HT This Day: March 13, 1954 -- Dr Radhakrishnan inaugurates Sahitya Akadami
Dr Radhakrishnan added that if there was to be creative literature in the country, and not managed literature it was essential that the Akadami should function as a completely autonomous body
Delhi: A strong plea for giving the literary writer the largest amount of freedom to think, meditate and create was made by Dr Radhakrishnan while addressing the Sahitya Akadami (National Academy of Letters) here this morning.
In the absence of Mr Nehru, the first Chairman of the Akadami, Dr Radhakrishnan inaugurated the function and spoke eloquently of the great creative work that is being done in the languages of India.
Dr Radhakrishnan said the purpose of the Akadami should be to recognize men of achievement in letters, to encourage men of arms in letters, to educate public taste and to improve standards of literature and literary criticism.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Education Minister, in his speech, appealed to men of letters to see the highest standards in their respective fields and enable the new Sahitya Akadami to “’ educate public taste and advance the cause of literature.”
In his address of welcome, Maulana Azad, Education Minister, announced that to encourage the development of creative literature the Government of India had decided to give prizes of ₹5,000 every year for the best work in each of the 14 languages mentioned in the Schedule to the Constitution. The awards would be made on the recommendations of the Akadami. Every year the work of the three preceding years would be surveyed and a prize given to the writer of the best work. “ The prizes will be given for recognized merit, and no one should apply for them. It is my hope that the first prizes will be announced before the end of the calendar year,” Maulana Azad said.
Autonomous units
Explaining the Government’s policy in setting up the three academies - one in letters, one in the visual arts and one for dance, drama and music, Maulana Azad declared that once they were set up the Government would refrain from exercising any control and leave the academies to perform their functions as autonomous institutions.
Full freedom
Dr Radhakrishnan added that if there was to be creative literature in the country, and not managed literature it was essential that the Akadami should function as a completely autonomous body. There was danger in the conception of a Welfare State, he said, unless they drew a clear distinction between the mechanics of living and the art of living. “ It is essential that so far as thought, meditation and intellectual and spiritual endeavour are concerned human individuals must be left absolutely free. They must be in a position to think according to their own conscience, conform or not conform, do or undo, so long as they do not interfere with the like freedom of other people and do not cross the limits of decency.”
Dr Radhakrishnan said no great literature could be produced unless men had the courage to be free in their thought and to do whatever occurred to them. “ Freedom of the human spirit is the first essential of any kind of creative literature That must be protected,” he declared.
Dr Radhakrishnan described the present-day world as one “ of adventure, of confusion and of conflicts.” So many things had permeated the minds of the people. They were utterly inconsistent and sometimes one did not know what was right and what was wrong. All this was due to the neglect of the spirit in man.”
Dr Radhakrishnan said: “If we are to make any contribution to the literature of the world, if this Akadami is to serve any useful purpose, it has to recapture the dignity, the mission, the destiny and the spirit of this ancient race and try to reorientate it in producing a new climate of ideas which will make for a universal republic of letters and a world society.”
Earlier, Dr Radhakrishnan justified the Government’s decision to recognize English also as one of the languages in which literature could be encouraged. He said the intellectual renaissance through which they were passing today was due to the impact of Western society and this impact came through the medium of English language. Many writers who were responsible for this renaissance were responsible for bringing about a new orientation of ideas and outlook in the country. It was, therefore, only proper that this Akadami should recognize English also as one of the languages.
The inclusion of English was, however, welcomed by Sardar K. M. Panikkar, with an amount of reservation. He hoped that this recognition was valid only for the constitutional period of 15 years by which time English would be displaced by the national language.
Dr Radhakrishnan said he was speaking in the “ regrettable absence of our chairman, Mr Nehru, who is essentially a man of letters, but who has strayed into politics owing to the conditions of our times.”
Renaissance
“The phrase Sahitya Akadami, he continued,” combined two words, one Sanskrit and the other Greek, suggesting the universal aspiration of our enterprise. Sahitya is literary composition; Akadami is a society of learned people. It is an academy of literary men, those who do creative work in literature in the different languages of our country.”
Dr Radhakrishnan referred to the place of English in the Akadami and said that the intellectual renaissance through which India was passing was to no small extent due to the impact of Western culture on Indian society.
“This impact came to us through the English language. Maulana Sahib’s references to the writings of men like Tagore. Gandhi, Aurobindo Ghosh and Nehru fully justify the inclusion of English among the languages to be noted by the Akadami.”
“It is the aim of the Government,” he added, “to take the initial steps and encourage by adequate financial grants the work of the Akadami. It is not the responsibility of the Government to produce creative work. We are reminded of Napoleon’s remark: “I hear we have no poets in France: what is the Minister of the Interior doing about it?” No Government can make poets to order; it may subsidize versifiers.
Creative work
“ When we aim at a Welfare State and expect the State to provide all things we must see to it, in the interests of our social health and vitality, that the individual does not lose the freedom to live his own way of life by his own standards according to the dictates of his own conscience.”
“ Society is becoming more and more regimented. The scope for free activity is becoming increasingly restricted. We are all numbered and docketed. We are becoming anonymous units in a crowd, not free subjects in a society. The individual seeks the shelter of the crowds for safety, for comfort, for relief from loneliness, from responsibility. When our activities are regulated, imaginations which rest in solitude cannot thrive.”
Study of classics
Our term ‘Sahitya,’ Dr Radhakrishnan said, “ should include the classics of religion and philosophy, even as Greek literature includes Plato’s dialogues and Thucydides’ history. Literature has been one of our major contributions to the world. Our eyes, our plays, our tales and folk lore transmit to us the great ideals of harmony with nature and integrity of mind. They have influenced the literatures of the different languages of the country. In the millennium between the Greek drama and the Elizabethan, the only drama of quality in the world, according to Berriedale Keith, was the Indian drama. An Indian drama is not merely a play. It is poetry, music, symbolism and religion. Images chase one another beyond the speed of thought in the writings of Kalidasa who is known outside our frontiers also. Kalidasa represents the spirit of India. even as Shakespeare England’s, Goethe Germany’s and Pushkin Russia’s.
Historic occasion
Sardar K. M. Panikkar, member of the States’ Reorganization Commission and a scholar in Malayalam, said: “ This is, indeed, a historic day when for the first time we have here collected together representatives of the languages of India, people who have contributed to the creative writing, thought and literature of modern times. It is not that we have not had academies before. We have had a number of academies but it is for the first time that we have an academy representing all the languages of India, representing the creative writings in every part of India.”
Mr Panikkar said that the Sahitya Akadami would not be able to play its role properly, if regional akadamies were not established in different States. Akadamies of provincial literatures must be brought into being.
Referring to the views of Maulana Azad and Dr Radhakrishnan that those Indians who had acquired literary merit through the medium of English should be ad mitted to the Sahitya Akadami. Mr Panikkar said that this “ should not be so for all time, should not become a permanent feature of the Akadami. English was a foreign language and there might be writers wanting to write in English for a world audience, say 50 years hence, but they should not be entitled, on that score, to become members of the Akadami.”