Marxism, Hinduism, Literature and Human Values

(Speech delivered in the annual day celebrations of "Ilakkai cintanai"-a tamil literary association in 2000 as Chief Guest)

I come from an orthodox –agriculture family, with a predominant rural background, having born, brought up and spent major portion of my childhood, as also received early education in a remote village in Khammam district of Telangana Region in Andhra Pradesh. Khammam district happens to be the largest tribal habitat -both area wise and population wise, in the state. One of the most famous and popular temples of Lord Rama is in this district at Bhadrachalam, adjoining Dandakaranya. Lord Rama’s ardent devotee, without whose efforts the temple could not have been built – Kancharla Gopanna, popularly known as Bhakta Ramadas belonged to a village in the same district known as ‘Nela Kondapalli’ which is just few kilometers away from my native village ‘Vanamvari Krishnapuram’. It is believed, that, to fulfill the promise to a devotee of my village, Lord Rama in the same form, as it exists in Bhadrachalam temple appeared in my village too, and even now the replica of the idols exists. Incidentally the devotee was none other than my own great, great grand father, late Vanam Krishna Rayalu, after whom my village was named. Recently this ancient temple that has been in a dilapidated condition for over a decade has been rebuilt with public donations.

Nelakondapalli is also well known all over India for huge Buddhist excavations, the work on which is still going on. If the recent researches that are conducted there are any proof, then in a couple of years the place would be in the world map as a once famous Buddhist Center. It is understood, that, a huge Boudharamam of about two kilometers in area is lying underground there in tact. A strong mud fort spread over nearly more than 100 acres of land can also be seen there even now which is believed to have been the crown place of King Virata figured in Maha Bharata. Pandavas while in exile spent their final leg of one year period in ‘Agjnathavasa’ – living incognito - in his kingdom. Few kilometers from there, in yet another village, which is now called ‘Banapuram’, it is believed, that, the ‘Pandavas’ before moving to Virata king’s place hidden their arms in a cloth that looked like a coffin to others, on a tree known in that area as ‘Jammi’.

The earliest and the basic fundamental lessons either in ‘literature’ or in ‘humanism’ were taught to me, rather inhaled by me, amidst a peculiar geographical and historical background in which the place I was born and brought up existed. Several of them are still fresh in my memory. Stories connected to legends of that area were heard regularly as also my illustrious father who died recently at the age of 82 gave similar narrations to me. These were all ‘pauranic’ and ‘historical’ in nature. Buddha, a great humanist and Yudhishtara, who always spoke truth, often figured in the legendary stories. All these made me to understand in my early and formative years itself, about the philosophy of Vedic ‘determinism’ (the theory of Karma Siddantha).

‘Hinduism’, whether a religion or not, but, as a way of life influenced me a lot. I am a born Hindu and still believe in chanting Gayatri, any time, anywhere and in any body position I am in when I want to chant. However, none of these influences on my early childhood, and later too, could prevent me from turning my eyes to ‘Marxism and Communism’, which according to me is the landmark theory on humanism.

‘Karma Siddantha‘ of the Itihashas or Puranas and Vedic literature profound, that, everything in the universe- from creation to destruction, is all pre determined. Every living and non-living creature play its assigned role in the universe in the form of a lengthy drama (Jagannatakam) written, produced and directed by the God almighty. The Marxist philosophy of DETERMINISM too says similarly. The anti thesis, thesis and synthesis of this philosophy leading to establishment of Rule of the Working Class-Dictatorship of Proletariat, is born out of dialectical and historical materialism as also out of the theory of surplus value. Is this too not a pre determined theory as much as the ‘the karma Siddhanta’?

Karl Marx is, undoubtedly, one of the greatest thinkers of all ages and of all schools. Though his writings were mainly directed to the critical analysis of capitalist development and ultimate transition to socialism, they were all depicting humanism in some form or other. The originality of this thought lies in his immense efforts to synthesize, in a crucial way, the entire legacy of social knowledge since Aristotle. His purpose was, to achieve a better understanding of the conditions of human development, and with this understanding, to accelerate the actual process, by which mankind was moving towards an “association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all “. The desired system would be a ‘People’s Democratic Secular society’ based on rational planning, cooperative production, equality of distribution, and, most important, liberated from all forms of political and bureaucratic hierarchy.

