Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India (21 page)

these issues have been vision documents for Gita Press, ready reckoners of Hindu identity and indicators of what is correct and what is wrong with Hindu society, culture, religion and even politics. In short, these annual issues have spearheaded the mission of Gita Press both in letter and in spirit.

What marks them out is not just their diverse choice subjects—from God, Cow and Hindu Culture to Woman, the Male Child, Education, Good Behaviour and Humanity, besides scores of issues exclusively devoted to the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita, Puranas, Upanishads, etc.—but also the manner in which traditions were ‘invented’ on each subject by Gita Press to ‘establish continuity with a suitable historical past’. These traditions became a ‘process of formalisation and ritualisation, characterized by reference to the past, if only by imposing repetition’.
¹⁰³
Politically, such invention of Hindu traditions, both religious and cultural, became a tool for national integration and self-assertion.
¹⁰⁴

Considering the mammoth size of each annual issue, running into no less than 500 pages even during times of control on newsprint, planning had to begin at least six to eight months in advance. The topic would be decided by Poddar after long deliberations with scholars, sadhus and senior members of the editorial team. Then, Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj, a Sanskrit scholar in Banaras, was roped in to suggest various aspects of the subject on which articles could be sought as well as persons with domain knowledge. Poddar had two point persons in Banaras, Shivnath Dubey and Ram Narayan Dutt Shastri, who would work closely with Kaviraj to give final shape to the idea. Poddar had even arranged for someone from Bengal to take dictation from Kaviraj of his articles in Bengali.
¹⁰⁵

Kalyan
would then publish the proposed contents list and Poddar would himself write a letter to important contributors explaining the theme and the rationale behind its selection. This printed letter of invitation for each year’s annual issue begins with
Kalyan
’s circulation figure, which gives us an idea of the journal’s steady rise. At the end of the sixth year of
Kalyan
in 1931, its circulation was 16,000.This grew to 27,500 by the end of the ninth year (1934), a more than 50 per cent rise in three years.

The letter for the
Hindu Sanskriti Ank
(1950) stated: ‘
Kalya
n
is striking off over a hundred thousand copies each month’, a figure that could ‘have been easily double had we not been compelled to disappoint about twenty thousand prospective subscribers annually for the last three or four years’.
¹⁰⁶
The objective of the issue would be to ‘bring to light the true nature of Hindu culture, its wide range and influence, those who inspired and preserved it, its degeneration and the factors contributing to the same, how to revive it, in all its aspects—religion, politics, social organization, art and literature, etc.’ Poddar also requested contributors or their friends to send any ‘printed copy or manuscript of some old cultural or religious book, or some old painting or image’ they might possess. He promised to return these after use.

Articles were solicited in Hindi as well as in English, Sanskrit, Bengali, Gujarati or Marathi, which would then be translated for
Kalyan.
Poddar claimed that ‘people speaking different languages have started learning Hindi just to read
Kalyan
’.
¹⁰⁷
His letters changed in tone and tenor according to the subject of the annual issue, and often made a passionate plea, citing various threats that the Hindu religion faced. The letter requesting articles for
Gau Ank
(1945)—unlike other annual editions it appeared in October and not in January—articulated the ‘woeful predicament’ the revered domestic animal faced. The annual issue, Poddar said, would discuss the subject of cow protection in all its aspects—religious, social, economic and scientific—as well as measures for the amelioration of the condition of cows.
¹⁰⁸
Like the
Hindu Sanskriti
Ank
five years later,
Gau Ank
had a print run of over 100,000 copies, though the number of pages was less than planned because of the tough paper control measures in force.

