[Reader-list] Allahabad stands for culture...

[himanshu ranjan]

The Growth and Role of Allahabad as a Cultural Centre of the Hindi-Urdu Belt
 
     Allahabad emerged as a cultural centre of modern esteem in the twentieth century, out of a very complicated and controversial background of the so-called nineteenth century renaissance where the planks of modernisation and enlightenment were doomed to be engrossed with revivalist and fundamentalist trends. The restricted capitalist transformation of colonial India could not afford otherwise.
     In comparison to Bengal and Maharashtra the renaissance in the north-west province (i.e. Hindi-Urdu belt) was late and very weak. Muslim separatism and consequently a stronger reactionary trend, the Hindu fundamentalism, erupted in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The basic agenda of religious and social reforms was left behind, and there was a tug-of-war between the educated elite classes of both the communities, with a sole aim to preserve and secure their positions in services under the British rule and to pose their loyalties with the same. Besides, their fractured social status depended on the religious and ethnic identities of their respective communities. The colonial vested interests cleverly exploited this situation of communal imbalance and triggered the 'divide and rule' policy to strengthen their own regime, especially after 1857, the first Hindu-Muslim joint upsurge against the British Raj. The Indo-Persian composite culture was shaken effectively and
 there was a typical communal divide where Hindi and Urdu were identified with the Hindu and the Muslim religious communities respectively. Ironically both the languages belonged to the same lingustic diction and socio-historic demography of the same belt. Even the democratic demands like that of Devanagari script were raised in a communal way that tilted the balance in favour of the Hindus.
     Aligarh, Benaras and Allahabad were the three major centres of the above described 'coloured' renaissance, the third one being a junior partner. But with the agencies like the Indian Press and the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan having come into force in the very beginning of the twentieth century almost the whole business was shifted to Allahabad, which had already acquired a typical, modern but colonial, intellectual face, with the academic achievements of Allahabad University. Besides, this second phase was coined with nationalism, where diverse political currents conglomerated under the banner of the Indian National Congress, the Swaraj Bhawan being its Headoffice, with a clear-cut target of gaining freedom and ousting the imperialist regime. The communal plank of 'Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan' prevailed in the nationalist guise of the Congress that led to P.D. Tondon's hegemonic theory of 'one nation, one language, one script, one culture'. Nonethless, the secular Gandhi-Nehru-Maulana Azad
 combine within the Congress and the cross-currents of the socialists, the communists, the revolutionaries along with  powerful sections of Dalits and women, and the supermost factor of the pluralist, multilingual and composite character of our society always stood in the way and made a strong rational check thereon. The inherent communal hatred went on to culminate into the partition of the country, but the century in question also witnessed a number of linguistic, literary, cultural and socio-political movements, debates and discourses that paved the way for the foundation of a democratic and secular India.
     On the otherhand, though lagging behind in the race, Urdu also faced the intricacies of Muslim separatism and fundamentalism and to some extent lost credibility among the masses. But with the versatile Arabic and Persian traditions, a big canon of contemporary literary giants in its fold, additionally internationalised community-based cultural support and a powerful secular tradition within India, Urdu acquired a strong and distinguished stature of its own.
     And it goes without saying that Allahabad has been playing a vital leading role in all this throughout the century!
     This is a brief account of the complex phenomenon and a preliminary outline of the proposed study. Any suggestions or criticism for the anomalies and misconceptions (if any) are most welcome.
 
                                                                        Hiamanshu Ranjan
 


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