The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China - Chapter 1003

“Indian society today is undergoing revolutionary changes. The dying reactionary forces are frantically struggling to delay their own lives. Their destruction is inevitable and unquestionable… The purpose of our association is to transform literature and art from the… reactionary class rescued under the control of the people, making literature close to the people, an effective way to reflect life and build the future…”

   – From The Manifesto of Progressive Writers of India.

  Where there is oppression, there will be resistance. This is the principle that applies everywhere, and India is no exception.

  Before the arrival of the British colonists, “India” was just a geographical and religious term. This subcontinent is full of states, and it has never been truly unified, let alone the concept of a country.

   It was the British colonial rule that made Indians gradually unite in spirit and thought, and began to identify themselves with the concept of “India” as a country and nation.

  Britain also wanted to divide and rule, for example, deliberately creating regional and religious conflicts, so that the local Indians hated each other. However, with the brutal British rule, the national contradiction still rose to the main contradiction, and a series of independent liberation movements emerged.

   The most funny thing is the first Indian uprising. Although there are various deep-seated reasons, the direct cause is that there is butter and lard on the bullets, and soldiers must bite them with their teeth when loading. It was insulting to Hindus and Green believers, and a total of 85 soldiers refused to use the bullets. And the British officers tied them up, stuffed bullets into the mouths of the soldiers, and then lit the fire of the Indian uprising.

  The Indians also tried many times of armed resistance, but unfortunately they were all settled by the British colonists. The huge disparity in strength between the two sides made Indian progressives feel desperate, so the “non-violent non-cooperation movement” represented by Gandhi was born.

  The Indian Progressive Literary Movement in the 1930s and 1940s was very similar to the modern Chinese literary movement, and was extremely revolutionary in its initial stage. This made the British colonists face a formidable enemy, arresting more than 20 well-known writers within two or three years, and the literary revolution movement in various parts of India was at a low ebb.

  The outbreak of World War II, the signing of the “Common Declaration of the United Nations”, and the rapid expansion of Japan in Asia, these events gave Indian writers another opportunity, so they secretly discussed how to make a comeback.

   Future India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, collectively known as British India at this time. More than a dozen progressive writers from all over the country gathered quietly in Calcutta, and some writers were taken back before they got on the train – they were under constant surveillance.

  The meeting place was a manor on the outskirts of Kolkata. It took Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Leyi two days to get there by train.

   was greeted at the station by a servant named Duwang Patida. Just from the surname “Patida”, we know that he is the lowest-ranked Sudra among the four major castes in India, and he is dark and thin.

   Patida bowed and said in Indian English with a Bengali accent: “Your Majesty the great Mahatma, I am Patida, the servant of the family of Mr. Gauss, please allow me to guide you.”

  In India, “Mahatma” in a broad sense refers to a person of noble character and superior wisdom. Zhou Hexuan did not expect that he would be called a Mahatma one day.

   “Thank you.” Zhou Hexuan nodded and smiled.

   Zhou Hexuan held Zhang Leyi’s hand, and Patida led him out of the station, and soon saw a carriage.

  Partida bowed her head and said, “Please get in the car!”

   A thin man in ragged clothes passed them with a sack on his back. At this time, it was almost evening, the sun was skewed, and the shadow of the man was pulled so long that the man stepped directly on the shadows of Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Leyi.

   “Stop!”

   Patida, who had just shown humility in front of Zhou Hexuan, suddenly looked like an angry lion, pointed at the man carrying the sack and said, “You have offended a Mahatma, and you must pay the price!”

   The man carrying the sack looked at his feet, and then at Zhou Hexuan, and suddenly threw the sack to his knees, kowtow frantically like a chicken pecking at rice.

   “What’s going on?” Zhang Leyi was startled.

   “I don’t know.” Zhou Hexuan was also a little confused.

   Patida kicked the man over, and then beat him frantically, and passersby turned a blind eye to it.

   Zhou Hexuan hurriedly stopped and asked, “Stop fighting, what’s going on?”

  Partida pointed to the man lying on the ground and said, “His Excellency Mahatma, this is a pariah who has just stepped on the shadows of you and your wife.”

   Zhang Leyi couldn’t bear it, and persuaded: “It’s nothing, just stepping on the shadow.”

   “No, this is an unforgivable offense, please allow me to punish him!” Patida said and started kicking again.

   The man curled up on the ground with his head in his arms, his mouth screaming in pain from time to time. But even with this painful cry, he was enduring it, as if he didn’t even have the qualifications to cry for mercy.

   Zhou Hexuan really couldn’t bear it, so he asked Sun Yongzhen to pull Patida aside, then took out a 10-yuan sheet, put it next to the man and said, “I’m so sorry, this is compensation for you.”

The    man didn’t seem to understand English, curled up and shivered.

   “You are so kind,” Patida complimented and said to the man, “Today you are lucky to meet a tolerant wise man.”

   It wasn’t until Zhou Hexuan and others got into the carriage that the man picked up the pound, knelt down and kissed the place where Zhou Hexuan was standing just now.

   Under normal circumstances, the highest way for lower castes to show respect to higher castes is to kneel and kiss each other’s shoes or toes. But that man was a pariah, untouchable, and he could only kiss the ground to show respect and gratitude.

  Zhang Leyi sat on the carriage, turned her head to look at the scene from a distance, frowned and said, “India is really scary, it’s unreasonable.”

   “Yeah, it’s unreasonable.” Zhou Hexuan nodded.

   This Patida, who was in charge of picking up the train, was the servant of the Indian philosopher Aurobindo Gauss. How could he be polite? He discriminated against untouchables so crudely.

  In India, there are also self-taught pariahs who change their destiny.

  For example, the “father of the Indian constitution” Ambedkar was a pariah and was the first pariah in Indian history to have a university degree. He naturally became the leader of the untouchables in India and opposed Gandhi’s position to protect the caste system. The two reached a compromise in 1932 – that is, after the founding of India, the untouchables were allowed to have the right to vote.

   Even as the “Father of the Indian Constitution” and should have an infinitely noble status, Ambedkar, who was a pariah, was still discriminated against. Under his righteous indignation, he publicly announced that he had left Hinduism and converted to Buddhism, and became an advocate of the Buddhist revival movement in India.