Chanakya's Chant by Ashwin Sanghi

Authors Note: This book review has been published in association with Vodafone Crossword Book Awards - 2010. Please click here to know more about the awards.

An exciting read!

Chanakya's Chant is author-entrepreneur Ashwin Sanghi aka Shawn Haigins' second offering after the 2007 The Rozabal Line that went on to become a national bestseller. It has been nominated for the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards for 2010 - in the Popular Award category - along with nine others. I do not know who will win, but since 'win' is one half of 'Ashwin' ... he may already be half way through *smile*

Chanakya is no stranger to us. Through history books, the Amar Chitra Katha comics and the TV series by the same name, along with his two seminal works, the Arthashastra and the Nitishastra, we all claim to "know" him. Though his life and works have been lost to us, due to the antiquities of time, yet several attempts have been made to reconstruct his persona. However his legend has lived on and will continue to do so.

In Chanakya's Chant, the author has relied on his own imagination along with materials culled from various sources, including perhaps Mudrarakshasa (The Signet of the Minister) - a historical play in Sanskrit by Vishakhadatta. There are two narratives that runs parallel to each other: one is that of Vishnugupt/Kautilya aka Chanakya - the son of Chanak and the other is that of Pt. Gangasagar Mishra - a modern day Chanakya like figure. They are separated by over two millennia and there is no physical similarity between them yet they are very much alike: cold, calculating, cunning and motivated by higher ideals. Their stated aim is to unify India (for Pt. Mishra it was of course a much truncated version). Neither of them wished for nor received any material gains, nor did they desire for roads and statues to be built after them. They were selfless in the truest sense and they were the followers of the doctrine of "ahimsa" - in their own way.

Chanakya had Chandragupta Maurya while Pt. Gangasagar has Chandini Gupta - a slum kid he is determined to install as the PM of India, as their protégés. Chandragupta - from whatever we can gather about him - was valiant and sharp, however in the book he comes across as a tad puppetish. Which is fine, since Chanakya is the focus of the narrative, but a little more assertive and cerebral Chandragupta wouldn't have disappointed. Chandini by contrast is much beholden to Pt. Gangasagar, though she does display some spark and spunk sporadically. However, come to think of it, it could just be that both were simply following the paths outlined by their respective gurus and did so because of their immense faith in them, all the while learning via osmosis ... which do not make them puppets, but clever! And ideal examples of guru and shishya (protégé).

Both the narratives flow along quite well, pulling you into their midst and going back and forth 2300 years - taking you through the ups and downs, the struggle, the revenge, the cunning, the wars and battles, the intrigues, the mind games, the spies and vishkanyas, the battle of instinct, changing loyalties and promises. The book encompasses history, religion and politics among other things in quite a mouthwatering mix.

Chanakya's character is much more strongly etched, which is not surprising, and even though the author has borrowed quotations from others and attributed them to Chanakya ... none can say that the great man himself had not said similar things. However, the cuss words mouthed by him seem too undignified to have been uttered by the great man himself. I'm sure Chanakya's cuss words too would have sounded erudite *smile*

The author hasn't changed the names of places too much. E.g., Taxila is not called Takshashila. Peshawar is not called Pushkalwati or even Purushapura or Pushpapura - perhaps for the ease of reading.

Chanakya - one of the most illustrious among the students to have graduated from the famed Takshashila University authored the world's finest treatise on political duties, statecraft, economic policies, state intelligence systems, administrative skills and military strategy, called the Arthashastra, consisting of 15 books. He also ably guided Chandragupta Maurya to lay the foundations of the great Mauryan Empire, and also served as his prime minister. Emperor Ashok the Great was the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya.

Takshashila, the place where this university existed, is currently in Pakistan, and gets its name from Taksha, who was the son of Bharath (the brother of Shri Ram). Taksha ruled over the kingdom of Taksha Khanda, which even extended beyond modern day Uzbekistan, and Tashkent - the present day Uzbek capital also gets its name from Taksha/Takshashila. As to why modern scholars and experts are so keen to classify the Ramayan and the Mahabharat as 'mythology' instead of the history of the Treta and Dwapar Yug ... my guess is as good as yours. And why they try their bestest to restrict them within the current landmass of India, with a reluctant reference to Sri Lanka and Gandhar (in modern Afghanistan) ... I have not a clue.

Frankly, Chanakya is considered to be the first great political realist, a master strategist, the world's first "Management Guru" and a true Man of Destiny (Yug Purush). To my mind, he is the Shri Krishna of Kali Yug (the age of Kali - the era in which we live). He is the third among famous political strategists to have walked on this land, after Shri Krishna and Shakuni. Yes, Shakuni. Shri Krishna's successful guidance of the Pandavas in the Mahabharat is legendary and the Bhagavad Gita is universally renowned, as the jewel of India's spiritual wisdom, yet let us not forget that without Shakuni's cunning, the Kauravas were nothing really. It took someone of the caliber of Shri Krishna to finally outwit Shakuni.

Sadly our knowledge of Shakuni is limited. I see a repeat in the face-off between Chanakya and Rakshas but here too our knowledge of them is sketchy at the most. Ashwin has however tried to flesh it out a bit.

The central theme of Chanakya's Chant is a Shakti Mantra that is uttered by both Chanakya as well as Pt. Gangasagar Mishra:

"Adi Shakti, Namo Namah
Sarab Shakti, Namo Namah
Prithum Bhagvati, Namo Namah
Kundalini Mata Shakti
Mata Shakti, Namo Namah"

(translated: Primal Shakti, I bow to thee All-encompassing Shakti, I bow to thee That through which God creates, I bow to thee Creative power of the Kundalini Mother of all, to thee I bow.)

It is generally believed that Chanakya's views on women were a tad regressive. However I have always felt that his utterances towards women were not per se but w.r.t specific events and contexts.

Chanakya apart from being a great teacher was also a master strategist with deep insights into warfare, military technology and plans ... including the art of intelligence gathering. Whatever he has said could be interpreted in the light of the above. He was farsighted and hence may have meant his writings to be a cautionary note for the future generations - since he may not have believed that his generation has seen the last of the mischief mongers and mlechchas.

Could it not be that vested interests have tweaked his works to suit their needs? Just as our scriptures, etc was tweaked, e.g., to make 'aagre' (to lead) turn into 'aagne' (into the fire). A widow is supposed to lead the funeral procession of her deceased husband and not immolate herself on his pyre to commit 'Sati' (known as 'Satidaha' in Bengal – meaning 'the burning of Sati')

It took immense efforts under extremely trying circumstances (since the vested interests fought tooth and nail) from a succession of social reformers lead by the great Iswarchandra Vidyasagar to point that out and finally abolish 'Sati'.

Yet we still see it and much more happening under the guise of 'our ancient customs and traditions' of which there is no shortage of upholders. Sadly.