While working on an annual issue, Poddar and his team spent a lot of time and energy in research with the aim of highlighting the importance of the specific aspect of Hindu religion to which the issue was devoted. In
Gau Ank
, for instance, Poddar relied heavily on government statistics to make his point about the dwindling number of cows and by implication their waning importance in the life of Hindus and the threat cows faced from Muslims. The director of commercial intelligence and statistics in Calcutta and the director of farms in Simla were approached for statistics on dairy farms.
¹⁰⁹
Sardar Bahadur Sir Datar Singh, cattle utilization adviser to the Government of India, was requested to provide lists of gaushalas (cow shelters) and pinjrapoles (homes for old cows) in various provinces and states.
¹¹⁰
Similar requests for information were made to individuals and organizations all over the country.
¹¹¹

To enhance the aesthetic and visual appeal of the issue, Poddar wrote to the secretary of the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research seeking photographs published in its bulletin and in
Indian Farming
.
¹¹²
Noted director V. Shantaram’s Prabhat Film Company was asked to send stills from its 1939 production
Gopal Krishna
. Poddar promised to pay for the stills as demanded by the film company or return them after use.
¹¹³
Sri Ramanasramam situated in Tiruvannamalai, Madras Presidency, sent Gita Press what it claimed was the only ‘available photo of the cow Lakshmi with Sri Bhagvan’. Niranjananda Swamy, sarvadhikari of Sri Ramanasramam, told Poddar that in ‘pre-war times any number of even bigger size photos were available . . . It would be well if you can kindly arrange for an enlarged picture from which a bigger size block can be made. Since Gita Press illustrations (especially in colour) are exemplarily good, we trust a suitable big block can be made.’
¹¹⁴

For
Ishwar Ank
(Issue on God, 1932), Poddar devised five questions about God that were put to prominent individuals:

1. Why should we believe in the existence of God?
   
2. What are your arguments in proof of the existence of God?
   
3. What is the harm in not believing in Him?
   
4. How can one realize God?
   
5. Can one live by having faith in God?
   

Gandhi sent detailed answers ranging from ‘we must believe in God if we believe in ourselves’ to ‘denial of God is injurious in the same way as denial of ourselves’ and ‘truly, no one in the world is an atheist; atheism is merely a pose’.
¹¹⁵
Poddar followed these questions with a letter asking Gandhi to narrate an incident that may have strengthened his belief in God. Gandhi candidly replied that there was no such incident; initially, he had not had faith in God but it happened as he ‘started thinking and reflecting about religion’.
¹¹⁶
Sensing that Poddar wanted to use his replies in
Kalyan
, Gandhi cautioned him this would be futile; even if it was for Poddar’s ‘own guidance’, it would not be of much use since ‘in this matter another man’s experience will not help you’. On learning the purpose, Gandhi wrote, ‘My mind has turned almost blank upon learning that you have asked the questions with a view to publish them in
Kalyan
.’
¹¹⁷

In 1935, Poddar posed four questions of a similar nature to a range of people. One of them, C.F. Andrews, declined to reply: ‘I am afraid it is quite impossible for me in the overwhelming stress of things, with ill health critically to combat, to answer your questions. I am so sorry to have to refuse in this manner.’
¹¹⁸

On the advice of Gandhi,
Kalyan
did not review books or journals lest it be accused of bias. However, the annual issues of
Kalyan
were reviewed regularly by other journals. The highly successful
Manas Ank
of 1938 received rave reviews. The periodical
Arya Mahila
said praising
Kalyan
would be akin to throwing light on the sun, and asked every ‘Hindu man and woman to possess a copy of
Manas Ank
’.
¹¹⁹
Bharata Dharma
, a periodical from Banaras, had this to say: ‘At a time when the whole nation desires a common language and a common script, this publication is both timely and serviceable.’ Welcoming the prospect of Hindi getting a major fillip thanks to the simple translation of Ramayana along with a commentary,
Bharata Dharma
praised
Manas Ank
for doing ‘justice to the grandness of the theme, the greatness of Tulsidas and to the popularity of the book’ and commended it to ‘all who love Hindi and the Ramayana’.
¹²⁰
The journal
Sudharak
from Lahore was also effusive in its praise of
Manas Ank
.

