EXT3-- OLD CLASSICAL ENGLISH LITERATURE ATTRACTED INDIANS

By PragyanSharma Polavarapu

PART ONE

The story of development of parliamentary democracy in world is very interesting . Now we see every country in world supporting democracy, elections and parliamentary procedures. It is interesting to note that the nobles in old England 800 Years ago fought a war with an autocratic and authoritarian king John(1166-1216) and made him to sign their charter of demands(the famed “Magna Carta” ). The demands of nobles were that the king should not unnecessarily interfere in their work and should not imprison them , that the king should fully protect the rights of church and nobles and should consult the powerful nobles before imposing taxes on people or before spending public money for personal use of king. Thus was formed the House of Lords i.e. a powerful assembly of nobles. Later some other powerful aristocrats and rich merchants created another assembly (which became the “House of Commons”) and forced the later kings of England to take the permission of both the Houses to impose taxes, to decide how public money is spent and to decide how much of public money can be used by king for his own expenses and luxuries, to decide whether and when a war with a foreign nation was to be fought and when a treaty with foreign nations is to be made etc . Both the Houses together became the Parliament the supreme ruling body of the country . In course of time a noble Lord, a rich aristocrat or a rich merchant was nominated/selected from each part of country to the lower houe ,the House of Commons. All public matters (spending public money, imposing new taxes, declaring war and making peace ,taking public money for king’s own palaces etc) had to be permitted only after open discussion and voting in the powerful lower house . It was decided that the House of Lords can only give advice and power of House of Commoners only was supreme. Final decisions on all important matters have to be made only in the House of Commons . Every thing had to be openly discussed in both the houses of Parliament and its decisions had to be followed by the ruling monarch. This two- house assembly became famous as the Parliament. In the beginning Prime Minister and ministers and members of the houses were all nominated. The seats in parliament could be purchased by rich people and in this way the House of Commons could be packed to get bogus majority .After several further deliberations by statesmen a system of election of all members of house of commons was introduced. More democratic was the decision that the prime minister and cabinet ministers were chosen only from the House of Commons. After the king chose the ablest member r as the prime minister ,the prime minister could personally chose his cabinet of ministers to help him in different areas of administration. Soon multi-party system was introduced and elections were won or lost by a political party on the basis of its achievements in public service and performance in parliament. A standing police force was created to administer law and order in towns and villages . Some very patriotic Britons and statesmen were thrilled by this progress of democracy and started working tirelessly to strengthen and improve the glorious parliamentary procedures. Both the houses of the parliament produced great orators and public servants.The parliamentary procedures became very strict and became laws and the high judges of courts were required to protect the parliamentary laws. The parliament had the power to impeach and punish even kings, prime ministers, judges, army commanders etc if they act autocratically and illegally against prescribed parliamentary procedures. The growth of the British parliament through centuries was a long difficult process. Now such strict parliamentary system is introduced in almost all countries of the world. The king/queen are given a most respected and much loved position . But they have to work in every way as constitutional monarchs .

It is surprising that in England politically powerful individuals and princes could with great foresight and sense of public service and universal justice develop the parliamentary system. The constitutional document Magna Carta of the year 1215 AD is the great proof .It is really surprising that responsible citizens realized their duty to the country to such an extent . They felt that duty to country is more important than loyalty to the king and showed a strong determination to establish democratic traditions . The policy of British government in later centuries also --- the Napoleonic wars ,the war with Axis Powers in World War One , wars with Hitler’s Germany in World War Two etc -- show another progressive trait of British parliament. It is that a world believing in democracy should not support dictators anywhere in the world. In 19th and 20th centuries most countries of Europe and developed countries in other regions adopted this parliamentary system.

PART TWO

However there are other facts of history of Europe and the West in modern age ----the harsh colonial exploitation and harsh slave trade and long slave holding periods practiced by many European and western countries for two centuries or more . In fact the modern continent- wide wars and existence of huge standing armies ,navies and air arsenal all are direct result of western competition and race to establish colonies all over the world to get cheap raw materials for their factories and cheap labour. All this is ---to say simply ,for now --is another matter.

