Rao Bahadur Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar : The Romantic Realist.

Rao Bahadur Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar : Tribute to the Romantic Realist on his death anniversary.

The year 2017 marked the sesquicentennial year of the birth of one of the legendary painters of Mumbai, Rao Bahadur Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar (1857 - 1944). Dhurandhar was hugely successful in his lifetime and his works covered all known genres of realistic art - portraits, landscapes, episodes from history and mythology, as well as mappings of social life, rendered by way of oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, sketches - most of which were also commercially popular as posters, postcards, book covers and illustrations, as well as oleographs. To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of the artist, the NGMA Mumbai, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, of which I was holding the charge as its Director (February 2013 to October 2018), decided to organise a befitting sesquicentennial retrospective exhibition as a tribute to this great artist from Mumbai (Bombay during the times of Dhurandhar) at the NGMA. 

Considering the mammoth task involved in researching and identifying the works of the artist, which could be assembled to feature in the sesquicentennial tribute exhibition, we decided to constitute ‘Dhurandhar sesquicentennial exhibition organising committee’, which consisted of eminent artists and art connoisseurs that included Dr. Pheroza Godrej, Shri Suhas Bahulkar, Shri Adwaita Gadanayak, Mr Rajan Jaykar, Shri Tejas Garge, Prof. Rajeev Mishra, Prof. Vishwanath Dr. Sable, Ms Brinda Miller and Shri Bharat Tripathi. I had the honour to be the member secretary of the committee. Mr Suhas Bahulkar, with whose scholarship, mentoring, erudition, untiring hard work and research this exhibition was made possible, helped team NGMA Mumbai to curate the exhibition with major support coming from DAG.

The exhibition titled ‘Rao Bahadur Mahadev Vishwanath Dhurandhar : The Romantic Realist’, for the first time ever presented an extensive collection of Dhurandhar’s works that were sourced from across the country and from innumerable sources and collectors - both governmental and non governmental sources. Primary lenders of paintings and archival material for the exhibition include Mr Ashish Anand, DAG, who also funded the exhibition, Mr Jagdish Kumar Agarwal of Swaraj Art Archives, Mr Rajan Jaykar, Government of Maharashtra, Sir J J School of Art and the NGMA. The organising committee overwhelmingly supported us not just with their guidance but also helped us to reach most private collectors from whom the works could be collected for the exhibition. Suhas Bahulkar was the prime mover for the exhibition and he beautifully blended the paintings in the exhibition with some of the very rare original archival materials including Dhurandhar’s gold medals, his sketchbooks, book illustrations, photographs and other ephemera. These works were painstakingly identified and collected from various sources primarily from the extraordinary collections of DAG and Swaraj Art Foundation. The Government of Maharashtra, for the very first time opened up their collections in their museums and some of the most spectacular works of Dhurandhar, which are in their collections were shared for the exhibition. Mr Bhushan Gagrani  and Tejas Garge came out of the way to help us in finding ways and means to wade through those difficult governmental procedures to sign the agreement between NGMA Mumbai and Government of Maharashtra for transporting the extraordinary paintings from different museums in Maharashtra to NGMA Mumbai for the exhibition. Dhurandhar was a voracious painter and the copious amount of work that he has left behind and it’s quality makes him the second most popular Indian artist - second only to the one and only Raja Ravi Varma - in the first half of the 19th century. Dhurandhar works include, among others, the Indian mythological and historical subjects. He was an extraordinarily gifted, preeminent commercial artist whose paintings are also seen in the form of oleographs, calendars and posters. Dhurandhar was a master observer and a compulsive sketcher, which helped him to render minute details of his subjects that were used as illustrations in various books, which were published by scholars and stalwarts like C.A. Kincaid, Otto Rothfield, S. M. Edwards, Seth Purshotam Vishram Mawjee, A. K. Priyolkar among others. Dhurandhar was among the first painter who started working for Industry by way of illustrations, advertisement and posters - in Bombay province -  in the early twentieth century. What is more interesting is that his name, as the illustrator in the book, received the same significance as that of the author of the book, exemplifying his stature.

Dhurandhar’s paintings on Mythological and historical subjects, became very popular and were printed in Oleograph technique that became the pride collection of people, temples and public places. His paintings have  ade their way as far as the Buckingham Palace, UK, and across many different palaces in India ; Gwalior, Chota Udaipur, Baroda, Mysore and others. Like the Gods and goddesses oleographs of Raja Ravi Verma, which adorn the worship places in most South Indian homes, Dhurandhar’s  paintings have found a place in most homes and public space particularly in Maharashtra. Dhurandhar’s paintings reveal his mastery in using light and shadow and crowding his paintings with people, each with distinct features and body language. Among the most popular paintings of Dhurandhar are those that chronicle the coronation story of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The highlight of these paintings include depths and realism, which are depicted in painting that shows the procession at the time of Shivaji’s coronation. Shivaji was the leitmotif of the Dhurandhar family. His grand father was the first man to speak English in Kolhapur and worked in the court of King Shivaji Maharaj’s descendent. Other paintings which vividly and realistically describe the events include his painting of a scene from a Hindu wedding, portraits of a woman labourer and that of a Parsi priest among others. He was one of the most prolific painter of his time who handled almost all subjects of painting that included portrait, landscape, figure compositions and murals, which  were considered as important subjects of his period. He contributed in various branches of painting like portraiture, landscapes, posters, book-illustrations, genre, literature on art and a copious amount of black & white sketches and drawings.

Dhurandhar was born in a respected family ( to Vishwanath Krishnaji and Narmadabai) in Phanaswadi, on 18th March, 1867. He was brought up in Kolhapur, where his parents enjoyed an important social status. He studied at Rajaram High School, Kolhapur, and it is here that his interest in art took root. He was fascinated by what he saw around him in Kolhapur, particularly the sculptures at the Mahalakshmi temple, and the paintings done by traditional painters. He was inspired by Abalall Rahiman, his senior at school. Abalall would go on to join Sir J. J. School of Art, and Dhurandhar reminiscences in his autobiography that he would often watch Abalall paint on the banks of Rankala lake, particularly in the summer of 1887 when Abalall was on his summer break from JJ School of Art. During those days Bombay was the o KY place from where you could appear for the matriculation. In the year 1887, MV Dhurandhar travelled all the way from Kolhapur to Pune by bullock cart and from Pune he went to Bombay by train for writing his matriculation exam. Fortuitously it was during this visit to Bombay that he had an opportunity to meet Abalall at the Sir J J School of Art and the rest is history. He was completely inspired by the ambience of the JJ School of Arts. In the very next year 1888, the Bombay Art Society was established by a Britisher at Bombay to promote art, and an annual art exhibition was organised by them which was mostly restricted to the British artists. 