Dialectical Materialism, a philosophical approach to reality derived from the teachings of Karl Marx, holds that, all phenomena exist objectively and independently of human perception and that reality is reducible to matter. In explaining human history by the application of this theory, Marxism suggests, that, men’s mental and spiritual life, their ideas and aims, reflect their material conditions of co-existence. The relations that men enter into, in producing the means of life, determine the class relations in society. Social and political institutions and their accompanying patterns of ideas arise as a superstructure on this economic base. The history of society is the history of class struggles. History progresses from one stage to its diametrically opposite, and moves further to a higher level. All things contain contradictory sides or aspects-tensions and conflicts are the driving force of change. Thus, according to this theory, the inherent contradictions of any society will lead eventually to its overthrow by the rural workers. The final synthesis will be a classless society.

Did not Valmiki write the Ramayana, ahead of all these happenings, and foresee the birth of Rama as god incarnation? Did he also not predict the existence of Ravana a cursed devotee of Lord Vishnu destined to born as a Rakshasa? Ravana, a ‘Super Human Devotee’ of Lord Vishnu destined to be born as his enemy. Ravana, the strongest (may be like the mighty, in the metaphysical sense, though in a different way) was ultimately overpowered by the combination of weakest forces- the human beings and monkeys - led by a tactful Rama, his brothers and Hanumantha. The final synthesis was establishment of Ramarajya, which Gandhiji prayed for as Gramarajya or Rule of the Rural Folk.

Humanism is the name given to the intellectual, literary and scientific movement of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, a movement that aimed at basing every branch of learning on the literature and culture of classical antiquity. We heard of Christian Humanism, Cultural Humanism, Literary Humanism, Political Humanism, and Religious Humanism and so on.

The essence is, whether it was a “RAMARAJYA” or “GRAMARAJYA”, or “KARMIKARAJYA” the concern should be human being and that is humanism. Struggle for humanism is a continuum. It is iterative and recursive. In fact, Tamil Gramarajya believed in an electoral system called ‘KUDA VOLAI’ or the ballot box, even in the Chola times itself. How many times Yugas-ages have not been repeated? Which particular cycle’s Yuga stories do we believe? The message is ‘struggle’ leading to recognition of humanism. Literature is one of the means to achieve humanism.

We speak or converse or orally communicate generally in a ‘Language’ but not in literary form. According to Jean-Paul Sartre a language or literature that is not communicative, ceases to be a language. Jean-Paul Sartre’s essay “What is Literature?” may be considered a landmark one. Sartre’s idea, ostensibly very simple, was, that, the literary work-that is, the written product of the mind- only exists as such when it is read, since writing without reading is nonsense. An unread book is nothing but a handful of soiled paper. From this premise the inference is that, the literary phenomenon cannot be the work of art itself, but rather the meeting and sometimes the clashing of two free acts, one of production and the other of consumption, with all their effects and side effects on moral and social relations. There is always another human being in literature: “a writer for a reader and a reader for a writer”.

An attempt to relate languages and literature to humanism will bring us to the fact that, Tamil is perhaps the only ancient language spoken to this day. Latin and Sanskrit are no longer spoken. May be Greek is spoken, albeit, slightly differently.

Telugu is one of the major languages recognized by the constitution in Indian polity. The State where Telugu speaking people live- Andhra Pradesh, has a common in land boundary with Tamil Nadu in the South. The homeland of Telugus is said to have been one of the habitats of the earliest man. The earliest man was supposed to have existed first on the east coast of the Southern Peninsula before his migration to the places of Punjab. “Sankaliya” as a “classic land of Stone Age man” described Andhra region.

There are Telugu people in Tamilnadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat as well as Madhya Pradesh. Enterprising Telugus have migrated to Burma, Malaysia etc., now, of course, the whole of Silicon Valley is filled with Andhras converting it into an Andhra Valley in America. The state of Andhra Pradesh can be viewed as three distinctive regions, namely, the Coastal Andhra, the Rayalaseema and the Telangana. The Telugu spoken in these three different regions almost give us three different dialects of the language. Late Dr Bezavada Gopal Reddy former Chief Minister of Andhra (who is equally familiar with Tamilnadu people also) delivering his budget speech to the Andhra Legislative Assembly in 1956, in his capacity as the then Finance Minister, expressed the view, that, there was a marked difference in the cultural growth of the Telugu speaking people in Rayalaseema districts or in the Andhra districts and in the districts of Telangana. He also mentioned that, had they been under one administrative set up, those marked differences would have been at the minimum. He expressed the desire then, that, the land hallowed by the footsteps of Bummera Pottanna , Allasani Peddana, Ramaraja Bhusana, Tikkana and Nannaya be brought together so that all Telugus might chant their hymns without any feeling of estrangement.

