Tribute to ECG Sudarshan on his 2nd Punya tithi.

Tribute to ECG Sudarshan on his 2nd Punya tithi.

Images : courtesy Wiki Commons.

On this day two years ago - the 13th May, 2018 - India and the world of science lost one of the best theoretical physicist, ECG Sudarshan, who bid final good bye to this world from his home in Texas, USA. Sudarshan enjoys a unique honour of getting nominated for the coveted Nobel Prize for a record nine times, but most unfortunately he could not make the cut even single time. ECG Sudarshan was known for his outspokenness, opinionated and combative mind, mercurial mood and also for his uncanny ways of being candid each time and every time. Ennackal Chandy George Sudarshan (1931 – 2018) - ECG to friends - is considered by many as one of the most brilliant scientific mind to emerge from South Asia. His combative style and his candid opinion often landed him in controversies, and now that he is no more, even the last echoes of the controversies surrounding him will hopefully be laid to rest and he will only be remembered, eternally, for his deep insights and outstanding contributions to fundamental science, particularly in the field of quantum physics.

ECG Sudarshan was born on the 16th September, 1931, to the Syrian Christian parents E I Chandy, who was a revenue inspector in the old Travancore State and to Achamma, a school teacher, at Pallam in Kottayam district, Kerala. He was the second son among three to his parents. ECG’s aptitude for mathematics was apparently evident from his school days. Legend has it that ECG was destined to become a great physicist from very early days. As a young boy Sudarshan, precocious that he was, took deep interest in his older brother’s high school textbooks, which were far too beyond the reach of children of his age. After reading his brothers science (physics) book end to end, ECG was influenced by one of the sentence in the book, which read “the derivation of the formula for the period of a simple pendulum was beyond the scope of the book”. This motivated the young Sudarshan to search for a book, which could actually help him understand the derivation of the formula that could find the period of the simple pendulum. This early quest for going beyond his age in search for an answer and for quenching his thirst for knowledge, ensured that Sudarshan found a life-long love for Physics. After his high school studies,  ECG completed his two-year Intermediate at the Church Missionary Society (CMS) College (established in 1817) in Kottayam in 1948. He then moved to Madras (now Chennai) and joined the Madras Christian College (MCC) for his B Sc (Honours) in Physics, which he completed in 1951. He stayed in the MCC college in Madras for a year after his degree and worked as a demonstrator in physics. A year later, in 1952, ECG received his MA degree from the University of Madras. He then joined the famed Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Bombay (now Mumbai) in February/ March, 1952, as a research student. 

At TIFR, ECG worked with Dr Bhabha and  spent three years (1952 – 55) in Bhaba’s cosmic ray group at TIFR, Mumbai. This was the time when TIFR had best of scientists working in the field of cosmic ray physics, which was led by its founder Bhabha himself and others that included, MGK Menon and Sreekantan. The cosmic ray physics group in TIFR was nurtured by Bhabha and went on to receive international recognition for their studies of the characteristics of high energy cosmic rays using a variety of detectors at ground level, mountain altitude as well as in deep underground mines. TIFR scientists; Sreekantan and others made early experiments in deep Kolar Gold Field (KGF) mines, which  ultimately led to studies of energetic muons at a depth of up to 2760 metres. All this meant that there was a constant movement of scientists from other countries, including USA to TIFR. One such scientists to visit TIFR during ECG’s time was Robert Marshak, from the University of Rochester in the USA. Marshak, was highly impressed by the bright young student ECG, who he had met at TIFR. He asked ECG if he would be willing to join him for a PhD in US. Sudarshan agreed and left TIFR to move to US. Sudarshan worked on in his PhD along with his guide, Marshak, and in the course proved in (1957) that the weak interaction acts through currents of the form, and determines where is a vector and a pseudo vector and this work subsequently came to be known as the VA Theory of weak interactions. Three other scientists, Sheldon Glashow, Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg, developed this work further. The VA theory work, which was started by ECG and his guide Marshak,  eventually evolved as an electro weak theory of weak interactions that won Glashow, Salam and Weinberg the Nobel Prize. Unfortunately Sudarshan and Professor Marshak were left behind and not considered for their contributions to the commencement of this field of work.

The Nobel Prize in Physics, 1979, which was awarded jointly to Glashow, Salam and Weinberg "for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral current”, reveals that ECG’s work was a milestone in the development of weak interaction theory. Normally, such a vital contribution should have led ECG to the coveted Nobel Prize, but unfortunately his discovery was bogged down by unnecessary controversy. Marshak and Sudarshan’s paper was presented in a conference proceedings in 1957, but six months later, the famous Caltech duo of Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann published a paper with the same result, derived in a different way. The controversy over who gets the priority for the recognition of this work has lasted to the present day and the fact that Feynman was already a very famous scientist from Caltech, may have ensured a stalemate. As a result, the Nobel Committee played safe by deciding not to award this discovery to either of the groups despite multiple nominations for Marshak and Sudarshan. This was one of those nine nominations, which ECG earned for the coveted Nobel Prize, that eluded him.

The unfortunate incident of missing out the coveted Nobel Prize, embittered Sudarshan for life and accentuated his rebellion attitude. ECG’s rebellion attitude was seen from his early days. He renounced his Christian religion, to which he was born since  he was unable to reconcile the Church with his love for physics. In one of his memoirs ECG says “I was born in an Orthodox Christian family. I was very deeply immersed in it, and so by the age of seven I had read the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation two or three times. I was not quite satisfied with Christianity, and gradually I got more and more involved with traditional Indian ideas.” His rebellion for the religious thoughts however did not inhibit his scientific creativity. In 1962, with Bilaniuk and Deshpande, he proposed the existence of a hypothetical particle called tachyons - which was hypothesised to travel faster than the speed of light. This paper in a way was aimed at proving one of Albert Einstein’s theories,  which states that ‘Nothing can move faster than light’, wrong. However, it was eventually proved that such a particle - tachyon - could not exist in reality as it would defy the fundamental laws of physics. The term tachyon, however, is still used even today as a placeholder for an imaginary particle with a quantum field that plays a crucial role in theoretical physics.

