BY DR KAUSTAV BHATTACHARYYA

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RUPTURE  – A PRICE FOR GENERATIONS TO PAY HINDERING CULTURE.

In a recent conversation with a Bengaluru corporate philanthropist, I was speaking about the pitiable state of culture and scholarship in certain societies despite a glorious past and attributed it to the very severe ‘Rupture’ with tradition and legacy of the past which occurred due to the sharp militant variety of politics. In our informal chat I argued that this Rupture is not just economic but it affects the world of arts and culture and most adversely/intensely/severely.  Revolutions by nature proudly claim a complete break with the past to reorder or restructure society and the polity with special focus on ancestral legacies.  In many of the Authoritarian Party states academics can’t even attribute anything positive like human rights or gender equality inherited to their tradition since the Authoritarian Party claims all credit for the social progressivism.  

According to Clifford Geertz, the American anthropologist, Culture is “a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life.”  Symbolism is a prime mover which drives our active living of life on this earth and offers direction to cultural creative efforts hence a disconnect with the inherited symbolic treasures through Rupture creates a substantial vacuity in our society which is hard to fill. 

Sir Roger Scruton the Conservative philosopher who is my intellectual inspiration and hero for understanding Arts and Aesthetics wrote, ‘Society, Burke pointed out, is an open-ended partnership (he even said “contract”) between generations. The dead and the unborn are as much members of society as the living. To dishonour the dead is to reject the relation on which society is built—the relation of obligation between generations. Those who have lost respect for their dead have ceased to be trustees of their inheritance. Inevitably, therefore, they lose the sense of obligation to the unborn. The web of obligations shrinks to the present tense.’ 

For Sir Roger Scruton, according to the academic/thinker Steven Kessler, Edmund Burke Society Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, ‘..the seemingly arbitrary things that our parents, grandparents, and ancestors had in their lives (which are the very same things we have in our lives) are not arbitrary, but in fact serve a purpose. The traditions, rituals, and institutions bequeathed to us by our ancestors shape and give meaning to our lives, from architecture to religion to laughter to drinking wine to hunting…..’ is the very essence of his oeuvre and philosophy.  Now I have established the primacy and enormous significance of the continuity of our collective ancestral traditions and legacies and how dangerous and damaging the rupture with that inherited treasure would be for society.

Most of us look at the notion of tradition or legacy through the prism of shared rituals, folklore, practices and historical narratives like that of battlefield glories and valour.  However, for me it’s the stellar achievements of our scientists, poets, writers, entrepreneurs, playwrights which should be shared across the entire social spectrum.  When you look back upon the collective legacies of top achievers in any knowledge field one feels impressed and inspired to chart a similar ‘trodden’ path of effort and initiative.  These accomplishments are for me the real collective treasures and legacies which need to be cherished.

It would be prudent to admit here that there isn’t a level playing field in our societies where there would be individuals and groups or communities who would feel disconnected and disempowered from being part of this collective legacy. Here comes in the role and idea of Philanthropy to extend the privileges to the less fortunate sections of society and empower them to experience and participate in Arts and Culture.  Hence the idea of a Collective Ancestral legacy or heritage assumes paramount importance for the flourishing of arts and culture scenario providing inspiration and role-models to be emulated for the subsequent generations; a glowing instance being of the legacy of Rabindranath Tagore.  In the spirit of this logic I felt delighted that Rabindranath Tagore’s abode and brainchild of Shanthiniketan had been declared part of UNESCO World Heritage and is a move in the right direction.  

Looking around the contemporary Indian scenario I find the prime examples of celebration of our shared collective ancestral legacies being the Indian Music Experience and the Museum of Art and Photography both of which are located in Bengaluru. Inclusiveness is part of the agenda of the Indian Museum Experience with its special Outreach programs tailored towards the children from socially disadvantaged groups and those with neurodiverse needs.  At the MAP Gallery in Bengaluru Folk and Tribal Art is celebrated and displayed with all the thrills and frills of digital technologies hence the collective ancestral achievements or legacies are not confined to just those of the eminent creative geniuses. There is a special Folk and Tribal Art section of the museum which showcases the diversity of India’s regional communal artistic practices. A special mention is due to the most creative and buzzing space for informed conversations and interactions on arts, culture, literature, philosophy; the Bangalore International Center (BIC) which was established as a platform, an institution with a physical edifice designed by premier architects of Bengaluru which provides an inclusive arena ‘for dialogue and fostering relevant theme-based programs’.  Most of the programs are free to the wider public and attendances do not require membership apart from which there are active outreach programs. Country Squire India Edition during its launch period covered few of the book events and can completely affirm the openness of the institution and its leadership based on the experience.

The question which would arise in our mind what is the driving force behind these institutions or platforms celebrating culture energized by the ancestral legacies and tradition and who are the pioneering individuals steering this process? 

The response is plain and simple: Corporate Philanthropy by enlightened individuals and minds like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Rohini Nilekani, Azim Premji, MR Jaishankar and his daughter Pavitra Jaishankar and Abishek Poddar who are all residents of the city and wish to enrich the lives of the citizens of Bengaluru. 

I would posit that Corporate Philanthropy is not possible in a milieu of brutal rupture with our collective ancestral past since the driving force behind this exercise of ‘giving and sharing’ is sentiments and emotions for the people, place and ‘palace’, by which I mean the grandeur of history.  Revolutionary Ruptures usually decimate emotions truncating our connections with a glorious heritage and past where the shared legacy of our past is seen as a burden for progress. In case of Bengaluru we can trace it to the city’s glorious collective past which is inherited from the Princely State of Mysore which was known for its rich cultural and intellectual treasure.  Enormous contributions were made by the Maharajas and Maharanis of Mysore both in terms of philanthropy and participation. Enormous contributions were made towards fostering a good ambiance of music, performing arts, literature, fine arts and culture.  Maharaja Shri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar of Mysore Royalty, a Renaissance polymath intellectual was a great Patron and Connoisseur of Indian and Western Classical music.  Many of the members of the Mysore Royal family were great patrons of arts, music and culture thus establishing strong underpinnings of a strong culture of arts and culture patronage.  The city of Bengaluru is the inheritor of the literary and cultural legacy of the likes of legends like Shivram Karanth, RK Narayan, Girish Karnad, UR Ananthamurthy and countless other distinguished names in the field of arts and culture.  

Returning to Sir Roger Scruton, Our indebtedness to our ancestors is a leitmotif in many of his writings and in turn this implies an obligation to its descendants. The notion of trusteeship of our inheritance is very significant or pivotal in the philosophy of Sir Scruton. This according to Kessler is the very essence which one can draw from his oeuvres and summarizes beautifully that ‘We are recipients of this inheritance we call civilization’.

I wish to draw upon the wisdom of a French proverb,  ‘Reculer pour mieux sauter’ which roughly translated means ‘to draw back in order to make a better jump’ implies that in order to progress into a better future we need to account and take along with our past, the stepping back here is the collating of the collective ancestral legacies and tradition.

Hence the Bengaluru thriving philanthropy which is enriching and empowering lives is in tandem with a long line of cultural patronage and patrons thus preserving the inherited civilization of the state of Karnataka. All kudos to them and may the next generation of wealthy individuals and families be inspired by their remarkable work!!