The New Commonwealth

WITH goodwill on all sides and a determination to succeed, a solution has been found for a constitutional problem of great complexity. The sovereign Republic of India can, by the exercise of her unfettered choice, remain a full member of the Commonwealth of Nations,–no longer ‘British’–recognising the King of England as the symbol of a free association of nations and, as such, the Head of the Commonwealth. This is just the position which Pandit Nehru and other Indian leaders have been visualising. In a few months the Constituent Assembly will declare India a Republic, and the office of the Governor-General of India will be replaced by that of the President. As Head of the State, the President will not be subordinate to the Head of the Commonwealth of Nations. He will occupy a position similar to that of the President of the U.S.A. or of France. He will symbolise the sovereignty of the Republic, treat with the Heads of all other States on terms of equality, and accredit Indian ambassadors to foreign capitals. The King of England fulfils no constitutional functions in relation to the Republic of India.

Here is a new concept of the Commonwealth, a further widening of the terms of the Statute of Westminster. It represents the triumph of the spirit of compromise and adjustment to changing needs, so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon genius. It is, at the same time, a triumph of the statesmanship of Pandit Nehru, the leader of renascent Asia and reconciler of East and West. May he fashion the new Commonwealth into a great instrument of “peace, liberty, and progress”!

The South Indian States

While the union of a large number of States under Rajpramukhs and the merger of others with the neighbouring Provinces of the Indian Union are proceeding quickly, an intriguing situation has arisen with respect to the remaining States of South India, Mysore, Travancore, and Cochin. The integration of Travancore and Cochin into a Kerala Union, with the Maharaja of Travancore as Rajpramukh, has been planned by the Ministry of States, and a Committee is working out the details. But a recent Press report indicates that the Maharaja is unwilling to be Rajpramukh or to let his brother of Cochin accept the honour. His Highness seems to have contended that the legal Ruler of Travancore is the Deity, Sri Padmanabha, and himself but the servant of the Lord. He cannot sign away the rulership which does not belong to him. But this line of argument must apply with equal force to the Maharana of Udaipur who is merely the ‘Dewan of Sri Eklingji’ or to the Maharaja of Mysore who is the vassal of Sri Chamundeswari. It is to be hoped that the Press report is inaccurate and that a Prince in modern India is not likely to have fallen back on ancient theories of kingship to prevent a desirable change.

In Mysore, popular opinion seems to be in favour of retaining the Maharaja as the constitutional Head of a United Karnataka. But at an early stage of its proceedings, the Constituent Assembly of Mysore resolved that a unification of Karnataka could be achieved only by the non-Mysorean parts of Karnataka coming into Mysore. The stand taken by the Congress President, Dr. Pattabhi, is that the institution of monarchy cannot be perpetuated in Mysore with additional territory thrown in. Legal and constitutional technicalities apart, if it is the desire of the people of Mysore and of its present Government that the existence of the State as a separate unit should not be imperilled, they ought not to be forced to accept a merger with Union Karnataka. A Karnataka province can now be formed out of the Kannada areas of Madras and Bombay, with a provision for the later formation of Maha-Karnataka. Similarly, the district of Malabar can be separated from the rest of the Province of Madras and made a Chief Commissioner’s Province like Coorg or Ajmer-Merwara. Mysore, Travancore, and Cochin are definitely ‘viable’ units, with enlightened administrations under a democratic regime. While their eventual merger in Maha-Karnataka or Aikya Kerala is very desirable, it is not necessary to force the pace. If India can accept the King of England as the Head of the Commonwealth, there can be no objection to the States Ministry allowing these Princes of South India to function as constitutional rulers of their respective States, and, after a few years, as the Governors of the linguistic Provinces of Karnataka and Kerala.

Greater Madras

A storm of opposition has been roused by the Rashtrapati’s contention that the ‘abandonment’ of the Andhra claim to Madras City must be final and irrevocable. The latest slogan is that it is not worth while having an Andhra Province leaving out the City. Multiple leadership has always been the bane of Andhra public life. The group politics of the Madras Legislature has cast its shadow even on the formation of the Province. The pro-Rashtrapati and anti-Rashtrapati groups are actively at work, ‘and an English Weekly of Madras–not the Swatantra– ‘has even exceeded its own egregious standards by throwing filth on the devoted head of Dr. Pattabhi who has striven unceasingly for over three decades to bring linguistic Provinces into existence all over India. The three-man Committee was doubtless guilty of an error of judgment when it sought to distinguish the case of Madras from that of Bombay. It ought to have recommended the eventual creation of a multi-lingual Province of Greater Madras including the City and portions of the neighbouring districts of Chingleput and Nellore. This would have given greater satisfaction and met with more cordial approval. The Provinces of Tamil Nad and Andhra could then have been carved out immediately with a provision for the temporary location of both administrations in the City. Very soon, the Andhras could have moved to Vijayawada and the Tamils to Madura, leaving Greater Madras as an independent administrative unit. Even now, it is open to the authors of the report to modify their recommendations in this respect. While the abandonment of the Andhra claim to the City implies that the City cannot be included, wholly or in part, in the Andhra Province, the Andhras are not precluded from pressing for the formation of an independent Province of Greater Madras. If the Andhra leaders could see their way to work one-pointedly for this consummation, they are likely to achieve greater success than if they pleaded for the division of the City into two portions, with the Cooum as the boundary. Delhi, Bombay, Madras, Waltair, and Cochin are marked out by nature and history for treatment as separate administrative units. It is time that the Governments and people concerned recognised this position.

A Cultural Commission

From the beginning–and that was in December 1927–Triveni has played its role as an interpreter of the Indian Renaissance in Art and Letters. Inter-provincial harmony and understanding have been promoted through the publication of renderings into English of the poems, stories, and plays of the writers in the different languages of India. Full length articles on the literary movements and on the work of individual writers have made it possible for the litterateurs of every region to be known in distant parts of India and even abroad. In addition, Triveni reproduced, in colours and half-tone, representative modern Indian paintings as well as select examples of the painting and sculpture of ancient and medieval India. Indian dance and music received considerable attention in the pages of this journal. All this was possible when art paper was easy to procure and block-making not so costly. Today, even ordinary glazed printing paper is scarce, and inferior newsprint is more costly than the featherweight or antique paper used in the early years of Triveni.

The inauguration of the All-India Centre of the P.E.N., through the devoted labours of Srimathi Sophia Wadia, brought an accession of strf’ngth to Triveni, for it meant contacts with fellow-workers in the same cause. And now, the formation of an Indian Cultural Trust, and the convening of conferences of artists, litterateurs, and lovers of the drama holds out the hope that something great may be achieved. It is good to be able to feel that one is not ploughing a lonely furrow, that the dreams of twenty years ago are taking shape. In the spacious times ahead, the pioneering efforts of Triveni, the P.E.N. and the Kalakshetra of Adyar–and many others in the Provinces and States of India–must flower into the glory that is Ind.

MASULIPATAM, May 2.

K. Ramakotiswara Rau

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