In 1963, Sudarshan proved the equivalence of semiclassical and quantum descriptions of light beams using what is now known as the Sudarshan-Glauber representation, which is a foundational work in the science of quantum optics. Glauber, however, did not initially accept this representation, and it was only later,  after his correspondence and interaction with Sudarshan that Glauber reinvented it. Most unfortunately and to the ‘amazement and horror’ of Sudarshan, the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three scientists one of them was Glauber who shared half the prize amount while the other half went to John Hall and Theodor Hansch. Glauber was awarded for his work in ‘quantum optics’, and in the process Sudarshan’s seminal work had been overlooked yet again for the coveted Nobel Prize. 

This time however, Sudarshan openly expressed his anguish against the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, who had ignored him for the 2005 Nobel Prize and instead had  chosen to give the Nobel prize to RJ Glauber “for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence”.  He wrote an open letter expressing his anguish against the Royal Sweedish Academy. In a letter to the Academy, he wrote “In the announcement of the 2005 Physics Nobel Prize, the Swedish Royal Academy has chosen RJ Glauber to be awarded half of the prize. The prize winners are chosen by the Royal Academy, but no one has the right to take my discoveries and formulations and ascribe them to someone else. The correct formulation of the quantum mechanical treatment of optics was carried out by me in my paper in 1963”. Unfortunately his letter was ignored. 

In 1969, Sudarshan moved from Rochester to the University of Texas at Austin, where he remained till his death. From 1970 onwards, for next 21 years,ECG held the position of director of Centre of Particle Theory at Texas. During this period, in the year 1977, Sudarshan and Baidyanath Mishra quantified the quantum Zeno effect. Earlier, in 1961, Homi Bhabha had tried to lure ECG back to TIFR, but somehow that did not work out. However, ECG with his love for Indian traditions, remained attached to TIFR as an Honorary Fellow until his last. In fact, Sudarshan  - who always retained his Indian passport  - kept coming to India for extended periods. He was also the senior professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore from 1971 to 1991. He founded the Centre for Theoretical Studies (CTS) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc),:Bengaluru in 1972. He also accepted the Directorship of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences at Chennai in 1986. He would spend six months a year at the IMSc Chennai and the other six months he used to spend at Austin, Texas, USA. Sudarshan was able to contribute majorly to the development of IMSc particularly in the areas of improved personnel and budget for the institute. However, his outspokenness, his mercurial moods and his idiosyncratic style of management led to a series of controversies, which lasted during the whole of his tenure.

Although ECG missed the coveted Nobel Prize, he was honoured with many other prestigious awards, including the Dirac medal of the the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in 2010, The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Physics award (1985), the Bose Medal (1977), and the Majorana prize. In India, he was awarded the coveted C.V. Raman prize (1970). He was also awarded the Padma Bhushan (1976) and the Padma Vibhushan (2007). He lived a long life, despite the frustration of having twice been passed over for the Nobel prize and of seeing others awarded for the work, which was truly his. But that transient pain of the frail human psyche is now over, and it is only the outstanding scientific legacy of E.C.G. Sudarshan, which will last for future generations to study and admire.

ECG also had other interests. He was attracted to Indian traditions and Hinduism and chose the name 'Sudarshan' in the year 1970. He was also interested in Vedanta studies. He practiced Vedanta and delivered several lectures on the Vedantic school of philosophy. He was also deeply interested in Malayalam literature and spoke in typical Kottayam accent, wherever he travelled all over the world. He was deeply intrigued by Indic studies, and read classical Indian texts avidly in conjunction with philosophical treatises. Sudarshan was married to Lalitha Rao, daughter of former chief justice of the High Court of Mysore state, Nittur Srinivasa Rao—a famous Gandhian and a freedom fighter. They have three sons. Later, he got married to Bhamati, professor and head of department of physics at the Madras University. 

Professor ECG Sudarshan undoubtedly was a world class physicist and the Nobel committee has been completely unfair to the science community by denying him the coveted Nobel Prize for which he was nominated 9 times. In hindsight we can say it is Nobel’s loss and not that of ECG Sudarshan’s.  Long live ECG and his scientific legacy.

Rabindranath Tagore : A Tribute to the Polymath on his Jayanthi.

Today, the 7th May, 2020, besides being Budha Poornima - the birth day of Bhagwan Gautam Buddha -  also happens to be the birth anniversary of one of the greatest sons of India - Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, the first non European and also the first nonwhite to be conferred with the coveted Nobel Prize in Literature (1913). Rabindranath Tagore was a creative genius and a polymath; a versatile poet, a par excellence short story writer, novelist, playwright, essayist, artist, rationalist, as well as a talented painter, whose pictures with their mixture of representation and abstraction began to manifest late into his career. Rabindranath Tagore (Thakur) was born on 7th May, 1861, in a very rich Brahmin family to Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi in the famous Jorasanko mansion, the ancestral home of the Tagore family in Kolkata (Calcutta). He was the youngest sibling in his family. Tagore holds a unique distinction that two of his poems have been befittingly chosen as the national anthems of India and Bangladesh - “Jana Gana Mana” & “Amar Sonar Bangla” respectively, which is an extraordinary achievement that any poet can ever aspire for. Tagore used colloquial language, deviating from well established Sanskrit influenced Bengali, to reshape Bengali literature and music by introducing new prose and verse forms that could connect easily with the masses. The polymath Tagore’s contributions in the field of art, literature, playwright etc are well known all across the country and so also internationally but his extraordinary painting skills, which he acquired at the age of 67, are not much known beyond the boundaries of Bengal.