Dhurandhar dreamed of joining the JJ School of Arts. On his return from Bombay he soon learnt that his idol Abalall has got an extraordinary recognition from society. The very next year - 1888, Abalall was awarded a gold medal at the industrial exhibition, sponsored by the British in Poona (now Pune). This acclaim made Abalall a household name in his home-town of Kolhapur. Dhurandhar was motivated to emulate Abalall and he tried to follow him in his foot steps and accordingly Dhurandhar joined the famed art college, the Sir J J School of Art. Dhurandhar studied at the JJ School of Art from 1890-95. It was at the JJ school that he honed his painting skills and learnt a lot of professional skills about paintings from his teachers and fellow artists. The Director of the J J School of Arts was Mr Griffith, who was very quick to notice the talents of Dhurandhar.

Dhurandhar was a great observer and most of his sketches are based on his observations of day today activities of people, including household works of women.  He was such a compulsive sketcher that even the most mundane and rituals of daily chores of men and women did not miss his attention and all this is evidenced in his hundreds of sketches,  which formed part of  the exhibition. During his college days, in the JJ School of Art, he came across an advertisement - February 1892 - that appeared in the Times of India, which carried an announcement regarding the fourth edition of the exhibition of The Bombay Art Society (BAS; established in 1888). Incidentally the NGMA Mumbai had earlier organised an exhibition of the Bombay Art Society, which was curated by Suhas Bahulkar, and this exhibition too was presented at NGMA when I was the Director. In the last decade of the nineteenth century the Bombay Art Society exhibition attracted quite a lot of interest from artists and the 1992 edition of the exhibition was no different. Artists from across the country were invited to send in their entries—paintings and sculptures. Dhurandhar, who was then studying at the Sir J. J. School of Art also learnt of this exhibition and decided to participate in the exhibition. However he noticed that the participation was only for the British. The Bombay Art Society exhibitions were a major social events and they  attracted quite a large number of people including those from the higher echelons of society and many Britishers. The Bombay Art Society exhibition, which was just in its fourth edition, had attracted a lot of attention of British artists and art connoisseurs. Dhurandhar was then a junior student at JJ School of Art and sought permission from the vice principal, E. Greenwood, to submit his works for the exhibition. He submitted two works and both of his works were executed in charcoal but one was a detailed drawing using powder shading while the other was an example of figure composition of two women chatting while working on their daily chores - one chopping potatoes, the other picking gravel out of rice.

Dhurandhar’s works were immediately noticed by Greenwood who was happy to oblige him to frame his works at the JJ School and submit his works as  student entries. The 4th edition of the BAS exhibition was held in February 1892 at the Secretariat. The Governor of Bombay Presidency (as the region was then called) inaugurated the exhibition. The atmosphere at the exhibition was electric. Crowds of people, painters, sculptors, students of JJ School and the general public gathered at the Secretariat to enjoy the experience. Dhurandhar, JJ student, was in the crowd and was quite nervous about how his artworks would fare against those of other artists, most of who were older and more experienced. Dhurandhar’s work was not only selected for the coveted prize but he also received an award of Rs 50, instituted by JN Tata. It was the first time ever that an Indian painter had won this award at the Bombay Art Society exhibition. Just one year later in the year 1893, both his parents died. In order to support his family Dhurandhar had to take up a job at the Alexandra Girls School as a drawing teacher. A year later he was awarded the Lord Mayo Medal for his consistent progress and good records at the JJ School. In the same year he also received the Bombay Art Society’s award for his painting ‘ Music Lesson’, which interested Raja Ravi Verma so much that he brought this painting. One of his drawings of Pots was chosen by the Principal of JJ School for an article that Griffith wrote for the Indian Art Journal in England. In the year 1995 he married his first wife Bapubai. Unfortunately she could not survive for long and dies during the famous Bombay plague in 1897. Since plague was considered as a deadly infectious diseases not many people could come to see his wife. He was so obsessively involved with his paintings that he drew a painting of his dead wife and titled it she is dead. He was then married to his second wife Gangubai. His artist daughter Ambika was born in the year 1912. It was during this period that he also started doing illustrations for Seth Puroshottam’s Suvarnamala magazine, which became a household name for his illustration. 

Dhurandhar after he completed his studies at the JJ School, he worked for the college and was appointed as the head master in 1910. He was associated with the Sir JJ School of Art for more than four decades. During the initial period of his service at the JJ School, Dhurandhar was compelled by his brother to apply for the post of Draftsman with the Railways. This was one post which carried quite a handsome salary and more over during this period it was fairly well established practice and norm that whatever advice senior members of the family made, that was to be followed. Dhurandhar too had to follow the instructions of his brother who had forwarded him the application of Railways and wanted Dhurandhar to apply for post. Fortunately the application reached the table of Mr Griffith, the Director of Sir JJ School of Art, who was expected to forward the application to the Railways. Griffith called Dhurandhar and explained to him that he will not forward his application to Railways and advised him that he must and should make a career at the JJ School and he also informed him that if he continues to work with the same passion and commitment at the College, one day he can occupy the charge of Director Sir JJ School of Art, which he will never be able to head in Railways. Thus Railways loss became a boon for Sir JJ School of Art and Dhurandhar true to the prophetic vision of Mr Griffith went on to become the first non white Director of the institution before his retirement from the college.  Before becoming the Director of the institution he served under various British principals at the Sir JJ School of Art.  Dhurandhar was a loyal servant of the Raj. He painted the King and Queen receiving obeisance from their Indian subjects and also decorated the Imperial Secretariat.  with his murals representing the laws of the land. One can observe that even the gods and goddesses, which he painted, often were western in their features.

Dhurandhar’s paintings mostly consisted of important incidents from Indian history, narratives from mythology, as well as social themes, which he painted with great felicity. His works included street scenes, wedding feasts, court room dramas, royal visits, pilgrimages and so on. He was such a prolific painter that he even painted his wife who had died due to plague. Dhurandhar belonged to the Pathare Prabhu community and chronicled his community in his paintings. He also worked on portraying the life styles of Maharashtrian society to which he belonged, and of the Presidency of which Bombay was a part. He was therefore also referred to as a  painter of the soil. Dhurandhar can be considered as one of the most significant artists of his time, yet the legacy of M. V. Dhurandhar has not been sufficiently explored despite his prolific body of work and his own memoirs published in Marathi. Befittingly the title of Rao Bahadur was given to him in 1927. He embodied — in his career, as in his life — the best that both Britain and India offered. He also ensured that his daughter Ambika Dhurandhar followed his footsteps to be a painter. Incidentally Dhurandhar took her an extensive European tour,  just before the second world commenced, during which Dhurandhar and his daughter Ambika visited almost all the best of museums in Europe and this visit served his daughter very well in helping her improve her painting skills.

