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INDIA

Yesterday's heritage,tomorrow's hopes

5,000 years of Indian cultureby Visnwanath S. Naravane

10

Makers of modern India

by Sarvepalli Gopal

12

Close-up on Indian cinemaby Khalid Mohamed

16

A new policy for educationby Anil Bordia

23

India's lifeline

by Anees Jung

25

O

Village wisdomAn unsung resource for rural developmentby Sanjit Bunker Roy

28

The philosophical tradition

31High days and holidays

33The scientific legacy

35Project Tigerby Rahul Singh

37

The anger of the sea-goddessby Thakazhi S. Pillai

^ The Taj Mahal at Agra (see caption page 8).

Cover: New Delhi, federal capital of India.In background, the Rashtrapati Bhavan(President's House).

Back cover: this majestic standing Buddha wasproduced in the 5th century AD at Mathura (inpresent-day Uttar Pradesh). It is an outstandingexample of the art of the Gupta period(c. 320-540), which has often been called theClassical Age of India.

Two months ago the Unesco Courier devoted aspecial issue to Australia, a young nation celebratingits bicentennial. This issue is given over to a countrywhich is heir to one ofthe world's oldestcivilizations.

The second mostpopulous nation on Earth, Indiais a vast and multifarious land which encompassesdesert andfertile soil, the towering Himalayas andtropical lowlands, mighty rivers, great cities andvillages without number. Over 800 millionpeople perhaps one sixth ofhumanity speaksome 180 languages including 14 major ones.

For many readers India will evoke images ofancient customs and omnipresent religions: Hindusbathing en masse in a sacred river, ascetic holy menpraying by the roadside, caparisoned elephantsjoining in templefestivals, villages where the godsare worshipped asfamiliars. But side by side withthese timeless scenes a modern India is growing.Industrialization has made great strides in a countrywhich today manufactures her own cars and has herown steel mills, fertilizerplants, atomicpowerstations and heavy engineering industry. To sustainher economic development she has one oftheworld's largest networks ofscientists andtechnicians. Yet today, like many nations, Indiafaces difficultproblems, especially perhaps the riskthat the benefitsfrom her considerable economicachievements in industry andfoodproduction willbe spread more and more thinly because ofdemographicgrowth thepopulation is estimatedto have increased by 18 million in 1986 alone.

In thefour decades since Independence India hasmade unsparing efforts to improve living standardsand become a modern democratic nation while

preserving her linguistic, cultural and ethnic wealthand diversity. Within the limited editorial space atour disposal, this issue attempts to reflect the manyfacets ofthis situation and bring to readers a glimpseofwhat is happening in this vast and dynamicsubcontinent.

The CourierA window open on the i 42nd

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The Editors of the Unesco Courier wish to thank the Indian writer and

journalist Vaiju Mahindroo for her help in the preparation of this issue.

5,000 YEARS OFINDIAN CULTURE

BY VISHWANATH S. NARAVANE

THE development of Indian cul¬ture can be compared to theprogress of a river from its

Himalayan home, through forests andwastelands, orchards and farms, villagesand cities. The river assimilates the waters

of many tributaries, its environmentchanges, yet it remains the same. Indianculture shows a similar combination of

unity and diversity, continuity andchange. In the course of her long histo¬ry, India has witnessed many changes,made many adjustments, and assimilatedelements from many sources, withoutbreaking the continuity.

India is a land of varied landscapes andclimates, of many races, religions, lan¬guages and cultures. But they all have anunmistakably Indian flavour. The sourceof this unity is elusive. It can be felt, butit defies analysis. In his famous book, Dis¬covery ofIndia, Jawaharlal Nehru gave asensitive and fascinating account of hissearch for the unity at the root of India'samazing diversity.

The Indus Valley civilization(3000-1800 BC) shows anticipations ofideas and art-forms later regarded as typi¬cally Indian. This is clear from the ar¬tefacts yielded during excavations atHarappa and Mohenjodaro. A statue ofa man in meditation suggests the practiceof Yoga. The smooth surfaces of a maletorso in stone suggests, by its absence ofmuscular tension, the classical Indian con¬

cept of inward energy. A deity depictedon a clay seal is very similar to some laterimages of Shiva. And a little copperdancing-girl wears bangles of a kind thatcan be purchased today at a waysidebazaar in India. Recent research has

shown that the influence of this culture

The temple of Gangotri, near the source ofthe Ganges in the Himalayas, is an importantHindu centre of pilgrimage.

extended to distant regions of northernand western India, and that the Indus Val¬

ley people had close contacts with theDravidian civilization which flourished in

southern India long before the coming ofthe Aryans.

Some time between 2000 and 1600

BC, a branch of the vast Aryan family,usually referred to as Indo-Aryans,migrated to India. They brought withthem the Sanskrit language, and a religionbased on sacrificial ritual honouring dei¬ties symbolizing elemental forces of Na¬ture, such as Indra, god of rain and

thunder, Agni (Fire) and Varuna, lord ofthe seas, rivers and seasons. Hymns ad¬dressed to these and other deities were

collected in the four Vedas. The oldest of

the Vedas is the Rigveda (1500-1200 BC)in which there is a quest for the SupremeReality underlying all multiplicity. Thistrend was strengthened in the dialoguesof the Upanishads (900-600 BC). Vedicpoetry is marked by lofty ideas, literarybeauty and a movement from externalritual to inward experience.

Two religions outside the Vedic tra¬dition emerged in the sixth century BC.The Buddha's personality, and his emp.ha-sis on love, compassion and harmony,profoundly influenced Indian thoughtand culture, though Buddhism as an or¬ganized religion struck deeper roots out¬side India. Jainism, founded by Mahavira,stressed truth and non-violence, and made

significant contributions to Indian art andphilosophy.

In 326 BC, Alexander of Macedóncrossed the Indus and won a decisive bat¬

tle. Although he soon turned back, hisinvasion influenced Indian culture by in¬itiating contacts with the Graeco-Roman

world. Six years later, ChandraguptaMaurya tried to unite the scatteredkingdoms and republics of India in a cen¬tralized empire, with the capital atPataliputra (modern Patna in Bihar). Hisgrandson, Ashoka (reigned 273-237 BC),recoiling from the horrors of war, be¬came an ardent Buddhist. The message of

compassion and gentleness was inscribedon rocks and highly polished stonecolumns. The capitals surmounting thecolumns are fine pieces of sculpture.

Kings of the Shunga dynasty (185-149BC) were orthodox Hindus, but therewas a strong Buddhist revival underKanishka, the Kushan king who ruled innorth-western India (78-101 AD). The

Gandhara style of Buddhist sculpture,

üpfl*<r ,

Seal of the Indus Valley civilization, alsoknown as the Harappa culture (c. 2300 BC).The inscriptions remain undeciphered.

strongly influenced by Graeco-Romanart, developed under the Kushans.Another centre of Buddhist art was

Mathura (south of Delhi).Pataliputra again became the centre of

political and cultural activity during the

Gupta Empire (319-540 AD), which hasbeen described as the golden age ofancient Indian culture. Some of the

Gupta kings, such as Chandragupta andSkandagupta, were poets and musicians.Kalidasa, greatest among Sanskrit poets

and dramatists, lived during the reign ofChandragupta. The Buddha images ofSarnath, and the frescoes painted in thecaves of Ajanta in western India, areamong the artistic masterpieces of thisage. The decline of the Gupta Empire wasfollowed by political fragmentation. KingHarsha of Kannauj tried to stem this

process, but after his death in 648 AD in¬dependent kingdoms arose in Kashmir,Bengal, Orissa and many other regions ofsouthern as well as northern India.

Culturally, this was a very rich peri¬od. The Cholas, Pallavas and Rashtraku-

tas of south India built the superb templesat Tanjore, Mamallapuram and Ellora.The Sun Temple of Konarak in Orissaand the Shiva Temple at Khajuraho inCentral India were built in the eleventh

century. In all these temples, sculpture isan integral part of the architecture. Inliterature, Sanskrit was gradually beingreplaced by regional languages such asBengali, Marathi, Hindi and Punjabi. Inthe south, Tamil, Telugu and Kannadahad developed their literary traditions.The Vedanta philosophies of Shankara(eighth century) and Ramanuja (twelfthcentury) exerted a deep influence. There

Bronze statuette of a dancing girl from Mohenjodaro (c. 2500 BC)

was, however, a conservative trend in so¬

cial and religious life. The caste system,originally based on differences of apti¬tude, became rigid and oppressive.

The establishment of Muslim rule at

the end of the twelfth century was a turn¬ing point in India's cultural history. Aninitial period of conflict was inevitable be¬cause of the radical differences between

Hinduism and Islam. But a process of ac¬commodation soon started. Sufi mysti¬cism, philosophically close to Vedanta,was one of the meeting points. ManyMuslim kings, at Delhi and in regionalkingdoms, were patrons of Indian litera¬ture and music, and participated in Hin¬du festivals. After the foundation of the

Mughal Empire (1526 AD) the trendtowards integration was strengthened.Under the wise and tolerant rule of Ak-

bar (1556-1605) the foundation of a na¬tional culture was firmly laid. The Hinduand Muslim traditions, while retainingtheir distinct identities, influenced each

other deeply.Islamic architecture in India was at

first austere and simple. But the builders

Greek presence in India led to thedevelopment of the famous Gandhara schoolof art. This Gandhara head dates back to the

Kushan period between AD 78 and 144.

soon started adopting decorative ele¬ments, including the lotus motif, fromHindu temples. Conversely, many tem¬ples built in medieval India have Islamicfeatures, such as the dome, the arch andscreens carved of stone and marble. Indi¬

an architecture reached its apex duringthe reign of Shah Jahan (1627-1658), whobuilt such masterpieces as the PearlMosque at Agra and the Taj Mahal, "thedream in -marble".

In painting, too, there was a blend ofthe two traditions. Inspired by Bihzadand other great Persian artists, paintersat the Mughal court created a new styleof miniature painting. Combining thetechnique and subtlety of this style withthe religious and aesthetic spirit of India,painters of the Rajput School made theirown distinctive contribution.

