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Jyotiprasad Agarwala’s lifetime (1903-1951) coincides with a crucial period in the emergence of nationalism in colonial Assam. This was a period of tremendous social, political, economic, cultural upheaval all over British India, including Assam. There were two World Wars, the freedom movement against British rule had intensified, experimentations in literary and artistic expressions were witnessed worldwide and there was increasing linguistic and cultural self-assertion in Assam during this time period. Jyotiprasad Agarwala’s major plays Karengor Ligiri, Rupalim and Lobhita manifest the spirit of nationalism at a time when colonial Assam was going through the grind of the freedom struggle, anti-British sentiment and an increasing assertion of local (regional?) identity.
In colonial Assam, as in other parts of colonial India, emergence of the ideas of ‘nation’ and ‘nationalism’ occur concurrently with the emergence of modernity. Of course, even before the advent of British rule, the sense of loyalty, belongingness and pride attached to a kingdom or an empire either existed or was fostered by rulers and ingrained in the subjects in different parts of India. But the sense in which nation and nationalism came to be understood in India was an outcome of the impact of Eurocentric modernity. On one hand, British rule provided a territorial awareness and brought together places separated by terrain, topography and ethnolinguistic identity through a common administrative system as well as improved means of transport and communication. This contributed towards the emergence of a concretized idea of the nation.
In colonial Assam, the emergence of nationalism was fostered as well as reinforced by various factors including, exposure to world literature and Western thought, exposure to the academic-intellectual world of Calcutta and the social reformist ideas in colonial Bengal, and demographic changes due to migration and widespread disease/famine that in turn had an impact on the social economy, among others. Although this region has witnessed migration since the second century, migration during the colonial times brought in great demographic change to the social structure of Assam.
Jyotiprasad Agarwala was the great-grandson of Navarangaram Agarwala who had migrated in the nineteenth century from present-day Rajasthan. Navarangaram not only married two ladies from two Assamese families, his family assimilated with, accultured with and was brought up in distinctive Assamese traditions, with the Vaishnavite tradition being possibly the most deeply impactful from his youngest days. Jyotiprasad’s father and uncles were deeply engaged with Assamese music, literature, arts. At a young age, Jyotiprasad was influenced by Gandhian ideals (for his family was a staunch supporter of Mahatma Gandhi and the freedom movement) and participated actively in the freedom struggle, particularly in the eradication of social ills like opium consumption. From 1926 to 1930 he studied in Europe, gaining first-hand knowledge of the new developments in European theatre and learning the craft of film making at Universum Film AG (or UFA) at Germany. The eclecticism of Jyotiprasad Agarwala’s inheritance and education is reflected in his plays and read against the backdrop of the freedom struggle, is concomitant with the emergent nationalism of the times. Ideas and ideals were influenced by various sources and the very fact of his family history at one level influences his worldview—he had a pan-Indian as well as an awareness of international cross-currents of thoughts and culture but at the same time steeped in the regional, in the local.
Plays like Rupalim, Karengor Ligiri and Lobhita explore how the individual subject can be envisaged in relation to its community, its past history, and a possible future. Through these plays, Agarwala shows how nationalism is not the domain of the people in power alone. Nationalism is as significant a presence and as significant a reality in the lives of the ordinary men and women of society, the seemingly insignificant ones as the more prominent people. Also, every individual occupying a shared cultural historical space, irrespective of gender, economic and social differences, can be a part of the nationalist grand narrative. In these plays, Jyotiprasad Agarwala shows how the masses, if united, can resist autocratic rule. Viewed in the context of the freedom struggle, this could be seen as the playwright’s call to his fellowmen to fight for their nation and homeland.
On one hand, this idea of nationalism has its limitations because it depends on the European Enlightenment ideals like liberty, universal progress and modernity and may not take into consideration the diversity of culture and ethnicity of a country like India. But then again, the risk of building the concept of a nation around the notion of ethnicity also remains because if ethnic identities are given precedence in multi-ethnic societies, there emerges the question of whether this would lead to fissures in the idea of the nation and of nationalism. As such, instead of subsuming ethnic identities of the people, the idea of nationalism as one that acknowledges and encompasses all ethnicities acknowledging the differences is needed.
Though the communities may not be specified, in Jyotiprasad Agarwala’s plays, different ethnicities are alluded to. For instance, in Karengor Ligiri, although the community to which Sundor Kunwor belongs is not mentioned, his mother is addressed as ‘Rajmao’, the manner in which the Queen Mother would be addressed in Ahom royalty. In Rupalim, the description of the character Mayabo (Rupalim’s lover) includes a reference to his complexion as ‘bisnings-hued’ that is characteristic of people belonging to many of the ethnic communities of Assam belonging to Sino-Tibetan language families. Again, we learn about Chinese fanushes in Rukmi king’s palace and Buddhist architecture in Manimugdha’s kingdom in the play.
The Assamese nationalism that emerged out of the movement crusaded by Lakshminath Bezbaroa evolved in the writings of Jyotiprasad Agarwala. During the colonial period, there also emerged contesting ideas of Assam as homeland and India as homeland. For Jyotiprasad Agarwala, the idea of nationalism encompassed Assam and Assam as part of India. This is manifested not only in his plays but in his compositions like “Naya Joyan-i-Hind” in Bangla and its Hindi version “Nou Jawaan-i-Hind”, “Hindustan Hindustan” and “Rashtriya Geet” in Hindi and compositions like “Volunteeror Dukh”, “Kanaklata”, “Asomia Suwalir Ukti”, and “Siro Bidrohi” in Assamese.
One of the threads that run through plays like Rupalim, Karengor Ligiri and Lobhita is the voice of protest. The emergence of Assamese nationalism in the late nineteenth century and its development in the twentieth was a manifestation of the voice of protest of the Assamese against injustice of the British ruler’s policies and against the ignorance, superstitions and ills plaguing Assamese society. This pursuit of an Assamese identity contributed towards the development of nationalism in colonial Assam. Resistance to colonialism is as much psychological and cultural as political.
Being actively involved in the political movement for freedom, Jyotiprasad Agarwala believed in the importance of awakening people in order to generate the nationalistic sentiment and offer resistance to injustice, oppression and . In Rupalim for instance we find this in Junafa’s (Rupalim’s grandfather) tirades against an inefficient and weak ruler. In the same play Princess Itibhen raises her voice against her weakling brother, the Rukmi king for Junafa who has been wronged and who belongs to the humbler ranks. In Lobhita we find Lobhita berating the cultural dependency of the village elite. When upon learning that she was given shelter by the fatherly Elahi Baksh in her hour crisis, her beloved Golap refuses to accept her for fear of societal censure; Lobhita criticises the young man’s narrowmindedness, specially since he proclaims to be a participant in the non-violent freedom struggle under Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership. In these, we witness Jyotiprasad Agarwala’s voice of protest against the inequality in society and suffering of the poor multitudes due to the flawed policies of the rulers and flawed habits of the ruled. One of his most politically significant essays “Naliyapoolor Bipod Sonket” (“The Danger Signs at Naliapool”) is a voice of protest against the police atrocities on a gathering whose political ideology differs from the ideology of those in power.
This discussion is merely an attempt at highlighting certain aspects of Jyotiprasad Agarwala’s nationalism. An extended discussion might be immediately outside the purview of this essay. However, in the near future, this author does not deny the possibility of a continuation of this discussion on nationalism in Jyotiprasad Agarwala’s oeuvre, with particular reference to his plays.
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