Making of a revolutionary
 

by Prof. Sunanda Mahendra

Surprisingly enough, though most of us knew from various sources the name Subash Chandra Bose the Indian revolutionary and nationalist, and seen his photograph exhibited especially in Indian firms we have had no chance of knowing him properly for the last so many years.

Now that the well-known writer and dramatist Premaranjith Tillekaratne has brought out a book (Subash Chandra Bose, Bharathye Viplaviya Deshapremiya, an author publication sponsored by the National Library Services Board 2005) that covers most of the factors highlighting the life and struggles of Subash Chandra Bose, we have one more important addition to the repertoire of Sinhala biographies of renowned revolutionaries in the world.

It seems that the name in the subject Bose is a forgotten one perhaps due to the improper cultural links that exists between the two countries.

Though the life and struggles of the revolutionary Bose are known via some of the English books published in India and in other English speaking parts of the world, no attempt has been made to introduce him through Sinhala.

The biographer cum investigator Tillekaratne at the outset makes us perceive that his is an attempt to overcome and help understand the real picture of Bose and avert some of the misnorms pertaining to his career as dealt in various feature articles published in our country both in Sinhala and English. As such he outlines his mission in writing this book commencing from the standpoint of the intentions and objectives.

Then the reader is taken to the last days of the protagonist Bose as in a creative work and goes to the beginning of his life with details from his school days to his university academic life at home and abroad, the intermixture of the revolutionary and the academic with special reference to his altruistic and humanist nature abhorring the narrow mindedness towards the social changes for he makes us aware that it is the sheer necessity that makes a change and not the mere passive observation until something happens without one's participation.

This nature of Bose has gone into the depths of his thinking process where he is seen as a different person altogether from others in all places he served. His anger and protest as the reader gathers is a study of a sensitive humanist and nationalist who desired to liberate his country from foreigners especially the colonial rulers.

He was known as Netaji which means the elder of the nation, an honourary title bestowed by the people who rallied round him. Bose is remembered as a great man who wanted to form an army consisting of a multi ethnic group, a regiment that would go to the formation of an inter cultural understanding to liberate the nation at large.

But this dream of his inner intention never gave way to a reality due to various reasons some of which are clearly laid down in the text with dates and events. Then comes the other side of his own self which collides with himself as to the conflict between the non violence philosophy and the philosophy of brutality in warfare.

His close association with those like Gandhi and Tagore may have given way to adopt this latter concept, which he discerned as a boomerang.

These factors are well laid in this book by author Tillekaratne giving the reader the full access in the shortest possible manner to understand the profile of Bose in a totality with scenes of his imprisonments (eleven in all) changing the prison cells from country to country depending on the orders from higher ups who ruled and his encounters with friends and foes and his missions abroad meeting such people as Hitler and others whose ideas he sometimes listened but nevertheless detested as ignoble and anti nationalistic.

In chapter three which is titled 'freedom fighter' the author Tillekaratne outlines how Bose, in 1921 attempted to form the national school through which he wanted the school leavers to understand and form themselves for a freedom fight in the most intelligent form possible.

But unfortunately the attempt misfired as the students so rallied round him left him gradually without understanding his main mission. Though most of his time and energy was directed towards a social cause it was either misinterpreted or misunderstood debasing his attitude of hartals and satyagrahas as State conspiracies.

Tireless as he was from the very young days, he then took to pamphleteering and agitational journalism producing such works as 'bangla katha', 'atmasakthi' and periodicals like 'forward' with a mission of protest for the sake of national liberation. This made him suffer behind bars with the coincidence of the visit of Prince of Wales to India initially and then continued to be the same from the period that covers 1924 to 1928.

He was also instrumental in forming Youth Councils in one of which Nehru's father Motilal too had been an activist. In this manner Bose is shown as an ideologist who stood the test of time and tried his best to bring a developed great nation within the geographical boundaries of India presumably, an ideal history lesson for us.

Some events where Bose is escaping the bonds of his enemies through the best of intelligence and bravery is highlighted enlivening the character of a great hero who had not spared any time for any trivialities of power craving and monetary dealings.

The book is also arranged in a chronological manner where the reader finds it easy to research on the character and events as laid down in the text. In many ways this book is also a historical source document beneficial for the social scientist and political communicator.

Though this is a pioneer attempt at writing about Bose the revolutionary and his struggles, it is also a mirror of the contemporary Asian scene of the political and national liberation struggle.

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Viewpoint on historical accuracy

Woolf in Ceylon-An Imperial Journey in the shadow of Leonard Woolf
By Christopher Ondaatjee
Harper Collins
Visidunu Publishers, 471, Lake Road, Boralesgamuwa

This book is yet another publication on Leonard Woolf, among the plethora of articles, opinions etc and references to him in recent times, especially in Sri Lanka. He does seem to exert a strange fascination in the collective 'psyche' of the present generation of English educated, especially in this country.

Such trends seem to be particularly apparent among expatriates, who have achieved fame and fortune in foreign climes and perhaps wish to re-establish their roots with the country of their origin. This is not an attempt to decry their need to bask in the resulting reflected glory, by trying to find parallels in their own lives of the people they eulogise.

