REVIEWS
Indo-Anglian
Literature by K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, pp. ix–70
(International Book House, Ltd., Bombay Rs. 1/8.)
The
Indian Centre of the P. E. N. Association has done well to include in its
series of monographs on Indian literatures a survey of Indo-Anglican
Literature, that is work in English by Indian writers; for English too is among
the languages which India has been employing for the impression of her mind and
character through the media of the literary art. In the little book before us,
Prof. K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar of Belgaum, a well-known literary critic and
essayist, presents to us in concise and active phrases the modest pageant of
India’s English authors, from Toru Dutt and Tagore to Gokak and “K. S.” –poets,
play-wrights, story-tellers, novelists, biographers, essayists, critics,
belletrists and exponents of social and cultural philosophies. Mr. Srinivasa
Iyengar does not pretend to have produced an exhaustive record. That would
indeed have been impossible. He has selected for notice only the typical or the
more noted authors; and it is no uninteresting or negligible show that we see.
The outstanding figures are of course just a few–Toru Dutt, R. C. Dutt,
Sarojini, Tagore. Some would perhaps add Gandhiji, Pandit Nehru, Aurobindo and
probably Mr. Srinivasa Sastri and Sir Radhakrishnan. It is a point to be
decided whether publicists, journalists and jurists may be assigned places
amidst the stars in the firmament of pure literature. Anand Mohan Bose,
Lalmohan Ghose, Rash Behari, Telang, Ranade, Chandavarkar, Subrahmanya Aiyar,
Tej Bahadur Sapru, K. Natarajan–these (mentioned at random) are names that must
be included in any list of masters of a lucid, supple and nervous style of
English in India. Not that, with additions so made, the number of first-rate
names will grow to be much more than could be counted on one’s figures. But let
us not forget that it is not the peaks only, but the unparticularized rocks and
boulders also that contribute to the impressiveness of a hill view. Dr.
Srinivasa Iyengar has not attempted critical judgements on individual authors;
and we must agree that that is not so very necessary for his immediate purpose
which is to make us see that the stream is both copious and continuous and that
it has perennial leaders in innumerable springs and freshets.
But
one reflection cannot be escaped. For the output of some 70 years, by a country
so large as India and one so rich too in literary tradition, the proportion
that may be adjudged as of top grade looks rather thin. Toru Dutt began (1876)
same ten years earlier than Rudyard Kipling and one is apt to set India’s
production by the side of England’s since that date and compare both bulk and
quality. Even after being reminded that English is not India’s natural tongue,
and that during these 70 years her best minds have been pre-occupied with
political, social and other in mediate problems, and further that the greater
part of our writing in English has been in journalism and in political,
professional and technical literature, one may still not be able to suppress
the question–“Is it all worth while?” In the reading lists suggested by Dr.
Srinivasa Iyengar, we have some 38 entries under poetry, 35 under Fiction and
Drama, 25 under miscellaneous prose and 17 under criticism. How many of these
140 writers have any survival value, and how much each of them? Is an Indian’s
excursion into the field of English letters anything more than vanity if not
waste of effort?
There
are however two ways of considering the matter. One is to ask whether Indians
writing in English choose that vehicle in the hope of winning for themselves a
place in the Poets corner in Westminister Abbey. If that were so, one could not
be quite sure of their prospects. Will English literary judges agree to place a
volume of Tagore or Sarojini or Aurobindo in the same book-case as they would
reserve for the works Shakespeare or Shelley or Wordsworth? Will they count our
best as among their best? It is hardly likely the answer will be unanimous. As
contributions to the library of England’s own cherished literature, India’s
English masterpieces may not command their highest price.
