1. religion and spirituality
2. hinduism

ARYAN HERITAGE
Editorial Board
Shri Punam Suri, President, DAVCMC
April 2015
Shri R.S. Sharma, General Secretary, DAVCMC
Shri Bhawani Lal Bhartiya
Dr Virendra Vidyalankar
Editor: Surinder Kumar Sharma
CONTENTS
●
Hans Raj: A Motivating Mahatma
5
Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant, VSM
●
The Vedas
7
Dr. Ram Prakash
●
A Period of Trial
Sri Ram Sharma
10
●
Lest We Forget
14
Meera Johri
●
Learn Without Fear of Failure and
The Mere Urge to Pass Exams
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17
Disha Nawani
●
Mahatma Hans Raj
An Idealist, Visionary Educationist
Dr. B.R. Parashar
19
The Water Man of India Wins 2015
Stockholm Water Prize
20
●
Brief Life-Sketch of Mahatma Hans Raj
21
●
Falsa - Summer's Delight
Prof. (Dr.) R.D. Gupta
23
●
Dr. Parveen Bansal
●
Disclaimer : The views and opinions expressed in the
articles published in this magazine are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position
of D.A.V. College Managing Committee
Printed and Published by Tilak Raj Gupta for and on
behalf of D.A.V. College Trust and Management
Society and printed at Laxmi Print India, 556, G.T.
Road, Shahdara, Delhi-110032 and Published from
D.A.V. College Managing Committee, Chitra Gupta
Road, Paharganj, New Delhi-55. Editor: Surinder
Kumar Sharma
●
“Learn to live in this world
With Self-Respect”
24
Thus Spoke Swami Dayanand
26
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We thank the writers whose writings have
appeared in this issue as also the journals
from where reproductions have been made.
—Editor
■
●
vks…e~
●
Vedic Prayer
oSfnd izkFkZuk
lÎq"kÎkjÎfFkjþk«fuoÎ ;Ue«uqÎ";ÍÎésuÎh;rÎs·Hkh'kq«fHkoÎkZftu« boA
âRizfr«"BaÎ ;n«ftÎjÀfo«"BaÎ rUesÎ eu«% f'kÎol«³~dYieLrqÏ
µ;tq- 34-6
Word-meaning and c.:— lq"kkjfFk%¼'kksHku% lkjfFk% P. II, 1, 57½= a good charioteer, vþku~= horses, usuh;rs=drives, takes in any way. vHkh'kqfHk% ¼vfHk + √ v'kq
O;kIrkS m + U.I, 7; Nig. I, 5; Nir. III, 9 and IX, 16½=by the reins. okftu%=well trained
horses, fleet-foot (Gr.), âRizfr"Be~ ¼âfn izfr"Bka ;L; P. II, 2, 24 and 35½=established, dwells, seated, in the heart. vftje~¼√ vt xrkS + fdju~ U.I, 53; Nig. II,
15½=swift, going in different directions or to different objects of the senses; or
¼ u×k~ + √t¤ o;ksgkukS + d P. III, 1, 135½=not affected by old age or imbecility.
tfo"Be~=most rapid.
Translation : ‘Oh God, Supreme Controller! that mind which controls
a man (of regulated life); just as a skilful charioteer manages and drives
by means of the reins well trained horses in any direction he likes; and
which seated in the heart, is the most rapid in movement and free from
decay;—may this mind of mine, by Thy grace, be ever impelled by righteous
motives.
4 : ARYAN HERITAGE
April 2015
■
Hans Raj: A Motivating Mahatma
Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant, VSM
M
ahatma Hans Raj has
impressed me immensely.
I never met him. When he
breathed his last an hour before the
midnight on 15th November 1938, not
many of us of the graying generation
today were around. Lahore lost a
great karmyogi who believed in
lighting a lamp instead of cursing the
darkness. Born in April 1864 at
Bajwara, a non-descript outgrown
village near Hoshiarpur in the
undivided Punjab, young Hans Raj
struggled hard throughout his life to
make both ends meet.
Sometimes by compulsion and
later in life by choice he preferred
to shun ostentation and traversed the
path of dedication and self denial.
Adversity steeled his nerves and
rubbing shoulders with common folk
he emerged as a great educational
leader
and
an
academic
administrator; taller than the tallest.
Hans Raj ji was a true leader
of men, the downtrodden men who
had lost the battle of life in their
minds before it began on ground. He
would put the proverbial ``josh'' in the
unfortunate weaklings by standing by
their side and being with them through
thick and thin. Let us take a look
at the social aspect of his personality
and his eagerness to go to the help
of those men and women who got
entangled in impossible situations for
no fault of theirs. Hans Raj ji was
a pillar of strength to the hopeless
ones. His principal ship of the DAV
College in Lahore luckily placed him
April 2015
Mahatma Hans Raj
The real life story of relief
and rescue work done by
Hans Raj ji includes the
1895 famine of Bikaner,
Rajputana. To ward off the
Christian missionaries who
were hovering like vultures
to prey on the hapless
women and children of the
famine areas, Hans Raj ji
and his colleagues carried
on the relief work for over
two years. They succeeded
in their noble mission.
Many orphans were rescued
and sent to the Arya
orphanages at Agra,
Ferozepur, Bhivani etc.
in a position where he could muster
manpower and raise funds by making
public appeals. He commanded
respect in society owing to his
selflessness and devotion to duty.
He had the capacity and the
capability to motivate even the
unwilling souls. He could not only
take the horse to the water but make
him drink too.
How did he do it? A million dollar
question indeed. To answer it let us
take a look at the achievements
where his indomitable courage and
pro-active policy planning provided,
ipso facto, enlightened leadership. In
1922, Hans Raj ji's comrades-in-arms
succeeded in reconverting to the
Vedic dharma more than 2500 kerala
Hindus who had been forcibly made
Muslims in the Mopla rebellion. This
was done by Lala Khushal Chand and
Pandit Mastan Chand who had
opened relief camps under the
leadership of Hans Raj ji,
notwithstanding
adverse
circumstances.
The real life story of relief and
rescue work done by Hans Raj ji
includes the 1895 famine of Bikaner,
Rajputana. To ward off the Christian
missionaries who were hovering like
vultures to prey on the hapless
women and children of the famine
areas, Hans Raj ji and his colleagues
carried on the relief work for over
two years. They succeeded in their
noble mission. Many orphans were
rescued and sent to the Arya
orphanages at Agra, Ferozepur,
ARYAN HERITAGE : 5
■
Bhivani etc. Lala Lajpat Rai, the lion
of Punjab, played a leading and
effective role in the rescue campaign.
The tragic story repeated itself in
Jodhpur, the place in Rajputana where
Swami Dayanand Saraswati had been
poisoned in 1883. The Aryas under
the leadership of Hans Raj ji were
not found wanting in relief work. In
all 14,000 children were rescued and
admitted to the Arya orphanages for
healthy upbringing. Be it in Kangra
in 1905 or Quetta in 1935 or Bihar
in 1934, Hans Raj ji provided
courageous leadership to the relief
workers. Earlier Garhwal was no
exception.
Hans Raj ji, even before he
earned the loving and respectful
prefix `Mahatma' was a perfect
motivator of men par excellence. He
would achieve the unachievable
through perfect teamwork. Every
member of the team carried on his
duties assigned by Hans Raj ji as
if it was a struggle for his own
survival. A high degree of motivation
emanated from lack of fear. From
the DAV days, right from its inception
on the first of June in 1886 in the
Arya Samaj Lahore, Hans Raj ji had
learnt to treat his staff and students
as his own kith and kin. Boys of
DAV school and later of the DAV
College were treated like his own
sons, namely Balraj and Jodhraj,
irrespective of caste, creed or colour.
No wonder Sir Shahabuddin, Speaker
of the Punjab Legislative Assembly
of undivided India and an ex-DAV
School student spoke thus on the
demise of Mahatma Hans Raj ji:
``When my father died, I became
fatherless,
When my mother died, I became
motherless,
Today on the death of Lala Hans
Raj, I am
Reduced to the state of an
ORPHAN.''
6 : ARYAN HERITAGE
Hans Raj ji had a fine sense
of humour. The quality of
laughing at one's own self is
indeed a rare one. When
Mahashay Khushal Chand
advised him to get rid of his
old and torn pair of shoes,
Hans Raj ji quickly christened
it as his ``Satsangi shoes.''
When
the
mantle
of
Headmastership of the DAV school,
Lahore fell on the inexperienced
shoulders of the 22-year-old Hans Raj,
a fresh graduate with no teaching or
administrative experience, many a
doubting Thomas thought that the
DAV ship would sink right at the
launch. By sheer dint of merit, hard
work, faith in God and himself, Hans
Raj ji proved how wrong his detractors
were. Under his able leadership and
motivation, the DAV College would
pick up the gauntlet thrown by the
Government College, Lahore. Leaving
the Mission School miles behind,
DAV School breasted the tape first.
Coming out with flying colours, Hans
Raj ji always remembered to give
credit to his colleagues. In showering
praise, where it was due, he was
never stingy. It was a great motivating
factor indeed.
The Headmastership of the DAV
school and later the Principalship of
the DAV College, Lahore was no bed
of roses for Lala Hans Raj. In the
eyes of many Aryas, Pandit
Gurudutt, M.A. was a more deserving
candidate for the headship of the DAV
School. The raging controversy was
one of the major factors that led to
the vertical split of the Arya Pratinidhi
Sabha. There were personal attacks
on Hans Raj ji and he was dubbed
a meat-eater. But Lalaji took it with
equanimity of mind found in Rishis
and Mahatmas. He set an example
for his students in being ``unmoved''
and remain balanced and maintain
mental poise under adverse
circumstances. Even when his elder
son, Balraj was imprisoned for seven
years by the British government on
a trumped up charge of treason,
Hans Raj ji took it stoically. This
philosophy of life helped him in
remaining healthy for 74 years of his
life.
Hans Raj ji had a fine sense of
humour. The quality of laughing at
one's own self is indeed a rare one.
When Mahashay Khushal Chand
advised him to get rid of his old and
torn pair of shoes, Hans Raj ji quickly
christened it as his ``Satsangi shoes.''
He attended the Arya samaj satsang
without the fear of his shoes being
stolen because those were too
tattered to be stolen. On another
occasion when Lala Deevan Chand
(of DAV College Kanpur fame) who
lived near the Arya Samaj and yet
reached late for the Sunday satsang
Hans Raj ji quipped: ``nearer the
church, farther from heaven.''
Mahatma Hans Raj preached
well. He practiced what he preached.
