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....

Editor of a Great Tradition

V. V. Ramana Murti

V. V. RAMANA MURTI
University of Rajasthan

In our national struggle, many a notable journal was found to enlist its support to the cause of freedom. And numerous writers and editors of distinction used their ‘pen’ effectively for promoting patriotic fervour among the people. In this galaxy of memorable journals, Triveni, however, remained an altogether different journal, ever since its inception nearly four decades ago. This singular achievement was undoubtedly due to the rare qualities of its founder editor, K. Ramakotiswara Rau.

He was an ardent nationalist, and his journal was no less devoted to the achievement of Indian independence. But the distinction of Triveni consisted in the notable fact that it was not exclusively confined to the political question only, however over-whelming it might have been in the prevailing circumstances. While championing the Indian nationalist claim, the columns of Triveni were equally concerned with the problems of art, music, literature and philosophy. Triveni has rightly come to be known as pre-eminently the Journal of Indian Renaissance.

The cause of Renaissance meant an infinitely arduous task in the pre-independence era of India when there were no Akademis of any kind to extend State patronage of arts. And the literary excellence of several regional languages, as they developed in the Indian nationalist movement, had to discover and spread across this multilingual country. Like Ramananda Chatterji’s The Modern Review, Ramakotiswara Rau’s Triveni played a memorable part in the cultural exchange of different linguistic media, especially, in South India. The original contributions of many outstanding authors used to be rendered into English, and published in Triveni. It thus became a very effective literary forum of India even before independence.

This richness of the journal has been the characteristic quality of Triveni. Its previous numbers are an unmistakable proof of its infinite variety. The pages of Triveni are invariably filled with diverse themes. Whether it was the message of Theosophy, or the role of the Indian theatre, poetry by J. Krishnamurti or the discussion of Tyagaraja’s musical lore, the paintings of D. Rama Rao or the sculpture of South Indian temples–they all found an honoured place in Triveni under the editorship of Ramakotiswara Rau. Even to-day, an occasional reading of the old volumes of Triveni will be highly educative, while a republication of some of its previous numbers or some select articles will be definitely rewarding. In this respect, Triveni reminds us of F. R. Leavis’s Scrutiny which is recently republished in its entirety by Cambridge University Press.

In the hectic days of non-violent non-cooperation movement, Gandhiji once received an exceptionally warm letter from Dwijendranath Tagore, elder brother of Rabindranath Tagore. It is little known that while Gurudev Tagore had some reservations about Gandhi’s movement, Barodada, Gurudev Tagore’s elder brother, whole-heartedly approved of all the steps of the Mahatma. When Gandhiji got Barodada’s note, he immediately sent it to B. G. Horniman, the peerless editor of The Bombay Chronicle and wrote to him on April 6, 1919: “The accompanying is a great letter...the object of my writing this is...to ask you, if I may, to dip your pen in the ink of love for tomorrow’s leading article in the Chronicle.” The editor of Triveni belongs to that great tradition. And it would not be unusual if a similar thought on the culture renaissance were to be expressed in relation to Ramakotiswara Rau.

He devoted his whole life-work not merely for the political liberation of India, but for the complete realisation of the enduring values of human personality. Ramakotiswara Rau’s dedicated life is an embodiment of the age-old maxim, Satyam Sivam Sundaram. His example is all the more sustaining as the ideals he greatly cherished are now rarely to be found in the contemporary scene. Culture is the obvious casualty of the current drift of the Indian nation towards power-politics of all kinds. Our life is being encroached on all sides by the irresistible moves of the vote-catchers. In this context. K. Ramakotiswara Rau and his Triveni remain for us luminous examples of a great, humanist tradition, which is still more relevant to the contemporary crisis in India.

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