A rich legacy of inspiration

Bombay high court

 

On 22nd July this year a division bench of the Bombay High Court remarked on creating awareness about writings of Maharashtra’s social reformers. The judges’ observations opened up many rich veins of thought and impetus for action, well beyond the immediate subject. 

The bench of Justices PB Varale and Kishore Sant was hearing a suo moto petition which took cognizance of a report in the daily Loksatta saying that the project of publishing the literature of Babasaheb Ambedkar with an estimated cost of ₹ 5.45 crore, had been stalled. 

The comments of the bench touched upon many aspects that deserve public attention and a larger discussion. This includes the need to popularise the books on social reformers that the government publishes, make the public aware of where and how these books can be bought and read, the very habit of reading itself and importantly, the urgent need to preserve and house the original writings and manuscripts of these reformers in a safe place.

Maharashtra’s contribution

In an interview to the Economic Times published in July, 2010, historian Ramachandra Guha pointed out, “Maharashtra was the crucible of political activism and social reforms from the late 19th century till the 1950s.” But what is remarkably noteworthy is Guha’s assertion that, “Objectively, I would say Maharashtra’s contribution (to social reforms and political thinking) has been equal or even greater than that of Bengal. The more I read and researched, I was sure Maharashtra had contributed to social and political reforms much more than any other part of the country.”

This is high praise indeed but also a further confirmation of the incredibly rich legacy that Maharashtra has of a lineage of reformers. This is a lineage that reflects the contributions of both men and women. The more well known among the latter are Savitribai Phule, Tarabai Shinde, Ramabai Ranade and the lesser known educationist and activist, Fatima Sheikh. We also have Cornelia Sorabjee, lawyer, social reformer and writer who was the first woman graduate of the Bombay University and the first woman to study law at the Oxford University. Among the many well known male social reformers are also those who may not be familiar names to young Indians. Among these are Gopal Ganesh Agarkar (educationist, journalist and social reformer), Balshastri Jambhekar (father of Marathi journalism) and numerous others including Lokmanya Tilak’s son Shridhar Balwant Tilak.

The Bombay HC remarked that the government has published books on Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and other great reformers but the public has remained largely unaware about this. Not many people are aware of the existence of government book shops. “Earlier, people used to go to bookshops but now it is all available at your doorstep. Publishers have to bring people to the shops,” added Justice Varale.

The HC appointed advocate Swaraj Jadhav, to assist it on this petition. Jadhav informed the HC that most of the original handwritten manuscripts of Dr. Ambedkar and Jyotiba Phule were stored in an old building in south Mumbai and the monsoons would only add to the possibility of the papers suffering damage.

Earlier, the HC had directed the state government to inform it about the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Source Material Publication Committee with details about resources provided to it to do its work. According to newspaper reports the judges pointed out that no such details had been provided.

On a broader note, the HC’s remarks asking the government to take “concrete and positive” steps to popularise the writings of these reformers must also be seen in the context of people, especially the young, being encouraged to read. We often hear and read about complaints that the attention span of the young covers fleeting seconds and that they are loath to read anything that is even remotely lengthy. The young want everything in bullet points and in snippets is a constant refrain of those above 40 years.

Instead of ruing what is perhaps inevitable in a world of rapidly leapfrogging technology, the emphasis should be on popularising Maharashtra’s rich intellectual and reform oriented legacy. How this can be done in ways and means that will appeal to readers across ages, generations and interests should be the central point of public discussions and debate. The social reformers that we so proudly look up to were nothing if not innovators who dared to think beyond conventional beliefs. The best tribute we can pay them is to emulate them in order to spread their message far and wide.