``Sandhya''
(Vedic
prayer),
``Swadhyaya'' (self study), ``Samaj
Satsang'' (weekly religious session of
the Arya Samaj), ``Swadesh,'' (loyalty
to the motherland) and ``Sewa''
(service of man) were the five
precepts he lived by. He would
exercise his body through morning
walks and take an occasional break
by retreating to the hills. Mahatma
Hans Raj had unflinching faith in the
Vedic Dharm as propounded by
Swami Dayanand Saraswati. He lived
a full life, served the DAV institution
for 25 years without accepting a paisa
as pay and devoted another 25 years
to the service of mankind. Indeed
Lala Hans Raj was a Mahatma par
excellence who motivated men to
touch the sky with glory
❒
April 2015
■
Excerpts from the book 'Ved Vimarsh'
The Vedas
Dr. Ram Prakash
Member of the Parliament
I
n ancient times, humanity had only
one religion and one scripture - the Vedas. That alone gave the
guidelines for life and living. Then
the world was one family and Bharat
(India) was considered the world
teacher. This was the fountain spring
of all knowledge, science and its
spread. Even numerals were taught
to the world by Bharat. That is why
numerals were known as Hindse (from
Hind).
Times
changed.
Misinterpretations of the Vedas
started. Prejudiced eyes began to see
what did not exist in the Vedas; and
thus the teachings of the Vedas got
shrouded. Different people brought
forth their versions and so there was
complete fragmentation of the
humanity into various faiths and
sects. Inevitably the result was
mental tension, mutual hatred,
conflicts, and bloodshed.
Once again there are better
times. Enlightened people like Rishi
Dayananda (1824-1883) have
resurrected the Vedas and ushered
in a new era. He has put forth a
re-assertion that the Vedas are the
fountain spring of all true knowledge,
and so urged for a return to the Vedic
knowledge and way of life. His work
on the essence of the Vedas
deserves to be ascribed in golden
letters. Not withstanding Rishi
Dayananda's contribution, the
ambiguities about the Vedas -- some
deliberate and some because of
ignorance still persist. Therefore, it
is but appropriate to dilate on certain
basic questions.
April 2015
Need for Revelation
How does man acquire
knowledge? Philosophers have given
a lot of thought to this. According
to some western philosophers, man
acquires knowledge spontaneously
and for this he needs no help. Many
among these regard empiricism as
the fountain-head of knowledge.
According to Locke, however, mind
is like a blank paper and knowledge
is acquired through sensation and
reflection. Berkeley and Hume have
also endorsed this view. But if it is
accepted that mind is like a blank
sheet, then it becomes nonfunctional. This is a psychological
fallacy because mind is dynamic and
every second thought arise.
Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz
attribute knowledge to reason. On the
other hand, Aldous Huxley concludes
that "Rationalism itself is not a
perfect instrument for the
understanding of life." The German
philosopher Kant feels that
empiricism and mind alone are not
competent in themselves to give
knowledge about proper conduct.
Rishi Dayananda resurrected
the Vedas and ushered in a new
era. He has put forth a reassertion that the Vedas are the
fountain spring of all true
knowledge, and so urged for a
return to the Vedic knowledge
and way of life. His work on the
essence of the Vedas deserves to
be ascribed in golden letters.
In fact, these views are only
partially correct. Without a teacher,
one cannot acquire knowledge. The
following observations authenticate
this view:
1. Today man has acquired
enough knowledge to go to the moon
but at the same time there are people
from the Nigrota community in
Andaman who are incapable of even
counting. Those who could count upto
ten are considered knowledgeable
about numbers. But excavations have
yielded iron implements proving that
those people were not always
ignorant. They were civilized people
at one time and their present
condition is because of the absence
of a teacher. Therefore, Rishi
Dayananda has rightly observed in
Rigvedadibhashya-bhumika
(Vedotpatti Vishya): " At the
beginning of the creation if God had
not preached the Vedas, then till date
none would have had the real
knowledge of religious matters."
2. When A.W. Kinglake was
passing through the deserts of Egypt,
he met a man named Sheikh who
was not aware that time has been
divided into hours, minutes and
seconds. Nobody had ever told him
this.
3. The offspring of even
multilingual parents cannot learn any
language spontaneously without a
teacher. They have to be taught.
Therefore schools are established to
educate the children. It is thus
evident that mere experience and
wisdom are no substitute for a
teacher, in acquiring knowledge.
ARYAN HERITAGE : 7
■
4. That knowledge cannot be
acquired without a teacher is also
born out by the fact that no illiterate
person has ever made a scientific
discovery.
5. In the first decade of twentieth
century, a boy named Sammu was
born in Ambala district of the present
day Haryana state. He was sent to
school to learn Urdu. He had just
learnt the alphabets that a person
from the author's ancestral village
Tangore (district Kurukshetra) took
him in as a servant. He was kept
there like an animal. He was
deliberately deprived of all knowledge
and was made to act like an animals.
Later, Sammu remained a servant for
years in a nearby village ( Jharoli
Khurd). Members of his employer's
family were high officers in police and
army but Sammu was taught nothing
and he used to go round practically
naked. He would even urinate where
ever he was sleeping. He did not
know the name of his employer or
his village. He was virtually an animal
in human garb.
6. In order to know the real
language of man, king Asur Banipal
of Syria, king Semetical of
Alexandria, king Fredrick Second,
James the Fourth of Scotland and
Akbar put recently born children under
the charge of dumb nurses in the
forests. These children could not learn
anything except the sign language.
After these experiments, these kings
came to the conclusion that there
can be no knowledge without a
teacher.
It is, therefore, clear that man
has the capability of imbibing failing
which Sammu would not have learnt
Urdu alphabets but in the beginning
a teacher is essential. Of course after
some initial learning, knowledge can
be expanded through wisdom and
experience. As no germination is
possible without a seed, so
knowledge must precede experience.
Thus Dr. Russell Wallace writes :
"There is, therefore, no proof of
continuously increasing intellectual
8 : ARYAN HERITAGE
power."
At the beginning of the universe,
in the absence of a structured
knowledge in human beings, God
himself gives enlightenment for
human welfare. As God has granted
the sun to aid the eyes, similarly for
wisdom, knowledge was provided. As
every artisan gives instruction about
the use of things made by him,
similarly it is essential that in the
beginning of the creation, knowledge
should be imparted by God about the
use of things created by him. God
is just, therefore it is important that
man must be made clear about sins
and good deeds so that he has an
explanation of reward or punishment
according to karma. God gives
knowledge of all this through the
Vedas.
Certain philosophers have also
felt the need of revelation. According
to Plato: "We will wait for one, be
he a God or an inspired man to
instruct in religious duties and to take
away the darkness from our eyes."2
Kant says : "We may well concede
that if the Gospel had not previously
taught the universal moral laws in
their full purity, reason would not
yet have attained so perfect an
insight of them." In fact the
knowledge required for attaining
moksha cannot be acquired only
through soul and nature. God's
guidance is required for the same.
Patanjali in his Yogasutra (I.26)
declares God as the first teacher of
all the teachers:
â °cæ Âêßcüð ææ×ç »éL Ñ ·¤æÜðÙæÙß‘ÀUÎð æÌ÷Ð
Identification of Revelation
All faiths consider their religious
books as the revealed scriptures.
But by simply saying so, nothing is
proved.
Üÿæ‡æÂý×æ‡ææ•Øæ¢ ßSÌéçâçfÑ Ù Ìé ÂýçÌ™ææ
×æ˜æð‡æÐ
In order to arrive at a conclusion,
the scholars depend on the following
criteria:
1. Revelation should be at the
inception of the universe because no
system can run without knowledge.
Furthermore, if God gives his
knowledge after the elapse of some
time, it is injustice to the ignorant.
Therefore, the German poet Goethe
has aptly said that God revealed His
knowledge during the dawn of the
universe.
Koran and Bible are relatively
recent. The Vedas are the most
ancient. Those belonging to other
religions also accept this reality.
MaxMuller says : "The Vedas may
be called primitive, because there
is no other literary document more
primitive than it...no one would
venture to measure in years." "In
the Aryan world, Veda is certainly
the oldest book." Another western
thinker has remarked that the Hindu
scripture, Rigveda, is the oldest
book in the world. Professor Heeren
asserts : "The Vedas are without
doubt the oldest works composed
in Sanskrit. ...Even the most
ancient Sanskrit writings allude to
the Vedas as already existing."
Endorsing this view, Rev. Morris
Philip records: "After the latest
researches into the history and
chronology of books of Old
Testament, we may safely now call
the Rigveda as the oldest book,
not only of the Aryan race but of
the whole world."
2. Revelation can only be at
the beginning of the universe.
Therefore, there can be no history
in it. But in the Bible, there is the
history of the Jews of Palestine
and the Koran is full of the scenes
of Arabia and stories of Adam,
Jesus, Moses and David etc. The
Vedas are the only one which have
no history of any country or race
or times. No doubt Vishvamitra,
Vasishtha, Urvashi and such words
do find mention in the Vedas.
Consequently, western writers have
made an attempt to impose history
on the Vedas. This is an obsession
with certain Indian writers also. The
fact, however, is that in due course
of time, many things have been
April 2015
■
named after the words occuring in
the Vedas. But to build history on
seeing these names in the Vedas
is not valid. It would be as absurd
as some body called Ram Chander
today claiming that Dasharatha
named his son after him millions
of years ago, and Ramayana is only
about him! As a matter of fact,
these words that occur in the Vedas
are neither proper nouns nor
descriptive of individuals but
connote certain attributes because
ÌÚU (comparative degree) and Ì×
(superlative degree) can be suffixed
only with adjectives and such words
occur very often in the Vedas such
as ·¤‡ßÌ× (Rig. I.48.4, X.115.5) and
§‹¼ýÌ× (Rig. I.182.2). Had Kanva and
Indra been proper nouns, Ì×
(superlative degree) could not have
been suffixed.
Some words have been used in
different mantras with different
meanings. As an illustration, take
the word Vasishtha. It occurs a
number of times in the Vedas. For
example :
àæÌ¢ Øæ •æðcæÁæçÙ Ìð âãUâý¢ ⢻ÌæçÙ ¿Ð
ŸæðD×æâýæß•æðcæÁ¢ ßçâDï¢ ÚUæð»ÙæàæÙ×÷ÐÐ
—Atharv., 6.44.2
"Out of the hundreds and thousands
of medicines available, the best and
curative is chulana". Here the word
Vasishtha does not denote an
individual but it is the name of a
herb. In the 54th mantra of the 13th
chapter of Yajurveda, Vasishtha
means prana (breath ). In Shatpatha
Brahmana (VIII.1.1.6) also, this
word has been used in this sense:
Âýæ‡ææð ßñ ßçâDïU «¤çcæÑ meaning breath is
Vasishtha rishi . In one of the
mantras of Rigveda (VII.33.11),
Vasishtha indicates water.
Many words denote different
things in different contexts. A word
having different meanings is the
embellishment of language. These
words are yaugika and not laukika
or rurhi. These have contextual
meaning. Their real sense is
understood by considering their root
meaning. This cannot be treated as
April 2015
an evidence of history in the Vedas.