But
there is the other way of looking at the matter, and it is not a less pertinent
or less resultful way. English is an instrument to the Indian not exactly for
the insular purpose for which it is to an Englishman. To us English is the
medium for communication with the world at large and with England only. None of
the world’s languages is the whole world’s; and it happens that English among them
all has today the widest international reach. It is easier for Europe and
America to get a foreign intellectual commodity through the ports of English
than through any other work done by Indian writers in. English is therefore a
contribution, may or may not to England’s stock of literature, but certainly to
the World’s treasury of literature. Whether India’s command of the English
idiom is adequate or not, India has certainly a vision of life and a way of
living which may be of interest and even of inspiration to the international
World; and those Indian authors that adopt English as their medium address
themselves to that vaster world. Mr. Srinivasa Iyengar’s little book proves
that as interpreters of India’s social ethos, her moral sensibilities and her
genius for glimpsing the eternal amidst the evanescent, her English authors
have put forth such work as should justify perseverance and encourage hope.
D. V. G.
War
and prices–by L. Nemenyi. Gulab Singh and Sons, Lahore
1943. Price, Rs. 1/8.
The
government of India has not blinked the fact of inflation–see the EPT Ordinance
or the latest speech of the Viceroy to the Joint Session of the Central
Legislature. So there is no need for any apology for its policy–If one can call
a series of makeshifts and expedients policy, which Dr. Nemenyi’s pamphlet
tries to be.
The
vicious spiral has been set in motion in India. Its admitted cause is the
exceptional Allied expenditure in the country, which has mostly been offset by
sterling payment. This ad hoc sterling is money in both ways: unit of
account in Britain and cover for notes in India. Very little of that sterling
payment is covered by domestic taxation and borrowing. There has been no
corresponding mopping up of purchasing power thus released. The excess of purchasing
power has not been converted into increased imports because of the War. Much of
it has been used away in repatriating India’s sterling debt and not in each
case in the most beneficent way. Today India has become a creditor country with
a vengeance. The inevitable–through rising prices–has happened.
According
to Prof. Vakil the situation is analogous to that of the palmy days of the
great German inflation. The cause is the ‘existence of an increase in the money
supply of the country more than justified by the level of production. So he is
accused of emphasising (should it not be over-emphasised on p. 15?) the
monetary factors, neglecting real factors and not taking into account the
psychological factor. To the surprise of Dr. Nemenyi, even Mr. Birla explains
the rise of prices entirely by the scarcity of goods and ‘attaches no influence
(importance?) to the expansion of currency and to speculation and hoarding of
commodities.’ (pp. 27, 35). By the way, if there is any criticism of Mr.
Birla’s analysis it is the doubt whether his ‘scarcity of goods’ includes their
maldistribution among consumers. In fact, Dr. Nemenyi over-emphasises the
psychological factor which affects the real factors via the monetary factor.
After
a rather elaborate, not too clear or convincing discussion of these and other
minor opinions, Dr. Nemenyi splashes some conclusions: that there has been no
excessive expansion of purchasing power–at least till March 1943; that the
Government of India’s sterling finance is quite sound: that ‘the notes issued
against sterling balances, not utilised for payment of external debts, were genuinely
required for the currency needs of an expanded war-time economy,’ (p. 35.
Italics mine;) and that the increased note issue has had no inflationary effect
because of the fall in the velocity of notes and bank deposits and hoarding.
Dr.
Nemenyi’s discovery is that the financial position of March 1943 is the
desideratum of Indian monetary policy. He suggests taxation almost to a degree
of ruthlessness (p. 41); compulsory saving schemes (pp. 40 ff.) payment of
bonuses and dividends above a certain minimum (and ‘abnormal’ is a word missing from the author’s vocabulary) after
the War (p. 40); eradication of speculation and hoarding by powerful
regulations of forward markets (p. 40); and expansion of production (p. 41).
But
the benefits of self-deception are limited. The Government of India has
implemented the substance of Dr. Nemenyi’s proposals? Why have not prices made
good weather of it? Does this indicate the drastic demonetisations of sterling
by creating a Sterling Sterilisation Fund either by amending the Reserve Bank
of India Act or by issuing one more ordinance? Or the gradual withdrawal of
rural purchasing power by tempting the lately enriched agriculturist (and thus
wiping out the newly won rural market for manufactured goods) with large-scale
sales of gold and silver imported under the Lend-Lease Program?
