‘The Triple Stream’

BY THE ASSOSIATE EDITOR

The Fourth Progressive Writers’ Conference met in Bombay between 22nd and 26th May. It was a Conference of ardent spirits who desire to make Literature not the pastime of a coterie but a dynamic instrument to right social and political wrongs. A Progressive Writer was defined as ‘one who had broken away or was trying to break away from the tradition of romanticist, purposeless writing.’ Many of the leading figures in the Conference are, or were, members of the Communist Party to whom literary work is a means to definite ends–the creation of literature ‘to fortify the will and morale of the people’. While the propagandist outlook of the ‘Progressive Writers’ is fully patent, there is no reason for those engaged in the creation of ‘pure literature’ to look upon the efforts of this dynamic group with a feeling of disdain. It may be that the crusading spirit and the knight-errantry implicit in the movement may throw up a few Don Quixotes, and some of the creations may be no more than journalism or polemic. It cannot be denied, however, that the main spirit of the writing of Progressive Writers is bound to act as a leaven, and serve to mirror the struggles and the aspirations of a world-weary with exploitation of various kinds. The Conference is an unmistakable sign of the times.

The Bombay Conference was attended by representatives of different language areas, and a noteworthy feature of the Conference was that it had sectional Presidents for the different linguistic groups present on the occasion. As the Conference had as its main motive the hitching of literature to the mass mind, the articulation of the needs and aspirations of common people, prominence was properly given to contemporary efforts in Indian languages.

The Indian People’s Theatre Association Conference was also held, and plays were staged in Marathi, English, Bengali and Hindustani. It is interesting to note that there was a "Festival of National Cultures." ‘Chronicler,’ writing in the Bombay Chronicle, describes the event in the following words:

"The Festival of National Cultures" may be described as the longest and perhaps the biggest variety revue ever staged in India. It lasted seven hours–from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.–and the total number of men and women and children who took part in it must have been over two hundred.

The producer–we mean P. C. Joshi–may well be proud of the distinctive achievement. The programme consisted of songs, choruses, ballads, dances, and dance dramas. The technique, in each case, was indigenous–ranging from the sing-song chorus of the fakirs of Eastern Bengal to the ‘Burra Katha’ and the ‘Medicine-man’ of Andhra and the gorgeous ‘Ottam Thullal’, the temple dance of Kerala.

The Communists, with characteristic thoroughness, have ‘confiscated’ all these popular art forms and changed their content. They have summoned the aid of the people’s culture to influence the people. For the themes are all political histrionics strung together on the "party line"! People’s War, Congress-League Unity, Release the Leaders, Food Shortage, Soviet Union, Stalin. And however much one may disagree with the Communists’ "party line"–as this writer does–one can have nothing but admiration for their efforts to revive traditional art forms of the people and use them for rousing the masses to action. The immediate objective may be political, but in the long run it must produce a much-needed renaissance of people’s art and people’s culture.

LITERATURE WITH A PURPOSE

"Breaking away from the tradition of romanticist and purposeless writing", which is said to be the distinguishing feature of a Progressive Writer, is an obvious protest against those who indulge in the theory of "art for art’s sake’, the self-complacent spinners and weavers of words supremely satisfied with giving expression to their own fancies, the professional and erudite litterateurs wedded to banal conventions and stereo-typed and inane embellishments of writing and the insincere effusions of obsucurantists and reactionaries, Hoary traditions and conventions in writing probably sit more heavily on the Indian languages, than they do elsewhere. But breaking away from "romanticist and purposeless" writing should not result in crudity and vulgarity. It has been said that the movement for freedom of worship in the West has tended to freedom from worship. Likewise it would be a calamity if freedom of literary expression should end in freedom from literary elegance. In one sense, there cannot be "purposeless" writing, strictly so-called. For, if nothing else, the writing has served the purpose of giving pleasure to the author and his friends. The progressive outlook is not the monopoly of the modern age. Great literary geniuses in every country who may be dubbed ‘romanticist’–and therefore discredited today–tried to rise above the limitations of their own age and looked farther than their contemporaries. The spirit of freedom and of revolt against tyranny is inherent in human nature, and the writing of many an old writer is imbued with it, however inadequate its expression may be by modern standards. There are permanent values in life and literature, above the merely topical, the fleeting and the pressing contemporary ‘causes’ and ‘problems’ dealt with by ‘modernist’ writers. And these values have been embodied in the literary heritage from the past, which no one who cares for literature as the noblest expression of human thought and feeling may afford to ignore by labeling particular specimens of it as "purposeless." There is an enduring and a universal element in all great literature, both in its content and manner of expression, which nourishes even if it does not act as a stimulant not lead to immediate action.

