Pop arts edging out high arts
by M. L. Raina

Rethinking Popular Culture: Contemporary Perspectives in Cultural Studies edited by Chandra Mukerji and Michael Schudson. University of California Press, Berkley. Pages viii+501. $19.95.

AN anthology on popular culture and nothing by Vladimir Propp, Umberto Eco, Yuri Lotman, Mikhail Bakhtin, Richard Hoggart or John Cawletti! At first sight I am tempted to dismiss it as yet another of those elephantine academic tomes whose girth in terms of pages is no substitute for genuine engaging content. Yes, I am not swept off my feet as many others would be today by the very mention of the new cantphrases "popular culture" and "cultural studies". Yet there is enough in this volume to prompt reflection on these subjects even though I would not be counted as a drunken celebrant or an uncritical enthusiast for everything "Popular".

Though Mukerji and Schudson have not been able to define clearly what popular culture is in their long free-fall of an introduction, certain hints and suggestions do emerge on close reading of the texts offered. The introduction itself attempts the following definition: "Popular culture refers to the beliefs and practices, and the objects through which they are organised, that are widely shared among a population. These include folk beliefs, practices and objects rooted in local traditions, and mass beliefs, practices and objects generated in political and commercial centres." The rather fuzzy nature of this definition is evident in the fact that it could also apply to mass culture as understood by us in the present time.

Popular culture studies have included such a large range of issues (as evident in this anthology) and such an array of methods that they have become diffuse and baffling. It is one thing to say that popular culture is the product of shared beliefs, but quite another to ignore its homogenising effect on the community which shares the beliefs. Besides the line of demarcation between the popular and mass cultures is vague and it is difficult to predict at what stage the "popular" becomes "mass". Perhaps we might do well to remember that "mass" culture is basically a conformist product of the levelling force of modern consumer economy and entertainment industry, a point made clear by Adorno and Horkheimer who regrettably do not figure in this volume.

They have insisted that "mass culture" which substitutes traditional cultures of the past in modern industrial society performs the function of maintaining the status quo. Whereas many adherents of popular culture believe in its critical potential in relation to prevailing assumptions (a view rather unconvincingly advanced by Mary Douglas in her fascinating essay on jokes in the present volume), Adorno, Marcuse and the Frankfurt School generally hold "high art" as the antidote to the levelling process of mass culture, ignoring the rather grey area which the editors of the present anthology call "popular culture".

Calling mass culture "the plastic surgery of the prevailing economic system which carves all men to one pattern", Horkheimer in a relatively unknown essay of 1940, "Art and mass culture" (none of the contributors to this volume seems to have taken note of it), opposed it to "genuine high culture" which "preserves the utopia that evaporated from religion". What this statement seems to overlook — particularly in the Indian context — is the fact that it is religion in India which underpins the pacificatory role of mass culture.

However hard you look in the present anthology, you will be disappointed at not being able to find a clear-cut demarcation between "the popular" and "the mass". Maybe the distinction does not exist, really, or is present in too attenuated a form to matter. At any rate, some of the essays in the Mukerji-Schudson volume strengthen this impression. Take the essay "William Shakespeare and the American people", a thorough and well-researched piece on the reception of Shakespeare in America. Lawrence Levine shows that initially the bard was everybody’s property. Shakespearean presentations were given at big and small playhouses across America and were enjoyed and parodied in local variations (the best literary parody occurring in "Huckleberry Fin").

The interesting thing is that, like the original Elizabethan theatre, the plays had something to offer to every class of theatre-goer. As American society became class-bound, cultural stratification also took place, giving the bard a privileged status. From a "popular artist" he became "high culture". The filming of Shakespeare by Hollywood (the most recent example is the cycle-riding lovers in "Mid-Summer Night’s Dream", and the general demythologisation in "Shakespeare in Love") has once again blurred the line between the high and the popular brand.

The other example comes from Janice Radway’s essay on women’s romances. She asks the question as to which women read romances and why, and answers with a neat topology of reader’s response to "popular culture". Like Mary Douglas, she claims that romances offered to women not only an escape from the oppression of their daily lives, but also a way of protest against being neglected in patriarchy. The reception of B.R. Chopra’s the Mahabharath is an instance nearer home which suggests that high art and popular culture are not entirely related to class stratification alone.