It is a historical fact known to everyone, that, on 1st Nov 1956 the Visalandhra State with all the Telugu-speaking people was formed thanks to the States Reorganization Committee report. Thus, a separation took place between the Telugu speaking people and Tamil speaking people in that context, in the form of Andhra Pradesh and Tamila Nadu. There have been too many Telugu-speaking leaders from Tamil Nadu to be mentioned here.

The language spoken by the people of Andhra Pradesh is ‘Andhramu’, ‘Tenugu’ or ‘Telugu’. Ancient Sanskrit works use Andhra and Andhaka in their references to the people. In the remote past these words seem to have been used to indicate a race or a community of people and their country. Reference to language is comparatively later. Ramayana, Baudhayana, Manusmrti, Matsyapurana has either reference to Andhra country or characterized Andhras in different forms. Scholars in linguistics take the Dravidian word ‘TEN’ (indicating the Southern direction) to derive the word Tenugu. The Tamil references to Andhras have VADUGAR and even the word KODAGU are used as analogies. The word ‘VADAKKU’ in Tamil means north of Tamil Nadu and ‘KODAGU’ means a roof or umbrella both in Tamil and Telugu referring again to the upper regions. To say that ‘Tenugu’ signified language spoken by the people of the South, it is necessary to show the presence of Dravidians north of the Telugu country. There is no such evidence of course. There is another word ‘Trilinga’ from which the word Telugu is sought to be derived. This Trilinga again sought to be derived from ‘Tri –kalinga’ .To the Greeks Andhra was known by the name ‘Massalia’ or ‘Maisolia’, a name by which the river Krishna was called. It is still retained in the name of Krishna District head Quarters, ‘Masulipatnam’ also known as Bandar.

According to Aitareya Brahmana, ‘Andhras’ were among the descendents of Saint Viswamtra’s cursed and exiled fifty sons, to the border lands of Aryan settlements. Thus Andhras seem to have spread to the East &South.

Do the terms ‘Aryan’ and Dravidian‘pertain to the racial identity? Are they referring to linguistic groups? There is an opinion that they are incorrectly used in an ethnic sense.

Language wise Telugu has affinity with the Central Dravidian group of languages like Gonde or Bhilli. Srikakulam seems to have been the capital of the earliest Andhra kingdom. With reference to the religion researchers think, that, Jainism in Andhra was at least pre-Mauryan and that it‘s influence was working there before the Ashokan version of the Gospel of Buddhism reached. Buddhism had a glorious career in Andhra between the 4th century BC and 6th Century AD. Its cosmopolitan spirit removed the tribal barriers and helped the people unite as Andhras, enabling them to establish a mighty empire in the form of the Satavahana Rule. As in all primitive societies, ANIMISM seems to have been the religion in Andhra of ancient times. Zoomorphism -worship of Gods conceived in the form of half animal and half man was another religion or belief. Examples of this are God ‘Hanumantha’ and God ‘Narasimham’.

As the nomadic tribes settled down to agriculture ‘totemism’ gave way to the worship of Mother Goddess as a source of fertility and nourishment. In early days the term ‘Dakshinapatha’ referred to Deccan only. Andhra is situated in the south east of Deccan. Agastya is known as the earliest of the Aryans who migrated to the south crossing in the Vindhyas. There are many Siva temples in Andhra, the Deity being called Agastyesvara as a mark of Agastya being the founder of the lingams. Vedism had taken firm root in Andhra as early as 5th century BC when Apastamba wrote his Dharmasutras. During the same period Bhagavatism developed in the land. Though Bhagavatism was originally based on Sankhya and Yoga it got philosophical content also later on. It was originally free from caste base but with the amalgamation of Bhagavatism with Brahmanism it got oriented to the caste system. Saivism is the oldest and most predominant religion in Andhra for a long time. Andhra has also known Saktism from early days. Militant Saivism has been known in Andhra but Vira Saivism had only a limited impact on Andhra. The word Brahmanism is derived from Brahmana, an integral part of Veda and the term represents the Vedic religion of rituals, not necessarily a caste.