Dhurandhar had to take care of his family and therefore work for him was of paramount importance. He was absolutely sure that his works of art must not be confined only to the drawing rooms and display boards in rich society and palaces but that his works should also find a place in the hearts and minds of common people. Breaking boundaries between high and low, Dhurandhar took his art to the masses through his posters, magazine and book illustrations. His postcards are miniature comic gems that take us on a voyage to old Bombay and this can be seen in the excellent dioramas that are now part of the exhibition at the Bhau Daji Lad Museum. Although he was hugely successful in the early 20th century, M.V. Dhurandhar most unfortunately was a forgotten figure, which may perhaps be because of his position as a member of the colonial establishment and because his style of paintings fell out of favour with the advent of Indian modernism. Dhurandhar, by the time of his death in 1944, became hugely successful and his works covered all known genres of realistic art. Dhurandhar wrote an autobiography titled ‘ Kala Mandiratil Ekachalise Varsha’ which describes his life and works at the Sir JJ School of Art from 1890 to 1931. He also prepared an unique album ‘My Wife an Art’ which consists of 175 sketches drawn by Dhurandhar of his two wives, which he completed at the age of 75. Just before his death he made illustrations for the famous book ‘ The Peoples of Bombay’, a original copy of the book was also displayed in the exhibition. His other major works include the four large murals which he was asked to make and commission at the Imperial Secretariat in Delhi. At the age of 77 years Dhurandhar passed away on the first of June 1944, at his residence in Khar - Amba Sadan.

The sesquicentennial retrospective exhibition at NGMA for the first time ever exhibited some of the best of paintings from the collections of different Museums in Maharashtra namely from Kolhapur, Aundh, Sangli, and also from the collection of Sir J. J. School of Art, the credit for which must go to the Government of Maharashtra for their overwhelming support in helping us in transport of these works from their museums for the exhibition. Most of the other works for the exhibition came primarily from two major sources the DAG and Swaraj Art Archive, among other private galleries.

The exhibition was majorly supported by Mr Ashish Anand of DAG, who also helped us in bringing out an outstanding exhibition catalogue, which documents all the works which were on display at the exhibition in some fair amount of documentation which is sure to help the future generation. 

Some of the high resolution images of the works of Dhurandhar, whose photo documentation has been done in the exhibition catalogue, have been used in this article and the credit for these images go to NGMA Mumbai, and to DAG. 

May the spirit of one of the best painter of all times Dhurandhar continue to spread and may he continue to inspire hundreds of more artist ad scientists from Mumbai.

AUSTRALIA TOURS INDIA : Reminiscing the first 1935-36 tour

AUSTRALIA TOURS INDIA : Reminiscing the first 1935-36 tour.

(Images courtesy : Bradman Foundation)

The touring Australian team, under the captaincy of Aaron Finch, began their 2020 three match ODI series against the hosts, with an emphatic win in the opening ODI, which was played in Mumbai. Indians were given a crushing ten wicket defeat. The Australians chased down a modest Indian score in no time with both the openers David Warner and Aaron Finch scoring magnificent centuries to win the game for Australia. It was a horrendous start for team India.  As always India, Australia cricket matches have always been of great interest for the cricket crazy fans in India and this brief sojourn will be no different. The hype created by the Indian media building upto the opening ODI game in Mumbai indicated that matches are going to be a close contest between the two strong teams with Kohli’s men having an edge. But that was not to be and the visitors proved to be far superior in the opening game in Mumbai. Let us hope that India will bounce back in the next game in Rajkot tomorrow and the decider in Bangalore will be blockbuster match. 

This years three ODI series tour of Australia to India, reminds me of the inaugural cricket tour that Australia undertook to India in 1935-36. This tour has largely been ignored due to its unofficial status and lack of stars that constituted the Australian team. During the course of developing an exhibition “Cricket Connects : India Australia”, which I had the honour to curate and exhibit at the Sydney Cricket Grounds in the October, 2016, I had covered this Australian inaugural tour to India in greater detail with some of None the less the inaugural Australian tour to India was a historic tour. The success of this tour is indebted to the financial patronage £10,000, given by the Maharajah Bhupinder Singh, who lavishly financed the inaugural Australian tour to India.

The Maharaja Bhupinder Singh was motivated by his passion and love for cricket, his political and economic aspirations, and the recognition of the game of Cricket as a symbol of allegiance to the British. He envisaged  that his support for the tour will leave a legacy as the guardian of the game and in the process he will get that much more closer to the colonial rulers. The Maharajah was supported by his able lieutenant, Frank Tarrant. The relationship between Tarrant and the Maharajah was mutually beneficial to each other and contravened the imperial constraints of interracial collaborations. Tarrant promised the Australian players an unforgettable adventure: tigers to shoot, gala events to attend and lavish parties amongst the decadence of the Indian nobility. 

Australian-born cricketer, all-rounder Frank Tarrant (1880–1951) had played a major role in the development of the formative years of Indian colonial cricket, particularly because of an unique collaboration that he had with the Maharaja Bhupinder Singh (1891–1938), the sovereign ruler of the wealthy princely state of Patiala in the state of undivided Punjab. Frank Tarrant had moved to the sub continent and became associated with Indian cricket, eventuated through his friendship with the Indian born British cricketer, Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji (Ranji). Tarrant flourished in this new environment. He was paid handsomely for his services and moved permanently to India in 1914, severing his ties with the Middlesex County Cricket Club.

There was lot of resistance and apprehension to the inaugural Australian tour to India. The Australian board was anxious that the tour could jeopardise the coinciding Test tour to South Africa and the domestic Shefeld Shield competition. The Board therefore insisted that the touring party was not an ofcial Australian XI and the matches played in India could not be called as Test matches. This decision of the board may also have been more to do with the highly lucrative financial reward that went into this tour, with each team member receiving £300 and £3 spending money per week. For these Australian cricketers, in the post-Depression era, this was a signicant amount of money and no doubt a highly attractive offer to participate in the tour.

On October 9, 1935 the Australian cricket team of excited cricketers departed from Port Melbourne on the inaugural tour of India with Frank Tarrant employed as the team manager. Aboard the SS Mongolia, the team captained by veteran Jack Ryder, were captivated by tour manager Frank Tarrant’s glamorous tales of life in colonial India and sanguine stories of the Indian cricket in its infancy. The team was looking forward to seeing the country, which was famously portrayed in the fable stories of Rudyard Kipling’, the poet of the Empire, who lived in India. With the unprecedented restrictions and conditions that were laid on the team by the Australian Cricket Board, it was no wonder that the team that was chosen to tour Indian comprised a mixed bag of players: some veteran greats, well past their prime, and some promising debutants. The age of the players ranged from the grand daddy of the tour, Bert Ironmonger aged 53, to young Ron Morrisbey, who was to celebrate his 21st birthday during the tour to India. The team was described in the Sporting Globe as 'veterans and colts as happy as schoolboys'.

