TAGORE, CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI AND THE BHAGVA DHVAJ

     Tagore's memorable poem 'Pratinidhi' ought to be better known throughout India in that it describes in lyric, that he alone was capable of, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's adoption of the Bhagva Dhvaj as his Royal Standard..The poem is to be found in the book 'Katha o Kahini', in which the exploits of many Rajput and Sikh heroes have also been described in inimitable poetry.

     'Pratinidhi' begins with a scene in which one morning at Satara Fort, Shivaji finds his Guru Ramdas begging from door to door. Shivaji wonders, what can satisfy this unlikely mendicant who has the king among his disciples! So he sends his courtier Balaji with a slip of paper to Ramdas. Ramdas receives the slip and sees that in it Shivaji has given away to him his entire kingdom. 

     The next day Ramdas goes to Shivaji and says, "Now that you have given away your kingdom, of what use will you be"? Shivaji replies, Ï shall happily sacrifice my life for you in your service". Ramdas then asks Shivaji to come with him begging and Shivaji does so.

     They then go from door to door together, with a begging bowl in hand. Ramdas then tells him that he should continue to act as king, but as the 'Pratinidhi' (representative) of the mendicant who is Ramdas. Thus the kingdom will be ruled by someone who has no kingdom. In order to symbolise that, Ramdas gives his bhagwa cloth to Shivaji with his blessings, and says, from now on this will be your Royal Standard, the cloth of someone who has no interest in worldly things.

     Then Ramdas sings to the almighty, tears flowing from his eyes, "O Lord, it is you who have made me king in this world. I shall be at your feet always, please come and take over your kingdom from me". 

     The topical few lines in Bengali are reproduced below in Roman. Because the language is highly Sanskritised, even people who do not speak Bengali should be able to catch the meaning and the music of the lines.

Tomare korilo vidhi       Bhikshuker pratinidhi

Rajyeshwar deen udaseen

Palibe je rajdharma     Jeno taha mor karma

Rajya loye rabe rajyaheen

Vatsa, tobe ei laho     mor ashirvad saho

Amar gerua gatravas

Bairagir uttariya     pataka koriya niyo

Kahilen Guru Ramdas''

BENGALI MUSLIMS

I have often found it quite paradoxical that Bengal had such a large Muslim population, if one considers the geographical distribution of followers of the two religions in the South Asian subcontinent. If one travelled from West to East along the vast land mass known as Indo-Gangetic plain (Aryavarta) in those pre-partition days, when there were some Hindus and some Muslims in every part of the plain, one would have observed that the proportion of Muslims in the population would go on steadily reducing as one went from West to East. Thus, the North-West Frontier Province, Baluchistan and Sind were overwhelmingly Muslim ; Punjab was balanced, with a Muslim majority tapering off as one went from Attock to Ambala, west to east within the province ; and the United Provinces and Bihar were overwhelmingly Hindu. Then how is it that suddenly the pattern reversed itself in East and North Bengal, and then again fell into place in the easternmost province of British India, namely Assam?

The answer to this PROBABLY lies in that the bulk,or at least a substantial part of Bengali Muslims are converts from Buddhists, not so-called lower-caste Hindus (SCLCH), as is very often believed. This is my finding, of course arguable. Had the latter been true, so many Namahshudras, Kaibartas, Rajbongshis and others would not have remained in both West Bengal and Bangladesh. In fact huge swaths of West Bengal in the North 24-Parganas and Nadia districts (both border districts) are populated by SCLCH, mainly Namahshudras, who left everything in erstwhile East Pakistan and came away, but refused to convert to Islam. Even in present day Bangladesh there are more than a crore of Hindus (about 9% of the population), the bulk of them SCLCH. They are a majority, or nearly so, in Gopalgonj district of Bangladesh. They have a thriving religious life -- last March I visited a hugely attended and financed 'Oshtoprohor Radhakrishna Naam Yagna' near Khulna. This was in keeping with Shri Chaitanya's Bhakti cult. So it is quite difficult to accept that they constituted the bulk of Muslim converts. Some Namahshudras, of course, did convert. The rest of the minorities in that country are a few Brahmin-Kayastha-Baidya city dwellers, Saha businessmen and a handful of Buddhists and Christians. The once-powerful hold of Buddhism in present-day Bangladesh is evidenced by the extensive ruins of Mahasthangarh in Bogra district, Mainamati ruins in Comilla district and Somapura Mahavihara in Naogaon district. One more evidence is the derisive word that Bengali Hindus use for Bengali Muslims 'Neray' (the corresponding Muslim word for Hindus is 'Malaun'). Neray is a diminutive of 'Nara' which means tonsured or shaven-headed. Bengali Muslims used to shave their heads (some still do) but grow beards, a hangover from their Buddhist days. Muslims from no other part of South Asia tonsure their heads.

THE NATIONAL ANTHEM CONTROVERSY

A controversy has been generated by Shri Kalyan Singh, Hon'ble Governor of Rajasthan's statement that the 'Adhinayaka' in the National Anthem refers to the British king. In truth 'ADHINAYAKA' is a Sanskrit word meaning 'Superior Leader'. It is NOT the name of any British King or Viceroy. There cannot, therefore, arise any question of comparing it to the removal of King George V statue from India Gate. Tagore himself, incensed by this controversy which arose during his lifetime, wrote to his acolyte Pulinbehari Sen on November 20, 1937, “ In the song I have announced the victory (Jaya) of that Bharata-Bhagya-Vidhata (the Being who determines the fate of India) who is the eternal charioteer of the Indian masses through the ages, through ups and downs, who is their all-seeing, all knowing guide. (Clearly he could not be) any George, whether fifth or sixth”. In another letter dated March 29, 1939, he wrote to Sudharani Devi, “I consider it beneath my dignity to answer those who impute to me the unimaginable stupidity of singing paeans to fourth or fifth George as the ….eternal charioteer (of Indians)”. [Rabindra-Jeevani, official biography of Rabindranath Tagore, by Prabhat Kumar Mukhopadhyay, p. 524, by courtesy of noted Tagore scholar Dr. Chirasree Chakraborty, D.Litt., formerly of LSR College, New Delhi].

Jana-Gana-Mana-Adhinayaka….Bharat-bhagya-vidhata thus clearly refers to a divine being and not to any human, least of all to some British king. A National Anthem or National Flag of a country are sacred objects, adopted by the Constituent Assembly after mature deliberation by its founding fathers. No self-respecting nation tinkers with them unless there are exceptional circumstances.