Illustrations of the culture of India in the Original manuscript of Constitution of India
Surya Pratap Singh
Rajawat, Advocate
Rajasthan High
Court , Jaipur
Constituent Assembly and illustrations of the culture of India in the
Original manuscript of Constitution of India
Keywords: Constituent Assembly Debates, The Indian
Independence Act, 1947, Swaraj, Suraj, calligraphy ,artistic decoration and
printing of the original authoritative copy of the Constitution of India,
original manuscript, culture of India ,Undivided India,Prem
Bihari Narain Raizada, Vasant Krishna Vaid, Acharya Nandlal Bose,Mohanjodaro
seal, Vedic Gurukul, Ramayan, Mahabharat-message of Geeta, Buddha, Mahaveer,
Ashoka, statue of Nataraj, Vikramaditya
court, Nalanda University , penance of Bhagirath for the Ganga ,
Akbar, Shivaji, Guru Gobind Singh, Rani Laxmi Bai, Tipu Sultan, Mahatma
Gandhi , Bharat Mata, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose .
Abstract: Illustrations of the culture in the original authoritative copy of the Constitution of
India is the base for understanding the culture and civilization
of India. There is an attempt by
the Constituent Assembly members to convey message for the future generation of
India. As a matter of fact it is microcosm of the civilization of India from
Harrapa Civilization to modern times in the form of Mahatma Gandhi and Neta Ji Subhash Chandra Bose.Also it
conveys that the cultural values of the oldest civilization on earth can be best understood as Dharma. Each illustration
represents Yugadharam of that era. Indeed, it is the embodiment of change with
continuity.
Aspiration
of the Constituent Assembly was reflected ,first time, in Swaraj Bill 1895 moved by Bal Gangadhar Tilak
in the form of Fundamental Rights. Demand was repeated in Anne Besant's
Commonwealth of India Bill, finalized by National Convention of
Political parties in 1925,by Motilal Nehru Committee in 1928 and at the Karachi
session of the Indian national congress in 1932. M N Roy,an advocate of radical
democracy, categorically and officially called
for the pressing need of Constituent Assembly in 1934, and Tej Bahadur Sapru in 1944-45
.Cabinet Mission Plan 1946 provided for the formation of Constituent Assembly
through election.
The Assembly could abrogate or alter any law made by the British Parliament applying to India ,including the Indian Independence Act(1) itself. Constituent Assembly was entrusted of dual functions of Constitution Making and Law Making.First session of the Assembly was held on December9, 1946 in constitution hall now the Central Hall of the Parliament of India. Session was chaired by Sachchidananda Sinha ,the oldest member, as per the French practice . Dr. Sinha read out the goodwill messages received from different countries. After the Chairman's inaugural address and the nomination of a Deputy Chairman, the members were formally requested to present their credentials. The First Day's proceedings ended after all the 207 members present submitted their credentials and signed the Register. Seated in the galleries, some thirty feet above the floor of the Chamber, the representatives of the Press and the visitors witnessed this memorable event. The All India Radio, Delhi broadcast a composite sound picture of the entire proceedings. On December11, 1946 Dr Rajendra Prasad was elected chairman of the Assembly and H C Mukharjee as the Vice Chairman of the Assembly. During the first session Shri Raghunath Vishnu Dhulekar demanded that proceedings of the Constituent Assembly be in Hindi language(1.2).Thereafter rules were amended and proceedings of the Assembly were allowed to be conducted in Hindi, Urdu and English
Sir Benegal Narsing Rau ,who became the first Indian Judge in International
Court of Justice and also helped draft the Constitution of Burma in 1947,was
appointed Constitutional Advisor to
Constituent Assembly .Sir Rau referred not
less than sixty Constitutions of the world for the purpose of making the draft
of the Constitution of India. He was not member of the Constituent
Assembly because of the unwritten
ethical policy that no two family members shall be the members of the Constituent Assembly. Shiva Rau ,his brother,
was member of the Assembly. The draft
was submitted by Sir B N Rau in English in Oct 1947 before sixth session of the Assembly.
The draft was in English. The draft Constitution was considered by the Drafting
Committee consisting of seven members,
set up on August29 1947, chaired by Dr B R Ambedkar for 114 days. The Constituent Assembly
appointed various 22 committees to deal with different tasks of the
Constitution-making.
