Modi’s Unheroic Nationalist Idol

Modi’s Unheroic Nationalist Idol

By Jawhar Sircar

(16 Feb 2019, National Herald)

(Modified English version of  Bengali article published in Ananda Bazar Patrika on 5th Feb 2019)

      On December 30, last year, we were treated to the most unusual spectacle of the Prime Minister of India sitting on the floor or a cell of a jail, his legs crossed over each other, and his palms joined in prayer. He was, however, not praying to God — he was actually worshipping his guru, Veer Damodar Savarkar, who had once been imprisoned in this cell and his eyes were transfixed on his portrait that was propped up a few feet away. Savarkar, who coined the term ‘Hindutva’, is regarded as the father of this ideology and it was he who led generations to dream of and to agitate for a Hindu Bharat.

        The prison that Narendra Modi was visiting was the Cellular Jail of the Andamans, the dreaded Kala Pani that India can never forget. It was here that hundreds of freedom fighters were incarcerated, the cream of India’s youth, and except one, none of them is known to have ever begged the British for mercy. And the only one who pleaded with the Viceroy, repeatedly and fervently, to please release him from jail was Savarkar, Modi’s hero.

        The Government of India’s 1975 publication entitled Penal Settlement in Andamans records on page 213 VD Savarkar’s mercy petition of 14th November 1913, addressed to the British government. Savarkar’s fervent plea was “if the government in their manifold benevolence and mercy release me, I for one cannot but be the staunchest advocate of constitutional progress and loyalty to the English government.”

Without mentioning this abject surrender to the British, Modi tweeted “I visited the cell where the indomitable Veer Savarkar was lodged. Rigorous imprisonment did not dampen Veer Savarkar’s spirits and he continued to speak and write about a free India from jail too.” Incidentally, the BJP government has already named the main airport of Port Blair in the Andamans after Savarkar and much of the ‘sound and light’ show at the Cellular Jail focusses on him — not on the countless freedom fighters who underwent the trauma of the toughest form of imprisonment without ever breaking down. Many, in fact, died within these premises.

          What we need to recall on the 68th anniversary of the promulgation of the India’s Constitution, is that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the RSS, that formed the Bharatiya Janata Party that rules India today, was opposed to the national flag and the Indian secular polity. It had not even participated in the most important stage of India’s freedom struggle, the Quit India movement, and KB Hedgewar, the founder and chief of the RSS, had issued clear orders to his cadre not to cooperate with Gandhi. CP Bishikar, the biographer of Hedgewar, quotes him as having said, “Patriotism is not only going to prison. It is not correct to be carried away by such superficial patriotism.” In fact, records preserved in India’s National Archives mentions that certain sections of the British police considered the RSS as friends who were loyal to them.

        In August 1947, just before the day when India finally attained Independence, the RSS’s mouthpiece, Organiser, declared that the Indian Tricolour “will never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself an evil, and a flag having three colours will certainly produce a very bad psychological effect and is injurious to a country.” If three is evil, is the Hindu Trimurti also evil? Two earlier issues of the Organiser, of 17th and 22nd July 1947, had also mentioned the RSS’s opposition to the national Tricolour flag. The second RSS supremo, MS Golwalkar, who was the undisputed leader, had been quite vociferous in his opposition.

In his book, Bunch of Thoughts. Golwakar had stated quite clearly: “Our leaders have set up a new flag for the country. Why did they do so? It just is a case of drifting and imitating...Ours is an ancient and great nation with a glorious past. Then, had we no flag of our own? Had we no national emblem at all these thousands of years? Undoubtedly, we had. Then why this utter void, this utter vacuum in our minds.” Guru Golwakar was perhaps referring to the saffron ‘split flag’ of the RSS, known as the Bhagwa Dhwaj, that it wanted to foist as the national flag in lieu of the nation’s culturally-composite tricolour.

          Had Sardar Patel not banned the RSS for 18 months in 1948-49 after Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu Mahasabha fanatic (the RSS, incidentally, celebrated the heinous murder), the RSS may never had changed its stand.

It was only when Sardar Patel arrested RSS cadre in their hundreds that Golwalkar was finally compelled to profess “loyalty to the Constitution of India and the national flag” in July 1949.

It is tragic to witness how the RSS and the BJP now terrorise those who, they feel, are not honouring the same Tricolour that they had opposed. Obviously, the BJP-RSS has no national heroes of its own, as this combine played such a dubious role in the national movement.

       It has, therefore, made icon-poaching a national phenomena and desperately tries to unscrew leaders like Sardar Patel and Subhas Chandra Bose from the pantheon of mainstream nationalism. For over seventy years, the RSS has taken active part in Indian politics, first through the Jan Sangh and then through the Janata Party and finally as the BJP. Democracy needs a rightist option as much as it needs the left, but all shades of politics have to accept the plural polity and the secularism promised and guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.

