Swami Shraddhananda Impressive lecture

 

Swami Shraddhananda Impressive lecture

[Published in Amrit Bazar Patrika, Kolkata dated 17.8.1923]

A public meeting in connection with the Hindu Sangthan movement started by Swami Shraddhanandaji was held in the Arya Samaj Hall at 5-30 pm on Wednesday. Long before the appointed time people began the appointed time people began to pour in large numbers till the hall was packed to its utmost capacity. The audience represented almost all sorts of sects and communities-the MARWADIS, THE Jains, the Sikhs, the Bengalis etc. The huge crowd and the profound interest with which the audience followed the proceedings of the meeting furnished ample proof of the popularity of the Sangathan movement. Besides, there was quite a large number of ladies who graced the meeting with their presence, zeal and enthusiasm sparkled in every eye.

 At about quarter to six Babu Piyush Kanti Ghosh of the ‘Amrita Bazar Patrika’ proposed Pandit Shankarnath, the President of the Calcutta branch of the Arya Samaj, to the chair.

The president took the chair amidst applause and with certain introductory remarks invited Swami Shraddhananda to address the gathering.

 The Swamiji rose up to speak amidst cheers. After receiving certain sublime hymns from the Vedas he began to deliver his address in Hindi. In course of his speech the Swamiji said that the Hindus were a wonderful race. They were the descendants of the Ancient Aryans, who, 5000 years ago held the torch-light of oriental civilization and taught arts and sciences, ethics and philosophy to the whole world. It is a matter for speculation and wonder, that the Hindus still survive and preserve their customs and traditions and ideals even though subjected to sundry vicissitudes during the course of 5000 years. Many religious sects sprang up in the meanwhile but disappeared in the usual course but Hinduism still retains its stronghold in its pristine purity. Where are the antacks and has held its own under various ancient Greeks? They are buried under abysmal depths of oblivion. But Hinduism has successfully resisted all extraneous attacks and has held its own under various difficulties and trials. The Swamiji honestly believed that there was a great purpose in God’s mind in thus keeping alive in it’s entirely a great nation on earth. In this connection the Swamiji related some accounts out of the biography of Lord Clive the founder of the British Empire in India. Clive was sick of his life; he leapt down from the steeple of a church; he pointed a revolver at his own throat but all attempts at suicide failed. Clive, then, believed that God has a purpose in keeping him alive.

Speaking about the Hindu Sangthan movement and Shuddhi, he said that the movement was interpreted variously by various kinds of people actuated by various angles of vision. The Mahomedans, in going to the etymology of the term Sangathan (sang-throat, Ghootna-to churn) assert that the movement is a dangerous one calculated to uproute them and the Congress wallas looked upon the Shuddhi and the Sangthan movement with non-chalance, nay with some disfavor. “Not yet Swamin, not yet” – was reported to have been uttered by Mr. C. Rajagopalachari. “Even if the entire body of the Hindus is converted to Islam the Hindu-Muslim unity ought not to suffer.”

 Then the Swamiji described the relations between the Hindus and the Muslims and traced it up to the year 1857-the year of the Great Mutiny. After the mutiny was quelled the Britishers unfortunately begin to look upon the Muslims with profound suspicious and disfavor. There was one man, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who influenced by a sense of patriotism, which is the ideal of western civilization, privately published a number of pamphlets in English. He delivered one of them to the then Viceroy and mailed the rest to the England, the result being that the government modified its attitude and the Muslims were hugged while the Hindus estranged. Sir Syed, who described the Hindus and Mohomedans, as his right and left eyes respectively, thus forsook the cause of the Hindus and concentrated all his efforts for the communal aggrandizement. This opened the sleepy eyes of the Hindus who began to shift for themselves. In 1866 Sir Syed proposed to found a vernacular university where the medium of instruction would be Urdu. In this he got absolutely no support from the Hindus. At last he succeeded in founding the celebrated M.A.O. College at Aligarh which has nowadays become the supreme stronghold of modern Islamic culture and civilization.  In 1898 the Great Sir Syed died and in 1901 Molvi Altaf Hussain in a biography of the great deceased, frankly pointed out the merits and flaws of his activities.

