Joys and sorrows coexist, giving meaning to each other
Manikarnika Ghat at Varanasi is well-known for two soul-stirring acts. At one of the Ghat, Lord Shiva is venerated by devotees and at the other end the dead are consigned to flames. One pauses to wonder whether celebration and mourning can occur simultaneously. Well, these two singular emotions are nothing but a reflection of a sutra or knowledge point from the art of living. Simply put, it means that opposite values are complementary.
Human life and history of nations are replete with vicissitudes and synodic curves. There is no straight line in life. It is a cyclical process where celebrations are more often than not accompanied by bereavements and mourning. This perhaps maintains the balance in life and in the universe.
On the night of 14/15 August 1947, India overthrew the colonial yoke under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, who was a canny politician. He knew that violence would only beget violence, and the Indian arsenal was not robust enough to take on the military might of the British.
India was partitioned, with West and East Pakistan on two sides. Massive migration took place as millions of Muslims trekked to West or East Pakistan. Similarly, millions of Hindus and Sikhs traversed in the opposite direction. Several thousand could never reach their destinations. Celebration was accompanied by wailing and mourning as reckless religiosity and vengeance subsumed the voice of sanity and reason.
In the Indian subcontinent, communities which for several years lived together attacked each other in a brutal manner. The carnage was intense, with massacres, arson, forced conversions, mass abductions, and savage sexual exploitation. It is widely estimated by historians that around 75000 women were raped, with several of them disfigured or dismembered. Ironically, celebration was once again dovetailed with mourning.
India was partitioned in 1947, and the province of East Bengal was rechristened as East Pakistan and was separated from the other four provinces by 1,800 km of the Indian territory. The noted socialist Dr Ram Manohar Lohia termed this bifurcation a historical monstrosity.
This division on religious lines was planned and executed by the evil mind of the cartographer Cyril Radcliffe, who had never been to India. The devious ploy of divide et impera was mischievously conceived by the British in the tumultuous year of 1905 by Lord Curzon who reorganized Bengal into East and West Bengal on religious lines. From 1905 to 1947, the genesis for a series of anti-Hindu communal riots had been laid in Bengal. Unfortunately, except for ‘The Great Calcutta Killings’ of 1946, there is hardly any debate on the rioting and arson in the state.
Meanwhile, down the line in post-independence history there was palpable tension between the provinces of East and West Pakistan. Mujibur Rahman, the prominent Awami League leader, had won the elections in the undivided Pakistan with widespread support but the Punjabi Pakistani generals were reluctant to part with power. Their celebrations turned into a mourning, as India helped to raise and assisted the Mukti Vahini in East Pakistan which retaliated against the abuse of power by the leaders of West Pakistan.
The epochal day of 26 March 1971 is considered the official Independence Day of Bangladesh. There was carousing in India and widespread celebration with the dismemberment of Pakistan. One state celebrated its Independence Day, while the other was plunged in mourning and darkness.
The epochal day of March 26, 1971, is considered the official Independence Day of Bangladesh. There was carousing in India and widespread celebrations with the dismemberment of Pakistan. One state celebrated its Independence Day, while the other was plunged in mourning and darkness.
(The author is an officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service)
