OrissaMatters

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

With this site exposing how Buddhists all over the world have failed to honor canonical instruction for paying homage to Gurudev Buddha in the place of his birth at least once in life, as they are misled by a historical mischief placing his birthplace in Nepal, there was a short-lived but acrimonious shrill of protest in a section of global media following which a new wave of academic activities has commenced flowing with incisive interest to find out if Orissa’s claim is correct.

We are sure, the truth must prevail and the future world shall surely accept Kapilavastu of Tosala, converted to present day Kapileswar near Bhubaneswar, as the real birthplace of Buddha; because that is his birthplace.

Intellectuals who are seriously pursuing this issue are active in different parts of the glove. One of these truth seekers is Sri Ajit Kumar Tripathy, an IAS officer, currently the Chief Secretary of Orissa. He has published two booklets on Buddha’s birthplace abridging the research work of late Pandit Chakradhar Mohapatra, who was the first to revive the status of Kapileswar as the birthplace Kapilavastu of Buddha.

Produced with clarity and in eloquent English, the two booklets, while acknowledging the contributions of Mohapatra, inasmuch as the author telling us that he “does not claim any original research on the subject of birthplace of Gautam Buddha but he has arranged the materials systematically often using the same language in the book of Sri Chakradhar Mohapatra” (preface to Goutam Buddha and Kalinga), it is clear from the steps Tripathy has taken that he has gone through the findings of Mohapatra quite seriously and juxtaposing them with materials and observations of eminent scholars beyond Mohapatra, has been convinced that yesterday’s Kapilavastu is today’s Kapileswar and therefore, by systematically abridging the arguments Mohapatra in his two booklets has advanced, he has added authenticity to his finding.

Students of history all over the world would be glad to note that Tripathy’s step is a positive step towards making history arrive at the truth in the matter of Orissa being Buddha’s birthplace.

As initiator of global debate in this matter we offer our thanks to Mr. Tripathy.

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Describing how Orissa had attacked and subdued the Muslim Bengal, Dr. K. R. Quanungo writes in ‘The History of Bengal, Muslim Period’ at pp.48-52, that, Tughral Tughan Khan was no doubt out-generalled by the king of Orissa who had drawn the enemy far away from their frontier and must have concealed more than one surprising party along the whole route of the enemy’s advance. A greater disaster had not till then befallen the muslims in any part of Hindustan. The Muslims, says Minhaj [the historian Minhaj-i-Siraj who had also joined the war that was, to him, a ‘holy war’], sustained the overthrow, and a great number of those holy warriors attained martyrdom.

Relying on Havel, who noted in ‘Indian Sclupture and Painting’ that the war horses and elephants sculptured at Konarka depict the “pride of victory and glory of triumphant warfare”, Dr. K. C. Panigrahi writes in ‘History of Orissa’ at pp.413-414 that King of Orissa, Langula Narasimha “began his campaigns against Muslim Bengal in 1243 A.D. His victory over the Muslims of Bengal and his acquisition of the southern districts of Western Bengal must have enormously raised his prestige in the eyes of the contemporary Hindu Rulers, and augmented his resources, which in all likelihood enabled him to undertake the construction of a stupendous structure like the temple of Konark, designed to exhibit his power, prestige, opulence, devotion and perhaps to commemorate his victory also”.

But despite this truth recorded by history, Bankim Chandra of Bengal had overreached over a Bengali claim over Konarka through throwing an article in a school textbook in Bengali that Narasingh Dev belonged to Bengal and the Sun temple was an epitome of Bengali architecture!

Bankim Chandra’s trick was just an instance of how taking advantage of the British rule in Bengal when Orissa had kept them at bay and was the last land to have been annexed by the British but the first land to have raised a revolution against them in the entire country of India, the Bengalis had tried to misappropriate every gem of Oriya culture to create for themselves a fabricated cultural heritage. Their false claims over Sri Jaya Dev, creator of Radha and author of Sahajiya love lyrics squeezed into the Geet Govind as well as on Chaurashi Siddhacharyas, authors of Charyagitis (Bauddha Gan o Doha) have been exposed in these pages, wherein their mens rea behind this cultural dishonesty has been discussed.