Though anthropologists and sociologists in this collection (Bourdieu is an exception) would not agree, there must be some intrinsic aesthetic character to the spectacle, or a text which appeals above class barriers. It is this aspect of popular culture that has been neglected by many contributors to this hefty volume. I am not suggesting that popular and high arts share the same aesthetic value. What I am saying is that there is an aesthetic component in each which draws varying degrees of response from different audiences.

In an otherwise appealing eassy on the Balinese cockfight ("Deep play" in the present volume), veteran anthropologist Clifford Geertz makes a somewhat far-fetched claim that what the cockfight does to its audiences in Bali is what "King Lear" and "Crime & Punishment" do to people "with other temperaments and other conventions". Provocative as the comparison is, Geertz totally forgets the complex aesthetic values of "King Lear" and "Crime & Punishment" which cannot be explained by conventions and temperaments alone.

One way of suggesting the relative aesthetic value of popular culture is that it does not require an intellectual response that the complexity of value in high culture does. Its value is related to the "formulaic" character of its offerings. In popular culture (here again no hard and fast demarcation between popular and mass culture can be drawn), as Vladimir Propp has observed, narratives are constructed according to a formula and do not admit of much variation.

In the Indian context, they are dictated by didactic and openly moralistic purpose. Hence the ease with which the less literate audiences respond to them, as the romance and crime and punishment formulas in the Hindi cinema clearly indicate.

Popular and mass-consumption genres are structures of expectation which is constantly fulfilled in our response. In our valuation of films like Dr. No and Frankensten or of the raucous pop music, we are actuated more by our desires and fantasies than by a willed effort of intellection which is required to fathom the complexity of a genuinely and aesthetically satisfying artifact. What Lionel Trilling long ago called "the difficult and complexity" of response is true more of the so-called high culture that of popular or mass culture.

The fixed nature of formulaic genres such as the detective novel, masala movie or the several varieties of rap or bhangra rolls keep expectation static and do not disturb our accepted beliefs. What are damned as expressions of elite culture constantly displace our generic expectations (even when they draw upon folk or popular motifs). These are genuinely negative in the sense in which Marcuse and Adorno use the term.

It is always useful to keep Adorno’s admonition in mind while on the subject of "high" and "popular" culture: "A successful work of art... is one which expresses the idea of harmony negatively by embodying the contradictions, pure and uncompromised, in its innermost structure." In Walter Benjamin’s phrase, the so called "high" art has "aura", that stamp of authenticity which comes from the refusal to simplify, to reconcile. Kafka would call such art a "pick-axe that breaks the frozen ice of our souls". The "decay of the aura" Benjamin ascribes to the necessity forced by technology to convert art into mass-produced commodities.

Here I must modify my stance somewhat. Carnival, sadly absent in this anthology, does play a subversive role is dissolving social hierarchy. Tamasha, lavni and the Kashmiri band pather, among other expressions, play a disrupting role. Festivity, games, jokes and amusements may be "an experience of the instance" as Goethe said, but they fill a social function — namely, to flatten out social differences.
They offer a stylised meditation on self and the Other, carrying multiple, indeed protean metaphoric possibilities. They perform what modern anthropoligists call "rites of reversal" suggesting the impermanence of absolutist stances. But they are exceptions to the general notion of popular cultural forms as largely reinforcing existing conventions and practices. They lack the tendency to devalue unitary descriptions of self which is necessary for "negative" interventions in the social process.

While I have dwelt at some length on the deficiencies of this anthology, I must not ignore some of the essays that certainly are useful in their own right Natalie Zemon Davis’s essay on the growth of literacy in France, John Berger’s revealing essay on the oddities of shifting the dress code among different classes, Roy Rosenberg’s valuable piece on the growth of the saloons — these are delightful to read and think over. They encompass larger fields of social and cultural concern than the narrow provenance of the anthology warrants.

In the final analysis, this anthology provokes questions that it fails to resolve. As a student of literature I should like to raise a final point which has bothered me in reading the partisans of popular culture. There is no dearth of material on the popular culture sources of some great canonical writers. In my particular area I have read a great deal on the popular bases of Shakespeare, Dickens, Joyce, Eliot and others.

Post-modernist apologists for Salman Rushdie have proclaimed from the roof-tops that he is the product of the "popular arts" revival in our time. My question to them is: in spite of your exertions, why is it that barring Shakespeare and Dickens, many of them are read and evaluated by only elite readers? As one who taught Joyce for many years, I have not been able to answer the puzzle. Are the popular culture aficinados listening?