England,perhaps because of the hardworking nature of its people, quickly progressed to become a great military and maritime power and became agriculturally rich . In many respects England led Europe for centuries in many fields. Britain’s weather is modified by the vast waters of the seas which surround it. The endless Atlantic ocean touches it on the west side.The area of entire British Isles (Great Britain and Republic of Ireland ) is not too cold though situated in northern latitudes . Also no interior part of south England is very far from sea and the people are said to love the sea and fishing .It is said that throughout the year , for a few days at a stretch , rainy and cloudy weather persists in most of southern England . The land, not only in south England but also Scotland and Ireland ,has lot of eye-filling greenery throughout the year . The land in southern England is said to be very fertile and agriculture developed on a large scale. No wonder the country produced great nature poets and the novels contain long nature descriptions!.

A brief history of great Britain particularly in the Middle Ages is given below. Great literary works are created and survive through ages only when they directly or indirectly refer to the joys and sorrows of the period in which they lived. The events however are not in strict chronological order .But they roughly show how a rural agriculture conservative society transformed itself into a modern society and acquired a role of leadership .

(1)After the spirituality and high morality of Lord Jesus’s message first spread in British Isles (through the teachings of early Irish monks ) British society changed into a nation of hard working conservative religious minded people but still remained entirely rural oriented. The anglo-saxon kings brought great progress in the south . King Alfred the great unified southern England and helped in creating a powerful Anglo-Saxon identity . The lands of Scotland and Ireland developed their Celtic culture and identities in their beautiful mountainous and forested lands . It appears that the people of entire British Isles (England, Scotland and Ireland) remained as a simple beautiful rural society for centuries .

(2) A great change came after the Norman invasion of William the conqueror in 1066. He entirely replaced the Anglo-Saxon ruling groups ,princes , military leaders and farmers with Norman people and distributed vast land property to them. . His successors too were harsh rulers. French became the favoured court language. The royal court and royal palace became sybols of French urban culture which was similar to Roman imperial urban culture. The old Germanic English was replalced by French. However in a few decades the difference between Anglo-Saxon and Norman cultures disappeared. The Normans were absorbed in the Anglo-Saxon culture of the land.

(3)A new powerful English identity developed. Now onwards England became deeply involved in European politics and dynastic wars and was also a deeply religious medieval state with Roman Catholic leanings. Printing press was invented in 1440 AD and helped to supply the printed Holy Bible to every liitle church. In European countries magnificent churches came up . Magnificient universities were established since 11th century. It is said that by 1500 AD about 80 universities were established in Europe! Serious learning expanded among youth by leaps and bounds.

(4) The Protestant revolution in Christian religion was a most important Europe-wide moral movement started in early 16th century. Protestantism reinvented and vigorously propagated high spiritual and moral values in ordinary society.It is said that in those times corruption entered the Christian church and the church teachings were becoming routine and inspiring lacking spirituality . Protestant and Roman Catholic parts of religion became entirely separate . England under the autocratic authoritarian king Henry, the Eighth gave firm support to Protestant religion for his own personal reasons . England took active part in European politics , religious wars and crusades etc.

(5) Renaissance (rediscovery of the ancient magnificent Greek roots of European culture) occurred during the late 13th century. The Renaissance spirit in European literature , art, sculpture and architecture gave a great new artistic foundation to European culture . Renaissance art and philosophy deeply affected the English cultural and literary scene also.

(6)16th and 17th centuries saw great progress in modern scientific discoveries in Europe.(Earlier since 2000 or 3000 years or more there were already great fundamental discoveries in mathematics and astronomy)

(7) The age of great sea voyages, circumnavigation of earth, geographical discoveres of new lands etc began in late 15th century.Soon from 16th century European wars for domination over the seas begagan.

(8)There were also extremely great calamities –long famines. In 14th century resulting in vast reduction in population and deaths of great numbers of cattle.The horrible Black Death in mid 14th century (due to plague originating from rats moving in ships from distant lands) killed almost one third of population in Europe.