It has also been discussed in these pages that the sculptures of Konark, the love lyrics of Sri Jaya Dev and the Charyagitis of Chaurashi Siddhacharyas are intricately linked to and influenced by Orissa’s now extinct Mahodadhi Civilization.

The sea in Orissa region was famous as the Mahodadhi. But the Bengalis, under circumstances hinted to above, as in the aforesaid three instances, have succeeded in changing the name of Mahodadhi to Bay of Bengal.

This wrong done to history needs correction.

The Mahodadhi civilization of Orissa was so developed that in whole of India, it was only Orissa the people of which were the pioneers amongst Indians to establish their colonies and dominions in far away lands beyond Indian limits where geographical names akin to names of Orissa give ample evidences in this regard.

Dr. Nihar Ranjan Roy informs us in ‘Brahminical Gods in Burma’,

“The ancient name attributed to old Prome is Srikshetra, so often mentioned in the Mon records as Sikset or Srikset, and by the Chinese pilgrims as Si-li-cho-ta-lo; and Srikshetra is the holy land of Puri on the ancient Kalinga coast”.

“Likewise” he also informs, “the earliest colonization of the Malaya Peninsula and Java had probably been made from Kalinga, for the Hindus of the Peninsula and the islands were and are still known as Kling.”

“The two examples from Tholan, now housed in the Rangoon Museum”, he says, “are decidedly Indian in form and composition as also in execution, done no doubt locally by Indian artists or by artists trained under Indian masters. They seem to have very intimate artistic affinities with the most recent finds of Brahminical and Mahayanist divinities from Orissa by Rai Bahadur Ram Prasad Chanda, B.A., now housed in the Indian Museum.”

Melaka, one of the thirteen States of Malaysia, was founded 2 degrees north of the equator by the shore of the Straits between Singapore to its south and Kuala Lumpur to its north by an Oriya prince, probably Hamvira (known there as Hang Tuah), which as far back as the early 15th century, had become a metropolis with traders and merchants of very many nations from east and west having there their business negotiation centers. It was developed by its founder for this purpose and also as a common shelter for seafaring traders and the response was so worm that as many as 84 different languages were being spoken there at the height of its glory. Melaka is a typical Oriya word (as in MELAKA PADICHHI RAJA YOTAKA) and the place where the prince of Orissa, its founder, breathed his last and took his final rest is famous as Tanjung Keling. When people of the place mean Kalinga (Orissa) by Keling, Tanjung means to people of Orissa even today the moving throne of the king and it stands for the chair on which seated the Gajapati Maharaja of Puri visits the temple or chariots of Sri Jagannatha.

A letter received recently from Sri Ramroop Jugurnauth of Mauritius is very significant. He writes, “My ancestors came to Mauritius more than 150 years ago. I made searches for my roots and I came to know that my ancestor came from Orissa. I also have in my possession some handwritten documents in an ancient Indian language. An Indian friend of mine forwarded it to the BHU (Language Dept). There they confirmed it to be an ancient Oriya. I therefore consider myself a cut-off branch from Oriya culture”. He further writes, “My family name Jugurnauth is infact Jagganath and it itself suggests my Oriya origin”. The pictures below are pages of handwritten Oriya manuscripts preserved by his family for 150 years in Mauritius.

Be it Mauritius or Melaka, be it Singapore or Ceylon, it is Oriyas of India that had established their colonies and commercial empires because they alone had the best of ships and shipping activities.

Even the British have admitted it. Writing to W.B.Bayley, Secretary to Government in the Judicial Department, in his Report dated 3 May 1817, E. Watson, 4th Judge, Calcutta Court of Circuit has unambiguously told of the ships of Orissa that they “were by far the best that I ever saw in any part of India”.

Nowhere any of the British authorities has recognized so eloquently any marine activity of Bengal even though they had there their seat of power.

