Pran Pratishta Samroh – Consecration of Ram Temple at Ayodhya

 

Pran Pratishta Samroh – Consecration of Ram Temple at Ayodhya

I wrote about the Ram Janam Bhoomi Mandir at Ayodhya on August 7, 2020 on its Bhoomi Pujan (ground breaking ceremony) by PM Narendra Modi and wished that Let us hope that the Ram Mandir becomes an abode of Peace. The blog may be accessed at: https://diplomatictitbits.blogspot.com/2020/08/ram-janambhoomi-mandir-at-ayodhya-let.html

I was invited to the Pran Pratishta Samroh of Shri Ram Dham at Ayodhya on January 22, 2023 as a ‘Distinguished Guest – Vashist Mahnibhav’ by the organizers of this grand event in the

contemporary times. I humbly accepted the invitation (Apoorav Anadik Nimantran) and was all set to enjoy and avail of this great honour. But it was not to be as I could not finally make it due to the vagaries of weather. I would have been a good experience to be an eye witness to the ‘history in making’. It would remain a matter of regret and remorse for me.

The wheel of ‘tryst with divinity’ has come full circle. Bhagwan Ram ‘the Imame Hind’ as termed by Allama Iqbal has been enshrined in his destined abode, a magnificent temple at Ayodhaya. It must settle the heat and dust raised by avoidable acrimonious socio-cultural, historical and legal contentions of the varying factions. PM Narendra Modi after the Pran Pratiksha ceremony said in his address to the august congregation, “marker of a new era” and a “symbol of

Indian society’s patience, harmony and resilience”. He also linked the Temple with national transformation and added, “We have to vow to build Samarth (capable), Saksham (able), Bhavya (grand) and Divya (divine) Bharat.  RSS Chief, Mohan Bhagwat said that it was time to bury the bitter past and termed the Pran Pratishta event in an article as the beginning of a campaign to reconstruct “Bharatvarsh”, which is for harmony, peace and wellbeing of all. The Hindustan Times in its Editorial on January 23 rightly commented, “Invoking faith for national rejuvenation, however, could be a slippery slope. The nation’s charioteers on this

journey have to be firm in being fair and just to all citizens and keep unruly elements in check. The Republic’s founding document, the Constitution, should be the guiding light as the nation enters an unchartered geography.” I tend to agree with these observations. The lofty messages given by the PM Narendra Modi and Sarsanghchalak of RSS, Mohan Bhagwat should be viewed through the constitutional framework of India. With this, India would remain on rails to find its due space and share, in due course, as a democratic and civilized nation and the society large.

I have no reason not to believe what right-wing Hindu outfits like BJP and its affiliates and also their mentor RSS say about development of India as ‘Sab Ka Sath, Sab Ka Vikas, Sab Ka Visvash’ by way of inclusive growth. But they must understand, sooner the better, it cannot happen if we fail to retain and strengthen the inherent character of India as a ‘multi-cultural, multi faith, multi-lingual and a diverse’ society and also a ‘democratic and secular’ polity as enshrined in the constitution by our forefathers. I am a firm believer of an integrated and cohesive society and as such I fully support and endorse the RSS’s agenda of ‘Samrasta’ as there is no

other way.  We need to address and minimize the ‘trust deficit’ among the majority and minority communities on one hand and dalits and other socially weaker segments of the society on the other. Some of my friends, who do not approve of my supporting the Samrasta plank of RSS and accepting the invitation to the Pran Pratishta Samaroh, has shared with me a story which was getting viral in the social media about refusal to accept donations by the dalit community of a village, not far away from Ayodhya, for the Ram Janam Bhoomi Temple as it would desecrate the temple. This is how the so called high caste Hindus tend to treat dalit communities even after 75 years of India becoming a Republic. The lofty ideas of establishing a casteless society seems a far fetched reality. We need to answer and rectify the situation otherwise the suffering masses would not believe in allegedly ‘camouflaged agendas’. I am proud of India that is Bharat –

चिश्ती ने जिस जमीन पर पैगामे हक़ सुनाया;

नानक ने जिस  चमन में बेहदत का गीत गया

मेरा वतन वही है, मेरा वतन वही है

 

 

Call to Redeem the History and Glory of Ad-dharam Mandal

 

Call to Redeem the History and Glory of Ad-dharam Mandal

The Ad-dharam Mandal which later became a Movement to establish a separate and distinct identity of socially depressed and oppressed segments of the society and their empowerment was established in 1926 by Gadarite Baba, Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia and other community activists and representatives of the so called dalit communities of the time. Some of the prominent among them were;