Monetary
policy is inseparable from the social context. India is neither U. S. where
policing the price-level is done by seven-point programs and General Maxes
(Maximum Price Regulations) nor U. K., where Labour plays politics with the
cost of living and dying. That India is the country of villages whose backbone
is the agriculturist is, no doubt, a cliche. But that part of the
increased purchasing power which does not deserve to be frozen is with the
agriculturist is a truth which disarms Dr. Nemenyi’s proposals.
Taxation
and forced savings had had their day. Why not greater control of production,
rationing (and with it the abolition of racketeering) of necessaries and
constructive planning of the Indian economy get their innings?
A.N.
SUBRAHMANYAM.
‘The
night is heavy–By Krishan Shungloo.’ Free India Publications, Lahore. Price
Rs. 3/-.
In
order to give every bit of sincerity and forcefulness possible to their
utterance, Western poets, during the last fifty years, have had to ignore
certain conventional forms. The more coherent, the more inspired, and the more
inspiring such utterance is, the more we are ourselves ready to overlook
metrical technique and the conventional graces of form. It is at the same time
natural that in such a state of flux the impostor and the mere imitator should
demand the same attention as the genuine poet.
It
is fortunate that in India, where literary criticism is not too strict, we do
not have a plethora of “poets”; fortunate also that when a new poet like
Krishan Shungloo, comes into our ken he is one whose poetry commands our
willing attention.
These
poems are very personal, as some of the best poetry is, and one cannot complain
on that score. The Spanish war (in which evidently some of his close friends
lost their lives and in which his sympathies were, rightly, on the Republican
side) has evoked some of the poems. Others are meditations on the “ugly
realities” of life, as the author himself terms them, in different places such
as Paris, Berlin and Istanbul. In some of these pieces harlotry lies a bit too
heavily for my liking. Not all the exploits of undergraduates on holiday are
worthy of song. Of course, if the experience can be distilled and presented to
the world as poetry, one would not ask under what circumstances the poet
realised his profundities. This is about my one quarrel with Mr. Shungloo–that
his frauleins and mademoiselles are dragged in quite unnecessarily and to the
disadvantage of the train of thought the reader is trying to follow. But this
is a small point.
Poets
like Stephen Spender bring words like telephone freely into their verse; and
even a master-singer like Yeats in his latter pieces rhymed “fix” with
“politics.” So why grudge Mr. Shungloo a harmless and not unpoetical a word
like “news-reel”? All the same, I wish he had not used it in the following
context (because the reader has just been lifted to rather solemn plane of
thought):
“what
if my body be a news-reel
that
tells the whole truth……”
No
poet who feels can escape from the ugly realities of life at the present day,
nor must he try to: but Mr. Shungloo’s phrasing and cadence seem to me at their
happiest in lines like:
falls
falls
the
gentle rain
singing
on my skin
and
the wood is wet
bathed
in liquid green
the
broken branches glisten
in
the hissing wind
and
the field’s a pond
with
a million ripples ridden
the
birds are hurrying home
in
the pregnant calm
of
sunset ecstasies
how
trivial now appear
comforts
of a heated room
and
the precious things of my existence
Therefore,
I hope, that in his second book of poems we shall have more poems like the one
quoted with its vivid descriptions. “the night is heavy” is full of promise
which makes one look forward to Mr. Shungloo’s further efforts.
J.VIJAYA TUNGA.
Gandhi
against Fascism: Edited by Jag Parvesh Chunder: Free India
Publications, Lahore. Price Rs. 2/. Pages IX–102.