So, it was wrong on part of the British to have named the sea that was under shipping activities principally of the people of Orissa as Bay of Bengal.

This offense the British colonialists and their Bengali collaborators have committed against the people of Orissa by obliterating the ancient name of Mahodadhi and by replacing it with Bay of Bengal shall have to be changed in respect of Orissa region.

This should be the program of Oriyas on the occasion of celebration of the birthday of Madhubabu (Kulabruddha Madhusudan Das) today.

Orissamatters Representative-in-Chief Subhas Chandra Pattanayak speaks about media reforms in India, Orissa headlines and Price Rise, on Sambad Samikshya.
Video courtesy Subham Television, Dhenkanal.
Interview by advocate Diptish Prasad Pattanayak.
Date: March 31, 2008, 6-7pm

Click below to view Part 1 of the interview:

Transcripts (translated) follow:

DPP- Allow me the pleasure to introduce Sri Subhas Chandra Pattanayak who has been actively involved with journalism for over four decades now, contributing immensely to the growth of media in Orissa. He has written extensively on burning issues of Orissa. And it’s heartening to note that he has transcended the barriers of print media and has been lending support to electronic journalism for over six years now. And it’s also matter of joy for us to invite him as the pioneer in the field of web journalism for being the first and the only such journalist to have been accredited by the government.

Subhas babu, you have been a journalist for over forty years now. Do you think the place of media in nurturing Indian democracy is still gaining importance at this stage?

SCP: If that were not the case, one could not envision a cable network right here in a small city like Dhenkanal. People are growing more conscious about their rights by the days, and this is so, mainly due to media’s proactive role in information dissemination. Media have been instrumental in not only educating people about their political consciousness, but also in enacting an “Applied Democracy” in the process.

I feel we are witnessing a glaring plutocracy in India, but at the same time, it is also true that the masses are equally getting equipped to continue their struggles against the monopolists. As a result, owing to continued public pressure to gain access into the power structure, today we have the Right to Information made available. Likewise, if the large-scale conscious opposition to the ruling parties are thriving today, both in the state and at the center, it is because people have been expressing the countercurrents through the media. In a way, the enrichment of democracy in India has been depending on the responsibilities of journalists.

Click below to access Part 2 of the Interview:

DPP: In that case, how does a journalist carry out his/her responsibilities? What are the roles of journalists in the most ideal situation?

SCP: Of course, the most ideal role of a journalist is to present the news for, and on behalf of the ordinary masses. This is the most fundamental role of a journalist. What is ideal is for the journalists to educate the masses about their political rights to overcome systematic obstacles imposed by the ruling classes. Sadly, the newspapers are refraining from their primary roles these days, which is to render political education to the people.

If we look at the history of our media, we shall see in context how journalism was deeply committed to the freedom movement. It was this commitment to freedom movement against the colonialists that also in process, granted the rightful freedom to the press in return. However, as time passed by, the elite classes of our society—as though the new colonialists—have started snatching away the freedom from the journalists. As an instance, the owners of the newspapers—the core management—have started claiming themselves as the editors.

In the past, this was not the case. What used to happen then was, only a professional journalist could be the editor of a publication. This used to facilitate the process of transparency since the bureau or desk staffs were carrying out tasks based on instructions from their senior colleagues in the field of journalism.

Since the time Birla Group took over the editorial team under the wings of its corporate management, journalists have been working for the media, no doubt, but at the same time, they are also serving the interests of the management. This has created a great dilemma for our press, since this corporate takeover of journalism has become almost a norm throughout the country.

Click below to access Part 3 of the Interview:

And to counter this trend and fight the corporate monopolies, most conscientious journalists have now turned to Internet Journalism. This is so because Internet Journalism is the only such field which enables journalists to present their news and views to the entire world without necessarily remaining obliged to one specific corporate concern. In this way, Internet Journalism is reshaping the freedom of press in a novel manner. In this zone of immense possibilities, grassroots journalism is growing in its presence. The flow of news is no more vertical. In fact, many mainstream publications are also using the grassroots media as their primary resources.