Even MaxMuller who holds the
opposite view about the Vedas had
to admit that "Names are to be
found in the Vedas as it were in a
still fluid state. They never appear
as appellatives, nor yet as proper
nouns."
3. Revelation is for the intellect
(wisdom). Therefore, it should
conform to the principles of wisdom.
The light of revelation is for unveiling
the mysteries of creation. Therefore
it should not clash with the principles
of the universe. Admittedly, only that
book of geography is the best which
is according to the geography.
In the Bible, many things are
contrary to wisdom and the
principles of creation. That is the
basis of conflict between science
and Christianity. One shudders to
think of the atrocities perpetrated
on the scientists whose researches
were not in conformity with the
Bible. There is no mention of
America in the Bible. Therefore, the
king of Portugal did not give any
aid to Columbus for the discovery
of America. According to the Bible,
the earth is flat and stationary, and
the sun revolves. Contrary to this,
science has proved that the earth
is round and revolves round the
sun.Italian mathematician and
physicist Galileo (1564-1642) was
persecuted by the Inquisition for his
opinion that the sun and not the
earth, was the centre of the
planetary world. He was sentenced
to rigorous imprisonment for ten
years. He died in jail. Poor Bruno
was sprinkled with oil and burnt to
death on 16th February, 1600. After
hearing the Inquisition verdict,
Bruno, however, smiled and said
: " It is with greater fear that you
pass sentence upon me rather than
I receive it."
Similarly Koran (Manzil 3,
Sipara 13, Surat 13, Ayat 2, 3,
17, 26) makes an interesting
reading. Here "God is the one who
hath raised the sky without pillars,
you can see it. Then stayed in
heaven, He made sun and moon
do his bidding. It is He who hath
laid the earth. He causeth water to
descend from heavan and the
rivulets flow according to their
respective measures." Several such
instances may be quoted. There is
nothing against logic and laws of
nature in the Vedas. Rishi Kanada
rightly says in Vaisheshika
Darshana (6.1.1) :
ÕéçfÂêßæü ßæ€Ø·ëë¤çÌßðüÎðÐ
Take an example. The Vedas assert
that the earth revolves round the sun.
Yajurveda (III.6) says :
¥æØ¢ »æñÑ ÂëçàÙÚU·ý¤×èÎâ΋×æÌÚ¢U ÂéÚUÑÐ çÂÌÚU¢U
¿ ÂýØ‹ˆSßÑH
In the eighth chapter of Satyarth
Prakash, Rishi Dayananda quoting
this evidence from the Vedas,
has written : "This hemisphere
alongwith water goes on revolving
round the sun in the sky.
Therefore the earth revolves."
Dayananda has translated gau (U»æñ)
into earth (U•æê ç ×) according to
Nirukta and Nighantu.
»æñçÚçÌ Âëç‰æÃØæ Ùæ׊æðØ×÷ ØÎ÷ÎêÚU¢ »Ìæ •æßçÌ,
Ø“ææSØæ¢ •æêÌæçÙ »‘ÀUç‹ÌÐ
—Nirukta, 2.5
»æñçÚUçÌ Âëç‰æßè Ùæ×âé ÂçÆUÌ×÷
—Nighantu, 1.1
Mahatma Devi Chand has
translated this mantra as under :
"The earth revolves in the space. It
revolves with its mother, water in its
orbit. It moves round its father, the
sun." Thus both rotation and
revolution of the earth are explained
in this mantra.
The same fact is stated in a few
more mantras. Atharvaveda
(12.1.52) says :
ßcæðü‡æ •æêç×Ñ Âëç‰æßè ßëÌæßëÌæ
"In one year, the earth completes its
revolution."
Consequently, W.D. Brown
has rightly said : "It is a thoroughly
scientific religion,where religion
and science meet hand in hand.
Here Theology is based upon
science and Philosophy."
❒
to be continued in next issue...
ARYAN HERITAGE : 9
■
Excerpts from book 'Mahatma Hans Raj'
A Period of Trial
Sri Ram Sharma
H
ardly had Lala Hans Raj
enjoyed his two years of wellearned repose from the cares
of office when he was called upon
to pass through a period of trial such
as falls to the lot of very few persons.
It was then that even those who had
known him intimately before, fully
realized the gigantic stature of his
personality.
On February 19, 1914, while his
son Lala Balraj was visiting Mr.
Khushi Ram, a class fellow of his,
the Punjab Police came to search
Mr. Khushi Ram’s room at 10 P.M.
Balraj’s presence there was duly
noted, though he was allowed to leave
his friend’s room, who was arrested.
Their curiosity roused, the Police
came next morning to search the
portion occupied by Balraj in his
father’s house. They seemed to be
in search of some papers. Not a
scrap of incriminating material was
found. The Police, however, arrested
Balraj and took him away.
Rather foolishly, as even their
own presentation of the case was
to prove later on, the Police decided
to search the entire house occupied
by Lala Hans Raj. Their failure to
find any suspicious material in Lala
Hans Raj’s room caused the Police
to carry out their search of Lala Hans
Raj’s house in a rather stupid manner.
So zealous were they in the
discharge of their duties that they
carried away all the copies of the
Punjab University Calendar in its
various editions. They carried their
sacrilege to the extent of removing
all the religious books of Lala Hans
10 : ARYAN HERITAGE
Mahatama Hans Raj
The Police decided to search the
entire house occupied by Lala
Hans Raj. Their failure to find
any suspicious material in Lala
Hans Raj’s room caused the
Police to carry out their search
of Lala Hans Raj’s house in a
rather stupid manner. So
zealous were they in the
discharge of their duties that
they carried away all the copies
of the Punjab University
Calendar in its various editions.
They carried their sacrilege to
the extent of removing all the
religious books of Lala Hans
Raj, including the copies of the
most sacred of the Hindu
scriptures, the Vedas
Raj, including the copies of the most
sacred of the Hindu scriptures, the
Vedas. Thus they made up for their
failure in recovering anything even
faintly bearing on the case by the
cartload of material which they
removed from the house.
Balraj was prosecuted for being
a member of a conspiracy to commit
murder, organised by Rash Behari
Bose in the Punjab. Arrested on
February 21, Lala Balraj was brought
before the District Magistrate on
March 4, who gave the Police another
fortnight for completing their enquiries
and fixed March 19 for the hearing
of the case. While arrangements were
being made for his defence at Lahore,
Lala Hans Raj learnt on March 15,
that his son along with other accused
in the case, had been taken to Delhi
by the Police. The Crown had applied
to the Chief Court for transfer of the
case to Delhi. The court, without
either informing the accused or
allowing their legal advisers to oppose
the application, transferred the case
to Delhi. On March 17, the accused
were produced before Mr. V.
Connolly, First Class Magistrate of
Delhi. Naturally the accused could
take no part in the proceedings
without the presence of their legal
advisers, who knew nothing about the
transfer of the case from Lahore to
Delhi. The case was then adjourned
to March 24. In this way Lala Hans
Raj learnt that his son was being tried
at Delhi. Finding the Punjab Police
moving so mysteriously, Lala Hans
Raj put in an application for the
retransfer of the case to Lahore
April 2015
■
before the Chief Court on March 20.
The Government Advocate was
informed and allowed to oppose the
application. The Chief Court after
hearing both sides refused to order
the retransfer of the case to Lahore.
On March 24, the preliminary hearing
of the case was commenced before
Mr. Connolly at Delhi.
On April 30, after a continuous
hearing for over five weeks, the
Crown closed its case. Naturally the
accused reserved their defence for
the Sessions. The Government
Advocate submitted that Balraj and
certain other accused should be
committed to the Sessions to take
their trial for sedition. Accordingly on
May 12, the magistrate pronounced
orders committing the accused. On
May 21, the case began before Mr.
Harrison, Special Sessions Judge.
On July 4, matters took a
sensational and cruel turn. As the
court was about to rise for the day
the defence received a telegram from
Lala Hans Raj who was then at
Lahore, that Lala Balraj’s mother was
on her death-bed. An application for
bail was put in on behalf of Lala Balraj
to enable him to visit his dying
mother. This was rejected, but
Sessions Judge gave orders that Lala
Balraj might be taken to Lahore under
Police custody and allowed to see
his mother. This was communicated
to Lala Hans Raj by telegram; he
accepted the arrangement even
though it was feared that this meeting
between a dying mother and a
handcuffed son could not be
productive of much good to her dying
soul.
As Lala Hans Raj sat waiting by
the death-bed of his wife, cheering
her up by the news that she might
be able to meet her son any moment,
another telegram arrived which
dashed all these hopes to the ground.
The Police reported to the Sessions
Judge that it could not make adequate
arrangements for taking Lala Balraj
to Lahore, meeting his mother for a
few minutes and bringing him back.
April 2015
Whether it feared that the train on
which Lala Balraj was to be taken
would be dynamited or an attempt
made to rescue him at Lala Hans
Raj’s residence has never been
disclosed. The Sessions Judge
cancelled his previous orders, and
Lala Hans Raj was informed by
telegram, that Lala Balraj would not
be allowed to see his dying mother.
The might of the British Empire in
India failed before such small
contingency as the movement of a
prisoner from Delhi to Lahore.
Shrimati Thakur Devi died on July
7, in the early hours of the morning.
The case pursued its weary
course. On August 6, the prosecution
closed its case. On August 27, Mr.
M.E. Norton, who had acquired an allIndia reputation as a great criminal
lawyer, started arguing the case on
behalf of Lala Balraj. He urged that
the prosecution had failed to prove
Lala Balraj’s complicity in any act of
conspiracy. All that it had been able
to establish was the innocuous fact,
that he knew one of the accused.
On September 1, the assessors
were asked to give their opinion in
the case. The Punjab system in
criminal cases is a sorry travesty of
the British trial by jury. There are
usually three assessors. They give
an opinion, rather than a verdict on
the evidence which has been laid
before them. The opinion again is
personal and individual and not
collective. One of the assessors
pronounced Lala Balraj guilty whereas
two declared him innocent. The
Sessions Judge fixed October 5, for
pronouncing the judgment. He
sentenced
Lala
Balraj
to
transportation for life along with two
other accused, while three more were
sentenced to death.
The Chief Court held “It is not
clearly proved that he was a member
of the conspiracy prior to the date
on which Ram Padarath was
murdered”, though the court found it
“satisfactorily established that he was
a member of the conspiracy”—”and
was actively connected with the
distribution of the Liberty leaflets”. His
conviction under Section 302 and
120-B was quashed but under
Sections 302 and 109 of the Indian
Penal Code, he was awarded the
maximum sentence awardable under
that Section, that of seven years’
rigorous imprisonment. Mr. M.E.
Norton had early foreseen this and
had advised his client to take his
case to the Privy Council where, he
had assured him, he would certainly
be acquitted. The outbreak of the
Great War, however, made this
doubtful and consequently no appeal
was referred before the Privy Council.
