SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, March 5: The Jharkhand Literary Meet on its first day saw eminent biographer and Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh talk on his book ‘The Light of Asia: The Poem that Defined The Buddha’ on Saturday. As per Ramesh, the book is the biography of a poem ‘The Light of Asia’ by Sir Edwin Arnold that is said to have defined Buddhism for Indian and western cultures alike in the late nineteenth century.
The poem talks of Gautam Buddha’s life and Buddhism’s journey across the world. The epic poem of 50000 lines, is said to have made the public in America and Europe learn about Buddhism, and initially even threatened the Church.
While in conversation with Sukanya Das, Ramesh said, “In the 19th century, people had forgotten who Buddha was. The poem, when published, went ‘viral’ in America, Europe and India. The poem is a critical milestone, as it was published in English but was later translated into around 30 different languages.”
“Rather than doing the biography of an individual, I did the biography of a poem and embedded the biography of the poet as well within it. The poet wasn’t just important as an English personality, but also was somebody that spent time in India and translated several epics including Mahabharata and Bhagwad Geeta,” Ramesh added.
“The 19th century also helped define who Indians are as the modern discovery of Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism took place in the era. It was a textual, archaeological and cultural discovery. People were looking for a Buddha like figure and he emerged from archaeology, texts and this poem,” he continued.
Ramesh further said, “The poem was a sensation because of its subject. The poem is not about Buddha: The Divine figure but of the human Buddha. People then were looking for such a figure that didn’t claim to be a God.”
When asked what problems Sir Arnold faced after the poem was published, the MP said, “The church attacked Arnold, because they saw Buddha as a threat to Christ because of conversions. This is similar to what Swami Vivekananda faced after his visit to Chicago in 1893. However, ironically, the more people attacked Buddha, the more popular he became.”
Ramesh then added, “The founding fathers like Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore, Ambedkar, Patel and saw in Buddha a symbol of the superiority of Indian culture, philosophy and the Indian way of thought. As a result, Buddha became ‘the great emancipator’. Buddha was very much a part of our national movement. By 1920-30, Buddha was seen by one section of the national movement as a symbol of Indian culture, and Indian thought. Some also saw him as a symbol of social reform and social protest.”
Ramesh further talked of Buddha life, his travels and his philosophy and the effect of the poem on the poet’s and his own life. Talking of it, the MP said, “I’m not a Buddhist, but I’m deeply captivated by his life. For me, Buddha represents humanity and not divinity. India is a divinity surplus and humanity deficit country. We have far too much divinity in India and far too less humanity and for me Gautam Buddha is a symbol of humanity; which is why I wrote this book.”
The evening culminated with Shaam e Sufiyana, a performance by Sonam Kalra and her troupe.
The second day of the Meet on March 6 (Sunday) will feature the biographers of superstars Uttam Kumar and Soumitra Chatterjee in conversation with well-known lyricist and writer Chandril Bhattacharya. Before that, popular author Satya Vyas will speak on the evolutions and changes in Hindi in the era of smartphones.
The second half of Sunday will feature a session on how Hindi cinema villains have changed from the 1950s to the present, a tribute to Satyajit Ray on his centenary featuring two of his heroes Mohan Agashe and Barun Chanda in conversation with award-winning filmmaker Suman Ghosh.
The literary programme concludes with the launch of Patthalgarhi by Anuj Lugun and the festival finale is a dance performance by acclaimed Bharatnatyam exponent and Padma Bhushan awardee Mallika Sarabhai. She will be giving a performance alongside her son Revanta Sarabhai.
