Vyas | April, 2002

"Guard yourself against three causes that beget the wrath of the Lord: Polluting the water resources, befouling the pathways and shades." - Hadith

Rabindranath Tagore was one of India's greatest poets in the first half of the last century

"Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people
Thou Dispenser of India's destiny
Thy name rouses the hearts
Of the Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, and Maratha
Of Dravid, Orissa, and Bengal.
It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas
Mingles in the music of Yamuna and Ganga
And is chanted by the waves of the Indian Ocean.
They pray for thy blessing and sing Thy praise,
The saving of all people waits in thy hand,
Thou Dispenser of India's destiny
Victory, victory, victory to Thee."




This is the first stanza of India's national anthem written by Rabindranath Tagore. The name of the Dispenser of India's destiny is envisioned to mingle in the music of Yamuna and Ganga. For the convenience of the muse of Poesy, 'Vindhyas' has preceeded 'Himalayas' as also 'Yamuna' preceeded 'Ganga', but in the metaphysical as well as physical geography learnt by Indians, the order is reversed. The Himalayas and Ganga overshadow other mountain ranges and river networks. They are merely symbols of India's vast bounty of nature.

But what can be the significance of the merger of the name of the Dispenser of India's destiny with music of Ganga and Yamuna? In any dispensation of imaginative mergers, only the best is intended. It is the clean and pollution-free physical river as the sacred lifeline of Hindu psyche that alone is imagined to yield music worthy of the merger. What music can a polluted Ganga have in her sinking heart and trembling vocal chords?

The river Yamuna used to leap and flow near Agra Fort

The muse of Poesy easily inspires personification. There is an anecdote about Shahjahan; the Mughal emperor of seventeenth century whose name literally means the king of the world, and his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal in whose memory the Taj Mahal was built. Once with Mumtaz Mahal by his side, the emperor was watching the river Yamuna leap and foam below on the high stone walls of the palace. To pay tribute to his wife, the emperor said: "To see the luster of thy face, the river cometh all this way." Mumtaz Mahal replied wittingly: "And because of the awe of 'the king of the world, it dashes its head against the stones."


Now Ganga in the Tagorean poem does not dance to the whims of the Dispenser of India's destiny. Instead, her music is imagined to coalesce with the auspicious name of a wider entity. Hence Ganga is a sort of tributary to the yet another River envisioned as the Dispenser.

What can a polluted tributary contribute?

Only cacophony.