Lala Hans Raj during this year
of trial displayed an evenness of
temper, and unruffled spirit, which no
earthly trouble seemed able to
disturb. He seemed to have been
specially selected for trials this year.
Lala Balraj was being tried in a case
where he might have been sentenced
to death. His wife became seriously
ill and died while the case was still
being heard. His elder brother Lala
Mulkraj was caught in the financial
crisis created by the banking crash
of 1913 in the Punjab following the
failure of the People’s Bank. Thus
when Lala Hans Raj needed his help
most his brother found himself
financially embarrassed. To crown all
came the illness of his younger son,
Yodhraj, who developed pneumonia
in November, 1915.
All these trials, however, left Lata
Hans Raj unmoved. This was not the
cold passivity of a lifeless stone but
an exhibition at its highest of that
dhairya (patience) about which Hindu
scriptures speak so much. Here was
another Ram Chandra, undaunted in
the face of the gravest calamity. When
Lala Balraj was arrested the tender
heart of his mother took it very
seriously and she went into hysterics.
Lala Hans Raj calmly told her that
if she continued like that his attention
would be distracted from the defence
of their son, who would probably have
to suffer the consequence of her lack
ARYAN HERITAGE : 11
■
of self-control. Like a wise woman
she accepted the inevitable and
never gave Lala Hans Raj another
anxious moment on account of her
distress for her son.
On another occasion it was his
eldest daughter who failed to
understand the purpose behind it
all—this trial of a modern Jonah by
too irate a Jehovah. Tried beyond
endurance by the death of her mother
under such tragic circumstances, the
serious illness of her younger brother,
and the prosecution of Lala Balraj
on so serious a charge, she broke
down and cried out, “But, does God
exist?” Lala Hans Raj, whom nothing
else had upset during the course of
his trials, could not endure this
blasphemy and rebuked her in tones
which only a mind in tune with the
Infinite could adopt.
As a close observer of his in
those days recently remarked, Lala
Hans Raj seemed to be studying the
case of his son as a lawyer does
that of a client or a specialist that
of a patient. Except when he was
at Delhi, he went on discharging all
his multifarious public duties
scrupulously. Relatives, friends and
admirers came from all corners of
the country to express their
sympathies with him. Instead of a
man stricken down with grief, they
found him going about his usual work
with that calm which is the sign of
a mind at peace with his Maker. They
were some time allowed no
opportunity to express their
sympathy. Try as they could, he
would sidetrack them by his usual
inquiries public and private. When he
was returning from Delhi after hearing
that the Magistrate had committed
his son to the Sessions, Lala Radha
Ram, an old friend of his, met him
at the Railway Station at Jullundur
and successfully persuaded him to
break his journey there. All the
evening they went on discussing a
hundred and one things in which they
were interested. Neither by his tone
nor by his expression, let alone by
12 : ARYAN HERITAGE
If you are guilty, you should
purge your guilt by undergoing
the punishment that has been
awarded to you.
direct speech did he allow his friends
to learn that Lala Balraj had been
committed to the Sessions. It was
only the next morning, when he had
left Jullundur, that they learnt the dire
news in the newspapers.
Many of his old students,
colleagues and admirers felt that they
owed it to themselves, if not to him
to help him financially at this crisis
in his life. To some of them he had
given a helping hand when he was
the Principal. Others felt they owed
him a debt of gratitude if not for
personal favours, at least for his
public service. The case soon
became a cause celebre and they
felt that his son needed the best legal
advice that could be secured in the
country. They were prepared to pool
their resources and place any amount
of money at his disposal for the
defence of his son. But he would
have none of it. While one of his
old students, then a young lawyer,
went to Calcutta to engage Mr. C.R.
Dass, a brother lawyer in the High
Court of Calcutta suggested that they
could raise enough money to conduct
the case whether Lala Hans Raj was
willing or not. Large funds for the
defence of similar cases had been
raised in Bengal. Lala Diwan Chand
told him in reply that if they collected
money themselves and engaged an
eminent lawyer, Lala Hans Raj would
instruct his son to refuse to give the
lawyer any instructions and thus
create a deadlock.
He gratefully accepted the offer
of Pundit Lakhpat Rai and Hon’ble
Lala Kanshi Ram to conduct the case
without charging any fees. Friends
as they were, Lala Hans Raj felt that
it would not be proper to refuse the
handsome offer they were making.
Under Sir Michael O’Dwyer to defend
a case of this type was frowned on
in the Punjab. To defend an accused
seemed to be equivalent to
sympathizing with the crime with
which he stood charged. When Lala
Kanshi Ram met the Lieutenant
Governor during the course of the
trial, Sir Michael tried to impress upon
him the enormity of his offence in
undertaking to defend Lala Balraj.
Fortunately Lala Kanshi Ram was
made of sterner stuff and refused to
accept the gratuitous advice of the
Lieutenant Governor.
After Balraj had been convicted,
he was told that he should seek for
pardon which would, it was promised,
be readily granted. When he refused,
it was suggested that he should
consult his father before he gave his
final answer. Lala Balraj agreed and
forwarded the offer to his father.
Promptly came the reply, “If you are
guilty, you should purge your guilt
by undergoing the punishment that
has been awarded to you. If you are
not guilty, the Government should let
you off without your asking for
pardon.” There was no arguing with
this answer.
As an under-trial prisoner, Balraj
was allowed to receive food and fruit
from outside. Some fruit was,
therefore, brought to Balraj; but he
refused to accept it, declaring that
he would soon have to do without
it as a convict. Lala Hans Raj at
once replied, “Enjoy the gifts of God,
my son, when you have them. But
do not get so much immersed in them
as to yearn for them when you don’t
get them.”
Even the death of his wife on
July 7, 1914 failed to shake his
equanimity. Ever since her marriage,
she had proved herself a true
helpmate to Lala Hans Raj in his
work. She became a leader of the
women’s section of the Arya Samaj
at Lahore, serving as its President
for several years.
It was, however, in the
management of her household and
the bringing up of her children that
she displayed her finest qualities. To
April 2015
■
run the household of a College on
an allowance which ranged between
Rs. 40 and Rs. 100 a month was
not an easy task. There were visitors
to be received, guests to be
entertained, and other expenses to
be incurred in connection with various
affairs of the family. It was very
much due to her careful management
that Lala Hans Raj never had an
occasion to regret the step that he
had taken so early in youth—a step
which led him not only to renounce
the riches of the world but to be
dependent on his brother for all his
needs.
When Lala Balraj was arrested,
she had been ailing for some time.
His arrest on a charge, which might
result in a sentence of death, proved
too much for her. She ceased to fight
for her life. Lala Hans Raj had to
leave the defence of his son in the
hands of his legal advisers at Delhi,
in order to be near her during her
last days. When the rush of visitors
slackened a little, in the afternoon
or in the evening, Lala Hans Raj used
to read the Bhagvad Gita and
expound it to her.
The last hours of her life were
embittered by the non-fulfillment of
her desire to have a last glimpse of
her son Balraj. She breathed her last
in the early hours of July 7. Her
funeral procession, followed by such
a large number of men and woman
of all communities, was as Lahore
had seldom seen before.
Out of his trials and tribulations
emerged a Hans Raj which not even
his friends had known before. The
widespread sympathy which he
received from all corners of the
country and from quarters which had
never taken notice of either Lala Hans
Raj or his activities formed a
testimony to the silent work that he
had been doing in remaking the
Punjab. Friends and foes alike
discovered in him a man who
compelled—nay extorted—admiration,
for the very simple reason that he
did not seem to care for it.
❑
April 2015
Yoga keeps Si2 team
in fine fettle
Sandeep Joshi
Solar Impulse 2 (Si2), the
world’s only fully solar-powered
aircraft that took off from India for
Myanmar recently, has a special
Indian connection — yoga.
“I was introduced to yoga and
meditation 20 years ago when I
visited Rishikesh [in Uttarakhand]
with my wife ... Yoga and meditation is what helps me going when
I am alone in the cockpit flying nonstop for days and hours,” said Swiss
pilot Andre Borschberg, who is the
project’s co-founder. Mr. Borschberg
flew the Si2 from Ahmedabad to
Varanasi in 13 hours.
The project’s chairman, Bertrand
Piccard, who flew the aircraft from
here to Mandalay, too relies on
yoga. So does the 70-strong Si2
team. Yoga, meditation and
pranayam (breathing exercises)
keep them going in their endeavour
to circumnavigate the globe covering 36,000 km in the solar-powered
plane fitted with more than 17,000
solar cells, Mr. Borschberg says.
“Yoga and meditation gives us
balance and keeps us in the right
state of mind, which is very crucial
when you are on such a difficult
mission,” he says. “While flying
alone [Si2 has a single-pilot cockpit], we have to stay awake for
days and hours ... The challenge
is to maintain the right mental
attitude and keep thinking right and
be ourselves, and yoga helps me
in that. Though the cockpit is not
big enough, I still do yoga and
meditation to keep fit, aware and
awake.”
On Si2’s special connection
with Varanasi, Mr. Borschberg says
the world’s oldest living city was
one of the first chosen for stopovers during the aircraft’s journey.
By choosing the Indian cities of
Ahmedabad and Varanasi for pit
stops, the Si2 team wanted to mix
modernity with spirituality.
“I came to Varanasi two decades ago ... For me, revisiting
Varanasi is like a spiritual journey,
and we wanted to make it part of
the human adventure that we have
undertaken,” he says.
While promotion of solar energy is the most important objective of the $150-million project, the
Si2 team highlights several small
but key innovations used in the
aircraft.
(The Hindu)
ARYAN HERITAGE : 13
■
Remembering Shaheed Mahashay Rajpal on the 86th anniversary of his martyrdom
Lest We Forget
Meera Johri
M
any men and women have
made stellar contributions to
the furthering the cause of
Arya Samaj and society at large for
which they are remembered. Among
them the contribution of Mahashay
Rajpal is unique as his martyrdom
is cited as the first in the global fight
to uphold man's fundamental right
to freedom of expression. And when
today, a call to ban films, books,
theatre becoming an almost regular
feature of our society, it is important
to remember and recount the life of
the first torch-bearer in the continuing
struggle to uphold man's right to
freedom of thought, speech and
publication.
Born in 1885 into an ordinary
middle class family in Amritsar,
Mahashay Rajpal was compelled to
take on the mantle of the provider
for his family at the age of 15, when
his father left home one day, never
to return. Somehow he managed to
complete his schooling, and started
learning the craft of "quitabat" ( Urdu
calligraphy ) for the printing of Urdu
books to sustain his family of mother,
younger brother and mother's sister.
It was Rajpal's first exposure to the
world of books, beyond the narrow
confines of the textbooks of his
school. As his hands concentrated
on perfecting Urdu characters, his
young mind absorbed the contents
of what the words were conveying.
