IS THE PEN, INDEED, MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD?

“True, This! –

Beneath the rule of men, entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword.

Take away the sword – States can be saved without it!” sang the nineteenth century English poet Edward Bulwer-Lytton 176 years ago. Not that the humanity didn’t know this eternal truth earlier. The sixteenth century English dramatist George Whetstone, the all time great bard of the English literature William Shakespeare, the seventeenth century Oxford scholar Robert Burton- his contemporary and Thomas Jefferson, the author of the historic American Declaration of Independence also believed the same much earlier.

But, the present day cultural ambience of intolerance and abhorrence, the contemporary political path of bigotry and chauvinism that’s taking root while cutting deep through every layer of the Indian society, with no exception what so ever, forces one to suspect the veracity of the centuries old adage that is- ‘the pen is mightier than the sword.’

But, is the pen, indeed, mightier than the sword?

That’s what our authors and artists seem to be believing still!

The other day it was Nayantara Sehgal- The day before it was Ashok Vajpeyi- Yesterday it was the renowned Urdu novelist Rahman Abbas. And today it is the turn of the Telugu veteran –the enchanting tale weaver- Peddibhotla Subbaramaiah along with nine other masters of the two Telugu States. Some of them returned their trophies along with the prize money. Some expressed their serious concern over the incidents like Dadri lynching which remain as blood stains on the pages of Modern Indian History.

Does the resentment voiced by our own Central Sahitya Academy Awardees -10 in number-really serves as a caution of concern to those bullying cultural bulls that had killed Kalburgi, Pansare and Dabholkar? Can their clear and candid condemnation of the ‘the politics of beef’ warn as a call of wisdom for them- those who wage ‘an assault against India’s cultural diversity’? Can the conscientious concern of Ten writers who were recipients of rare literary honour reach the deaf ears of the ruling NDA which is encouraging these cultural diehards by maintaining expensive silence?

Going by the political progress report of the NDA and its leading Party the BJP, it’s very difficult to reply in affirmative. But, the artists and authors of any hue worship and practice the faith of “historical optimism”. So, let’s hope for the best!

This is not the time for losing heart-

This is the time for raising the fist-

With all Conviction and Confidence!

-Mandalaparthy Kishore