Billed as the Maharajah's team, the Australians played four unofficial test matches in Bombay, Calcutta, Lahore and Chennai besides playing other matches over four months during this historic tour to India. The Maharajah himself, sometimes, played in the Australian team with his cricket attire, which was complemented by the flamboyant earrings that glittered in the sun. The schedule was gruelling. The team had to play 23 games that involved exhaustive commuting by train across the country, sometimes the same ground frequently being covered multiple times. This grueling tour was marred by illness and injury to the team. Arthur Allsopp, Lisle Nagel and Bert Ironmonger acquired enteric fever. Allsopp was lucky to survive and spent three months in Bombay's St George Hospital, where only European patients were admitted. Luckily for Allsopp, the Maharajah picked up the bill for his internment. Charles Macartney and Ron Oxenham incurred debilitating leg injuries. Wendell Bill's jaw was broken by the pacy Mohammad Nissar. Leather returned home having acquired pyorrhoea, inammation of the teeth sockets, resulting in the loss of his teeth. At times the team was so depleted that the call went out for available players and Australian tourists Joe Davis, Frank Warne, Frank Tarrant and his son Bert made up the numbers.

Despite the gruelling schedule, the Australians embraced their role as cricket educators and goodwill ambassadors enthusiastically. The camaraderie of the tour was evident with players of both teams mixing not just on the field but also in the playgrounds and palaces. On the teams return to Perth on the Strathnaver, an article in the Sydney Morning Herald titled Tour a Great Success claimed:

“The Captain Jack Ryder said that the tour had been a great success in every way. The Australians had left a wonderful impression behind them of skill, sportsmanship and good companionship. Cricket in India was booming. It was played everywhere. The smallest crowd at the team's matches was 5000 and at the big centres there were daily attendances of more than 20,000”. 

This section of the exhibition was covered with some of the rarest archival photographs and other materials some of which were shared for the exhibition by the Bradman Foundation to us. 

May the best team win the current three day ODI series between India and Australia 

The Seventieth year of our Republic and our Constitution

We are inching towards the historic seventieth Republic Day of India - 26th January 2020. It was on this very day - 26th January - in 1950, that post ‘our tryst with destiny’, we gave ourselves an extraordinary gift - the  Constitution of India. While wishing all my fellow countrymen and friends a very happy 70th Republic Day in advance, I wish to take this momentous occasion to write about the beauty of our artistically elegant Indian Constitution, the only one of its kind with such an artistic elegance, which has served us very well for all of seven decades and will continue to do so for eons, notwithstanding our vastly diverse and quite complex nature of our country and its citizens. It is therefore no wonder that the Indian constitution not only continues to intrigue and impress people across the world but also inspires national and international constitutional experts. 

The original Constitution is now safely and securely stored within a vault like room in the Library of the Parliament of India in New Delhi. It is housed inside a helium filled case which measures 30x21x9 inches in size. The storage maintains the exacting standards of the climate control, which are used in most museums. The temperature is maintained at 20° C (+/- 2°C) and the relative humidity is maintained at 30%(+/-5%), throughout the year. Inside this climate controlled nitrogen laden case lies our original Indian Constitution which is a 251 pages long manuscript. It weights around 3.75 Kgs. 

The Indian constitution with some 90,000 odd words, is the longest constitution of any sovereign nation in the world. The original constitution of India, which is stored in the library of the Parliament of India is made of 22 parts, 395 articles and eight schedules. The beauty of this original constitution is its aesthetics, which is sure to mesmerize anyone’s eyes. Each of the letters, quotation marks, parentheses and the numbers are all so perfectly hand written with artistic elegance of calligraphy and not one word is misspelled, and not one blotch of ink is seen any where. The perfection of the calligraphy and the italics are so immaculately penned that it is almost impossible to surmise that the constitution has actually been hand written by a man named Prem Behari Narain Raizada(Saxena). Our Constitution  is the longest hand written Constitution of any country in the world. 

It provides a comprehensive framework for guiding and governing our vast country with much greater diversity. Our constitution has been framed keeping in mind our social, cultural,  religious, linguistic and innumerable other diversities, which are integral to India. The opening and last sentences of the preamble of our constitution - “ We, the people... adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution” - signify that the power to govern our nation lies in the hands of we the people of this great country. The objectives specified in the preamble constitutes the basic structure of our Constitution, which cannot be amended and therefore we the people of this country will continue to be central to the governance of India.

The Constitution of the Republic of India was approved by the Constituent Assembly on November 26, 1949 and our Constitution came into effect two months later on 26th January, 1950. Ever since, this day is being celebrated all across the country as the Republic Day. The inaugural Republic day (26th Jan 1950) celebrations began in Delhi with the 34th and last Governor-General of British India, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, reading out a proclamation announcing the birth of the Republic of India. The new President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, was then sworn as the first President of India. Rajendra Prasad began his address to the nation by stating “today for the first time in our long and chequered history, we find the whole of this vast land ..... brought together under the jurisdiction of one constitution and one Union, which takes over the responsibility for the welfare of more than 320 million men and women.”

Although we achieved our independence from Britain on August 15, 1947, yet, for the first two years and few months thereafter, we continued to be largely governed by the colonial Government of India Act of 1935. However, shortly after independence was declared, the Indian constituent assembly - elected by the then provincial assemblies - took upon itself the responsibility of preparation of a constitution for us that would govern our new independent nation. The farmers of our constitution, headed by Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, after elaborate research, consultation and discussions - that spanned more than two years - prepared a final draft of the constitution. This was approved by the constituent assembly on 26th November 1949, post a healthy discussion in the assembly. However, January 26 was chosen as the official constitution enactment date primarily because it was on this very day - January, 26, 1930 - that the Indian National Congress, who were spearheading the freedom movement for India,  had announced Purna Swaraj (complete self-rule) and Declaration of Independence. 

Subsequent to the adoption of our  constitution, we officially came to be  known as the Republic of India, a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic that secures all its citizens; justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity, according to its preamble. The original text of our constitution was made up of 395 articles in 22 parts and eight schedules. The Indian constitution is not cast in die and continues to evolve and has been amended more than 100 times including some of the recent amendments.  Our constitution is the mother of all other laws of the country and it is one reverence on which the four arms of our democracy -  legislature, judiciary, executive and the media - swear. Every single law enacted by the Government has to be in conformity with our constitution. 

The beauty of our constitution lies in the fact that the policy makers and the framers of Indian constitution took cognizance of the multivalent diversity of India and deliberated on a framework that would provide for a unified but culturally diverse nation-state. It is with this objective that the Indian constitution was framed and adopted.  Our Constitution, though influenced by Euro-American constitutions, is absolutely Indian in its spirit and  is embodied in the form of fundamental rights, directive principles of state policy and fundamental duties.