Similarly,
Yoga Ank
,
Kalyan
’s annual issue of 1935, had received praise from varied quarters, including Kanpur-based Hindi daily
Pratap
, English daily
Bombay Chronicle
and
Cherag
, the Parsi periodical.
Bombay
Chronicle
praised
Kalyan
in general for the ‘non-sectarian character of contributions’
¹²¹
and
Cherag
exhorted Parsi intellectuals to subscribe to
Kalyan
or to the English
Kalyana-Kalpataru
: ‘We make bold to say, if many of our Parsi writers just peeped into this volume, they would find the insignificance of their intellectual and spiritual progress.’
¹²²

Naturally, there were also occasions when
Kalyan
’s annual issue came in for criticism. While reviewing
Shakti Ank
(1934), the weekly
Abhyuday
and monthly
Saraswati
criticized Poddar. Noted Hindi writer Ambika Prasad Vajpayee brought this to his notice, requesting him to write a rejoinder, but Poddar refused. First, he said, he acknowledged that he was not competent to edit even a literary journal let alone a religious and spiritual one. Second, he told Vajpayee, ‘There will be no reply to anyone’s criticism of
Kalyan
and its editor. Whatever is good in
Kalyan
is due to the grace of god and whatever is wrong could be ascribed to me. Praise makes one arrogant. Criticism should be considered truth.’
¹²³

 

Art and Artists
One of the biggest tasks before the editor of
Kalyan
from its inception was to make it lively for the reader, and this was in part achieved by the use of illustrations. Gita Press paid a great deal of attention to the visual representation of gods and goddesses in all its publications, also selling the pictures separately. Two significant developments helped: the introduction of chromolithographs from the 1880s with ‘their bright and large range of colours, strong clean lines, subtle shading and high finish’;
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and the success of the monthly journal
Modern Review
, published from Calcutta since 1907 and edited by Ramananda Chatterjee, Poddar’s friend and president of Hindu Mahasabha in 1929, in bringing ‘art to the reading public as part of the nationalist agenda’.
¹²⁵
Partha Mitter argues that through mechanical reproduction ‘Hindu religious themes became enmeshed in exhuming the nation’s past’.
¹²⁶

The popular growth of chromolithography in Bengal and Maharashtra was an advantage for
Kalyan.
In its first year the journal sourced images of gods and goddesses from Lakshmi Art Printing Works in Bombay. Established in 1910 by pioneer film-maker Dhundiraj Govind Phalke in his earlier avatar as a printer, the press was known for printing ‘illustrated booklets
Suvarnamala
coinciding with festivals like Shivratri, Ram Navami, Krishna Ashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi and Divali’ consisting of ‘single-colour illustrations’ by noted artist M.V. Dhurandhar, which were available on subscription.
¹²⁷
After
Kalyan
shifted to Gorakhpur in 1927, the illustrations were sourced from Laxmibilas Press in Calcutta. Soon, Gita Press began employing full-time artists as well as freelancers. The bulk of its artists would be drawn from Bengal—some of whom had trained under Abanindranath Tagore.

Kajri Jain contextualizes the birth of Gita Press and
Kalyan
in the larger ‘ethos of the bazaar’.
¹²⁸
Bazaar for her is a ‘shorthand term for the extensive informal economic and social networks of indigenous trading communities on the subcontinent, which persisted through the colonial era and interfaced with colonial trade in mutually profitable ways’.
¹²⁹
The bazaar, she argues, placed a premium on the creditworthiness of an individual that was not solely dependent on economic performance but also on factors like moral qualities of piety, thus creating a world ‘where moral, sacred and commercial realms were deeply interconnected’ and in the long run giving rise to a ‘moral community’ that would form the support base of the Hindu Mahasabha and later Jana Sangh.
¹³⁰

The devotional aspect of the bazaar was articulated through texts and printed images of gods; what added to this process was the dominance of Vaishnavites among the north Indian trading communities and an overlapping discourse of sanatan dharma emphasizing the use of images for worship.
¹³¹
Gita Press’s mission was drawn from the ‘socially reformist but religiously conservative culture of urban Vaishnava community organizations’
¹³²
and propagated through
Kalyan
and other publications. Poddar believed it was neither advisable nor possible for everyone to attain nirguna Brahman, the ‘formless, nameless, indefinable highest reality’.
¹³³
Instead, he advocated attainment of saguna Brahman through devotion to ‘particular deities with particular attributes’.
¹³⁴
The mechanically reproduced illustrations of gods and goddesses in
Kalyan
and in religious and pedagogic texts provided a medium for such devotion. Since ‘access to temple or other forms—stones, precious metals—worshipped as manifestation of god’ was not always easy because of control of these by the priestly class, the ‘printed image of god fills that gap’.
¹³⁵