Jawahar
Lal Nehru moved the historic "Objective Resolution" in the Assembly
on December 13, 1946(2) its modified version forms the Preamble of our Constitution. Preamble starts with "We, the
people of India"... with the goal of ensuring constitutional autochthony.
At
the suggestion of Prof. K. T. Shah the question of calligraphy and artistic decoration and printing of the original
authoritative copy of the Constitution of India was taken. up. It was
decided that the work should be started as early as possible and calligraphy
should be completed by the 20th January, 1950 and the work of illumination and decoration of the calligraphed pages may
continue even after that date till it is completed. Copy of Constitution of
India in English was handwritten by Prem
Bihari Raizada Saxena and in Hindi the
work of calligraphy was done by Vasant Krishna Vaid.
The matter to be calligraphed consisted of about 300 pages of 6½" x 9½", each page containing about 40 lines. It was also proposed to use parchment paper of the size of 14" x18" and a margin of 2½" was to be left at the top and the sides for illumination work and of l½" at the bottom. The rest of the space in the middle of the sheet was to be covered by the calligraphist. The cover was to bear the seal and emblem of the Union with a description in general and concise terms of the contents of the manuscript. . At the suggestion of Krishna Kriplani the President - Dr Rajendra Prasad Ji wrote to Acharya Nandalal Bose of the Shantiniketan asking if he would undertake the work of supervision and decoration and illumination of the calligraphed authenticated copy of the Constitution. Acharya Nandalal Bose agreed to the President's request but suggested that it would not be possible to make designs based on historical subjects as suggested by the President, owing to shortage of space in the margin, and in the alternative agreed to make ornamental designs covering the whole period of Indian civilization. A decision was also taken to Photoprint the calligraphed Constitution bearing signatures of Members at the end.(4)
The Vedic
period is represented by a scene of
gurukula .Sri Aurobindo writes on Veda "At the root of all
that we Hindus have done, thought and said through these many thousands of
years, behind all we are and seek to be, there lies concealed, the fount of our
philosophies, the bedrock of our religions, the kernel of our thought, the
explanation of our ethics and society, the summary of our civilisation, the
rivet of our nationality, a small body of speech, Veda. From this one seed
developing into many forms the multitudinous and magnificent birth called
Hinduism draws its inexhaustible existence. Buddhism too with its offshoot,
Christianity, flows from the same original source. It has left its stamp on
Persia, through Persia on Judaism, through Judaism, Christianity and Sufism on
Islam, and through Buddha on Confucianism, and through Christ and mediaeval
mysticism, Greek and German philosophy and Sanskrit learning on the thought and
civilisation of Europe. There is no part of the world's spirituality, of the
world's religion, of the world's thought which would be what it is today, if
the Veda had not existed. Of no other body of speech in the world can this be
said."(5)
The epic period by a visual of Lord Sri Rama, Mata Sita and Lakshmana returning homeward .The philosophical base of India in found in the Ramayan, Sri Aurobindo writes "The distinction that India draws is not between altruism and egoism but between disinterestedness and desire. The altruist is profoundly conscious of himself and he is really ministering to himself even in his altruism; hence the hot & sickly odour of sentimentalism and the taint of the Pharisee which clings about European altruism. With the perfect Hindu the feeling of self has been merged in the sense of the universe; he does his duty equally whether it happens to promote the interests of others or his own; if his action seems oftener altruistic than egoistic it is because our duty oftener coincides with the interests of others than with our own. Rama’s duty as a son calls him to sacrifice himself, to leave the empire of the world and become a beggar& a hermit; he does it cheerfully and unflinchingly: but when Sita is taken from him, it is his duty as a husband to rescue her from her ravisher and as a Kshatriya to put Ravana to death if he persists in wrongdoing. This duty also he pursues with the same unflinching energy as the first. He does not shrink from the path of the right because it coincides with the path of self-interest. " (6)
The epic period by a visual of another of Lord Yogeshwar Krishna propounding the Gita to Arjuna on the battlefield. Sri Aurobindo writes on the Mahabharata "The Pandavas also go without a word into exile & poverty, because honour demands it of them; but their ordeal over, they will not, though ready to drive compromise to its utmost verge, consent to succumb utterly to Duryodhana, for it is their duty as Kshatriyas to protect the world from the reign of injustice, even though it is at their own expense that injustice seeks to reign. The Christian & Buddhistic doctrine of turning the other cheek to the smiter , is as dangerous as it is impracticable. The continual European see-saw between Christ on the one side and the flesh &the devil on the other with the longer trend towards the latter comes straight from a radically false moral distinction & the lip profession of an ideal which mankind has never been either able or willing to carry into practice. The disinterested & desireless pursuit of duty is a gospel worthy of the strongestmanhood; that of the cheek turned to the smiter is a gospel for cowards & weaklings. Babes & sucklings may practise it because they must, but with others it is a hypocrisy."(7)
Then
there are depictions of the lives of the Lord Buddha and Bhagwan Mahavira, followed by
scenes from the courts of Ashoka and Vikramaditya and also the scene of tapsya
of Bhagirath for the descent of Ganga. Orissan sculpture and image of Nataraj reflect the art aspect ;
scene of ancient university (Nalanda)
along with other great figures of our history who are represented are Akbar,
Shivaji, Guru Gobind Singh, Tipu Sultan, and Lakshmibai.
