Triveni Journal

1927 | 11,233,916 words

Triveni is a journal dedicated to ancient Indian culture, history, philosophy, art, spirituality, music and all sorts of literature. Triveni was founded at Madras in 1927 and since that time various authors have donated their creativity in the form of articles, covering many aspects of public life....

‘The Triple Stream’

K. Ramakotiswara Rau

TRIVENI’ HAS SHED LIGHT ON MY PATH.
BLESSED BE HER NAME!        

‘THE TRIPLE STREAM’ 1

Re-drawing the Map

After the integration of the princely States, achieved through the determined will of Sardar Patel, the next logical step was to re-draw the map of India in accordance with certain well-defined principles, keeping in view, however, the superior and over-riding claims of the Indian Union. India is one, and a common citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution. Regional loyalties are valid, and even helpful, only so long as they do not conflict with the primary allegiance to the Union. Any re-organisation of States by way of re-grouping them or re-adjusting their present boundaries, must be justified on the ground that the resultant units of the Indian Union are homogeneous and well-knit, and that the people of each region are satisfied that their legitimate claims as citizens of Free India have received sympathetic consideration. From this point of view, the three distinguished publicists constituting the S. R. Commission have fulfilled their task with remarkable skill, balancing regional and national interests, and never for a moment allowing their vision of a united and progressive India to be dimmed.

Since the publication of the Report three weeks ago, criticism of certain recommendations of the Commission, particularly with regard to the States of Bombay, Visalandhra and the Punjab, has been very vocal and insistent. In addition, nearly every State has reiterated its claims to certain areas bordering on it. But in all this outpouring of regional emotionalism neither the sincerity of the Commission’s approach to the problems of re-organisation, nor its fundamental sobriety of outlook, has been seriously challenged. No State is completely satisfied, but each recognises that an effort has been made to understand its point of view.

Judging from the trend of discussions at the all-India and State levels, the recommendations are likely to be implemented almost in their entirety. Possibly Maharashtra and Gujarat will emerge as separate States, with Bombay City as a distinct unit. Possibly, too, the formation of Visalandhra may be expedited on account of the cogent reasoning of Sri B. Ramakrishna Rao, the Chief Minister of Hyderabad. A few adjustments of inter-State boundaries as between Madras and Andhra, and Andhra and Mysore, may be effected by mutual consent. The Working Committee of the Congress and the Chief Ministers’ Conference at Delhi have prepared the way for friendly consultations on various aspects of the Report. The month of November will witness a rapid harmonising of the viewpoints of the various interests involved, and after the State Legislatures have expressed their opinion, legislation on agreed lines will be undertaken by Parliament early next year.

The members of the Commission recognise that language is an important factor when a scheme of re-organisation is discussed, but they have given due weight to other factors like administrative convenience and financial viability. In many instances where a change was demanded, they preferred to maintain the status quo. While they admit that the national fight for freedom, especially after 1920, gained in vigour and intensity by the re-grouping of Congress circles on the basis of language, they are definitely of the view that over-emphasis on linguistic affinity and the emergence of linguistic warfare in several border-areas, are unhealthy tendencies, Measures should therefore be devised to combat these evils, and to strengthen the forces that make for harmony and goodwill.

Among the major decisions of the Commission are those relating to the disintegration of Hyderabad and the abolition of the institution of Rajpramukhs. These decisions will facilitate, the re-grading of the component units of the Union into ‘States’ (without distinction of A, B and C) and Centrally-administered ‘Territories’. Each of the present States, even the smallest like Coorg or Himachal Pradesh, would like to retain its separate statehood, for any ‘merger’ in a larger unit is believed to be harmful to local interests, and likely to prejudice the State’s future development. Vidarbha, for this reason, prefers to stand apart from Maharashtra, Telengana from Andhra, and Mysore from Karnataka. In theory, of course, there can be no objection to one language area having two different administrations. Indeed the Commission do not accept the principle of ‘one language, one State’ or the allied one of ‘linguistic home-lands’. But in actual practice, a united Maharashtra, Karnataka or Andhra will be more advantageously placed, from the point of view of economic progress or administrative efficiency. A unified control over river valley projects is an important consideration.

The denial of Seraikella to Orissa, of Berhampur to Andhra, and of Bellary to Mysore, has caused discontent in the respective States. A valued friend from Berhampur argues that, if the Commission had taken into account the majority of the Telugu-speaking population in the area actually claimed by them, and not the majority in the Ganjam District as a whole, the coastal belt ought to have been included in Andhra. Similar complaints haw been voiced from several other States. But the feeling is gradually taking shape that any agitation to redress such grievances ought to be of a peaceful nature and, further, that when the Government of India have taken a decision, all controversies must be set at rest. What is heartening in the Commission’s attitude is their awareness of the problem of linguistic minorities, and the steps they envisage for the safeguarding of the rights of such minorities all over India. Statutory recognition is to be accorded to such rights, and the administrative arrangements suggested are to be implemented under the supervision of the State Governor acting under the authority of the Central Government. This is in effect a Charter of Rights for linguistic minorities in every State, and particularly in the bilingual border areas like Bellary and Berhampur. But it is important to remember that the rapid growth of the sentiment of a common nationhood is the surest remedy for the evils born of linguistic fanaticism. When the new States settle down and apply themselves to the great tasks that await them, the antagonism of the recent past will be remembered as an ugly dream that has dissolved. While the politicians and the champions of vested interests wrangle about the boundaries of States, it is up to the poets and artists of the different regions of India to function as the unofficial ambassadors of goodwill and weave the fabric of a New India, worthy of Gandhi and Nehru, Tagore and Aurobindo.