Therefore, when an opportunity came calling to commemorate Rabindranath Tagore’s sesquicentennial year of birth, the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, commissioned a monumental paintings exhibition: “The Last Harvest : Paintings of Rabindranath Tagore”, which was curated by Prof R Sivakumar, Shantiniketan with his insightful thoughts and understanding of the Poet painter - Tagore. This exhibition, of the original paintings of Tagore, was organised in nine major museums across three continents and on its return to India, it was presented in all the three National Galleries of Modern Art in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and so also in Bhopal and Hyderabad. I was privileged to be the Director of NGMA, Mumbai when this exhibition travelled to Mumbai during the period from April to June 2013. The exhibition was a treat for the art connoisseurs of the city of Mumbai and all through the exhibition period a series of outreach programs and activities were organised to connect Tagore and his creative endeavours with the people of Mumbai, courtesy Godrej Culture Lab and various other art and culture organisations in Mumbai, which made the exhibition all the more special.

Tagore lived a creative life for eight decades until his passing away at the age of 80 plus years, on 7th August, 1941 at his ancestral home in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His mortal remains may have been confined to the holy fire in the ritualistic Hindu cremation traditions and the fire may have consumed his physical body, but then he has left behind - for the world and India - a legacy and heritage that will remain etched in golden letters in the annals of history, which no fire or any other force can obliterate. He lived an extraordinary creative life, beginning his last aspects of creations - the paintings -  in his late sixties. Tagore has left behind a rich heritage of words, music, poetry, paintings, ideas and ideals and his legacy continues to have that power to move us even today and for eternity. On learning about Tagore’s death, Nehru, who was in Jail, wrote;  “Gandhi and Tagore, two types entirely different from each other, and yet both of them typical of India, both in the long line of India’s great men … It is not so much because of any single virtue but because of the tout ensemble, that I felt that among the world’s great men today Gandhi and Tagore were supreme as human beings”.

Tagore is a national figure in India, whose stature comes very close to the Mahatma - the title given by Tagore, to the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi ji, for generations to come, will continue to be revered and considered as an embodiment of our country’s freedom struggle and for very strongly providing that extraordinary leadership for political action. Tagore on the other hand being a creative poet, playwright, novelist, musician, theorist, educationist and painter, all rolled into one, personified the cultural ethos of India with roots in an age-old heritage of this great nation of ours. Even today, and for eons to come, one cannot think of Bengali culture without Tagore being central to it. Tagore’s name and fame and his contributions to the field of literature, art and culture spread across the world. French Nobelist, Romain Rolland (1915, Literature), was fascinated both by Gandhi and Tagore. On completion of his book on Gandhi he wrote to one of the Indian academic ‘ I have finished my book on Gandhi, in which I pay tribute to your two great river-like souls, overflowing with the divine spirit - Tagore and Gandhi’. Tagore greatly admired Gandhi but he had many disagreements with him on a variety of subjects, particularly on the role of rationality and of science, and the nature of economic and social development. Tagore always encouraged room for reasoning, and for a less traditionalist view, and more respect for science and for objectivity, generally.

The clash between Gandhi and Tagore, on their poles apart attitude towards science and rationality, is evidenced in their outlook towards a tragic natural disaster, which struck India in 1934. Bihar was struck by a devastating earthquake in January 1934 and it killed thousands of people. During this period Gandhi ji had immersed himself in the fight against the age old Indian traditions of untouchability, which was plaguing our country. Unfortunately, when the earthquake tragedy struck Bihar, Gandhi ji, in an unscientific and irrational manner, connected this natural disaster with the purported sins of practising untouchability by Indians and that the earthquake was a divine chastisement sent by God for our sins of untouchability. He said “for me there is a vital connection between the Bihar calamity and the untouchability campaign.” Rabindranath Tagore was also a great advocate of equality who too abhorred the irrational practise of untouchability and had joined hands with Gandhi in the movements against it. However, Tagore protested against Gandhi ji on his irrational interpretation of a natural calamity as a sin that was responsible for the suffering and death of so many innocent people, including children. He outrightly rejected Gandhi ji’s unscientific linkage of earthquake with human ethical failures. 

Down south there was another legendary engineer, Sir M Visvesvaraya, who was about the age of Tagore and his ideas on rationality and science and technology resembled Tagore. Sir MV had similar differences with Gandhi ji as that of Tagore on subjects like rationality, science and technology and so also on the concept and notion of economic development of the country. The irony is that there is not much that could find from archive on the personal connection between Sir MV and Tagore. However, in the year 1928 records suggest that Tagore stayed for three weeks in Bangalore, at the majestic colonial era building Balabrooie, on Palace Road. It was during his three weeks recuperating stay that Tagore wrote his famed Shesher Kobita and also some part of Yogayog. This building, which is a treasure trove of stories from Bengaluru's colonial past, was once home to its builder, Lord Mark Cubbon, Sir M. Visvesvaraiah and other illustrious stalwarts. It was also the residence of former Chief Ministers S.Nijalingappa and D. Devaraj Urs. Unfortunately over time this building has come to be known as a haunted place since the politicians (Chief Ministers) irrationally fear to stay in this building, strongly believing that it is haunted and anyone who stays in the building would quickly lose power. Sir MV who was just about a year senior to Tagore, loved reading Tagore and one of his favourite book was ‘Stray Birds’,  which was penned by Tagore. It provides a connect between nature, man and his environment as seen by a person sitting by a window where stray birds are seen singing and flying. The book also contained one-line poems, which are often just an image or the distillation of a thought, which stays with the reader in his mind and does not fly away as easily as the birds. Tagore was knighted in 1915, but gave up his knighthood after the massacre of demonstrators at the infamous Jallianwala bagh, in 1919. By then Tagore was beginning to be acclaimed globally. 