From Beijing with faith
by Kishwar A. Shirali

Beijing! UN Fourth World Conference on Women by Anita Anand with Gauri Salvi. WFS(Women’s Feature Service), New Delhi. Pages 268. Price not given.

WITH a loaf of bread and a bottle of water, a wizened Kinkri Devi came to the HP High Court and obtained a stay order. Her goats were being starved. The Sirmour pastures were being swallowed by limestone quarries. The contractors threatened a handful of bones that was Kinkri and could have easily crushed her under their truck tyres. Kinkri was undaunted.

A frail 41-year-old Rajasthani rural sathin Bhanwari Bai was gangraped by high caste elders of the Gujjar community. Her crimes: she had informed and brought the authorities to the marriage of a one-year-old girl child.

Shanti, a project activist of single women in a Delhi slum, having made a long journey from being a widow refusing a Rajasthani brother-in-law’s chuda (like Punjabi chaddar) and caring for a large family by breaking stones, could hold her own with much elan and bonhomie on women’s issues and the feminist agenda with many conference-savvy women.

A group of Japanese women were handing out leaflets apologising for their country’s role in "comfort women" from Korea and Thailand (a form of forced prostitution) during World War II.

A group of women from India and Pakistan walked for friendship. Some women from Israel and Palestine sat across the same table exchanging experiences of violence and seeking peace.

Some of us conveyed the love and greetings to women from Tibet sent by their Tibetan sisters in India.

Colourful big African sisters sold their handcrafts. Slender Chinese women sold silk screen prints of white cranes among gnarled pines. White women rode on hired bikes, while others trudged in rain from workshop to workshop.

Books and posters and cards were exchanged. Powerful street plays, song and dance sprouted everywhere, celebrating diversity in different hues and tones.

Kinkri and some of us scooped live fish from tanks and fried them whole for dinner with a glass of cheap beer. Cycle rickshaws took us to the back lanes of Beijing palaces with washed clothes hanging out on the side of the street. Cycle "rehris" with a rug to sit on was our conveyance in Huairou, the NGO conference site, when buses were not available. Calculators helped bargain with rickshaw-wallahs and roadside trades people, emphasising our country, "We Indians".

Smartly made-up Chinese women engaged in recording the proceedings, directing, organising, and translating papers projected the image of modern China; in the countryside were the traditional blue pants and blouse people.

Unlike India there were no crows, no dogs and no stray cows.

These were some of the faces of the Beijing women’s conference. As a participant from HP state, working in a mental health NGO, we had organised state-level and national-level workshops, also some at Huairou. These workshops had thrown up the tragic story of a deprived woman living out of a tin trunk in a hill town. In Gujarat a poor childless father had sought a child vowing to the gods that he would not dress the child. A girl was born and the father died. So the now grown-up woman lives naked in the dark.

An Australian teenager said she had to sleep with her father who blackmailed her before paying alimony to her poor unemployed mother.

Disclosure of all this and more was made possible by a coordination unit set up in Delhi by the UNand donor agencies to ensure maximum participation of women from all countries, disciplines, groups and classes. For the first time, grassroots level women were an important part of the deliberations. Women struggling to find a voice, came together in the Fourth UNWorld Conference on Women; the largest of the century with official representatives from 189 countries and about 40,000 NGO representatives.

The NGO forum emerged from being a rebel camp outside the UNto a legitimate partner of the UN. Political modalities also changed from confrontation to lobbying.

Thousands of workshops and panels were held in those 10 days, where women debated, networked, shaped strategies, shared their experiences and views in wet September of 1995.

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was comprehensive, aiming for quality, development and peace, acknowledging the diversity of communities, religious and indigenous rights and the uneven progress in empowerment and increasing poverty. The aim was to promote people-centred, sustainable development, gender-sensitive policies and access to education, economic growth, self-help, health, especially control over one’s fertility.The meet demanded equal participation of women in government and decision-making processes.

The other areas of concern were violence, domestic and social, physical and sexual abuse and trafficking, care of girl child, legal aid, counselling, rehabilitation and shelter. It noted that in armed conflicts and ethnic cleansing women and children became victims of rape and deprivation. The women could have a say in the economy and decision-making, in environment management and use of natural resources. The role of media in reframing attitudes and lobbying, what the media said and didn’t was also discussed.