"We, the People of India” - the very phrase with which our constitution begins, signifies the very idea of India - unity in diversity. India is a land of diversities in every sense of the term. The phrase कोस-कोस पर बदले पानी, चार कोस पर वाणी…, symbolises the diversity of India in terms of language. Hundreds of languages are spoken across India, which have different dialects. India is also a country of divergent races, where one race is altogether different from the other in its language, culture, food habits etc. In terms of culture, heterogeneity reaches its climax. Indian state has different cultures within the same area and among the people of different castes, religious groups and tribal affiliations. Religion-wise, Indian state remains heterogeneous in the context of presence of different dominant religious groups within the country.  Diversity within a religion reaches its climax among Hindus to the extent that so many scholars, including our Supreme Court, have said that - Hinduism is not a religion, but a common-wealth of the faiths that originated from the sub-continent. Keeping in view this diversity, the founding fathers of the Indian constitution made unity in diversity the bed- rock of its foundation. 

Our constitution is not framed for any single community of persons but for all the citizens inhabiting this vast country, irrespective of caste, creed, race or religion, implying the notion of multiple identities belonging to different cultural markers. This feeling of oneness is further exemplified with the insertion of the words 'Fraternity',  'unity and integrity' involving a spirit of brotherhood and harmony amongst all the people. Our constitution makes it evident that the framers made a very judicious choice of words of brotherhood, particularly because during the period of framing of the Constitution, India was passing through a critical juncture of partition. The country had just been partitioned on the grounds of religion and the framers of the constitution had to be very cautious not to hurt the sentiments of any of the different religious communities. Since independence, the framers of our constitution knew it very well that unless and until the diverse entities are given proper constitutional recognition, India will not be able to preserve its hard-earned unity. Our constitution is central to the unprecedented success and glory of India. It has helped our ruling class to keep two things going at the same time- infinite variety and unity in that variety.

The Constitution of India stands out as a fascinating piece of art, which is written in both Hindi and English languages. It took almost 3 years to create this extraordinary piece of art. The calligraphy of this handwritten and handmade constitution book is credited to Prem Behari Narain Raizada, and the book is richly illustrated in miniature style drawings and paintings by one of the best artists of the time, Nandalal Bose and his students. It is signed by the framers of the constitution, most of whom are regarded as the founders of the Republic of India. The original copy of the Indian Constitution is preserved safely in a special helium filled case in the Parliament Museum, which incidentally was developed by Dr Saroj Ghose, the first Director General of NCSM - our council.

The founding fathers of our nation wished that the Constitution of India, should not just be a governing document, but it should also represent the rich heritage of India. Their vision became a reality and our constitution is the only Constitution in the world, which is handwritten and richly illustrated with drawings and motifs that have been inspired by the murals of the famous Ajanta caves & the miniature paintings. It is this artistic elegance and handwritten calligraphy that makes the Indian constitution stand out in comparison with others.  When the Indian Constitution was being drafted, the members of Constituent Assembly thought it would be appropriate, if the document could somehow represent India’s historic journey and heritage. The Congress entrusted one of the leading artists of the country -  Nandlal Bose - with the task of illustrating the pages of our constitution. Bose selected a team of artists from Shanti Niketan, who made 22 images for the manuscript of the Indian Constitution.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, is very well known as its architect, but unfortunately very little is known about the man who literally penned the Constitution nor the artists who richly illustrated this document. When the draft of the Constitution of India was ready to be printed, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted it to be handwritten in a flowing italic style. He therefore approached the renowned calligrapher Prem Behari Raizada with the proposal of handwriting the entire Constitution in calligraphy.

Prem Behari, born in 1901, came from a family of traditional calligraphists and his grandfather, Ram Parshad Saxena, was a scholar in Persian and also a highly accomplished calligrapher. He taught Prem Behari calligraphy, which is an art of producing decorative handwriting or lettering with a pen or brush. When Pandit Nehru requested Raizada, to write the constitution, he accepted the honour but refused to accept any remuneration for his hard and patient work. In return for his labour of love, Behari Ji requested Pandit ji that he be allowed to write his name on every page of the Constitution and on the last page, he be permitted to write his name along with that of his grandfather’s name. Pandit ji agreed to his request and entrusted Prem Behari the prestigious yet an onerous task of writing the Indian Constitution in beautiful hand calligraphy. Prem Behari was allotted a room in the Constitution Hall - which later came to be known as Constitution Club - for writing the Indian Constitution. The original manuscript of the Constitution was written on parchment sheets measuring 16X22 inches, which will have a lifespan of a thousand years. The finished manuscript consisted of 251 pages and weighed 3.75 kg. Records reveal that in all, 432 pen holder nibs were used by Prem Behari for this calligraphy-writing of the entire Indian Constitution.

Since the members of the Constituent Assembly had envisaged that it would be appropriate if the Constitution could represent India’s journey and heritage in artistic styles, the Congress, who by then had seen the extraordinary work of art by Nandlal Bose, particularly those posters that he had designed for the congress meetings, entrusted the task of artistically illustrating the pages of the Constitution to depict the journey of India to Nandlal Bose. Nandlal Bose, gladly accepted this task as a nations calling and carefully selected a team of artists (Biswarup, Gouri, Jamuna, Perumal, Kripal Singh and other students of Kala Bhavana) who would help him depict a fragment of India’s vast historical and cultural heritage.  Nandlal Bose and his team created chronological illustrations, which narrate the story of India, using indigenous techniques of applying gold-leaf and stone colours. They designed the borders of every page and adorned them with beautiful art pieces, in the miniature style. The “Preamble” page was done by Beohar Rammanohar Sinha. Nandlal and his team of artists created scenes from our national history. For example the Vedic period is represented by a scene of Gurukula, and the epic period by a visual of Ram, Sita and Lakshman returning home and another of Krishna propounding the Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield. There is a beautiful line drawing of Nataraja, as depicted in the Chola Bronze tradition. Then there are depictions of the lives of the Buddha and Mahavira, followed by scenes from the courts of Ashoka and Vikramaditya. Other great figures of our history who are represented include Emperors Akbar, Shivaji, Guru Gobind Singh. The Freedom Struggle is depicted by a series of heroes starting with Rani Lakshmibai, Tipu Sultan to Gandhi’s Dandi March. It also takes into account his tour of Noakhali as the great peacemaker. Subhash Chandra Bose also finds a place in one of the artwork, which has been dedicated to him in the Constitution. As can be seen in the Constitution, Nandlal Bose not only used narratives from ancient Vedas, Mahabharata and Ramayana but he also depicted the contributions of modern and contemporary freedom fighters that included tales of Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The section on fundamental rights, which often comes during discussion, features a scene from Ramayana. Gandhi ji’s Dandi March is depicted in the section on official language. In part XIX, Subhash Chandra Bose is seen saluting the flag ; a painting of Tipu Sultan is seen in part XVI, King Ashoka the Great is seen propagating Buddhism in part VII, while ocean waves can be seen in part XXII. 

The preamble page of our constitution was created by Beohar Rammanohar Sinha, a Jabalpur native who also studied art in Shantiniketan. Sinha extensively studied the art and aesthetics of Ajanta and Ellora Caves, Sanchi, Sarnath and Mahabalipuram and used traditional motifs such as Padma, Nandi, Airavata,Vyaghra, Ashwa, Hans and Mayur to pictorially convey the very essence of Indian Constitution. 

Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India became the first person to sign the Constitution of India on 24th January 1950 while Feroze Gandhi, who was then the President of the Constituent Assembly, was the last one to sign this constitution. 

The Constitution of India, is like the Gita, Bible or Quran for governance of our country and it  has a rich and artistically elegant  wonderful story to tell of we the people of India. Although it is often stated that our constitution is framed from the borrowings from other countries but what it does not borrow from anyone in the world is it’s rich artistic heritage, which has been captured in this document by artist Nandalal Bose and his fellow artists.

During my tenure as the Director of NGMA, Mumbai I was privileged to see one of the copies of the Indian Constitution, which is also in the collections of Delhi and I also had the honour to see several works of Nandlal Bose which are also in the collections of NGMA Delhi. 

Once again wishing you all a very happy 70th Republic Day in advance and I join all Indians from across the world in praying for our motherland. 

Jai Hind.

Makar Sankranti: Another new year opportunity to “ring out the old, and ring in the new”.

It has been a fortnight since the beginning of this new year and some of us may have failed to abide by our new year resolutions, like quit smoking or start exercising etc. Fortunately in the Indian calendar system we have many more new year days than the Gregorian calendar, which has just one new year day - the 1st of January, to make amends. Makar Sankrati is one of many days, which is celebrated as a new year day and therefore we can all use this opportunity to redeem our respective resolutions from Makar Sankranti day - today/tomorrow. While wishing all my friends a very happy Makara Sankranti, I also wish to inform those of you for whom the new year 2021 (as per Gregorian Calendar) has began on a bad note, don’t be disappointed, there are other days ahead, when you can ring out the old and ring in the new and Makara Sankaranti is one such day, in the Hindu calendar, which gives you this opportunity to move on.

Makar Sankranti (Sankranti meaning ‘movement) is the first major Hindu festival in the Gregorian calendar, celebrated with much fervor across most parts of India. This auspicious day - the harvest day - marks the transition of the Sun into the zodiac Capricorn (Makara). This holy festival symbolizes the arrival of spring. Like the socio cultural diversity that spans across India the Makar Sankranti too has its own geographical variants across the country, yet this day is celebrated with the same enthusiasm all across India. Makara Sankranti is celebrated as Lohri in North India by the Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs, Sukarat in Central India, Magh Bihu in Assam, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Ghughuti of Uttarakhand, Magh saaj of Himachal, Makara Chaula of Odisha, Makar Sankranti in Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bengal, Bihar, and the uttarayan a of Gujrat and Rajasthan. Makar Sankranti is also associated with kite flying, dances, bonfires, fairs and mass pilgrimages to sacred rivers.

The festival of Makara Sankranti marks the onset of Uttarayan - a period when the Sun starts its six months journey towards the north and making the days longer with more light and less darkness. This period is considered as auspicious for the Hindus, who observe a wide variety of spiritual practices on this day. Many take a holy dip in rivers, to absolve them of their ‘past sins’. The festival is also known for a rich variety of food delicacies, which are prepared and offered as Prasadam to the deity while thanking almighty for a good harvest. Many sweets like laddoos made of til and jaggery, patishaptas, jaggery and rice pudding, among others are prepared during this period. The day is spent singing traditional songs, dancing and even preparing a bonfire in the evening.

India is a land of diversity with many religions, languages and regional cultures all of which coexist in social harmony. This diversity also gets carried to the calendars that govern peoples’ social and religious lives. If one asks many Indians, when is the Indian New Year’s day, it is very easy to get different answers and one such new year is the Makara Sankranti festival day. The history of calendars in India is a remarkably complex subject owing to the long continuity of Indian civilization and to the diversity of cultural influences. At the time of our Independence and a decade later, it was observed that there were about 30 calendars in use for setting religious festivals for Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains in India. Some of these calendars were also used for civil dating. These calendars were based on some common principles, though they had local characteristics determined by long-established customs and the astronomical practices of local calendar makers. In addition, Muslims in India use the Islamic calendar, and the Indian government uses the Gregorian calendar for all administrative purpose. With so many calendars in vogue in India, the Government of India under Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, deemed it fit to have a holistic view to the issue of calendars and their usage.

It is for this reason and in observation of the fact that there were many different calendars, which were used in India, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, (CSIR) Government of India, appointed a Calendar Reform Committee, in November 1952, under the chairmanship of the renowned scientist Dr. Meghnad Saha, with the following terms of reference ; “To examine all the existing calendars, which were followed in the country and after a scientific study of the subject, submit proposals for an accurate and uniform calendar for the whole of India". The distinguished Calendar reforms Committee consisted of Prof. M.N. Saha, (Chairman), Prof. A.C. Banerji, Vice-Chancellor, Allahabad University, Dr. K.L. Daftari, Nagpur, Shri J.S. Karandikar, Ex-Editor, The Kesari, Poona, Dr. Gorakh Prasad, D.Sc., Allahabad University, Prof. R.V. Vaidya, Madhav College, Ujjain, and Shri N.C. Lahiri, Calcutta (Secretary). (Dr. Gorakh Prasad and Shri N.C. Lahiri came in place of Prof. S.N. Bose and Dr. Akbar Ali who were originally appointed but were unable to serve). The committee studied various calendars that were in vogue in India and after close examination of these calendars recommended a uniform all-India calendar for both civil and religious use. They recommended a unified solar calendar for civil use. The Government of India accepted the proposal and introduced it as the Indian national calendar with effect from 22nd March 1957.

Notwithstanding the official calendars in India, when it comes to festivals there will continue to be different days, which are celebrated as new year for many people. Besides Makara Sankranti, there are other days that are celebrated as New Year’s Day in India. Some of these include, as per the lunar calendar, the spring harvest time in April, which is celebrated as Vaisakhi or Baisakhi in north and central India, Rongali Bihu in Assam, Tamil Putthandu in Tamil Nadu, Vishu in Kerala, Bishuva Sankranti in Odisha and Poila Boishakh in Bengal. Ugadi is the New Year's Day for the Hindus of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana. Gudi Padwa is celebrated in Maharashtra, Goa and Konkan belt as new year. Cheiraoba in Manipur, Navreh in Kashmir and Cheti Chand is celebrated by Sindhi Hindus as their new year. In Gujarat, Bestu Varas is celebrated around October/November time as new year. Most business men celebrated Deepavali as their New Year’s Day. The Indians therefore have many more opportunities to celebrate the new year and to redeem our resolutions for our better future.

Once again wishing you all a very happy Makara Sankranti and hope that you will all use this auspicious occasion to ring out the old and ring in the new.

Dawn of 2020 : A Special once in a century year

Dawn of 2020 : A special once in a century year

The count down has begun to welcome the new year 2020, a special once in a century year, on the occasion of which I wish to borrow Lord Tennyson to say let us “Ring out the old, Ring in the new, Ring happy bells ....... The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, Ring in the true.” Wishing you and all your loved ones a very happy new year.

