The much awaited Mangaluru Literary Festival organised by Mangaluru Literary Foundation kicked-off to a rousing start with doyen of literature Shri SL Bhyrappa being part of the event. The 2 day fest organised at the Dr TMA Pai International Convention Centre will witness a galaxy of authors and writers over the next 2 days who will debate and deliberate on the theme ‘Idea of Bharat’ and related topics.
Address by Smt Sandhya Pai, Patron of Mangluru Lit Fest
The inaugural Session titled ‘Genesis’ was chaired by Dr N Vinaya Hegde, Chairman of Nitte Education Trust, Shri. Prafulla Ketka, Editor of Organiser Weekly and Smt Sandhya Pai, Managing Editor of Tushara, Taranga and Tunturu Kannada magazines.
The Idea of India espoused by Nehruvian ideas was that of exclusivity. But ‘Bharata Bodh’ is about the experience of Bharat that is not Nehruvian in nature. Today Bharat is expressing itself as Bharat for the first time todayThe event started with the traditional lighting of the lamp by the chairpersons. In her opening remarks, Smt Sandhya Pai said that the Idea of Bharat has to be rediscovered as we have forgotten its essence due to several attacks and colonial rule. If we analyse the setback we have had, it was our temples which were the centres of societal energy and was also the centre of our culture and traditions. There were temples in every village. But today without understanding the reasoning behind these temples, we judge them in today’s terms. We have even lost the knowledge of temple architecture. But all is not lost and we can regain it provided we do two important things. One, educate our children about our heritage and culture. Two, we have to educate our mothers about the same. Such a great Bharat has to be revived and I wish the event a great success.
Bharat Bodh and 5Ms
Prafulla Ketkar in his keynote address said he thanked the organisers for starting the event by using all local languages and celebrating ‘shabdh Brhama’. He then questioned if Bharat is just and idea or is it a ‘parikalpana’. Hence I would prefer ‘Bharata Bodh’ he said. The Idea of India espoused by Nehruvian ideas was that of exclusivity. But ‘Bharata Bodh’ is about the experience of Bharat that is not Nehruvian in nature. Today Bharat is expressing itself as Bharat for the first time today. Building a consensus for universal and sanatan ideals is Bharat. In Bharat we don’t see diversity and unity as contradictions but as a wholesome experience.
Visitors and Audience at Mangaluru Lit Fest; Dr David Farwley is seen in the picture
He further said, Inherent unity is the eternal strength of Bharat and we could build this was due to ‘Dharma’. A city like Mangaluru is as complementary to the nation as is Mumbai or Delhi. Idea of Bharat is inherently decentralized and was expresse in our localized forms of celebrations and in Kumbh. For us State is not the one which builds institutions but it is the society which builds society where the real strength wrests. Swaraj is beyond just freedom. Without understanding the geocultural context one cannot understand the importance of Sabaramila. Those who came from colonized background can never understand local traditions and their importance. This societal strength in the south has to be rekindled in the north.
Our Intellectual thinking is monitored by 5 ‘M’s. James Mills, interpreted Dharma as religion in his History of India. Marx built on this and further develops his based on his theory of Asiatic Mode of ProductionIt was added by Shri Ketkar that, Our Intellectual thinking is monitored by 5 ‘M’s. James Mills, interpreted Dharma as religion in his History of India. Marx built on this and further develops his based on his theory of Asiatic Mode of Production. For them the idea of Dharma was below that of Semitic religions. We play with alien terms which are not our experience. Macauley and Max Weber were the next two who diluted the meaning of Bharat. Macaulay studied Bharat for a different purpose. Indology of Max Mueller was all about undermining, misinterpreting Bharat and our texts. These 5 Ms destroyed the edifice of Dharma which was never about Religion. It was more about duty. Most exclusive contribution of Bharat to the world is Spiritual Democracy. If Britain gave Parliament democracy and US gave Economic democracy, Bharat gave spiritual democracy which gave anyone the freedom to choose their own God and paths to attain him. Different traditions and forms of worships existed here for eons without having to break down each other. We did not have a problem in accommodating one or two more gods but the problem arose when the invaders claimed exclusivity and said their’s is the only true God. We need to recontextualise the way we interpret and convey our traditions. We need to take back our temples back to the control of the societies. Third, we have to rebuild our education. We also need to connect ancient with the modern and not the colonial form of modernity. Such literary fests in many cities should give rise to a Intellectual movement and many more intellectual melas and yatras which will enable us to rearticulate the idea of Bharat.
Dr Vinaya Hegde in his address said Bharat is something that is applicable to all 1.2 billion Indians. ‘Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaha’ is my essence of Bharat. Past becomes contentious and to build the future is a non-issue for me. We should accommodate different thoughts and moderate our thinking and point of views. Bharat was build on the ideals of Purushottam Ram and that is how we need to build the country. We need not preach hatred for anyone. Shri Ram is our ideal and we should not have spent so much time to build a temple for him. Our traditions are not to be meddld with needlessly either by the governments or the courts. Secularism means non-interference of the state on religious issues. Our society has given utmost importance to women. All of us have equal rights and no one segment need have more importance. Minorities and Majority have equal rights and preferring one over the other is mere vote bank politics. Corruption, misuse of secularism has to be stopped in the country. If I am reborn I would love to be born again in Bharat. ‘Genesis’ ended with vote of thanks to the guests on the stage.
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