fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya
fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya
(emancipation) but also the reader (whois promoted by sattvik bhavas) toBrahmaloka (abode of Brahma).Here I am reminded of one of mydiscussions with Dr. Nagendra. He hadasked whether a good poem written onHitler would be regarded pragatisheel(progressive)? From the viewpoint ofsadharnikaran, this would certainly beregarded a progressive poem, for, from thispoint of view, both the individual and thetype dissolve into the indivisibility of thesoul. Since the social aspects of the subjectare not taken into account, anti-socialelements will also be included in it, andon the pretext of poetic purification theywill be called Brahmanand. The way thisdoctrine has been explained makes itresemble the European doctrine which isno longer acceptable there. This doctrineis known as "Art for Art's Sake". Babujino doubt wants that morality is notneglected/ignored, but if one asserts thatliterature should aim at the developmentof society, the spirituality (chinmayata) ofliterature will be endangered. Broadlyspeaking, there are two kinds of viewsregarding art. One view regards art as aninstrument of improving society, and itssuccess is measured from this point of view.The second view holds that art has nothingto do with the development or degradationof society; its success lies in providing anandor entertainment. Babuji states : "To believethat the purpose of art is above and beyonditself is to doubt its autonomy, and to dragit from the heaven of its independence tothe pit of darkness." How is this argumentdifferent from that of 'Art for Art's Sake'?If art is not supposed to be regulated bysocial influence, it will ultimately becomeanarchical, and it will neither lead to socialwelfare nor would it yield any anand. Itshould be kept in mind that the depictionor portrayal of an anti-social theme willnot yield any pleasure to majority ofpeople. Some people of the aristocratic classmay enjoy this kind of art, but how longwill they survive? It is, therefore, better totreat the subject-matter as the controller/regulator of art. Let art present the themeembellished with the help of all the devicesit has at its disposal so that we are ableto enjoy it. The acceptance of art as a meansof improvement of society does not refutethe claim that art affords us anand. It ispossible to find a few sahridayas andconnoisseurs in a feudal and capitalistsociety who derive pleasure only from thosethings which are inimical to the welfareof the larger community. But this is notinevitable. The modern critic should makethese things clear.Babuji has argued that when a medicaldoctor, who dissects dead bodies, and aneconomist do not think it necessary to havetraining in art, why should an artist degradehimself by consulting economists? In fact,the crux of the problem does not lie inturning art into economics or economicsinto art. The problem is whether the artistshould or should not write on social andeconomic issues, and if he writes, whatmethod should he adopt? However spiritualor indivisible an art might be, it cannotsurvive for a moment without materialfgndi •April-June 2013 :: 9
sustenance. If it fights shy of philosophy,politics, sociology and economics, it couldbecome an object of angels but it wouldhave no relationship with this world. Thisis why the exponents of 'Art for Art's Sake'do not say that they will keep themselvesaway from social questions; their realintention is that they would have fullfreedom to ignore the welfare of themajority while writing on social issues.Thus they sabotage the social responsibilityof an artist. In a sense, an artist'sresponsibility is greater than a sociologist's.An artist has got a sword made of form,alankara, language and chhand, which cutssharper than the blunt knife of a sociologist.To tell him that the beauty of brandishinga sword is more important than theconsideration of the heads that are cut off,is simply to be unfair to society. Suppose,Premchand, being an artist, chooses likeKishorilal Goswami to write stories full ofshringara rasa instead of depicting thestruggle of farmers, he would have validatedBabuji's statement that "there is a specialkind of absorption in rati (love) ofshringara". But he would have not occupieda place in Hindi literature higher than thatof Kishorilal Goswami. While writing onpolitical and social issues, we cannot escapefrom our social responsibility.Till recently we were afraid of all thingsoriginating from the West; we used to callwesterners materialist and scientific, andboasted of our spirituality. But now, whenwe find anything relevant there, we makea mention of it in order to link westernmaterialism to our spirituality. The doctrineof 'Art for Art's Sake' is the legacy of thedecadent capitalist society of Europe. It wasaccepted neither by European scholars norearlier Indian scholars. But progressiveideology appears to be inimical to Indianspirit while this rotten European doctrineseems to be akin to it. According to Babuji,"The essential meaning of 'Art for Art'sSake' resembles the Indian concept ofsvantah sukhay (for self-pleaure's sake)." Notonly this, if we explore the roots of artswe will find that our acharyas had said thesame things which the analysts ofsuppressed desires like Freud and Jung havesaid. "Jung according to me, is closer toIndian perspective." What is Jung'sideology which is closely connected withIndianness? According to Jung, there aretwo dominant feelings in human beings :first, the feeling of superiority, and second,the feeling of sexuality. From, this pointof view, there are two types of humanbeings : introvert and extrovert. In the firstcategory, the feeling of sexuality has theupper hand, and in the second, the feelingof superiority. Babuji says that inUpanishads, self-love (atma-prem) isdeemed the root-cause of all activities."Both sexuality and the feeling ofsuperiority are the inferior forms of selflove.Both are governed by the feeling ofsecurity. Sexuality is also a kind of feelingof superiority and the feeling of superiorityis a metamorphosed and self-expressiveform of sexuality." In this way Babuji hassynthesised psychoanalysis withUpanishads. Psychoanalysts probe verydeeply into the mind and its inner recesses,10 :: April-June 2013fgndi •