I am sure by now most of you may have received multiple what’s app forwards,  which caution us not to write the abbreviated year while writing the dates on any important documents - for example, we were habitual of writing today’s date as 30.12.19, by abbreviating the year, this habit may create a problem in the new year and therefore needs to be changed and written in full as 2020. The first 2 digits of the year (20) match the second two digits (20) and such coincidence only occurs once each in a century (1919,1818 etc). So, all of us are privileged and fortunate to welcome this special new year. Not everyone gets to experience such special years, experiencing it twice in once life time is almost impossible or extremely unlikely so let us celebrate the dawn of the special year and pray that it augurs well for the well-being of humanity. 

At the dawn of the new year when it is time to replace the old 2019 calendar with the new calendar for 2020, it is also time to spare a thought for what calendars are. Calendars are inextricably linked with our lives and are designed by humankind based on scientific system to reckon time in periods convenient to the conduct of our lives. Calendar has its origin from the Roman word Calends or Kalends,  meaning a method of distributing time into certain periods adopted for the purpose  of civil life. The story of the calendar begins with the fascinating history of mans endeavour to organize our lives in accordance with celestial cycles. Three of these celestial bodies - the earth, moon and the sun - are central to the formulation of calendars. All calendars are founded upon some combination of the movement of these celestial bodies. Moon has always influenced the timing of different religious festivals, and seasons, and the Sun has influenced the time of sowing and harvesting. Calendars based on observations of moon are called the lunar calendars and those based on the observations of the Sun are called the Solar calendars and these two calendars have been used widely in different cultures of the world; Chinese, Hebrew, Islamic, Gregorian and our very own Hindu calendars. While each of these calendars are unique in how they are used, however they all share a set of common features borrowing from each other.  Like all great efforts that require dedicated collective work of a group of people, the establishment of a standardised calendrical system was no trivial matter. It required knowing how to make observations, which observations to make, and how to keep records over a long period of time. 

One of the oldest calendar systems is our very own Hindu calendar, which is based on the lunar revolutions and included adjustments (intercalation/extracalation) to solar reckoning. It divides an approximate solar year of 360 days into 12 lunar months of 27 days each according to the Taitriya Samhita and also Atharva Veda. The resulting discrepancy was resolved by the intercalation of a leap month every 60 months. The months were counted from full moon to full moon and were divided into two halves Shukla paksa of waxing period and Krisna paksa of waning period. The new moon days were observed as amavasya and full moon as Purnima’s and most religious rituals were performed around these two events. Each of the months has thirty days (tithi) and the day (divasa) thirty hours (muhurta). A new form of astrology that is in vogue today is based on the old Hindu calendrical system, which did under go a change in its classic form according to the Surya siddhanta in 4-5th century AD. The year was divided into seasons, ऋतु, spring (वसॉन्था) from mid March until mid May; summer (ग्रीष्म), from mid May until mid July; the rains (वर्शा), from mid July until mid September, autumn (सरद) from mid September until mid November and winter (हेमन्त) from mid November until mid January and the Dews (सिसिरा), from mid January until mid March.

Most calendars had some or the other discrepancy which needed correction. The discrepancy in the Indian calendars and controversy associated with it can be traced back to the period of the great epic Mahabharata. The epic mentions two periods - the Vanavasa (period of exile) and the agnyatavasa (the period of incognito living) - which the Pandavas were mandated to observe in obeisance of Yudhisthar’s commitment to the Kauravas. The epic battle of Kurukshetra was fought with a consideration that the Pandavas, according to Duryodhana, failed to keep their promise to stay in exile for twelve years and in hiding for one. However, Bhisma reckoned that the Pandavas adhered to their promise and observed the two periods. Bhisma substantiated his argument with the fact that the calendar adds an extra month every five years. The interpretation of the calendar or the complications involved in the calendar making are therefore legendary.

From historic times calendar makers have relied on the sunrise and sun set to determine the day, while the period between the full moon determined the month. Even in modern times the celestial bodies continue to provide the basic standards for determining the measurement of the day, month and the year. The day can be measured either by the stars or by the sun. If stars are used, then the interval is called the “Sideral day” and is defined by the period between two passages of a star across the meridian. The mean Solar day is 24 hours, 3 minutes and 56.55 seconds long. The measurement of the month is determined by the passage of the moon around the earth. There are two kinds of measurements for the month, first the period taken by the moon to complete an orbit of the earth and second, the time taken by the moon to complete a cycle of phases. The former is defined as the orbital month. However, the problem with this is that the moon's orbit is elliptical and it will be travelling faster when closer to the earth (perigee) and slower when further away (apogee) and therefore it has anomalies. The Anomalistic month is the time between perigees (27.55455 days mean value). The second measurement of the month by the phases of the moon is called the synodic month (synod = meeting, in astronomy it means conjunction or lining-up) which measures 29.53059 days.The synodic month forms the basis of the calendar month.

Determining the length of the year also has its own problems. The Earth does not rotate whole number of times for each revolution of sun. The Sidereal year is the time for the Earth to return to the same position relative to the fixed stars, which measures  365.25636 days and its mean value increases by 0.00000012 days per century. Because it is slightly longer than the tropical,  the equinoxes will gradually creep westward around the ecliptic by 1 in 71.71 years or 360 in 25800 years. The common year is called the Tropical year meaning the time between spring equinoxes (365.24219 days mean value decreasing by 0.00000614 days per century). Because the Earth's orbit is elliptical it will travel faster at perihelion (closest, now early January) and slower at aphelion (furthest, now early July). This means that the season around perihelion will be shorter than the one around aphelion. Currently the gaps between equinoxes and solstices are, starting at the Northern Hemisphere Spring Equinox, 92.72, 93.66, 89.84, and 88.98 days. The southern hemisphere gets a few extra days of winter and the northern hemisphere gets a few extra days of summer. Choosing either of the years leaves the calendar maker in an awkward position of having the following New Year beginning in the middle of the day.

The Julian Calendar : Of the several calendars of antiquity, the Egyptian and the Roman calendars developed into the Julian calendar, which was used for more than 1500 years. The Roman republican calendar, introduced around 600 BC, was a lunar one, short by 10.25 days of a Tropical year. It included an extra intercalary month, every two years, which fell in late February. Nonetheless, by around 50 BC, the lunar year had fallen eight weeks behind the solar one, and it was clear that the Romans were out of Sync. There was total confusion when Julius Caesar came to power as the Roman’s 355 day lunar calendar was 80 days out of sync with seasons when Caesar took the throne. Julius Caesar, it is believed got acquainted with the Egyptian calendar on the same trip during which he got to know Cleopatra. He then came in contact with the famous Greek Egyptian astronomer, Sosigenes. In the year 46 BC, Sosigenes convinced Julius Caesar to reform the calendar to a more manageable form. Sosigenes' message to Caesar was that the moon was a nice god but knew nothing about when things happen. Armed with this information Caesar returned to Rome and made big changes. The old lunar system with intercalary months was abandoned and a new solar system was introduced with fixed month lengths making 365 days and an intercalary day every forth year in February which would have 29 or 30 days. To shift the equinox back to March 25 he added three extra months to 46 BC, making it 445 days long ('the year of confusion') and the Julian calendar began on 1st January 45 BC.  In recognition of his contribution to the calendar reforms the month of July is named in his honour.