Sant Sarwan Dass of Dera Sachkhand Ballan, Master Gurbanta Singh, Seth Sunder Dass and Seth Kishan Dass (both my fellow BootanMandians) among others. Ad-dharam Mandal not only did a good job in bringing about awakening but also in mobilizing the socially marginalized sections of the society in the 1920s and 1930s. It supported Babasaheb Ambedkar to represent the dalit communities at the Round Table Conferences in London which resulted in the Communal Award of PM Ramsey MacDonald providing Separate Electorates to dalits. Ad-dharam Mandal succeeded in listing dalits as Ad-dharmis in the Census of 1931. It sent successfully many MLAs to the Punjab Legislative Assembly both in 1937 and 1945 even before independence and partition of India in 1947. To cut the story short, I can safely register that Ad-daram Mandal became a political and socio-cultural outfit of dalits to reckon with not only before independence but even in the early years of independent India. These details are duly registered in the contemporary political and social history of India and needs no further elaboration. Since the thrust and focus of this piece is an important issue pertaining to Ad-dharam Mandal, I come to the issue straight away.

After its establishment in 1926, Ad-dharam opened its first office as Headquarters of the Mandal at a site in Kishanpura Mohalla near the Jalandhar Railway station sometime in 1926-27. First it was located in a rented building at a monthly rent of Rs.20/- and later 62 marla of land was purchased with facilitation of the then Thanedar (Police Officer) of the area, Pandit Ram Chand with the token money of Rs.200/- which was later finalized for final purchase at the total cost

of Rs.3500/-. The registry of the land was got done in the name of “Shri Guru Ravidass Asthan Ad-dharam Mandal Jalandhar”. Money for the purpose was donated by prominent and well to do people of the community and also by the general public both in India and abroad. Subsequently, the buildings were constructed with the financial sources of the Ad-dharam Mandal and the public donations including help of the then Municipal Member of the area both by way of materials and cash. In due course of time, the site at Kishanpura became a full pledged functional and vibrant place for the socio—political activities and agenda of the Ad-dharam Mandal and the dalit communities. The first newspaper of Ad-dharam Mandal called ‘Adi Danka’ was launched and published from this historic place. As such Guru Ravidass Asthan became hub of community activities and empowerment of the oppressed and depressed sections of the society. All these details are available in the book (pages 21-26) “Babu Mangu Ram (Jiwan, Sangarsh Te Ad-dharam Dastabej) written by Megh Raj M.A. son of Babu Mangu Ram who lives in the UK. The book was published by Arshi Publishers of Chandani Chowk in Delhi in 2014 with Balbir Madhopuri of New Delhi as its publisher/editor.

In the run up to create and establish educational facilities for the dalit communities and the society at large, a school and training center for vocational courses was started at the site. In the wake of independence of India in 1947, with the help and stewardship of

Master Gurbanta Singh who was a Congress leader of standing ‘The Punjab Ravidass Educational Society Jalandhar city’ was registered on September 24, 1952 to run and manage the school at the site at Kishanpura. The rest is history; the glories history of Ad-dharam Mandal.

Master Gurbanta Singh

Now let me come to the real issue. Guru Ravidass School still exists at the site, I think in name only to be truthful. The Management and even the Government authorities, it seems, are not interested to make the school a functional and viable institution, unfortunately. The buildings have dilapidated. The school has no financial sources. The teaching faculty and number of students are dwindling slowly. Obviously, students are not interested in this non-functional entity. Frankly speaking, I don’t have more details to explain and elaborate the matter any further. But as a community activist and an Ad-dharmi myself, I have some suggestions and thoughts to redeem the history and glory of this historic site at Kishanpura which belongs to the community and the society at large.

·       Guru Ravidass Asthan of Ad-dharam Mandal should either be acquired by the Punjab or Central Government and declared it as ‘Heritage Site’ in the memory of Gadrite Baba Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia and Ad-dharam Mandal to instill a sense of empowerment among the dalit communities. It will be an appreciable gesture to integrate the dalit communities with the main stream of the society.

·       Alternatively, the site should be handed over to the obvious heirs of Ad-dharam Mandal – All India Ad-dharam Mission currently under the stewardship of Sant Satwinder Hira of Khuralgarh Sahib (Charan

Sant Satwinder Hira

Choh Ganga) in Garhshankar (Hoshiarpur) in Punjab after discussing and settling the modalities of turning the site into a Heritage Property.

·       Government/All India Ad-dharam Mission should redeem the historical importance of the site and turn the existing Guru Ravidass Higher Secondary School into a model ‘Institution of Excellence’ for the benefit of the society at large and the weaker sections in particular.

 

These are some of the off the cuff suggestions at this stage. More details may be added, as required, once the project is considered. Now what is needed to be done, to my mind, in this regard:-

Ø  All India Ad-dharam Mission may consider and undertake to dig, ascertain and fix the legal title of the ownership of the site at Kishanpura in Jalandhar in consultation with the current Management of The Punjab Ravidass Educational Society.