This
is a compilation from Gandhiji’s writings from 1937-42 of articles and notes in
Harijan, statements issued by him and letters written, which contain
what might be called the “foreign policy” of the great leader and his reactions
to the conflicts going on in Europe. That he is a great believer in
non-violence has not blunted the edge of his keenness to oppose Fascism–as
represented by Germany or Japan. The book is a valuable compilation which is
sure to convince all those who are open-minded that Gandhiji and the other
Congress leaders (whose opinions are also reproduced in the Appendix) have been
avowed opponents of Nazism and Fascism all along–even when statesmen belonging
to the Allied Countries appeared to be wobbling in their foreign policy five
years ago.
The
Graphic Art of U. S. S. R. by Sheik Ahmed: Free India publications,
Lahore, Price As. 4. Pages 16.
In
this interesting pamphlet the author describes how since the October
Revolution, “art has been used as a great factor in socialist construction and
in organising the education of the masses.” The Soviet masses have been more
art-minded; exhibitions of art are largely attended; and art more widely
practised than ever before, for, as Lenin said: “You become communists only
then, when you will enrich your mind with the knowledge of all those treasures
which humanity has provided.”
Kesava
Pandita’s Dandaniti (Criminal Jurisprudence) – by V. S. Bendrey: –No. 59
in the Sviya Granthamala Series published by the Bharata Itihasa
Samsodhaka Mandala, Poona: – (Price Rs. 3.)
The
book under review is a Sanskrit work and is said to be a part of Kesava
Pandita’s Nitimanjari which was, in its turn, intended to be a part of
his still greater compilation Dharmakalpalata. Manuscripts of Nitimanjari
and Dharmakalpalata have yet to be discovered. But two manuscripts
of the present work, which the author, Kesava Pandita, called Dandanitiprakaranam,
were discovered in the Tanjore Palace Library. Mr. Bendrey has edited and
published the work under the title Dandaniti. The author, Kesava
Pandita, or Kesava Bhatta as he was also called, lived during the days of
Sivaji Maharaja and Sambhaji Maharaja. Mr. Bendrey thinks that the work was
written between 1680 and 1683 A. D. and that it is likely that the work was
presented to Sambhaji Raja on the occasion of his coronation in 1681 A. D.
In
the present book the Sanskrit text is preceded by discussions relating to three
subjects, viz., (l) a scholarly and documented account in English of
Kesava Bhatta’s life and work; (2) a sketch in English of the national upheaval
during the Sivasahi or pre-Peshwa period; and (3) an account, also in
English, of Raghunathapandita Panditrao who introduced Kesava Bhatta to
Sivaji Maharaja and enabled the former to gain the favour of the latter.
The
Sanskrit text is divided into six chapters. Beyond practically rendering into
English the headings of the various chapters, the Editor has not in his Introduction
enlightened the reader much in regard to the contents of the chapters. But
this is because the Editor wants to publish separately a long and detailed
essay on “Indian Criminal Jurisprudence in Ancient and Historic Times,” as soon
as the present period of scarcity of paper is over.
Dandaniti
is practically a digest of the rules laid down in the
ancient Indian text-books relating to criminal law and its administration, with
notes and explanations by Kesava Bhatta. The punishments prescribed may seem to
modern minds often barbarous; and in many cases the importance given to certain
kinds of so-called offences does not seem to accord with modern views. But, as
the Editor remarks, books like the present one indicate “the contemporary
conditions of the social, Political and religious structure of the country.”
But they are also important for another reason. There is great truth in the
statement of Clarenge Darrow in his “Crime–Its Cause and Treatment,”
that in its essence a crime is a violation of the more important amongst the
habits and customs of life and the “folk-ways” of the community. But habits and
customs change; so do the ideas of right and wrong, and along with them the
views regarding crime and its punishment. Books like the present one are,
therefore important as showing the changing values of customs and institutions
with the progress of time. The publication of the learned editor’s contemplated
treatise on Indian Criminal Jurisprudence may be therefore eagerly awaited, as
it should be a contribution not merely to Indian Penology but to Indian
Sociology.
T. BHUJANGA
RAO.
Iraq
by Seton Lloyd –Oxford pamphlets on Indian Affairs, No. 13.