In 2009, we commemorated the bicentennial or the 200th anniversary of the birth of two historic figures, whose ideas and actions shaped the modern world - the evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin and President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States (US), who successfully led the US through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. On the other hand, we succeeded in completely overlooking another important occasion - the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Arthashastra - (written in the period 321 - 296 B.C.) - the ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy, authored by the world's original political realist, Chanakya. Chanakya's long forgotten wisdom from the 3rd and 4th century B.C. was restored to modern India when Dr. R. Shamashastri of Mysore discovered a manuscript of the Arthashastra in 1904, then edited and published it to great acclaim in 1909.

So, in a way Ashwin Sanghi's novel has come at the right time. Chanakya is timeless and therefore there cannot be a time or era when he or his teachings can ever become redundant.

Chanakya's Chant has revived our interest in the life and teachings of the great Chanakya. I am keen to know more about him and Chandragupta Maurya ... and I wonder what would India (and her people) been like had they lived in today's times. If only ... we could find visionaries and leaders like them - so personified by Pt. Gangasagar Mishra and Chandini Gupta, even their circumstances and/or events that they are a part of ring a bell with the reader.

We all know that Chandragupta fared well even after Chanakya decided to retire and write his treatises. But for a modern Chandragupta, that may be difficult, nay impossible, given the gargantuan proportions of the challenges we as a nation face.

However, there is a need for some serious introspection, a need for soul searching - to understand as to where we went wrong in the last millennium or in the last one thousand years, that the great Empires and the Vedic civilization collapsed. That this great land saw the advent of conquerors after conquerors ... the ones who could not be rebuffed or defeated, and this land was plundered of her wealth and saw the forced demise of a part of her culture. Paying mere lip service to our culture and traditions and reminiscing about our past glories will not do and is not enough. A glorious past is no guarantee for a shining future unless we are prepared to jettison petty-mindedness for serious intent to execute the common goal of making India (Bharatavarsh) emerge as a great power in the 21st century.

In these times of turbulence and violence - the Kali Yug - Chanakya's thinking, his teachings and his philosophy are even more relevant. Each of us needs his guidance like never before. 'Coz a nation is made great by her people. And we all know a weak spine cannot support a strong and righteous mind ... and vice versa.

Details of the book: Chanakya's Chant/ Ashwin Sanghi/ Publisher: Westland/ Pages: 441/ Paperback/ ISBN: 978-93-80658-67-4/ Price: Rs.195/

Photograph: The book jacket cover of Chanakya's Chant. Picture courtesy: link.
About the author: Ashwin Sanghi (born January 25, 1969): An entrepreneur by profession, Ashwin Sanghi writes extensively on history, religion and politics in his spare time, but historical fiction in the thriller genre is his passion and hobby. Sanghi holds a master s degree from Yale. He lives in India with his wife Anushika and son Raghuvir.

His first novel, The Rozabal Line, was originally published in 2007 under his pseudonym, Shawn Haigins. The book was subsequently published in 2008 and 2010 in India under his own name and went on to become a national bestseller.

Do and Die: The Chittagong Uprising: 1930-34 by Manini Chatterjee.

Author's note: To read my take on the movie version of this book, click here.

A forgotten chapter of Indian history brought alive.

Meticulously researched and skillfully narrated, the story of the young idealists, heady with patriotism and ready to die, emphasizes the role of the revolutionaries as an important part of the freedom struggle in India. Manini Chatterjee has presented perhaps the first comprehensive history of the uprising based on a large corpus of original source material. British records and official publications form just one part of this. She has made extensive use of India-centered sources in both English and Bengali: the writings by participants of the uprising, interviews with survivors, newspaper reports, and contemporary political records. Using the skills of a journalist to ask the right questions, Chatterjee uncovers the riveting saga of an intrepid band of men and women who engaged the might and wits of a mature and entrenched colonial state for four long years. Surjya Sen, Kalpana Dutta and their comrades, historical figures whom we have encountered but do not really know, acquire real-life stature in Manini Chatterjee's telling.

Throughout British India, independence movements began to gain strength during the 1900's. The revolutionaries (of colonial Bengal) were organized into two major groups: "Calcutta Jugantar" and "Dacca Anushilan Samiti". These revolutionaries had to face British torture, rigorous imprisonment, the hangman's noose and deportation to the dreaded Andaman cellular jail. The 'Anushilan-Jugantar' merger provided a new impetus to the freedom movement with the revolutionaries making a federation of all groups to launch a new offensive. Niranjan Sengupta of the 'Barisal Anushilan', Satish Chandra Pakrashi of 'Dacca Anushilan', Jatin Das of the 'South Calcutta Anushilan' led the federation along with 'Masterda' Surjo Sen and Ganesh Ghose of the 'Chittagong Jugantar Party'. They adopted in 1929 a programme of hitting government establishments... all at a time. Biplobi Surjo Sen made a series of attacks on government establishments from 1929 to 1933... including the most sensational 'Chittagong Armoury raid'... in 1930. The textbook cliche that Gandhi’s 'Ahisma' forced the British to quit India is not merely trivializing of undivided India’s revolutionary heritage but also an ignorant historical reductionism.

The 1930 Chittagong Youth Revolt, which the British colonialists denigrated as the loot of the Chittagong Armoury, was one of the glorious chapters of the anti-colonial movement of the subcontinent and a valiant example of armed struggle. The exploits of the revolutionaries, whom the British denounced, brutally tortured, tried and hanged as "terrorists", have entered our folklore of people's struggle for independence from colonial oppression. The legendary 'Masterda' Surjo Sen, the leader of the revolt, has ever remained an icon of revolution and patriotism... in Bengal. The rest of India barely knows this heroic revolutionary... whom the British sought to portray as a midnight terrorist.

On a day (April 18, 1930) that is a landmark in India's struggle for Independence, the fearless Freedom Fighter 'Masterda' Surjo Sen with his comrades-in-arms Ganesh Ghosh, Lokenath Bal, Nirmal Sen, Ambika Chakrobarty, Naresh Roy, Sasanka Datta, Ardhendu Dastidar, Harigopal Bal (Tegra), Tarakeswar Dastidar, Ananta Singh, Jiban Ghoshal, Anand Gupta, Pritilata Waddedar, Kalpana Datta and many others, and a boy barely into his teens... the 14-year-old Subodh Roy, took control of two armouries in Chittagong, raised the Indian National Flag, and declared independence under a Provisional Revolutionary Government operating under the Indian Republican Army. They achieved a siege of remarkable magnitude, against the fully trained and equipped British military.

It took an inordinately long period for new research and interpretations of Indian history to percolate into the school textbooks of independent India. The Uprising of 1857, for example, continued to be referred to as the "Mutiny" of 1857 (a term the British chose in order to minimize the spread and impact of a people's uprising that enveloped large parts of the subcontinent) in Indian classrooms and textbooks till the early 1970s. An event that however never got upgraded in school textbooks from the status of an "armoury raid" to the popular anti-colonial uprising that it really was, is the Chittagong Uprising of 1930-34. The British used the word "raid" to wish away a challenge that shook their administrative apparatus, and morale, to the core. Wonder why, though.