Then the Swamiji referred to the present state of the Hindus. When Muhammad Bin Kasim invaded Sindh the population of the time consisted of 99 percent of Hindus. In 1881 the figure came down to 74 percent. In the census report of 1911 the figure still came down to 69 percent on which Basis Col. U. C. Mukherjee wrote his pamphlet, “ The Hindus- a Dying Race.”

The Swamiji then gave a detailed history of the inception of the Sangthan which he defined as a movement to resuscitate the old Aryan civilization. Jagadguru Swami Shankaracharya of Sardapeeth was at the helm of affairs and many resolutions were passed at the two extraordinary meetings in 1915 and 1921 at Brindaban and Delhi respectively.

The Malabar riots and Multan outrage one the Hindu deities, said the Swami, were the principal factors in giving rise to the Sangthan movement. The atrocities of the Malabar riots could not be denied. They were admitted by men like Mr. C.F.Andrews, Hakim Ajmal Khan and Dr. A.N. Ansari but were slighted by Hasrat Mohani. The non-cooperators and co-operators of the Punjab appreciated the communal policy of Molvi Tazle Husain Educational minister to the government of the Punjab, and joined with heart and soul. The Swamiji then delivered a lengthy discourse of the subject of the Shuddhi Propaganda. The Malkana Rajputs, in and near the Agra district, had been keeping intact their faith in Hinduism for centuries and efforts were being made to absorb them into their Hindu brotherhood by enlightened Rajputs since more than a quarter of a century. There a number of Rajput enthusiasts organized the Rajput Shuddhi Sabha and began regular organized work, the result being the so-called reconversion of 1132 souls from among the Malkanas. Early in the January 1923 a Hindi weekly (“Akashbani” of Lahore) gave the simple news that four and a half lakhs of Mohomedan Rajputs had applied for reconversion into Hinduism and that the Rajput Mahasabha had granted their application. But the Muslims were roused to action. The first protest meeting was held at Patti, a village in the Lahore district. The question of organization was discussed and Bharatiya Hindu Shuddhi Sabha was started under his president ship.

The Swamiji in conclusion said that he was quite convinced that the Malkanas were pure Hindus who abstained from fish, flesh and fowl and were strict vegetarians, who showed keen interest in protecting cows and who preserved the “Choti” (tuft of hair on the head).

Speaking about funds the Swami deplored the sheer apathy of the Hindus. The Swami said that he appealed for five lakhs of rupees and got only one and a half while the Muslims appealed for ten lakhs and got 12 lakhs. The Hindus, he said, should gird up their loins and come to the fore with men and money, courage and enthusiasm. The cause of Religion demanded their unity and cooperation.

The Swamiji said that the Mohomedans were better organized than the Hindus. As for Swaraj, the Swamiji said that of the 24 crore of Hindus were properly organized and 7 crore of Mohomedans joined them, what on earth could prevent them from attaining Swaraj?

In the end the speaker made a fervent appeal to the audience in respect of the following three items:-

-It should be the bounden duty of every Hindu to assist in the protection of cows and increasing pasture lands. A cow ought to be installed in every Hindu shrine and worshipped there in the same way as gods and goddesses.

-Delegate should be send to the Banaras session of the Hindu Maha Sabha from the different communities in as large a number as possible.

-The Shuddhi movement had already made some headway and should not, therefore be allowed to die. A branch of the Shuddhi Sabha should be established in Bengal. The Swamiji said that he received letters from some districts of Bengal where enough work might be done.

At the end of the Swamiji’s address number of delegates were elected to go to Benaras. The president then brought the proceedings to a close by another fervent appeal to the Hindus at the end of which Babu Ambica Prasad Bajpaye proposed a vote of thanks to the president.