Tagore’s global recognition is evidenced in a book “The Golden Book of Tagore”, which was published as homage to Tagore, from India and the world, on the occasion of Tagore’s 70th birth anniversary, in 1930. This book is a testimony to the love and reverence that the intellectuals of the world bore for Tagore. The book has been sponsored by the leading intellectuals of the world such as Gandhi, Albert Einstein, and Kostes Palamas, and was brought out on the suggestion of French writer Romain Rolland. The book indicates how highly regarded Tagore was in India and around the world. The great Albert Einstein, who was one of the sponsors of the book, met Rabindranath Tagore in the same year in Berlin on July 14, 1930. This historic meeting between the two hogged the headlines ‘as the coming together of science and spirituality’. It was hailed as one of the most intellectually stimulating conversations in the annals of history. Their conversation, which mostly centred around science and the age old Indian traditions of spirituality has been chronicled in a book ; ‘Science and the Indian Tradition: When Einstein Met Tagore”  by David L. Gosling. 

Helen Keller, an American political activist and a deaf and blind author known around the world as a symbol of courage in the face of overwhelming odds, had this to say about Tagore ; “ Sitting beside Rabindranath Tagore and sharing his thoughts is like spending one's days beside the Sacred River, drinking deep of honeyed wisdom.” Tagore’s global recognition is also evidenced in the statements of several other international thinkers, writers and intellectuals. Russian author, Ms. Anna Akhmatova, who received the highest nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature, was also one of Tagore’s admirers and she translated his poems into Russian in the mid-1960s. She says “that mighty flow of poetry, which takes its strength from Hinduism as from the Ganges, and is called Rabindranath Tagore.” 

Tagore also had his influence on other thinkers of the world. His typical physical appearance – intellectual looking, handsome, bearded, dressed in non-Western clothes – to some extent may have helped him in being seen as a carrier of exotic wisdom. Yasunari Kawabata, first Japanese Nobel Laureate in Literature, 1968, treasured memories from his middle-school days of “this sage-like poet” - Tagore - and he goes on to add; ‘His white hair flowed softly down both sides of his forehead; the tufts of hair under the temples also were long like two beards, and linking up with the hair on his cheeks, continued into his beard, so that he gave an impression, to the boy I was then, of some ancient Oriental wizard’.

One of the greatest and an emotionally touching tribute to Tagore’s poetry comes from a World War I martyr, Wilfred Owen, who wrote some of the best British poetry on World War I. In November 1918 Wilfred was killed in action at an young age of 25, just one week before the Armistice. Susan Owen, the mother of Wilfred Owen, wrote a letter to Rabindranath Tagore in 1920, describing her last conversations, which she had with her son before her son left for the war, which would most unfortunately take his life. Susan wrote that her son said goodbye with those wonderful words of yours ‘When I go from hence, let this be my parting word”.  Among the remains of Wilfred, which were returned from the battle field to his mother, was a pocket notebook. She wrote to Tagore that her son’s pocket notebook contained  the writings of Tagore with his name written beneath those words”. This was a touching recognition and emotional tribute that Tagore had received from a very young World War I martyr, who himself was an outstanding poet. 

Tagore wrote most of his essays and poetry at the Shantiniketan (Abode of Peace), a small town, which grew around the school that Tagore had founded in Bengal in 1901. Tagore not only conceived an imaginative and innovative system of education at the Shantiniketan, but through his writings and his influence on students and teachers, he was able to use the school as a very strong base from which he could take a major part in India’s social, political, and cultural movements. Most of his essays covered subjects ranging from literature, politics, culture, social change, religious beliefs, philosophical analysis, international relations, and much else. Coincidentally the Cambridge University Press published Tagore’s ideas and reflections to the fore, which coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of Indian independence (1997). This publication helped in examining what kind of leadership in thought and understanding, Tagore provided to his fellow citizens in the Indian subcontinent, in the first half of 20th century. 

Tagore’s recognition, particularly as a poet and also as a dramatist, essayist, short story writer, musician, humanist, philosopher and educationist, has been very well documented both nationally and internationally. However his paintings have not had the same impact as his other creative facets, especially among the common Indians and therefore the sesquicentennial exhibition of paintings of Tagore, which was organised at NGMA  Mumbai helped in creating awareness about the creativity of Tagore in paintings, which are now preserved as national treasures.

Tagore at the age of 67, to use his own words, "fell under the enchantment of lines" when he discovered that his hand was moving automatically across the pages of his manuscripts transforming the scratches and erasures into designs. For the next 12 years of his life he harnessed his new found love for painting and produced nearly 2,000 paintings. Although he used all kinds of paints and produced coloured chalk drawings, pastels, and later dry-points and etchings, Tagore's preferred medium was liquid colour. He often used ordinary fountain-pen ink and when this was not available; he crushed flower petals and used them as pigments. He rarely used a brush, instead he worked with a cloth soaked in colour, the back of a fountain-pen, his thumb, a stick or, more often, a knife. His original paintings, which are now declared as a National Treasure, from different collectors and sources, primarily from  the collections of Shantiniketan and NGMA Delhi, were used in the Last Harvest exhibition and these paintings illustrated that Tagore's art was peculiarly his own. 

Tagore, although took to painting very late into his career, did manage to organise some international exhibitions of his paintings, the first of which was held in 1930 in Paris. The same year a few of his  paintings were also shown in London, Berlin and New York. His first exhibition in India was organised in February, 1932 when 265 of his drawings, paintings and engravings were displayed to the public in Calcutta. A year after that (1933) Tagore held another exhibition in Bombay. In 1946, four of his paintings were included in an international exhibition of modern art organised by UNESCO in Paris. The UNESCO also featured an illustrated article on his works which figured in the issue of The UNESCO Courier, "Famous Authors as Artists", in August 1957.

Tagore said “My pictures are my versification in lines if by chance they are entitled to claim recognition, it must be primarily for some rhythmic significance of form which is ultimate, and not for any interpretation of an idea, or representation of a fact”. For him “painting was the language of the universe and that the world of sound is a tiny bubble in the silence of the infinite”. He further elucidates his love for painting by stating; “the Universe has its only language of gesture; it talks in the voice of pictures and dance”. He continues ‘every  object in this world proclaims in the dumb signal of lines and colors the fact that it is not a mere logical abstraction or a mere thing of use, but is unique in itself carries the miracle of its existence’.  In a picture the artist creates the language of undoubted reality, which every human being can see and interpret in his/her own ways, irrespective of the language, cast, creed, social structure that each one belongs to. For Tagore a piece of art has its own inner artistic significance.

