'The Triple Stream'

...he that laboureth right for love of Me
Shall finally attain! But if in this
Thy faint heart fails, bring Me thy failure!

-The Song Celestial

‘The Triple Stream’

THE NEW ‘TRIVENI’

The last volume of Triveni was commenced under happy auspices, but like an ugly sum in arithmetic it went wrong somewhere. Even as the impatient schoolboy rubs it out and starts working a fresh sum, the Editor abandons the sixth volume half-way and begins the seventh.

The cover design for the new year is the handiwork of Adivi Bapiraju, the gifted Andhra poet and painter. When Triveni was born in 1928, Bapiraju designed the first cover and acted as Associate Editor for a time. After six years, this dear friend once again stamps Triveni with his genius. He calls up a vision of the Triveni of our dreams, the goddess of the flowing dark tresses, floral crowned and decorated with the makara (crocodile), the kurma (tortoise) and the padma (lotus). These three are the vahanas (vehicles) of the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, the three streams which symbolize the power, the love, and the wisdom of the Triveni.

The frontispiece is a reproduction in colours of Ananda Mohan’s painting in Moghul style, ‘The Supreme Offering’. It depicts the famous episode of the Emperor Babar offering his life, in order that his dearly loved son Humayun may be snatched from Death. Like the old court painters of Agra and Delhi, Ananda Mohan works out the minutest details with infinite care, and produces a picture of exquisite beauty and grace.

Triveni starts again on its course. Being an incurable optimist, the Editor hopes it will nevermore lose its way.

THE GREATEST INDIANS

Mr. K. Iswara Dutt indulges in the ‘pleasant pastime’ of naming the eleven greatest living Indians. His list is almost ideal, and likely to meet with the approval of thinking men everywhere. But which amongst us is without personal preferences? For instance, the Editor would not deem any list satisfactory if it left out Sri Aurobindo and Sri J. Krishnamurti, who have not only ‘affected the mind of their generation’ but promise to change the trend of human thought and aspiration for ages yet unborn. When Time takes its revenges, these two may be remembered and their names cherished, along with that of Gandhiji, as the three greatest Indians of the twentieth century. Mr. Iswara Dutt’s list would improve vastly by their inclusion, even at the risk of omitting two out of the three votaries of science. Similarly the great art movement of today in India owes its inception and its success to Doctors Ananda Coomaraswamy and Abanindranath Tagore. The name of one of the politicians may give place to that of either of these interpreters of Indian art.

These are suggestions offered in a spirit of friendliness and not meant to detract from the value of Mr. Dutt’s roll of illustrious Indians, every one of whom is entitled to our respectful homage. Mr. Dutt’s is a closely reasoned and sprightly essay; it ought to bring as much pleasure to the readers of Triveni as it did to the Editor himself. Modern India is rich in its great men and women, and we can never have too many of them.

THE CONGRESS

With the virtual withdrawal of civil disobedience as a weapon for the winning of Swaraj, and the decision to contest the elections to the Assembly, the Congress becomes a constitutional body functioning under normal conditions. The Government, on their side, have raised the ban on all Congress organisations, and Congressmen are therefore busy setting their house in order and taking up the threads that were snapped during the first week of January 1932. To all outward appearance, the Congress has suffered a reverse.

The position seems to be very much like what it was at the Amritsar session of the Congress in December 1919. The White Paper replaces the Montford Reforms of that day. Only a thin line then separated the Liberals and the Nationalists, which became a wide gulf when the former allied themselves with Montagu to form provincial ministries and the latter boycotted the legislatures. Today too, the difference between the Congressman and the non-Congress nationalist is mainly one of temperament. For there is no talk of wrecking the legislatures or of consistent and continuous obstruction. Opposition to the White Paper and the demand for the repeal of repressive laws are negative items, and not enough to mark the Congress off from the other parties. As the months pass, however, differences in outlook are bound to be emphasised between those that sacrificed their all in order to engage in a perilous fight with the Government, and the rest who quietly walked into the legislatures and the cabinets while that fight was at its grimmest. Despite occasional set-s, the Congress is the one political body with a nation-wide following. A well-disciplined phalanx of selfless workers can offer battle on the only front that seems available, and compel the Government to respect the wishes of a Constituent Assembly. Communal and parochial interests may seek to cloud the issue, but the Congress retains the nation’s love as well as the right to speak on the nation’s behalf.