The
freedom movement is delineated by line drawings of Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi march
.Gandhiji's weapons of non cooperation,
swadehi and boycott were inspired by
doctrine of passive resistance as enunciated by Sri Aurobindo in 1907.Sri Aurobindo writes "The first
principle of passive resistance, therefore, which the new school
have placed in the forefront of their programme, is to make administration
under present conditions impossible by an organised refusal to do
anything which shall help either British commerce in the exploitation of the country or British officialdom in the
administration of it, – unless and until the conditions are changed in the
manner and to the extent demanded by the people.. This attitude is summed
up in the one word, Boycott"(8) "The
second canon of the doctrine of passive resistance has therefore been accepted
by politicians of both schools – that to resist an unjust coercive order or
interference Iit s not only justifiable but, under given circumstances, a duty".(9) "We must therefore admit a third
canon of the doctrine of passive resistance, that social boycott is
legitimate and indispensable as against persons guilty of treason to the nation"1."Our
defensive resistance must therefore be mainly passive in the beginning,
although with a perpetual readiness to supplement it with active
resistance whenever compelled"( 10)
The
freedom movement is delineated by line drawings of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
and other patriots trying to liberate Mother India (in Hindi Bharat Mata) from outside India.
Calligraphed
copy of the Constitution of India was presented to Dr Rajendra Prasad on May3,
1949 . The Constitution of
India was adopted on November26, 1949.24
January 1950 has historical significance.First, decisionwas taken by
Constituent Assembly that Jan Gan Man
shall be the National Anthem and Vande Mataram shall be given equal respect and
place . Second, Hindi translation of the
Constitution of India was certified by Dr Rajendra Prasad. Third, election of the first President of India.Lastly,signing of the copies of the Constitution of India in Hindi and English containing the illustrations of the culture of India.(11) There are 282 signatures in Hindi copy and 278 in English copy. The provisions relating to citizenship, elections, provisional Parliament, temporary and transitional positions were given immediate effect on Nov26 ,1949. While the rest of the Constitution came into force on the Jan26 , 1950. And this date is referred to in the Constitution as the "date of its Commencement". Constitution of India had 395 Articles in 22 Parts and 8 Schedules at the time of commencement. On that day when the Constitution was being signed, it was drizzling outside and it was interpreted as a sign of a good omen.
The
Constituent Assembly continued as the provisional parliament of India from January 26 1950 till the formation of new