The dialectic of media as it stands today involves these two parallel and powerful processes. On the one hand, there is an attempt on part of the corporate media to suppress information that may empower the people. Certain information can be so powerful that the masses may use it to their advantage which certainly can topple the plutocratic nature of our republic. So the mainstream media are very meticulously trivializing the profession of journalism so as not to enable it as an emancipatory tool for the citizens.

On the other hand, what is also true, and more relevant to me, is the fact that most journalists are working to overcome such limitations and wage their battle against the management, albeit in a passive form. As a result, we still see human interest stories appearing in the mainstream media from time to time. The struggle that journalists have with the management is not new. It is only becoming more apparent these days, since the realization is dawning more that a democratic society cannot be envisioned without free press, just as the press cannot be imagined without a free society.

DPP: Thank you, Subhas Babu, for enlightening us about the role of the press in our democracy. Amidst all the press freedom that we enjoy, we are also acutely aware how the media have been hijacked by the rich, business class, the capitalists. And hence many information remain within their control, leading us to believe there is even more need of freedom for the press.

Let’s now turn to an article in Times of India which Subhas Babu has brought to our attention today. It’s written by Nalini Hazare who says we need another revolution. This revolution is in sphere of agriculture. Going by the agrarian nature of Indian economy, we all know that the common masses will greatly benefit from agricultural reforms. And yet, as this article points out, the reforms in agriculture have been absolutely inadequate when we compare to how much of investments the country has made towards industrial progress. Hazare says that people have been bereft of the resources the country has allocated towards agriculture in its various plans, thus leading to mass-scale poverty.
Subhas babu has recommended this article for our discussion today. So let me now ask him what his views are:

SCP: Needless to state, there can be no progress of India without substantial progress made in the field of our agriculture. Even those who claim that India is making economic progress are well aware that in the name of progress, the national wealth is merely getting consolidated in the hands of the few upper class families. And the huge majority of Indians are growing poorer by the days. Such is the situation right here in Orissa that, our abled, skilled youths are leaving our state to work as bonded laborers abroad. Mothers are selling babies just to survive a day or two more. Poverty is such widespread that people are eating tree roots, and even in many cases, as news attest, consuming stones. Poverty is widening in its scale and nature even as wealth of our country continues to remain controlled by a handful of people.

The root cause of such economic disparity lies in the systematic apathy towards agricultural growth on part of the government. Ever since India has gained independence, we have rampant unemployment problems. Prior to that, no one was unemployed. We have observed during our childhood, everyone used to contribute to their household works. Every village was a self-sustained, economically independent unit. All these have crumbled. Its because, no matter if someone was a carpenter or potter, they were dependent on agriculture. Forest was there, rain was abundant. Cultivation was excellent. We were leaders in agriculture which is why India was called an agrarian society. Unfortunately, in the post-independence phase, we have only emphasized on industries and businesses, and various laws have been passed and implemented only to favor the industrialists. As a result, the most fertile lands for agriculture today lies barren.

What’s even ironical is that we are being deprived from perfecting our inborn talents. No modern scientific textbook ever taught us about seasons and crops. As children, as well as neighbors, we were naturally brought up to understand agriculture as part of our lives. Seeds, seasons, crops, irrigation, and cultivation were our second human nature. Our skills, dedication and experiences in the field of agriculture were part of our subconscious since time immemorial. People could sustain on their own utilizing this knowledge.

However as we started the process of industrialization, deforestation was going to be one outcome. Subsequently, we noticed there are infrequent and irregular rains, and seasonal disturbances that are naturally illogical. At this point, what we should have done was to shift back our attention to agriculture and at least ensure that agricultural lands are provided with sufficient water. Unfortunately, that did not happen. And today, its as though our Mother Earth is crying for water and we are unable to provide the same when she needs it the most. Not only Orissa, many states of India are affected by drought. This is so because of a simple reason: cultivation is impossible without sufficient provision for water. How did our planning boards overlook this fundamental aspect? My suspicion is that it was a deliberate omission on their part.