One of the greatest geniuses ofmedieval India was Amir Khusrau: poet,musician, linguist. He invented several in¬struments played in classical Indianmusic. His poetical experiments led to theemergence of Urdu, one of the majorIndian languages. The sixteenth andseventeenth centuries were exceptional¬ly rich in devotional poetry in regionallanguages. Nanak, the founder ofSikhism, Tulsidas, whose Hindi version

of the Ramayana epic is recited and readby millions even today, Kabir, whosepoetry transcended all sectarian

differencesthese and other saint-poetspreached a universal religion based ontolerance and love.

The Mughal Empire declined rapidlyduring the first quarter of the eighteenthcentury. Meanwhile, Europeans weremaking inroads into India: the Por¬tuguese, the Dutch, the French, and final¬

ly the British who emerged victorious. Bythe end of the eighteenth century, Brit¬ish authority was firmly established. Theintroduction of English education and thework of Christian missionaries had a deepimpact on the cultural and religious lifeof India. Calcutta, the new capital, be¬came the centre of Western thought, fol¬lowed by Bombay and Madras. Someeducated Indians, in their excessive zeal

for European culture, turned away fromtheir own heritage. But a reform move¬ment, founded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy,

A torana or ceremonial gateway of the greatBuddhist stupa at Sanchi in MadhyaPradesh state.

ushered in a spiritual and cultural renais¬sance. The leaders of this movement,

known as the Brahmo Samaj, stressed the

deeper truths of Hindu and Muslim scrip¬tures, while accepting progressive ele¬ments from Western thought. Another

source of inspiration was Shri Rama-krishna (1836-1886), who regarded differ¬ent religions as paths leading to the samegoal, and his famous disciple, SwamiVivekananda (1863-1902), who is remem¬bered as India's first spiritual and cultur¬al ambassador to Europe and America.

Though politically subjugated, Indianculture retained its dynamism. In the lat¬ter half of the nineteenth century, politi¬cal, historical and social themes were

taken up by novelists and dramatists.Ghalib, the great Urdu poet, and BankimChatterji, the Bengali novelist, made richcontributions to Indian literature. Out¬

standing musicians, many of whom wereMuslims, kept alive the tradition of clas¬sical Indian music. The katbak school of

dance was developed at Lucknow and Jai¬pur. Later, there was a renaissance in In¬dian painting, initiated by Abaanin-dranath Tagore and other artists of the

Group of monolithic temples at Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu. They were hewn out of the rock inthe 7th century A.D.

Bengal School. Plays based on mytholog¬ical as well as modern subjects were stagedat Calcutta and Bombay.

Meanwhile, under the leadership ofthe Indian National Congress (founded in1885) the movement for independence

Detail from a twice-lifesize sculpture from the Sun Temple of Konarak in Orissa, built in the13th century by King Narasimha Deva.

Dancing Shiva Nataraja from Kuram. Pallavadynasty, 9th century.

was gaining strength. The sense of patri¬otism thus aroused was reflected in the

literature of that age. When MahatmaGandhi returned to India, after his heroic

struggle against racism in South Africa,a new chapter was opened in India's life.

!

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The Mahatma touched every aspect of In¬dian life, though his main concern waswith social and political issues. Some ofthe greatest writers of that periodBharati in Tamil, Premchand in Hindi,

Sharat Chatterji in BengaliexpressedGandhian ideals in their poems andnovels.

Indian culture in the twentieth centu¬

ry was dominated by the towering geniusof Rabindranath Tagore, one of thegreatest poet-philosophers in world his¬tory. Tagore left the stamp of his perso¬nality and work on every field ofcreativity: poetry, music, drama, noveland short story, even painting. He wasthe first non-Western writer to be award¬

ed the Nobel Prize for Literature. He

founded the international university,Vishwa-Bharati, and anticipated manymodern concepts in education. An entiregeneration of Indian writers and artistswas influenced by Tagore. Gandhi andTagore are rightly regarded as the mak¬ers of modern India.

Eighteenth-century miniature shows Akbar,the greatest of the Mughal dynasty of

emperors who ruled India between 1526 and1761, presenting a pearl necklace to his son

Salim. Akbar came to the throne in 1556 at

the age of 13 and ruled for 50 years,extending the empire from Kabul in the west

to Bengal in the east.

4M1

Miniature showing the emperor Shah Jahanand his wife Mumtaz Mahal in whose

memory he built the Taj Mahal, begunin 1632, a year after her death,and completed in 1647.

8

On 15 August 1947, India became anindependent nation. Thus, in JawaharlalNehru's words, India had "kept her trystwith destiny" after a century of struggle.The partition of the country on the ba¬sis of religion, the bloodshed that fol¬lowed, and then the assassination of

Mahatma Gandhi, were painful shocks.But the trauma was soon overcome and

India began building her future as a sover¬eign country taking her rightful place inthe community of nations.

Since independence, India has madesignificant progress in many areas of cul¬ture. In almost all the fourteen major lan¬guages of India (fifteen including English),creative literature of the highest order hasbeen produced. Satyajit Ray is recognizedas one of the greatest film directors in theworld. In classical music, Ravi Shankar

and Ali Akbar Khan; in painting JaminiRay and M.F. Hussain; in classical dance,

Balasarasvatithese are only a few amongthe outstanding artists who have enrichedIndian culture in recent decades.

Selectivity, assimilation and adjust¬ment have characterized Indian culture

throughout its long history. It has con¬fronted and overcome many periods ofcrisis and uncertainty. Today there arenew challenges, demanding new adjust¬ments. Ours is the age of science and tech¬nology. How to preserve whatever is ofenduring worth in the spiritual and aes¬thetic tradition that has stood the test of

fifty centuries, and how to reinterpretthat tradition in the contemporary con¬text: that is the question which thethinkers, artists and writers of India have

to deal with. Their ability to handle thistask in a balanced and imaginative man¬ner will determine the future course of

Indian culture.

VISHWANATH S. NARAVANE is a former

head of the departments of philosophy at theuniversities of Allahabad and Poona. He now

regularly lectures on Indian cultural history andphilosophy at universities in the USA. He is theauthor of a number of works on Indian cultural

history and thought, including Modern IndianThought (1979) and Munshi Premchand: His Life andWork (1982). .

PI I III I

I, K At

,_,

The Golden Temple, Amritsar, the holiest of Sikh shrines. The Sikh religion, which combineselements of Islamic and Hindu beliefs, was founded by Guru Nanak (1469-1539).

Balasaraswathi, one of the greatest exponentsof Bharata Natyam, the classical dance ofTamil Nadu which originated in ancientsouth Indian temple rituals.

MAKERS OF

MODERN INDIA BY SARVEPALLI GOPAL

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948),the architect of India's struggle forindependence through non-violentdisobedience to British rule.

MAHATMA Gandhi was the

foremost leader of the Indian

independence movement; andone of his great qualities was to secure andretain the devotion of persons of differ¬ing temperaments but all of very greatdistinction. Of these, three leading figureswere Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarvepalli Rad-hakrishnan and Maulana Abul Kalam

Azad.

Educated in Britain, Nehru was drawn

to Gandhi because he felt that while

others talked Gandhi was primarily aman of action who was making a dent onBritish rule. Nehru accepted Gandhi'smethod of non-violence, first as a useful

weapon against the British and then, af¬ter the atom bombs of 1945, as a means

without an alternative. He saw the valid¬

ity of Marx's analysis of historical changebut did not believe that such change can

only be brought about by force. The classwar could not be denied but it could be

resolved by persuasion. In the freedommovement, Nehru realized that, while

Gandhi had brought the peasants into thepolitical campaign, to retain their interestand support the Indian National Con¬gress should have an economicprogramme. In this sense he is a pioneerof modern, twentieth-century na¬tionalism.

Once Gandhi had brought other class¬es into the independence movement, itbecame Nehru's task to hold the various

classes together by taking account of thebasic economic needs of the vast majori¬

ty of the Indian people. So Nehrupromised that, when freedom had beenwon, the free government of India wouldgive priority to economic 'developmentand the promotion of social justice. Evenbefore the departure of the British, Nehrumade the Indian people conscious of theimportance of planning.

Nehru's other great contribution to

the independence movement was that hegave it an international perspective. Hesaw that fascism, militarism and imperi

alism were partners and against them wereranged popular and national movementsall over the world. So the independencemovement in India was part of a univer¬sal struggle and its allies were the peoplesfighting for freedom and dignity in Eu¬rope, Asia and Africa.

Nehru's policies as India's first primeminister from 1947 till his death in 1964

continued to be influenced by theseideals. An emphasis on civil liberties anda search for a socialist pattern of societyinspired all his efforts within India, whileabroad he followed an active policy ofsupport for anti-colonialism and anti-racism. He was particularly committed toAfrica which he regarded as India's neigh¬bour. He supported the national move¬ments in Kenya, Algeria, Ghana andNigeria and never compromised in hisresistance to apartheid. Above all he wasa supporter of the United Nations and itsagencies, sent Indian troops as part ofUnited Nations contingents to Gaza,Suez and the Congo and worked to pro¬mote total disarmament.

The contribution of Sarvepalli Rad-hakrishnan to the independence move-

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), the first primeminister of independent India

10

ment was of a different order.

Imperialism damaged the identity of theIndian people by assuming that Westerncivilization was superior. In reply Rad-hakrishnan turned to the sources and, in

his writings on Indian philosophy,showed that the thought of his peoplewas second to none in logic and rational¬ity. This enabled them to hold up theirheads. But Radhakrishnan did more. He

argued that philosophy was related to lifeand, while interpreting Indian thinkers attheir best, also called on Indians to dis¬card what was outmoded and to rid them¬

selves of obscurantism and superstition.Their long and rich tradition had been ar¬rested and required innovation and fur¬ther evolution. Truth should not be

allowed to be smothered by the dead past.

The speculative and scientific thought ofthe West should be incorporated into theIndian heritage.