The revolutionary chapter (or what Chatterjee says has been inaccurately called the "terrorist" chapter) of the freedom movement had a complex and not entirely inimical relationship with the non-violent freedom movement led by the Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. This took very interesting forms in colonial Bengal, of which Chittagong was a part. All the six original leaders of the Chittagong Uprising - Surjya Sen, Nirmal Chandra Sen, Lokenath Bal, Ambika Chakrabarti, Ananta Singh and Ganesh Ghosh, were participants in the Congress-led Civil Disobedience movement launched in 1919. They were bitterly disappointed by Gandhi's decision to call off the movement in 1922 in the wake of the Chauri Chaura incident. It was as members of the District Congress Committee and other mass fronts of the Congress that they planned and trained for the armed attack on the Chittagong armoury, police headquarters and European club on April 18, 1930, an attack they hoped would yield them a sufficiently large quantity of arms and ammunition. They hoped it would be the prelude to a general uprising. They built up an 'army' amongst teenage recruits who were given physical training in physical training clubs, and secret training in arms under cover - a parallel activity which the district administration did not get wise to.

Despite an unforeseen hitch at the last minute, the carefully planned operation goes off flawlessly and takes an unprepared administration totally by surprise. "The strategy and success of the uprising," Chatterjee writes, "rested on two conditions: the first was to capture the enemies' armouries and the second was to repulse the attack of the enemy and protect the provisional republican government for as many days as possible". The revolutionaries were however forced to change direction mid-stream owing to a fatal failure of intelligence on their part. While the armoury contained the best collection of weapons in the district, this proved quite useless, as the ammunition to use it was not stored there. A new magazine had been recently built which the revolutionaries did not know about.

Their plans in disarray, the leaders responded to the situation on instinct. Chatterjee describes the events that followed. The original group found itself separated and in two. The bigger group, largely comprising tired but exhilarated teenagers who did not know the extent of the setback they had suffered, retreated with "Masterda" (as Surjya Sen was called), Nirmal Sen and Ambica Chakrabarti into the Nagarkhana Hills that flanked Chittagong. Around four days later, in what came to be known as the "Battle of Jalalabad" - in a showdown with the mighty Queen's army, this poorly armed group of 55 men and boys engaged a fully armed battalion of British troops numbering several thousand at Jalalabad hills. 10-12 of them achieved martyrdom, but not before taking down eighty of the colonizers. Several among the group sustained injuries while Ananta Singh, Ganesh Ghosh and two others had an eventful time, evading arrest and reaching Calcutta with great difficulty.

Striking and graphic accounts of the battle of Jalalabad, the encounter at Dhalghat, the attack at Pahartali and the underground resistance form the core of the book. Chatterjee scores in giving a human face to the dry bones of history. The enigmatic 'Masterda', the irrepressible Kalpana Dutta and the brooding, tragic Pritilata Waddedar all come alive with their zeal and fervour, love and loss.

Chatterjee traces the continuation of the struggle through many a tortuous twist. The official backlash was heavy (by the end of 1931, Chittagong had come under virtual martial law and the administration had special powers to arrest, detain and punish anyone it thought were connected with the revolutionaries). The survivors of Jalalabad broke up into groups to continue the resistance which now spread to the villages; more recruits joined the struggle, including Kalpana Dutta and Pritilata Waddadar (who chose to commit suicide in an armed action rather than be caught or surrender); several leaders were captured by the police; and an extensive plan to effect the escape of some of the jailed leaders was discovered and foiled by the authorities. Masterda and his comrades, continuously on the run, were finally caught in February 1933. Kalpana Dutta, Tarakeshwar Dastidar and a group of others were arrested in May that year. Surjya Sen and Dastidar were hanged to death in January 1934 and a number of other leaders deported for life to the Andamans.

The Chittagong Uprising, Manini Chatterjee persuasively argues, marks a new stage in the participation of women in the freedom struggle. While the Gandhian movement drew women into 'satyagraha' in large numbers, the revolutionary movement attracted fewer women but offered them a different quality of experience and involvement, indeed of equality with their male comrades. While Chittagong may have been the first "instance of women decisively crossing the Lakshman Rekha that bound them to home and family" it was not, as Chatterjee suggests, the only instance of this happening. Women continued, at great cost to themselves and to their families, to cut themselves off from traditional support structures and join movements that sought to bring change in radical ways. Women who had cast off traditional roles during a period of struggle found it far more difficult than men to pick up the pieces and reconstruct their lives in "peace time". They found that while they had changed, the societies in which they lived had not.

This is a book well researched and well told, and certainly enriches our understanding of an important part of our history.

Masterda Surjyo Sen: Surjya Sen, being constantly followed by the police, was once hiding in the house of Sabitri Devi, a widow, near Patiya. A police and military force under Captain Cameron surrounded the house on 13 June 1932. Cameron was shot dead while ascending the stairs and Surjya Sen along with Pritilata Waddedar and Kalpana Datta escaped to safety.

'Masterda' evaded arrest by disguising himself and taking on various odd jobs; as a labourer; as a farmer, or milkman, or priest, as a combined hand/man servant or even as a pious Muslim.

Either because of the lure of money (announced by the British as a reward), or out of jealousy, or due to a combination of both, Netra Sen betrayed Masterda. As a result, the police captured him on February 16, 1933. This is how one of India's greatest heroes was arrested. But before Netra Sen could get his 10,000-rupee reward the revolutionaries killed him.

Netra Sen's wife was a staunch supporter of Surjya Sen, and was horrified by her husband's betrayal.

One evening while she was serving dinner to her husband… a supporter of Surjya Sen came into the house carrying a very big knife (called "daa" in Bengali)… with one stroke of which he chopped off the head of Netra Sen in the presence of his wife… and left as slowly and silently he had come. When the police arrived to investigate, they asked Netra Sen's wife if she had seen the murderer. She said, "I saw with my own eyes, but my heart will not permit me to tell you his name. I am sorry. I feel miserable that I was the wife of such a treacherous man, such an undivine man as Netra Sen. My husband betrayed the greatest hero of Chittagong. My husband betrayed a great son of Mother India. My husband cast a slur on the face of India. Therefore, I cannot tell the name of the person who took his life. He has definitely done the right thing. You can do anything with me. You can punish me, you can even kill me, but I shall never tell the name of the person who killed my husband. Our 'Masterda' will be hanged, I know, but his name will forever be synonymous with India's immortal freedom-cry. Everybody loves him. Everybody adores him. I, too, love him and adore him, for he is the brightest sun in the firmament of Chittagong. Surjya means sun and he is truly our sun."

Tarakeswar Dastidar, the new president of the Chittagong Branch of the Jugantar Party, made plans to rescue Masterda from the Chittagong Jail. But the plot was unearthed and consequently frustrated. Tarakeswar and Kalpana along with others were arrested. Special tribunals tried Surjya Sen, Tarakeswar Dastidar, and Kalpana Datta in 1933.