(Price annas six).
Iraq
had its genesis in the political exigencies of the Allies after the last War
and, therefore, its boundaries were not related to any historical traditions.
Iraq has been independent, we are told; for thirteen years and is a rich
country which is potentially richer still. But it is unprogressive; its
agriculture is backward and its grain-market unstable. Moreover, the presence
of an Allied army in the country coupled with the “war effort” for which the
country is bending its resources have affected the economic life of the country
adversely for the present; but we are assured that Iraq is becoming a creditor
nation, a fact from which that country is expected to hope for much after the
War. Mr. Seton Lloyd is convinced that it is either too early, or unnecessary,
for the Iraqi to worry about his political condition and is relieved to find
that the Iraqi mind is now “less obsessed with unfulfilled nationalist
ambitions” and can adapt itself “more readily to economic and social
reflection,” whatever that may be.
R. K. S.
The
Aboriginals–by Verrier Elwin (Oxford Pamphlets on Indian
Affairs No. 14 Price annas six).
The
extent of the ‘Aboriginal’ problem in India is surveyed and means of improving
the lot of these ‘real swadeshi products’ considered. Of the 25 millions
aboriginals, divided into several endogamous tribes and subdivided into
numerous exogamous clans, very few have survived the clash with culture
unscathed. The Gond Raja who reads Aldous Huxley, the Khasi woman who was a
Cabinet Minister and the Pardhan who became a Station Master are rare
instances. Four-fifths of the aboriginal population suffered a loss of nerve as
a result of the baneful contact with puritan reformers, government officials,
Christian missionaries and shrewd businessmen from the plains. The aboriginal
is losing his grip over his heritage of language, music, tribal ritual and with
it, losing the beauty and naturalness of his simple life. Mr. Elwin’s solution
of the problem indicates his disagreement with those who would “uplift” the
“backward classes.” He advocates a policy of temporary isolation and protection
for the aboriginals, and for their civilized neighbours, the lawyer, the
doctor, the merchant and the official, a policy of immediate reform. Until
“civilization itself is civilized,” he wants the aboriginal left alone.
R. K. S.
The
Way of the Guru–Dr. P. Natarajan, M.A., D.Litt (Paris),
L.T., M.R.S.T. The Gurukul Publishing House, Nilgiris, Re. 1/8. Pages 102.
The
book provides glimpses into the life of Sri Narayana Guru, the great saint and
reformer of Kerala, who passed away in September 1928 of the age of 72. The
Guru’s simplicity of life and manner, his deep spirituality which exercised a
strong and pervasive influence on all those who came into contact with him, his
passion to inculcate pure modes of
worship of the one
God, and his broad tolerance of spirit are all finely brought out in these
sketches, which are written with deep devotion and inmate knowledge. One
wishes, however, that more biographical details of the Guru’s life had been
provided. The book is well written and transports the reader to the region of
thought which Sri Narayana Guru radiated.
C.R.S.
TenaliRamakrishna:–A
play in Kannada. By Mr. C. K. Venkataramaiya, M.A., LL.B., Published by
Manohara Grantha Pustaka Samithi, Dharwar, Crown 8 Vo. 4 plus 95, Price Re. 1.
‘Tenali
Ramakrishna’ is a pleasant play dealing with the character of
the hero of that name, who is placed against a historical background. It is
obvious from the play that the chief interest of the author is to vindicate the
character of the hero. It is perhaps owing to this reason that he dispensed
with some of the requirements of plot construction in vogue. A series of
delightful pictures have been connected by the striking presence of the hero.
In the preface the author says: “Tenali Ramakrishna’s genius and learning, his
poetic capability, the flow of his humour, were extraordinary……I was grieved at
the notoriety spread concern him by the many improbable incidents and unfounded
stories that have cropped up around him.”
