'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’ ^l

‘THE VEENA PLAYER’

In connection with the visit of Rabindranath Tagore to Madras in October 1934, a Santiniketan Arts and Crafts Exhibition was held at Congress House. Among the pictures that won the admiration of several art-lovers was a line-drawing by Sjt. Nandalal Bose entitled ‘The Veena Player.’ On a ground of light yellow silk, the artist displayed his well-known mastery over line and curve, and created a form of entrancing loveliness. It is usual to speak of the prominence of line in Indian painting, but here was something that revealed the endless possibilities of artistic creation in mere outline, without light and shade or the play of colours. As the gifted creator of this thing of beauty was present in person at the Exhibition, the Editor approached him with a request to permit him to reproduce the picture in Triveni. This provided an occasion to renew the acquaintance formed years ago at Santiniketan. The permission was readily given, and we are privileged to include the picture in the present number. It is infinitely more uplifting to adorn a room with one or two pictures like ‘The Veena Player’ than to crowd it with cheap and tawdry prints, including the calendars that seem to be the last word in ugliness. We offer our grateful thanks to Sjt. Nandalal Bose on behalf of Triveni. A word of praise is rightly due to the Indian Photo-Engraving Company, Calcutta, for the excellent manner in which they have reproduced the picture.

THE ‘TRIVENI’ TRUST

‘Once again, the begging bowl’ –such, inevitably, will be the feeling of most readers of Triveni after a perusal of the Appeal issued by Sir S. Radhakrishnan and other distinguished friends of the journal. A word of explanation is therefore necessary.

The position of Triveni is not so bad now as it was two or three years ago. There are enough subscribers and advertisers to enable it to pay its way. But some subscribers fall into arrears, and every year there is a deficit of about a thousand rupees. If we could, within a single year, enlist three hundred fresh subscribers, there would be no deficit. Subscribers, however, do not come in hundreds; they come in two’s and three’s. Further, it is our experience that as new subscribers are added, some old subscribers drop out. And so, from year to year, the utmost we have been able to do is to maintain our list at a steady level. With greater resources, the journal could be improved considerably on its literary side, and published with regularity. It would then attract wider attention and support. It might even become a Monthly. The financing of the journal has all along remained a grave problem, for, while Triveni is not exactly starved, it is certainly underfed.

All this formed the subject-matter of a conversation between two valued friends of the Editor as they traveled from Waltair to Madras. Between them they evolved the idea of a, Trust Fund, and communicated the news to the Editor the moment they reached Madras. It was good news,–almost too good to be true. Sir S. Radhakrishnan, who is on the Advisory Board, approved of the scheme; he only wondered if there were enough honorary workers to go about the country and collect funds. But there is a great deal of sympathy, and even intense affection for Triveni; there are several subscribers who cannot afford to pay a life-subscription of Rs. 100, but would yet like to render some help in addition to the payment of the annual subscription; there are life-subscribers who may be willing to pay what will last for five or six lives! Then again, there are groups of friends everywhere, with plenty of energy and influence, who would be only too glad to work for a cultural enterprise like Triveni. It is true that the work has to be spread out in many provinces and over many months. But the begging bowl must be burnished and kept ready for the inflow of the streams of silver and gold and cheques that the signatories to the Appeal ask for. Till the Trust is legally constituted, Mr. K. Chandrasekharan will be in charge of the bowl. This is an opportunity not merely to relieve the Editor from financial worries but to give permanence to the journal and make of it a great national institution. As years go by, the Trust may be the means of lighting up with hope the hearts of poets, artists and scholars, struggling for recognition and reward. So then, we have done our duty by offering this explanation. It now remains for you to do yours.

GOKAK ON BENDRE

The uniqueness of Triveni, we must confess with regret, is that it not only does not pay its contributors for their articles but actually collects subscriptions, including life-subscriptions, from many of them. From his undergraduate days young Gokak has belonged to this generous band. After taking the M. A. with distinction, he blossomed into a Professor of the College which counted Tilak and Gokhale among its illustrious roll of teachers. His position as a poet and writer in Kannada may be judged from the fact that, last year, he was invited to preside over the Poets’ Conference at Raichur. It is rare to find among the younger litterateurs of India a first rate English scholar like Prof. Gokak who is prepared to devote his talents to an interpretation and critical appreciation of the literary treasures in his mother-tongue. In our view, this work is vastly more important than original literary production in English. In every linguistic unit of India, great literature is being produced. The only way to bring this to the notice of people in other provinces, and in other countries, is to write about it in English and, whenever practicable, to give good renderings which preserve the spirit aad atmosphere of the originals. With this conviction, we have always set great store by articles interpreting the vernacular literatures of India and translations of stories and poems. It somehow happens that gifted persons with a turn for English writing fail to see eye to eye with us and insist on sending to us their own original productions. Though we have occasionally given them publication, our heart has ever been in the other kind of writing,–the evaluation of modern Indian literature.

Gokak pays an affectionate tribute to Bendre, as man and as poet. If anything, he has erred on the side of understatement. For, though we are innocent of Kannada, we have it on the authority of one of the foremost literary men of Karnataka that Bendre’s poetry is much more than ‘a great promise,’ that the fulfillment is also great, that his work is worthy to rank with the best in any modern language, Indian or foreign. A careful reading of Gokak’s article confirms this verdict.

l 12th May, 1935