Tagore, while speaking about his paintings, once said “People often ask me about the meaning of my pictures. I remain silent even as my pictures are. It is for them to express and not to explain. They have nothing ulterior behind their own appearance for the thoughts to explore and words to describe and if that appearance carries its ultimate worth then they remain, otherwise they are rejected and forgotten even though they may have some scientific truth or ethical justification”.

His concepts of education even today has great relevance and his dream for empowering the rural India continues to remain a challenge for all of us today. Tagore held that education must allow the child to develop in the context of nature. He believed that “the sweep of the earth and the expanse of the sky, the quietness of the evening and the promise of the morning, the beauty of the stars and the radiance of the sun must permeate the personality of the child”. From his own experience Tagore learnt that education divorced from social life and cultural traditions, and, more important still, bereft of contacts with nature became for the child an imposition and a burden. These very facts are effectively used by the science centres in creating interest in science among the students. 

For Tagore, art had its place along with mathematics and science. He believed, and he earnestly tried to carry out his beliefs in his school, that all aspects of the child's personality must develop harmoniously. He was one of the earliest among modern educational thinkers to emphasize activity as an essential principle of education. Education, for Tagore, was the foundation of society; that the teachers of today are the arbiters of the destiny of society of tomorrow and the day after.

Tagore worked tirelessly to empower his people in the villages. He believed that able men will stay in villages only when village life is reconstructed to provide educational facilities, health services, improved communications and adequate and wholesome water supply. Able men and women will stay in the villages only if there are opportunities for the fullest development of their personality. What a prophetic vision it has turned out to be. The current Covid pandemic played out the dying need in India for implementing the vision of Tagore for the development of villages. Had this got the attention of government post the independence, perhaps the pain and anguish that we are now witnessing on the faces of the stranded labours in most metropolitan cities during the current lockdown due to the Covid Pandemic would have been largely reduced. Hopefully the lessons that we have learnt during the Covid pandemic will make policy makers to rethink on the prophetic vision of Tagore and aim to develop our villages and help in creating job opportunities for our village brethren.

There can never be an end when one starts writing about Tagore, and therefore I am ending this tribute to Tagore by wishing that May he continue to inspire us, from the heavenly abode that is now home to him.

Jai Hind. Jaya he Jaya he Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya he.

Basava Jayanti: Birth Anniversary of Jagat Guru Basaveshwara

Basava Jayanti’, an auspicious day when Lord Basaveshwara was born, is celebrated on Vaishaka Shudda Tritiya, Rohini Nakshatra and this year it is celebrated on 14th May, 2021. This year marks the 890th birth anniversary of Lord Basaveshwara (also referred to as Basavanna), 12th century leading social reformer, thinker, poet, philosopher and a saint, who was born in 1131 AD in a small village in Ingaleshwar,  near Bagewadi (now Basavana Bagewadi) in Bijapur District in Karnataka. He is known for the establishment of a Parliament type edifice - the Anubhava Mantapa, besides being revered as a saint by the Veerashiva (Lingayat) sect, a dominant community in Karnataka, which Basavanna established to create an egalitarian society in the true spirit of humanity. Almost 900 years ago, he imagined a society of equals, which could mirror modern day democratic traditions. An idea, which is so difficult to imagine but was not just dreamt but practiced by Basavanna, in the 12th century. 

Unfortunately Basavanna is one among those leading lights of India whose life and works have been mostly confined to one region of the country - Karnataka. This is because Basavanna’s works have been brushed under the carpet, or at most his name may find a mention or two as foot mark reference, in the history that we have been taught based on the history books written by the colonial rulers themselves or by those so called Macaulay’s children, who were ‘Indian in colour but English in thoughts’. This could also be because most early British historians, and so also the ones who followed them, depended mostly on those minuscule English literature and such other written sources to suit their points of view to write history. Fortunately from near obscurity -  from the national point of view - Lord Basavanna, suddenly came to the lime light when the Honourable Prime Minister started speaking about him and so also Nirmala Seetharaman, the union Finance Minister, quoted him in her maiden budget speech, in 2019 and invoked two of the most simple but immensely profound preachings of Basavanna ; ‘Kayaka and Dasoha sacraments’, which are profoundly related to economics.

Kayaka, meaning work is equated with Kailash -  Heaven. Basavanna dreamt of building an ideal society where all individuals must have equal opportunities for religious pursuit or spiritual development, irrespective of their vocation in life. He had to change the prevailing social attitude of estimating the worth of a man by his profession. He proclaimed that there was nothing high or low in occupations, it was honesty and sincerity that decided the merits of the means of livelihood, which he described as ‘Kayaka'. This new concept of work (Kayaka), introduced by Basavanna, with no differentiation, had started a new movement and people of all walks of society, not only got themselves involved in their respective works but they also started loving their work, which helped in the overall development of society.  Basavanna addressed the workers as Kayakajeevi’s, and appealed them to lead their day-today lives with their hard earned income. He also appealed that they should not preserve the money or property for tomorrow. He urged them to donate or utilise the surplus money for the benefit of human society, particularly helping the poor. He called this concept of returning back to the society – “Dasoha”. Dasoha is now a very famous concept in most of the Lingayat / Veerashaiva Maths that are spread across Karnataka, where food and education are served free to the needy section of society, irrespective of their caste, creed, or religious identities. 

