Thirukkural on accepting only the Truth

THIRUKKURAL ON ACCEPTING ONLY  THE TRUTH

Daily we receive many forwarded messages. Some feel that these messages are big nuisance and delete them. In fact these are very educative and informative, those who are always busy, can accumulate them and read whenever they are free.

For the past six months, I received one particular forwarded email many times. In fact some had asked me to comment on it. It is Lord Macaulay's address to the British Parliament on 2nd Feb 1835. Let me take this subject connecting with Thirukkurals and comment. Thiruvalluvar says from whichever source we hear and what ever we hear, we should know the truth by exhibiting keen insight and good judgment.

In simple words "hear every thing but believe only the truth ". According to the forwarded message, Macaulay had addressed the British Parliament on 2nd Feb 1835 as follows.

"I have travelled across length and breadth of India and not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief, such wealth I have seen in the country, such high moral values people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country. Unless we break the very back bone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we must replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater.than their own, they will lose their self esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them,a truly dominated nation."

With a selective task of testing the authenticity of the passage, I gave it to my wife who is a history major. She said ," this passage is said to have been addressed by Macaulay in the UK Parliament on 2 nd Feb 1835, in fact during that time, he was in India, more over the language does not alien to his style, in fact, he was an eminent writer and an eloquent orator, those who have read his speeches and letters would never accept this." 

The limited purpose of this article is, just to check the authenticity of the said passage and not to glorify Lord Macaulay and British rule which had looted India and made India a pauper. 

History speaks of many lootings. Just after the battle of Plassey (1757 ) 2.5 million pounds were transferred to East India Company, Major General Robert Clive collected huge payments from the traders and local rulers and returned to England with a personal possession of 3,00,000 pounds, which made him one of the rich persons of England. He came to India as an ordinary British clerk, went back to UK as a very rich man. He was subjected to enquiry and ended his life by committing suicide in 1774. 

The 530 carat Mughal era Ko-i-Noor diamond which was looted by British at the end of eighteenth century is still in the Tower of London. Let us take up the said passage and analyse. The chronological events in Macaulay life is as follows - Born 25 th Oct 1800,  - Arrived Madras, India on 10 th June 1834 - Left India in early 1838 Died on 28 th Dec 1859. And so, on 2nd Feb 1835 he could not have attended the British Parliament. He was in India. In the passage there are many factual errors. "not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief ". This is a false statement, there were thieves, robbers, rogues, dacoits, beggars , murderers, etc. British Government in India had established strong police force, Judicial court , jail etc. Lord Macaulay came to India not only to prepare " Minute on Education " but also to suggest changes on Indian Penal code, he is considered as the architect of Indian penal code.
 He chaired the First Law Commission in 1834 under the Charter act of 1833. He wrote that the penal code, " should be framed on two great principles..the principle of suppressing crime with the smallest possible amount of suffering and the principle of ascertaining truth at the smallest possible cost of time and money" ( Ref:book "Lord Macaulay, The man who started it all, and his minute " by S. Thirumalai. Ph D ) Here Macaulay mentions about " suppressing crime", but the attributed passage mentions, " no thieves ", the contradiction proves that the attributed passage is not Lord Macaulay's. 

In fact , according to history, Governor General Bentinct took strenuous action against Thags (Thuggies) who were highway robbers and murderers. The passage says there were no beggars , It is another false statement, beggars were there in India even at the time of Thiruvalluvar. In 1330 kurals, only in one kural, he curses the Creator (God) in strong words, he says,"If the Creator had destined some people to beg and maintain their livelihood, let the Creator Himself wander like beggars and perish." (Kural 1062 ) Even 2000 years ago , there were beggars, even to-day there are beggars. It is unacceptable that there were no beggars in 1835, Any person of Lord Macaulay's stature would not have made such a false observation. 