It is interesting to note, in this connection, how the practical-minded thinkers of modern times have summarised the value of Literature. We take the following from Pandit Amarnath Jha’s learned paper on "The Ideals of Literature":

A recent book, entitled Literature as Exploration, published by the Progressive Education Society for the Commission on Human Relations, sums up the operations of Literature as: (1) The Experience of Literature helps to develop the kind of imagination most needed in a democracy –the ability to understand the personality and needs of others and to envisage the possible effect of our own actions upon the lives of others. (2) Literature acts also as one of the social agencies through which the culturally accepted images of behaviour, the constellations of emotional attitudes clustering about different relationships, and the culturally accepted social and moral standards, are transmitted. (3) In our heterogeneous democratic society, literature can enlighten the adolescent concerning the wide diversity of possible ways of life, possible patterns of relationship, and possible social and moral philosophies, from which he is free to choose. (4) Literature may also thus offer him a means of carrying on imaginatively some of the trial-and-error eliminations of patterns of behaviour necessary for a sound choice. (5) Literary experiences may help the reader to his own personality and problems objectively, and thus to understand and manage them better, (6) Through contact with the diversity of personalities and the varied experiences of his fellow men expressed in literature, the adolescent reader may also be freed from the neurotic fears and the obsessions of guilt that often accompany the feeling that somehow he is unique and queer. (7) Literature may also suggest socially accepted channels of expression for emotional drives that might otherwise take an anti-social form.

THE ACADEMY IDEA:

Our note in the Sept-Dec. issue of 1942 on the Indian Academy of Arts and Letters was not intended to belittle the efforts of those who are enthusiastically engaged in educating public opinion in regard to the need for an All-India Academy. ‘TRIVENI’ was probably among the first Indian Journals to publish articles and discussions on the subject as early as 1933. No Indian who is proud of the past culture of India, and interested in the present Indian awakening that one sees in all Indian languages can be unsympathetic to the idea of such an Academy. And the TRIVENI claiming, as it does, to be the Journal of Indian Renaissance is keenly interested in such a proposal.

With regard to the functions of such an Academy, who should, sponsor it, and when it may be fruitfully worked up, there is naturally divergence of opinion.

Meanwhile, Sri. D. Visweswara Rao of Andhra, who has taken upon himself the onerous task of interesting people in the subject, has plied us with several letters on the subject. He has sent us a note detailing the history of the ‘movement’ since Prof. J. H. Cousins first broached the subject over 20 years ago through circular letters and a questionnaire. After recounting the names of persons, periodicals and learned bodies that have supported the idea, the writer concludes with the following fervent appeal:

The Academy visualized by Prof. Cousins is the desideratum of every civilized nation in the world. Hence, the necessity for such an institution cannot be over-emphasized. Judging from the literary output of South India alone, such a "Supreme Intellectual Tribunal" is necessary to give impetus to the struggling poets and artists of that area, who are really famished for want of recognition and funds. Further, the intellectual achievement of each province should be made known to the other provinces. An All-India Body serves to encourage co-ordination between the different departments of study and creative activity. While making endeavours for the fructification of this ideal we should also try to requisition sufficient creative output which alone can win laurels in the Republic of Letters. Both of these efforts should run in mellifluous union like two rhymed lines. If India is to take her rightful place in the Commonwealth of Nations she must be able to have at her command a great means of artistic expression which will show the very glory of her soul to the world. The P.E.N. centre at Bombay has been working for some of the objects mentioned above for the last nine years and their success in this direction can best be utilized as spadework for any future Indian Academy; it is after all an Indian branch of an International Organization of Writers and hence its scope is limited. An Academy of Arts and Letters, established and run by Indians alone, can satisfy the need of the times and no cotorie of writers or nucleus of a cultural organization can even temporarily usurp the place and functions of an august body like The Indian Academy. A great deal of preliminary spadework should be carried out and the considered views of the best intellects all over the country must be sought on the several aspects of the whole problem. Hence, I invite the attention of the great literary men, artists, scholars, thinkers and lovers of Indian Culture to pay whole-hearted attention to this movement, on the success of which depends the cultural integrity of our Country."