The British hanged Surya Sen along with his fellow revolutionary Tarekeshwar Dastidar on January 12, 1934. But before the death sentence was carried out Masterda was brutally tortured. It was reported that the British executioners broke all his teeth with a hammer, plucked out all the nails from his fingers and toes and broke every limb and joints in his body. He was then dragged to the gallows unconscious. After his death nobody performed his funeral. The prison authority, it was found later, put his dead body in a metallic cage and dumped it into the Bay of Bengal. No tomb, plaque, or saintly epithets for him and his ilk... in independent India too. Sadly.

Details of the Book: Do and Die: The Chittagong Uprising: 1930-34 by Manini Chatterjee/ Manini Chatterjee/ pp. 356/ Paperback/ Publisher: Penguin Books India (14-Oct-2000)/ ISBN-10: 0140290672/ ISBN-13: 978-0140290677/ Price: Rs. 295/

Photograph: Pic courtesy: Link.

A 'history' of the Indian subcontinent - Part II.

Author's note: Do read the 1st part of this post here.

This is the 2nd part of the same post that I discovered while trawling the net... and decided to share it on my blog... so that all my readers can be entertained as well :)

After the Tehmuri dynasty was over the throne of unified India was once again empty, and since somebody had to be king it was decided by mutual consent to let Babur, an unemployed regent at the time, take the seat of power. Babur had lost his own kingdom in Samarkand you see, and since Samarkand was a pretty big place, he didn't want to go looking for it.

Besides, Babur was obligated by history to fight in the battle of Panipat and found the Mughul Sultanate. If he hadn't come to the sub-continent, the battle of Panipat would've been rather one sided, given that only Ibrahim Lodhi would have turned up for it, who himself might have been convinced to stay home learning of Babur's lack of interest. Then nobody would have turned up for it. That would have been very embarrassing for historians.

To become the unequivocal ruler of Hindustan, Babur also had to deal with the Rajputs. He had to defeat Rana Sanga, Ranatunga and other members of the Sri Lankan cricket team to consolidate his authority.

Babur was reputedly an extremely strong man who used to climb the stairs to his palace with a couple of men on his shoulders. This, he said, was for exercise although there are rumours that he provided this service for some much needed disposable income. It was tough being a ruler in those days, the salary was very little and opportunities for kickbacks and appropriations so few. There were no Swiss banks to embezzle the national treasury into, either.

Babur was succeeded by his son Humayun, who had spent years coining the royal title Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram, Jam-i-Sultanat-i-haqiqi wa Majazi, Sayyid al-Salatin, Abu'l Muzaffar Nasir ud-din Muhammad Humayun Padshah Ghazi, Zillu'llah for himself. He really should have done something better with his time, because no sooner had he ascended to power that someone with a much shorter name and much more experience in warfare defeated him and took his throne.

Humayun, like any blue-blooded emperor in his position, did the brave thing and fled to Persia. Since Sher Shah Suri was much older than the young Mughul ruler, Humayun's strategy was now to wait for the Pashtun lord to die first, an eventuality that occurred in the summer of 1545. Nine years later, Sher Shah's son followed suit.

Emboldened by the natural demise of his enemies, the ambitious Humayun marched back into India with his eyes towards the heavens, and fell down numerous times for not looking where he was going. After many wrong turns and much bickering with his generals, he finally reached Delhi in 1555 to lay down on his father's throne, as he was far too tired to sit.

Humayun's death proved to be as comical as his life, as in early 1556 he fell down the library stairs after getting his robe caught under his foot, injuring himself badly. Or injuring himself very well, rather, because he died just three days afterwards. This should serve to highlight the danger posed to health by reading too many books.

It is also worth repeating that India was at one time ruled by a man who tripped himself down the stairs to his own death. This should be kept in mind when furiously contemplating how a company of traders and merchants from Britain managed to take down an entire empire in a matter of years. They just built their offices on the second floor.

Humayun left his throne to his thirteen year old son, Akbar, who proved to be an astute monarch. He gave the sub-continent a thorough system of taxation, printed his own currency and gave the media and judiciary all the independence that could reasonably be expected from an unelected monarch which, it goes without saying, pales in comparison to the freedom granted by today’s elected monarchs.

During his regime, the prices of utilities and food items were very low, at least much lower than they are today. Poor people could afford sugar and petrol, they didn't have to ration their tea, they weren't forced to sell their internal organs just to pay the electricity bills and all in all it was a time of greatly relative prosperity.

Akbar-e-Azam was a religious pluralist who had no delusions of self-grandeur. Those rumours were base and false. His Majesty Imam-i-'Adil, Amir-ul-Mu’minin, Sultan ul-Islam Kafatt ul-Anam did not start his own religion for self-deification. Din-i-Ilahi was a self-less venture intended to strengthen the communal bondage between the various religious communities of India and his undisputed throne.

But Akbar (played wonderfully by Prithviraj Kapoor) having conquered all the external threats to his power would find trouble much closer to home. His eccentric son Salim (Dilip Kumar) would become smitten by one of the courtly concubines, Anarkali (Madhubala) while his wife, Jodha Bai (Durga Khote), would largely be a spectator as Bahar (Nigar Sultana) exposed the affair in an open court. Akbar would sentence Anarkali to be buried alive as the pleas of her mother (Jilloo Bai) would fall on ears not quite deaf but definitely hard of hearing.

Critics agree that the character of Mann Singh (played by Murad) was largely inconsequential to the proceedings but Anarkali's classical rendition of 'Pyar Kiya to Darna Kya' received great plaudits and would inspire the latter day Lata Mangeshkar hit.

In Part 3: Dilip Kumar's revenge and ascension to the Mughal throne as Jahangir.

Meanwhile, more practice questions:

"Have you ever fallen to your death down any stairs?"

"Why not?"

A point to ponder: Why did Asia stagnate despite being ahead of Europe earlier? Just before Europe's take-off, Central Asian nomads, who reveled particularly in destroying formal knowledge, attacked Baghdad, India and China. One of Ancient India's seats of learning, the Nalanda University burned for 3 months after Khilji's attack while Mongols piled the books in Baghdad's House of Wisdom to cross the Tigris. Without such attacks, some Asian intellectual centers too may have soon then sparked Europe-like societal changes. While Europe suffered warfare too, its intellectual repositories survived them.

Note: For further readings:

1. The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India.

2. The Convenient Omissions From Islamic History.

3. Why the West? Race, Religion, Culture and Development.

4. On Raja Paurava and Alexander.

Photograph: A still from the movie 'Mughal-e-Azam'... with Prithviraj Kapoor as the Emperor Akbar and Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan) as Prince Salim (later Emperor Jahangir). Pic courtesy: link.