Moreover, by expounding Indianthought in terms which related to theWestern tradition, Radhakrishnan made

Indian culture a part of world civilization.He, like Nehru, accepted a nationalismwhich was a brick in the structure of

internationalism and his philosophicalefforts were intended to build under¬

standing between East and West. A mem¬ber before the Second World War of the

International Committee for Intellec¬

tual Co-operation, he was active inUnesco from its foundation in 1945. He

was a member of Unesco's Executive

Board, served as its chairman, was elect¬

ed president of the General Conferencein 1952, and was associated with the

opening of Unesco's Paris Headquartersin the Place de Fontenoy in 1958. To himUnesco was, as he described it, "the

priesthood of the spirit".Radhakrishnan's main activity, after

India became free, was to help in thereconciliation of mankind on the basis of

the common ground among all thereligions of the world. He believed thata global community was emerging andthat humanity should be educated torecognize its purpose and destiny. Ap¬pointed by Nehru as India's ambassadorto the Soviet Union, Radhakrishnan

stood nearly thirty years ago for negoti¬ations and peaceful settlements betweenthe two sides in the cold war. In 1952 he

came back to India and for the next

fifteen years in Delhi, first as Vice-President for ten years and then for fiveyears as President, he gave the lead in

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1975) was ascholar and philosopher of internationalrepute, noted for his work on Hinduism.

improving the quality of life and promot¬ing character. Even while holding thesehigh offices and carrying out his duty tohis own people, Radhakrishnan con¬tinued to travel round the world, advocat¬

ing the emergence of a new civilizationbased on the unity of mankind andcommon truths of the spirit and animat¬ed by a religion founded not on dogmabut on the deepening of the individual'sawareness and compassion for all fellowbeings.

If Radhakrishnan was by birth a Hin¬du, Abul Kalam Azad was born in Mec¬

ca of pious Muslim parents; but they bothhad a strong sense of religion based onrationalism and the common values of all

humanity transcending creeds anddenominations. Fluent in Arabic and Per¬

sian and a scholar in Islamic studies, Azad

gave a broad and liberal interpretation ofthe Qur'an. To him religion was a guideto proper action and his scholarship ledhim into public life. From 1912 hisprimary objective was to draw the Mus¬lims in India into the struggle for free¬dom. A steadfast follower of Gandhi, he

was elected a number of times President

of the Indian National Congress and

suffered long terms of internment and im¬prisonment. From 1920 political differ¬ences between Hindu and Muslim

organizations increased; but the Congressinsisted that nationalism had no connec¬

tion with religion and the presence ofMaulana Azad in the ranks of the nation¬

alist leadership was the highest testimo¬ny of this. Azad's pride in being an Indian

was strengthened by his commitment towhat he termed the Islamic spirit, and henever accepted that a good Muslim couldnot be a good Indian.

From 1947 till his death in 1958 he

served as India's first minister for educa¬

tion and was a key figure in the formula¬tion of national policies in all fields. Withhis belief that true religion brings all peo¬ples together, Azad also took much in¬terest in the promotion of internationalunderstanding and was the president ofthe General Conference of Unesco at its

session in Delhi in 1956.

SARVEPALLI GOPAL is Emeritus Professor of

Contemporary History at Jawaharlal NehruUniversity, New Delhi, and a Fellow of St. Antony'sCollege, Oxford (UK). He was a member of theExecutive Board of Unesco from 1976 to 1980.

Among his many published works are Modern India(1967) and a 3-volume biography of JawaharlalNehru (1975-1984).

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), thearchitect of India's post-Independence

education policy.

**& ***

11

CLOSE-UP ON

INDIAN CINEMA BY KHALID MOHAMED

CINEMA in India is a ticket to a

world of fantasy, providing anescape from the harsh reality of

everyday life. Three-quarters of a centuryold, it is still eagerly wooing its faithfulaudience with stories of virtuous peoplebattling against the odds and emergingvictorious. At various stages in its history,Indian cinema has borrowed themes,

ideas and even entire plots from foreignsources. It has always been heavilyinfluenced by Hollywood, and costume

Nargis and Raj Kapoor in Kapoor's Awaarafl951; The Tramp). The fifties were one of the

most creative periods in commercial filmmaking in India. Raj Kapoor and Nargis

became the golden couple of Indian films andmade several box office hits together.

epics, thrillers, love stories and family dra¬mas from the United States have often

been refashioned to suit Indian taste,

which is demanding and virtually inflexi¬ble. As a rule, every film must include at

least half a dozen songs and dances(although in recent years the more adven¬turous film makers have sought to slashthis number by half), high melodramawith a strong emotional impact, and a cli¬mactic sequence in which the herousually destroys the villain with fists or

guns.

Traditionally Indian films have a hero,a heroine and a villain. On the peripherythere are a mother figure, a comedian to

provide light relief, a child or teenager

12

who will appeal to the young people inthe audience, and a Muslim or a Chris¬tian character. This is the framework

devised by the Bombay movie mogulsand it is followed by other film-producingcentres in Madras, Calcutta and the

Punjab.The father of Indian cinema was

Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (1870-1944).

Born into a priestly family in Nasik dis¬trict, not far from Bombay, Phalke wastrained to be a Sanskrit scholar, but his

interests lay more in the direction ofpainting, theatre and magic. When he sawa film about the life of Christ, he was

excited by the possibilities of the newmedium. The outcome was India's first

feature film, Raja Harisbchandra (1913),whose plot, drawn from Indian mytho¬logy, was a celebration of the deeds of themonarch who sacrificed his wealth, king¬dom and family in his quest for truth.

Phalke became a prolific film produ¬cer whose work was popular throughoutthe country. Other stalwarts of the Indiansilent cinema included Dhiren Ganguly,who made the satirical comedy EnglandReturned (1921); Debaki Kumar Bose,who directed the adventure movie Kana-

mar Aagun (Flames of Flesh; 1928); andChandulal Shah who made Typist Girl(1926) and Gun Sundari (Why HusbandsGo Astray; 1927), both of which evokethe strength and dignity of the Indianwoman.

Film making became big business aswell as a medium for artistic expression.Studios and production groups such asNew Theatres of Calcutta, the Prabhat

Film Company of Pune (near Bombay)and Bombay Talkies were formed byentrepreneurs and dictated taste duringthe 1930s, the first decade of sound. One

particularly active studio, the ImperialFilm Company, produced India's firsttalking feature, Alam Ara (Beauty of theWorld; 1931, in Hindi), which included

a dozen songs.By 1940, 100 films a year were being

made in India, a figure which doubled by1950. Today, India ranks third in the totalnumber of films produced after the Uni¬ted States and Japan, but since 1976 hasled the world in annual film output. In1983, 763 Indian films were made, most

of them in Bombay and Madras. Currentoutput is over 900 films a year, and des¬pite keen competition from television andvideo, cinema is still India's best-lovedform of entertainment.

Yet Indian cinema has not confined

itself to entertainment. It has made

genuine efforts to portray the Indianmind and emotions. It has advanced the

theory that the good must triumph overevil, taken the side of the downtrodden,

stressed the need for respect for one'selders, and portrayed the quality ofhonesty in a largely corrupt world. Thebest examples of such cinema date fromthe 1950s, which is generally acknow¬ledged to have been a golden decade whenfilm makers were not entirely dominat¬

ed by box office considerations and thenational mood was one of optimism andhope.

The films made in the 1950s by direc¬tors V. Shantaram, Raj Kapoor, Guru

Dutt and Bimal Roy are today widelyregarded as masterpieces. Plots were then

The Indian actress Geeta in M.S. Sathyu'sGarm Hawa (1973; Hot Winds). The film won

praise for its sensitive handling of theproblem of the partition of India.

often taken from indigenous literarysources and were rooted in Indian soil.

The intention was to combine social

conscience with entertainment, a difficultblend to achieve. There was also a drive

to use more advanced technology.After the 1950s, with the advent of

colour, the cinema became more light-hearted and escapist. The tendency wasto produce sugary love stories set inKashmir or picturesque hill-towns suchas Darjeeling. From this backgroundemerged India's best-known film maker,Satyajit Ray.

Born in 1921 into a cultivated Bengalfamily, Ray was influenced in early lifeby the great poet Rabindranath Tagore,and by his own father Sukumar, a noted

Bengali writer. He became acquaintedwith the French director Jean Renoir

when Renoir was making his film TheRiver in Calcutta. Encouraged by Renoir,Ray started work on Father Panchali

(Song of the Road; 1955). This film, the

by the end of the 1960s, starting withMrinal Sen's Bhuvan Shome (Mr. Shome;1969), the story of a tyrannical bureau¬crat who meets a dynamic farm girl. Twoof the most original talents in Indiancinema are graduates of the Pune FilmInstitute. Both Mani Kaul (Uski Roti; ADay's Bread, 1970) and Kumar Shahani

(Maya Darpan; "The Mirror of Illusion",1972) have refused to compromise withthe dictates of the market, and despitebeing criticized for not being "accessi¬ble", they have worked towards the deve¬lopment of new narrative techniques intheir films.

A trend commonly known as "middleof the road" cinema has also emergedthrough films treating subjects such asrural oppression and political chicanery.The leading figures in this movement are

Still from Mrinal Sen's Ek Din Pratidin (1979;And Quiet Rolls the Day). Sen's films are

more political than those of hiscontemporary, Satyajit Ray, and Sen is often

described as a "committed film maker".

first of the Apu trilogy based on novelsby the Bengali writer Bibhuti BhushanBanerji, was completed on a shoestringbudget. At the 1956 Cannes film festivalit was voted the "best human document"

shown.

Ray's work has brought world statusto Indian cinema. The Apu trilogy, Maha-nagar(The Big City; 1963) and Charulata(1964) are recognized as masterpieces.Another Bengal film maker, the late Rit-wik Ghatak, is also widely considered asa director of genius. His Ajantrik (TheMechanical Man; 1958), a fable about ataxi-driver's relationship with his dilapi¬dated taxi, and Megbe Dhaka Tara (TheHidden Star; 1960) are brilliant depictionsof harsh east Bengal reality.

Mrinal Sen, like Ray, is a product ofthe Calcutta film society movement.Inspired by the international classics hehad seen, he made Raat Bhore (Night'sEnd; 1956) and Neel Akasher Neechey(Under the Blue Sky; 1958). His BaisheyShravana (The Wedding Day; 1960) waswell received at the Venice Film Festival.

