AT 10:40 am inside her tiny Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) guest house, Uma Chakravarty, a scholar researching Vedic literature, heard loud shouts. She could only catch the refrain ‘Shivaji’. But the terror in the hoarse cries took her back to the 1940s, to the riots that preceded Partition.
By 11 am the deed was done. A mob of 150 persons hurling slogans, twirling weapons had entered this quiet scholarly cornerstone in Pune — The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute and left their disquiet signatures all over. Broken glass, torn manuscripts, defaced photos of scholars left many like Chakravarty, shell-shocked.
The remaining eight research scholars at the guest house (mostly foreigners) had fled the premises by afternoon. Some monks who were still there were shaking with fear. The two staffers caught in the attack and locked in a room could merely wonder at the destruction that occurred in a matter of minutes. They had spent the last year cataloguing and indexing this library.
For Tran van Ly, a monk from Vietnam who is doing research in Pali scripts, the terror was still palpable. ‘‘We come here because we have heard about BORI. This is a great indological centre, the library, the scholars, the environment is so peaceful. But, I don’t know if this place is safe anymore,’’ says Ly.
But for the students of a masters’ course in Sanskrit who visited the premises when they heard the news, there was no consolation and no retreat. Radhika Chandrachud, barely suppressing the outrage she felt said, ‘‘We aspire to do research here... to some day sit and do reference in these now-devastated libraries. This act is a destruction of all that we aspire for. The people who committed this crime need to be publicly punished and condemned so that no one... no one ever dares to enter hallowed portals of educational institutes again to deface them’’.
Sanika Bapat, another post-graduate scholar merely questioned, ‘‘Why did they tear a Shivaji manuscript from this library? Are they Shivaji worshippers or patriots? They are worse than any militia. We are another Taliban now.’’
People sitting outside the library were at a loss for words. Said Dr M A Mehendale, ‘‘What can I say in the face of this destruction? Words really fail me.”
Like most students, staffers and scholars too felt unsure about this bravado of the ‘Sambhaji Brigade’. But they were sure it was an organised attack that took into account the exact time the offices and libraries were opened for sweeping.
An almost defiant reaction was a need for immediate action. ‘‘Stone them (the culprits) ’’ was one angry cry, another was ‘‘Don’t give us money, give us action’’, as the state Home Minister R R Patil arrived at the institute.
As Vinit Watare, a young B A Sanskrit student said, ‘‘What will they do with the money? We will help and put these books back, we will help the scholars sort out the indexes, but what about the torn manuscripts that are priceless and date back to 2000 years?’’
Indeed what about the crumpled, torn and destroyed manuscripts? What about the Syrian clay tablet dating back to 600 B C that got defaced in Sambhaji Brigade’s jingoism?
As Chakravarty says, ‘‘We are back in dark ages, Partition horrors and fascism.’’
ALL FOR A BOOK
June 2003: Oxford University Press, India, releases Laine’s Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India.
Nov 10: Historians Jaysinhrao Pawar, Babasaheb Purandare, Ninad Bedekar, B G Mehendale and others seek withdrawal of book.
Nov 21: OUP’s New Delhi office apologises, withdraws book from market.
Dec 22: A group of Shiv Sena workers seeks explanation from scholars attached to the Bhandarkar institute. Sena men manhandle Dr Shrikant Bahulkar, a historian whose name figured among the acknowledgements in the book.
Dec 25: Historian Mehendale destroys 1,000 printed pages of his Shivaji biography in protest against the attack on Bahulkar.
Dec 28: Raj Thackeray apologises to Bahulkar. So does Laine, in a fax message from US
Jan 5: The Sambhaji Brigade, a wing of Maratha Seva Sangh, ransack the Bhandarkar Institute. Thousands of rare manuscripts and books destroyed. Over 70 people arrested.
‘The dead are fortunate’
Dr M A Mehendale has been associated with BORI for decades. The 86-scholar had the misfortune to witness the vandalism.
For the first time, I think it is fortunate that Dr R N Dandekar is no more. I look around this devastation, this sacrilege and can only vaguely feel the turmoil he could have felt. Who amongst us would have thought that such an act could take place here?
Our work will continue, but I know I cannot give it more than a few years. For the last 20 years we have been working on the cultural index of the Mahabharata, one volume is already published... now all that work lies ransacked. Scholars have roamed all over the country to get some of these precious manuscripts and here people have trampled on them. Do these people know what they have destroyed? We may stand again, but the wounds won’t heal so fast and the scars will always remain.
For now I just hope that the people who did this get some sense. I hope they realise that they took a blow on our culture and heritage and I sincerely hope this never happens again, not in my lifetime at least.
(Dr Mehendale spoke to Ketaki Ghoge)
Painter dead
IT could be sheer coincidence, but a strange one. Well-known painter Gajanan Narayan Jadhav, who passed away here early on Monday morning after suffering a cardiac stroke, was known for his life-size portrait of scholar R G Bhandarkar at BORI. The portrait in oil was damaged on Monday. Jadhav, 84, is survived by three sons and two daughters.