India Dissents: 3,000 Years of Difference, Doubt and Argument

597 Pages·2017·2.49 MB·English

by  Ashok Vajpeyi

Ashok Vajpeyi is a Hindi poet and lover of arts, apart from being a noted cultural and
arts administrator, and a former civil servant. He was Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi,
from 2008 to 2011. He is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award (1994), Dayawati
Kavi Shekhar Samman (1994) and Kabir Samman (2006). He has also been decorated
by the President of the Republic of Poland with the outstanding national award The
Officer’s Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland (2004), and by the French
government as Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (2005). His publications
include poetry collections Kahin Nahin Vahin, Bahuri Akela, Ibarat Se Giri Matrayein,
Kahin Koi Darwaza (Hindi) and A Name for Every Leaf (English). His critical works
include Philhal, Samay Se Bahar, Kavita Ke Teen Darwaze (Hindi) and Raza: A Life in
Art (English).

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
DISSENT IN HISTORY
Nasadiya Sukta
THE AJIVIKAS AND THE CHARAVAKS
Makkhali Gosala
Brihaspati Sutra
Ajita Kesakambali
BUDDHISM
Gautam Buddha
Visuddhi Magga
Assalayana Sutta (From Majjhima Nikaya)
Terigatha
Dharmakirti
JAINISM
Rishabhdev
Yogindu
Mahapurana
Somaprabha
Somadeva
Hemachandra
Uttaradhayayanasutra
SUBHASHITAS
Bhartrihari
Sohnoka
Kshemendra
Bilhana
Kalhana
Anonymous poet in Subhashitavali
THE VIRASHAIVAS
Chennaiah
Basavanna
Akka Mahadevi
Allama Prabhu
Adaiah
Kalavve
Molige Mahadevi
Kadire Remmavve
Goggave
Urilingadeva
Dhoolaiah
Sarvajna
CLASSICAL TAMIL POETS
Purananuru
Sundarar
Manikkavachakar
Andal
Sivavakkiyar
Uttiranallur Nangai
TULSIDAS
LAL DED
The Varkari Poets
Namdev
Janabai
Soyarabai
Tukaram
CHARPATNATH
KABIR
THE SIKH GURUS
Guru Nanak
Guru Arjun Dev
Guru Gobind Singh
MEERABAI
THE SUFIS
Amir Khusro
Sarmad
Dara Shikoh
Sultan Bahu
Bulleh Shah
Shah Latif
Classical Telugu Poets
Annamacharya
Kshetrayya
Vemana
VANCHANATHA’S MAHISASATAKAM
THE BAULS
Madan
Lalon Fakir
CLASSICAL URDU POETS
Sauda Mohammad Rafi
Mir Taqi Mir
Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib
RAMMOHAN ROY AGAINST SATI
JYOTIRAO PHULE: PREFACE TO SLAVERY
SAVITRIBAI PHULE
Says Manu
Arise and Learn
PANDITA RAMABAI SARASWATI: WOMAN’S PLACE IN RELIGION AND SOCIETY
TARABAI SHINDE
BALGANGADHAR TILAK: SWARAJ IS MY BIRTH RIGHT
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
Nationalism in India
Letter from Rabindranath Tagore to Lord Chelmsford,
Viceroy of India
HASRAT MOHANI
MAHATMA GANDHI
Statement at Court,
Quit India Resolution,
KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM
Those Iron Gates of Prison
Communistic
Deposition of a Political Prisoner
PERIYAR E.V. RAMASAMY
Duties of a Revolutionary