Sharply contrasting reports from the North and the South brought about a better understanding of the women’s issues, which surely concern men as well. An understanding of the historical, socio-economic and political processes are insightfully woven into the locally situated analyses. It is women’s understanding of women involved and committed.

And now beyond Beijing! In Himachal women entering the panchayats are being trained in legal matters, women’s issues and rights by the NGO, Sutra. Girls and women are participating in child and reproductive health and nutrition programmes, work against HIV/AIDS, mental health environment and alternative natural resources schemes.

Other states also have women’s projects. Serious women’s magazines have appeared in regional languages, notably Uttara in Hindi from Nainital. The ongoing national level struggle for 33 per cent women representation in Parliament reflects the power equation at various levels, gender being the subtlest.

By and large, this is the picture even in the North, given the fact of the not-so-subtle backlash seen all around. However, Beijing did give women a voice and visibility and even perhaps momentary success.

Beijing! needs to be read by all those concerned about the legacy our society wants to leave for the future.

Many sources of threats to national security
by Rajendra Nath

Regional Security in South Asia edited by Nancy Jetly. Lancer Books, New Delhi. Pages 515. Rs 750.

MANY pluralistic societies in South Asia are facing the challenge of identity and viability as nation-states, while the region itself is facing serious internal challenges to its security. The South Asian countries are also confronted with growing civil strife and ethnic conflicts. The groundswell of religious fanaticism has acquired alarming proportions in recent years. The growth of militancy and secessionism poses a serious threat to the national security of some countries like India and Sri Lanka.

It is now accepted by manythinkers that the greater the vulnerability of a state from within, the more serious are the threats to its security, both external and internal. At times, the internal threats may jeopardise a state’s security more critically than an external one. This is particularly so if outside powers intervene on political, economic, military and sometimes on dubious humanitarian grounds.

South Asian countries have not only to look after their territorial integrity but also have to create stable structures which can accommodate a bewildering range of ethnic, linguistic and religious groups, often in the face of secessionist movements. Besides, the internationalisation of secessionist movements adds to the problem.

The book "Regional Security of South Asia" contains essays by distinguished scholars from within and outside South Asia who deal with the various aspects of the security problem. Altogether, the essays present an in-depth analysis of some of the major issues of internal security which concern the whole region. Professor Nancy Jetly of JNU has edited this book.

The views expressed by some of the authors are worth quoting to give the reader some idea of the contents of the book. Muchkund Dubey, a former foreign secretary and now professor in JNU, in his paper on "Dynamics of security in South Asia", has covered, among other points, the long-term implications of the influx of Bangladeshi migrants. "This puts a perpetual strain on the Indian economy and becomes a source of social tension and violence in the adjoining districts of India. In the extreme form, it may be left with no options but to forcibly push back the illegal migrants. This may escalate into an inter-state conflict and even war," he states.

Mubasir Hasan, former Finance Minister of Pakistan, has concluded his paper by stating, "In order to reduce the levels of sectarian and communal violence and violence committed by one state over another, the hydra-headed monster of ‘nationalism’ shall have to be dethroned from its high pedestal. Love of its citizens for one’s state, for its armed might, its honour, its destiny, its unique personality, its superiority over other nations has to be replaced by a patriotism which serves as a vehicle of peace and humanism."

Prof Bhupinder Brar of Punjab University says, "In sum, organisations are justified not because they claim to represent regions, nations or ethnic groups but because they fulfil human needs. And human beings are organised not only ethnically or territorially. People’s security lies in finding less divisive alternative forms of human organisations. The paradigm of civil society provides a model of such organisations. What we need ultimately is a universal civil society, of which South Asia civil societies will be a part."

Prof Mukherjee of JNU in his paper considers underdevelopment, poverty and imbalances in development in South Asia as major causes of conflict in South Asia. While discussing Sri Lanka, he has stated that, "In matters relating to employment, the Tamils felt discriminated against..., the Tamil leaders claimed that of the 1,40,000 jobs offered by the Government in 1978, less than 1,000 went to the Tamils. The Tamils recruitment to the general clerical services declined from about 40.7 per cent in 1949 to 5.4 per cent in 1978-81."

