VIEWPOINT
Romit Bagchi
The British keep India in subjection by the sword and she can be freed only by the sword. Those who talk of winning India’s independence by peaceful means do not know the British. Please say Bande Mataram: Mahatma Satyananda to his followers.
Anandamath, a fiction penned by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee published in 1882, became immensely popular with the Bengali middle class, so much so that it had seen five editions by 1892. Alarmed over its likely impact on the British Empire in India, the government soon banned it. The apprehension was quite justified. The historian, Ramesh Chandra Majumdar wrote: “Bankim Chandra converted patriotism into religion and religion into patriotism.” The ban was lifted only after India became free.
It is a historical novel set in the background of the Sannyasi rebellion of 1774. The armed bands of Sannyasis confronted the East India Company and its loyal minions head-on with indomitable valour and were suppressed after a brief career of success. The novel also chronicles the horrifying sufferings of the Bengalis during the catastrophic 1770 famine marked with an unprecedented level of mass starvation. The Nawab of Bengal- at the behest of the Company- kept extorting mercilessly heavy land taxes from the peasantry. However, the rebels in the novel were not conventional ascetics but were recruited from the common people powered with the passion to free the motherland from the yoke of the oppressive rule, regardless of the means to be adopted.
Let us see in detail the grim backdrop of the rebellion. The harvest had been poor. Consequently, rice became dear. The people kept on suffering, but the Government exacted its revenues to the last fraction of a farthing. The people had to be content with one meal a day, then even from their single meal they rose with half-filled stomachs. Next the two mealtimes became two fasts. But Mahomed Reza Khan, who was in charge of the revenues, hiked taxes by ten per cent. First, people began to live by begging. Then they began to fast. The cows were sold… Next they began to sell their girls. Thereafter, they began to sell their boys and then their wives. They began to eat the leaves of trees. The lower castes and the forest men began devouring dogs, mice and cats. Diseases followed with a relentless continuity- cholera, consumption, smallpox… (Translated by Sri Aurobindo and Barindra Kumar Ghosh)
This is how the novel begins. But we will now move straight to its concluding chapter which involves a profoundly interesting dialogue between Mahatma Satyananda, the head ascetic and principal protagonist, and his mysterious Guru, called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Sage’ in the novel who is supposed to articulate the views of the author himself.
Satyananda left the battlefield silently and came to Anandamath. There in the court-yard of the Vishnu temple at dead of night, he sat in deep meditation. Just then the Doctor appeared. Seeing him, Satyananda stood up and made his obeisance to him. Doctor: “Satyananda, to-day is the full-moon night of the month of Magh.” Satyananda: “Let us go, I am ready. But please remove a certain doubt from my mind. At the very moment when I have succeeded in making our religion safe through armed battle, why have you come to recall me?”
The Sage said, “Your work is accomplished, the Mussulman kingdom is destroyed. You have no other work now.” Satyananda: “The Mussulman domination is done away with, but no Hindu kingdom has yet been established.” The Doctor said, “The Hindu kingdom is not destined yet to be established. So come away with me.” Hearing this, Satyananda cried passionately, “My Master! If the Hindu kingdom will not be established, then who will rule here? Will the Mussulman again get the upper hand?” He said, “No, the English will rule India now.” With tears flowing from both of Satyananda’s eyes, he turned towards the image of Mother India and said with joined palms, “Alas Mother! I have failed to rescue you. You will again fall into the clutches of the Mlecchas (Non-Aryans).”
The Doctor said, “Satyananda, don’t be sad. Whatever will happen will be for the best for the country. Unless the English rule this land, there is no chance of the renaissance of the eternal religion. Listen patiently. I shall explain to you what has been seen and understood by the ancient sages. The worship of three hundred and thirty million deities is not the eternal religion; that is an inferior popular religion. Under its influence, the true religion is lost. The true Hindu religion is based on knowledge, not on action. That knowledge is of two kinds: secular or external and spiritual or internal. The inner spiritual knowledge is the chief part of true religion. For a long time this knowledge has been lost, so the true religion is also lost. In order to restore the eternal religion, knowledge of the material world must be preached at the outset. There is not much material knowledge in the country now. So the necessary knowledge has to be brought and introduced from other countries. The English are past masters in the knowledge pertaining to the material world. So we shall make the British our rulers. Through English education, our people on attaining knowledge of the material world will also be made capable of understanding inner knowledge. There will then be no obstacle to preaching the true eternal religion. So long as that does not happen, so long as the Hindus do not become wise, worthy and strong, British rule will endure.”
Still unconvinced, Satyananda cried agonisingly, “I shall drench the mother earth with the enemy’s blood and thus make her fruitful.” The Sage: “Who is your enemy? Here is hardly any enemy. The British are our ally and friendly power. Besides, none has the requisite power to be victorious in the long run in a war against the British.”
Satyananda: “If we haven’t got the power, I shall give up my body before this image of my Motherland.”
The Sage: “You will die in ignorance? Come, attain knowledge first. There is the Mother’s temple on the peak of the Himalayas. From there I shall reveal and show you her true form.” Saying this, the sage grasped Satyananda’s hand. Satyananda is success and this Saint stands for renunciation. Renunciation came and took success away…
Herein lies a profound irony of history: events unfolded in ways which starkly contrast with the original intentions.
The mantra Vande Mataram, which became a sacred war cry, shook the foundations of a seemingly invincible empire, galvanising the nation and powering the militant nationalists to embrace bullets and kiss the gallows. And yet, the author of the mantra went beyond the mantra as he knew that there is a much greater mantra which beckons man to move to the Ultimate, leaving behind the immediate and the temporal: the call of the Soul-the Supreme call for human life.