(9) With active support and encouragements from kings ,the rich aristocratic and noble families all over Europe competed from 15th century onwards to build naval vessels to control large scale sea trade. There was competition to establish overseas colonies . Huge armed forces and navies were created . There were wars between naval powers in Europe beginning in 17th century . In the beginning, Portugese and Italian (Venecian) naval vessels dominated . Later navies of Spain, Holland, France and England competed to dominate the seas and to control sea trade .Finally it was the British navy which won domination of seas building fast vessels with modern technology.

All these happenings are not given in strict chronological order . All these happenings brought great change in minds of people.

(1)There were great intellectual changes and cultural changes in the period. All the major European languages—English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German etc developed fast into modern languages with rich literary traditions. During Renaissance the magnificent old culture, art, philosophy, mythology of ancient Greece were all rediscovered. Christian philosophy and art on the one hand and the most beautiful ancient philosophy and art of ancient Greece on the other amalgamated and created the modern western art and philosophy.

(2) A great revolution in all European literature took place during the long medieval ages perhaps through hundreds of years .European literatures acquired a modern tinge.modern English literature as we now know in poetry drama and heavy classic prose started to develop in 15th and 16th centuries .The great works of Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden etc brought great beauty and philosophical depth to English literature.The later “Romantic Movement”,a revolution modernizing literary creations, occurred under leadership of great poets like S.T.Coleridge, William Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley , Lord Byron etc. Alexander Pope translated the Greek epics Iliad and Odyssey into classic English poetic style. Soon revolution in English prose writing came with “Dictionary Johnson” (Dr Samuel Johnson) with a dictatorial ,authoritative ,classic style of prose writing, the “Spectator” essayists and the latter wonderful Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott and many others. Soon there were many other stalwarts adorning prose writing –essay, novel, history etc.

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In the 19th and 20 the centuries the British Empire became the world's leading political and military power. From historical view point also it was the largest empire in world history. This was because of its vast industrial base, naval power and its leadership in technological and educational fields.There were vast colonial markets. But particularly after World War II due to economic challenges, powerful nationalist movements in colonies particularly in the vast sub-continent of India and due to strain maintaining colonies in far corners of the world there was decline. the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as as superpowers and overshadowed Great Britain.

PART THREE

My interest in English language is not limited to novels and poetry. My main real interest,in spite of my work in a commercial job , is reading physics and chemistry books! I worked for 35 years in a commercial department not related to science . But this only made my attachment to science(physics and chemistry) the greater .

I am not a professional devotee of English literature but only a general admirer of English literature. My father was a famed high school headmaster and a famed English teacher. He taught also world geography, world history, European history, Indian history . In our house we had illustrated English story books and some abridged children’s novels as well as some fat books on lives of British kings and British prime ministers(perhaps very old books of my father’s college days) . There were also old nice little books(“printed in London”) on world geography and world history. When I was in high school classes and father long retired---(it was in the late 1940s when the British government was winding up in India)-- he occasionally told me stories from history of Great Britain and interesting topics of world geography . This created lot of interest in me about Europe and old British history .

I remember that after retirement of father – (when all our family lived together in house of our elder brother in a beautiful town on the banks of river Godavari in south India)—I remember father relaxing in an easy chair with eyes closed in deep thought and would make me read aloud from a book a long English poem of many stanzas , an essay in world geography,an essay about a British monarch etc. I remember well, in earlier lower school days he would make me recite beautiful poems about Hindu gods Lord Rama and Lord Krishna while he did gardening in the vast home garden at the back of our government-provided house . There were exercises in a grammar book in which every question contained reference to some incidents in ancient Greek and Roman history or English history. All these created in me an immense interest in world history, world geography and European mythology .

Our high school too was wonderful (simply wonderful). At school a huge interest in science was created by our short and stout science teacher. He and other science teachers demonstrated wonderful experiments in physics and chemistry and explained botany and biology through big colored wall charts.

Father was like a spinx and mastered both ancient eastern and western philosophies. After retirement he appeared outwardly like a very conservative person of old generation but was greatly respected and loved in all our families for his vast knowledge.

