The Wartime Guru

IN AN INTERVIEW WITH KERALA-BASED CRITIC AND interviewer NE Sudheer, Swami Muni Narayana Prasad, a fol­lower and scholar of Sree Narayana Guru, expressed his dis­approval of his guru being seen merely as a social reformer. Prasad’s sentiments are justifiable. Narayana Guru was also a philosopher and a poet although he has mostly been—quite unfortunately—straitjacketed as an icon of a numerically dominant community in Kerala. Efforts have long been on to appropriate him, though, among political entities who view him either as a Hindu revivalist or a frontrunner of the Kerala Renaissance. His versatility has hardly been in focus, perhaps a reason why he is not discussed widely outside of the state, except in a brief period when he was alive. That was in the last two decades of his life when the likes of Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi visited his ashram in Thiruvananthapuram and spoke about their impressions, and when the French savant Romain Rolland wrote about him.

Tagore thought far more greatly of him than Gandhi did. We will come to that later.

The year 2028 will mark the 100th death anniversary of Narayana Guru. Born in 1855, he went on to transform the region that is now Kerala in the way very few did on their own in the last part of the 19th century and the first-half of the last century.

Far more crucial at this point, it looks to me, is to read him in the three languages he has written—Tamil, Sanskrit and Malayalam—most of which have now been translated into English. While many Malayalam translations are available, including those by G Balakrishnan Nair, Muni Narayana Prasad himself, and a few others, I often stick to one by T Bhaskaran (for the one in Malayalam) and Vinaya Chaitanya (in English).

Narayana Guru famously stated that there is only one caste—the human caste. But perhaps more significantly, he also initiated work, much to the anguish of some of his sanyasin comrades, to influence the common people, change their living conditions and to uplift them from their wretched lives. Mind you, this happened at a time in Kerala that the peripatetic saint Vivekananda called “lunatic asylum” thanks to its most dreaded practice of untouchability and unseeability. That Narayana Guru was able to accomplish his mission in good measure when it was considered impossible was not only due to a sense of purpose and justice, which most social reformers possess. It was also because of a vision and scholarship that attracted even the oppressors and those at the apex of the social pyramid of the time. In that sense, Naray­ana Guru not only rebelled against the system but also rallied a section of the beneficiaries of untouchability, directly or indirectly, by his side.

It is clear from a close reading of Narayana Guru and his activities that he understood that the oppressor too is a victim of the system he or she is part of, to a varying degree. Let’s take a look at the Malayali society of the time. The Brahmins, especially the Namboodiris, followed strange customs that victimised the majority within. Except for the oldest son in the family, the rest of the sons couldn’t marry—the others were only allowed to have sambhandhams, es­sentially relations with members of select in­termediary castes. That had a domino effect of sorts, hurting the families of other communities. Amidst all this, social and financial inequalities widened, constraining people to so-called tradi­tions and norms considered inviolable.

It was in this late 19th-century Kerala beset with such backwardness that Narayana Guru felt deeply for the lower-caste groups and even certain upper-caste communities who could either not enter temples or had restrictions over movement within the temple compound. Back from the hills and forests, into which he had wandered as a monk, he felt that such practices should end, or else that there should be alter­native spaces for those who felt slighted and made to feel inferior. This was why in 1888—for historical reference, that was a year before Jawa­harlal Nehru was born—he consecrated a Siva idol, an act that non-Brahmins like him were barred from doing, and set up a temple in Aru­vippuram, a village in Thiruvananthapuram.

Though, to an extent, he built on the anti-caste movements and rebellions that preceded him, his defiance of centuries-old traditions was revolutionary because he also called upon people to organise, become entrepreneurs, earn cash, and acquire Western education to grow as individuals. He stressed on sanitation and hoped that temples would be venues for people to attain mental calm, occasionally fast, and stay clean.

It was between 1914 and 1920 he wrote his work titled Jati Nirnayam (Ascer­tainment of Caste). This contains one of his most popular teachings: oru jaati, ori matham, oru daivam manushyanu (one caste, one religion, one God for man).

Here is a sample from Vinaya Chaithanya’s translation of this poetic work:

Man is of one caste, one religion and one God,
Of one same womb, one same form, with no difference at all
Within species alone progeny here is born
If this is remembered, humanity is of a single caste
Within the human caste is born the Brahmin
And the pariah, both,
What difference is there then within this human caste?