Changes swept through Indian cinemain the late 1960s and the 1970s after

Indian film makers had come into in¬

creasing contact with the work of foreignartists and directors. Both Ray and BimalRoy, for example, had been impressedand influenced by Italian neo-realism.

14

There was also a growing awarenessof the need to set up an institution wherestudents could learn the art of film

making, and in response to this the FilmInstitute of India was founded in Pune in

1961. Its graduates were taught not topander to accepted formulas but to strikeout in new directions. The new move¬

ment in the cinema was supported by theFilm Finance Corporation, later incorpo¬rated into the National Film Develop¬ment Corporation (NFDC), which hada string of artistic successes to its credit

Dharmendra, who has been playing leadingroles in commercial films for almost 25 years.This is a still from Rezia Sultan, a film about

the life of Queen Rezia of the Delhi

Sultanate shortly before the Mughals came tonorthern India in the early 16th century.

A still from Kumar Shahani's Tarang (1982; "Vibrations"). With Mani Kaul, Shahani started theexperimental trend in Indian cinema.

Shyam Benegal (Ankur; The Seedling,1974) and Govind Nihalani (Ardh Satya).

Among the promising younger filmmakers are Ketan Mehta (Bhavni Bhavai;A Folk Tale, 1980), Saeed Mirza (AlbertPinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai; WhatMakes Albert Pinto Angry, 1980), andKundan Shah Qaane Bhi Do Yaaro). Eclec¬

tic, dynamic and inventive, their workdeals with issues ranging from housingproblems and casteism to the lust formoney in the corridors of power.

In recent years a vigorous, individua¬listic movement, led by G. Aravindan andAdoor Gopalakrishnan, has developed inthe region of Kerala in southern India.Aravindan's Thampu (The Circus Tent;1978) Chidambaram and Oridath, and

Gopalakrishnan's Swayamvaram (One'sOwn Choice; 1972), Kodiyettam (Ascent;1977) and Mukhamukham, made duringthe 1970s and 1980s, have established the

reputation of these directors and reflecttheir sensitivity to social conditions inKerala state.

Rekha, an accomplished classical dancer, is one of the most popular actresses in India today.

KHALID MOHAMED is a film critic with The

Times ofIndia. He is currently preparing a televisionseries on major Indian film directors.

Satyajit Ray during the shooting of Sukumar Ray, Calcutta, 1987. Ray, who turned 67 last year, hasbegun working again after a period of enforced idleness due to illness.

15

A NEW POLICY

FOR EDUCATION BY ANIL BORDIA

EDUCATION was given highpriority after India gained in¬dependence in 1947. The new

Constitution called on the State to pro¬vide free and compulsory primary edu¬cation and gave the federal governmentthe responsibility for maintaining stan¬dards in higher and technical education.By a subsequent amendment to the Con¬stitution, education was also declared to

be a concern of the provincial govern¬ments. India opted for a planned econo-

Primary school classes are often conducted inthe open air.

my, and each five-year plan indicates thedirections for educational development.

Dramatic expansion of education hastaken place since independence. Thenumber of primary (including upperprimary) schools has tripled and enrol¬ment has increased from about 30 percent to 80 per cent. The increase in the

enrolment of girls at primary level has

been particularly impressive, from 17.7per cent in 1950-1951 to 64.6 per cent in1986-1987.

Increase in enrolments has been even

more spectacular in secondary education,and the number of schoolteachers has ris¬

en from 750,000 to 3.7 million. In higherand professional education, the numberof institutions and enrolments has in¬

creased eightfold, and in technical educa¬tion about tenfold.

In 1964, the Government of India ap-

16

pointed a commission to advise on the na¬tional pattern of education and on thegeneral principles and policies for educa¬tional development. Four years later, aneducation policy formulated on the ba¬sis of the commission's recommendations

called for a transformation of the educa¬

tion system which would relate it moreclosely to the life of the people; a con¬tinuous effort to expand educational op¬portunity; a sustained and intensive effortto raise the quality of education at allstages; an emphasis on the developmentof science and technology; and the culti¬vation of moral and social values.

The most remarkable change whichtook place after the adoption of the 1968Education Policy was the establishmentof a common structure of education. This

consisted of ten years of common school¬ing for all children, followed by two yearsof higher secondary education and athree-year degree course.

In 1985, the Central Government

again reviewed the educational situationand decided to initiate a new National

Policy on Education, which was debatedextensively by students, teachers and peo¬ple in all walks of life before it was passedby the two Houses of Parliament inFebruary 1986. A detailed Programme ofAction was completed a few months laterto ensure that the policy would be im¬plemented without delay.

The 1986 education policy envisagesa national system which will take deter¬mined action to bring about universalprimary education and promote thespread of adult literacy, thereby helping

A class in a village school, Uttar Pradesh.

to reduce inequalities. The education sys¬tem will be based on a national curricu-

lar framework which contains a common

core as well as components specific toeach region. The core will cut across sub¬ject areas and will be designed to promotesuch values as India's common cultural

heritage, egalitarianism, democracy andsecularism, equality of the sexes, protec¬tion of the environment, observance of

the small family norm, and the scientificapproach. Pace-setting schools calledNavodaya Vidyalayas will provide quali¬ty education to particularly gifted chil¬dren, irrespective of their families' means,and will promote excellence as well as

Bombay. A photography class in progress.

equity and social justice. The 1986 policyalso emphasizes the need to raise the levelof investment in education from about

4 per cent of national income in 1986 to6 per cent by 1990 and even higherthereafter.

Soon after assuming office in 1984,Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi announcedhis decision to launch a National Litera¬

cy Mission (NLM) to bring functionalliteracy to some 80 million illiterate peo¬ple in the 15 to 35 age group. The teach¬ing of functional literacy is designed toachieve a variety of goals, including self-reliance in literacy and numeracy; the de¬velopment of awareness among the poorand the illiterate of the causes of their

deprivation; the acquisition of skills toimprove economic status and generalwell-being; understanding of the values ofnational integration; conservation of theenvironment; women's equality; and thesmall family norm. NLM also stresses theimportance of post-literacy and continu¬ing education.

A number of important initiativeshave been taken as a result of the new na¬

tional policy on education:* A nationwide programme for the

improvement of primary education facil¬ities, including reorganization of teachertraining, is now under way.

* New curricula have been written for

primary and secondary education andnew textbooks and teaching materialshave been prepared.

* Special programmes have beenlaunched to improve science teaching, in¬troduce computer literacy and promoteawareness of environmental issues.

17

A class of medical students examine a patient.Almost every city in India with a populationof over two million has a medical collegeand teaching hospital.

* By 1988, 256 Navodaya Vidyalayashad been established.

* Approximately 500,000 students and500 voluntary agencies were involved inthe National Literacy Mission in1987-1988. Several districts and big citiessuch as Delhi, Bombay, Bangalore,Madras and Ahmedabad are launchingcampaigns to eradicate illiteracy by theend of 1990.

* A statutory body, the All IndiaCouncil of Technical Education, has been

created to maintain standards for institu¬

tions of technical education and to

modernize technical education to preparethe workforce needed for rapid techno¬logical and scientific change.

ANÏL BORDIA has been involved with the

administration of education in India for about

15 years and is currently Education Secretary in theGovernment of India. He was closely involved inthe preparation of his country's new educationpolicy and is responsible for its implementation.

Colour Pages

Page 19Above: a shrine (llth-15th century) atDilwara on Mount Abu, a centre of

pilgrimage for followers of the Jain faith.Rajasthan state, northwest India.

Below: On the occasion of the Kumbha Mela

festival held every 12 years in the sacred cityof Hardwar (Uttar Pradesh), where theGanges leaves the mountains, millions ofIndians bathe in the purifying waters.

Centre pages

Anti-clockwise from top left: steel plantowned by the Tata industrial group, which isclosely identified with the history of modernIndia. Sikh harvesters in the Punjab. Oil rigworkers in the Gulf of Cambay on India'swest coast. Crafts students decorate papier-mâché articles, Srinagar (Tammu andKashmir). Women carrying wood, Rajasthan.

A traditional letter writer. With the spread of literacy his is a dying art.

18

-fiçr-

«¡s!«Ik

.il

I

i K*fc ^ **" l

fi !

im '

'mÊt;

INDIA'S

LIFELINE

BY ANEES JUNG

0»

INDIA waits for the monsoon each

year the way a child waits for itsmother's breast. But unlike the child

that comes of age and stops waiting, morethan half of India depends on the mon¬soon for its survival. When it fails the

land broods.

To awaken the monsoon, the peasantsin my mother's village would come sing¬ing through the dust-filled tracks carry¬ing a huge basket poised on a woodenpole. A large bull frog would be seatedin the basket that was padded with neemleaves. The cry oîHassana Hossana uyalowould rend the still hot air. Children

would run out of sun-baked huts and

pour drops of precious water on the frog.And by evening the clouds would roll in,the heavens would thunder and there

would be rain.

Customs such as these have been partof every Indian child's heritage. But nowthe age of miracles seems to be over. Onechild in Rajasthan I met a year ago hadnot seen rain. He was six years old. Hismother, a young woman of thirty, hadbegun to look like an older woman. Shehad lost the lilt of her limbs, walking fivekilometres each day to fetch water fordrinking. Her well was dry, like all thewells in her area.

Page 22

During the monsoon rains, a woman carryingwheat flour in a can walks past submergedfields. Monghyr, Bihar state.

0

Si

-Vk%

i %

,\ *3 '

The peacock is India's national bird and isoften depicted in the company of

Lord Krishna.

The monsoons had failed Rajasthanfor several years. The grass was brown.All crops had been lost. Dead guava treeswere being cut for fuel. Even in the cityof Ajmer the taps would come to life onlyonce every four days, and then only fora few hours. The Anasager lake lookedlike a burning bowl of sand. The washer¬women had disappeared from its shores.The beating of their clothes had been si¬lenced. On the edges of the city, in reliefcamps, lean cattle stood with vacant eyes.The animal most prized by the farmerhad been anointed with kum kum, the

auspicious red powder, and had beenabandoned. There was no fodder.