But working for long hours at a
stretch, hunched over a low wooden
table under the smelly light of a
kerosene lamp, began to take a toll
on his health. So he took on the
14 : ARYAN HERITAGE
Mahashay Rajpal
The contribution of
Mahashay Rajpal is unique
as his martyrdom is cited as
the first in the global fight
to uphold man's
fundamental right to
freedom of expression. And
when today, a call to ban
films, books, theatre
becoming an almost regular
feature of our society, it is
important to remember and
recount the life of the first
torch-bearer in the
continuing struggle to
uphold man's right to
freedom of thought, speech
and publication.
job of an assistant in the clinic of
the renowned specialist of Unani
medicine, Hakim Fateh Chand, where
he was assigned the duty of
manually pounding local herbs and
plants to formulate Unani medicines.
The Hakim was an active member
of the Arya Samaj in Amritsar and
also had a small bookshop
specialising in books dealing with
Ayurveda, Unani medicine, spirituality
and Vedic literature. It was here that
Rajpal was exposed to the thoughts
and ideals of Arya Samaj which was
to have a lifelong influence on him.
Seeing Rajpal's sincerity, the Hakim
put him in charge of the bookshop
which was frequented by leaders of
the Arya Samaj. One such leader
was Swami Shradhanand ji , who was
beginning to gather reputation as an
emerging voice of Arya Samaj.
Impressed by Rajpal, Swami
Shradhanandji offered him the job of
an editorial assistant in his weekly
Urdu paper Sat Dharam Prachark.
Accepting the offer, at the age of
21, Rajpal moved to Jullundur from
where the paper was published. For
two years he worked under the
guidance of Swami Shradhanand ji,
helping to increase the circulation of
the paper. He also learnt Hindi, as
Swamiji wanted the paper to be
published in Hindi.
Mahashay Krishan , foundereditor of the renowned Urdu paper,
Pratap was on the look-out for a
suitable person to run a new paper,
Prakash, which he wanted to launch.
Hearing of Mahashay Rajpal, he met
him and asked him to come to Lahore
April 2015
■
and join him.
Moving to Lahore was a turning
point in Mahashay Rajpal's life.
Bustling with commerce as well as
buzzing with intellectual activity,
Lahore provided him an opportunity
to meet people from diverse
backgrounds and broaden his
horizons. The same year witnessed
the arrest of 80 Arya Samajis, by
the then Maharaja of Patiala, on the
charge of causing sedition. Rajpal
wrote a series of articles condemning
these arrests and stoutly defending
the Arya Samajis. Around the same
time, national leader Lala Lajpat Rai
was put in jail and sent to exile. This
enraged the Indians. Reflecting the
anger of the people, Rajpal wielded
his pen writing scathing accounts of
the British government. People in
Punjab came to recognise the brave
and courageous voice of this young
Arya Samaji. Rajpal was slowly but
surely building a reputation for himself
as a fearless editor and writer who
would brook no compromises with
truth and justice.
Coming to Lahore had
considerably broadened Rajpal's
horizons, and he now wanted to start
something on his own. The only world
he knew was that of books and to
get into the business of publishing
books seemed like the most logical
next step. He well understood the
importance of books as an effective
instrument for bringing about change
in people's lives. The people were
chafing under the British rule, and
beginning to agitate for freedom.
Rajpal could envision the growing
demand for books, especially those
catering to the social and political
aspirations of the people. He was well
versed in Urdu, Hindi , his mother
tongue Punjabi and English, and
could visualise how he could use this
multi-lingual skill to provide
meaningful and uplifting books to the
people in their own mother tongue.
But book publishing, like any other
business, needs capital to start with.
Rajpal had no money. He went to
April 2015
While busy tending to his
growing business of book
publishing, Rajpal was equally
active in the affairs of Arya
Samaj. Every evening he would
go to Gurudutt Bhavan which
served as the local Arya Samaj
office in Lahore, contributing
and taking active part in its
activities.
Mahashay Krishan, who had
come to treat him like a younger
brother, and requested him to loan
him the initial capital. Believing fully
in the integrity and capability of
Rajpal, Mahashay Krishan readily
agreed.
With this borrowed seed capital,
Rajpal started his publishing in Lahore
under the name of "Arya Pustakalya".
Simultaneously he also published
books under the name, "Saraswati
Ashram". In 1912 he also started
publishing books under the name
"Rajpal & Sons". The books he
published focused mainly on social
issues, spirituality, biographies of
patriots and national heroes, and
books on Arya Samaj and those
pertaining to Vedic literature. He
published books in Hindi, Urdu,
English and Gurmukhi. The books
that he published were reflective of
his thinking and his courage of
conviction. In the conservative
society of the 1920s he dared to
publish a book on birth control and
the translation of Married Love , a
book on the subject of sex in
marriage and which was initially
banned by the US government. He
had a progressive outlook and was
forward looking, not only in the matter
of the subject matter of the books
that he published, but also in the
matter of the physical quality. The
books would be printed in Allahabad
in the "Indian Press" which was
considered the best printing press of
the time. He would get renowned
artists to design the covers of the
books. The stickler for quality that
he was, he would himself read the
proofs of all the books so as to
ensure that there was no mistake of
spelling or grammar. Rajpal would
bring the proofs home, and after
dinner he would sit on his charpoy
and correct the proofs late into the
night.
While busy tending to his growing
business of book publishing, Rajpal
was equally active in the affairs of
Arya Samaj. Every evening he would
go to Gurudutt Bhavan which served
as the local Arya Samaj office in
Lahore, contributing and taking active
part in its activities. Sometimes he
would take his two oldest sons along.
He would regularly participate in the
annual anniversaries of the two local
Arya Samajs of Lahore where he
would set up a book stall to display
and sell his books. Rajpal would pack
his books and take them to Gurukul
kangri near Haridwar during the
several festive occasions organised
there. His book shop in Lahore
became the meeting point of Arya
Samaj leaders and intellectuals.
1919 witnessed the horrific
massacre of Jallianwala Bagh in
Amritsar. Mahashay Rajpal published
Punjab Beeti Ya Punjab Hatya kand
written by Dr. Satyapal, an important
political leader of those times,
detailing the gory details of the
massacre. The Punjab government
proscribed the book, but under
pressure from media, allowed its sale.
Rajpal also published Bhai
Parmanand's nationalistic history of
India called Twarikh-e-Hind which
was banned by the British
government. Around the same time,
two books which had disparaging
content about the Bhagwad Gita and
Lord Krishna, were published This
created tension between Hindus and
Muslims in Punjab and other
surrounding areas. As a rejoinder, a
book called Rangeela Rasul, was
written by the well known Sanskrit
ARYAN HERITAGE : 15
■
scholar, Pandit Champupati who
approached Mahashay Rajpal with the
proposal to publish it. But for reasons
best known to him, he told Rajpal
that his name as author would not
be printed on the book and not
revealed to anyone. Accordingly, the
book was published and in place of
the author's name the phrase Doodh
ka doodh aur paani ka paani was
given. The book was based on
studies by European scholars on the
life of Prophet Muhammad. It
presented a satirical account of the
several marriages of the Prophet
which extolled the readers to follow
the Prophet's teachings but not his
personal practises. Published in 192324, the book did not elicit any
reaction from the readers. But when
Mahatama Gandhi wrote about it in
his Young India magazine, it aroused
strong reactions from the fringe
fanatic element in the Muslim
community. A series of articles in
the Urdu newspaper, Zamindar , urged
its readers to take action against this
book. Pressurised by the Muslim
leaders, the then Governor of Punjab
ordered legal proceedings against
Rajpal for publishing this book. The
case went on for almost four years,
moving from the lower court to the
High Court where on May 4, 1927
Justice Dalip Singh gave his
judgement acquitting Rajpal.
During the period of the trial,
many well wishers including some
Muslim leaders conveyed to Rajpal
that he should reveal the name of
the author of the book, as their real
target was the author of the book.
Some also suggested that Rajpal
should publicly apologise for
publishing this book and withdraw it
from the market, and he would be
let off the hook. But all throughout,
Rajpal maintained that he had the
freedom to publish what he wanted,
and that as the publisher of the book
he was responsible for its contents.
Had Rajpal revealed the name of the
author he would probably have saved
his life. But to Rajpal, upholding his
16 : ARYAN HERITAGE
right to freedom of expression and
honouring his word was far more
important than his own life.
Disgruntled and unhappy with the
court verdict, a fanatic section of the
Muslims vowed to avenge this
disgrace to their Prophet. There were
two attempts on the life of Mahashay
Rajpal but he was lucky and survived.
But the third attempt on April 6, 1929
proved fatal, as the knife stabs of
the assailants killed the 44 year old
Mahashay Rajpal instantaneously.
There were spontaneous outpourings
of grief, shock and anger at this
merciless and senseless killing of a
young brave man as people started
gathering outside his shop. Fearing
communal riots the entire city of
Lahore was put under strict police
bandobast. It was finally on April 8,
that Rajpal's body was taken for
cremation amidst a massive funeral
procession which wound its way
through the city with thousands of
followers chanting mantras and raising
slogans of "Shahid Rajpal Amar
Rahe."
86 years after Mahashay Rajpal
gave his life for the cause of Freedom
of Expression, we are again seeing
the rise of fundamentalism aimed at
curbing and repressing this
fundamental freedom. Books and
films are banned on frivolous grounds;
writers are hounded and artists are
exiled for depiction of their perception
of reality as certain fringe elements
take offence at this depiction. How
many Rajpals will be martyred at the
altar for us to understand that
discussion, dissension, debate,
dialogue and differences of opinions
are the very basis of democracy;
where these are denied, democracy
is denied.
On the 86th anniversary of my
grandfather's martyrdom, I salute his
memory and close with the lines of
Edmund Burke, "Those who don't
know history are doomed to repeat
it."
❑
Form IV (See Rule 8)
Place of Publication
:
DAV College Managing Committee
Chitra Gupta Road, Paharganj
New Delhi- 110055
Periodicity
:
Monthly
Publisher’s Name
Nationality
Address
:
:
:
Tilak Raj Gupta
Indian
Chitra Gupta Road, New Delhi-55
Printer’s Name
Nationality
Address
:
:
:
Tilak Raj Gupta
Indian
Chitra Gupta Road, New Delhi-55
Editor’s Name
Nationality
Address
:
:
:
Surinder Kumar Sharma
Indian
Chitra Gupta Road, New Delhi-55
Name and Address of
Individual(s) which owns
the newspaper
:
DAV College Trust & Management
Society, Chitra Gupta Road,
New Delhi-55
I, Tilak Raj Gupta, hereby declare that above information is true to the best
of my knowledge and belief.