On the Nationalism of the Congress Brahmins
On Gandhi and His Nationalism
On Hinduism
PURNA SWARAJ: THE DEMAND FOR FULL INDEPENDENCE
(BY THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS)
BHAGAT SINGH: Why I Am an Atheist
M.N. ROY: Whither Congress? A Manifesto
B.R. AMBEDKAR: Annihilation of Caste
SUBHAS CHANDRA Bose: Message to Mahatma Gandhi, July
ISMAT CHUGHTAI
An Excerpt from Kaghazi Hai Pairahan(The ‘Lihaf ’ Trial)
On Radha and Krishan
SA’ADAT HASAN MANTO: Save India from Its Leaders
KRISHAN CHANDER: New Primer for Hindi
DISSENT AND DEMOCRACY
THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY DEBATES
Jaipal Singh Munda
Begum Aizaz Rasul
Purnima Banerji
O.V. ALAGESAN ON LINGUISTIC STATEs
B.R. AMBEDKAR ON THE CONSTITUTION
SA’ADAT HASAN MANTO: Pundit Manto’s First Letter to Pundit Nehru
MIRZA CHANGEZI: Kafir
FIRAQ GORAKHPURI
Desire
Faith
Drunkard
FEROZE GANDHI
J.B. KRIPALANI
BABURAO Bagul: You Who Have Made the Mistake
BAPURAO Jagtap: This Country Is Broken
RAGHUVIR SAHAY: Adhinaayak
KANU SANYAL: Declaration of the Formation of CPI (M-L)
SANT RAM UDASI: A Plea to My Mother
LAL SINGH DIL
My Country
Words
PAASH: Lines to Our Insecurity
KUMAR VIKAL: The Last Scream
BALRAJ SAHNI’S CONVOCATION ADDRESS AT JAWAHARLAL
NEHRU UNIVERSITY
JAYAPRAKASH NARAYAN: An Open Letter to Indira Gandhi
NAYANTARA SAHGAL: Letter to Dr R.S. Kelkar
NIRMAL VERMA: For an Alternative Vision
UMA SHANKAR JOSHI: In Opposition to the Emergency
KHUSHWANT SINGH ON OPERATION BLUE STAR
KAIFI AZMI: Second Storm
NAMDEO DHASAL: New Delhi,
SIDDALINGAIAH: The Dalits Are Here
GADDAR: The Rebellious Fields
HARISHANKAR PARSAI: In Other Lands a Cow Is Prized for
ITS MILK, IN OURS IT IS MEANT FOR CLASHES
DEVAKI JAIN AND NIRMALA BANERJEE: Tyranny of the Household
U.G. KRISHNAMURTI
God Is Irrelevant
Religion Is a Neurological Problem
ROMILA THAPAR: Dissent and Protest in the Early Indian Tradition Narendra Dabholkar:
Faith and Superstition
MEDHA PATKAR: One Tapa, One Vow
GITHA HARIHARAN: Rehabilitating Mothers
D.N. JHA: From The Myth of the Holy Cow
PRAKASH N. SHAH: N.M. and Kalinga? Impossible, Thrice
Impossible, Brother Gill!
KHADAR MOHIUDDIN: Birthmark
RENUKA NARAYANAN: Celebrate ‘Subversion’
MAHASWETA DEVI: The Republic of Dreams
A. REVATHI: Property as Selfhood
SIDDHARTH NARRAIN: Size Does Matter Your Lordships
ARCHANA VARMA: A ‘Grand Celebration’ of Feminist Discourse
JAGRUP SINGH JHUNNIR: A Pistol for My Dowry
MEENA KANDASAMY: Ekalaivan
HILAL MIR: How I Became a Stone-thrower for a Day
MONA ZOTE: Rez
ROBIN S. NGANGOM: Revolutionaries
PAUL LYNGDOH: For Sale
M.B. MANOJ: The Children of the Forest Talk to Yesu
BASUDEV SUNANI: Body Purification
JYOTI LANJEWAR: Caves
Kusum MEGHWAL: The Curse of a Scavenger Woman
SHILPA PHADKE, SAMEERA KHAN AND SHILPA RANADE:
Why Loiter?