"We want food not money", said thewomen who were hired to work in the

drought relief work programmes. Lack ofrain had killed the crops, aggravated in¬flation, spiralled prices across the parched

land. In Madras, there were fist fights inthe lines of people waiting at communi¬ty taps for water. Hordes of elephantsambled away from the parched forests ofTamil Nadu into neighbouring Karnata-ka. In the unrelenting sun farmers in thecountry beseeched gods, priests chantedmantras in good faith, scientists wonderedwhy their sound vibrations were not stir¬ring the atmosphere, seeding the cloudsand sending rain. Meteorologists scannedthe skies and put out intricate weathercharts. On the whims of the monsoon

rested major economic decisions. Politi¬cal fortunes were staked on its success and

failure. On the promise of the monsoonrested the survival of a vast land.

The Indian monsoon is not justanother word for rain. It is neither a

typhoon nor a spell of roaring winds. Itis a season whose name stems from the

Arabic word mausern. It is not rainfall

that determines and defines the monsoons

but the seasonal winds that shift direction

twice a year. If the wind is from anotherdirection there is no rain. There is a sum¬

mer monsoon and a winter monsoon.

But it is only the nimbus southwest windsof summer that make a mausernthe

23

season of rains. It is preceded by the loo,hot dry winds, days of intense heat anda scorching sun.

When the pied-crested African cuck¬oos fly back and the shrill cries of pea¬cocks fill the air, people know that themonsoon is days away. Peasants acrossthe land have their own ways of predict¬ing the monsoon. The more intense theheat, the more rain there will be, theysay. The coming of the rains is alsocelebrated with intensity. People run outand soak themselves in the rain like chil¬

dren. In the words of the famous fifth-

century poet Kalidasa, the clouds advance"like rutting elephants, enormous andfull of rain. They come forward as kingsamong tumultuous armies; their flags arelightning, the thunder is the drum". It isas great an event for the farmer as it is

for the singer, the poet. The heavy darkclouds fill the canvases of miniature

painters. And for the poet, the dark tress¬es of his beloved are like the waves of the

monsoon clouds. As long ago as the sixthcentury the poet Subandhu in hisVasavadatta welcomed the monsoons in

these words:

"The rainy season had arrived. Riversoverflowed their banks. Peacocks danced

at eventide. The rain quelled the expanseof dust as a great ascetic quells the tideof passion. The chataka birds were hap¬py. Lightning shone like a bejewelled

boat of love in the pleasure pool of thesky; it was like a garland for the gate ofthe place of paradise; like a lustrous gir¬dle for some heavenly beauty; like a rowof nail marks left upon the cloud by itslover, the departing day ... the rain waslike a chess player while yellow and greenfrogs were like chessmen jumping in theenclosures of the irrigated fields. Hail¬stones flashed like pearls from the neck¬laces of heavenly birds".

Some of the best evocations of the

monsoons are found in the baramasa

(twelve months), "lovers' calendars"composed by the poets of north India, inwhich feelings are expressed in harmonywith the seasons. In all Indian languagesinnumerable proverbs stress the impor¬tance of rains. Some proverbs instructfarmers, others warn them of the nature

of rain. Ghagh, the learned Brahmin poet-astrologer who composed manyproverbs, had this to say: "When waterin the pitcher does not cool, when spar¬rows bathe in dust and ants take their eggsto a safer place, you can be sure of a heavy

*2

i

Monsoon in Bombay. Stolen moments underan umbrella.

A waterlogged street in Bombay during the monsoon. Theoretically the monsoon is supposed tohit Bombay on 10 June each year. A delayed monsoon means national headlines.

downpour". His proverbs remain on thelips of every peasant in the Hindi-speaking belt of Uttar Pradesh andHaryana. "Scarcity is only a missed mon¬soon away", is a saying that lurks in themind of every Indian. For the Indian

monsoon remains unpredictable. It canskip a region, flood another, tease a third.It can, as the ancient proverb says, "fallon one horn of a buffalo and not on

another". It can bless a land, but also

deny and destroy. It wears a new faceevery season.

ANEES JUNG is a writer and journalist who hasedited the Indian magazine Youth Times and hascontributed to many publications in India andoverseas. Her most recent book, Unveiling IndiaA Woman's Journey, was published in 1987. She iscurrently a columnist with The Times ofIndia andis writing a book on Muslim women in India.

24

VILLAGE WISDOM

An unsung resource for rural development

BY SANJIT BUNKER ROY

WHEN I began working in thevillages in 1967 1 used to thinkthat India needed trained ur¬

ban professionals to develop the ruralareas. I used to think with the arrogance

that young people acquire in publicschools that rural India had nothing tooffer and that its people needed us. Now,after twenty years of interaction withneedy villagers, I have totally changed my

position.I respect the skill of the traditional

midwife and believe she is much more im¬

portant to rural India than the alienatedurban-trained Auxiliary Nurse Midwife.I value the wisdom and knowledge of thevillage priest and marvel at his patienceas a teacher.

Tilonia, in the district of Ajmer, Rajas¬than state, runs fifty evening schools

Pottery from Rajasthan

25

irtf^Á . &<&*&

spread over an area of 1,300 squarekilometres. These schools attract over

1,500 children who have dropped outfrom the regular school system. Amongthose who train the teachers in charge ofthese schools is a village priest. Anotherpriest installs and maintains the sophisti¬cated solar panel systems that providethree hours of light in many of theschools. Neither of them holds a teacher's

diploma and would never obtain agovernment teaching post. When aprofessor from the Indian Institute ofTechnology came to see who was main¬taining the solar units he was astonishedto learn that there was no electronics en¬

gineer on our staff.Planners have consistently under¬

estimated the skill, knowledge and wis-

This 19th-century miniature depicts a scene offamine. Overall food production gains in

India since the Green Revolution

began two decades ago have eliminatedimports. Since 1964 wheat production has

more than quadrupled.

Adult education using satellites and community television sets. The programmes, which combineadult education with practical advice on sanitation, health care and improved farming techniques,have proved effective as awareness builders among the rural poor.

dorn of people in rural India. No concen¬trated attempt has been made to identifythe unused or under-used human

resources which could help villages toachieve self-reliance, reduce their depen¬

dence on government and reduce the costof social and economic services.

It was a roadside bicycle mechanica

primary school dropoutwho drew upthe outlines of a system of hand pumpmaintenance which is currently being im¬plemented, with community support, to

repair over 40,000 hand pumps in Rajas¬than. This Hand Pump Mechanic (HPM)scheme, for which the ex-bicycle mechan¬ic is now responsible, is a practical alter¬native to an expensive, top heavy systemwhich was designed by highly-trained en¬gineers, and is not accountable to thosewho actually use the pumps. The HPMscheme is the only one of its kind beingencouraged by India's Technology Mis¬sion on Drinking Water.

Such cases show that village peoplecan think and propose solutions that arepractical, inexpensive and widely applica¬ble. But they have not been providedwith a forum where they can share theirviews. The 1986 National Policy on Edu¬cation mentions the need to reject the

26

Construction workers, Trivandrum, Keralastate. Women work as hard as men, often

carrying very heavy loads, but despite equalwages legislation are frequently paid far less

than male workers.

linkage between degrees and jobs. This isa welcome and long overdue step. Whyshould we penalize a person who pro¬vides a competent service to the commu¬nity as a midwife, priest, water diviner,traditional bone-setter or hand pumpmechanic, just because he or she does not

hold a degree? Such people are assets totheir communities.

This is not to deny that their skillsneed to be upgraded. Instead of replacingthem and diminishing their worth inrural society we should do all we can to

share our knowledge with them, givethem the opportunity to choose thoseparts of our knowledge which are usefulto them, and help them to become moreeffective. They alone know how to de¬mystify technology, processes andmethods. We must find time to listen to

them, for they have an answer to T.S.Eliot's eternal question:

"Where is the wisdom we have lost

in knowledgeWhere is the knowledge we have lost

in information?".

SANJIT (BUNKER) ROY is Director of the SocialWork and Research Centre at Tilonia, Rajasthanstate, in northern India.

A family planning poster in northern India.By the year 2000 India's population isexpected to reach 1,000 million. Populationgrowth has eroded the increase in industrialand agricultural production.

27

THE PHILOSOPHICAL

TRADITION

Upavarta wood, near the town of Kusinagara,northern India. This is where the Buddha was

reputedly cremated after his death and hisashes dispersed.

PHILOSOPHY is an integral partof the Indian tradition, and reflects

vividly one of the main features of

that tradition: unity underlying diversi¬ty. When Prince Siddhartha, the histori¬cal founder of Buddhism, renounced his

palace in search of wisdom in the sixthcentury BC, he learnt that there were

forty-eight philosophical schools, fromnaturalism and realism at one end to real¬

ism and mysticism at the other. The San

skrit term for philosophy is darshana,literally "viewing" or "seeing". Truth isone, but it is multi-faceted and can be

"seen" from different perspectives.Diverse darshanas or philosophicalschools complement rather than con¬tradict each other. This implies intellec¬tual tolerance.

One of the unifying factors underly¬ing divergent schools is the convictionthat philosophical knowledge is not an

28

end in itself but a means to inner trans¬

formation leading to liberation (mukti orNirvana). Even those who created high¬ly specialized and technical philosophicalsystems accepted the common goal ofliberation. It was assumed that

philosophical insight is only one aspectof the highest wisdom which includes themoral purity of the sage and the sensitiv¬ity of the poet and the artist. A furtherpoint of agreement among philosophers(except materialists) is the view that liber¬ation, the goal of wisdom, cannot comethrough an external force, such as "Des¬tiny", but through our own deeds andthoughts (karmas) spread over a succes¬sion of lifetimes.

The Jaina philosophical school acceptsthe existence of many types of substances(dravya), the main distinction being thatbetween inanimate substances (pudgala)and living substances (jiva). All living be¬ings are souls, ranging from the lowestforms of life to the highest, the perfectedbeings (tirthankaras) who transcend finiteattributes and attain absolute knowledge(kaivalya). The tirthankaras represent thehighest reality, and there is no place forGod in Jaina philosophy.