1 March 2015, Delhi
sdTilak Raj Gupta
April 2015
■
Learn Without Fear of Failure and
The Mere Urge To Pass Exams
Disha Nawani
T
he provision of not detaining
children till the elementary
school level, irrespective of
their failure in examinations, was
included in the Right to Free and
Compulsory Education Act (RTE)
2009. The Act simultaneously
introduced
Continuous
and
Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) as
a more complete way of tracking
children’s progress in schools. These
reforms were initiated with the
objective of motivating children to stay
in school, reduce examination-related
anxiety and curtail dropouts caused
by ‘failure and subsequent
humiliation’. However, of late these
measures have been criticised and
charged with doing just the opposite
— ‘discouraging children against
learning, promoting a lackadaisical
attitude among teachers and students
and resulting in deteriorating learning
levels’. Both these provisions are not
new and were in existence at different
levels in some states before being
mandated by the RTE.
The Annual Status of Education
Report, 2014 has held the no
detention policy (NDP) responsible for
the falling learning levels of school
children. Delhi deputy chief minister
Manish Sisodia recently urged the
Union HRD minister to restrict this
provision till Class III in Delhi.
Examinations have long enjoyed a
hallowed position in India’s school
education system and it is time that
the focus shifted from ‘performance
in exams’ to ‘learning for learning’s
sake’. While assessments and
April 2015
learning are integrally related, an
assessment-driven learning can have
only a restricted meaning and value.
With
rewards,
promotions,
scholarships and admissions hinging
on exam results, it is no rocket
science to understand why exams
cause the stress that they do. Exams
lead to inordinate anxiety, especially
when there has been no learning in
schools and lack of learning cannot
be attributed solely to lack of desire,
willingness or effort on the part of
children. Instead, it signifies an
absence of a conducive teachinglearning environment in schools.
It is unfortunate that despite a
reasonable understanding of the ills
that plague the education system, we
quickly blame the children who are
at the mercy of a system which is
often insensitive to their individual
needs and oblivious to challenges they
face. Children do not learn because
of factors both at home and in school.
Children of parents who are illiterate
and migrate from place to place in
search of livelihood, or children of
casual, daily wage labour whose minds
are occupied with doubts about their
next meal face far greater challenges
in meeting the learning expectations
uniformly imposed on them by
schools. These children don’t go to
the best of schools and they study
in difficult circumstances with no
proper classrooms, inadequate
teachers and large pupil-teacher ratios.
In schools such ‘non-learners and
potential failures’ are subjected to
prejudices, and stereotypes such as
being ‘disinterested and dumb’.
The NDP, as popularly
misunderstood, does not mean lack
of ‘assessments’. It simply prevents
schools from penalising the child for
‘failing’. However, it is true that such
a policy of automatic progression may
make both the teacher and the
student smug and the realisation of
‘non-learning’ may hit only in Class
IX when the conceptual gaps
become obvious. This provision
acknowledges the need for additional
support to such children so that
despite failing and being promoted,
their learning needs are addressed
in an appropriate and timely manner.
This is obviously not easy. However,
if such a provision stretches the
school-life of millions of children and
saves them from the ignominy and
shame of failing and dropping out,
then it is worth holding on to and
finding ways to make it work. More
systematic research is needed before
condemning the NDP.
Failing students can by no stretch
of imagination ensure learning. The
fear of failure only makes the teacher
and student desperate and anxious,
leading them to focus their energies
only on ‘clearing the exam’, not
necessarily ‘ensuring learning’, unless
one equates learning with only passing
exams.
The fear of failure and the
desperate need to pass exams were
evident recently in a higher secondary
school in Bihar where the parents and
relatives of students writing their
Board exams were seen scaling the
ARYAN HERITAGE : 17
■
school wall to pass answer sheets
to them. While the photograph
published in newspapers evoked
ridicule and shame, the incident
reflects the deeper malaise in our
education system. An exam where
such notes can apparently help the
student pass shows the shoddy
meaning attached to learning — where
learning is reduced to ‘memorising’
content without reflecting on it. This
also reflects the nature of
assessment, which largely evaluates
students’ ability to recall prescribed
content and not use the information
gleaned from textbooks and
classrooms to build knowledge. By
this logic, the learner would always
remain passive and merely be copying
notes either from the blackboard,
textbook or such cheat sheets.
For learning to become
intrinsically motivating it’s important
that ‘meaningful connections are made
between the world of school and the
world of the child’ and that learning
goes beyond memorising information
and becomes truly reflective. Besides
this, the assessment system should
not restrict itself to testing memorising
content alone but must facilitate the
process whereby the child connects
between what’s been done in school
and what she experiences outside
school. Until teachers and students
are empowered to do so this, cheating
cases will continue to get reported as
unethical issues. Failing students can
at most serve as a punitive measure
and can never ensure learning.
The government should direct its
efforts towards ensuring that children
learn meaningfully rather than
detaining them in the same class. For
learning to happen, besides valid
measures of assessment, it is
imperative that schools function
properly, have a nurturing, pedagogic
environment, adequate infrastructure,
meaningful and contextual teachinglearning materials, and most
importantly, competent, qualified
teachers.
❒
—HT
18 : ARYAN HERITAGE
Your Mobile is Radiating Illness
Jheel Shah
The adverse effects of cellular
radiation may not have been proven
to the satisfaction of telecom
industry but there is no denial to
the fact that microwave radiation
does exist during cellphone calls,
and that this poses a potential health
risk.
In the modern age, with so much
information freely available, one
would have imagined that cellphone
users - especially the youth, which
is heavily immersed in technologywould be aware of the radiation
dangers. Surprisingly, however, the
truth is far otherwise.
This writer conducted a survey
of 1,000 school children at the
Jamnabai Narsee School in
Mumbai. The results were startling.
About 63% of those surveyed didn't
know that excessive cell phone
usage could affect human health.
Significantly, as many as 57%
of the students surveyed, in the
age group of 13-18 years, use their
cellphones for as much as 120
minutes every day to call, message,
chat and surf internet. And a high
65% hardly ever used earphones,
subjecting their ears and brain to
prolonged exposure to radiation.
Adolescents are perceived to
be at maximum risk because of
then
prolonged
usage,
underdeveloped immune system
and indifference.
But more than anything else,
ignorance seem to be their bane.
Once they were made aware of the
risks, 60% said they were willing
to change their phone usage
pattern.
We are exposed to radiation at
all times. So, it is imperative to
take precautions to minimise
adverse impact. Simple lifestyle
changes such as using earphones
or the speakerphone mode, keeping
the phones at a distance at night,
can make a significant difference
"There is no substantive proof
to determine that the radiation has
been harmful. All the reports have
been challenged comprehensibly,
Rajan Mathews, director-general,
Cellular Operators Association of
India, had told HT earlier. COAI
represents all telecom operators
except Reliance Communications
and Tata Teleservices
While the debate about the
health hazards of cellular radiation
is on, there is no harm in taking
precautions. Better be safe than
sorry.
(HT)
April 2015
■
Birth Anniversary Tribute : 19th April
Mahatma Hans Raj
An Idealist, Visionary Educationist
Dr. B.R. Parashar
I
n the context of state of education
in the country and the world over,
if we look at Mahatma Hans Raj,
he seems like a diamond among the
bright jewels. Where
other
educationists talk of return to nature,
stress on proper training of senses,
preparation for life, independence,
discipline, etc. Mahatma Hans Raj
emphasises the need for an education
which builds and develops the quality
of life itself. He was a practical man.
By devoting his entire life to the
cause of Indian education, he
established a new precedent and by
presenting the ideal of simple living
and high thinking, unshakable faith
in the DAV institutions, honesty,
steadfastness, affection towards
students whom he treated like
his sons, learning from life itself and
with religious and moral education,
he set up a new trend in the life
of modern India.
Mahatma Hans Raj was the first
Indian Headmaster and again the first
Indian Principal of a college. He
placed before others an ideal of
working without remuneration as a
Headmaster. So long as he did not
prove through his devotion,
renunciation, simplicity and ability that
Indians had the competence for
efficient administration and could
perform important duties assigned to
them, nobody had dared to take up
the cause of Indian education. As
a result of the sacrifice and devotion
of Mahatma Hans Raj, there arose
a self-confidence and daring in
Indians and they opened a number
of schools and colleges. Today
April 2015
different sections of people have
opened educational institutions. But
for Mahatma Hans Raj's devotion and
sacrifice these could never have
been in existence. Sacrifices never
go in vain, and they definitely
show results. As a result of
Mahatmaji's sacrifice a big chunk of
educational institutions were run by
non-governmental organizations in
the name of different private
institutions.
No doubt, when the history of
education in India will be written,
among the great stalwarts of
education the name of Mahatma Hans
Raj will be specially mentioned. His
life-long aim was to place before the
students, merits and demerits of
Western education along with the
view point of Indian philosophy, and
thereby to inculcate love for Indian
Mahatma Hans Raj was the first
Indian Headmaster and again
the first Indian Principal of a
college. He placed before others
an ideal of working without
remuneration as a Headmaster.
So long as he did not prove
through his devotion, renunciation, simplicity and ability
that Indians had the competence
for efficient administration and
could perform important duties
assigned to them, nobody had
dared to take up the cause of
Indian education.
culture and social values among
them. Through the medium of DAV
Schools and Colleges he inspired
many a young student with the
sentiments of nationalism and social
reform. Through his energy and
honourable ways he inculcated
sentiments of nationalism and social
reforms among the students and the
country's leaders. This gave ample
impetus to cultural renaissance.
Among the youngmen who have
sacrificed their lives for the Indian
freedom movement, many were the
products of DAV institutions. Without
being directly involved in the politics
of the day, Mahatma Hans Raj was
second to none among those who
inspired the country's youth to be
devoted to nationalism. Had
Mahatma Hans Raj not been there
to challenge Lord Macaulay's
education system, what would have
been the state of Indian education.
One shudders to think of an answer
to this question.
Today, no day passes without
an agitation of students somewhere
or the other in the country. It may
be in Punjab or Assam, Kashmir or
Kerala. Everywhere the student
community is found to be indulging
in gheraos, pelting of stones,
conflagration and acts of destruction.
As a result even Principals and ViceChancellors are forced to resign. In
such a distorted, difficult and polluted
atmosphere the contribution of a
great educationist like Mahatma Hans
Raj is being felt intensely to give a
new direction to the development of
Indian education.
❑
ARYAN HERITAGE : 19
■
The Water Man of India Wins 2015
Stockholm Water Prize
R
ajendra Singh, popularly
known as 'The Water Man of
India' has been awarded the
2015 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate, for his innovative water restoration efforts, improving water security
in rural India, and for showing extraordinary courage and determination in
his quest to improve the living conditions for those most in need.
Born in 1959, Rajendra Singh
studied Ayurvedic medicine and
surgery and then went to work in the
arid and poor interiors of Rajasthan.
His goal was to set up health centers
in these areas but upon closer interaction with the locals, he realised that
their greatest need was water, not
health care. The wells in all surrounding areas were dry, no crops grew and
hence there was an exodus of people
to the nearby cities. The women,
children and elderly were left behind
to fend for themselves. Rajendra
Singh then dropped the idea of building health centers and decided to focus
on water.
were only looking at the drinking water
crisis and how to solve that. Today
our aim is higher. This is the 21st
century. This is the century of exploitation, pollution and encroachment.