Ramakrishna
is not a clown meant to amuse the King in moment of lassitude. He is not a
humbug eager to taste pleasure on the sly. He is a profound scholar and a poet
of rare genius. He is a patriot of ardent mettle. He is the chief means of
saving the Karnataka Empire from disruption and ruin. He unearths conspiracies
and exposes traitors. He saves the King’s life.
The
other dramatis personae, many of whom are historical per are imagined
and delineatad in a manner suitable to the circumstances of the play. The minor
characters are skilfully handled.
There
is a succession of scenes which call before the mind’s eye a vivid picture of
those days of strict piety and unswerving loyalty, of incessant intrigue,
unceasing warfare, and splendid enjoyment.
B. C.
Modagalu
or “Clouds” by–Sri Swami.–Publishers: Manohara
Grantha Pustaka Samithi, Dharwar. Price: Re. 1. Pages 158 Cr.
8 Vo.
This
book is a collection of seven short stories in Kannada. Six of them were
written in 1942; so they are the author’s latest. In
the Preface the writer compares them to the clouds of Kartika
which, for all their variety of form, do not contain any beneficent rains and
are perhaps thin and have no weight. The comparison is not very close, however.
Obviously, the author is yet learning to write and has a way of narration. He
has observed details of dress and ornament; pose of body and movement of limbs
in the world of girls and women. The description of such details is perhaps a
little too much in the book.
Principal
Gokak has rightly observed in the Introduction that though there is variety the
characters chosen there is neither depth nor strength in characterisation. Some
of the endings are not convincing and do not seem inevitable. The author has
collected most of the materials needful to a writer; if he can bestow more
forethought on plot and pay attention to the analysis of the mental processes
of the characters and give us a peep into their souls we should
love his stories all the more.
The_present
collection is only a second harvest. The stories are readable and will be
welcomed by the Kannada reading public.
S. M.
Hoovina
Hasige –(Bed of Flowers) by Hoysala–Published by the
Manohara Granthamala, Dharwar. (Price Re. 1/-.)
This
is a collection of short stories, and includes, besides stories from English
literature and Islamic sources, the author’s own stories taken from real life
or presenting local legends. “Hoysala” shows a keen insight into child
imagination, and has made the narration quite interesting though now and then
it suffers from verbosity. The book is a welcome addition to children’s
literature in Kannada, which the author has already done much to enrich.
A. K. P.
Samskrita
Natakakathegalu–Part I, by M. S. Subrahmanya Sastry,
Bangalore City. Price Re. 1/4. Pages 144.
The
book contains stories in Kannada of five Sanskrit dramas; Bhasa’s Pratima;
Kalidasa’s Shakuntala and Malavikagnimitra; Sri Harsha’s Nagananda;
Bhattanarayana’s Venisamhara, after the manner of Lamb’s Tales from
Shakespeare. The author is a Sanskrit scholar wielding a prose style in
Kannada that is dignified and polished. The book is a valuable introduction to
the great Sanskrit dramas. We trust the author will give us more of such
stories in further volumes.
K.
Mana
India:–Original: Minoo Masani’s “Our India”
Translated Chinta Dikshitulu; Illustrations by C. H. G. Moorhouse. Publishers
“The Oxford University Press.” Price Re. 1/8.
“Mana
India” is the Telugu translation of Masani’s “Our India.” The
translation is faithful to the original and in fine Telugu idiom. Chinta
Dikshitulu by adopting the spoken dialect, has made his work easily accessible
to young students as well as women folk. The style is as simple it can be. The
get up is good. The only complaint that may be made is the use of small types
for the book.
K.S.J.
Kumari
Malar 5 and 6–Sri A. K. Chettiar, Cathedral Road, P.O.,
Madras.
The
fifth and sixth issues of this new periodical (monthly) in Tamil edited and
published by A. K. Chettiar on the model of the “Penguin New Writing”
series will be welcomed by the Tamil public. They are got up in book form and
consist of articles contributed by Tamil writers of standing. The fare offered
is varied: sketches, stories, poems, essays etc. The get-up, binding and
printing are elegant and attractive.
V.G.