          This, unfortunately, is not being adhered to and a reign of terror has been unleashed on minorities and Dalits as well as on secular and liberal forces. The only phase of independent India’s history when the RSS’s political wing played a somewhat positive role was during the Emergency of 1975-77, but then its supporters could fill the jails as the organisation had the financial clout of traders and businessmen to provide support to the affected families. The Hindu right that betrayed Gandhiji’s national struggle may celebrate the Mahatma’s 150th birth anniversary on a grand scale this year, by way of atonement, but the questionable roles played by Savarkar and Golwalkar will remain etched forever in our historical records. From time to time, elements within the Hindu right family show their true colours when they publicly glorify Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse — not once, but repeatedly.

         So, when we see a Hindu fanatic shooting at Gandhi’s statue and garlanding Godse’s, as actually happened in Aligarh on Gandhiji’s death anniversary a few days ago, this subterranean streak comes to the fore. Their hatred for Gandhi and his unshakable belief in secularism will never die.

         But, even history cannot decide whether to laugh or cry when the RSS dominated government now turns around and chargesheets Kanhaiya Kumar and his fellow students of Jawaharlal Nehru University under the colonial law of ‘sedition’ for being ‘anti-national’.

         And even when there are now more relevant laws to tackle terrorism and anti-Indian activities, this regime has openly declared in Parliament on the 5th of this month that this legacy of British imperialism shall continue to rule. After all, it evokes a dash of nationalist romanticism for those whose political ancestors took no part in the national struggle. Now, they can freely hound and punish those who dare to raise their voices too loud.

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Saraswati Puja and Basanta Panchami

Saraswati Puja and Basanta Panchami

By Jawhar Sircar

(15^th February 2016, Ananda Bazar Patrika)

        For the last two centuries, succeeding generations of students in Bengal have been praying hard to Ma Saraswati — to help them with their studies and their imminent exams. This was more before the internet and Professor Google rained free wisdom on them, but students continue to pray to the goddess, nevertheless, especially before their examinations. 

        This particularly beautiful goddess wears sparkling white and yellow — and as we know, the latter is the preferred colour for Basanta, spring. She is one of the very few deities who have survived from the Vedic period, but not without her many lows. We notice that he is hardly worshipped in other parts of India — we rarely see any temples dedicated to her anywhere. Yet, this same devi is revered in far away Bali and Japan. 

            In fact, the fifth day of month of Magh (January-February) when she is worshipped in Bengal is better known as Basant Panchami or the ‘spring festival’ in most parts of India. It is, incidentally, the first of the two spring celebrations, the other being Holi that always comes 40 days later. Spring festivals are not uncommon: Catholics, for instance, observe a festival called Candlemas in early February. Even China has its mammoth new year celebrations around this time. 

        The fields are all yellow with mustard and bright yellow is meant to drive away the grey winters, heralding the season of joy. In fact, people bring dholaks out and perform merry dances but Bihar leads the way by playing with colours in anticipation of Holi. In many parts of north India, it is mandatory to wear yellow clothes or turbans and some put on a haldi tilak as well. In Punjab, Haryana and Kashmir saffron is used a lot to colour rice and flavour or colour sweet halwa in UP and boondi in Bihar. 

         Brajbhumi deserves special mention here, because it is the favourite season of Radha-Krishna and this is a special day when the countdown to Holi begins, with very colourful and lively celebrations. All temples are decorated with yellow flowers and even rice, milk and burfis are all very yellow. 

               In Punjab, both Hindus and Sikhs celebrate Basant Panchami with gusto and pray to Ma Ganga, placing their books, pens and musical instruments before this river, not Saraswati. One washes away all sins by taking a bath at the Sangam on this day and pilgrims get triple benefits from the Ganga,Yamuna and the mysterious Saraswati. Kashmiri pandits are different, as on this day, they worship neither Saraswati nor Ganga, but a Tantric goddess named Tiky Tsoram. To add to variety, we also find Jagaddhatri puja in some places of the north India — this was recorded by Major CH Buck in 1917. 

          Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and adjoining belts actually invoke Siva on this day with mango flowers and the ears of wheat. Even Kamadeva, who was reduced to ashes by Siva’s laser glance for disturbing his Tapasya, is also worshipped during these 40 days, along with his wife Rati of course. Very few know that many Sufis have actually been celebrating Basanta from the 12th century, ever since the legendary poet Amir Khusrau wore yellow just to brighten the mood of  the sad Chisti saint, Nizamuddin Aulia. 

           When Vishu’s influence increased, the Puranas glorified his role over other deities on this day. Murdoch noted in 1910 that “the designation of ‘Sri’ before Sri Panchami indicates that Lakshmi is to be worshipped and the day was originally dedicated to her. The same text, however, also directs the honour of Saraswati and hence  ‘Sri’ also meant  Saraswati”. To add more confusion, we see how in the Brahma Purana even Bharakali is invoked along with Saraswati, which just illustrates the wide choice that Hinduism, offers. 