Prof Anwar Hussain of Dhaka University has highlighted ethnic dissonance as an important factor in the internal security of a country. He states that "ethnic conflict is neither inevitable nor eternal". He adds that "ethnic conflict is not necessarily ethnic in nature". He recommends that propaganda of ethnic groups must be contained as a first step while strict control is required regarding the import or smuggling of arms. "Insurgency must be tackled well in the earlier stages," something which the India should pay special attention to.

Prof Sahadevan of JNU refers to the internationalisation of ethnic conflict. According to him, "Limited support by a patron to a weak adversary makes little impact on the conflict process. At the same time, all possible tangible support is available only to an adversary who is sure to win its conflict goals." Indian leaders and intellectuals would do well to remember it while tackling the insurgency or proxy war in J&K.

Air Commodore Jasjit Singh has written about cross-border terrorism in South Asia. According to him, the classical Clausewitzean concept of regular (state to state) war as an instrument of policy now includes armed violence and irregular war as the continuation of politics by other means. The phenomenal spread of small arms has made these weapons more easily accessible for cross-border terrorism, particularly when rich or powerful countries take sides in arming trans-border militants. The most extensive support to transnational terrorism in South Asia has come from Pakistan which has pursued terrorism as an extension of politics by other means.

In 1989, the then army chief of Pakistan, Gen Aslam Beg, had stated that Pakistan had lost the earlier attempts to take Kashmir by force because Pakistan had no strategic vision, something he claimed had been rectified now. Senior Pakistani army officers believe that it would be possible to pursue irregular warfare to take Kashmir under a nuclear umbrella.

As regards, availability of weapons, a former head of the ISI has stated that it still has access to three million packed and greased Kalashnikov rifles, besides a large amount of ammunition. So Pakistan is in a position to continue its proxy war in J&K for a considerable period, as funds are being made available by rich Muslim countries. The author makes a pertinent point when he states that "the weapons and equipment of terrorists are almost inevitably superior to those of the security forces, providing the terrorists with a tactical advantage." This situation must be rectified quickly if India has to win the proxy war in J&K.

Prof Jayanta Kumar Ray of the University of Calcutta has written about the indigenous people of Bangladesh who have been treated in a cruel manner by the Pakistan government since 1947. His paper deals with tribals of Chittagong Hill Tracts and the plains of Bangladesh. He states that in 1947 non-Muslims formed 97.2 per cent of the total population of the Chittagong Hill Tracts". Since then, there has been consistent atrocities by Muslim settlers and soldiers. Hundreds of them have been killed.

The Bangladesh government has used the armed forces to carry out largescale resettlement of Muslims from the plains in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. This has resulted in an ethnocide. Consequently the non-Muslim population which was less than 3 per cent in 1947 is now over 48.5 per cent. The condition of non-Muslim tribals in the plains of Bangladesh is just as bad.

Men are not essential here
by Surinder S. Jodhka

Female-Headed Households in Patriarchal Society: A Sociological Study by Ranjay Vardhan. Indian Publishing Distributors, Delhi. Pages 192. Rs 350.

IN much of the conventional sociological research and official surveys, the family and the household are treated as the primary units of the social system. Interestingly such an understanding of human society is not common to all social sciences. For example, in the "liberal" political theory and in mainstream "neo-classical" economics, it is the human individual, and not the family, that gets viewed as constituting the basic unit of the political and the economic systems. Though they recognise the significance of institutions and structures, their analyses invariably begin with the individual.

Despite the apparent advantages of such a bias in sociological analysis, the preference for institutions, such as family or household over the individual is not free from problems. Such an approach tends to assume that the family and the household were the naturally given structures and were universal in nature. By implication, sociological concepts and methods of research invariably end up working within the dominant ideological parameters of the given social system.

One of the most obvious examples of this is the manner in which the category "head of the household" (HOH) has been used in empirical researches. Until recently, the HOH was always assumed to be the male elder of the house and was treated as the sole knowledgeable spokesperson for the household. Even in official surveys and programmes, it was the HOH who was expected to provide all information about the household and was viewed as the potential beneficiary of development schemes. As a consequence, sociological researches and official surveys invariably ended up providing a male-centred picture of reality — a picture based on the way men viewed the household and society.

It was only in the late 1970s when strong women’s movements emerged all over the world that things began to change. women participating in these movements argued that in much of the existing social scientific research there was no recognition of gender which, they argued was an important dimension of social reality. They also argued that categories like household and the accompanying assumption of the head of the household always being a man contributed to such a "gender-blindness" of social scientific researches and official surveys.