The religious history of Andhras may not come within the purview of the history of Telugu literature, although it has some bearing on the literature itself. Royal patronage and adoption of a particular religion clearly set the tone and direction of the lives of the people. It is this, that has made, the Vedic religion an ever resilient and undying way of life, in the form of Hinduism.

Yet another myth regarding Andhramu may be traced in Krtayuga. There was a king by name Agnimitra. During a summer he lost his eyesight due to the hot weather. He prayed to the Sun God who was pleased with him and taught him a language. Agnimitra offered his prayers to Sun God in that language. This language was so potent that it restored his eyesight. The Sanskrit word ‘andha’ means darkness or blindness. Because of its efficiency in destroying the darkness it came to be called ‘Andhra Bhasa’. It is believed, that, each (Indian) Age (Yuga) has its particular form of Telugu and that in the present age of ‘Kaliyuga’, ‘Kalinga Andhra’ and ‘Raudra Andhra’ were established by Nandivardhana and his disciple Devala Raya in the reign of Satakarni.

It is also established, that, Ravana wrote a grammar for Andhramu. This need not be taken to refer necessarily to Ravana of the Ramayana fame. Lankavatara Sutra, a Buddhist work belonging to 3rd century BC mentions a Ravana. This, of course, also pertains to Ceylon. Considering closer religious relations that existed between Andhra country and Ceylon, then, we may allow the possibility of a grammar having been written for Telugu.

Although, what all has been said, may appear as highly speculative and without proof, it should be admitted, that, these myths and legends may possibly be carrying at least a grain of truth in them.

Considering the grammatical structure and the basic vocabulary, scholars in linguistics have decided, that, Telugu belongs to the Dravidian family of languages. Telugu is perhaps is the only major and cultivated language in the Central Dravidian group and enjoys a uniqueness of geographical position and linguistic importance as a bridge between Northern and Southern or Aryan and Dravidian cultures.

The schematic and chronological split up of periodization of Telugu literature as suggested by Pingali Lakshmikantam begins with the pre Nannaya period and proceeds up to the modern period i.e. from 3rd Century BC to 1875 AD onwards. The early Telugu is said to have passed through 4 stages known as Pre-Telugu, Pre-literary, Literary and Classical stages. Pre-Telugu stage is delimited up to 200 A.D; pre-literary Telugu from 200 AD to 600 AD: Literary and Colloquial dialects 600 A.D – 900 AD. We may perhaps conclude by saying that, Telugu seems to have branched off from the Proto Dravidian and the South Dravidian languages and was a separate language at least some centuries before Christ. It is believed that the oldest Telugu script known as the ‘Vengi’ or Telugu-Kannada script is found in the ‘Salankayana’ inscriptions. Though Telugu is basically a Dravidian language it has been much influenced by Sanskrit- both by its vocabulary and literature. Works of a conscious effort to write in pure Telugu may be an exception. Modern Telugu of the present days, either as a language or Literature, knows no boundaries. Sanskrit, now not only influences it but also by all languages, wherever required, particularly the English. In fact now we have more of TINGLISH as it is said with a sense of humor. (Telugu mixed with English and Tamil mixed with English). It is very difficult to find any language these days without English words. But, as Krishnaswamy Associates early film puts it (Where Centuries Coexist) English is now Indian and more South Indian.

Relationship between Tamil and Telugu either as a language or as literature or as people of two different states is multifold and it is for the historians to record these in detail to pass on to the future generations. Telugus generally called Tamilians as ARAVAS, because the nearest place to Andhra was the ‘Arava country’ which at present is known as ‘North Arcot’. The most Ancient Tamil Literature also defines, the limits of Tamil Nadu as ’Northern Vengadam’ meaning Tirumala and ‘Then-Kumari’ namely Southern Cape Camerin at Kanyakumari.