History or 'His'tory... ?? (Part-I)

The 1930 Chittagong Youth Revolt, which the British colonialists used to denigrate as the loot of the Chittagong Armoury, was one of the glorious chapters of the anti-colonial movement of the subcontinent and a valiant example of armed struggle. The exploits of the revolutionaries, whom the British denounced, brutally tortured, tried and hanged as "terrorists", have entered our folklore of people's struggle for independence from colonial oppression. The legendary 'Masterda' Surjo Sen, the leader of the revolt, has ever remained an icon of revolution and patriotism... in Bengal. The rest of India barely knows this heroic revolutionary... whom the British sought to portray as a midnight terrorist.

Recently... a film curiously titled "Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey" (KHJJS) hit the theatres. Helmed by the acclaimed Indian Bollywood movie director Ashutosh Gowarikar... there was reason for hope that Gowarikar, a film-maker of substantial intelligence and senstivity, will not simply make another kitschy Bollywood Hindi Musical film out of Masterda's life. His previous movies - Lagaan, Swadesh and Jodhaa Akbar have received positive critical acclaim and he has won several National Awards, and been nominated for an Academy Award as well. Infact... Gowarikar has, over the years, marked out the 'Historical' as his preferred territory. He has sung his eulogy to Mughal India in Jodhaa Akbar (2008) and expressed his patriotic fervor in Lagaan (2001) and Swades (2004).

Also... according to reports, Gowarikar was adapting the movie from the 1999 book 'Do and Die: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34' by veteran journalist Manini Chatterjee, (published by Penguin Books Australia).

But that was clearly not to be. With 'KHJJS' he made his grand return to the genre of the Historical after his brief stint at a potboiler... an epic 200-minute-long documentary on arranged marriage called 'What's Your Raashee?'... that managed to boil one thing for sure - your blood. With his latest film... Ashutosh seems to have lost all sense of time, and possibly the plot too. The patriotic fire fails to touch the souls.

Even the 'Bachchan Bahu'... Aishwarya Rai Bachchan making an appearance for the 'KHJJS' music launch with mother-in-law in tow... couldn't save the film from tanking at the box office. She had come donning a cream and gold sari, with a dash of red in the borders... draped in the traditional Bengali style... looking every bit the traditional 'Bou-ma' (daughter-in-law... in Bengali). Perhaps she is already getting ready to portray the legendary Debi Chaudhurani... in the screen adaptation of Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel 'Debi Chaudhurani'... to be helmed by Rituparno Ghosh. What say?? Nevertheless... 'KHJJS' has laid a massive turkey at the box office... and has all but moved out of the halls in its second week... barely managing to make just Rs.10 crore against the Rs.45 crore spent on it (according to industry estimates). Ummm... methinks... this being the X-mas season... a massive turkey isn't such a bad idea. What??

Getting back to 'KHJJS'... history morphs into 'his'tory and the self-styled expert on Indian history... makes a hash nay massacres one of the most inspiring stories (the Chattogram uprising) of our freedom struggle and successfully reduces it to a dull, painful 165-minute-long abomination... proving the dictum that history is never boring, only the teacher is. First... he doesn't seem to believe in editing, and then his treatment is so banal and dull, that it puts you to sleep... albeit a disturbed sleep complete with nightmares.

We forgave him for re-writing history with 'Jodhaa Akbar'... for casting the dishy Hrithik Roshan as the Mughal Emperor Akbar... who at 5 feet 7 inches, stout, with mongoloid features and a very loud voice was far from eye candy material. We even overlooked/excused the title of that movie itself - 'Jodhaa Akbar'. For (according to several accounts) Jodhabai (a Rajput princess) and the daughter of King Bharmal of Amer was one of the many wives of Akbar's son Prince Salim aka Emperor Jahangir and the mother of Prince Khurram aka Emperor Shah Jahan. Akbar maintained a harem of 33 wives... one of whom was the Rajput princess Harka Bai - the mother of Prince Salim aka Emperor Jahangir. Nevertheless... we managed to digest Gowarikar's 'theory of relativity'. We loved 'Lagaan' too... but then it was faux history.

What we cannot and will not forgive and forget is this drivel called "Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey" - passing off as a well-researched saga of our freedom struggle. Where the main protagonist... the fearless 'Masterda' Surjo Sen (played by the insipid and listless Abhishek Bachchan) cannot even pronounce "Chattogram" properly calling it "Chotto" gram instead. Where the perfectly made-up (17 year old, fiery revolutionary and bomb expert) Kalpana Datta, essayed in all her plastic glory by Deepika Padukone (with her flawed Bengali accent and clad mostly in a saffron coloured saree)... who even when caught in the blast of a bomb still looks as clean as she is in her Liril ad. (Errr... was liril one of the sponsors?? Oof Yu Maa!!!) Incidentally... Kalpana Dutta (1913-1995) was a member of the armed resistance movement led by Surjo Sen, which carried out the 'Chattogram Astragar Lunthan' aka the 'Chittagong armoury raid' on April 18, 1930. ('Chittagong' being the anglicized version of 'Chattogram'). In the film... you can never forget you are watching Deepika Padukone trying her best to portray Kalpana Dutta as Deepika Padukone!

Where Ashutosh and his team has made a total hash of Pritilata Waddedar's (essayed by Vishakha Singh) radical feminism and heroic martyrdom, with the depiction of her as a love-lorn woman who commits suicide, with no pressure of death, just because she wants to join her dead love (a romantic story I personally am hearing for the first time here) a total subversion of what she stood for?? They even insinuate a romantic angle between Surjo Sen and Kalpana Dutta... yet another product of the fertile imagination (creative license?) of the esteemed director and his team. Methinks... the viewers should have a license to silence the misuse of creative license. (Note: Also known as artistic license, dramatic license, poetic license [not to be confused with poetic justice], or narrative license, and so on, Creative License refers to a creator's freedom to ignore the conventions or rules that normally govern the art in which he or she works. It does not excuse shoddy work).

At the start of a sequence where Pritilala (Vishakha Singh) goes on a crusade of bloody revenge on the British for her (supposed) lover's death, there is a scene of her in a dark room with her shadowy but emblazoned face and the picture of goddess Durga in the background visible. Gowarikar's use of the stereotypical, formulaic evocation in Hindi cinema of the goddess to denote a wronged angry and vengeful woman is not only garish in its aesthetic taste but also seems like the revolutionary was lead more by personal revenge than wrath against the colonizers. Must say... it was Gowarikar's script tease! Perhaps he was under pressure by Bollywood culture, etc to 'conform' and depict any Indian woman as the weak, long suffering, forever sacrificing, 'sati-savitri bharatiya nari'... which actually is a result of the joint venture between vested interests and a horde of marauding conquerors who came in from the east and the west... in the last 800 years or so. This happened after the misunderstanding or misinterpretation (advertently or inadvertently) of Buddhism and its message of peace... weakened our spines. And we all know... that a weak spine cannot support a strong and righteous mind. The female revolutionaries of colonial Bengal pushed the envelope and actually broke several barriers sending this 'society created' carefully and painstakingly built up 'sati-savitri bharatiya nari' image flying out of the window. These 'society created' images, social evils, etc also masquerades under the pseudonym - 'our ancient culture and traditions' - which (mind you) we all must uphold at any cost. And which our ever-increasing legions of 'sons of the soil' vow to do... at regular intervals. This also includes 'women wearing jeans'... while men wearing jeans are conveniently excluded. 'Coz they are under no obligation to uphold 'our ancient culture and traditions' by switching to dhotis/mundu. After all... what's chilly powder for the goose is sauce nay ambrosial nectar for the gander! Plus... the 'ancient culture and traditions of India' began at the very moment Levy Strauss 'invented' the blue jeans in 1873. Wonder why the history of the revolutionaries (especially the female ones) hailing from colonial Bengal - the seat of British power - is unknown to the rest of India... and why only the name of Rani Lakshmibai... the fiery Queen of Jhansi is bandied about... ???