It was around this time that social scientists and woman activists argued that a good number of households were in fact being run by women. As the author of the book being reviewed shows, according to available estimates, nearly 25 to 33 per cent of all households in the world are headed by women. Though the proportion of such households has been reported to be low in India (around 10 per cent, according to a sample survey carried out in 1981), the number was surely on the rise. It was only in 1991 that a question on the sex of the HOH was added in the schedule of the Indian census. The final tables of the 1991 census on the subject had not yet been released when the author was finalising his study. The proportion of such households is believed to be on the rise everywhere.

The number of female-headed households was on the rise in the West because of the declining significance of the institution of family. Divorce rates have been increasing at an alarming rate and the number of single parents has gone up considerably. So much so that even being an unmarried mother does not invoke strong negative reaction from society any longer.

The causes for the increase in female-headed households in the developing countries of the Third World were different. The socio-economic changes taking place in these societies were transforming almost every aspect of social life. The processes of industrialisation and urbanisation were leading to large-scale migration and movement of the population. People were moving from villages to cities, from small towns to bigger towns and from less developed regions to the more developed regions. As demographers have shown, people initially migrate selectively. While men go to the city for better employment, women are left behind to take care of the household and the land.

Then there were also cases of divorce, separation and widowhood. In the changing social norms, community structures have weakened and families are increasingly becoming nuclearised. A divorced or widowed woman is no longer absorbed by "the nearest kith and kin" of her family. Some educated women could also find employment outside the home and are able to take up the responsibility of running the household. However, the overall structure of society continues to be heavily biased against women, particularly in countries like India. When they enter the public sphere, women often face many problems since the public sphere has always been a monopoly of the men.

Ranjay Vardhan’s study attempts to identify the problems faced by such women in their day-to-day life. He surveyed 307 female-headed households from three different localities of Chandigarh. A large majority of women heading their households in Chandigarh were widows (60 per cent) and separated/divorced (15 per cent) women. There were also some who had never married (around 13 per cent) and were taking care of their households.

The picture that the author presents is rather depressing. According to him, these women not only face many hardships while trying to earn a living and taking care of their households, they also have to constantly encounter social prejudice and discrimination. A female-headed household, somehow not seen as a normal thing. More than two-thirds of them felt that they were being treated with insolence by society. When the researcher asked them about what possible measures would they want society and the State to initiate for the welfare of the female-headed households, more than 32 per cent of them just wanted a change in the societal attitude towards them.

However, despite such findings, the author himself seems to work with a framework that fails to go beyond the male-centric notion of society. He treats them as "victims" and "vulnerable". He goes to the extent of saying that normally all women needed "to live under the protection and care of men" (p 106). Being single and without men is what, according to the author, is the cause of all their problems. He adds, "By virtue of their being single, they lacked the protection of a man and sometimes of a family, and, therefore were vulnerable to exploitation".

This is despite the fact that as many as 20 per cent of his respondents did not consider male presence necessary for the household! Such constructs tend to only reinforce what the author himself wishes to change, the patriarchal social structure.

The other famous Majithia
by Himmat Singh Gill

Sir Sundar SinghMajithia and His Relevance in Sikh Politics by Gurnam Singh Rekhi. Har-Anand Publications, New Delhi. Pages 244. Rs 495.

THIS thought-provoking account of him is in fact a history of the Sikhs from the dying decades of the 19th century to about the middle of the next, bringing to the centre-stage the persistent and tireless efforts of the Sardar Sahib in improving education, agriculture, employment and religious reforms.

Gurnam Singh Rekhi, a postgraduate in history from Punjabi University, Patiala, has done well to string together rich material on the life and times of this soft-spoken intellectual who rose to be the first secretary of the Chief Khalsa Diwan at Amritsar in 1902, established the Central Khalsa Orphanage and Blind Ashram in the same city, and later on became the chief driving force behind the setting up of the All-India Sikh Educational Conference to promote literacy and education among the Sikh masses.

Sundar Singh’s role in the establishment of the famous Khalsa College at Amritsar, and unknown to many, his keen interest in pushing forward work on the Bhakra Dam across the Sutlej alongwith the ongoing Thal project across the Chenab river in 1924 (many erroneously still feel that the Bhakra dam was Nehru’s idea) marked him out as not only the farsighted Revenue Minister of undivided Punjab but also an able administrator of his times.