Shri Narendra Modi, our Honourable PM, was aware of the profound contributions of Basaveshwara including the two concepts of ‘Kayaka and Dasoha’ about which he had spoken in public. Therefore, it was not surprising that Nirmala Seetharaman, invoked the name of Basavanna in her maiden budget speech in the parliament and cited two important concepts of  ‘Kayaka and Dasoha’ policies that were enunciated by Basavanna to the field of economics. Four years before the name of Basavanna was taken by the Hon. FM in her maiden union budget in 2019, in the year 2015, the Honourable Prime Minister had unveiled a statue of Basaveshwara, on his birth anniversary on the banks of River Thames, in London. Subsequently PM Modi had also joined another celebrations of the birth anniversary of Basavanna in Delhi, and during his speech, PM Modi had invoked two other important concepts of Basavanna, ‘static and dynamic’, which were uniquely defined by Basavanna. Incidentally this speech of PM has now gone viral in the social media. The essence of what PM wished to state can be appreciated by understanding what Basavanna says. ‘The standing will perish and the moving will stay on’. By saying so, Basaveshwara introduces two novel concepts and extraordinary thoughts “ Sthavara ’’and “Jangama’’, the meaning of which is “Static’’ and ‘’Dynamic’’- respectively. He compares the physical structure of the temple, which is perishable as static while giving a completely new definition to the human body and soul  and referring human body to be Dynamic and a living God in itself, where each parts of the living body are compared to the static parts of the physical structure of a temple. Such was the profoundness of Bsavanna’s thoughts, which he wrote as vachanas, which are far too ahead of his times.

It appears that Nirmala Seetharaman, the Finance Minister, was in attendance when  PM spoke so highly on the thoughts of Basavanna and perhaps this may have prompted her to invoke the name of Basavanna in her maiden union budget speech not once but multiple times, while connecting some of the schemes of the government with the ideals and thoughts of Basavanna. In her speech, Sitharaman referred to Basaveshwara, saying, "Implementing Kayakave Kailasa, the government enables about 10 million youth to take up industry relevant skill training through the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)." She further invoked ‘Dasoha’ preachings of Basavanna and said, "'Give It Up' and joined hands with PM in appealing to the well to do section of society for giving up LPG subsidy,  for the wellness of the society." Both Kayaka and Dasoha  philosophy, owe their genesis and allegiance to Basaveshwara and his preachings. 

Lord Basavanna, though born in to a high caste society to the Brahmin parents, worked towards uplifting the underprivileged classes and women, and believed that all human beings are equal, irrespective of class, caste, creed, and gender, the concepts of which, in the 12th century, were considered to be sacrilegious. He strived to abolish caste system through some kind of a freedom of speech and reason, which is embodied in the ‘Anubhava Mantapa’, a remarkable democratic edifice,  which he established, while serving as Minister of Finance (Bhandari) under king Bijjala of Kalachurya Dynasty, at Kalyan ( now Basava Kalyan), in Bidar District, Karnataka. Basavanna is the first Indian thinker, much before the famed Magna Carta charter,  who developed an institution ‘ Anubhava Mantapa’ where the system of deliberation and discussion could be held, which mirrors its thoughts to the modern day parliaments. In that sense, one could address Basavanna as the architect of modern consultative and participating democracy. His ‘Anubhava Mantapa’ was the perfect example of a legislative body, which had members from all walks of life. Basavanna referred to each of these members as ‘Sharana’s and Sharani’s, the noble citizens, who were free to air their views during deliberations and discussions at the Anubhava Mantapa. All the Sharana’s and Sharani’s used to participate actively in the proceedings of Anubhava Mantapa. Basaveshwara was one among the leaders of this spiritual body, which was headed by a low caste, Sharana, Allamaprabhu. The Anubhava-Mantapa established by Basavanna attracted hundreds of saints and spiritual aspirants from all over the country who included among others its chief, Allama Prabhu, Siddarama, Madivala Machayya, Ambigara Chowdaiah and others from different parts of Karnataka; Urilingadeva from Maharashtra; Bahurupi Chowdaiah, Sakalesa Madarasa from Andhra; Adaiah, Soddala Bacarasa from Saurashtra (Gujarat), Moligeya Marayya and his wife Mahadevamma from Kashmir. They deliberated on several socio economic issues and the leaders, Allamaprabhu & Basavanna, listened to the opinions of all sharana’s, irrespective of their social standing, which exemplifies the path followed in modern day democracies all across the world and in this sense Basavanna can be referred to as a visionary for democratic traditions of not just India but the world. 

Basavanna firmly believed and advocated that by birth everyone is equal and that all the societal divisions of people based on their birth are misgivings established by the society, which need to be stopped. Basaveshwara’s concept of equality is embodied in one of his Vachanaas where he advocates that no one is inferior to him and that no one is superior to the Sharana or Shivabhakta.He summarises his thoughts in his vachana, which says ‘Enagintha kiriyarilla Shivabhaktarigintha hiriyarilla, (ಏನಗಿಂತ ಕಿರಿಯರಿಲ್ಲ, ಶಿವ ಭಕ್ತರಿಗಿಂತ್ ಹಿರಿಯರಿಲ್ಲ), meaning ‘nobody is inferior to me and nobody is superior to the disciple of God’. This shows his profound thinking and concern for equality. His basic intention was to establish a society of equals through his vachana’s. Basavanna faced a lot of challenge and opposition from the priestly class while trying to advocate his thoughts. But then he was steadfast in his beliefs and went about implementing and spreading them in society. He firmly believed in the over all welfare of human society with no discrimination and this belief is central to all of 1000 odd Vachanas (poetry), which he has written and so also the vachana movement, which was led by Basaveshwara. He proclaimed welfare for all by saying “Sakala jeevatmarige lesu”(welfare of all).