Macaulay who arrived in India on June, 10th 1834, prepared "Minute on Education " and submitted to Governor General Bentinck who accepted it and wrote on March 9th .1835 as follows- " the great object of the British Government tought to be the promotion of European literature among the natives of India ". English became the medium of Instruction in India for higher classes.It opened the gates of education and knowledge to the people of India. Gandhi of Gujarat, Nehru of Kashmir,Chittarajan of Bengal, Gokhale and Tilak of Maharastra, Rajaji of Tamilnadu, Vallahbhai Patel of Gujarat and other leaders of different mother tongues interacted in English, united the diversified Indians to fight for the county's freedom. English was the lingua franca of the leaders and people on the political plat form. The aim of introducing English medium by British was not to produce scientists, engineers, doctors, etc, but to manufacture English known clerks to assist the British to run the Government machinery, but it became counter-productive and produced lieutenants who rootedout British from India. This English education had produced Sir C V Raman who won Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. " Gitanjali " , originally written in Bengali and then translated in English by Rabindranath Tagore, won the Nobel Prize in 1913 for literature. 
In fact English Education to Indians was a ' blessing in disguise.' It united the Indians speaking different languages and tolled the knell to the British rule. To strengthen administrative net work, British introduced Railways, Postal Service, Electrification etc, which laid foundation for India's infrastructural growth. Gandhiji made use of third class Railway compartment, to travel all over the country to strengthen the freedom movement. 

Thiruvalluvar tells, in certain cases, "The information received from one source should be counter checked by another source, before arriving to a conclusion" (Kural 588) As a counter check, I verified the dates of Macaulay's entry into UK Parliament. 1830  he was elected to British Parliament from Pocket Borough of Calne1832 ,became MP from Leads after Great Reform Act of 1832, in 1834 he came to India as the first Law member and met the Governor General. 
In 1838 beginning, left India to UK after completing his assignment.1838 became British MP again. On 2 nd Feb 1835 there was no chance for him to address the UK Parliament.( at that time he was in India) Moreover in non of his letters and speeches the attributed passage is found. There is no evidence to establish that Macaulay wrote the attributed passage and sent it from India to UK Parliament.

Thirukkural 423 says : Whatever heard from others, TRUTH should be understood by discerning. Discerning = exhibiting keen insight and right judgement The attributed passage can be rejected on the following grounds. 
1) On 2nd Feb 1835 Lord Macaulay was not in UK, he was in India. 
2) The passage says , no thieves during that time, but history says there were Thuggies who were high way murderers and robbers. The murdered innocent people including children for the purpose of robbery. There were also other social evils like sati system, female infanticide, slavery, untouchability , illiteracy etc, (Sati system was abolished only in 1829 ). 
3) The passage says 'not even one beggar was found ', it is another lie. Poverty is the root cause for beggary, India is known for monsoon failures. During a lecture, attended by me in US, Nobel Laureate. Dr. Amartya Sen mentioned, " British India was ravaged by famines " and also "famines were not unknown in pre-British India." ( in one of his essays also he had mentioned it). According historians, drought, famine, pestilence ( epidemics ), malnutrition etc had killed millions of people from 1800 to 1900 AD. All these factors are instrumental for beggary. (refer book ' Famine in India' by B M Bhatia). As advised by great Thiruvalluvar: Let us use our keen insight and understanding and try to know the truth from whomsoever heard and whatsoever heard. 
 Thirukkural in Tamil

எப் பொருள்/ யார் யார்/ வாய்க் கேட்பினும்/அப்பொருள்

மெய் பொருள்/ காண்பது அறிவு (423)

எப் பொருள்/ யார் யார்/ வாய்க் கேட்பினும் = from whomsoever heard

அப்பொருள் மெய் பொருள் = by using keen insight and judgement

காண்பது அறிவு = knowing the truth is wisdom

This kural can be also translated as follows-

 " From whomsoever heard, knowing the truth by discerning  is wisdom ".

 Discerning =using keen insight and judgement.

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