To stop all this, to convert the war
on water into peace, that is my life's
goal", says Mr. Singh.
He goes on to say:
Rajendra Singh
The Stockholm Water Prize is a
global award founded in 1991
and presented annually by the
Stockholm International Water
Institute (SIWI) to an individual,
organisation or institution for
outstanding
water-related
achievements.
The
Stockholm
Building Water Structures
He teamed up with the villagers Water Prize Laureate receives
and started building traditional mud USD 150,000 and a specially
dams (called johads). After about 20 designed sculpture.
years of his relentless work, there are
now 8,600 johads and other structures that collect water! His work has
led to access to water for over 1,000
villages across Rajasthan. As a
consequence, many rivers have been
replenished and the forest cover has
increased too.
Interestingly, Rajendra Singh
resorted to thousand-year old meth20 : ARYAN HERITAGE
ods of collecting rainwater and storing it. These methods were forgotten
and discontinued during the British
empire's rule over India, but have now
brought water back to the driest state
of India.
"When we started our work, we
"Due to the harvesting of rain and
recharging groundwater, there is no
scope for drought or floods in our
area. This work of ours is a way to
solve both floods and droughts globally. Therefore we believe the impact of this work is on the local level,
national level, the international level
and above all at the village level."
The Award
H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of
Sweden, Patron of the Stockholm
Water Prize, will present the prize to
Rajendra Singh at a Royal Award
Ceremony during 2015 World Water
Week in Stockholm on 26 August.
About Stockholm Water
Prize
The Stockholm Water Prize is a
global award founded in 1991 and
presented annually by the Stockholm
International Water Institute (SIWI) to
an individual, organisation or institution for outstanding water-related
achievements. The Stockholm Water
Prize Laureate receives USD 150,000
and a specially designed sculpture.
H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
is patron of the prize.
—thebetterindia.com
April 2015
■
Brief Life-Sketch of
Mahatma Hans Raj
Birth : 19 April 1864
Death : 15 Nov. 1938
Father’s Name : Lala Chunni Lal
Mother’s Name : Smt. Ganesh Devi
1. Date of birth of Mahatma Hans
Raj, April 19, 1864.
2. He was betrothed in 1870.
3. Date of his father Lala Chunni
Lal’s death, 14.2.1874.
4. He passed vernacular final at
Lahore in 1875.
5. His marriage took place on April
1876.
6. Swami Dayanand came to
Lahore on 19.4.1877, and in the
same year Arya Samaj at Lahore
was started.
7. He came in contact with Lala
Sain Das, a leading figure of the
Arya Samaj, in 1879.
8. He passed Matriculation
Examination from ‘Mission
School, Lahore, in 1879.
9. He started the English weekly
Regenerator of Aryavarta in 1882
at the age of 18 years.
10. Dayanand College Trust was
founded on 31.1.1886.
11. Dayanand College Managing
Committee was constituted on
31.1.1886.
12. He graduated in 1885 from the
Govt. College, Lahore.
13. The 1st meeting of the Managing
Committee took place at Lahore
on 27.2.1886.
14. Rai Bahadur Lal Chand was
elected the First President of the
Managing Committee on
20.3.1886.
April 2015
15. Mahatmaji became Headmaster
(Honorary) of Dayanand
High School at Lahore in June
1886.
16. In 1889 the College classes were
started and he became the
Honorary Principal.
17. He became Member of Managing
Committee of the College in
February 1889. In the same year
his son Balraj was born.
18. He became the President of the
Arya Pratinidhi Sabha Punjab in
1890.
19. He became the Editor of Arya
Gazette along with Lala Lajpat
Rai in 1895. This paper was
started by Pt. Lekh Ram ‘Arya
Musafir’ and it was the wish of
Mahatmaji to all the Aryas that
for Ved Prachar, the Press media
and publication of the Vedic
literature should continue. Arya
Gazette was published by Pt.
Durga Dass from Delhi.
20. The life membership of Dayanand
College was conceived and
members were enrolled in 1902
and onwards.
21. During the earthquake in Kangra
relief work under the guidance of
Mahatmaji was undertaken in
1905.
22. During the famine in Ayodhya
(U.P.) in 1907-08, necessary help
was rendered.
23. From 1905,1907-08 fifteen
thousand people were saved from
the jaws of death by famine.
24. At the outbreak of Plague in
Multan (Punjab), the services of
the Arya Samaj were promptly
made available under his
directions.
25. On 27.11.1911 he resigned from
the Principalship of the College
after having served for 25 years
from 1886 to 1911.
26. His resignation was accepted on
February 2, 1912.
27. Lala Sain Das took charge as
Principal in 1912.
28. In 1913, he became the Chairman
of the DAV College Managing
Committee and continued upto
1919.
29. In 1914, he devoted his full time
towards the Arya Samaj and
Pradeshik Sabha’s work.
30. In 1914, Lala Lajpat Rai in his
book on Arya Samaj paid tribute
to his life of unique simplicity a
life irreproachable in private
character and unique in public
ARYAN HERITAGE : 21
■
service.
31. On February 20,1914 his house
was searched in connection with
the criminal-political case against
his son Balraj.
32. Same ‘day his son, Balraj was
arrested in a conspiracy case
against the British Government
and was sentenced to
transportation for life.
33. Shri Balraj’s conviction for life
by the trial court was on February
10,1915 which was reduced to
7 years rigorous imprisonment
by the then Lahore High Court
in appeal.
34. His wife Smt. Thakur Devi left
for her heavenly abode on July
7, 1914 at the age of about 50
years.
35. He was appointed as Chairman
of Punjab Education Conference
in 1918.
36. In the 1918 famine in Garhwal,
relief work under his directions
and guidance was undertaken.
37. In 1920 famine in Orissa, relief
work on a large scale was
undertaken under his guidance
and directions.
38. In the 1921, the Punjab Famine
Relief Fund was started.
39. In April 1923 he started the
Shuddhi of Malkanas and
collected thousands of rupees
for the implementation of the said
movement.
40. He was appointed the President
of All India Shuddhi Sabha in
1924.
41. Relief
work
for
Kohat
(Baluchistan) was started in 1924.
42. In 1923 Pandit Lakhpat Rai Sewa
Sangh Nidhi was commenced for
which a lac of rupees were
collected.
43. He joined the birth centenary of
Swami Dayanand and addressed the audience in 1925 at
22 : ARYAN HERITAGE
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
Mathura.
In 1927, he was elected President
of first All-World Aryan
Conference at Delhi in the
People’s Park opposite Red Fort
(now the area is known as Lajpat
Rai Market in front of Dewan Hall
Arya Samaj).
On December 4, 1927 he
delivered his address as
President of the said first
Sarvdeshik
Arya
Mahasammelan.
In May 1928 he founded
Mahavidyalaya.
In 1930, he opened Relief Camps
in Muzaffargarh, Gujarat (in
Punjab), Jhelum and Jhang, all
in the undivided Punjab.
In 1932, the relief work was
started in Bihar earthquake.
In 1935 relief was made available
in Quetta earthquake.
In 1936, he devoted his attention
towards the Mohan Ashram at
Hardwar and in the same year
he saved thousands of Bheels
from conversion to other religion
and also provided them with
monetary assistance.
In 1937, he resigned as President
of Arya Pradeshik Sabha
and Lala Khushal Chand
Khursand (known as Anand
Swamiji) succeeded him as
President.
In October 15 in 1938, B.T.
classes were started
in
Mahavidyalaya for the ladies.
The last lecture he gave was on
22nd of October 1938 in Arya
Samaj Anarkali, Lahore.
He left for his heavenly abode
on the 15th November, 1938 at
11—midnight at the of 74 years
out of which 51 years were
dedicated to the service of the
Arya Samaj.
❒
Mahatmaji’s Favourite Song
HksaV èk:a D;k eSa rsjh
Immersed all his life in busy
activities, Mahatma Hans Raj
was yet a patient seeker after
truth and spiritual experience.
He began his day with one or
two bhajans (religious songs).
These were intended to put his
mind in tune with the Infinite.
Two or three of these became
his favourites. One of them so
well illustrates his conception of
Godhead
as
to
bear
reproduction here.
gs txr~Lokeh izHkq th]
HksaV èk:a D;k eSa rsjhÏ
eky ugha] esjs lEin ukgha]
ftl dks dgwa eSa esjhA
bl tx esa ge ,sls fopjsa]
T;ksa tksxh dh QsjhÏ
èku tu ;kSou viuh ekus]
ewj[k Hkwyk HkkjhA
rqe fcu vkSj lgkbZ u esjk]
ns[k fy;k eSa fopkjhÏ
;g ru ;g eu gks, u viuk]
gS lc eky rqEgkjkA
tc pkgsa rc gh rw ysosa]
ugha dqN t”ksj gekjkÏ
rqEgjs nj dk eSa dwdj Lokeh]
ykt rq>s gS esjhA
pj.k 'kj.k fut jk[kks eq>dks]
nsvks HkfDr fcu nsjhÏ
April 2015
■
Falsa - Summer's Delight
Prof. (Dr.) R.D. Gupta & Dr. Parveen Bansal
F
alsa is a fruit of Southern
Indian origin. But now grown
in Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos,
Cambodia and Vietnam. In the
dryland areas where either growing
of farm crops are not possible or their
yields are below the economic
threshold due to constraint of water
in such areas growing of drought
tolerant fruit trees like falsa, ber,
custard apple, Jamun etc. is much
possible.
are borne on new
growths (in axils of
leaves)
In subcontinents, falsa is highly
sought in the hot summer months
as its fruits can be made into a cool
refreshing drink-falsa sharbat. As a
matter of fact, it can be considered
to be the third favourite fruit after
mango and peach due to its
medicinal values.
Medicinal Values
Falsa can be grown as small
tree or found wild, may grow as a
rather straggly looking bush and
attains to a maximum height of 4.5m.
Fruit is purple to almost black in
colour.
It is a fruit of tropical to
subtropical areas purple to almost
black in colour. When gets ripen, is
sweet to sour in taste, can withstand
light frost.
Ripe fruits are
harvested during May
or June, and are
immediately sent to
the market as they are
highly perishable.
Average yield per plant is 9 to 11
Kg in a season.
Unripe
fruit:
Relieves
inflammation and is used to treat
respiratory, heart and blood afflictions
as well as in fevers.
Bark: Root bark is used in
treating rheumatism, Soak the bark
overnight and apply the pulp directly
on to the affected area for skin
problems bark infusion is used in
treatment for diarrhoea.