As Diptish babu would be knowing, being a prominent advocate, our Constituent Assembly during the time we were framing the constitution for India, comprised of people, only from the propertied class. There was not a single representation from the farmers and working class. Dr Ambedkar in his last speech to the Assembly, in desperation declared that when we shall have the elections for India, it will be an India of deep dilemmas. It is because, he said, we are merely granting political equality meaning each citizen is equal with the other simply because everyone has one vote to spare. But the reality is, we are only forcing them to economic inequality. As a matter of fact, Ambedkar said, the ruling Congress is itself funded by the capitalists and hence it’s only natural that the right to property has emerged as a fundamental right. It’s only necessary that the free India pass laws to abolish such property rights and actually implement ways to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, otherwise the freedom won through such relentless struggles will become meaningless.

While agreeing with Dr Ambedkar, at this stage of my life I am of the firm opinion that India is on her way to lose the independence that was so relentlessly fought for. Today, my country is once again colonized in the hands of the few, and every government that should be serving the mass, instead are serving the interests of this elite class.

So sad is the scenario that in Orissa, 70% of people are landless. Landless! Even a news item appeared this morning that said how anAdibasi student who has passed matriculation is unable to qualify for an interview in reserve category because he could not receive a caste certificate. He is unable to get a certificate because he has no land or house anywhere. There is nothing in his father’s name either. Without this, it’s becoming difficult to determine his caste. The tehsildar in his locality is trying to get him a two decimals worth of land to facilitate the process. Such students are seeing their dreams getting shattered throughout the state, only because of their landlessness. They are waiting for the day when they can raise their heads as citizens of free India. The time is nowhere to be seen.

The indigenous population in our country used to dwell in the forests and had never claimed the land to be their own property. They of course never had a land in their or their father’s names. Now that the corporate houses are encroaching upon the forest lands for their private business interests, and displacing the tribal people from their rightful lands, it’s becoming impossible for these landless people to claim their land, or their identity as free humans.

Such injustice is prevailing because we have no laws that govern property acquisitions. No law restricts how much one can grab lands for private purposes. So the more one can grab, the more one can own. As a result many government officials, politicians (as World Bank has cautioned against) who know the loopholes in our system are facilitating the business class to encroach upon, or grabbing the lands on their own.
———-

See the rest of the interview on the videos that follow. SCP talks about the current issues in Orissa (including about Speaker Maheswar Mohanty), and about the cause & consequences of price rise.

Click the video below to access Part 4 of the interview.

Excerpts:
On the Issue of allegation against the speaker, SCP asks, where is the polygraph test? Why tarnish the democratic positions? Why not set up a committee to find out the interest groups?:
SCP: Our CM always says that law will take its own course. This is exactly what he should not say to the people. It’s most unfortunate and confusing statement to come from a state leader. He should rather inform the people what the law is and what legal steps shall be taken or has been taken in a specific instance. I strongly feel that only those people who are indifferent towards law and order, or are unaware of legalities or simply do not care, can only come up with such a statement as “law will take its own course”.

Click below to access Part 5 of the Interview:

On the issue of Price Rise, SCP says if at all, this issue alone should pose questions about the so-called economic progress.
SCP: If there is price rise, where is the progress? If progress indicates increase in production, why is there a rise in price? The rhetoric behind economic progress needs to be revisited. So, has there been any actual progress? If so, whose progress are we talking about here? Only of the producers and capitalist class…

Click below to access the last part of the Interview:

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

India is now a plutocracy.

Our democracy is discarded under the carpet of the rich; it is now run by the agents of the rich, for the benefit of the rich.

Democracy is a system that belongs to the people, run by the people for the benefit of the people. When people have no role except accepting whatever decision is clamped on them from above, how can democracy survive?

All the political parties in India are controlled and run by coteries, not by collective wisdom of their cadres.

When in Congress a single person Sonia rules the roost, BJP is remote-controlled by the RSS.

Except the left parties, all the rest of the political parties are in fact personal outfits of aggressively ambitious and often unscrupulous autocrats.