              A century ago, Pandit Madanmohan Malaviya introduced Saraswati pujas in the new Benaras Hindu University but except for Uttarakhand, Assam and Bengal, we hardly find her worshipped anywhere else on this date. In the south, they celebrate her on the last day of Navaratri in Ashwin, so what explains Bengal’s obsession for this goddess? The modern version of worshipping Saraswati started in educational institutions of Bengal is a post colonial improvisation that the aspirational class from humbler backgrounds started in the 19th century. To them, education was god — as their life depended on studies and exams. Without these they could hardly get their coveted jobs aa clerks under the Company or the Crown or in mercantile institutions. 

             Saraswati’s Vedic origins are quite controversial. Brahma was originally regarded her father, but the Matsya Purana and the Brahma Purana have salacious stories of how he was enamoured by her and how the poor daughter tried to avoid all his heads, but failed. Since our task here is neither to gossip nor to do any Freudian analysis, let us accept the standard position that as Gayatri, she was his wife which is why her Gayatri-mantra is repeated every day as a powerful invocation.

              We must also remember that Saraswati is equally important as a river, a very holy one. Throughout history, Hindus have worshipped not only rivers, but also their original sources, their confluences or sangams and their sagar-jatra, where they meet the sea. Indologist, HD Griswold noted in 1897, in his ‘Religion of the Rig Veda’ that “Saraswati is the region where the five Aryan tribes tarried the longest and it was doubtless the centre of gravity of the Rig Vedic world. Its banks would be hallowed by the composition of hymns and the performance of sacrificial rites”. 

           Vedic civilisation was thus nourished by the Saraswati, just as ancient Egypt was by the Nile and Babylon by Tigris-Euphrates. Volumes have been written on how this river once flowed from the Himalayas to the sea, parallel to the Indus, and how the Shatadru or Sutlej was its main tributary while Yamuna was the other. The defining moment of Indian civilisation came when the Aryans finally crossed the Saraswati, as the ‘real India’ of both Aryans and non-Aryans was really born after that. It is fascinating to note how the missing Saraswati is still worshipped with more devotion than the live Sapta-sindhu rivers because millions firmly believe that she still flows underground and joins the Ganga. She finds repeated mention in Vedic literature and the Puranas, that were composed after Saraswati dried up, preserved and enhanced her status. 

                From the 5th century, Vedic-Puranic deities were one of India’s most popular exports to many Asia-Pacific countries and their values found deep favour, as much as Buddhist ones. We forgot, however, to patent them or charge any royalty for these Intellectual Properties. Mahayana Buddhism also adopted and transformed many Hindu deities and thus our peaceful Saraswati became Vajra in Tibet, where she is portrayed holding a dangerous thunder-bolt.. In neighbouring Myanmar, we find her in the Lakshman Sen-period Mon inscriptions near the ancient capital of Pagan and Saraswati is honoured as Thurathadi, the protector of Buddhist scriptures. 

            From the 7th century onwards, we find Brahma and Saraswati in Cambodian epigraphy and she is praised by the Khmer poets as Vageeswari, the goddess of eloquence, writing and music. In Thailand, she is known as Suratswadi or Pra Surasawadi, the goddess of speech and learning and one comes across several old icons at old Thai temples. 

               Let us now check on Bali, one of the few places outside India where her worship is still important. Unlike Indians, Balinese considered her to be a major deity. Balinese Hindus invoke her as water and consider it holy to bathe in rivers or in the sea or at sacred waterfalls on this day. Very large images of Saraswati adorn schools, colleges and universities, where she is revered for learning, music and wisdom. 

           Moving to Japan, we find that she had arrived there in the 6th century, with many other Vedic and Puranic deities, and that she was  worshipped there till the 8th century.  She is called Benzaiten, from her Chinese name  Bian-Chaiten, and she is still quite visible in many temples like Kamakura, Nagoya and even Tokyo. She is seen playing a Biwa, a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument and she was actually promoted as one of the Seven Gods of Fortune. Saraswati is primarily the goddess of flowing water and everything else that flows, like words, speech, music etc, but she is also associated with snakes and is actually married to a sea dragon. 

                 After such hectic travels, it is now time for us to return to our own Ma Saraswati and her clean white swan, for some cool comfort and for her blessings. What is clear, however, is that Saraswati is a metaphor for stupefying variety and that the strength of Brahmanism lay not in uniformity, but in its superb management of contradictions.

The History of Valentine’s Day

The History of Valentine’s Day

 By Jawhar Sircar

As Valentine Day arrives on the 14th of February, the question arises : who or what is this Valentine? Is Valentine just a heart and a symbol of love that purists are so bothered about, or is it a ‘western pollution’ of our culture? Maybe, it is just a marketing strategy of greeting card producers.

