मेघदूत: "नीचैर्गच्छत्युपरि दशा चक्रनेमिक्रमेण"

समर्थ शिष्या अक्का : "स्वामीच्या कृपाप्रसादे हे सर्व नश्वर आहे असे समजले. पण या नश्वरात तमाशा बहुत आहे."

G C Lichtenberg: “It is as if our languages were confounded: when we want a thought, they bring us a word; when we ask for a word, they give us a dash; and when we expect a dash, there comes a piece of bawdy.”

C. P. Cavafy: "I’d rather look at things than speak about them."

Martin Amis: “Gogol is funny, Tolstoy in his merciless clarity is funny, and Dostoyevsky, funnily enough, is very funny indeed; moreover, the final generation of Russian literature, before it was destroyed by Lenin and Stalin, remained emphatically comic — Bunin, Bely, Bulgakov, Zamyatin. The novel is comic because life is comic (until the inevitable tragedy of the fifth act);...”

सदानंद रेगे: "... पण तुकारामाची गाथा ज्या धुंदीनं आजपर्यंत वाचली जात होती ती धुंदी माझ्याकडे नाहीय. ती मला येऊच शकत नाही याचं कारण स्वभावतःच मी नास्तिक आहे."

".. त्यामुळं आपण त्या दारिद्र्याच्या अनुभवापलीकडे जाऊच शकत नाही. तुम्ही जर अलीकडची सगळी पुस्तके पाहिलीत...तर त्यांच्यामध्ये त्याच्याखेरीज दुसरं काही नाहीच आहे. म्हणजे माणसांच्या नात्यानात्यांतील जी सूक्ष्मता आहे ती क्वचित चितारलेली तुम्हाला दिसेल. कारण हा जो अनुभव आहे... आपले जे अनुभव आहेत ते ढोबळ प्रकारचे आहेत....."

Kenneth Goldsmith: "In 1969 the conceptual artist Douglas Huebler wrote, “The world is full of objects, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.”1 I’ve come to embrace Huebler’s ideas, though it might be retooled as “The world is full of texts, more or less interesting; I do not wish to add any more.” It seems an appropriate response to a new condition in writing today: faced with an unprecedented amount of available text, the problem is not needing to write more of it; instead, we must learn to negotiate the vast quantity that exists. How I make my way through this thicket of information—how I manage it, how I parse it, how I organize and distribute it—is what distinguishes my writing from yours."

Tom Wolfe: "The first line of the doctors’ Hippocratic oath is ‘First, do no harm.’ And I think for the writers it would be: ‘First, entertain.’"

विलास सारंग: "… . . 1000 नंतर ज्या प्रकारची संस्कृती रुढ झाली , त्यामध्ये साधारणत्व विश्वात्मकता हे गुण प्राय: लुप्त झाले...आपली संस्कृती अकाली विश्वात्मक साधारणतेला मुकली आहे."

Monday, December 21, 2009

100 Years After Pandit A M T Jackson, a good Topivalla

December 21, 2009 is the 100th anniversary of the assassination of the collector of Nashik, A M T Jackson, of the Indian Civil Service, by Anant Kanhere (अनंत कान्हेरे), using a revolver sent by V D Savarkar (वि दा सावरकर) from England, at Vijayanand theatre where he had gone to watch famous Marathi play Sangeet Sharada (संगीत शारदा) by G B Deval (गो. ब. देवल). Jackson was first shot in the back and then in the front. He died on the spot.

I have yet to read a detailed history of that episode.

Y D Phadke (य दि फडके) has a chapter dedicated to it in his book 'Shodh Savarkarancha', 1984 ('शोध सावरकरांचा').

There I learnt Jackson was shot just before the play started, Bal Gandharva (बालगंधर्व) and Nanasaheb Joglekar (नानासाहेब जोगळेकर) were actors in it.

I have not read the feelings of Bal Gandharva or Nanasaheb Joglekar about this horrific incident. Or the reaction of the paying public. I wonder if they got their ticket money back if the performance was cancelled! And even if they did, I am sure, many must be deeply disappointed that they missed the show. Kanhere and his two colleagues had paid twelve annas each for the ticket.

Book also says that Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj (राजर्षी शाहू महाराज), ruler of Kolhapur, had warned the British government in 1906 about the possibility of extreme violence because of the views of Brahmins from the districts of Kolhapur, Belgao, Nashik and Pune (page 6, 'Shodh Savarkarancha', 1984-2000).
 But Phadke's book doesn't have much information on the scholarship or life of Jackson.

Following is the account of the case that is available on the website of Bombay High Court:

"...Unlike other English district officers, he (Jackson) was sympathetic towards Indian aspirations, was a student of Sanskrit, and generally was popular as a man of learning and culture.

It was his interest in Indian history and culture, which induced him to attend the performance of a Marathi drama at Nasik. During an interval in the performance, a young Brahmin student of Aurangabad, named Anant Kanhere, stepped forward, drew out a pistol and shot Mr. Jackson through the heart at point blank range.

The murder created a great deal of sensation in Nasik, Poona and Bombay; and it even created consternation in the ranks of Indian Nationalists, because of Jackson's reputation as a very sympathetic and popular district officer.

Many Indians could not understand why such a good man ("good Topivalla ", as such Englishmen were called in those days) was singled out for such a dastardly murder. But it seems that there was a school of extremists at the time, who believed perversely that, these "good Topivallas" were really more dangerous than officers of the type of Dyer and O'Dwyer, for instance; for, it is the good popular government officials who reconcile Indians to foreign rule..."

The journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay‎ wrote: "The Society records its deep sense of grief for death of one of its most learned members,AMT Jackson, ICS."

Bimanbehari Majumdar: "...Jackson was a learned Indologist. He contributed many interesting papers on Indian history and culture and was popularly known as Pandit Jackson..." (Militant nationalism in India and its socio-religious background, 1897-1917)

Sir John Cumming: "...the late Mr. A M T Jackson drew out attention to 'the attractive power of Hindu civilization, which has enabled it to assimilate and absorb into itself every Foreign invader except the Moslem and European..." ('Revealing India's Past')

(Savarkar  would agree with Jackson's views on lack of assimilation of Muslims. It also shows how Europeans had now transcended 'White Mughals' phase. It was the phase, documented most notably by William Dalrymple, in which they tried to assimilate.)

On Google Books I found following books by A M T Jackson:

"Folk Lore Notes: Vol. II - Konkan‎

Folk lore notes: Compiled from materials collected by the late A. M. T. Jackson. R. E. Enthoven, Volume 1

Folklore notes from Gujarat and the Konkan‎

Folklore of Gujarat‎

Folklore Notes V2: Konkan (1915)"


I remember to have read Durga Bhagwat (दुर्गा भागवत) writing that the chase of Jackson's valuable library was entrusted to the Royal Asiatic Society, Mumbai. (Read my blogpost dated July 26 2013: Coppersmith Barbet, Green Rose & Books- A M T Jackson & Durga Bhagwat-... तांबट पक्षी, हिरवा गुलाब आणि ढीगभर पुस्तके)

I don't know what family Jackson left behind. Wife, kids, parents?

In Frontline dated Sep. 12-25, 2009, A.R. VENKATACHALAPATHY has written about the assassination of Robert William Escourt Ashe on June 17, 1911.

I was most moved by this family photo of Ashe's.



PICTURE FROM THE ASHE FAMILY ALBUM/

COURTESY ROBERT ASHE and Frontline