JAWAHARLAL, THE
ARCHITECT OF HISTORY
K. C. KAMALIAH
“My duty is to serve” is the dictum and
Jawaharlal Nehru was a standing monument of it. It is but meet
to say that the very story of his life ran parallel with the history of
Jawaharlal Nehru speaks: “But a revolution is
very different. It has its home in the field and the street and the market
place, and its methods are rough and coarse. The people who make it have not
had the advantage of the education of the princes and
the statesmen. Their language is not courtly and decorous, hiding a multitude
of intrigues and evil designs. There is no mystery about them, no veils to hide
the working of their minds; even their bodies have little enough covering.
Politics in a revolution cease to be the sport of kings or professional
politicians. They deal with realities, and behind them are raw human nature and
the empty stomachs of the hungry.”
The versatile H.G. Wells wrote world history
with ability. His romances and scientific fables kindle the hearts of many. His
literary creations fetched for him the Nobel Prize for literature. “Jawaharlal
is one of the dozen top prose-writers in English today,” observed H.G. Wells.
In a way, Nehru can be characterised as reflecting
the epoch in which he lived. As such, his works are but pieces of art, ideas
surcharged with emotions. His mind which ransacked the past, the present and
the future wandered in search of a path for the redemption of the people.
Jawaharlal writes: “It is very interesting to
think of the past story of the world and of the great men and women and of the
great deeds it contains. To read history is good but even more interesting and
fascinating is to help in making history.” In
preference to past history, Nehru gave prominence to the history being enacted
before his very eyes. While narrating what history taught, he reminds us of a
Sanskrit quotation: “For the family sacrifice the individual, for the community
the family, for the country the community and for the Soul the whole world.”
Common good was the sheet anchor with Nehru.
While he did not call himself a philosopher, his life, speech and writing
propounded a philosophy. He was one of the architects of history of the
twentieth century. Those who languished in slavery and poverty leaned on him
for a way out of the morass. He sighed when they suffered; every fibre of his flesh throbbed to precipitate their suffering;
he was struck dumb at their pitiable predicament. Witnessing their plight, he
lost control of himself, culminating in torrents of words carried away by
feelings. At times, the flow got dammed and he resembled a reservoir and was
immersed in thought. One could see all these while watching Nehru. Not only
that, one could have glimpses of it in his works too. He studied Science,
entered Politics and wrote History. Cogency and continuity are the sine qua
non of a good work. The Tamil Grammar, Nannul
would describe this as “the flow of a river”, “the gaze of a lion” and “the
leap of frog”. One can perceive this in Nehru’s books. “Letters from a Father
to his Draughter”, “Glimpses of World History”,
“Discovery of India” and “Autobiography” are the gifts of Nehru to the
historical literature of the world. It is said that the more frequently gold is
consumed to fire, the more it shines. Jawaharlal’s works are repositories of
knowledge. His intellect which at no time stood at awe before kings and
emperors bowed in reverence before men of wisdom.
Jawaharlal Nehru, typical of him, writes about
Sankara: “I have mentioned the names of some kings
and dynasties, who lived their brief life of glory and
then disappeared and were forgotten. But a more remarkable man arose in the
south, destined to play a more vital part in
What panacea did he offer to those who plunged
themselves in the battle for freedom? Writing from prison under the heading “A
holiday and a dream journey”, he minces no words in what the goddess of freedom
demands. “But all roads in India in these days sooner or later lead to one
destination; all journeys, dream ones or real, end in prison. ... ... ... Again
the fight is on and our people, men and women, boys and girls go forth to
battle for freedom and to rid this country of the curse of poverty. But freedom
is a goddess hard to win; she demands as of old human sacrifices from her
votaries.”
The pages of history reveal to us that the
worshipper at the altar of freedom should be prepared to face the worst agonies
in life. The illiterate masses yearned for freedom in all honesty and
sincerity. Jawaharlal’s face bloomed like a lotus on seeing them. Fraternity as
an unfaded garland adorned his shoulders. Humility
and culture are inseparable twins. Jawaharlal Nehru was an eminent political
philosopher, a linguist and a seeker of knowledge and truth. And yet, he had in
him in plenty culture and humility, in the right sense of the word.
Dense forests, high mountains, quick flowing
rivers and fleeting clouds were the balms that soothed his otherwise agitated
mind, growing every moment impatient, to rid the country of slavery. It is a
pleasure to read his description of a scene which he enjoyed in the
“To watch the changing clouds, like clime in
cline,
Oh! sweet to lie and
bless the luxury of time”.
Jawaharlal is a jewel emitting lustre picked from the treasure house of history, but
certainly not to be locked as archaelogical find. He
was an architect who shaped history and took part in it. The sculptures chiselled by the stone mason several centuries before still
extort our admiration. The sculptures of beauty which Jawaharlal created in the
rock of language with the chisel of intellect as his tool are indeed creations
of art. “Should there be real light within, there is bound, to be light in
speech,” said a famous poet. This is absolutely correct in respect of Nehru.
From the prison Jawaharlal Nehru was writing
letters to his beloved daughter, Indira Priyadarshini. We find in one of the letters from the Naini jail that his daughter’s name in three words of two parts
induced him to think. “Priyadarshini
dear to sight, but dearer still when sight is denied!” Jawaharlal
Nehru’s phrases are appreciated the world over. With an amazing rapidity they
gained currency. When he was returning home at the end of his visit to a
friendly country, he said: “I am leaving a part of my heart here.”
We come across several instances in Jawaharlal
Nehru’s works where he makes the past face the future and analyses their worth.
He says: “The past brings us many gifts; indeed all that we have today of
culture, civilization, science or knowledge of some aspects of the truth, is a
gift of the distant or recent past to us. It is right that we acknowledge to
the past. But the past does not exhaust our duty or obligation. We owe a duty
to the future also, and perhaps that obligation is even greater than the one we
owe to the past. For the past is past and done with, we cannot change
it; the future is yet to come, and perhaps we may be able to change it a
little. If the past has given us some part of the truth, the future also hides
many aspects of the truth, and invites us to search for them. But often the
past is jealous of the future and hold us in a terrible grip, and we have to
struggle with it to face and advance towards the future.”
Jawaharlal Nehru beamed with pleasure at the
sight of flowers. He was transferred to a different habitat on seeing scenic
beauties Nature depicts. He wrote poetic prose. He made politics a shrine of
decency, moral code and ethics. His living was love-oriented. He lived every
letter of what Tiruvalluvar laid down: “The seat of
life is in Love.”
So long as we do not recognize the supremacy
of the moral law in our national and international relations, we shall have no
enduring peace.
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