And the left parties, in the guise of democratic centralism, have become so much Secretary-centric that initiative of individual members as well as base level branches no more attracts attention.

When the scenario in party level is so bleak, the Parliament has also been dragged down from the position of the rampart of sovereignty to a position of acquiescence to Government actions. Prime Minister Man Mohan Singhs treat of Parliament as a mere approver of his action, howsoever anti-nation be it, as in the case of nuke deal, is a pointer.

When our democracy has thus crumbled, our mind goes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, whose words ignored, this deterioration has occurred.

On October 23, 1938, in National Front, Vol.1, No.36, he had said, If the individual members (he had said of Congress which meant the peoples political organization) lack initiative, the committees which they will form will also lack dynamism. In that event, democracy may prove to be a failure.

Emphasizing on dynamism of organizational committees of political parties in the base level for success of democracy, he said, If the initiative has to come from the top and not from the bottom, democracy may be well nigh reduced to totalitarianism.

How correct was he!

If you want your democracy back on track, hear him even now.

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown�s hint to Knighthood for Sachin Tendulkar got a ready test of Indian taste in a debate on CNN-IBN show: Face the Nation, where desirability of English language in India also influenced the discussion.

A panel comprising historian Ramachandra Guha, former BBC correspondent Sam Miller and senior journalist Swapan Dasgupta enriched the debate on whether or not the knighthood to Sachin could be interpreted in the light of imperial / colonial hangover.

But the debate eventually went beyond the knighthood issue and embarked upon English elitism.

The show promoter�s website, IBNLive.com, reported on Jan.22, 2008 that the question on importance of English language became so hot that Guha had to admit that elite Indian�s anglicized manners and overdependance on English as principal medium of expression rather expose its inferiority complex, though, he said, �we should recognize that no relationship between a former empire and a former colony has been as harmonious as ours with Britain�. Miller preferred to observe, “The issue probably is not about colonial hangover anymore, but it is much more about a wider Western hangover, if you want to call it that�, even as Dasgupta, concluding the discussion had to comment that the �importance of English may have begun something as colonial but today the language is linked to economic advancement and opportunity. And that is something, which is very practical�.

This prompts us to observe that the panel has totally failed to focus on the real importance of English in Indian life.

We, in The NEWS Syndicate, had cogitated deeply as to whether publication of orissamatters.com in English would not adversely affect our commitment to everything Oriya; and, deliberately had decided that Oriya nationalism would not be affected by expression in English as thereby we would be duly acknowledging the invaluable contribution of English language to our freedom from English yoke.

Expression in English is neither indicative of our colonial hangover nor inferiority complex. It refurbishes our recollection that we had used this language to convince the majority of English speaking people as on why the English must leave our land.

If the British crown had to quit India notwithstanding knowing that thereby the Sun of its Empire would set forever, it was because of three principal factors: (one) methods of non-cooperation and non-violence as used by Gandhiji as weapons of his movement for freedom, (two) more and more of Indian commons and intelligentsia accepting Marxism as their creed and rise of matching communist militancy addressed to supplement Gandhiji�s movement in progressive prospective and (three) use of English language against the English Empire.

But had we not used English language as our medium to make the commons and lords of the English land apprised of our determination for self-rule, despite the active role of the first two factors, British Parliament would not have decided to quit India so soon. Had that not happened, the freedom movement would have been further prolonged. We would not have unfurled our free Flag in 1947. And, what could have happened after Gandhiji, had the British not quit in 1947 cannot be said for certain at this point of time. So, to say the least we owe our freedom from the British yoke to a large extent to English language.

This is why I had decided to admit my son to an English medium School. This is why The NEWS Syndicate, in deciding to float Orissa�s first online portal, had decided to make English the medium of expression in orissamatters.com.

So, English to us is not a foreign language; but is a friend. The British PM�s offer of Knighthood to Tendulkar may be refused by him or rebuked by Indians in the light of perception over imperial / colonial hangover. But, role of English language in India�s life should be kept above all questions.