Guru Arjan Dev Ji : A real Martyr

Guru Arjan Dev Ji was born in Amritsar, Punjab, India on 15 April, 1563. He was the 5^th Guru of the Sikhism and became Guru on 01 September, 1581 following in the footsteps of Guru Ram Das. He was born at Goindval, and was the youngest of the sons of Guru Ram Das and Bibi Bhani, the daughter of Guru Amardas. He appointed Bhai Buddha as the chief priest of the Golden Temple. He placed the Adi Granth on the seat reserved for him and himself sat among his disciples. Sukhmani Sahib Path was also composed by Him. Before his death, He nominated his son Har Gobind as the next Guru of the Sikhs.

On the 16^th June of every year since 1606; the Sikhs have commemorated the martyrdom of their first martyr, the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev Ji. Sikh history until then had been peaceful and non-violent. All the Sikh Gurus taught the message of compassion, love, dedication, hard work, worship of one God and the commitment to peace and harmony for all the people of the world.

Relations between Akbar and Guru Ji were cordial but things changed after the accessions of Jahangir. In late May 1606, Guru Arjan Dev was arrested for His refusal to accept Islam and brought to Lahore where he was subject to severe torture. He was made to sit on a burning hot plate while hot sand was poured over His head and body. It is said that Mian Mir (a Muslim Sufi Saint and friend of Guru Sahib) tried to intercede on behalf of Guru Sahib. Guru Ji forbade him to interfere in the Will of Almighty. Guru Ji’s body was blistered and burnt. For several days, the Guru was subjected to this unrelenting torture. Subsequently, Guru Arjan Dev Ji was taken for a bath in the river, Ravi. As thousands watched, he entered the river never to see again. The martyrdom of Guru Sahib changed the entire character of Sikhism radically from a passive people to courageous saint soldiers.

Many reasons have been given for this tragedy. It is stated that Jahangir was annoyed because Guru Arjan Dev ji gave his blessings to his rebel son, Prince Khusrau Mirza.

There are also some Mughal accounts which state that Guru Arjan Dev ji blessed the rebel son of Emperor Jahangir which prompted the emperor to take action against him. But the memoirs of Jahangir make it clear that he in fact was looking for an excuse to, in his own words to bring him into the assembly of the people of Islam.

It is also stated in some sources that one of the courtiers of Jahangir who had first laughed at the suggested marriage between his daughter and the Gurus son, which was later rebuffed, could not put up with the insult and poisoned the ears of the Emperor. Consequently Jahangir imposed a fine of Rupees two Lac (two hundred thousand) on Guru Arjan Dev ji and also ordered him to remove certain passages from the Adi Granth, which were objectionable to Muslims. On the Guru's refusal to do so, he was tortured.

The manner in which Guru Arjan Dev ji was martyred "convinced the Sikhs that they must arm themselves and fight, if they wanted to live". It proved a turning point in the history of Sikhism.

Rabindranath Tagore : A Versatile Genius

Rabindranath Tagore was a Poet, Writer, Novelist and Musician. Sri Tagore was born on May 07, 1861 in the city of Bengal – Kolkata. After completing his education at home, he went to England for higher education. But he could not complete his study there.

When he was 8 years old, he wrote a poem. He published his collection of poems at the age of 16 years. He wrote in his mother tongue Bangla but after translating his poem, he became popular in western side also. He wrote a thousand poems approximately. He wrote 8 books on short stories, play, 8 novels, essay on religion, education & social issues and other so many books. He wrote two thousand songs and composed many songs. From which one song became India’s National Anthem (Jana Gana Mana) and other became Bangladesh’s National Anthem (Amar Shonar). Jana Gana Mana has completed its 100years on December 27, 2011.  

Sri Tagore was famous in Bengal in earlier days. Nobody knows him outside the Bengal. In the year 1912, he published his collection of poems Gitanjali in English language. Firstly that made him popular in England and then he became a famous personality in the world. His writing presented the emotional picture of Indian Culture in west for the first time.

After 1 year, he got the biggest achievement and that was Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the first non – European who got that prize. Rabindranath Tagore was very close to Mahatma Gandhi but he was far away from the politics. He always spent the money, which he got from his writings & lectures, on the schools. A Famous writer Count Kesselring opened a School of Wisdom in 1920. Tagore was invited in its opening ceremony.  He participated in so many programs and festivals.
In the year 1915, Tagore was honored as Knighthood by the British Government which he returned to the British Government because of Jallianwala Bagh massacre and their policies against India. He was attached with Punjab also. He was very impressed by the writing of Gurus. He also wrote poems on Banda Singh Bahadur & Shaheed Bhai Taru Singh.
So His Literature and his music are the great treasures for us which we have to keep it safe.
Let us paying a tribute to him at by saluting him at his Birthday on 7 May..!