The etymologists believe, that, the word Telugu itself was derived from the word Thenugu meaning the language of the “South”. For example Tekkali –a place- means Dakshina Trilinga. There may be a common root for Dakshin and Deccan the Tamil word Therku and Telugu. But they are not only homonyms but may also be synonyms also.

Most ancient etymologist in India ‘Kumarila Bhatta’ made a reference to “Andhra Dravida Bhashayam”. Vishnu sahasranama also refers to ‘Andhras’. Though contemporary to Sangam literature, Andhras were not speaking Telugu at that time. They were speaking PRAKRITI. For example in Hala Satavahana’s time, “Gunadhya’s Bruhatkatha” was written in PAISACHI another version of PRAKRITI. There are different paisachis in India, like Kuntala paisachi. There is nothing bad about paisachi. We need not go into details of its etymology in this context. It is a known fact that, Gunadhya’s Bruhatkatha, was not written in Sanskrit, but in Paisachi. Bruhatkatha was the first ever-non-Sanskrit work written outside Tamil Nadu.

Evidences are a plenty to say, that, Telugu and Tamil are connected dynastically, geographically and historically. Chronology and geography are two eyes of history.

Now, in Sangam literature, the most humanistic aspect in Tamil was again valor and love, which are considered as the two eyes of humanism. ‘Tiruk Kural’, the world’s greatest composition of shortest aphorisms, is a diamond mine of didactic lines on ethical code comprising Dharnma, Public Economy or Arthasashtra and Humanism or Love. In Sanskrit they call as Dharma, Artha & Kama. In Tamil it is called ARAM, PORUL, INBUM.

Dharma, here, is derived from the word Dhara that means tolerance. The earth is called Dhahrani because Mother Earth is most tolerant of all things happening to her. Political economy is another, which are again a statecraft dealing with economics mainly and all aspects of administration. The ultimate aim is the maintenance of VALOR & LOVE or Courage and Humanism.

Bhakti Movement of Tamil Nadu consisted of a variety of religions-Buddhists, Jains, and Vaishnavas and different types of six religious faiths, which are called ‘SHANMATHA’ by ‘Adishankara’. Shanmatha means worshiping the sun or Udaya Suryan (raising sun) as it called in Tamil. Those who are familiar with SUN TV indeed know It well. It is called Showram, Koumaram-worship of Durga, Kartikeya (Murugan in Tamil), and shaktam- worship of Shakti, Vaishnavam- worship of Vishnu, Shavaesam-worship of Shiva.
These are anthropomorphic forms of worship or Pantheism, which believes in unity of all religions and only in one God, and do not restrict one’s belief only to variety of Gods and Goddesses as forms of worship. But variety of Gods and Goddesses has been part of both the Telugus and Tamilians, which are human, forms underlying again humanism and human attributes.

Thus the Shanmathas are human forms, underlining humanism and human attributes. In other words, both Telugus and Tamilians believe, that, man is made in the image of God or at least man has made god in the image of himself in order to identify himself with God. Devine qualities are compulsorily required in every body. It is known in Tamil Nadu, as the code of conduct comprising, duty, dignity and discipline.

It does not mean that other religions are not tolerated in Tamil Nadu or in Andhra. For example, the earliest known instances of Jews, Muslims, Christians and other religions coming first to Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra, first in the whole of India. This is another commonality that Tamil Nadu and Andhra, as an example of humanism and tolerance. We should not forget the fact here, that, Kerala was once a Tamil speaking area during the Chola Kingdom for nearly a millennium.

All of you know about this. The instances of this nature are in plenty.

According to some historians, it is said that, St Thomas came to Madras (present Chennai) during ‘THIRUVALLUVAR’s times. There still exists ‘SANTHOME’. St Xavier came to Goa and several Syrian Christians settled down in Kerala, more than thousand two hundred years ago.

The historical inscriptions and records, more than 2000 years of age are found no where else, except in Tamil Nadu, in the South India, in the particular language –may be because, that, no other language existed, at that time in the southern India.