The film was initially to be shot in West Bengal as it is nearest to Bangladesh (Chittagong is now part of BD) but the esteemed director chose Goa as he felt Goa was more similar to Chittagong than any place in West Bengal...!!! Wonder where he learnt his geography. Akkebare bhugolete gol (difficult to translate... kinda means: total zero in geography).

'KHJJS' assumes its audience's familiarity with the general history of British rule in India. The camera pans over lush green landscape and pans up to make visible a military plane, cut to a scene in a ground with young barefoot lads playing a game of football in spotlessly clean white 'dhotis' (called 'dhutis'... in Bengali) and khadi 'kurtas' (called 'punjabis'... in Bengali. Yes... Bengalis wear punjabis!) The boys look up to see the same plane pass by. Their game is interrupted when an ominous looking truck enters the frame and the football hits it. The British troops tell the kids to buzz off, as they are going to set up camp there... thus usurping the play-ground from the bunch of teenagers. They decide to seek the help of Abhishek Bachchan oops 'Masterda' Surjo Sen, a known revolutionary (and a school teacher) in those parts and offer him a deal. They say to him - "aap desh le lijiye hume hamara maidaan de dijiye" (tr: you can pursue your nationalist cause and free us our play ground). So Abhishek recruits the football kids into a grand plan - to simultaneously attack the British armory, cantonment, telegraph office and European club, where Indians and dogs were not allowed.

The very same children, who wanted nothing more than their football ground to be returned to them, appalled by the repressive colonial rule and inspired by 'Masterda' and other revolutionaries later become valiant soldiers in the 'Chittagong uprising'. What is amiss is the representation of the transformation process, forming an unbridgeable void in the narrative.

... And all the while the dhotis remain miraculously spotless throughout the game... untouched by the grime of the play ground. This "historical" could have done with some dirt, a touch of daily reality of colonial India (or even colonial Bengal) and editing that does not just cut and paste the events together in a teleological narrative... but create conflict of perspectives as the events unfold. The claim of authenticity is made through the proclaimation - "This is a true story", which appears written onscreen before the film plunges into its narrative. It is accompanied by the non-diegetic sound of a canon shot in the background - the sound of battle sets the film rolling. Plus this close to three hour 'epic' is mostly narrated in a uniform tone and pitch.

The pathos of the drama is lost in its rather coarse handling - with the background score of "Vande Mataram" where the camera zooms into grim faces quite often and holds the close-up shot longer than required. The narrative style is flat, completely lacking nuances in either the characterization or the drawing of the background of colonial Bengal. The British officers are all flat characters-painted pitch black, their sole role is to inflict violence on the innocent teenagers and the other revolutionaries. In the simplistic scheme of things a noble muslim couple are introduced to nullify the damage caused by the muslim officer who ruthlessly slaughters the young revolutionaries. It reminds one of the mandatory presence of 'Karim Chacha' - with a heart of gold - like character... found in Bollywood potboilers of the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's.

In 'KHJJS'... the dialogues are stilted and wordy... even preachy, the screenplay is needlessly repetitive and laborious, the music is average and the background score is poor (and to think they still had a music launch!) The production design is too neat and tidy, while all the clothes look recently stitched. There is no sweat or passion in the narration, which is told like a manual on freedom fighters. Gowarikar attempts an event film but the key elements of the genre, tension and crescendo are absent from his work. Totally.

What 'inspired' the casting for the main protagonists - Abhishek Bachchan as Biplobi Surjo Sen and Deepika Padukone as Kalpana Dutta... is the 8th wonder of the world. While some were doubting Abhishek's casting for Surjo Sen... Ashutosh had no qualms about signing him in, especially, after he saw Abhishek's ease at handling the traditional Bengali dress of 'dhuti'. While most of the modern day actors are very uncomfortable in handling a 'dhuti' (dhoti), Abhishek was deft at it and dealt with it like a pro; something that pleased the director. Therefore... the humble 'dhuti' is the culprit... and must be the reason behind the knowing beatific look that Abhishek carries... throughout the film! *Wink* The only positive that this "casting coup" achieved was... both AB junior and DP were able to look eye to eye!

However, Sikander Kher as Nirmal Sen and Maninder Singh as Anant Singh manage to create a few layers in the flat narrative by way of their performance of a psychological build up in their characters and don't assume that simply chanting "kranti amar rahe" (long live the revolution) with a fiery eyed look will pass them off as revolutionaries.

Ashutosh Gowarikar is married to a Bengali. His wife, Sunita, is the sister of Ayan Mukherjee of 'Wake Up Sid' fame... whose cousins are Kajol and Rani Mukherjee. While Abhishek's mother is Jaya Bachchan (née Bhaduri)... a Bengali. Having some Bengali connection... however obscure... is not enough to portray history and/or stories of our freedom struggle... set in Bengal... or more precisely colonial Bengal.

Finally... Gowarikar had this to say about his latest offering... supposedly based on Manini Chatterjee's book, "From the detailed accounts in the book I had to execute the script keeping the spirit intact and it was okayed by Manini." Gulp!

(More later...)

Note: Some info gathered courtesy wikipedia.

P.S. After "bringing alive" the exploits of 'Masterda' Surjo Sen (alternatively: Surjya Sen or Surya Sen) during the 'Chittagong Armoury Raid' of 1930s in 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey', Ashutosh Gowariker is thinking of turning the lens on a social reformer from Bengal. Though the venture is hypothetical as of now, Gowariker, reeled off the names on his wishlist like social reformer Raja Rammohan Roy, key figure of the Bengal Renaissance Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and Kabiguru Rabindranath Thakur (Tagore). Apparently... he has read up on them. "I have been intrigued by these people. Who knows if I can make a film on any of these great men 10 years from now," Gowariker told PTI after a special screening of 'KHJJS'.

Asked what could be the reference point in the event of him making a film on 19th century or early 20th century personalities, Gowariker said, "When I work on any subject, my understanding and reading, my research work are my reference points."

God help us!

Ummm... on second thoughts... let me be more generous to him and say that his intention is good... but his understanding and execution aren't.

Photograph:

Pic courtesy link.