My elder brother (more than 15 years older and eldest among us ) in contrast was a doctor , trained for 6,7 years in Madras city (now Chennai) . He was a serious reserved westernized person. But at heart he was also kind . Children feared to go near him as he was so silent absorbed in the English newspaper or in the English newscasts coming from the big band radio on the table . He was admired in our families for his very reserved, silent ways. Sometimes in afternoon tea time quite heated arguments on matters of Indian Independence struggle and international wars etc took place between father and brother. They were mostly conducted in English and I thoroughly enjoyed those debates !

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I was ready for college. At this time all of us ,except our brother’s family, migrated to a distant historic city near Hyderabad,south India . It was about 400 kilometers from our native place .My elder sister ,after training in Hyderabad, secured a job as a rural educational supervisor in the government department focused on rural uplift and modernization of agriculture. The districts were strictly divided into “Blocks” for intensive development . The requirements of every single farmer were minutely attended –from soil testing, irrigation, loans, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers etc to marketing the produce . Officers with degrees from agricultural science colleges were appointed to take care of the “Block”. These programs ,introduced by the national Indian government after independence, were a great success and were highly popular . My revered elder sister retired as a district level women welfare officer.

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I joined a great well established degree college in the beautiful quiet historic city. I still treat my college as the best in world—majestic buildings and limitless play grounds, great professors and great labs and fashion conscious students and professors! I consider college days as precious.

In early college days I would take an extreme western view of things and would sometimes venture to argue with father. But it was all of no effect like little rain drops on a huge rocky mountain side . Father was an ocean of both eastern and western knowledge and was spinx like. Soon I realized and accepted my utter defeat and started only to admire him! For a few years while we were in city father assisted college students with English and subjects like economics and international affairs . He was active and physically strong till the last day and passed away suddenly and plunged the family in sorrow.

*****

The great attraction created in me towards English language and literature in school days by my revered father continued in college times. At college we had most wonderful and eccentric professors. To me they appeared like philosophers and orators right out of the Spectator Club of Addison and Steele and from the times of legendary Dr Samuel Johnson. They were erudite and great inspiring professors. One English professor would often get so absorbed with the story of the novel (Mayor of Castorbridge of Thomas hardy )that he would gesture with raised arms and speak aloud some of the dialogues in the novel in a dramatic way. Most proffessors were dressed in very stylish western suites . The big reputed college overflowed with fashion . We had also nice big science labs , nicely kept botanical garden and a nice tennis court. One professor was eccentric and reminded of Sir Roger de Coverly(Spectator club). Another fashionable young lecturer(an Anglo- Indian ) reminded me of Donald Farfrae the young dashing wheat merchant in “The Mayor of Castorbridge”! In this and many of his other novels Thomas Hardy gives beautiful description of old rural England of pre-Industral Revolution times. He makes a fine study of the old British rural society. His novels are mostly tragic stories blaming the “Fates” and resemble the ancient Greek tragiic dramas. The novelist had unsurpassed skill in creating the old rural scenes –the horse carriages loaded with bags of corn and toiling rural folks walking gossiping on the village roads in thered evenings on roads lined with high trees.

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Ours is a religious minded Hindu family steeped since childhood in Ramayana and Mahabharata mythologies which molded Hindu society for 2000 years.I realized that Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are much like our Ramayana and Mahabharata and molded to a great extent western sense of art and philosophy alongside high Christian morality. The west had Homer who composed Iliad and Odyssey and we in India had great divine sages Valmiki and Vyasa (the creatoes of Ramayana and mahabharatha respectively)

Lord Buddha too guided India for 2000 years and every young intellectual in India from ancient to modern times is inspired by His radiant personality and sweet philosophy. In modern times too india great philosophers and intellectuals like Rabindranath Tagore , Swamy Vivekananda and Sri Arobindo and many other mighty intellects like dr s.radhakrishnan (ex-President of India ) and C.Rajagopalachari (India’s last Governor general while India was still in British Commonwealth)

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For an year I was out of science college after the first year sudy. I failed in my trials to join an reputed engineering college and after that due to many long absences I lost an entire year in science degree course. During that free year I daily visited the big district library which was very near our house. It was for me like a university introducing me to the ocean of English literature and international political and science magazines available in plenty in the library. We had English newspapers at our house for decades but the world of classical English novels, bulky and weighty Encyclopedias and international political magazines available in the library greatly attracted me. The library was a gold mine of English books.