Buddhist thought, in its early phase,was mainly ethical, since the Buddha had

avoided metaphysical issues, devoting hisattention to the problem of Suffering.However, the Buddha's emphasis on theuniversality of the law of causation andthe impermanence of all phenomenalthings opened the way for metaphysics,particularly after the emergence of theMahayana school. Nagarjuna (c. 150-250AD), the greatest among Buddhistphilosophers, founded Shunyavada (TheDoctrine of Emptiness). If Reality is tobe grasped in its essential nature, all finiteconcepts and attributes must be "emptiedout".

Turning to the Hindu tradition, in the

earliest Vedic hymns (c. 1500-1200 BC)we already find the monistic trend thathas subsequently dominated Indianthought. There must be, behind all mul-

kAfti.

Illustration from an 18th-centuryYoga manuscript

tiplicity, a single reality which is calledby different names. In the Upanishads,sacred texts composed many centurieslater, the vision is turned inward and the

one Universal Spirit dwelling in each in¬dividual (the Atman) is declared to be thesame as the Supreme Reality (Brahman)at the root of the universe. Still later, in

the Bhagavadgita ("Song of the Lord",c.200 BC) an attempt was made to syn¬thesize different philosophical and reli¬gious perspectives into the "SixDoctrines".

These six systems of Hindu philo¬sophy are traditionally grouped in threepairs: Samkhya and Yoga; Nyaya andVaisheshika; Mimansa and Vedanta.

There are fundamental differences

between them, though formally they all

A Parsi coming of age ceremony. The followers in India of the prophet Zoroaster, the Parsis arefire-worshippers. Their name means "Persians" and they are descendants of Zoroastrians whoemigrated from Persia to escape religious persecution in the 8th century AD. This tinycommunity (less than 100,000 today) has made significant contributions to India's industrialdevelopment.

accept the authority of the Vedas,Upanishads and the Bhagavadgita.

Samkhya is dualistic. It accepts two in¬dependent realities: Purusha (Spirit) andPrakriti (Nature). The former is pureConsciousness, the latter is the principle

of energy. They do not meet, but thevery nearness of Purusha stirs Prakriti.The balance between the three main in¬

gredients of Prakriti is disturbed, and the

universe evolves. Yoga accepts thephilosophical foundation of Samkhya and

applies it to the practical side of Self-realization. The aim of Yoga is to undothe distorsions caused by the mind, sothat the true nature of Spirit may be real¬ized. This can be achieved through medi¬tation, for which one has to equip oneselfthrough bodily and mental control.

The Nyaya ("Analysis") school dealswith logical propositions and fallacies,and examines the sources of human

knowledge. Vaisheshika discusses differ¬ent categories of substances. It asserts thatall substances are composed of four typesof atoms which are eternal and in¬

divisible.

The Mimansa ("Enquiry") schooldeals with causality and offers aphilosophical justification for the authori¬ty of the Vedas and Vedic ritual. Vedan-

ta ("the End of the Vedas") represents thecrowning glory of classical Indianphilosophy, the culmination of the Ved¬ic tradition. Vedanta has many schools,the most influential being Monism, or"Non-dualism" (Advaita). Ramanuja (d.1137) asserts that the world, and the hu¬man individual, though not identical withGod, are within the Divine Whole. The

great philosopher Shankara (c. 788-820)offers a more complete and absoluteMonism. Brahman or the Absolute is the

only true reality. The human self (jiva) isidentical with Brahman, while the world

(jagat) is a mere appearance. The self andthe world are seen as separate because ofa mysterious, cosmic power (Maya, "illu¬sion") which causes ignorance.Shankara's Advaita Vedanta doctrine has

dominated Indian thought for twelve cen¬turies. Its prestige can be judged by thepopular saying that no other philosophycan challenge Advaita, "just as all livingbeings in the forest are silent when thelion roars". V.S.N.

Muslims at prayer outside an overflowingBombay mosque. Muslims make up India'ssecond largest religious community.

30

HIGH DAYS

AND

HOLIDAYS

The ratha or temple chariot being taken out in procession, Tamil Nadu, south India. The chariot, which weighs several tons, is pushed by elephantsand devotees.

VISITORS who come to India with the

notion that the Indian outlook on life

is austere and pessimistic are surprisedto see the zest for life which Indians display.This enthusiasm is seen in a vivid and pic¬turesque light during the fairs and festivals thathave been held since remote Antiquity.

Festivals afford glimpses of the continuityand diversity of Indian life. People of differ¬ent regions, speaking different languages, canbe seen wearing a variety of costumes. Thereare farmers and aristocrats, mendicants andastrologers, poets, preachers and wanderingsingers. There is colour and pageantry, faithand devotion. And, amidst all this diversity,we feel the living presence of India.

Most of the festivals have a strong religiousbasis. There are discourses, hymns, chants, andreadings from scriptures. Many festivals areassociated with specific deities. Rama Navami(March or April), Shiva Ratri (February orMarch) and Krishna Janmashtami (August) arecelebrated in honour of Rama, Shiva and

Krishna respectively. The festival of the god¬dess Durga comes in October, while Sarasvati,goddess of learning and the arts, is worshippedin early spring.

The Indian calendar is lunar. Special sanc¬tity attaches to festivals held on nights of fullmoon or new moon. Apart from the moon,other phenomena of Nature are commemo¬rated with affection and reverence. A day is

set aside for expressing gratitude to the banyantree, another is devoted to the nagas (serpents).Seasons are welcomed with festivities. Vasant

Panchmi (early February) is the festival ofspring. The autumn is greeted on the brightestmoonlit night of the year, Sharad Pumima(usually in late October). Many fairs andfestivals are held on the banks of sacred rivers.

At the confluence of the Ganges and theYamuna rivers at Allahabad, a festival is held

throughout the month of Magha (January-February). Every twelfth year, this religiousfair is known as the Khumba Mela. During theKumbha, sometimes more than five million

people come to bathe at the holy confluenceon the day of amavasya (new moon).

31

The most important Muslim festival isId al-Fitr, at the end of the month-long fastof Ramadan. People wear new clothes andoffer special prayers at mosques. This is fol¬lowed by a feast. The Parsi new year (Nauroz),and the Christian festivals of Christmas and

Easter, are celebrated with great enthusiasm.The birthdays of Buddha, Mahavira and GuruNanak (founders of Buddhism, Jainism andSikhism respectively) are national holidays.The majority of festivals, however, belong tothe Hindu tradition.

On these occasions, the religious and secu¬lar aspects of life are happily blended. Reli¬gious ritual is combined with culturalprogrammes: folk dances, concerts, popularplays, puppet shows, poetic symposia. Way¬side shops spring up, and bargaining is a popu¬lar diversion. In recent years, even politicianshave started addressing the crowds that gatherat festivals.

Dussehra, Diwali and Holi ire the three

major Hindu festivals. The ten-day Dussehrafestival commemorates the victory of Rama,an incarnation of the Divine, over Ravana,king of the demons. Episodes from the ancientepic, Ramayana, are enacted on the stage.

Three weeks after Dussehra, which usual¬ly occurs in October, comes Diwali, the Fes¬tival of Light. Houses are cleaned andilluminated in order to welcome Lakshmi, thegoddess of well-being and prosperity. Thereis a display of fireworks, and traditional sweetsare served after the ceremonial worship ofLakshmi. An interesting feature of Diwali isthe honour paid to the materials used invarious vocations. Goldsmiths and carpenterspolish their tools and place flowers uponthem. Merchants honour their account books.

Artists and writers express their gratitude totheir brushes, pens, pencils and inkpots!

'V -- A

m i

The Hindu festival of Holi is linked to Lord

Krishna, who is often shown throwing colouron Radha, his beloved. This 18th-

century miniature from Rajasthan depicts atypical Holi scene, with celebrants throwing

coloured powder on each other.

A plaster statue of the elephant god Ganesh being carried in procession in Bombay beforeimmersion in the Arabian Sea. The son of Lord Shiva, Ganesh is the remover of obstacles andthe god of intelligence.

While Diwali is celebrated on a night ofnew moon, Holi, the festival of colour, beginson the night of the full moon in the monthoiPhalgun (March-April). Bonfires are kindledat street corners, symbolically cleansing theatmosphere of all that is evil. The followingmorning, people are on the streets, spurtingcoloured water over each other. Like the bac-

chanalia of ancient Greece, Holi is a folk fes¬tival at which inhibitions are shed, womencome out of their seclusion, and caste barriers

are set aside. At mid-day, the shouting, sing¬ing and colour-pelting all stop. Then, after abath, people embrace each other and partakeof sweets.

It is said that Holi was the favourite festival

of the divine Krishna, the pastoral hero whosebeauty enchanted all the cowherd girls of thevillage. On the day of Holi, Krishna dancedwith themespecially with his belovedRadhaand drenched them with coloured

water. That is why even today Holi is celebrat¬ed with special joy and zest at Vrindavan, thehome of Krishna. V.S.N.

32

THE

SCIENTIFIC

LEGACY

IT has long been wrongly assumedthat the idealisticeven mystical-predilections of Indian thought must

have hindered the objective observation

and study of Nature. But a metaphysicswhich asserts that only the Infinite Di¬vine has absolute reality can also acceptthe relative reality of the material worldseen from a practical, empirical per¬spective.

The Indian tradition assumes that every¬thing in the universe is significant to somedegree, and hence deserves careful study.In recent years India's contribution to the

positive sciences, such as engineering,

The Jantar Mantar astronomical observatoryin Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The observatory was built in the early18th century by the astronomer

king Sawai Jai Singh II.

metallurgy, chemistry and above allmathematics, astronomy and medicine,has gained wide recognition. Somewriters have indulged in uncritical glorifi¬cation of "ancient wisdom", which is

supposed to have anticipated the most ad¬vanced research of modern science. But

a more balanced estimate is graduallyemerging.

Indian mathematics go back to theVedic age, when the construction of are¬nas for sacrificial ritual demanded ac¬

curate measurements. Pride of place inIndian mathematics goes to Aryabhatta(late fifth century AD) who elaboratedthe decimal system which had been de¬vised by his predecessors. Other famousnames are those of Brahmagupta, Ma-havira and Bhaskara (of the seventh,

ninth and twelfth centuries respectively).They understood the significance of posi¬tive and negative quantities, solved manycomplex equations, and evolved methodsof extracting square roots and cube roots.

