Sunday, February 23, 2003		Books

Short takes
“Lion of Punjab’s” impressive roar
Jaswant Singh

Ranjit Singh: The Lion of the Punjab
by W. G. Osborne; Rupa, New Delhi. Pages 97. Rs 95.

AT the very outset the author makes it clear that this account of a few weeks spent in the company of the Maharaja was not intended for publication and that he had agreed to publish it with great diffidence. However, the book provides a vivid description of the splendour of the Lahore court, the Maharaja’s generals and ministers, and his well-trained and disciplined army.

In 1838, the British Government, then headquartered in Calcutta, sent a mission to Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s court to firm up its alliance with the ruler of Punjab and to secure his cooperation in restoring Shah Shujah to the throne of Kabul. The book is a journal of W.G. Osborne, Military Secretary to the Governor-General, who was a member of the mission and describes the few weeks — from May 19 to July 13, 1838 — they spent in Punjab.

You read about the glory of the Maharaja’s court, the loyalty of his ministers and generals and the training of his troops.

Evidently, the book does not touch upon the administration of the Maharaja, how he treated his subjects or the social and economic conditions in Punjab under him, but the author surely went back highly impressed by the regal personality of the Maharaja and the magnificence of his court.

But despite all the impressions the spectacles of Punjab made on him, the author does not fail to peep into the future of Punjab after Ranjit Singh. He paints a picture of the entire tract between the Sutlej and the Indus as a huge battlefield in a bloody war between different Sikh chiefs — a war terminated by the interference of a superior third power, which could only be the British Government. If history did not move exactly on the lines predicted by Osborne, the net result was what he had visualised.

Letters to a Friend: Rabindranath Tagore’s Letters
to C.F. Andrews.

Rupa, New Delhi. Pages 165. Rs 95.

The 19th and the 20th centuries have been a period of resurgence in every field in India — culture, literature, science, arts and whatever else that represented the heritage of India. The literary renaissance which almost signalled a conflict between western learning and the revival of old classics, was crowned by the genius of Rabindranath Tagore, who expressed deep religious thoughts with rare simplicity and beauty. Santiniketan stands as a memorial to the poet’s vision of universal brotherhood.

These letters of the poet to his friend, C.F. Andrews, written between 1913 and 1922, were first published in 1928. Andrews had divided these into eight chapters that lend cohesion to the text and also give expression to the poet’s concern for modern civilisation and the political life in India.

Adding to the value of the book are two essays by Andrews, one on the Bengal Renaissance and the other on the personality of the poet. The essay on Bengal Renaissance narrates how the writers of this period, despite their passion for the study of English, remained devoted to the ancient Indian ideal.

About Rabindranath, Andrews says that the crowning success of the poet was the bringing of East and West closer in a common fellowship and understanding.

The letters reflect the various moods of the poet in the 10 years that they cover. You experience the agony suffered by him by the death and destruction of World War-I and the torment caused to his soul by the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that impelled him to renounce his knighthood. You also have a glimpse of his vision of universal brotherhood that he promoted at Santiniketan.