The Kalakshetra

Among the dreamers who are weaving the fabric of New India is Sri Rukmini Devi, Founder of the Kalakshetra of Adyar. Twenty years ago, she invited a few friends, including Sri P. V. Rajamannar, Sri K. Chandrasekharan, the late R. Krishnamurti (‘Kalki’) and myself, to join a new organisation styled “The International Academy of Arts.” This was to be an Art-Centre devoted to the renaissance of classical Indian music and dance. From small beginnings, the Academy developed into the present Kalakshetra. Eminent musicians and composers, masters of the Kathakali and Bharata Natya, and students of Art fromall over India, were attracted to Adyar and they helped to shape the Kalakshetra, under the guidance of the gifted Founder. In an open-air theatre situated in sylvan surroundings, and with the aid of a stage-technique of great beauty and simplicity, Sri Rukmini Devi produced a series of dance-dramas of surpassing charm–The Light of Asia, Bhishma, Kutrala Kuravanji and Kumarasambhava. All these were welcomed by art-lovers as expressions of “the splendour that was Ind.” They established the reputation of the Kalakshetra as a living embodiment of all that is noble and elevating in Indian Art.

But Sri Rukmini Devi’s greatest ambition was to produce the Ramayana in a sequence of three dance-dramas, with the help of the famous composer Sri Vasudevacharya of Mysore who set the slokas of Valmiki to music. Sita Swayamvaram, the first of the series, was presented to a very distinguished audience in the Museum Theatre of Madras on the 26th of October.

That was an unforgettable evening. For over two hours, the rasikas of Madras were transported to the ancient Indian cities of Ayodhya and Mithila, as they watched the young Princes, Rama and Lakshmana, who accompanied the Sage Viswamitra protected his sacrifice, redeemed Ahalya, and entered the palace of Janaka. The wedding of Rama and Sita was the crowning glory of the performance. Music, costume, dance, were all of the best, and one felt grateful to the Kalakshetra for the unmixed delight afforded on an auspicious day like Vijayadasami.

‘A Pearl from Tamraparni’

Under this title Sri K. V. Ramachandran writes in the present number of Triveni about the life and achievement of the late V. Narayanan. Triveni owes a great deal to both Ramachandran and Narayanan. They contributed exceedingly valuable articles on Indian art and literature in the early years, before the Journal migrated to Bangalore. I remember it was Narayanan who introduced me to Ramachandran in the latter’s medical store in Luz Church Road, Mylapore. Narayanan had written about ‘The Gods of the Tamils’ to the inaugural number of the Journal in December 1927 and followed it up with others on Kalidasa, Valmiki, and the Sangam Age in Tamil Literature. He was also present, along with K. S. Venkataramani, T. G. Aravamuthan, V. S. Venkataraman (now President of the Burma Indian Congress) and Khasa Subba Rau, when the inaugural number was published at a special function. But our friendship had begun, much earlier, when we studied Law in the Madras Law College. Narayanan was vitally interested in Triveni, and always on the look-out for fresh contributors. So, when he brought me and Ramachandran together, he insisted on the latter writing something. I then wondered how Ramachandran, a ‘vendor of medicines’, could do anything for Triveni by way of literary contributions. But his ‘Dance Traditions of South India’, ‘Frescoes from Kerala’ and ‘Our Sahitya Parishats’ were among the finest things published in Triveni. For choice of diction and for mastery of the technical details of the subject, Ramachandran had hardly a peer. Then came his ‘Silpa Sree’ a short-lived but wonderfully edited art journal in Tamil.

As I glanced through the type-script of Ramachandran’s tribute to Narayanan, many old memories, sweet as well as poignant, were awakened. Luz Church Road in Mylapore and Basavangudi in Bangalore are the two spots that Triveni holds most dear. Here were gathered the friends who sheltered the infant Journal during long years of travail and enabled it to fulfill its function as the exponent of the Indian Renaissance in Art and Letters.

Venkataramani and Narayanan are no more. As writers and thinkers they take high rank. They and their compeers of that generation were idealists to whom material success was of small account. Theirs was the joy that comes to all devoted servants of the Muses–the joy of creative endeavor.

Ramachandran, in his article, feels sad at the thought that Narayanan did not win due recognition for his scholarship. But he will always dwell in the memory of a select circle of friends who knew his worth, and learnt to love him for his many excellences. Between him and me there was the bond of comradeship. We strove, in different ways, to interest the public in the things of the mind and the spirit. But I always realised how much more learned and versatile he was. Among the blessings Triveni brought me, not the least precious is the memory of the love that Narayanan bore me.

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