We have given above the appeal which is the material portion of the communication received by us, without any alteration. The writer is a sincere enthusiast: but the creation of an august body like an Academy is not a matter that can be hustled. The plea made above suffers from some amount of loose thinking and is not happily worded. What are the Arts, for instance, to be included within the province of the future Academy besides Literature, and how? Again, how can any Academy ‘requisition sufficient creative output?’ The reference to the Indian P.E.N. is ungracious, to put it very mildly. We are not aware that any organisation, least of all the Indian P.E.N., is trying to usurp the place and functions of the Indian Academy. We owe it to the organizing ability and the fine idealism of Madame Sophia Wadia that we have a fair amount of dissemination of knowledge of what is happening today in the Indian languages through the pages of the monthly Indian P.E.N. Magazine, for which those who are interested in the modern awakening in the Indian Literatures cannot be sufficiently grateful.

We feel (1) that the task of discovering and rewarding literary end artistic talent would more properly fall within the purview of provincial bodies, because every language area is sufficiently large, and centralisation of effort in this matter for a vast country like India is not feasible nor likely to give satisfaction; (2) that the present time is no quite propitious with its overwhelming anxieties, depression of spirit, and hopelessly divided counsels in political and other matters, what has been called ‘spadework’ would have to consist of getting leading intellectual in the country to get interested in the matter, and persuading them to formulate proposals when the time is ripe. Till then all efforts may be devoted to the development of regional Academies for every language area and exploring means of promoting inter-provincial understanding and appreciation in cultural matters.

TEMPLE FESTIVALS

The big Temples, for which South India is justly famous, are not merely places of worship; they are active community centres. They do not at present, of course, fulfil the various needs of the community as centres of learning, as Assembly Halls, as Dispensaries, as Art Institutions etc. that they once used to do in the olden days. But even in the modern day they have helped to preserve, if only as a matter of form, some of the valuable traditions of Indian music and dance which form integral parts of Temple ritual. Thus, when a few decades ago, there was an anti-nautch movement and the puritanical fervour of some reformers took the form of a crusade against nautch parties and threatened to extinguish dance traditions in the country, these found an asylum in the temples, and the traditions survived. The annual festival or fair, or jatra celebrated in practically all the temples, are occasions when the people of the locality and neighbouring regions have entertainment and recreation, buy and sell articles, and forgot for a time the tedium of their humdrum lives. Foreign travelers have sometimes written about the commercial and trading instincts of the Indian people to utilise these religious fairs to great economic advantage.

It is true that at present we are passing through days of economic depression and there is little incentive to indulge in festivities of the land. But it is for this very reason that occasions of public recreation are needed more than ever, so that the drabness of life which it is the common lot of thousands suffer, may be relieved to some extent on these rare occasions.

In recent times, owing to reasons of public health and apprehending the outbreak of epidemics etc., one hears of many temple festivals being banned or abandoned. Public health is a very important consideration and no one would think of demurring to a prohibition on this score. But where a temple festival is called off for other reasons, as on grounds of economy or because the money spent needs to be diverted to more urgent causes, one has to plead that it would be taking a very narrow view of public economy. The expenditure on account of a temple festival brings no return which can be measured in concrete terms, though even here the promotion of trade and commerce, stimulated by large congregations of men, is no negligible factor. But it enables thousands to get wholesome respite and a little brightness and cheer so much needed these hard days. This benefit, though intangible, is none the less real and contributes to social health. One hopes that this human consideration will make its due appeal to the authorities concerned, who in a moment of zeal for cutting down public ‘waste’ of money are prone to order the cancellation of Temple Festivals.