There is again another commonality, that, there is a relationship between the ‘CHOLAS and CHALUKYAS’. The Chola became a Chalukya king, because his mother came from Chalukyas of Vengi, which is around present ELURU in West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. The Chola- Chalukya relationship is very much known. The derivation is ‘Chola-Chulika-Chalukya’ like ‘Dasaratha-Dasharathi-Dasharadheya’ or as in Sanskrit, where we have ‘Raghu- Raghava –Raghaveeya’. Like this we may find many examples of Chola-Chalukya relationships. PARANTHAK CHOLA’S inscriptions are found in Amalapuram in East Godavari district. Copper plates of these times are found in Tamil from Amalapuram.

It is historically proved that Raja Raja Chola went up to Bengal and assumed the title of ‘GANGAIKONDA CHOLA’ after which ‘Gangaikonda Cholapuram’ was established. One Chief of his Army established a dynasty there, which is called ‘Sena Dynasty’. Bellal Sen does not mean anything in Bengal but means in Tamil as ‘Velalasena’. ‘Velala’ in Tamil refers to the Agricultural community. He established a dynasty there. Jayadeva’s “Geeta Govinda”, is believed to have been composed during those times.

In Music, Fine Arts and Architecture, we find it very common, between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, which reflect the humanism. For example: Tyagaraja’s Telugu music was preserved only in Tamil Nadu. Similarly several forms of Bharatanatya have been preserved in Andhra and it is probably not heard of, that, Bharata’s Nrutyashastra was translated in to Telugu, with paintings accompanying the ABINAYAS & MUDRAS and references are available in Vijayanagaram achieves, that is, Vijayanagaram of today.

Vijayanagaram of earlier empire is another instance of Andhra Telugu /Tamil relationship. The Vijayanagar Empire consisted of 4 dynasties namely SANGAMA, SALUVA, TULUVA AND ARAVA VEEDU. Here Arava Veedu means the Tamil Home. Arava Veedu dynasty ruled from ‘Chandragiri’ and Nayaks of ‘Madurai’ are direct successors of the Arava Veedu dynasty. In fact, there are people who believe, that, lot of people of Andhra origin settled in Tamil Nadu and marriage relations are many between them, particularily among Reddys, kammas, Rajus, Naidus or Kapus, Velamas and Shri Vaishnava Saataanis etc. these show that, there is great human bondage between Andhras and Tamilians.

If you go to Grammar and Dictionary, we have ‘Nighandus’ just like the Sanskrit ‘Amarakosha’ both in Tamil and Telugu. We have, what is called as ‘Chitrakavi’ in Tamil and we have the similar lines of poetry meaning two different things –Sladai. In Telugu an example of that sort is Raghava-Pandaveeyam, which means both Ramayana and Mahabharatha, when you read it.

In Medicine and Mythology we find again Siddha system and Ayurvedic system, the remedial measures, prevalent in both Andhra and Tamil Nadu. The tropical belt was very vast in this entire TREE belt, which is down the tropic of cancer. Every Tamil king had a sacred tree. In Andhra and Tamil Nadu we find Tree worship very common. This shows commonality of culture and belief system.

In literature, music and performing arts the commonality is seen in the ease with which the Tamil film and vice versa, in recent times.

Ancient Tamil literature also reveals international trade. Many Roman coins were discovered in Pondichery and many other places all over Tamil Nadu. The commerce from Ceylon and to Indonesia was very well established from the earliest times. In fact the Bay of Bengal was almost a Chola Lake, according to a British Historian. And in Indonesia you will find names like Madhura, which refers to Madhurai (we have a place in my district known as Madhira). Tamil customs like worship of Murugan is also prevalent all over the South Asia. You find this culture of belief in personal names.

The sheet anchor of Tamil and Telugu culture is tolerance. The word Aram or Dhrrma -means, tolerance or Dharani meaning the limits of tolerance of earth. The tolerance is important. Materialism may not give happiness.

The spirit of tolerance in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, as well as, the sense that ‘Live and Let Live’ of all the religious communities is always worth mentioning. Existence of ‘Dargas’ and Christian Shrines are examples. Many Muslims and Christians sing devotional songs in Tamil Nadu. Jesudas is the best example, which sings both in Telugu and Tamil. Sheik China Moulana saheeb, from Andhra Pradesh, is an example of extremely good in performing art of Nadaswara. Like this there are several instances of religious coexistence of Muslim devotees of Hindu Saints and vice versa. This is Humanism. OUR SECULAR FUTURE IS SAFE AND SECURE.