By : Vijay Rawoot
We are a celebration loving Nation. Every year we have hundreds of reasons to celebrate. Hindu calendar is just flooded with our festivals and with the anniversaries of the greats. And we never forget to complete these yearly rituals. Most of us even don't discriminate when it comes to the festivals of other sects and religions. We go to Dargas, Churches or Gurudwaras and participate in their feasts as well. In short we very much love to eat, dance and enjoy on whatever big or small occasion. That's fine till it's limited to mythological traditions, though most of them are not exactly based on any logical reasoning. At the same time these festivals are good for our economy where turnover of Crores of rupees is seen during fairs and feasts. Dahi Handi, Ganesh Festival, Durga Puja and village fairs are visible examples before us. As if these celebrations were less, we even started celebrating Valentine's, Mother's, Father's, Teacher's, friendship Days and so on, thanks mainly to the social media and Whatsapp forwards.
But what bothers the most is the way we celebrate Birth Anniversaries of those who have created history and left their mark behind. We are not sure, how many those who dance in Jayanti processions do even care to read the life of their idols. Least to say about how many of them follow their footsteps. Participation in Shivjayanti doesn't mean one is brave on the battle field or a perfect Administrator. It also doesn't mean that he respects women and other religions. Participation in Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti and shouting Jai Bhim slogans not necessarily means participants are studious gentlemen or eager to acquire knowledge like him. And this is sadly true for all events related to grand personalities in our country.
I am writing this blog on the occasion of Rajarshi Shahu Jayanti has the backdrop of painful incidences in today's right wing dominated regime. When we call Shahu as Progressive King of masses, we must also remember his work for the poor and downtrodden. We should not forget his philosophy of universal brotherhood when he started boarding houses for the students of Marathas, Muslims, Lingayats, Jains, Daivadnyas and for the backward communities. We must recall his praises for Missionary work of Christians. We also have to recall naming of Mary Wanlace Hospital and Irwin Christian School to honour Missionary work. We have to remember his presence of mind when he used to give new names like 'Pandit' to his untouchable wrestlers because North Indian upper caste wrestlers were unwilling to play with backward class opponents of Kolhapur those days. There are many such incidences which are diagonally opposite to the path on which his descenders or followers are walking today for their own selfish gains.
Most important character of Shahu was catching the bull by its horns. I never came across any incidence in Shahu's life where he was scared or diplomatic while expressing himself. He was the one who always displayed his loving and blunt sides at the same time. This was the most vital aspect of Shahu's character and unfortunately many Shahu lovers are afraid to imbibe this very important quality of their idol. Deafening silence of the intellectuals and celebrities on the issues like atrocities on Dalits, mob lynching of Muslims, vandalism of Churches, rapes on minors, abusing women by trolls, undeclared censorship on media is not a very good sign for the proud democracy. All must remember the saplings of democracy were planted in Shahu's regime itself. Unless we wake up and call spade a spade we are not true followers of our beloved King. Moreover we will be defeating his progressive ideology.
Yearly Jayanti is just a ritual. Lets walk on his path everyday !
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