After my physics degree I joined “temporarily” in a job in a government commercial department thinking I would be in it only for a few months and would then join a physics research laboratory. But it did not happen and the work in office was suffocating. I continued for ever in the commercial department ( post office accounting job) till I retired after 35 years. But that work too was top interesting and public service intensive. As if to take “revenge” against the world which did not give me a physics research job in a big physics laboratory ,I decided solemnly to become a popular science writer. I purchased several science volumes and popular science paper backs and did become a science blog publisher also wrote essays in ancient philosophy, British history and children’s science. I felt as satisfied as providing myself a science job and fully entering the fairy land of science .

Now a little about my visits to the big District Central Library near our house. I,a lonely withdrawn person and a book warm , almost daily visited the big library. As time progressed my interest in both English literature and science (physics and chemistry) grew.

I enjoyed reading science books and science paperbacks to be able to write high quality articles. At home, on the computer which we soon purchased I consulted online encyclopedias every day for a few hours and visited science and English literature sites . This helped me to publish my blog confidently.

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We had in our house a big tome about British history written by a famed British historian. We had a book of lives of British kings and British prime ministers. The history book created in my mind a reel of stories about distinguished British personalities of last two or three centuries. We had an old tome of Shakespeare’s plays . Though the binding was badly damaged the book attracted me tremendously as no other book could . It contained most delicate art created by a colossal intellect. I got it re-bound and put it in my shining book rack.

I was hooked by a most interesting journal the “Reader’s Digest” containing thrilling western science and adventure stories . I was tremendously attracted by the Time American magazine which published interviews with Presidents, Prime Ministers ,Generals and world’s leading scientists, industrialists etc done by leading international correspondents . The correspondent could travel in the presidential plane to interviww the US president . Senior scholarly editors interviewed the prime ministers, generals ,scientists etc. Thus I strayed from a science job. I became a member of the library’s readers club and regularly borrowed and took home classical English novels and other books like Sir Nigel, life of Mary Queen of Scots, Talisman(sir Walter Scott) , Razor’s Edge(Somerset Maugham) etc. Of course I immensely enjoyed reading also the great books on ancient Hindu philosophy written in English by distinguished Indian intellectuals .

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After joining in government service I made it a point to purchase a good book (science, adventure etc )every month . There was no looking back in my knowledge gathering – in fields of science, English literature and English history.

After television came it is hourly hearing of international news . After retirement ,my main vocation was writing in computer files and folders small article on science, philosophy, religion ,computer science etc . and publishing in my own blog.

PART FOUR

A PHILOSOPHIC THOUGHT

All the knowledge in the world in all fields-- science, medicine, engineering, government, philosophy, spirituality—is available in English language. English language has become the “club room” for world’s intellectuals to do research in every field to improve human life.

Now in 21st century we think of whole planet earth as one family, one village ,one lone boat load of people floating in the ocean of Outer Space .Literature of every country on earth has some gems of high morality, high philosophy, great poetry and great heroism. In a century or two all philosophies and literatures of world would surely merge to become a single river of world philosophy and world literature . Science is already an international river of knowledge –same science and technology being taught world over in all universities.

The biggest intellectuals of the world should devote a full century of time to develop a common pool of world literature. All gems of world literature should be translated into English and two or three other world languages. In the coming centuries --a golden age of peace, friendship, prosperity, morality and scientific thinking will dawn over the world . One feels that English language ,with such base of good literature , can serve as one of the platforms and foundations for creaing a world literature and world philosophy.

Life 500,600 years back on this planet was entirely different from what we see now. It is now jet travel ,personal cars, computers and TVs. If only we can avoid nuclear wars, we can create a heaven on earth using science and technology and develop an international stream of art, poetry, philosophy and spirituality.