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Pdt. Janardan Rai Nagar : Remembering a Rishi

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16 Aug, 19 09:48
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Pdt. Janardan Rai Nagar : Remembering a Rishi

India is a nation that has always kept knowledge as supreme. Today we might name western philosophers like Foucault or Derrida as ones who talk of the power of knowledge but the history of India has shown that emperors have many a time abandoned their thrones in the pursuit of knowledge. It was well established that knowledge was the basis of ultimate happiness of man. The famous couplet in Sanskrit talks of knowledge as the source of humility which in turn makes people deserving leading to th e ir a b i l i t y to e a r n money.Themoneysoearneden ablesthemtopracticereligionwhich,thecouplet says, is real happiness. The sources of knowledgewerethelearnedandenlightenedpeoplewhowithdrew from the routine life of earning and spending and devoted their lives, time and energy exclusively to the pursuit of knowledge. Such people were Rishis whoweretreatedwithutmostrespectinthesociety. Pdt.Nagar was a Rishi in this sense. Though he did not abandon the worldlyaffairsaltogethe r , y e t h e s a c r i - ficedtheopportunity of his personal growth as a politician and also to some extent his place in the literaryworldforthe sake of empowerment of the people through education. Having had an opportunity to get education in one ofthepremierinstitutionsofthe countrynamelyBanarasHindu University, he thought it his primeduty toimparteducation to the people who did not have access to it. Born on 16 June 1911 in the historic cityof Ud a i p u r, c a p i ta l o f theerstwhileprincelystateofMe war,Pdt.Nagarwasverymuch influenced by his mother Vijayalakshmi ( VijayaMaa) who was a bold, courageous, progressive and fearless lady with revolutionary ideas. She was a freedom fighter whocontributedsignificantly to the rise of the spirit of liberation in the women of Mewar. His fatherPdt.PranLalJioccupied an important portfolio in the court of Mewar. The movement of independence was at its peak. People werecourtingarrest,wereparticipatinginturbulentactivitiesand building up collective resistanceagainstthecolonial rule. It was natural for a young man to be attracted towards such activities. Pdt.Nagar did participate in suchactivities throughhiswriting, spreadingawarenessand conveying messages. But more than anything else his heart was into educating the masses and thus enabling themtoparticipateinthenational mainstream. Like an enlightened Rishi he had the capacity to look into future and build up the future of India, through a more sustained activity. Pdt. Nagar had a family to support. His children had to be educated and looked after but he chose to cater to a larger family of his countrymen. Like a Rishi he abandoned these private pleasures and concernsanddevotedhimself to the public good. He created a huge pool of knowledge in the form of his poems, short stories and the epic novel Shankaracarya.PatitKaSwarg, Ud aHa t y a r a , Ac a r y a Chanakya, Vaivasta Manu andAmritamGamayaharetheplayscomposedbyhim.Hewrot emore than two hundred stories. Two Collections of his stories namely JanardanRaiNagarKi Kahaniyan , part I and Part II are publishedby Rajasthan Sahitya Akademi. These stories had been earlier published in the magazines of national repute.His books Shalamein Balak,Ghar Mein Ba l a k a n d Pr a th m i k - MadhyamikShikshaYojanaare preciousworkscontaininghisnovelthoughts about education.’EkShantAlok Mein Prasanna’(Acollection of prosaic poems) a n d ‘Swa p n a Ka Sa n g h a r s h a ( Autobiographical work) are great works of l i te r a tu r e .Hi s n o v e l J a g a tg u r u Shankeracarya published in ten parts consisting of five thousand pages and another workRamRajyaareimmensely useful treasure of Hindi Literature.Thegenreofproses o n g s wa s h i s creation.Pdt.Nagar had firm faith in the power of word-the ShabdaBrahma.Heknewthatw ordshavethepowertotransform.Heutilizedthispowerinhis writing as well as his speeches. The main area of interest in his writings was philosophy. Pdt.Nagar was a great scholar of Adwaitwad as enunciated by Shankaracarya.He believed in the enlightenment of the self which he described as Chaitanya.To him the success of an individual’s life was in elevating his Chaitanya. ThepersonalityofPdt.Nagarwit hsnow-whitekhadiappareland ever bright Countenance had the aura of a Rishi. It is a refreshing experience to recall the memory of such a personalityandtothinkthatone had an occasion to spend some time under his brilliant canopy. A Rishi is passionately devotedtohisobjectives toanextent that he becomes oblivious of his surroundings.Heassumes astanceoftranceandsinglemindedly concentrates on the objectiveshelaysdownforhimself.For attaining these objectives he can sacrifice his personal happiness. Pdt. Nagar decidedthathewouldwork for social transformation through e d u c a t i o n . Hewenttoremoteareasofsouth Rajasthanamidsttribesandstart edinstitutionsforeducating them at a time when there was n o tr a n s p o rta v a i l a b l e . Heevenwentonhorseback to visit such places. Very small villages likeLooronKaFalaand Badrana in Jhadol tehsil were developed as centers of education. Hostels for children whose parents were too poor to provide for them or those childrenwhohadlosttheirparents were opened in villages like Kanpur, Teedi, Sakroda, Bedla,andNai.Acollegerunin evenings was started to cater to the working class people. It wasnoteasilyacceptedby the people in power in the field of higher education. They wondered how higher education could be imparted in an evening college. Amidst such criticism Pdt.Nagar remainedunperturbedand undaunted like a Rishi who remains in a stateofequanimityinconditionsfavourable as we l l a s u n fa v o u r a b l e . Pdt.Nagar was a visionary. He knew what shapetheinstitutionwilltakeinfuture. As back as 1948 he had conc e i v e d o f Ra j a s th a n Vidyapeethasauniversityand hadstartedusing Vishwa Vidyapeethas the nomenclature of the institution. It took anotherfortyyearsfortheinstitutiontoattainthestatus of a university.With its own printingpress,agriculturefarm, dairy farm, colleges, schools, vigyanmandir,communitycenters,newspaper,mediacenter, cooperativestore,dispensary, cafetaria and mobile library theinstitutionwasacommune in itself. This comprehensive visionisnotpossibleinanyordinary individual. This great genius said adieu to this world on 15August, 1997 in Udaipur at the age of 88years. Today , there is a deemed to be University in his name. His vision of creating a University after the model of Banaras HinduUniversitywhichhehad seen from close quarters, has beenrealized.Butmuchneeds to be done to make it a University of National repute. Effortshavebeenmadebutthe University has not seen a person of his vision and dedication. The recent years, the Universityhaspassedthrough a rough time facing so many internal and external challenges caused by the policy of the state as well as the myopic vision of its administrators. Pdt. Nagar wanted it to be a People’sUniversity cateringto the poorest of the poor. He had started many projects in his life time which aimed at alleviating the life of the masses but those very projects are eitherabandonedorhavebeen neglected. Remembering on hisdeathanniversary,onecan only hope that his vision and mission will be taken to its logical conclusion by those who bear his legacy


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