फ्रान्झ काफ्का भारताबद्दल अस बोलले होते:
“...I lent Kafka a German translation of the Indian religious text, the Bhagavad Gita.
“...I lent Kafka a German translation of the Indian religious text, the Bhagavad Gita.
Kafka said, ‘Indian religious writings attract and repel me
at the same time. Like a poison, there is something both seductive and horrible
in them. All these Yogis and sorcerers rule over the life of nature not because
of their burning love of freedom but because of a concealed and icy hatred of life.
The source of Indian religious devotions is a bottomless pessimism.’ ...”
(‘Conversations with Kafka’ by Gustav Janouch, 1951/ 2012)
डॉक्टर सर्वपल्ली राधाकृष्णन याला काहीस उत्तर अस देतात :
“...The main charges against Indian philosophy are those of pessimism,
dogmatism, indifference to ethics and unprogressiveness. Almost every critic of Indian philosophy and
culture harps on its pessimism. We cannot, however, understand how the human
mind can speculate freely and remodel life
when it is filled with weariness and overcome by a feeling of hopelessness. A priori, the scope and
freedom of Indian thought are inconsistent with an ultimate pessimism. Indian philosophy
is pessimistic if by pessimism is meant a sense of dissatisfaction with what is
or exists. In this sense all philosophy is pessimistic. The suffering of the
world provokes the problems of philosophy and religion. Systems of religion
which emphasise redemption seek for an escape from life as we live it on earth.
But reality in its essence is not evil....”
(Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,
'Indian Philosophy Vol I & II', 1923)
थोडक्यात : काफ्का जे म्हणत होते ते नवीन नव्हते पण त्यांच्या बोलण्यात दम आहे. भारतीय तत्वज्ञाना बद्दल ह्या अंगाने चर्चा अलिकडे कुठ वाचली नाहीय.
याच पुस्तकात काफ्का टागोरांबद्दल काय म्हणतात ते पहा:
"...I repeated Reimann’s amusing story about Kurt Wolff, the
Leipzig publisher, who at eight o’clock in the morning rejected a translation
of Rabindranath Tagore, and two hours later sent the firm’s reader to the
central post office to reclaim the rejected manuscript, because in the
meanwhile he had seen in the paper that Tagore had won the Nobel Prize.
‘Odd that he should have refused Tagore,’ said Franz Kafka
slowly. ‘Tagore is after all not very different from Kurt Wolff. India and
Leipzig, the distance between is only apparent. In reality Tagore is only a
German in disguise.’
‘A schoolmaster, perhaps?’
‘A schoolmaster?’ repeated Kafka gravely, drew down the
corners of his tight-pressed lips, and slowly shook his head. ‘No, not that,
but he could be a Saxon – like Richard Wagner.’
‘Mysticism in Tyrolean dress?’
‘Something like that.’
We laughed."
रिचर्ड वागनर यांची ज्यू संबंधात तयार झालेली प्रतिमा ध्यानात घेता ज्यू काफ्का यांनी त्यांचा केलेला उल्लेख लक्षणीय आहे. तसेच त्यांच्या पोषाखाची केलेली किंचित थट्टा ('we laughed') सुद्धा : टीरोलियन ड्रेस घातलेला गूढवाद.... टागोरांच्या रेशमी छाटीची महाराष्ट्रात पण काही गोटातून थट्टा होत असे.....
on the left Vintage Tyrolean dresses, on the right, sitting, the late Mr. Rabindranath Tagore with a companion
courtesy: blue17.co.uk and Timesnow
कै विलास सारंगांनी हे बहुदा वाचल नसणार. मला कै दुर्गा भागवत आणि त्यांची या सगळ्यावरची प्रतिक्रिया ऐकायला खूप आवडले असते.
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ReplyDeleteThanks Avadhoot.
ReplyDeleteYes I was aware of the attacks on the credibility of the book. But I agree with Francine Prose:
"reading Janouch, I thought: If Kafka didn’t say all these things, he said some of them and should have said the rest. Perhaps he might have admired Janouch’s exploration of the line between appropriation, ventriloquism, and spirit possession: channeling, we might call it. I want to believe that Kafka said what Janouch wrote down, just as I want more than ever to pretend that I am walking in Janouch’s place, pestering Franz Kafka with sophomoric questions and thirstily imbibing the gnomic, goofy poetry of the master’s pontifications."
In fact I feel Kafka I quote is authentic because his criticism of Hinduism was NOT new.
Also तिरस्कार निराळा, आणि अंतहीन नैराश्य निराळं, असं वाटतं...I agree but I can see how the one can, at lease sometimes, lead to another.
I am surprised to find the word छाटी used in your post for Shawl worn by Tagore. It is wrong. छाटी had been used by monks. Tagore was never a monk.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mr. Shaligram.
ReplyDeleteI have not used it. I have just quoted what used to be said in some quarters of Maharashtra.
It's entirely possible the usage of the word 'chhati' itself, instead of shawl, was for a purpose.