However, one would reasonably expect, that such writers however laudable their efforts may be, should at least try to make certain of the historical veracity of their statements. Also the denigration of other personalities, whether intended or not, is to be deplored and hopefully should at least be corrected and acknowledge.

In this book, complete with glossy, colour photographs, albeit somewhat highly priced for a paper-back (at Rs. 18,000), which has just hit the shelves of our bookshops, the following are some of the concerns at issue.

On page 266, Sir Christopher Ondaatje, makes his initial mistake by referring to Edward Walter Perera as Edmund Walter Perera and continuing to do so, except when he just refers to him as Perera.

Inaccurate references

It sets the tone for his off-hand and inaccurate references about someone, who is acknowledged as a reputed patriot by the cognoscenti (true, a diminishing breed) in Sri Lanka. The following excerpts from the pages of his book 'Woolf in Ceylon' suffice.

While referring in glowing terms to D.B. Jayatilleke and his education in England, he refers to E.W. Perera, as 'Perera, a Colombo - based advocate and a Christian, with an interest in history and politics.' Ondaatjee, was probably unaware, that E.W. after passing out as a lawyer in ceylon, subsequently proceeded to London in 1908 and was called to the bar at Middle Temple.

It was probably because of the familiarity that E.W. Perera, had acquired both of the British legal system and the intricacies of parliamentary procedures at Whitehall, that he was chosen.

His formidable task was to make representations to the Secretary of State for the Colonies about the injustices meted out to the Sinhala Buddhists under the stringent martial laws that were enacted and seek redress.

The people, who chose him were from the political leaders, who were emerging at the time in Ceylon and comprised Christian Sinhalese and Burgers as well as Hindu Tamil. The leading Sinhala Buddhists, who, because they were also members of the Temperance Movement were thought to be trouble-makers had been imprisoned without trial.

Some had even been shot whilst the lives of the others were at risk. It was in this climate in 1915, that E.W. Perera took the infamous 'Shoot at Sight Order' of Governor Chalmers, which he had to hide in the sole of his shoe.

There was the added risk of his ship being torpedoed by German submarines, as Britain was in the throes of the 1st World War. D.B. Jayatilleke, who had also been put in prison only joined E.W. Perera in London, later, after he was released.

The atmosphere in war-torn London for someone from a comparatively small, far flung outpost of the British Empire was hardly conducive to make his voice heard.

Hence, he regarded his introduction to someone of the calibre of Leonard Woolf by Sidney Web, soon after he arrived as an important step in the task he had embarked on. Woolf's personal, unwavering and sustained interest once he was convinced of the justice of the Sinhalese claims, as his subsequent actions proved deserve utmost praise.

The fact that his wife Virginia Woolf, despite her literary prowess, made the diary entries about E.W. Perera and later D.B. Jayatilleke too, (quoted by Ondaatje and others!) only proves her pettiness and innate racism and was perhaps an early warning sign of the incipient mental instability that later afflicted her!

Narrow Views

It is to Leonard Woolf's eternal credit that he was able to withstand not only his wife's narrow views, but also that of the prevailing British Establishment. In the words of the public tribute paid to Leonard Woolf, by E.W. Perera in 1919, 'His active interest in the welfare of Ceylon never abated .... from that moment to the present'.

In fact it went beyond, as the correspondence between him and E.W. Perera, (34 letters till 1944) and 6 from D.B. Jayatilleke, as well as all the documents etc relating to this troubled period in our history, were meticulously collected by Leonard Woolf.

They were handed over to the High commissioner for Ceylon in London in 1961. His bequest, if proof is needed of these facts, can now be accessed in the National Archives of Sri Lanka.

Another distortion of facts by Ondaatjee in his book is the casual reference to E.W. Perera on page 268 with regard to the Lion flag of Ceylon "Perera, too influenced Ceylon's history by devising the future flag of Sri Lanka on his trip to England in 1916, he discovered, in the military hospital in Chelsea, the royal standard of the last king of Kandy, which had been captured by the British in 1815..... The lion was incorporated into the flag, earning Perera the nickname 'Lion of Kotte'."

This is a travesty of the truth as E.W. Perera, was a renowned expert in heraldry, testimony of which is his monograph on Sinhalese Banners and Standards.

He painstakingly followed the trail of this flag, following the advice of other British scholars interested in heraldry, via Whitehall Chapel, thence to the United Service Museum, finally to the Chelsea hospital from where it was retrieved, as early as 1908 and not in year given by Ondaatje.

In his monograph E.W. Perera states that the lion symbol according to Ceylon chronicles was used as early as the third century before Christ, when Buddhism was introduced to Ceylon.

The lion was incorporated into the Ceylon flag on the eve of Independence by a committee, which probably didn't include E.W. Perera! His independent and forthright views were in disfavour for some time and he had even disdained to accept the offer of either a knighthood or the post of Speaker of the new State Council. Like woolf he thought that the reforms had not gone far enough.

Hence he probably earned the sobriquet 'Lion of Kotte' for his fearlessness and uncompromising spirit, apart from the fact that Kotte was the place where he had always lived. It was not necessarily because he discovered the lion flag as stated by Ondaatje.

Rita Perera
 

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