Parliament after the first general elections in 1951-52. Article 394 A (inserted
by Fifty Eighth Amendment w.e.f.09.12.1987 ) provides for Authoritative text in
Hindi . Authoritative text in Hindi was
published in Official Gazette on August23,
1988. Now Constitution of India is available in 15 languages.
Kesavananda Bharati case(12)
in which Basic Structure Doctrine was laid down ,every citizen has right to
have access to copy of full Constitution depicting the photolithography
covering the culture of India
which forms the soul of the culture
of Great India
Article 1 of
the Constitution of India states that India, that is Bharat, shall be
a Union of States ; illustrations of the culture
in the original handwritten Constitution
of clearly ,explicitly and
integrally explains what is Bharat- integration, assimilation and synthesis of values
of present times in light of guiding principles of Sanatan values of Bharat
The Supreme Court of India has, in the
Kesavananda case(13) , recognised that the preamble may be used to interpret
ambiguous areas of the constitution where differing interpretations present
themselves. In the 1995 case of Union Government Vs LIC of India (14)also, the
Supreme Court has once again held that Preamble is the integral part of the
Constitution.On the same lines it is not irrational and unconstitutional to use
the illustrations
of the culture of India in the original
handwritten Constitution of India to interpret
ambiguous areas of the constitution where differing interpretations present
themselves
The word
Secularism was inserted without any clear and concise definition ,wrecking
havoc in the form of conflicting definitions . That
illustrations of the culture of
India in the original handwritten Constitution
of India clearly ,explicitly and integrally explains what
is Secularism in India as envisaged by
the honorable members of the Constituent Assembly .This clearly explains that
Secularism of India is different from the western Secularism. it is very
disappointing that in the name of secularism
the civilizations of India has been often not taught and discussed in
schools and college . This citizen of India feels that illustrations
of the culture of India in the original
handwritten Constitution of India provides guidelines to the school
curriculum making one chapter mandatory on various topics of photolithography.
The illustrations of the culture of India in the original handwritten Constitution of India explicitly and integrally incorporates all the Fundamental Duties and shall go a long way in inculcating the values of citizenship will go a long way in upholding the Constitutional Morality as discussed by Dr Ambedkar .Nationalism in form of Spiritual nationalism was unanimously accepted by the honourable members of constituent Assembly in form of Bharat Mata as found in the illustrations of the culture of India in the original handwritten Constitution of India will go a long way in upholding the Constitutional Morality as discussed by Dr Ambedkar .Hence it can be said that had this been open secret today India would not have seen the anti- national slogans in education institutions like JNU New Delhi etc.Member of Parliament would not have said "where is Bharata Mata written in the Constitution of India"
The illustrations
of the culture of India in the original handwritten Constitution of
India clearly ,explicitly and
integrally highlights the basic structure of the civilisation of India and the
history of India.It forms a litmus test to prevent the politicisation of
education. It represents
the microcosm of the civilisation of India where it clearly lays down the
principles of SWARAJ and SURAAJ .The ideals of the freedom struggle from
Britishraj.
It underlines the integral idea of Violence
and Non Violence to uphold and protect
the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. It underlines the change with
continuity from Vedic period to 20th Century.It reiterates the aspirations of
Swami Vivekanand and Sri Aurobindo that India to lead the world as Vishwguru,It
underlines profound vitality, strong
mental faculties and spirituality at the
centre-reminding the glorious past and
bright promised future of India. Strongly
feeling the significance of the Illustrations
of the civilization in the original authoritative copy of the Constitution of India ,this
author has requested the Government of India
that all the Bare Acts of the Constitution of India must not be allowed to be published without the
photographs/designs as found in the Original handwritten
Constitution of India duly signed by the Honorable members of the Constituent
Assembly
Conclusion: Illustrations
of the culture in the original authoritative copy of the Constitution of India
is the base for understanding the culture and
civilization of India .Government
of India must issue directions that all the Bare Acts of
the Constitution of India must not be
allowed to be published without the photographs/designs as
found in the Original handwritten Constitution of India duly signed by
the Honorable members of the Constituent Assembly India must
issue directions that all the Bare Acts of the Constitution of India
must not be allowed to be published without the
photographs/designs as found in the Original handwritten Constitution
of India duly signed by the Honourable members of the Constituent Assembly
(1) The Indian Independence Act, 1947
(2) Constituent Assembly Debates of India December 9, 1946 Loksabha Secretariat 2014 Sixth Reprint
(3)Vol36, Complete Works Sri Aurobindo 71; Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department 2006
(4)Brief note on the calligraphy of the Constitution of India ; Parliament Secretariat June 1950
(5) Sri Aurobindo Archives and Research April 1977 Volume I; No 1
(6)Vol 01,Complete Works Sri Aurobindo 236 ;Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department 2003
(7) Vol 06-07 Complete Works Sri Aurobindo 281 Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department 2002
(8) Vol06-07 Complete Works Sri Aurobindo 292 Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department 2002
(9)Ibid p.292
(10)Ibid p301
(11)Constituent Assembly Debates, 24 January 1950 Loksabha Secretariat 2014 Sixth Reprint
(12 )His Holiness Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru and Ors. v. State of Kerala& Anr.(1973) 4 SCC 225)
(13)Ibid
(14) LIC of India and Ors v. Consumer Education and Research Centre 1995 AIR 1811, 1995 SCC (5) 482
Comments
Post a Comment