The recently held Pondicherry Literary Festival has only become better in its second edition. The spark ignited in the first version is well on its way to become a fire. Held in the sleepy off-season Pondicherry, the environs perfectly complemented the fest in being intimate yet outstanding. A brilliant collection of thinking minds of our times brought together in an unhurried, informal and uncrowded ambience provided for some of the most honest, scintillating and free wheeling discussions and debate. It is rare to find such a tightly packed assemblage of notable names in such an uninhibited and easily accessible setting. It covered a vast agenda, with three sessions running in parallel over two days and an additional half day of joint sessions, and while it’s not possible to describe in detail all that went on, we can try for a bird’s eye view and get the overall flavour to the rich broth cooking there.
In its inquiry into the subject of Bharat Shakti, the conversations wove around the theme of the rediscovery of India. That is to say, in examining where the country is now, inevitably the gaze turned back on the path that has brought us here so far, and how to take the best from our past while building for a future ahead. This common theme echoed through from the very start of the first session during conversations with Swapan Dasgupta on his book, “Awakening Bharat Mata”, to His Excellency Gov of Kerala Arif Mohamed Khan’s keynote address towards the very end. This was something noted repeatedly to also align with the new India, one which does not believe in the Nehruvian shibboleth that India was a place of Jahaliya before 1947. The Indian past is a condition from which the modern Indian nation-state must take a clean break to be another west. Instead of young India, much like Shri Aurobindo in his Anushilon samiti times, is looking for a resurgent India rising on the back of its glorious legacy to build for modern times.
This common vision affected nearly every session; a debate into modernism bought out how some of our traditional folk and bhakti narratives built into themselves solutions for man made environmental problems that we see today due to unchecked greed. How women’s protected and empowered status, sorely needed today, was woven into the dharmic narrative at multiple levels into texts, stories, historical injunctions and way of life. Discussion on how the grand narrative of India as an exalted mother which provides the template for our nationhood today, is part of our eternal stories going back to the earliest Sanskrit and Tamil texts known to us. On how the idea of the divine maa has manifested in Indian history over and over again as a backbone of our civilization and upholder of society against depredations. How our ancient sciences in the space of architecture and metallurgy have created lasting edifices still impossible for modern technology to replicate. How art, culture, poetry and cinema need to be grounded in local ethos and be democratic to flower.
Topics of contemporary interests without necessarily linking it to the grand narrative abounded too, though even there, insights which showed linked back to the continuous past shown through. A special example of such was a dialogue with Anirban Ganguly on Amit Shah and the march of BJP. While covering material from his book on the political machinery and the nearly superhuman effort by the BJP president in constructing the largest political party in the world, it was brought out that the core strength was fueled in great part by none other than Shri Aurobindo’s influence on his family. Imagine, the grand linkages which tie Bengal, Gujarat and Tamil Pondicherry driving the regeneration of present Indian political systems!! These trends continued in other topics delving into the future of Kashmir. There was a vigorous discussion on the economy too. In the summary of topics, the one aspect of intellectual pursuit which could have used a greater time spent on arguments has been on the technical outlook of Indian power, especially with an eye on military affairs.
The breakout sessions into speakers only conclaves too continued the same theme, albeit even more intensely. The small gatherings of few people bought out some of the sharpest observations on how our polity and establishment needed to be detoxified of its Indian hating heritage. How there was still insufficient funding into primary research across multiple dimensions despite the government now trying hard to address these issues. There had become a culture in many universities (JNU etc. were mentioned) where there were entrenched professors in critical disciplines who did not carry out a shred of original research and perpetuated the same culture in the students. There were historians and self-proclaimed Indologists who did not know Sanskrit, West Asia affair experts who did not read Arabic, students of International studies who had never stepped outside the campus. How “research” was essentially reading and repeating English publications from western world verbatim without taking any efforts to apply any mind of their own in the matter. There was a discussion on how many western agencies when asked to collaborate in Indian studies were more interested in pushing their agenda rather than genuine scholarship.
However, these chats were not all doom and gloom, there did stand out more than a few examples of positive news and ideas on how to surmount the current failures. One such example was of Indian geneticists carrying out original research, some of which we saw published recently. There was also effort on their part to publish their work independent of foreign authors. Sanjeev Sanyal show cased a brand new project, to translate the Veda’s into contemporary languages afresh, starting from a clean slate. The translations to be done by Indian experts themselves, not only scholars of Sanskrit but also partnering with the practitioners of the living tradition of Vedas. This would, of course, go a long way into producing a critical edition of Vedic corpus free from the corruptions that have crept in as a result of work of western Christian missionaries like Max Muller. The restatement of the timelines of Indian history too is gaining greater traction, with a greater number of folks being open to the idea that the current timelines are broken and do not explain the available historical data.
Lest we think that the event ran only on a serious note, the word festival also means a gala, and there were celebrations aplenty. From soap boxes where the speakers AND the attendees could get on and give an impromptu talk, to post dinner songs sung together and ragging sessions, the mood of the event was young, fun and light. We had the inimitable Ashish Dhar belting out his parodies on the state of Indian institutions (with special love to the high and mighty sitting in judgement) to cheering crowds and young women journalists being quizzed on how difficult and dangerous their job can get. More than once, the legendary Malini Awasthy got on to one of the platforms to bring the earthy Purvanchal to Francophone Pondicherry. Her renditions of playful songs of festivals bought out the flirtiness and courage of Indian women power through the ages.
The prime advantage of such a gathering though, is the meeting of like minded individuals, in that the meet was an absolute success. It bought together under a roof, many people who had only known each other through their work and gave them a chance to connect. The focus is on new India, there was a dedicated effort to have young ones in attendance and the connections that were formed between them, would go on to cement the foundation of the Indian intellectual landscape in the most significant manner. In many cases, these included the voices sidelined in the more established leftist narrative of Indian discourse. Brilliant people who would not get the time of the day in ideologically committed lit fests could shine brightly across the spectrum here. The accompanying churn and the sharing of ideas is what would go on create the new thoughts that will light the path ahead. Unlike the left, there is no need, or even an intent to develop a canon, and align the faithful to a book, marching to the war on a drum beat of an ideology. The idea far more is to maintain the cycle of constant renewal and regreening of an ever ageing and never old India. What is needed are a thousand lamps illuminating the different aspects of Bharatiya society and polity, while being in a harmonious symphony with the rhythm of the land. Ekam sat, vipram bahuda vadanti, is an idea, which is not merely limited to religiosity or even spiritualism but is the mantra for philosophy, governance, political theory, arts and culture. As long as the thread is held on without breaking, a dazzling range of colours and patterns may be woven without conflict. In forming this message, perhaps, the festival had its biggest contribution.
As an aside, a book stall covering the publications of many of the topics associated with the festival, some written by the attending speakers themselves highlighted how the Indian homegrown narrative was beginning to claw out a space in the hostile territory. The message for all those who could read it was clear, mock the intellectualism of Indian right at your peril.