Narayana Guru inspired a horizontal social reform in Kerala. In 1903, when leaders of the Ezhava community set up Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), he offered the new entity his blessings and became its first presi­dent. The people who worked behind it included Dr Palpu, a noted physician. The creation of SNDP had a cascading effect across multiple caste groups. Dalit leader Ayyankali soon set up the Sadhu Jana Paripalana Sangham (SJPS) in 1907 to further his cause of Dalit empowerment and education. Brahmins formed the Yogakshema Sabha 1908 in Aluva, which was presided over by the Nam­boodiri Brahmins of the time. Mannath Padmanabhan founded the Nair Service Society (NSS) in 1914 and later went on to lead several social movements and temple-entry agitations. Others who led such reforms from within included the great scholar Chattambi Swamikal (with whom Guru enjoyed a special bond), Poykayil Yohannan, Vakkom Moulavi, Kuriakose Chavara, Sahodaran Ayyap­pan, Ayyathan Gopalan, Vaghbadananthan, and others. Notably, the Colonial Missionary Society and London Missionary Society played a pivotal role in offering education and modern healthcare to all, irrespective of caste and faith.

Narayana Guru is also known for organising a first-of-its-kind All-Region Con­ference in Kerala in 1924 with the appeal, “Not to argue and win but to know and to make known” in what is now Aluva, Ernakulam. While it brought together people of various faiths and opinions, Guru had disciples from hardcore Advaitis to atheists. He had a special knack, according to several of his biographers, for bringing idealistic and educated youth from privileged backgrounds under his spell. No wonder then that none other than the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had this to say about him in 1922 after a meeting: “I have been touring different parts of the world. But I have never come across one who is spiritually greater than Sree Narayana Guru.”

WITHOUT A DOUBT, NARAYANA GURU’S ROLE IN THE REFORMS that swept Kerala in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—during the period that is often identified as a period of renaissance—was that of a pioneer. And yet the theoretical underpinnings of his practice are often either ignored or denigrated. While it is well-documented that he was rooted in Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism) and that his poems are in praise of gods, espe­cially the famous Daivadashakam (Ten Verses to God), he goes on to re-evaluate many practices and questions the futility of chaturvarna (four-varna system), which he vehemently opposed.

In PK Balakrishnan’s book eponymously titled Narayana Guru, there is a con­versation between Narayana Guru and a disciple. The latter tells Guru that Gandhi contends that varna and caste are unrelated. Promptly comes the answer from Guru: “[He] must have made that argument based on the aptitude-and-action principle. But those qualities are not permanent. They are ever-changing. How can you then determine one’s varna? … Why is Gandhi saying this? [He] may not have thought thoroughly about it. According to me, there are no caste differences. There is no caste. What are the gains of thinking there is caste other than it is counter-productive? Disappointing! How is it that such beliefs persist?”

The disciple responds: “Some people say that there are many benefits, thanks to the caste system. If you accept a job as a traditional job, more experts are cre­ated, they aver…”

Guru answers: “There are no benefits. The caste system hobbled man’s freedom and destroyed intelligence. How will your work improve if there is no freedom and intelligence? Our carpenters and blacksmiths are wallowing in ignorance. They have lost their intellectual acumen as well. Caste generates sloppy work. The monotony of a job makes a person unaware of the rest of the world. Caste restricts a person’s liberty to do a work that suits his aptitude. When you are forced to do some work just because you are born to a particular caste means your work suffers.”

Disciple: “Scientists are of the view that chil­dren tend to have an aptitude for their parents’ profession.”

Guru: “If that is so, what is the need for the caste system? Even without caste, the son would opt for the father’s profession without being com­pelled to do so… nothing is achieved by reducing man’s freedom and letting his or her intelligence go unused. People should have the freedom to choose a profession of his or her choice.”

We have carried in Open how Narayana Guru had distanced himself from Gandhi on issues related to religion, too, when the duo entered into a discussion at the Sivagiri Mutt, which was Guru’s home, on March 12, 1925. Gandhi asked Guru: “Doesn’t Swamiji think the Hindu religion is enough to help people attain moksha?”

Guru replied with caution, “Paths to mok­sha are offered by other religions as well. For spiritual salvation, the Hindu religion is suffi­cient. People also crave materialistic freedom.”

Likewise, Narayana Guru had later in life distanced himself from SNDP. He also made a landmark declaration in 1916 titled “We don’t have caste”. The statement by Guru was pub­lished in a journal called Prabudha Keralam shortly afterward. (Guru and Caste, by Guru­vum Jaathiyum; edited by PR Sreekumar). Not surprisingly, his hagiographies rarely mention this incident.

The declaration said: “It has been decades since we have discarded caste differences. And yet, some special groups are claiming that I am part of them… We don’t belong to any special caste or religion.”

