The Quit India Movement is the last civilian rebellion against British Imperialism in colonial India. It was also the mass movement led by people themselves in the absence of central leadership. Despite being non-violent generally, the imperialist government employed fifty-seven battalions of the army to crush the upsurge.
Though short-lived, the Quit India Movement has left many lessons to remember, not just to polity and citizenry but to writers and literati as well.
When giving the clarion call Gandhi said, “Every one of you should, from this moment onwards, consider yourself a free man or woman, and acts as if you are free and are no longer under the heel of this imperialism. It is not a make-believe situation that I am suggesting to you. It is the very essence of freedom. The bond of the slave is snapped the moment he considers himself to be a free being. He will plainly tell the master: “I was your bond slave till this moment, but I am a slave no longer”
The intent and purpose of the patriotic literature then were similar to Gandhi’s objective. That is: to snap our bond of slavery with colonial rulers but relieve us from all kinds of thraldom, not just political, but social, intellectual and cultural too. The long spell of colonial rule had impacted almost every sphere of our life particularly education. The divide and rule policy of the British had almost ripped the social fabric. The two dominant communities, Hindus and Muslims were pitted against each other. Just two years before the Quit India movement, in 1940, in his presidential address at the Muslim League Lahore session, Jinnah declared that the Muslims of the country wanted a separate electorate, Pakistan. On the other end of the political spectrum leaders of Hindu Mahasabha was speaking point blank that they would establish a Hindu Raj and “they will fight for it until the last drop of their blood” All Sind Akali Conference too had passed a resolution that it would not flinch from any sacrifice which they may be called upon thwarting Pakistan scheme.
Besides religious bigotry that was portending a civil war, the country was reeling under shortages. From rice to newsprint everything was becoming dear to get and black-marketing fuelled by greed was thriving. People perceived the shadows of death chasing from behind, as bunkers were built even in a far off southern city Chennai.
When Gandhi gave the call to snap from bonds, the country was gripped with religious fanaticism, hunger, greed and fear. Underground movements were sprouting throughout the country And politics had no balm with it to soothe the situation, it was patriotic literature that was trying its best to assuage fears and tempers and keep the flame of nationalism glowing
Patriotic literature was not new to Tamil then. Neither Gandhi was. Swadesamitran, the first Tamil newspaper, founded by Shri.G.Subramaniya Iyer, the same man who founded The Hindu, was writing extensively on Gandhi’s struggle against segregation in South Africa. In fact, long before, Tagore, Swadesamitran in its editorial dated 24.12.1912, addressed Gandhi as mahatma. One of Subramania Bharathi’s books, Madha Mani Vachakam, a collection of his patriotic poems, was printed in Durban to raise money for Gandhi’s movement in South Africa.
Gandhi too had emotional ties with Tamilnadu. Hundred years ago on 22nd September 1921, Gandhi made a momentous decision to change his attire. From the elaborate three-piece Barrister Suit, he decided on a simple dhoti and shawl. This epoch-making decision was taken by Gandhiji in Madurai, a town in Tamilnadu after he decided that he has to work for and with the poor people of the country. He never regretted this change and stuck to it till his last breath.
He wrote:” “All the alterations I have made in my course of life have been effected by momentous occasions; and they have been made after such a deep deliberation that I have hardly had to regret them. And I did them, as I could not help doing them. Such a radical alteration — in my dress, — I effected in Madura.”
He even called on King George V in this ‘half naked’ attire When Gandhi was invited to have tea with King George V at Buckingham Palace in 1931, a reporter asked: “Mr Gandhi, do you think you are
properly dressed to meet the king?”
Gandhi replied: “Do not worry about my clothes. The king has enough clothes on for both of us.”
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Undoubtedly Bharathi is the pioneer and the spearhead of patriotic literature. Before the call for the Quit India movement in 1942, Tamil literature, particularly fiction, in the first three decades of the 20th century, reached near perfection in structure, at the hands of pioneers. They bore evidence to their scholarship rather than to their social consciousness as there was a lack of understanding of the forces behind the social conditions. It was Bharathi who identified them and raised his voices against malevolent forces.
In fact, when Gandhi gave a call for the Quit India movement, he echoed Bharathi’s concept of freedom. Bharathi was advocating freedom from fear as he firmly believed that it is the prime cause of all our miseries.