33

.

*

&y HD

"s-

3

\ S«

They showed profound insight into theimplications of zero (shunyà) and of in¬finity. Bhaskara proved mathematicallythat infinity, however divided, remainsinfinitea truth which had been accept¬

ed on the metaphysical plane as early asthe 6th century BC in the Upanishads.

The Arabs are widely believed to haveadopted from the Indians the decimal sys¬tem using the zero, and passed it on toEuropean scientists. India thus providedindirectly the mathematical foundationwithout which many important advancesin Western science and technology would

not have been possible.In the field of astronomy, Aryabhat-

ta again emerges as a revolutionarygenius. He determined the length of the

Trilokachakra, the great cosmic being, isshown in this 18th-century Tantric painting

from Gujarat, northwest India.

solar year as 365.3596805 days, which isremarkably close to the modern estimate.He asserted that the Earth rotates on its

axis and revolves round the Sun, a view

for which Galileo was persecuted by theCatholic Church a thousand years later.

Another great astronomer was Varahami-hira, a contemporary of Aryabhatta. Hewas thoroughly familiar with Greek andRoman astronomy, from which he adopt¬ed many features including the signs ofthe zodiac. Indian astronomers described

the procession of equinoxes, forecast

eclipses, and made amazingly accurate cal¬culations of planetary movementswithout the aid of telescopes.

While astronomy and mathematicsgrew together, the progress of medicineinvolved considerable knowledge ofchemistry and botany. The origin ofAyurveda ("Science of Longevity") goesback to the Samaveda. In the writings ofCharaka and Sushruta (first and fourthcenturies AD respectively) almost everyaspect of diagnosis and treatment was dis¬cussed. The properties of herbs, seeds,minerals and salts were studied carefully;

the importance of fresh air and water wasstressed; a code of medical conduct was

evolved; surgical instruments and tech¬niques were developed. Yoga had an im¬portant therapeutic side and yieldedvaluable knowledge about respiration, thecirculation of the blood and the nervous

system, and about the physiological ef¬fects of emotional and mystical states.

Indian medicine is based on the con¬

cepts of doshas ("humours") and gunas("ingredients of Nature"). The first in¬volves the study of the three vital fluids-wind, gall and mucuswhich must bebalanced for good health. The secondconcept presupposes three basic gunas:sattva, rajas and tamas, associated with pu¬rity, passion and apathy respectively. Forperfect health, sattva must dominate theother elements. The physician tries to en¬sure this by regulating diet, exercise andmedication.

The doctor has always occupied aprestigious position in Indian society. Aspiritual preceptor or guru was alsolooked upon as a healer. The idea of thesanctity of all life also encouraged the de¬velopment of veterinary medicine. Manyspecialized treatises were written aboutthe treatment of horses, elephants andother animals and birds. V.S.N.

34

PROJECT TIGER

m

*** -^

#---

BY RAHUL SINGH

Atiger in its natural habitat is oneof Nature's most marvellous and

unforgettable sights. Around3 metres long and weighing about 230 ki¬los, the adult animal with its beautifullycoloured coat of golden-orange and blackstripes is swift, ferocious and powerful,yet languid and graceful in its move¬ments. It is an unmatched huntingmachine. No other animal arouses such

fear, excitement and awe; no other animal

is surrounded with such an air of mys¬

tery.

The tiger, which is afraid of no wildcreature, has one mortal enemyman,who can not only destroy this magnifi¬cent animal with guns, poison and trapsbut can also destroy its surroundings withaxe and chain-saw.

Half a century ago, there were at least60,000 tigers in Asia. In Indonesia, the lastknown tiger was killed just before the Se¬cond World War and the Caspian tigerfollowed it into oblivion three decades

later. (Attempts are now being made tore-introduce the tiger to these areas.)

India has become the tiger's last majorhaunt in Asia, but here too the species hasbeen devastated on á monumental scale.

At the turn of the century there were40,000 tigers in India. By 1972 there werejust 2,000 left. For the maharajahs of In¬dia, with their lavish privy purses, tiger

shooting was a status symbol. One ma-harajah proudly claimed to have shot1,150 tigers during his lifetime. Bags of500 were quite commonplace.

Tiger tracks in the sands of the Sundarbans,West Bengal. A vigorous conservation policyhas given the tiger a new lease of life.

35

But even the abolition of the prince¬ly order did not improve matters.Poachers moved in for the valuable tigerskins, which two decades ago were worth$4,000 each. Meanwhile, India's popula¬tion explosion from 450 million at in¬dependence in 1947 to over 800 milliontoday meant that people moved inexora¬bly into the tiger's habitat.

Jim Corbett. Eight tiger reserves were in¬itially created as part of Project Tiger, towhich the World Wildlife F\:nd donated

$1 million.

According to Bittu Sehgal, thefounder-editor of India's leading wildlifemagazine, Sanctuary, the idea behind

Project Tiger is basically very simple."Each reserve is demarcated into a core

Miniature from Jaipur shows a tiger shoot.

Forests, particularly in the Terairegion bordering India and Nepal, werecut down to provide land for foodcrops.Its cover and that of its prey destroyed,the tiger disappeared from many parts ofIndia where it had earlier flourished in

large numbers. In other areas tigersretreated further and further into such

forests as were left, often killing domes¬tic cattle in their desperate hunger. By thetime alarm bells started to ring in the late1960s, the tiger was on the verge of ex¬tinction in India.

The 1969 world congress of the Inter¬national Union for the Conservation of

Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN),held in New Delhi, signalled an impor¬tant turning point. The IUCN put thetiger on its list of endangered species andcalled for a ban on tiger hunting world¬wide, to which India quickly reacted byforbidding tiger-shoots. On 1 April 1973an ambitious "Project Tiger" was official¬ly launched by the Indian Governmentin Corbett National Park (UttarPradesh), named after the legendary Brit¬ish hunter turned conservationist.

zone and a buffer zone. In the core, no

human activity other than forest protec¬tion is allowed; here Nature is allowed to

administer itself. In the buffer, human ac¬

tivity is minimized, restricted to the ex¬

ploitation of 'minor' forest produce suchas grass, fruit, seeds, honey, and fallenwood. The logic is that the core area, leftto its own devices, will quickly becomesuper-productive and that this productivi¬ty will spill over to the buffer zone."

The results of the new strategy wereextremely encouraging. Slowly but sure¬ly, the tiger started to make a comebackin India. At Corbett Park, there were

only forty-four tigers left sixteen yearsago; today there are nearly 100. At Ran-thambhor, a forest once owned by theMaharajah ofJaipur and protected main¬ly for tiger hunting, the number of tigersremaining at the start of Project Tiger hasincreased from fourteen to forty.

Thanks to Project Tiger, the tiger haseven made a remarkable recovery in theSundarbans, the 10,000-square-kilometredelta partly in Bangladesh and partly inIndia, where the Ganges, the Brah

maputra and the Meghna flow into theBay of Bengal. Here, in one of the world'slargest tracts of mangroves, an area wherethe ecosystem was seriously threatened,more and more woodcutters, fishermen

and honey-gatherers were being attackedby tigers, who in the process of evolutionhave become excellent swimmers and

whose diet now includes fish.

In 1973 Project Tiger was launchedover an area of 2,500 square kilometresof the Sundarbans. At first, the authori¬

ties tried to exclude people entirely fromthe core reserve, but this proved imprac¬tical, and fishermen and honey-gathererscontinued to go there despite the risks.So, in 1981, a new strategy was devised.Electrified human dummies were placedat selected points in order to conditionthe tigers to fear man. When the dummies

were attacked by the tigers, the latterreceived a shock powerful enough tocause them pain.

The ploy seems to have worked. Since

then, the number of people killed by thetigers has dropped considerably. At thesame time, since the inner core has been

protected, honey collection and fish har¬

vesting have increased by 300 per cent infifteen years.

As Sehgal says, Project Tiger is con¬cerned not only with saving the tiger butwith ecology, the environment, and "sav¬ing mankind itself". Today, the numbeiof tigers in India has risen to 4,000 and,in the process, other creatures whichwere on the verge of extinction in India,

such as the elephant, the stag, the one-horned rhino and the wild buffalo, have

been given a new lease of life.

Above all, the Indian public is now farmore aware of how man's future on this

planet is closely linked with Nature.Deforestation has certainly threatened thetiger, but it has also been a cause of the

floods that recently ravaged much ofnorth and eastern India. The connection

would not have been made twenty yearsago, but it is being made now. That is astep in the right direction.

RAHUL SINGH is editor-in-chief of The SundayObserver, India's largest Sunday newspaper,published in Bombay and Delhi.

36

ANGER OF THE SEA-GODDESS BY THAKAZHI S. PILLAI

In its 14 major languages and severalhundred other languages or dialects,modern India has many thrivingliteratures. One ofthem is that ofMalayalam, the official language ofKerala State in southwestern India. The

leading living novelist in Malayalam isThakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (born

1914), whose mostfamous novel,Chemmeen, has been translated into all

the main languages ofIndia, where itbecame aphenomenal best-seller, andinto many other languages as well.Chemmeen tells the story oftherelationship between Karuthamma, thedaughterofa Hindufisherman, andPareekutti, the son ofa Muslimfishwholesaler. Wepublish below an extractfrom thefinalpages ofPillai's novel. Itopens as Karuthamma and Pareekuttimeet on the seashore while

Karuthamma's husband, Palani the

fisherman, is out at sea. The eventsdescribed are inspired by the beliefoftheHindupeople that Karuthamma'sdefiant behaviour willanger the sea-goddess Kadalamma. The extract hasbeen takenfrom an English translationo/Chemmeen by Narayana Menonwhich has been included in the Unesco

Collection ofRepresentative Works(Gollancz publishers, London/Harperand Brothers, New York).

WHEN Palani was away at sea, wasit right that she should stand talk¬ing to a stranger? Karuthamma,

however, was not afraid. She had met him be¬

fore alone in the darkness of night. If she couldgive a man whose life she had crushed at leasta moment's happiness, shouldn't she grant it?