A Tribute to Rabindranath Tagore by me...

Rabindranath Tagore: A Mind Without Fear

Rabindranath Tagore : A Versatile Genius

100 years of Indian Film Industry

There are two important dates April 13, 1913 and May 3, 1913 in the Indian Film History. On 13 April, 1913, Dada Saheb Falke produced his movie Raja Harish Chandra in Olympia Theatre with the presence of some known people. That day was Saturday. For that reason, that day created a history.

But for some reason, Dada Saheb Falke released the same movie in Caronation Theatre of Mumbai at May 3, 1913. A great response of audience of that time proved that this was the birth of a revolution of Indian Cinema.

As Firoze Rangonwala wrote in his book A Pictorial History of Indian Cinema

"As historical base, 21 April and 3 May both are important dates but Indian Cinema has completed his journey of 100 years this year. There are many ups and downs in this long journey. But this medium is the most important as art side for inspiring Indian conscious.”

This line of Firoze Rangoonwala is quite positive. How is increasing the Influence of Cinema on the Indian audience. The answer of this question can be got from this fact that economic condition of Bollywood is getting better and better every year. For example in 2010, the total business of Indian movies was 87.7 billion. Some economist believes that this business will achieve 136.6 billion in the year 2015.

But now we want only to see that how Indian audience is effected by cinema? There is no doubt that the main motive of cinema is to take us to imaginative world. But it makes social, political & economic conditions as its base. Audience of different casts, religion & ages watch movies in the cinema hall. But there is still a need to understand the magical attraction of greatness of Cinema. This can be done by dividing its history in few Periods.

In the period of 1913-1930, Indian cinema was totally based on religious and historical movies. There was a great respect to those movies. As Ashish Rajadhaksh and Paul William writes in his book Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema

“Audience of that period was so devotees to the religious movies that they welcomed their angels with throwing coins on the screen.”
So Lanka Dahan (1917) & Kalia Mardaan (1919) got a huge success.

In the period of 1931-1950, Producer Aardeshir Irani started talkative movie Aalam Aara. Now social medium based movies took the place of religious movies. Barua's Devdas (1935) presented the sadness of young generation with the help of K. L. Saigal. Saigal was still there as a play back singer but play back singing started with Nitin Bose's Dhoop Chhaun. Then songs became the important part of the movies. And Music started to get its grip on movies. The success of Achhoot Kanya (1935), Kismat (1943), Ratan (1943) was totolly based on Music.

This was the starting of combination of Social, Romantic, Historical movies. And the actors who play different roles were seen in different color. For example the triplet of Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor presented the realities of life in the period of 1957 to 1960.

Dilip Kumar as griever, Dev Anand as Romantic and Raj Kapoor as Comedian got success. The classical movies like Mughal-e-Aazam, Awaara & Guide were released on this base. And no one can forget Guru Dutt’s contribution to Indian film Industry also.

As the time went on, the effect of this Cinema was started accepting by everybody. Shammi Kapoor (Junglee), Rajendra Kumar (Sangam) and Rajesh Khanna (Aradhana) are the few example of this point.

In the period of 1961-1970, all the movies represented the modern India. Mrinal Sen's Bhuwan was one of its examples. By getting inspiration from Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal (Ankur), M. S. Mathiu (Garam Hawa) released emotional movies. Super Star Amitabh Bacchan presented Zanjeer and Sholay as an angry young man in the same period.

But in the period of 1981-1990, the entrance of videos made some effect on the Indian Cinema. To get rid of this, social-romantic movies and family movies were seen in the period of 1991-2000. Hum Aapke Hain Kaun & Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge were the few examples.

Then the world of Multiplex Theatres came. From 2000 to 2012, the importance was given to civil audience based movies. Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan presented many successful movies in front of audience this period.
It is clear that Indian Cinema is still continuous. Accepting its greatness and for completing 100 years, Indian Government is doing some efforts for Indian cinema. Government decides to present National Awards on 3 May. Government also decides to make a Museum in Gulshan Mehal of Mumbai. And it was inaugurated on May 3.But Indian Cinema got praise and tribute from the audience every time. Audience is still attached after completing the Journey of 100 years. There is no doubt that Cinema is an important part of the Indian Culture.