"Today's Indian society is undergoing revolutionary changes, and the reactionary forces that are running out of options are struggling frantically to delay their own destruction. Their destruction is inevitable and unquestionable...The purpose of our association is to transform literature and art from...the reactionary class
Save it from the control of the people, bring literature closer to the people, and become an effective way to reflect life and build the future..."
Excerpted from Manifesto of Progressive Writers of India.
Wherever there is oppression, there is resistance. This is a truth that applies everywhere, and India is no exception.
Before the arrival of the British colonists, "India" was just a geographical term and a religious term. This subcontinent was full of states and had never been truly unified, let alone the concept of a country.
It was the British colonial rule that allowed Indians to gradually unite spiritually and ideologically, and began to self-identify with the country and national concept of "India".
The British also wanted to divide and rule, for example, deliberately creating regional and religious conflicts to make local Indians hate each other. However, with the brutal rule of the British, ethnic conflicts still became the main contradiction, and a series of independence and liberation movements arose.
The funniest thing is the first Indian Rebellion. Although there were various deep-seated reasons, the direct cause was that the bullets contained butter and lard, and the soldiers had to bite them open with their teeth when loading. This made Hindu believers
The Green Sect believers felt insulted, and a total of 85 soldiers refused to use these bullets. The British officers tied them up, stuffed bullets into the soldiers' mouths, and then ignited the beacon fire of the Indian uprising.
The Indians also tried many armed resistances, but unfortunately they were all suppressed by the British colonists. The huge disparity in strength between the two sides made Indian progressives despair, and thus gave birth to the "non-violent non-cooperation movement" represented by Gandhi.
The progressive literary movement in India in the 1930s and 1940s was very similar to the modern literary movement in China. It was extremely revolutionary in its early stages. This made the British colonists feel like they were facing a formidable enemy. Within two or three years, they arrested more than 20 well-known writers. India
Literary revolutionary movements everywhere fell into a low ebb.
The outbreak of World War II, the signing of the Joint Declaration of the United Nations, and Japan's rapid expansion in Asia. These events allowed Indian writers to see opportunities again, so they secretly discussed how to make a comeback.
The future India, Bangladesh and Pakistan were collectively known as British India at this time. More than a dozen progressive writers from various places quietly gathered in Calcutta. Some writers were arrested before they even boarded the train. They were monitored for a long time.
The meeting place was a manor on the outskirts of Calcutta. Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Leyi took the train for two days to get there.
The person who came to the station to greet him was a servant named Duwang Patida. Just from the surname "Patida", we knew that he was the lowest Sudra among the four major castes in India. He was dark and tall.
thin.
Partida bent down and saluted, and said in Indian English mixed with a Bengali accent: "Your Majesty, the great Mahatma, I am Partida, a servant of Lord Gauss's family. Please allow me to guide you."
In India, a "Mahatma" in a broad sense refers to a person with noble character and extraordinary wisdom. Zhou Hexuan never thought that one day he would be called a Mahatma.
"Thank you." Zhou Hexuan nodded and smiled.
Zhou Hexuan held Zhang Leyi's hand, and Partida led him out of the station. Not long after, he saw a carriage.
Partida lowered her head and knelt down and said, "Please get in the car!"
A thin man in ragged clothes passed by them, carrying a sack. It was almost evening at this time, and the sun was tilted, making the man's shadow longer. The man stepped directly on the shadows of Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Leyi.
"stop!"
Partida, who had just behaved extremely humbly in front of Zhou Hexuan, suddenly looked like an angry lion, pointed at the man carrying the sack and said: "You have offended a Mahatma, you must pay the price!"
The man carrying the sack looked at his feet, then at Zhou Hexuan, then suddenly threw away the sack and knelt down, kowtowing crazily like a chicken pecking at rice.
"What's going on?" Zhang Leyi was startled.
"I don't know." Zhou Hexuan was also a little confused.
Partida kicked the man over and then beat him wildly, while passers-by turned a blind eye.
Zhou Hexuan quickly stopped him and asked: "Stop fighting, what's going on?"
Partida pointed to the man lying on the ground and said: "Your Majesty the Mahatma, this is a pariah. He just stepped on the shadows of you and your wife."
Zhang Leyi couldn't bear it and advised: "It's nothing, I just guessed the shadow."
"No, this is an unforgivable offense, please allow me to punish him!" Partida said and started kicking again.
The man curled up on the ground holding his head, and screamed in pain from time to time. But even with this scream of pain, he was enduring it, as if he was not even qualified to cry out for mercy.
Zhou Hexuan really couldn't stand it, so he asked Sun Yongzhen to pull Patida aside. Then he took out a 10 yuan pound, placed it next to the man and said, "I'm really sorry, this is compensation for you."
The man didn't seem to understand English and huddled there shivering.
"You are so kind," Partida complimented, and then said to the man, "You are lucky to have met a tolerant wise man today."
It wasn't until Zhou Hexuan and others got on the carriage that the man picked up the pound, knelt down and kissed the place where Zhou Hexuan had just stood.
Under normal circumstances, the highest way for lower castes to show respect to upper castes is to kneel down and kiss each other's shoes or toes. But that man is a pariah and cannot be touched, so he can only kiss the ground to express respect and gratitude.
Zhang Leyi sat on the carriage, turned her head and looked at the scene from a distance, frowned and said: "This place in India is really scary, it is simply unreasonable."
"Yes, it's unreasonable." Zhou Hexuan nodded.
The Patida who was responsible for picking up the train was a servant of the Indian philosopher Aurobindo Gauss. He should have had some culture, but he was also so brutally discriminatory towards the untouchables.
In India, there are also untouchables who are self-taught and change their destiny.
For example, Ambedkar, the "Father of the Indian Constitution", was born as an untouchable and was the first untouchable in Indian history to hold a university degree. He naturally became the leader of the untouchables in India and opposed Gandhi's stance of protecting the caste system. The two met in 1932
A compromise was reached that allowed untouchables to have the right to vote after the founding of India.
Even though he should have an infinitely noble status as the "Father of the Indian Constitution", Ambedkar, who was born as an untouchable, was still discriminated against. In anger, he openly announced his separation from Hinduism, converted to Buddhism, and became an Indian