Basavanna was also among the first to advocate for equal rights for women, by emphasising that they are in no way inferior to men. One of his Vachanaas very profoundly presents his thinking in the simplest of language that is understandable to even the most common man. He says, ಇವನಾರವ, ಇವನಾರವ, ಇವನಾರವನೆಂದೆನಿಸದಿರಯ್ಯಾ.ಇವ ನಮ್ಮವ, ಇವ ನಮ್ಮವ, ಇವನಮ್ಮವನೆಂದೆನಿಸಯ್ಯಾ.ಕೂಡಲಸಂಗಮದೇವಾ ನಿಮ್ಮ ಮನೆಯ ಮಗನೆಂದೆನಿಸಯ್ಯಾ. Meaning; Never ask who is this who is this, always believe that he is our person he is our person, Kudala Sangmadeva, take him to be a son of your home, which clearly embodies his intent for the establishment of society of equals. His conviction in an egalitarian society is also seen in the way he addressed his fellow Sharanas. Irrespective of their social background or upbringing Basavanna addressed all the sharana’s as ‘Aiyya, Appa, Akka, Avva, Kakkayya, Haralayya, Madayya, Muktayakka, Sankavve - reverential epithets, which he gave to every member of the society, including women. 

It must be noted that in early 12th century the Indian society practised a system of Chaturvarna. The fourfold sections of society was divided into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas and Sudras. This varna system may have served the Indian society well in the beginning, when its spirit was properly understood. But in course of time, unfortunately this varna system led to a fragmentation of society, defeating the original form, which perhaps envisaged a doctrine of social solidarity in its original form. But then this system had moulded itself into a decadent caste system, the division of which was based on birth of an individual and not by their deeds. It was also the period when women were restricted to the four walls of the house and there was absolutely no social status for women in any part of the world and to whichever society they belonged to. Even while living in such sociocultural conditions in the early 12th century, Basavanna appealed to women to be a part of his Bhakti movement and to participate in the proceedings of the Anubhava Mantapa. Basavanna, who was a Minister under Bijjala, ensured that women too were given an equal opportunity, which men got in society. His success can be seen from the fact that there were 35 women members - Sahrani’s - in the Anubhava Mantapa. Some of the famed women ‘Sharini’ members of the Anubhava Mantapa included Akkamahadevi, Gangambike, Nilambike, Muktayakka, Kadire Remmevve, Kottanad Somavva, Sule Sankavve. The involvement of women and that too in quite large numbers can be contextualised with the number of women members seen in most legislative assemblies and the Loksabha in modern times in India. This reveals how far ahead of his times Basavanna was, when it comes to gender equality, which does not exist in our elected members even today almost 900 years after Basavanna.

In order to attract people of all sections of society and towards  fulfilling the concept of oneness among people and introducing equality among all sections of society, Basavanna started  a new concept of ‘Ishta Linga’ and urged his followers to sport this ‘Ishta Linga’ and emphasised that all those who wear it are equals and that they can eat together and marriage among them was considered to be valid in the society. (The followers of this Ishta Linga traditions are now referred to as Lingayats, who are mostly found in Karnataka and small parts of Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh). Like most religious leaders and other philosophers who are far ahead of their times, Basavanna too faced problems from the traditionalists, who believed that he was destroying well established societal norms that existed for several centuries. His revolutionary thoughts and ideas created a sensation among the orthodox. They organised themselves to oppose him. They framed many allegations, concocted tales about Basaveshwara and tried to lower him in king Bijjala's eyes. Basaveshwara was accused of misappropriation of the State funds. But then Basaveshwara was impeccably honest and integrity to him was central to his existence. He placed the entire accounts of the State before the King, who was infuriated by the false allegations made against Basavanna by his detractors and warned them of serious consequences for making false and baseless allegations.

Basavanna’s all encompassing knowledge and his magnetic personality could overcome several such obstacles created by his detractors and he continued his mission for an egalitarian society with even greater zeal. His idealistic thoughts for establishing a class less society reached its final goal, which culminated in the unimaginable marriage between the daughter of Madhuvarasa - one of the Sharana’s associated with Anubhava Mantapa - who had formerly been a Brahmin, and the son of Haralayya - another Sharana, associated with the same movement - who had formerly been an untouchable. This marriage, according to the orthodox and traditionalists and detractors of Basavanna, was sacrilegious and an assault on Hindu Dharma. His detractors conspired to raise a battle against him. They complained against Basavanna and his followers to the king, who was expected to be the custodian of Varna-Dharma. It resulted in Basavanna being asked to leave Kalyana. After the exit of Basavanna from the scene the innocent Haralayya and Madhuvarsa were mercilessly persecuted. They were chained to the legs of an elephant, which dragged them to their death. This was also the beginning of the end of the Anubhava Mantap. The Sharanas were infuriated with this atrocity against two of their men. This also gave an opportunity for the opponents of the king to conspire against him. Bijjala was murdered, probably by his political opponents. But the blame for murder was thrown upon the Saranas, who then decided to en mass leave Kalyan and spread to different parts of Karnataka and also to Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. Thus ending an extraordinary democratic traditions of Anubhava Mantap, which was established by Basavanna. 

Basavanna on his exile from Kalyan went back to his favourite place, Kudala Sangama, the place where he had met his spiritual Guru, at an young age of 8 years. It was at this place that he studied extensively, the Vedas, the Upanishads the Agamas, the Puranas and the Kavyas and so also the texts of various religious faiths and philosophies. It was here that seeds of his revolutionary thought and mind were sown. He had engaged with his guru to seek means for translating his ideas and ideals into deeds at this place. He had also learnt with keen interest the devotional songs of Shivaa saints at this place. Therefore when the conspiracy to defame him succeeded and he was asked by the King Bijjala to leave Kalyana, he returned back to Kudala Sangama. On returning back to Kudala Sanagama, which is at the confluence of the two rivers Krishna and Malaprabha, Basavanna believed that  his mission in this world was over, and that he could return to Lord Sangameswara from whom he had received the mandate to be the instrument of the Divine Will. He attained Linganga Samarasya with Lord Sangama, at Kudala Sangama in the year 1167, when he was only 36 years old. 

Today the place where Basavanna achieved his samadhi in Kudala Sangama has become a reverential place, which continues to draw his disciples from all across the country. The celebration of Basava Jayanti is focused on spreading the message that Lord Basavanna preached - for an egalitarian society. The day is celebrated by reciting the Basava Vachanas and offering their prayers to the Lord. I earnestly hope that this Basava Jayanti helps us to go back to the wise and much-needed teachings of Lord Basavanna on spiritual democracy, peace and brotherhood, which is so essential in the world and times that we live in.

