ARCHITECT OF MODERN INDIA : JAWAHARLAL NEHRU

BIOGRAPHY OF JAWAHARLAL NEHRU - 

ARCHITECT OF MODERN INDIA -

INDIA'S GREATEST PRIME MINISTER

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Gandhiana-4: "Nehru on Gandhiji"

What was his great power over the mind and heart of man due to? Ages to come will judge and we are too near him to assess the many facets of his extraordinarily rich personality. But even we realize that the dominating passion of his life was TRUTH. That truth led him to proclaim without ceasing that good ends can never be attained by evil methods, that the end itself is distorted if the method pursued is bad. That truth led him to confess publicly whenever he thought he had made a mistake - Himalayan errors he called some of his own mistakes. That truth led him to fight evil and untruth wherever he found them regardless of the consequences. That truth made he service of the poor and the dispossessed the passion of his life, for where there is inequality and discrimination and suppression, there is injustice and evil and untruth. And thus he became the beloved of all those who have suffered from social and political evils, and the great representative of humanity as it should be. Because of that truth in him, wherever he sat became a temple and where he trod was hallowed ground. - Jawaharlal Nehru

The Testament of Jawaharlal Nehru

"I have received so much love and affection from the Indian people that nothing that I can do can repay even a small fraction of it, and indeed there can be no repayment of so precious a thing as affection. Many have been admired, some have been revered, but the affection of all classes of the Indian people has come to me in such abundant measure that I have been overwhelmed by it. I can only express the hope that in the remaining years I may live, I shall not be unworthy of my people and their affection.

To my innumerable comrades and colleagues, I owe an even deeper debt of gratitude. We have been joint partners in great undertakings and have shared the triumphs and sorrows which inevitably accompany them.

I wish to declare with all earnestness that I do not want religious ceremonies performed for me after my death. I do not believe in any such ceremonies and to submit to them, even as a matter of form, would be hypocrisy and an attempt to delude ourselves and others.

When I die, I should like my body to be cremated. If I die in a foreign country, my body should be cremated there and my ashed sent to Allahabad. A small handful of these ashes should be thrown into the Ganga and the major portion of them disposed of in the manner indicated below. No part of these ashes should be retained or preserved.

My desire to have a handful of my ashes thrown into the Ganga at Allahabad has no religious significance, so far as am concerned. I have no religious sentiment in the matter. I have been attached to the Ganga and the Jumna rivers in Allahabad ever since my childhood and, as I have grown older, this attachment has also grown. I have watched their varying moods as the seasons changed, and have often thought of the history and myth and tradition and song and story that have become attached to them through the long ages and become part of their flowing waters.

The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her racial memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever-flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga. She reminds me of the snow-covered peaks and the deep valleys of the Himalayas, which I have loved so much, and of the rich and vast plains below, where my life and work have been cast. Smiling and dancing in the morning sunlight, and dark and gloomy and full of mystery as the evening shadows fall, a narrow, slow and graceful stream in winter, and a vast roaring thing during the monsoon, broad-bosomed almost as the sea, and with something of the sea's power to destroy, the Ganga has been to me a symbol and a memory of the past of India, running into the present, and flowing on to the great ocean of the future. And though I have discarded much of past tradition and custom, and am anxious that India should rid herself of all shackles that bind and constrain her and divide her people, and suppress vast numbers of them, and prevent the free development of the body and the spirit; though I seek all this, yet I do not wish to cut myself off from the past completely. I am proud of that great inheritance that has been, and is, ours, and I am conscious that I too, like all of us, am, a link in that unbroken chain which goes back to the dawn of history in the immemorial past of India. That chain I would not break, for I treasure it and seek inspiration from it. And as witness of this desire of mine and as my last homage to India's cultural inheritance, I am making this request that a handful of my ashes be thrown into the Ganga at Allahabad to be carried to the great ocean that washes India's shore.

The major portion of my ashes should, however, be disposed of otherwise. I want these to be carried high up into the air in an aeroplane and scattered from that height over the fields where the peasants of India toil, so that they might mingle with the dust and soil of India and become an indistinguishable part of India."

Inspiring Lives-42: "Always Remembered"

Children's Day is the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru. He loved children and wished that they shone like the twinkling stars of the sky and rose to lofty heights. He wanted to eliminate the curse of poverty, ignorance, unemployment and disease. He did not want to rest till his last breath. Though he is not with us today, he cannot be forgotten by any child in the world.

- M.Senthil Manikandan, IV-A, Velammal Residential School, Ladanenthal, Sivagangai district.

Courtesy: Young World, Supplement to The Hindu, November 18, 2008.

Grateful thanks to Master M.Senthil Manikandan and The Hindu.

Inspiring Lives-41: Jawaharlal Nehru

November 14 is a special day for the children of India. It is the birthday of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, who loved children and found happiness in the midst of children. It is observed in India as Children's day. The Bible says that man was created in the image of God. So he is closer to God than other living things. Children are even more close to God because of their innocence, easy laughter and other lovable qualities. All great souls love children and become children in their midst. They are more happy in their company.

My dad was a great admirer of Nehruji and my introduction to Nehruji, like so many other great and wonderful things in life, was through my dad. He would tell me about the greatness of Nehruji and narrate many an interesting anecdote from his life. He also admired Nehruji's speeches and writings, which led me later to get "The Discovery of India", "Glimpses from World History" and a compilation of his speeches, published by the Publications Division of the Govt of India.

In my pre-university class English textbook, there was an inspiring article, "Coming of Gandhiji" by Nehruji. Then I came across Nehruji's speech mourning the death of Gandhiji. How much he loved 'Bapu' and how much saddened was he by the assassination of Gandhiji!

During 1964, on a holiday, I was in a cinema theatre watching the matinee show. Suddenly the screening was interrupted and a handwritten slide informing the 'sad and sudden demise of our beloved Prime Minister Nehruji' was put on. We were all stunned. That evening there was a silent procession as a mark of respect to the departed soul in which I took part. I was a eleventh standard student then. I made a scrap book and started pasting Nehruji's pictures and news items related to him in it.

Much has been said about time; great healer, subtle thief and so on. It erases many of our fond thoughts from our memory. I am unable to remember what happened to that scrap book. So also to the books. I remember to have given 'Nehru's Speeches' to friends who were practising shorthand and about the other two, I don't remember anything. Probably some relative or friend borrowed them from me and then conveniently forgotten to return.

Another beautiful book to disappear was, "As America remembers Jawaharlal Nehru", a beautiful pictorial publication from the USIS, New Delhi. However, I still remember a touching quote by Nehruji on himself:

"If anybody chose to think of me, then I should like them to say, this was a man who loved India and its people and they, in turn, gave him of their love most abundantly and extravagantly."

Then there was Nehruji's favourite lines from a poem of Robert Frost, in his own handwriting, which was found near his death-bed:

"The woods are lovely dark and deep

But I have promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep

And miles to go before I sleep"

(Only Nehruji has written the author's name as "Richard Frost").

Nehruji did not believe in organized religion but was a great admirer of Lord Buddha. I remember to have seen a photograph of him meditating in a Buddhist monastery. He was proud of cultural and literary heritage of India. He was a great statesmen, a towering intellect, an inspiring speaker, a beautiful writer, a dreamer, an idealist and a noble soul.

I only wish parents and teachers make a special effort to create an interest in today's children of Nehruji and turn them to reading Nehruji's life and works; better than indulging in useless, negative and often harmful pursuits.

My grateful thanks to dad for helping me develop a love and reverence for Nehruji and inspiring an interest in his works.