Caesar’s nephew Augustus (originally named Octavius) also did some cleaning up of the calendar, details of which however are not very clear. One source (Britannica) suggests that the priests got the leap years wrong having one every third year for forty years so he had to skip a few until 8 BC. In recognition of this, they renamed Sextilis with August in his honour but had to pinch a day from February to make the month of August have the same length of days as July. The tradition has lasted until today and therefore contrary to any logic the immediate months of July and August have 31 days each.

Anno Domini : Things went smoothly for a while; the seasons were finally put in proper place in the year and festivals were happening at sensible times - almost. At the Council of Nicea in 325 AD, Easter was decreed to be the first Sunday after the full moon after the vernal equinox. The early Christians were keen to cleanse contrary ideas (like the spherical Earth) so in 526 AD; the Abbot of Rome, Dionysius Exiguus proclaimed that the birth of Christ should be the event from which years are counted. He also calculated the event to be from December 25 and asserted that it should be called 1 AD (Anno Domini = in the year of our Lord) and the year preceding it should be called 1 BC (now meaning Before Christ) with prior years counted backwards. The omission of a year zero was a dumb idea.  About this time the seven day week was introduced. Although it may have appeared earlier in the Jewish calendar and also in the Hindu calendar, it was tidied up in the fourth century. Cycles of four to ten days had previously been used for organising work and play. Seven was chosen apparently in acknowledgment of the Genesis story where God rested on the seventh day although there is a strong suggestion that it also reflected the seven gods visible in the sky as the planets, sun and moon. 

Pope Gregory XIII : By the middle ages the seasons had slipped again. Pope Leo X tackled the problem in 1514 AD by engaging a number of astronomers, including the famous Copernicus, who quickly recognised that there was a more fundamental problem than rearranging the calendar and suggested the rearrangement of the universe by putting the sun at the center as against the earth. The Church though did not accept the suggestions. Half a century later Pope Gregory XIII was sane enough to have another go to sort out the discrepancy and assembled a team of experts, led by the German mathematician Christoph Clavius(1537-1612) and Italian physician and Astronomer Aloisius Lilius who spent ten years finding a solution to the problem. By 1582 AD the Julian calendar was full 13 days behind the seasons. By then the Christian churches had scheduled certain of its feasts, such as Christmas and the saint’s days, on fixed dates. The Julian calendar, which was running 13 days behind the sun, had little or no effect on the lives of the ordinary folks, but it disturbed the functioning of the Church, because it pushed the holy days into wrong seasons. This prompted the church to issue clearance to Pope Gregory XIII to implement necessary changes in the calendar.

Gregorian Calendar : The change made by Gregory XIII to the calendar envisaged skipping ten days, sometime to bring the seasons back in line and skip a few leap years now and again. The extra day every fourth year is too much so skip the leap year at the end of the century. This is now a touch short so put back a leap year every fourth century. The leap year is therefore defined as a year if it is a multiple of 4. However if the year  is a multiple of 100 it is not a leap year. There is an exception to it. If the year is a multiple of 400 it will once again be a leap year. Since this still produces an error of a day in 3,323 years we will also be skipping the leap year in 4000 AD. Applying all these principles in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII, decreed that the day after October 4, 1582, would be October 15, 1582. And according to the prescribed rule 1600 was a leap year but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not and the year 2000 AD was again a leap year.  

The changeover to the Gregorian calendar was not smooth. France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal changed in 1582; Prussia, Switzerland, Holland, Flanders and the German Catholic states in 1583; Poland in 1586 and Hungary in 1587. The Protestant countries weren't too keen to follow, so for nearly two centuries there were two calendars running in Europe ten days apart. Matters came to a head in 1700 when the Protestants had a leap year and the Catholics didn't, increasing the gap to 11 days. Denmark and the German Protestant states changed in 1700 and Sweden came up with the brilliant plan of simply skipping all leap years until they caught up in 1740. England and America switched over in 1752, skipping 11 days by making September 3 as September 14 and shifting the start of the year to January 1. There was much unrest in the US - 'give us back our eleven days' was a popular campaign slogan.  Many other countries were slow to adopt the standard and it was not until the early twentieth century that the entire world was finally synchronised. Japan changed in 1872, China in 1912, Bulgaria in 1915, Turkey in 1917, Yugoslavia and Rumania in 1919 and Greece in 1923. The Gregorian calendar is now recognised world wide although there are still many other calendars running alongside it, for religious purposes. 

Calendars in India : In India calendar reform took place in 1957.  The National Calendar of India is a formalized lunisolar calendar in which leap years coincide with those of the Gregorian calendar (Calendar Reform Committee, 1957). However, the initial epoch is the Saka Era, a traditional epoch of Indian chronology. Months are named after the traditional Indian months and are offset from the beginning of Gregorian months. In addition to establishing a civil calendar, the Calendar Reform Committee set guidelines for religious calendars, which require calculations of the motions of the Sun and Moon. Tabulations of the religious holidays are prepared by the Indian Meteorological Department and published annually in The Indian Astronomical Ephemeris. Despite the attempt to establish a unified calendar for all of India, many local variations exist. The Gregorian calendar continues in use for administrative purposes, and holidays are still determined according to regional, religious, and ethnic traditions. Years are counted from the Saka Era; 1 Saka is considered to begin with the vernal equinox of 79 AD. The reformed Indian calendar began with Saka Era 1879 AD, Caitra 1, which corresponds to 22nd March, 1957. Normal years have 365 days; leap years have 366. In a leap year, an intercalary day is added to the end of Caitra. 

The Millennium confusion : When did the 21st century begin?  Because we have no zero year the first century comprised years 1 to 100, the second, years 101 to 200, the third years 201 to 300 and so on. Clearly 2000 AD is the last year of the 20th century and 2001 is the first year of the 21st century. The new millennium technically has begun on 1st January 2001. This technicality however did not deter people from feeling that 1st January 2000 was the millennium changeover just as they did in the Middle Ages for 1000 AD. 

Calendars have held sacred status, for they help in maintaining social order, provide the basis for planning of agricultural, economic and industrial activities. Calendars also provide basis for maintaining cycles of religious and civil events. As we prepare ourselves to welcome yet another new year, let us spare a thought for the makers of the calendars.

Once again wishing you all a very happy and special new year 2020.