அச்சமில்லை அமுங்குதலில்லை
நடுங்குதலில்லை நாணுதலில்லை
பாவமில்லை பதுங்குதலில்லை
ஏது நேரினுமு இடர்ப்பட மாட்டோம்
அண்டம் சிதறினால் அஞ்ச மாட்டோம்
கடல் பொங்கி எழுந்தால் கலங்கமாட்டோம்
யார்க்கும் அஞ்சோம் எதற்கும் அஞ்சோம்
எங்கும் அஞ்சோம் எப்பொழுதும் அஞ்சோம்
It means
We don’t
Fear, shrink or shiver or get timid
We don’t
sin or run away
We won’t
suffer for what we do
We won’t
fear anyone, anything, anywhere
We never fear.
Though Bharathi passed away two decades before the quit India movement, he laid a strong foundation for patriotic literature and created various prototypes in poetry, fiction, non-fiction and journalism. He broke the rigidity of the Tamil prose hardened by puritanical grammar pundits and made them simple enough for the less educated to grasp what is written. Flowery Tamil prose became facile with Bharathi. He set some of his poems to the tunes in folklore so that common people can sing them in their festivals. He modelled a few of them in like the bands of marching troupes.
A decade later, during the Salt march in 1930, Namakkal Kavingar used that format to write poems to sing enroute. Close to that time, in 1931, K.S. Venketramani wrote his masterpiece novel Kandan the Patriot which was a great departure from his earlier works. His earlier works, Paper boats and On the sand dunes were reflections on his village life and musings on the personalities and their emotions. But Kandan the Patriot is the vivid story of Tamil youth Kandan, an Oxford alumnus, and an Indian Civil Service officer, who at a point of time relinquishes his job to involve himself in the freedom struggle. It provided the impetus for the freedom movement. William J. Jackson. Professor Emeritus of Indiana University, who wrote the introduction for the book, Kandan the Patriot, compares it with Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Besides Prof. Jackson, many great minds, to mention a few, Rabindranath Tagore, K.R.Srinivasa Iyengar, Lord Haldane, Romain Roland, Lawrence Binyon, William Archer, Gilbert Murray, Upton Sinclair, have applauded Venketramani’s work for its patriotic fervour.
In the decade that followed, in 1940, Kalki penned his Thyaga Boomi, which portrays characters fighting for the rights of the underprivileged, upholding patriotic sentiments, contemporary scenes of freedom struggles, concomitant jail going and official oppression. Prolific poet Sudhananda Bharathi’s Anbu Nilayam was a compendium of patriotic emotions of a band of freedom fighters. Akilan. who would become a Jnanpith Awardee later, wrote Penn, emulating Venketramani, wherein also a civil servant relinquishes his position to join the freedom struggle.
My intention is not to present a survey of patriotic literature in Tamil or to catalogue them here. But I need to make a mention of a few of them to discuss the nature of patriotic literature.
Not just in Tamil, almost in all Indian Languages, the nature of patriotic literature is determined by its need. Freedom movements need powerful literature, not just to evoke emotions, but to help people envision what liberty is, and what it costs in terms of self-sacrifice. Unlike political rhetoric, literature can hold up an inspiring image of freedom that people may feel around and can realize and relate to. As epics inspired Bhakti for generations, patriotic literature could dramatise ideals and values which a country could strive for in the political arena.
Having said this much, the question that stares at us is, what is the relevance of patriotic literature today?
The features that make a literary work great are two: Great literature in any language, around the world, is created over permanent sentiments. And those pieces have universal appeal and are not bound by time or geographical or cultural limitations.
On the contrary patriotic literature is not based on permanent sentiments like love, anger, pathos, or humour. They are pitched on ‘subordinate sentiments’ that are evolved through group feelings, territorial attractions, and cultural consciousness of a particular group of people or country or region. It makes patriotic literature ephemeral. But it is the prerogative of the author to opt for his intentions. Does he want to create an immediate impact with his work or desire to sustain the test of time?
Off-late there has been an ambiguity among ourselves between patriotism and nationalism. I would like to recall a few lines from Notes on Nationalism by George Orwell. Indomitable Orwell writes:
“Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. Both words are normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must distinguish between them since two different and even opposing ideas are involved. By ‘patriotism’ I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his individuality.”
Colonial India was pursuing patriotism in literature. Is free India moving towards neo-nationalist literature? It is a point to ponder.
Respected Maalan Sir, Read your speech just now that you have given yesterday. It is really amazing and very intelligently presented by you, Nationalisim and patriotism you gave a quotes of George Orwell is tremendous. 🙏🙏🙏