A Bengali 'Scaled' The Everest First. (Part-I)

A Bengali 'scaled' the Everest first. No... I am not disputing the claims of Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary.. I am only referring to an unsung and forgotten Indian genius... Radhanath Sikdar. Radhanath who?? Well... read on.

An Indian exhibition (held in the UK in 2003) recounted the glorious past of British mapmaking in the subcontinent. But no one talked about the Indian contribution. The Survey of India, the Department of Science and Technology and the Indian Space Research Organisation... all spent a lot of money to take this exhibition around Britain. A transnational interest in science is fine, but politically and effectively, Indian money was spent to tell a few Brits how great their scientific forefathers were. The draw at the exhibition was also the theodolites (the great theodolite alone weighed over half a ton!) - and other similar geometric instruments that were used for measuring India. What purpose this served (?) - your guess is as good as mine!

It may be no more than a coincidence that the British merchant ships arrived in India the same year (1608) telescope was "invented" in the Netherlands. But it does bring home the fact that modern science and technology have grown hand in hand with maritime activity, colonial expansion and Western domination over nature and fellow human beings. The British could not have built and retained an empire in India without the help of science and the 'natives'. The phenomenon can be conveniently discussed in terms of a three-stage model comprising the 'colonial-tool stage', the 'peripheral-native stage', and the 'Indian response stage', each leading to and coexisting with the next. Read more on this here.

The 'colonial-tool stage' began with field surveys and went on to include technologies such as steam, telegraph, railway and radio. The Western scientific interest in the subcontinent was latitude-driven in the sense that it was dictated by the geographical and ecological novelty of India. (In contrast in the current software-facilitated globalization-era... Western interest in India is longitude-driven.) The institutionalization of science as a colonial tool began in 1767 with the appointment of a surveyor-general in Bengal. Ironically when we celebrate anniversaries of scientific institutions like the Trigonometrical Survey, Geological Survey or railways we are also unwittingly celebrating step-wise entrenchment of the British in India.

The 'peripheral-native stage' can be taken to have begun in 1817 with the founding of the Hindoo College in Calcutta (now Kolkata). In this stage the Indians were assigned the peripheral role of providing cheap labour to the colonial science machinery. The peripheral native stage can be illustrated with the help of three biographies: Ardaseer Cursetjee (1808-1877); Radhanath Sickdhar (also pronounced Sikdar... 1813-1870) and Seebchunder Nandy (1822-1903).

How round is the earth? Until the 19th century, that was a serious question. For one, the earth is not a perfect sphere. And its imperfections would have a bearing on maps, and maps brought knowledge, and knowledge meant power. The British had a particular, and predictable, interest in that sort of thing. And so they decided to determine the curvature of the earth by measuring the length of India by way of a sample arc. It became, as British historian John Keay describes in his book "The Great Arc", one of the greatest scientific experiments the world has ever known - the mapping and measuring of the Indian subcontinent. (Note: The Great Arc refers to the systematic exploration and recording of the entire topography of the Indian subcontinent which was spear-headed by the Great Trigonometric Survey [GTS]).

It began over 200 years ago (in 1800) at the GTS of India when the first measurements were begun by Lt. Col. William Lambton, surveyor general of India. He was an idiosyncratic British army officer to whom no memorial exists save his crumbling tombstone in central India (at Hinganghat in Wardha district of Maharashtra), which Keay had difficulty even finding. A mountain named after him in Canada during his early career was subsequently renamed. By the time Sir George Everest, a cantankerous British colonel, took over the survey after Lambton's death in 1823, the calculations were four years in arrears and many of them were going nowhere. Much of that changed in the mid-1830s with the hiring of Radhanath Sikdhar, a young mathematical genius from Calcutta's Hindu College.

Son of Tituram, Radhanath Sikdar (1813–1870) was educated at "Phiringi" Kamal Bose's School and Hindu College (now called Presidency College) in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. Alone among the great Derozians he took to science as his life's mainstay. He worked for the Surveyor General of India, a division of the British Raj in India... and joined the GTS in 1831.

Colonel William Lambton in December 1799 put forward the proposal of the GTS of India. On February 6, 1800 formal orders were issued for the commencement of the survey. The actual work of the GTS of India was started on April 10, 1802 by the measurement of a base line near Madras. From this base line, a series of triangles were carried up to the Mysore plateau and a second base was measured near Bangalore in 1804. The series was taken across the peninsula from this place. Having connected the two sides of the peninsula, Major Lambton measured an arc of the meridian, and the series of triangles that were measured for this purpose were known as the "Great Arc Series". In 1818, Sir George Everest was appointed as assistant to Lambton. Both Lambton and Everest considered their work to be of global importance - the measurement of the arc had contributed to British, French and Swedish attempts to mathematically compute the exact shape of the earth. (Read: Mapping the Maps: 1800-1900 AD).

In 1823, on Colonel Lambton's death, Everest succeeded to the post of superintendent of the survey, and in 1830 he was appointed surveyor-general of India. When Everest "inherited" the position in 1823, the equipment originally employed by Lambton consisted of one 36" theodolite manufactured by London instrument maker Cary, a zenith sector by Jesse Ramsden, a Ramsden 100 foot steel chain, and a chronometer. The Cary theodolite, weighing over one thousand pounds, had been damaged in two separate mishaps, and was badly in need of repair. The micrometer screw on the zenith sector was worn out, and the steel chain had not been calibrated in twenty-five years. To further complicate matters, Everest became so dangerously ill that he could not carry on with the Survey, and work was suspended. England was the solution to these problems. In November of 1825, Everest returned to England, bringing with him the mathematical observations and calculations for the Great Arc thus far. For the next five years he worked on improvements for the survey and compiled an account of the work achieved between the parallels of 18 degrees 03' and 24 degrees 07'. Everest spent a great deal of time in the workshop of instrument-makers Troughton and Simms, where an additional 36" theodolite, a new zenith sector, and six small theodolites were under construction.

The next issue Everest addressed was the measuring of distances. He learned of Col. Colby's work with compensating bars on the Irish Survey, and visited him there in 1829. Being very much impressed with Colby's system, he acquired a double set of six bars for the GTS, and practiced with them at Greenwich. At the same time, Everest produced a clever document which summarized the repair and replacement needs of the Survey, showing that the most cost-effective solution was to have an instrument maker placed in India. His request was granted, and Henry Barrow was appointed to the job. Later, in India, it was Barrow who labouriously repaired the damaged Cary theodolite, earning his praise from Everest: "I must do that artist (Barrow) the justice to say that for excellence of workmanship, accuracy of division, steadiness, regularity, and glibness of motion, and the general neatness, elegance and nice fitting of all its parts, not only were my expectations exceeded but I really think it is as a whole as unrivalled in the world as it is unique."

