'The Triple Stream'

‘Triveni’ seeks to draw together cultured men and women in all lands and establish a fellowship of the elect. All movements that make for Idealism in India as well as elsewhere, receive particular attention in these columns. We count upon the willing and joyous co-operation of all lovers of the Beautiful and the True.

May this votive offering prove acceptable to Him who is the source of the ‘Triveni’–the Triple Stream of Love, Wisdom and power!

...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

AFTER TEN YEARS

Between December 1927 when Triveni was born, and December 1937 when she completes ten years, I have striven unceasingly to serve the cause of Indian culture. The strain has been great, but great too is the reward. Litterateurs and publicists from every Province of India, and a few from abroad, have honoured me with their friendship and helped me in diverse ways.

In moments of utter loneliness, I have wondered why I ever ventured on this long, long journey. There are many in India who, as Editors, could have made Triveni brighter and infinitely more worthy of the Indian Renaissance. But I claim I have given to Triveni of my best: I love my handiwork. Not being a creative artist but just an admirer of all that is beautiful in nature or art, I have yet endeavoured to make Triveni a vehicle for the expression of that beauty which I can sense but cannot re-create. In this endeavour, I may succeed better during the second decade than in the first. Only, I must be vouchsafed the strength to keep this frail bark afloat, for, often, I feel like dropping the oars.

From the beginning my esteemed brother. Mr. C. Jinarajadasa, has watched over Triveni. Even during his long absences from India, the journal was ever in his thoughts. To him and to Sir S. Radhakrishnan, I am more grateful than words can tell. And I have always looked up to them as living symbols of the wisdom and the serenity that is India.

THE NEW EDUCATION

The new education which Gandhiji is planning is inevitable in the new era dawning on us. To make the many millions of India literate, within ten or fifteen years from now, must remain an impossible dream, if the old, outworn methods are pursued. A strong, self-reliant nation can grow only out of a system of education which makes the pupils learn things by doing. And they must do things which bear a vital relation to their surroundings. The utilitarian view which, at first sight, appears to dominate the scheme will soon yield to the aesthetic and the ethical.

The most notable feature of the scheme is its emphasis on the mother-tongue. To recite noble prose and verse, to garner the wisdom that lies enshrined in the classics of the land, and to carry the tradition of culture from generation to generation–this, in a word, must be the prime object of all education. Next come the handicrafts which train the hand and the eye, and enable the student to create things of beauty. The new education needs teachers with vision, who will dedicate themselves, in a spirit of loving homage, to the service of the generation now at school–the generation that will realise in their lives the aspirations of the stalwarts of today.

THIS FEDERATION

As the time for the inauguration of the Indian Federation is drawing nearer, opposition to it is gathering momentum. The people of the Indian States are insistent in their demand that Responsible Government within the States must be a reality before the Rulers can accede to federation with the self-governing Provinces of India. An ill-conceived and reactionary scheme of federation like the present will necessarily delay the attainment of Swaraj. Not only the Congress but other Indian parties as well have attacked the fundamentals of the new Constitution. Opinion is almost unanimous that this Federation is "a monstrous growth."

The Federation can be prevented in two ways. The Princes may refuse to come in, on the ground that their subjects are not in favour of it; the Ministries in the Provinces may declare their hostility to the scheme and strongly advise the authorities at Delhi and Whitehall not to proceed with it in its present form. There is no sense in thrusting on India a federal structure about which no one is enthusiastic.

But autonomous Provinces and an irresponsible Government at the Centre cannot function together for long. The alternative to a federation between the States and the Provinces is a federation between the Provinces themselves in the first instance. This may lead ultimately to a full-fledged federation on terms hammered out at a conference consistng of the representatives of the Princes and of their subjects on the one hand, and the Ministers of the Provinces on the other. Till such a concordat can be achieved, the Provinces alone can federate. For this purpose, suitable amendments must be made in the Constitution after consultation with the Provincial Legislatures. Such a step will ease the present tension, and create a favourable atmosphere for the discussion of details regarding the right type of federation between the States and the Provinces.