EDITORIAL Sankardeva and our times H N Das
In the middle of the twentieth century the tall, dark and imposing figure of late Pandit Bipin Chandra Goswami, Mahamohopadhyya of the Munikulashram Sanskrit Tol at Sukreswar, clad in snow white dhoti, panjabi and chaddar and always carrying his jet black umbrella in the streets of old Guwahati used to be held in awe and respect by all of us. Whenever we passed by we would do namaskar. Suddenly one day he fell from our esteem when he literally chased out late Prof Hilton Francis, a Cambridge University don, whom late Bishnu Ram Medhi, the then Chief Minister of Assam, had specially invited to head the IAS training class in the Gauhati University. Hilton had gone to the Tol with the hope of learning some Sanskrit. Goswami would not allow any non-Hindus to enter his Tol. Senior students under the leadership of late Anil Ratan Barthakur mounted a protest. We juniors also joined in. Ultimately the matter was amicably settled at the intervention of late Birinchi Kumar Barua and late Maheswar Neog. Hilton learnt enough Sanskrit to read the scriptures before he left the country.The Parsees of India are a small but talented religious community. They can count many great Indians among their compatriots such as Dadabhai Naoraji, Tatas (JRD got a Bharat Ratna), Nusli Wadia, Godrej, Sam Manekshaw, Cowasji Jehangir, Modis (Homi, Russi and Piloo), Homi Bhaba, Nani Palkiwala, Soli Sorabji, Fali Nariman, Zubin Mehta, Alyque Padamsee, Parsis Khambata, Penaz Masani, Perizad Zorabian and many others. This race is now dying out mainly because of their exclusive nature and dogmatism. My daughter in law a Parsee was promptly ex-communicated the day after she married a Hindu. She cannot enter any Parsee Agyari (fire temple) which are out of bounds for non-Parsees. No doubt that the once prosperous Parsees are now becoming poorer and are dying out. Soon there will be no one left even to look after their vast religious, cultural and social institutions and their abundant community housing properties in Mumbai and elsewhere.
When we were small most old families of then Guwahati used to visit the Mazar Sharif and Dargah of Hazarat Jahir Aulia in Ulubari. My mother and other ladies used to tie the sacred thread after lighting the candle. When I was posted to Dhubri as Deputy Commissioner of the erstwhile united Goalpara district (1967-69) two places we would not miss were the Panch Peer next to DCs bungalow and the Gurudwara next to the Circuit House which Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675) had built at the spot where Guru Nanak (1469-1538) is reported to have met Sri Sankardev (1449-1568) in 1505.Soon after my marriage I had taken my bride to most of the well known religious places in North and South India including the Jama Masjid and the Dargah in Ajmeer and of course the Gurdwaras. While in Bangkok beside the other famous temples we used to like to go to Wat Arun (Sun temple) across the Chao Phaya river in Thonburi. While in Adelaide we would have Sunday meals at the Hare Krishna temple along with our children. Quite often we used to get invited to the Anglican Church across the Torrens river opposite the cricket oval by the then Registrar of the Adelaide University RA Shields who had been earlier an ICS officer in the old Bombay Presidency Cadre during the last days of the British Raj. I have already written in the Assam Tribune about my acquaintance with Don Bradman while in Adelaide. Occasionally he used to visit this Church. His funeral services were conducted here and zoomed to the world over television. We saw it in Guwahati. In Adelaide we used to attend many religious functions in a Catholic school which our children attended. But we did not thereby lose our Hindutwa.
During my extensive tours in different countries I have visited many Buddhist, Shinto, Tsao temples in Japan, China Taiwan and the South Asian countries. I have seen and attended services in quite a few of the Christian Churches, Cathedrals and Basilicas including the greatest ones such as St Peters in Vatican, Notre Dame in Paris, Kolner Dom in Cologne, IL Duomo in Milan, St Stephen in Vienna, Marianplatz in Munich, St Paul in London and the other grand cathedrals, both Catholic and Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox (Greek) in America and Europe. In this year of science (2005) I saw the tall 161 metre (528 feet) steeple of the Cathedral at Ulm (Germany), where Einstein was born in 1879.One place of worship which I found to be very peaceful is the Basilica of St Francis at Assissi in Italy. It was a warm end of May morning in 2005 when we went up the steep steps leading to the top of the hill. In the early morning we had driven solid 4 hours from Venice through roads built 2000 years ago, during Roman empire days, which are rough and uneven by European standard. We were tired and perspiring. But when we entered the Basilica it was cool and silent. On that day the mid morning service was attended mostly by tourists from different countries of the world. It was not possible to count how many of them were actually Catholics. Probably not many. But we forgot in that milieu that we were brown or that we were not Catholics. In one splendid room we saw the relics of St Francis (1182-1226). That reminded me of the exposition of the body of St Francis Xavier (1506-52) which I saw in Goa in 1973 or 1974. I was posted in the Finance Ministry in New Delhi during the 1970s.
Nowhere have I encountered any hindrance in seeing or attending any religious shrine or ceremony as a tourist. I hear that non-Muslims are not allowed in the Kabah at Mecca. I have not gone there. I have not entered any Agyari also. The protagonists of these customs are entitled to their own dogmas. But my considered personal view is that these ideas smack only of the dark ages and belong to the anachronisms of mediaeval history.My understanding of Sri Sankardeva is that he was very modern, very liberal and very enlightened. He never spoke against any religion or any custom. He never barred either women or non-believers from his simple naamghars or kirtanghars. He never discriminated between one race and another, one caste and another. He believed in the equality of all living beings. If we are true disciples of Sankardev we should follow his ideals.
[The writer was Chief Secretary, Assam, during 1990-95.]MSN Premium gives you PC protection, junk-mail filters, advanced communication tools and great software like MSN Encarta® Premium. Click here for a FREE trial!
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