Opinion is, however, clearly divided on what the Sikhs themselves thought of Sundar Singh and his role and relevance in Sikh politics.The differences of opinion on the future of the Sikhs between the Chief Khalsa Diwan which Sundar Singh represented, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Akali party, led to a new equation among the leaders.

One of Majithia’s "friends", Sewa Ram Singh, when requested to contribute money to the Khalsa orphanage at Amritsar had this to say: "As to my joining the band of 40 personal friends of yours, I wonder if such a status could be purchased by a payment of Rs 500 to a fund, which is meant to liquidate a debt that should never have been incurred. I believe we have had enough in the Chief Khalsa Diwan rather than calling upon personal friends to contribute to such funds."

There were others like Ujjal Singh, a member of the Legislative Council, who heaped praise on Majithia. "Istill hope that you will not allow the community to go wild or fall prey to extremism and will give the benefit of your guidance along the right channels." Some differences arose between Majithia and Harbans Singh Attari, but this stand-off was quickly resolved it.

The fact remains, however, that Majithia was a towering personality who took up single-handedly with the Governor-General of India the case for reservation for Sikhs in the military and civil services, had the Anand Marriage Act (which sanctified marriage according to Sikh customs) passed, successfully spearheaded the kirpan movement to revoke the law forbidding the carrying of kirpans by the Sikhs. and fearlessly espoused the cause of agriculturists. "I am myself a zamindar and very well know the difficulties of the farmers...," he had once said.

At another time in a "personal letter" to Diwan N. Gopalaswamy Iyenger, Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, he complained about the low percentage of the Sikhs in the state services. He wrote: "If you permit me to say the Sikhs being an important minority deserve some weightage as has been granted to them in Punjab..... the fact that the Sikhs were the rulers of Punjab and Kashmir state before the present government, gives them a stronger claim for a suitable representation in the services...."

These then are some of the hallmarks of a cool and calculated leader who fought for his community with the power of the word and logic than the sword. Educated, affluent and humble and yet a fighter all the way. Apart from being a highly polished administrator and politician, he stood firm even against Gandhi by refusing his summons to come to Delhi for an "all party Sikh conference unless an invitation was extended to the Chief Khalsa Diwan". Gandhi then instructed Dr Ansari to "cordially invite" the Diwan. Here is a classic case of a political leader who never compromised his loyalty to his faith, his people and his nation, and yet made the best use of the system and the "firangi" government in power to press his point. Though an aristocrat, he shared food with the humblest, a virtue that many of the Sikh and other political heavyweights in the country today would do well to emulate.

Sundar Singh’s father, Raja Surat Singh, was removed to Benaras after the battle of Gujrat by the British but was later allowed to return because of his emotional attachment and concern for the protection of Maharani Jindan’s treasure, and additionally also as he "wished to win the confidence of the British" and be permitted to return to Punjab to live in his village Majithia from which his family and the Attariwala Sardars had been exiled.

Sundar Singh was of course, earthy and pragmatic when it came to his own interests. He received the title deed for the Dhumri estate located in Gorakhpur district in UP from the British in 1933 on the death of his father and elder brother Umrao Singh, and succeeded in getting a railway station named Sardar Nagar, established the Soraya Sugar Mills in 1909, and was appointed the Honorary Munsif of Gorakhpur in 1901.

A very pertinent point stands out and this could be valid for any community in India.It is that it is the already affluent and moneyed who have a greater chance of rising to the top in India both during the British Raj and today. The Majithias were no exception to this.

The second sad reality is, and was, that it is very difficult to fight a system and a government of the day for long without inviting adverse attention from those who are in power.

Rekhi’s is a readable account, because it is a large slice of recent Sikh history and the relentless and well-directed efforts of a man who tried to shape it till his demise in 1948. The founder of the Punjab and Sind Bank, Khalsa Advocate newspaper, president of the SGPC in 1920 and a member of the Viceroy’s Legislative Council, Sundar Singh’s dauntless spirit and service to Punjab would of course have made compulsive reading and an engrossing biography at any time.

In the hands of someone with a greater felicity of English this saga of a great patriot and visionary could easily have been turned into a memorable epic.

There is also the occasional pontification and a set of superlatives for the Majithia Sardar.

Yet if we overlook some of these jarring notes, there is no doubt that Gurnam Singh Rekhi has done service to the Sikh community and Punjab in producing this very inspiring account of a great Indian of the 20th century.