He used the word naam (we) instead of “I” to assert the oneness of self and others, and not in the way the feudal lords used to call themselves nom, meaning “we” in which exaggerated sense of self-importance is evident.

For a person who in his early years of social work was obsessed with building temples so that all people denied entry to temples of yore could finally have a space of their own, he would later say thatitwasnowtimetobuildschoolsin­stead. He said temple building must be discouraged. On one occasion, in 1921, when he had to help set up a temple in Murukkumpuzha, Thiruvanantha­puram, heconsecrated alamp and simply wrote, “Om Satyam, Daya, Shanti” (Truth, Compassion, and Peace). In 1927, he installed a mirror inside a temple at Kalavamkodam in Alappuzha Dis­trict. One can see how he wanted people to em­brace ideas more than idols as time went by (Sree Narayana Guru Anthology by G Priyadarshan).

Narayana Guru’s emphasis on sanitation and vegetarianism cannot be understated. While giving instructions to a disciple on managing the annual pilgrims at the Sivagiri temple in Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram, he discouraged the use of ponds for bathing pur­poses and suggested spaces for people to take showers from pipes—largely unheard of at that time in Kerala. He suggested yellow robes for the pilgrims, stating that it is the preferred colour of Buddha and Krishna. He also insisted on panjashuddhi (five purities) of the Buddha: purity of the body, food, mind, word, and ac­tion. Guru also prescribed that the pilgrim­age should have an objective and that experts in the various fields of education, sanitation, devotion, organisation, agriculture, business, artisanship, science, and technology be invited to give lectures for the pilgrims.

IT IS REMARKABLE THAT SEVERAL years after the Aruvippuram incident, when members of Dalit communities wanted to enter the temple there, some caste supremacists within Ezhavas wanted to stop them. Guru in­tervened immediately, asking the Dalits to be let in. Then, he wrote a message for all to see:

Jatibhedam mathadvesham / Ethumillathe sar­varum / Sodarathwena vaazhunna / Maarthuka sthanamaanithu

(This is a model institution where all coexist in brotherhood, irrespective of caste differences and religious antagonism)

Narayana Guru changed the tasks he had set for his followers to achieve, step by step, from setting up temples in the beginning to saying no to building temples since there were enough of them, and exhorting them to excel in studies and industry.

Such changes are stark in his poetry, a fact graciously pointed out to me by K Gopalakrishnan, a columnist and Guru scholar. He explains how Guru, a champion of animal rights, has transcended from his focus on people, meaning human beings, in Daivadashakam, which comprises heart-rending prayers to the Almighty, and other works to Anukamba Dashakam (Ten Verses on Empathy), where Guru dwells on all beings and the importance of love and compassion.

Written originally in Malayalam in 1920, here is the translation of Anu­kamba Dashakam from A Cry in the Wilderness: The Works of Narayana Guru by Vinaya Chaitanya:

May I cause no harm at all, even to an ant –
such empathy, O maker of kindliness, and
ever
bless me with such contemplation that
never strays from Your sacred form.

These verses are also a prayer in praise of that great embodiment of compas­sion and Guru wonders who that is in the following lines:

Is he a god in human form
or the law of dharma
in the shape of a human god?
Or is he the holy son of the Lord most high,
Or the kindly prophet Nabi, the pearly gem?

In the previous stanza not mentioned here, he asks whether it is Krishna, Buddha, or Adi Sankara and then he asks again (in this stanza), whether it is Jesus Christ or Prophet Muhammad.

In these lines, you find the best attributes of the names listed above. All these prompted Balachandran Chullikkad, one of Kerala’s iconic living poets, to say that Guru’s poetry is flush with not only ideas but that he also doesn’t have any difficulty in finding apt words—he was blessed with an abundance of vocabulary. But it remains a tragedy that Guru, who has written volumes of poetry, is not read enough even in Kerala. The poems are a mirror to the man who is arguably the greatest revolutionary of Kerala’s Renaissance—and someone from whom we can take endless tips on conflict resolution, and about securing consent from the adversary. He was not confrontational and neither did he speak ill of any group of people who headed the system he wanted to change. He had a great sense of humour and his arguments struck a chord with a large section of people. Which is why he is as much an enigma as he is a symbol of a silent social transformation.

Some of Narayana Guru’s poems in Malayalam that were often recited as devotional prayers are much less popular than before. But his deeper thoughts in verse are perhaps getting a new life thanks to independent researchers. Vinaya Chaitanya has made it easier for English readers, but what I find extremely rewarding is reading Guru’s poetry in Malayalam and then going through trans­lations that are sometimes as good as interpretations by those who have studied the life and times of this saint whose mystique only seems to have risen since his death nearly a hundred years ago.

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