In June of 1830, George Everest returned to India, this time as Surveyor General, in addition to his post as superintendent of the GTS. During the first year he spent little time on field work, as he organized general mapping surveys. By 1841, twenty-three years had passed from the time Everest had first begun work on the Great Arc. It would take him two more years to complete the computations, and compile the results before he retired and returned to England... where he became fellow of the Royal Society. In 1848, he was awarded high honors by the Royal Astronomical Society. In making the presentation, Sir John Herschel said: "The Great Meridianal Arc of India is a trophy of which any nation, or any government of the world would have reason to be proud, and will be one of the most enduring monuments of their power and enlightened regard for the progress of human knowledge."

Everest was knighted in 1861 and in 1865, Peak XV was officially named Mount Everest in his honour. He was chosen vice-president of the Royal Geographical Society in 1862. Everest died at Greenwich (December 1, 1866)... having never ever laid his eyes on the great mountain that bears his name. (Note: Read more).

When in 1831 George Everest was searching for a brilliant young mathematician with particular proficiency in spherical trigonometry, the Hindu College maths teacher Dr. John Tytler superlatively recommended his pupil Radhanath, then only 19. Radhanath joined the GTS in 1831 (December) as a "computor" at a salary of Rupees 30 per month (some accounts suggest Rs. 4o). Soon he was sent to Sironj near Dehra Dun where he excelled in geodetic surveying. Apart from mastering the usual geodetic processes, he invented quite a few of his own. Everest was extremely impressed by his performance, so much so that when Sikdar wanted to leave GTS and be a Deputy Collector, Everest intervened, proclaiming that no government officer can change over to another department without the approval of his boss. Everest retired in 1843 and Lt. Col. Andrew Scott Waugh became the Director.

After 20 years in the North, Sikdar was transferred to Calcutta in 1851 as the Chief Computor. Here apart from his duties of the GTS, he also served as the Superintendent of the Meteorological department. Here he introduced quite a few innovations that were to remain standard procedure for many decades to come. The most notable was the formula for conversion of barometric readings taken at different temperatures to 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

At the order of Col. Waugh he started measuring the snow capped mountains near Darjeeling. Compiling data about Peak XV (in the Himalayas) from six different observations, he eventually came to the conclusion that the Peak XV was the tallest in the world. He gave a full report to Waugh who was cautious enough not to announce this discovery before checking with other data. After some years when he was fully convinced... did he publicly announce the same. The norm, strictly followed by Everest himself, was that while naming a peak, the local name should be preferred. But in this case, Waugh made an exception. He paid a tribute to his ex-boss by proposing that the peak be named after Everest. Everest agreed, and Sikdar was conveniently forgotten.

It appears that while Everest and Waugh both extolled him for his exceptional mathematical abilities, his relations with the colonial administration were far from cordial. Two specific instances are on record.

In 1851 a voluminous Survey Manual (Eds. Capt. H. L. Thullier and Capt. F. Smyth) was published by the Survey Department. The preface to the Manual clearly and specifically mentioned that the more technical and mathematical chapters of the Manual were written by Babu Radhanath Sikdar. The Manual proved to be immensely useful to surveyors. However, the third edition, published in 1875 (i.e., after Sikdar's death) did not contain that preface, so that Sikdar's memorable contribution was de-recognized. The incident was condemned by a section of British suveyors. The paper "Friend of India" in 1876 called it 'robbery of the dead'.

It is also on record that Sikdar was fined a sum of 200 rupees (in those days... a princely sum) by the British court in 1843 for having vehemently protested against the unlawful exploitation or rather maltreatment of survey department workers (derogatorily referred to as "paharee coolies") by the Magistrate Vansittart. The incident was reported in detail in "The Bengal Spectator" edited by another great Derozian Ramgopal Ghosh.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Walter Stanhope Sherwill of Scotland... Sickdhar's "hobby was beef, as he maintained that beef-eaters were never bullied, and that the right way to improve the Bengalees was to think first of the physique or perhaps physique and moral simultaneously". He certainly had moral courage. Whether it was due to beef or not is difficult to say. Although the colonial administration fined him Rs 200 for his "criminal" action he was hailed as a hero by his countrymen.

In 1854, he along with his Derozian friend Peary Chand Mitra started the Bengali journal "Masik Patrika" (tr: the monthly newspaper), for the education and empowerment of women. He used to write in a simple and uncluttered style that was rather atypical for that age.

He died on 17 May 1870 at Gondalpara, Chandannagar in his villa... by the side of the river Ganga.

Everest recorded in 1835 that Sickdhar "received an exceedingly good elementary education in mathematics... which he... had the good sense considerably to extend". He was given a personal monthly allowance of Rs 100 to dissuade him from leaving the Survey. On his part Sickdhar noted with pride that Everest admitted him "in his own table".

The following letter written by Lieutenant Colonel Walter Stanhope Sherwill of Scotland and published in "The Friend of India" in 1876 makes interesting reading. "A friend has just sent me a copy of the Friend of India of the 24th June, all the way from Germany, in order that I might be made acquainted with the sad fact that, when bringing out a third edition of "Smyth and Thuillier's Manual of Surveying for India," the much respected name of the late Babu Radhanath Sikdar, the able and distinguished head of the computing department of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, who did so much to enrich the early editions of the "Manual," had been advertently, or inadvertently, removed from the preface of the last edition; while at the same time all the valuable matter written by the Babu had been retained, and that without any acknowledgment as to the authorship.

As an old Revenue Surveyor who used the "Manual" for a quarter of a century, and as an acquaintance of the late Radhanath Sikdar, I feel quite ashamed for those who have seen fit to exclude his name from the present edition, especially as the former Editors so fully acknowledged the deep obligations under which they found themselves for Radhanath's assistance, not only for the particular portion of the work "which they desire thus publicly to acknowledge - so runs the preface of the 1851 edition, - but for the advice so generally afforded on all subjects connected with his own department.

"Yesterday only I mentioned the circumstance of the omission of Radhanath's name to one of the Tagores, an old and intimate friend of Radhanath's and who is now travelling in Scotland; he was pained beyond measure, but made the significant remark "you see, he is a dead man".

Nevertheless, in recognition of Sikdar's mathematical genius the German Philosophical Society's Bavaria branch of Natural Science made him a Corresponding Member in 1864, a very rare honour those days. Sikdar had retired from service in 1862.

Some Indians, including the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, are of the opinion that Mount Everest should be renamed after Sikdar.

The Department of Posts, Government of India, launched a postal stamp on June 27, 2004, commemorating the establishment of the GTS in Chennai, India on April 10, 1802. The stamps feature Radhanath Sikdar and Pandit Nain Singh Rawat, two significant contributors to society. Incidentally... Nain Singh (19th century CE/ 1830-1895) had entered Tibet (which was then closed to outsiders) disguised as a Lama and carried out surveys in secret for over 21 months. It makes for a fascinating read even after all these years... I tell you.

(More later...)

Note: Some info gathered courtesy wikipedia, outlookindia.com and Cultivation of Science in the 19th Century Bengal by Rajesh Kochhar.

Photograph:

Radhanath Sikdar and Mt. Everest. Pic courtesy: link.