- Page 1 and 2: A Journal ofMahatma GandhiAntarrash
- Page 3 and 4: LANGUAGEArundhati Roy in Indian Lan
- Page 5 and 6: all is not well with the world. Ult
- Page 7: After tallying the anubhavas mentio
- Page 11 and 12: progression from Shringararasabhasa
- Page 13 and 14: glamour and fame, I always looked a
- Page 15 and 16: grandmother. Scolded for stealing t
- Page 17 and 18: of his episodes and characters from
- Page 19 and 20: The short story Najum (astrology) b
- Page 21 and 22: India, Indianness and BuddhaDev Bos
- Page 23 and 24: Buddha Dev Bose's writings on Tagor
- Page 25 and 26: development of the idea of a worldl
- Page 27 and 28: defies the set patterns of known li
- Page 29 and 30: The Concerns of CriticismShambhunat
- Page 31 and 32: On the basis of feudal thinking the
- Page 33 and 34: etween the interests of different s
- Page 35 and 36: silent about Hazari Prasad Diwedi.
- Page 37 and 38: Imperialism. The imperialists had c
- Page 39 and 40: conventional reformers to evaluatet
- Page 41 and 42: expansion of knowledge emotions are
- Page 43 and 44: unprincipled propaganda takes place
- Page 45 and 46: drowning with shame or pride in it.
- Page 47 and 48: made criticism a pure literary subj
- Page 49 and 50: It is a great paradox that in an ag
- Page 51 and 52: how much they are mixing with it. M
- Page 53 and 54: peculiar way of protest against not
- Page 55 and 56: Radha Worship in Hindi LiteratureL.
- Page 57 and 58: valuable ornaments and clothes. His
sustenance. If it fights shy of philosophy,politics, sociology and economics, it couldbecome an object of angels but it wouldhave no relationship with this world. Thisis why the exponents of 'Art for Art's Sake'do not say that they will keep themselvesaway from social questions; their realintention is that they would have fullfreedom to ignore the welfare of themajority while writing on social issues.Thus they sabotage the social responsibilityof an artist. In a sense, an artist'sresponsibility is greater than a sociologist's.An artist has got a sword made of form,alankara, language and chhand, which cutssharper than the blunt knife of a sociologist.To tell him that the beauty of brandishinga sword is more important than theconsideration of the heads that are cut off,is simply to be unfair to society. Suppose,Premchand, being an artist, chooses likeKishorilal Goswami to write stories full ofshringara rasa instead of depicting thestruggle of farmers, he would have validatedBabuji's statement that "there is a specialkind of absorption in rati (love) ofshringara". But he would have not occupieda place in <strong>Hindi</strong> literature higher than thatof Kishorilal Goswami. While writing onpolitical and social issues, we cannot escapefrom our social responsibility.Till recently we were afraid of all thingsoriginating from the West; we used to callwesterners materialist and scientific, andboasted of our spirituality. But now, whenwe find anything relevant there, we makea mention of it in order to link westernmaterialism to our spirituality. The doctrineof 'Art for Art's Sake' is the legacy of thedecadent capitalist society of Europe. It wasaccepted neither by European scholars norearlier Indian scholars. But progressiveideology appears to be inimical to Indianspirit while this rotten European doctrineseems to be akin to it. According to Babuji,"The essential meaning of 'Art for Art'sSake' resembles the Indian concept ofsvantah sukhay (for self-pleaure's sake)." Notonly this, if we explore the roots of artswe will find that our acharyas had said thesame things which the analysts ofsuppressed desires like Freud and Jung havesaid. "Jung according to me, is closer toIndian perspective." What is Jung'sideology which is closely connected withIndianness? According to Jung, there aretwo dominant feelings in human beings :first, the feeling of superiority, and second,the feeling of sexuality. From, this pointof view, there are two types of humanbeings : introvert and extrovert. In the firstcategory, the feeling of sexuality has theupper hand, and in the second, the feelingof superiority. Babuji says that inUpanishads, self-love (atma-prem) isdeemed the root-cause of all activities."Both sexuality and the feeling ofsuperiority are the inferior forms of selflove.Both are governed by the feeling ofsecurity. Sexuality is also a kind of feelingof superiority and the feeling of superiorityis a metamorphosed and self-expressiveform of sexuality." In this way Babuji hassynthesised psychoanalysis withUpanishads. Psychoanalysts probe verydeeply into the mind and its inner recesses,10 :: April-June 2013fgndi •
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