NABANEETA DEV SEN: Festival
DAYAMANI BARLA: Acceptance Speech for the Ellen L. Lutz
Indigenous Rights Award, 2013
ABHAY XAXA: I Am Not Your Data
KANJI PATEL: Victual
IROM SHARMILA: An Open Letter to the Prime Minister
U.R. ANANTHAMURTHY: From Hindutva or Hind Swaraj
NAYANTARA SAHGAL’S SPEECH AT ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY
AMARTYA SEN: Dissent and Freedom in India
Rohith Vemula’s Last Letter
ANIRBAN BHATTACHARYA AND UMAR KHALID: JNU Protests
BHAIRAV ACHARYA: The Second Coming of Sedition
HARSH MANDER: Conscience, Not Obedience
KIRAN NAGARKAR: A Letter to Modi
KEKI DARUWALLA: Of Dissent and Laws
MRINAL PANDE: Nationalism and the Cult of Bharat Mata
MALAVIKA RAJKOTIA: Dissent from and within the Supreme
Court to Save the Constitution
DR HAFIZ AHMED: Write Down ‘I’m a Miyah’
REZWAN HUSSAIN: Our Revolution
MANASH FIRAQ BHATTACHARJEE
The End of Tomorrow
Say It, While It’s Time
No Urdu in Dilli, Mian
JERRY PINTO: ‘I Have an Old Faith in Youth’
PURUSHOTTAM AGRAWAL: Let Us Strive for Fortitude…So That
We May Ask Questions
AMOL PALEKAR: Imprisoning Minds
SHANTA GOKHALE: Asking Why, Saying No
T.M. KRISHNA: Myth and Reality
SAGARI RAMDAS: Not for the Cow
NARESH DADHICH: It’s Time Indian Scientists Answered Their
Call to Be Responsible Citizens
VIKRAM SONI: A Wounded Civilization
LAILA TYABJI: A Matter of Identity
ZAKIA SOMAN AND NOORJEHAN SAFIA NIAZ: Why We Are
Seeking a Ban on Triple Talaq
SONI SORI: The State Is Lawless
VARUN GROVER: Ours But to Tweet and Die
MADHAVI MENON: On Homosexuality and National Anthem, the Supreme Court Has
Offered Contradictory Reasoning
PINJRA TOD: Our ‘Hormonal Outbursts’ Will Be Your Nightmare!
GAUHAR RAZA: New Robes
APOORVANAND: Crisis of Hinduism
RAHAT INDORI
Creating a New Circle of Splendour
If They Are Against, Let Them Be
Selected verses
JERRY PINTO: Acceptance Speech for the Sahitya Akademi Award, 2017
RAVISH KUMAR: Acceptance Speech for the Inaugural
Kuldip Nayar Journalism Award, 2017
COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INTRODUCTION
India and the Plurality of Dissent
Bow to him who is the word
both occult and manifest,
his glory revealed by the power
of the independent mind.
—From Subhashitavali, an anthology of Sanskrit verse compiled in the fifteenth
century by Vallabhadeva (translated by A.N.D. Haksar)
It can be reasonably argued that in India, from the beginning of its civilizational
enterprise, nothing has remained singular for long; in fact, nothing has been, in a sense,
allowed to be singular for long. Whether God or religion, philosophy or metaphysics,
language or custom, cuisine or costume, every realm is marked by plurality. It is not
accidental that in many Western languages the word India is plural—‘Indes’, meaning
‘Indias’.
It is impossible, therefore, to talk about the Indian tradition: there are multiple
traditions, all authentically and robustly Indian. Even within a single major religion,
Hinduism, there are four Vedas, millions of gods, eighteen Upanishads, six schools of
classical philosophy, two epics (and numerous versions of both), four purusharthas or
goals of life. It can be easily claimed that India as a country—and, equally, as a
civilization—is an unending celebration of human plurality. This is how it has survived
through millennia.
Central to the plural tradition, or sensibility, is the notion that there are many ways
of looking at and living in the world. Plurality accommodates differences; and
differences, in their turn, embody and enact dissent. When the Vedic seer ordains,
‘Aano Bhadrah Kratvo Yantu Vishwatah’ (Let noble thoughts come to us from all
directions), what is being sanctified is the idea that there are many different ideas and
truths spread all over the world and they are all welcome. Another Vedic saying,
‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (The world is one family), embraces all humanity, and
therefore every idea, emotion, lifestyle that exists. Such openness and acceptance, or, at
the very least, accommodation, is the core of the Vedic cosmic vision. Through the
millennia, many dilutions and distortions may have occurred in real life and practice, as
would inevitably happen everywhere, but Indian tradition and civilization never lost this
remarkable, largely inclusive vision.