They stood face to face looking at eachother. The man that she had ruined stood be¬

fore her. She knew for certain that he would

love her forever. He would always understandher and forgive her. She could do anything tohim. He would put up with anything fromher.

In those few seconds Karuthamma forgotall the sorrows of her life. She felt she had not

been vanquished. She had the strength fewhad. She was under the protection of a strongman, life was secure. Palani would see to itthat the world outside wouldn't dare touch

her or hurt her. And she also had somethingelse which gave her spirit sustenance. A manloved her as no man had loved a woman. Be¬

tween these two, her life was full. Now theman who loved her stood in front of her.

She entered his extended arms and her

body became one with his. Their faces met.He whispered in her ears.

"My Karuthamma""Yes!"

He stroked her all over and his hands slow¬

ly moved to where he and the rude youngboatmen of the seafront used to stare.

"Karuthamma"

Again she answered him obediently in thatsemiconscious state of ecstasy.

"Yes-"

"What am I to you?"She took his face in both her hands and

looking at him with half-closed eyes, she said,"Everything. My pot of gold".

Again they became one. And in that statehe whispered gently in her ears.

She could not break herself away from thatembrace.

Far out at sea Palani baited a shark, a real¬

ly big shark. Until that day so huge a sharkhad never swallowed any bait of his or of any¬one else's. No fisherman had ever caught asbig a fish in that sea.

The moment it was baited, the shark struck

hard. The sea churned and the water splashedupward into the sky. Then it came chargingup. Palani saw it come above the water. Hecould see the line coming out of its mouth.

Palani realized that he had caught the big¬gest fish of that seacoast. He shouted forth hishappiness at the catch. He must make a quick

decision. Should he hold fast to the line and

stop the fish or should he let it go for sometime? If the bait had gone right into its throat,one pull of the line would be sufficient to stopthat dangerous beast. But it might charge atthe boat and smash it. But if he let it go, theboat would speed after it. And it was difficultto say how far the boat would be draggedalong with it.

Palani couldn't see the shore. He had no

idea in which direction the coast lay. He heldthe line with one hand and with the other

guided the boat, and looked toward the skyto find his bearing by the stars. He couldn'tfind the star he looked for. Stray clouds hadcovered the sky. The boat was being drawnalong at an unimaginable speed. It furrowedthrough the water. There were no waves. Thesea was calm. But the sea had darkened and

assumed an ominous character. He looked

carefully at the water to find the direction ofthe current. But he couldn't judge it, howeverhard he tried.

The shark was pulling the boat with thespeed of wind. Where was it going? How farhad he gone?

Palani cried out.

"Stop, stop there. Stop before you drag meto the palace of the sea goddess".

He pulled hard at the line. Suddenly theboat stopped. Then Palani laughed wildly.

"Ha ha hastop there like that".A short distance away from the boat the

fish was charging in its death throes. Oncemore Palani, excited, pulled the line. The fishjumped up and fell into the sea again. Thoughthe boat seemed motionless, Palani realized

that it had been caught up in a current andwas drawing a pattern on the expansive sea.

37

The current was going round and round incircles. Again Palani watched it carefully. Washe caught in a whirlpool? He was sure nowthat he was going round in a wide circle. Buthe held the line firmly. Palani looked up atthe sky. There wasn't a single star to be seen.

He stood in his boat and looked all round

him. He could only see the sea round him.But now the water was assuming a differentcontour. Now it seemed that all around him

was a mountain, a circular mountain of water.

He and his boat were in a depression. Thehead of the boat seemed to rise.

The palace of the goddess of the sea wasat the bottom of the deep sea. There the seagoddess was enshrined. Palani had hearddescriptions of that palace. He had to get therethrough a whirlpool, a whirlpool which madethe whole sea churn round in circles, knock¬ing at the gates of the sea goddess' abode. Pala¬ni thought that the mountains encircling himwere getting taller and taller. He loosened theline a little. Again the boat speeded forward.

From somewhere Palani heard a terrifyingroar. He had never heard a noise like that. It

was a storm rising.The waves rose as high as a mountain.

Close on one after the other the waves rose.Palani had never seen the like of such waves.

Those waves were not moving in lines. Theywere rising all round him in a circle, the twoends joining and making a pattern. Palanilooked round him and studied in a moment

the nature of that spectacular angry sea. Heknew how to ride his boat over the waves.

And he knew too how to join forces with astorm. He had sailed a boat on the darkest of

dark nights.There was a bright flash of lightning, fol¬

lowed by terrifying thunder. Palani let loosethe line. If he held fast the line and the boat

stopped, the boat would be smashed. He letthe fish pull the boat as it liked.

When the head of the boat mounted the

crest of the high waves, he balanced himselfwith the aid of his oar and jumped upwardso as to lighten the weight of the boat. Whenhe reached the top, the boat again suddenlycame down. The boat became almost vertical.

Then there was another huge wave ready toswallow up the boat with its gaping mouth.

The sea roared. It roared -with its angeragainst that poor fisherman. The stormprovided a drone for that roar. The thunderprovided the rhythm. What a terrible devil¬ish dance it was. A minute human being.Should the goddess of the sea unleash such afury to smash him? How quickly could shedrag him to her depths if she wanted.

Perhaps these huge waves were makingtheir way to the shore. Perhaps they were rid¬ing over the houses on the beach. Perhapspoisonous sea snakes were crawling over thebeach. In the distance something rose veryhigh. Was it the crest of some spectacular highwave, or was it some sea monster raising hishead with gaping mouth like a cave? Was itthat poor fisherman's spirit being broken?Palani tried to jump over the wave. But hecouldn't rise high. That huge gaping wavewent right over him and his boat.

Not only had the clouds covered the skywith thunder and lightning, the very skyseemed to split. All the water in the sea seemedto have gathered in one spot. The stormroared as if it was going to smash all. Yet thehead of the boat could be seen over the crest

of still another wave. When that had passed,Palani was clinging to the boat, now turnedupside down. In a second he found his breathand shouted.

"Karuthamma!"

Palani's cry rose above the roar of thestorm.

Why did he cry out for Karuthamma? Theguardian angel of the fisherman at sea is hiswife at home. He was begging her to pray forhis safety. Didn't the first fisherman come safe¬ly home in spite of the storm because of thepower of a fisherwoman's prayer? Palani, too,believed he could be saved. He had a wife. She

would pray for him. Hadn't she given him herword even the night before?

The fury of the storm increased. Palanifought it. But it joined forces with the waves.Another huge wave came rolling. By the timehe could say "Karu" the wave had rolled on.

There was nothing to be seen. The stormand the thunder and the lightning joinedtogether in the destruction.

The water churned devilishly and blew upto the skies.

The whole sea became a kind of cave. The

storm became an entity. The boat reappearedon top of the waves. Palani was lying on topof it. He was clinging to it.

Wouldn't that merciless slaughter ever end?The boat then got caught up in a whirl¬

pool and sank like a stone.One single star came out and shone. It was

the fisherman's Arundhati , the star whichshowed them their way, but that night the starseemed to lack in lustre.

The next morning day dawned on the calmsea as if nothing had happened. Some of thefishermen said that there had been a greatstorm in mid-ocean during the night. Thewaves came right up to the front of some ofthe houses. And there were sea snakes to be

seen on the white sands. Panchami stood on

the seashore, the tears running down hercheeks. The baby in her arms was crying bit¬terly for her father and mother. Palani, whohad gone out fishing the evening before, hadnot come home. Karuthamma was not to be

seen.

Panchami wept and as she wept she triedto comfort the baby.

Two days later the bodies of a man andwoman locked in embrace were washed on the

shore. They were the bodies of-Pareekutti andKaruthamma.

And at the Cheriyazhikkil seafront a deadshark that had been baited was also cast on

the shore.

Arundhati was the symbol of chastity.

Photo credits

Front cover: © Peter Menzel, Wheeler Pictures/Con¬tact, Paris. Back cover, pages 5, 7 (centre): J.L. Nou ©Editions Mazenod/Citadelle, Paris. Page 2: SteveMcCurry © Magnum, Paris. Pages 4, 15 (below), 17(above), 19 (below), 20 (above), 21 (below), 22, 27 (be¬low), 37: Raghubir Singh © ANA, Paris. Page 5 (above& below): © Musée du Louvre, Paris. Pages 6 (above &below), 32 (above): © J.L. Nou. Page 7 (above): Un-esco/G. Kruijsen; (below): Unesco/Sunil Janah. Pages 8(above & below right), 23, 26 (above), 29 (above), 36:Roland Michaud © Rapho, Paris. Pages 8 (below left), 1 1(above): Unesco. Page 9 (above): F. Le Diascorn ©Rapho, Paris; (below): Marilyn Silverstone © Magnum,Paris. Page 10 (left): © Jean-Loup Charmet, Centre deRelations Culturelles Franco-Indien, Paris; (right): ©Roger Viollet, Paris. Page 11 (below): Unesco/PressInformation Bureau, Government of India. Pages 12, 14(centre & below): All Rights Reserved. Page 13: ©J.L.Passek, Paris. Page 14 (above): Cahiers du Cinema,Paris. Page 15 (above): © Dilip Mehta, Contact, Paris.Page 16: © Anil Bordia, New Delhi. Pages 17 (below),18 (above): © G.C. Pate!, Bombay. Page 18 (below):Martine Franck © Magnum, Paris. Page 19 (above):J.-C. Fauchon © ANA, Paris. Pages 20 (below), 20-21(centre), 26 (below), 32 (below): Raghu Rai © Magnum,Paris. Pages 21 (above), 25: © Pierre Toutain, Rouen.Page 24 (above): © Ketaki Sheth, Bombay. Pages 24(below), 29 (below), 30: Bruno Barbey © Magnum,Paris. Pages 27 (above), 31, 33: H. Cartier Bresson ©Magnum, Paris. Page 28: Frederic © Rapho, Paris. Page34: ©Jean Loup Charmet, Paris. Page 35: Peter Jackson© WWF, Gland, Switzerland.

38

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ISSNX41-5278

""' N°2 - 1989 - OPI 89 - 1 - 465 A