The original Valentine’s Day was in the middle of February as Rome’s Lupercalia, a festival of sexual license. It was a pagan, pre-Christian practice of young men choosing women partners for erotic games through a system of ‘billets’ or slips”. It was denounced by the Christian Church which tried to substitute and insert the names of saints to appropriate and sanitize popular festivals: as most religions in the world have historically done.

The month of February was actually sacred to Roman Goddess Juno Februata, the ‘fever of love’, but the Church replaced her with a range of martyrs, all of who were named Saint Valentine. They came in with tales of heroism and sacrifice and even the sterilized version was still rooted to pagan practices.

Yet, a millennium later, we find that St. Valentine was regularly invoked in love charms and potions: and during the Middle Ages, he was treated as a sketchily Christianized version of pagan love-gods like Eros, Cupid, Priapus, or even Pan. The central origin story recalls a Saint Valentine of Rome who was said to have been imprisoned because he performed weddings for soldiers who were prohibited from marrying during service. He was also reportedly persecuted by the Romans for ministering to the members of the banned Christian sect and killed. Hence, he qualified as a full-fledged saint. The interesting part of the tale is that when Valentine was taken away for execution he left an impassioned note to the daughter of his own jailor signed as “Your Valentine”, as a sign of love and farewell.

The present practitioners of such feelings use the occasion for intensifying their endearment rather than say good-bye. They would be quite horrified at the very preposterous thought of going to the gallows. Christianity also practiced unity in diversity and this is manifest when the Anglican and Lutheran churches celebrate it on the 14th February, while the Eastern and Orthodox churches commemorate two valentines in July, one on the 6th July and the second on the 30th. Latin American countries like Brazil, Valentine Day is celebrated aa ‘Lovers’ Day’ on the 12th of July.

The ‘physical remains’ of the ‘mainstream’ Valentine, whose exact year of martyrdom was fixed at AD 496, were interred in the Church and the Catacombs of St. Valentino in Rome. It became an important pilgrimage throughout the medieval period. There is even a flower-crowned skull exhibited in the Basilica of Santa Maria in another part of Rome while other ‘relics’ are found as far away as Dublin and Winchester. This reminds us of how Emperor Ashoka dispersed the Holy Buddha’s relics all over India in so many stupas all over. The ‘Catholic Encyclopedia’ actually speaks of three Valentine saints who are all connected with the 14th of February: and the third of them was martyred in remote Africa. This is not unusual at all as most organized religions all over the world either subjugate or subsume ‘primitive’ and folk traditions that appeal to the masses or appear repugnant to purists.

Valentine’s association with the arrival of Spring, fertility and rejuvenation are evident from some enduring festivities. In some countries of Eastern Europe like Slovenia, flowers and plants are revered and the first work of cultivation starts in vineyard and the fields on this day. Poetry, verses and songs have always been the most popular currency among love-struck youngsters and these come out in full bloom on this occasion. Even Shakespeare’s Ophelia rued in ‘Hamlet’, more than four centuries ago: “And I a maid at your windows, To be your Valentine”. The nursery rhyme in ‘Grammar Gurton’s Galands’ of 1784 mentions “The rose is red, the violet’s blue” that goes to jingle with “I love you”.

The 14th century English chronicler of the famous ‘Canterbury Tales’, Geoffrey Chaucer, played a role in popularizing this day with “romantic love” in the Middle Ages when the courtly traditions of England picked up this craze. Many popular traditions survive in England through odd celebrations, like the character of Norfolk called Jack Valentine. He knocks at rear doors of houses and leaves presents and sweets for children.

By the 18th century, lovers, both males and females, started expressing their profuse love for each other on the 14th of February by presenting flowers and sweets and little cards inscribing ‘Valentine’. In the 19th and later in the 20th centuries, the western card industry simply took over this profitable venture with countless exciting variations. Flowers and candy became compulsory. The American industry association estimates that a billion cards are circulated each year on this day. But somewhere down the line the two-way traffic of presents gave way to single “male to female” acts of gifting. Not bad! The heart symbol, which looks so pleasant actually differs a lot from the actual complex human organ that it represents. It came to acquire greater popularity in the love department, trouncing other medieval symbols, like the dove and the cupid.

But now, let us return home: India, where Hindu extremists have been on the rampage for the past several years, condemning this western show of immortality— and thrashing up love couples. They forget that is also the land that celebrates the open love of Radha and Krishna. India actually has an ancient manual called the Kama Sutra. Conservatives who feel rather strongly that India’s moral traditions are now threatened by indecent, western-inspired depravity need to visit the holy temples of Khajuraho — that are as much a part of our tradition that Manu is.