimed to lead. -
Nidhi Singh 1/11/05
Reading this article by Raj Shekhar
thrilled me. I am certain, readers
with intellectual thoughts and
literary mind will admire his great
thoughts and deep emotions. I am
encouraged to see people like Raj
coming to PatnaDaily. After all I
see that " Bihar ki bhumi mein janm
lekar nikley hue aur videshon mein
basey hue log phir sey ek baar uss
zameen ko, wahaa ki maatee koe
pratishthit kar rahey hain". - Bidhu
S. Jha 1/11/05
Apparently Ms. Nidhi Singh has a
version of Indian history and ethnic
identity that is considerably
different from the history we read
in the mainstream media - something
that is based on archeological,
anthropological and linguistic
research being carried out in so
many different countries
concurrently.
I
would really like to see Nidhi Singh
write a few original articles and
offer them for comments and
criticism to the PD readers. -
ARECEE 1/11/05
Well Mr. Arcee, I actually provided
documentation of my article. It
seems it is your history which seems
under-researched. I am a thorough
historian.
I
at least provided actual evidence by
providing the actual article on Mr.
Tagore, providing facts not what
people would like to believe ---but
what actually is.
History is not nuclear physics -- it
is a conclusion reached after
reading all possible available
records. When Indians will stop
believing what they want to believe
and see what actually is, than
perhaps even modern day politics in
India will change.
Until Indians continue to have such
pathetic historians who do no
original research of their own but
cow tow to the intellectual
mediocrity which is presented as the
history of India --- one of the most
magical and most ancient
civilizations still alive, then
India will not change. - Nidhi Singh
1/12/05
I agree with Ms. Nidhi Singh that
most Indian historians are either
incompetent or deliberately
obfuscate matters. There are many
unsung heroes of India's freedom
struggle and many whose "glorious"
reputations are largely unearned. If
one examines carefully the
post-independence exploits of many
of these "great" leaders one gets
even more under-whelmed. The current
generation has had its fill of such
charade - for the sake of posterity
let the right history of India be
known. They deserve to be truly
proud of their heritage. -
Raghbendra Jha 3/15/05 |
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