I end this tribute to Basavanna with one last Vachana in the original language that he wrote, without any translation

ಕಳಬೇಡ, ಕೊಲಬೇಡ, ಹುಸಿಯ ನುಡಿಯಲು ಬೇಡ,

ಮುನಿಯಬೇಡ, ಅನ್ಯರಿಗೆ ಅಸಹ್ಯಬಡಬೇಡ,

ತನ್ನ ಬಣ್ಣಿಸಬೇಡ, ಇದಿರ ಹಳಿಯಲು ಬೇಡ.

ಇದೇ ಅಂತರಂಗಶುದ್ಧಿ, ಇದೇ ಬಹಿರಂಗಶುದ್ಧಿ

ಇದೇ ನಮ್ಮ ಕೂಡಲಸಂಗಮದೇವರನೊಲಿಸುವ ಪರಿ.

Battle of Gallipoli - An Entente Most Remarkable : Remembering the contribution of Indian troops in this Battle

Battle of Gallipoli - An Entente Most Remarkable : Remembering the contribution of Indian troops in this Battle

April 25, 2020, marks the 105th anniversary of the historic landing of the allied troops the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand) on the Gallipoli Peninsula, for one of the most treacherous military campaign in the worst of battle conditions in the trenches of death, during WW1. This battle is now legendary and several heroic stories, books, documentaries and films have been told about this battle, which lasted eight months and claimed at least 125,000 lives. Most unfortunately for nearly 100 years since this battle, not much was known about the participation of Indian soldiers in this battle, let alone chronicling their contributions to the battle. Fortunately the vital contributions of Indian soldiers in this battle caught the attention of a well known Australian historian and researcher Prof Peter Stanley, who through his intensive research has changed all that and documented, with extraordinary details, the contributions of Indian soldiers in the Battle of Gallipoli in his book “Die in Battle, Do not Despair, The Indians on Gallipoli 1915”.

While curating an exhibition ‘Cricket Connects : India - Australia Cricket Relations’, as a part of the  ‘Confluence : Festival of India in Australia’, which was presented at the historic Sydney Cricket Grounds, in October 2016, I had an opportunity to connect this historicity of relation between the two countries in one of the sections in the exhibition. It was  heartening to note that of all the ten sections of the exhibition this part of the exhibition evoked an extraordinary emotional feeling and connect for most Australian visitors to the exhibition. 

The Indian troops, who fought  shoulder to shoulder with their other compatriots of the ANZAC, which consisted of soldiers from Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, France, India, and Newfoundland, comprised of Gurkha and Sikh battalions and innumerable mule drivers who literally transported British forces and their allies. The ANZACs landed on the Gallipoli peninsula on the 25th April 1915 and fought in the trenches and on the frontline and in the process thousands perished and several thousand more were either wounded or scarred for life. The Australians, New Zealanders and Indian soldiers united fight during this epic battle is something that would not have been countenanced in a “White Australia” during this period. 

The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign, the Battle of Gallipoli or the Battle of Çanakkale (Turkish: Çanakkale Savaşı), was a British campaign of World War I fought with the aim of capturing the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul). This battle may have been a defeat for the ANZAC, if one looks prismatically with the objectives with which this battle was fought - to push out the Ottoman Empire and to create a new front for the allied forces. However a look at the historical war records and casualty data from World War, reveals  and clearly demonstrates  the Gallipolis campaign value to the Allied cause. The New Zealand government’s historical record documents that the Allies (which included Australians, British, Canadians from Newfoundland, French, Irish, Indians and New Zealanders) sustained 1,41,547 casualties (dead, wounded and missing) at Gallipoli – among those numbers were 44,150 dead. The Ottoman Empire forces sustained a far higher casualties - 2,51,309 including an astonishing 86,692 dead. The casualties on the enemy side almost doubled the ANZACs numbers including the dead and what is more revealing is that the Ottoman forces were strategically at a more vantage position than the ANZAC forces. Looking at the ratio – dividing the impact on the Ottoman side by the input of Allied force casualties – one can notice that the Allied soldiers were relentless in their heroic gallantry and displayed incredible valour, courage and endurance in the most hostile environment in which this battle was fought. 

The  valour with which the Allied forces fought this dreaded Gallipoli battle has led to the ANZAC legend that continues to live on to be celebrated and revered both in Australia and New Zealand, every year. 

The ANZAC legend is celebrated as the Anzac Day on April 25, marking the landing of Anzac at Gallipoli in 1915.  Every year, there are ceremonial marches and parades in most Australian and New Zealand cities to mark the sacrifice of those who lost their lives in the line of duty. The Sikh community, who fought alongside the Australians, has proudly joined in this tradition of paying homage to their forefathers  and since 2005, there has been a Sikh contingent in the Anzac Day march in Perth, Australia, comprised of direct descendants of those who fell in Gallipoli and other campaigns.

The Gallipoli battle records have revealed the respect that the Australian soldiers had for the Indian soldiers, which is evidenced in one of the statement; “The [Indians] batteries did so well and gallantly that the Australians have metaphorically taken them to their hearts. All are the greatest pals imaginable, and the political effect of this cordial friendship should be good for both India and Australia.”  Most unfortunately, we Indians have forgotten to respect our battle warriors who perished in this epic battle. Through this post, on behalf of my countrymen ( women included) I wish to pay our respect and reverence to those British Indian soldiers who perished not only in this battle but also in both the WWI and WWII.

The best tribute for the battle heroes, the brave ANZAC, who were martyred during the WWI at Gallipoli, can be witnessed in the words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), an army officer who was part of this battle and who founded an independent Republic of Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. He served as Turkey's first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. 

 “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives; you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours. You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well”  Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

May the revered souls of valiant soldiers, who fought for our country, continue to rest in eternal peace in the heavenly abode which is home to them. 

Jai Hind.