Ø All India Ad-dharam Mission may approach the Government accordingly to acquire the site and get it declared a; Heritage Site’ as explained above. Alternatively, as suggested, All India Ad-dharam Mission may request the Government to get the site transferred to them for the purpose as stated above.

Ø All India Ad-dharam Mission may consider floating a separate Trust to manage and run the project.

Ø All leaders of the community particularly the intellectuals should consider and offer their suggestions to convert the Heritage Site into a grand memorial and an institution of excellence and the ways and means to do so. It will be a befitting tribute only to Babu Mangu Ram Mugowalia but also our forefathers who worked and struggled to ameliorate the social sufferings of the community as front runners.

I am confident all the stake holders in this would take it seriously and do their best to retain, own and run the ‘community heritage’ for the larger interest of the community. Let us come out of the “Paihra Diyange Thok Ke’ phase and do something concrete to redeem the glorious history of the community’s struggle to find a due place in the society.

तू पहले बात; फिर बात का अंदाज़ पैदा कर

फिर दुनिया में तुझे ; कोई नज़र अंदाज़ कर नहीं सकता

 

British Ravidassia Heritage Foundation (BRHF)

 

 

British Ravidassia Heritage Foundation (BRHF)

British Ravidassia Heritage Foundation (BRHF) is a registered Charitable NGO in the UK floated by the Ravidassia community for the purpose as stated in the website of the organization “TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN THE SUBJECT OF THE LIFE, TIME AND PHILOSOPHY OF

SATGURU RAVIDASS.” I have had an opportunity to interact with the Trustees of BRHF at an International Seminar organized by them in Delhi in collaboration of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in October, 2023 to which I was also invited as a presenter on the subject “Life, Time and Philosophy Satguru Ravidass”. My blog on the subject may be accessed at: https://diplomatictitbits.blogspot.com/2023/10/international-seminar-on-life-time-and.html

One fine morning of a cold day, Chairperson of the BRHF Trust, Om Parkash Bagha, belonging to his native place Bolina Doaba – a prominent village in the periphery of Jalandhar, called me to come and discuss with me an important matter with regard to the activities of the BRHF. Accordingly, Bagha Sahib along with one of my friends in the literary and intellectual circle, Roop Lal Roop came

and made a proposal to join them in a missionary work to translate into English language a treatise, written in Gurmukhi script, of Roop Lal Roop – Guru Ravidass Pargas Di Khoj (Research and Study of the Life, Philosophy and Thought of Guru Ravidass). It was a pleasant surprise to me. Considering the enormity of the project to translate a huge volume (Granth of 432 pages that too both in prose and verse), I was a bit reluctant to undertake the job. Both Bagha Sahib and Roop Lal Sahib were insisted and said that they had come to me after considering all factors including my ability to do this difficult job. I told them frankly that I had not done any translation work so far though I write regularly in my blog or otherwise only in English. They said that they will be happy to associate me with this work. I could not say know and accepted the responsibility with whatever humility I have in my persona.  In fact, I had already seen and glanced through the book kindly presented to me by the author, Roop Lal Sahib. I guess, perhaps, the author wished me to write some sort of review of his great work which I myself would have loved to do. But due other occupations and sheer size of the book deterred me from doing so. It seems now that it was destined like this and the honours fell on me to translate the book for wider circulation and benefit the society at large from the life, time and philosophy of the great Guru. I only pray Guru Ravidass gives me the wherewithal to do the job entrusted to me by BRHF and the author, Roop Lal Roop in the stipulated time frame of a year or so.

As I said that I met the BRHF brass at the JNU. Subsequent to that I found that BRHF was fully engaged in their mission to research, study and carry forward the lofty ideals of Guru Ravidass to establish a free and fair society as enshrined in the Vani “Begumpur Sehar Ka Naon; Dukh Ando Nahin Jis Ke Thaon” as stated in their website “WORKING WITH GLOBAL COMMUNITY, RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL ORGANISATIONS DELIVER A PROGREMME OF WORKSHOPS, SEMINARS, PUBLISH LITERATURTE, ESTABLISH ONLINE LIBRARY ON THE LIFE, TIME AND PHILOSOPHY OF SATGURU RAVIDASS TO VALUE TRADITIONALLY HELD VIEWS AND ANALYSE FROM A CONTEMPORARY AND SCIENTIFIC ANGLE TO PROMOTE THE IMPORTANCE AND RELEVANCE FOR PRESENT DAY LIFE AND TO INFER A DEEPER, WIDER INSIGHT.”

I will earnestly undertake the job of translation of the Granth “Guru Ravidass Pargas Di Khoj” in a month or so after completion of my current project – my forthcoming book “Bootan Mandi: Nerve Centre of Dalit Chetna” Meanwhile I again thank BRHF and my friend, Roop Lal Roop for showing faith and confidence in me, a humble follower of the great Guru Ravidass.