BUILDING FROM WITHIN

There are thousands of Congress workers in every province who are unable to enthuse themselves over the councils. They are in sympathy with the Congress, and may help it in the coming elections. But council work as such has no appeal for them. They feel that the reasons for which the Congress boycotted the legislatures in 1920 are still valid. These Congressmen formed the bulk of the ‘no-changers’ of 1924. Once the elections are over, they would like to devote their entire energy to those nation-building activities that have all along constituted their first love. Work in the councils can absorb but a fraction of the time and attention of the Congress. The huge task of harnessing the enthusiasm of youth and the wisdom of advancing years to constructive ends will naturally fall to the Congress.

But alongside of such tangible outer activity, there must be a process of building from within for every Congress worker. For over a decade, the flower of the nation have given up wealth, comfort, and careers. During a period of stress and misfortune, even intellectual nourishment has been eschewed as a luxury fit only for more peaceful times. A whole generation of young men and women has denied itself the culture that sustains and uplifts. While their emotions have been enriched, their intellect has been starved. We believe it was this aspect of the nation’s struggle that Dr. Hardiker had in view when he pleaded for an opportunity for quiet study and recuperation. Art and literature, history and philosophy are the most prized possessions of a race, and continued neglect of them will lead to impoverishment of the spirit. Institutions like the Kashi Vidyapith, the Gujarat Vidyapith, and the Andhra Jatheeya Kalasala ought to address themselves to this supreme duty of giving the workers a chance to come into direct contact with the springs of national culture. After a period of study and meditation, they may go forth to re-organise the countless villages in the land as efficient units of a Swaraj India.

NORTH AND SOUTH

The Hindi pracharaks of South India had a very eventful tour in the North. Everywhere, they were welcomed most warmly. Ruling Princes like H. H. The Maharaja Gaekwad, and learned bodies like the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, praised their work as a valuable contribution to a closer association between North and South. His Highness, in particular, signified his desire to have the best literature in the South Indian languages translated into Hindi. At Santiniketan, the Poet admitted that Hindi had the largest claims to become the national language of India. But he emphasised the need for a more intensive cultivation of the different provincial literatures. The best work could be done only through the mother-tongue of a writer, and therefore literary men all over India should employ that medium. According to him, it is the duty of scholars in Hindi provinces to enrich their literature by translating the masterpieces in the other Indian languages. The Poet’s view ought to receive the widest attention.

Another batch of South Indians left Madras early in July, not to tour North India, but to settle down at important centres of Hindi learning and study Hindi in its purest form for some years. As a complement to this process of emigration from the South, groups of students from the Hindi-speaking provinces should similarly settle down at Bangalore, Madura, or Masulipatam to make a study of the South Indian languages. A decade of such cultural contact will break down the barriers of language and promote a keener appreciation of the literature of each province.

THE ‘RAMAMYANA’

The epic of Valmiki is not merely the earliest poem in classical Sanskrit: after the lapse of over twenty centuries, it continues to be nearest the heart of every devout Hindu. As the story of Rama, the hero-prince through whom God fulfilled himself, and of Sita, his long-suffering consort, the Ramayana is the joy and the solace of millions. For many men and women in India, the reading of a few sargas of the Ramayana is almost the first item of the day’s programme, for it is great literature as well as great scripture.

There are many and conflicting texts of the epic. Mr. R. Narayanaswami Iyer, the learned and pious proprietor of the Madras Law Journal press, has brought out a magnificent edition at an incredibly cheap price (Rupees Four). With the aid of a band of distinguished South Indian scholars headed by Mahamahopadhyaya Prof. S. Kuppuswami Sastriar, innumerable copies of the epic, including old palm-leaf manuscripts, have been collated. The best reading is incorporated in the text, and alternative readings are given in the footnotes. Textual criticism, indices, and all the ‘scaffolding’ of scholarship add to the value of this edition. Mr. K. Ram Mohan Sastri has painted some of the striking incidents. His unusual mastery of technique and sense of colour values make the pictures dreams of beauty. ‘The Passing of Dasaratha’, ‘Bharata worshipping the Sandals’, and ‘Agni (the God of Fire) restoring Sita to her Lord’ are of outstanding merit. The frontispiece, ‘The coronation of Sri Rama’, is somehow disappointing.

We commend this edition of the epic for the acceptance of lovers of Indian culture.