Fruit: Astringent and stomachic
and is Known to assist preventing
coughs and colds, minefield of
antioxidants and are useful in
reducing cancer risk, removes
headache,
pimples,
acidity
In subcontinents, falsa is highly
sought in the hot summer
months as its fruits can be made
into a cool refreshing drinkfalsa sharbat. As a matter of fact,
Seeds of this fruit tree are the
it can be considered to be the
usual means of propagation which
germinate within 15 days. It can also third favourite fruit after mango
be propagated through clumps or and peach due to its medicinal
cuttings. Fruit falsa tree requires values.
Falsa Can be grown in any kind
of soil (sandy/clay) with sufficient
organic matter but, best growth in
soil with loamy texture.
heavy pruning every year as fruits
April 2015
leucorrhea, anaemia, burning
sensations in the body and skin
dryness.
Leaves: relieves all types of
inflammations of skin and are utilized
in skin eruptions, Soak leaves
overnight and make a paste to apply
on affected area as they are known
to have antibiotic action, leaves are
also used as cattle fodder
Juice: Employed since
centuries to treat liver and gall bladder
problems, as well as to purify blood
and control blood pressure and
cholesterol level, normalises heart
rate and maintains blood pressure,
diuretic, removes thirst, protects
against heat stroke, vomiting,
nausea.
Sharbat: is good to help sunburn
victims to treat sunstroke.
Other Uses: Bark is used in
purifying sugar cane juice in sugar
processing, because the bark is
mucilaginous.
Wood of falsa tree: Fine grained,
cream coloured, strong and flexible,
and is used in making archer’s bows,
spear handles, poles and baskets
and harvested for fuel.
❒
—DAV's Ayurveda for Holistic Health.
ARYAN HERITAGE : 23
■
On Birth Anniversary, 14 April
“Learn to live in this world
With Self-Respect”
M
en are mortal. So are ideas.
An idea needs propagation
as much as a plant needs
watering. Otherwise both will wither
and die.
● The conception of secular state
is derived from the liberal democratic
tradition of west. No institution which
is maintained wholly out of state
funds shall be used for the purpose
of religious instruction irrespective of
the question whether the religious
instruction is given by the state or
any other body.
● If you ask me, my ideal would
be the society based on liberty,
equality and fraternity. An ideal
society should be mobile and full of
channels of conveying a change
taking place in one part to other
parts.
● A historian ought to be exact,
sincere and impartial; free from
passion, unbiased by interest, fear,
resentment or affection; and faithful
to the truth, which is the mother of
history the preserver of great actions,
the enemy of oblivion, the witness
of the past, the director of the
future.
● My final words of advice to you
are educate, agitate and organize;
have faith in yourself. With justice
on our side I do not see how we
can loose our battle. The battle to
me is a matter of joy. The battle
is in the fullest sense spiritual. There
is nothing material or social in it. For
ours is a battle not for wealth or for
power. It is battle for freedom. It is
the battle of reclamation of human
personality.
24 : ARYAN HERITAGE
● You must abolish your slavery
yourselves. Do not depend for its
abolition upon god or a superman.
Remember that it is not enough that
a people are numerically in the
majority. They must be always
watchful, strong and self-respecting
to attain and maintain success. We
must shape our course ourselves
and by ourselves.
● Untouchability has ruined the
Untouchables, the Hindus and
ultimately the nation as well. If the
depressed classes gained their selfrespect and freedom, they would
contribute not only to their own
progress and prosperity but by their
industry intellect and courage would
contribute also to the strength and
prosperity of the nation. If the
tremendous energy Untouchables
are at present required to fritter away
in combating the stigma of
Untouchability had been saved them,
it would have been applied by them
to the promotion of education and
development of resources of their
nation as a whole.
● Learn to live in this world with
self-respect. You should always
cherish some ambition of doing
something in this world. But
remember that the age of
selflessness has ended. A new
epoch is set in. All things are now
possible because of your being able
to participate in the politics and
legislature of your country.
● Every man must have a
philosophy of life, for everyone must
have a standard by which to
measure his conduct. And
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar
philosophy is nothing but a standard
by which to measure.
● I am myself a believer in
Ahimsa (non- violence). But I make
a distinction between Ahimsa and
meekness. Meekness is weakness
and weakness is voluntarily imposed
upon oneself is not a virtue. I am
believer in Ahimsa but in the sense
defined by the saint Takuma. Takuma
has quite rightly said that Ahimsa
consisted of two things: (1) love and
kindness towards all creatures and
(2) destruction of evil doers. The
second part of this definition is often
lost sight of that the doctrine of
Ahimsa becomes so ridiculous.
● The true function of law
consists in repairing the faults in
society. Unfortunately ancient
societies never dared to assume the
function of repairing their own defects;
consequently they decayed. This
country has seen the conflict
between ecclesiastical law and
April 2015
■
secular law long before Europeans
sought to challenge the authority of
the Pope. Kautilya's Arthshastra lays
down the foundation of secular law.
In India unfortunately ecclesiastical
law triumphed over secular law. In
my opinion this was the one of the
greatest disasters in the country. The
unprogressive nature of the Hindu
society was due to the notion that
the law cannot be changed.
● Civilization has never been a
continuous process. There were
states and societies which at one
time had been civilised. In the course
of time something happened which
made these societies stagnant and
decayed. This could be illustrated by
India's history itself. There could be
no doubt that one of the countries
which could boast of ancient
civilization is India. When the
inhabitants of Europe were living
under the barbaric conditions, this
country had reached the highest peak
of civilization, it had parliamentary
institutions when the people of
Europe were mere nomads.
● I measure the progress of a
community by the degree of progress
which women have achieved.
● Justice has always evoked
ideas of equality, of proportion of
compensation. Equity signifies
equality. Rules and regulations, right
and righteousness are concerned with
equality in value. If all men are equal,
then all men are of the same
essence, and the common essence
entitles them of the same
fundamental rights and equal liberty
... In short justice is another name
of liberty, equality and fraternity.
● I hate injustice, tyranny,
pompousness and humbug, and my
hatred embraces all those who are
guilty of them. I want to tell my critics
that I regard my feelings of hatred
as a real force. They are only the
reflexes of love I bear for the causes
I believe in and I am in no wise
ashamed of it.
● Man is mortal. Everyone has
to die some day or the other. But
April 2015
one must resolve to lay down one's
life in enriching the noble ideals of
self-respect and in bettering one's
human life. We are not slaves.
Nothing is more disgraceful for a
brave man than to live life devoid
of self-respect.
● My social philosophy may be
said to be enshrined in three words:
liberty, equality and fraternity. My
philosophy has roots in religion and
not in political science. I have derived
them from the teachings of my
master, the Buddha.
● Emerson
has said that
consistency is a virtue of an ass.
No thinking human being can be tied
down to a view once expressed in
the name of consistency. More
important than consistency is
responsibility. A responsible person
must learn to unlearn what he has
learned. A responsible person must
have the courage to rethink and
change his thoughts. Of course
there must be good and sufficient
reason for unlearning what he has
learned and for recasting his
thoughts. There can be no finality
in rethinking.
● There is nothing fixed, nothing
eternal, nothing sanatan; everything
is changing, change is the law of
life for individuals as well as for
society. In a changing society there
must be constant revolution of old
values.
● Hero-worship in the sense of
expressing our unbound admiration
is one thing. To obey the hero is
a totally different kind of worship.
There is nothing wrong in the former
while the latter is no doubt a most
pernicious thing. The former is man's
respect for which is noble and of
which the great men are only an
embodiment. The latter is the serfs
fealty to his lord. The former is
consistent with respect, but the latter
is a sign of debasement. The former
does not take away one's intelligence
to think and independence to act. The
latter makes one perfect fool. The
former involves no disaster to the
state. The latter is a source of
positive danger to it.
● History
bears out the
proposition that political revolutions
have always been preceded by social
and religious revolutions. Social
reform in India has few friends and
many critics.
●
Law and order are the
medicine of the body politic and when
the body politic gets sick, medicine
must be administered.
● The question is not whether a
community lives or dies, the question
is on what plane does it live. There
are different modes of survival. But
all are not equally honorable. For an
individual as well as a society, there
is a gulf between merely living and
living worthily. To fight in a battle
and live in a glory is one mode. To
beat a retreat to surrender and to
live the life of a captive is also a
mode of survival.
● The sovereignty of scriptures
of all religions must come to an end
if we want to have a united integrated
modern India.
● Law and religion are two forces
which govern the conduct of men.
At times they act as handmaids to
each other. At other times they act
as check and counter-check. Of the
two forces, Law is personal while
religion is impersonal. Law being
personal it is capable of being unjust
and iniquitous. But religion being
impersonal, it can be impartial, it is
capable of defeating the inequity
committed by law. Religion is
believed to ennoble man and not
degrade him. Hinduism is an
exception.
● I like the religion that teaches
liberty, equality & fraternity.
● The relationship between
husband & wife should be one of
closest friends.
● We are Indians, firstly & lastly
● Given
the
time
&
circumstances, nothing under the sun
shall stop this country from becoming
a super power.
❒
(Courtesy : Bharat Pragna)
ARYAN HERITAGE : 25
■
Gems from 'Satyarth Prakash', Part-3
Thus Spoke Swami Dayanand
} No other person can equal a mother in her love for her children, or
in her anxiety for their welfare.~
} Blessed is the mother who never ceases to impart a religious tone
to the mind of her child from the time of conception till his knowledge
is perfected.
~
} Children should avoid useless playing, crying, laughing and wrangling.
They should not give way to excess of pleasures and sorrows, nor become
completely engrossed in a thing. Jealousy and malice they should not
harbour.
~
} Never give credence to such imaginary things as ghosts (Bhutas) and
Swami Dayanand Saraswati
The sun and other
stars are but
inanimate things like
this earth of ours.
They can do nothing
but give light, heat,
etc. Do not take them
for conscious beings
possessed of human
passions, of pleasure
and anger, that when
offended, bring on
pain and misery, and
when propitiated,
bestow happiness on
human beings.
26 : ARYAN HERITAGE
spirits (Preta). Preta (in Sanskrit) really means a dead body, and Bhuta
means one who is deceased.
~
} One, who is ignorance-ridden, superstitious, and associates with low
people, is constantly troubled by all sorts of ghosts, spirits, and devils,
in the shape of fear and doubt.
~
} When a person dies, his soul, by Divine laws, takes a new bodyto reap the fruit of his deeds, according to their nature, in pleasure and
pain.
~
} The sun and other stars are but inanimate things like this earth of ours.
They can do nothing but give light, heat, etc. Do not take them for
conscious beings possessed of human passions, of pleasure and anger,
that when offended, bring on pain and misery, and when propitiated,
bestow happiness on human beings.
~
} Do away with all kinds of false and superstitious practices.~
(Compiled by Satyapriya, 9868426592 and sourced from the English
translation of 'Satyarth Prakash' by Dr. Chiranjiv Bhardwaj and published
as 'The Light of Truth' from D.A.V. Publication Division)
April 2015