They Remained Unknown
Review by: Anu? Kapur, Professor of Geography at the Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi
They Remained Unknown is a book about all those who participated in India’s fight for independence and fought bravely. ‘They’, in the book’s title, encompasses the farmers, artisans, school children, youth and many others, who gave up their professional lives and careers to engage in the fight against colonial rule. In this book, a special effort is made to mention the role of women from all walks of life, ‘they’ who bravely stood their ground, donated their precious belongings, and offered invaluable support by playing a crucial role in India’s struggle for independence. This book is a tribute to these ‘unsung’ heroes and if I may add, ‘heroines’. It brings out how these ‘local heroes’ and their endless endeavour catalyzed the freedom movement. It is ‘they’ who walked barefoot from village to village, carried the torch of Satyagraha, and spun the wheels to add khadi to every wardrobe.
What makes this book captivating is that the stories of these countless people are narrated in a biographical mode. Interestingly, the biography is drawn from accounts of two people: Kaushalya Devi and Pandit Suresh Chandra Mishra. Both the protagonists are related to the author. The former is her mother and the latter her maternal uncle (mother’s brother). Kaushalya Devi hails from Munger, a district of Bihar The places mentioned in the book are situated mostly in Bihar. ?However, the book is not confined to a district or state, its references are national, regional as well as local. On the other hand, its narrative stems right from the Kaushalya Devi household.
The book’s trajectory spans the period from way back in the late 19th century up to 1995, though its main focus is from 1920 to 1947, the years preceding India’s independence. The book was published originally in Hindi, in 1997. Savitry Dubey has seventeen books to her credit and this was her third book. Its English translation came out after 26 years, in 2023. The book has been translated by Savitry Dubey’s son, Rajeev Dubey. Rajeev has had the advantage of sitting with his mother to ensure that the translation does not lose the spirit of the original book in any way. The expressions are lucid in English and the story flows with clarity. The writing is nuanced and deep. The timing for the publication of the English version is appropriate, with 2023 being the 75th year of India’s independence. It is a year to ponder and recount the freedom struggle.
A unique feature of the book is that its 41 chapters are not etched conventionally; these are ‘accounts’. Some chapters are less than one page while others run across twenty pages. This diversity provides the reader with a sense of fulfilment, as each story is a narrative in itself. The chapters are of unequal length but a quick glance through them reveals that the narrator’s memory of the struggle for Independence is dominated by four distinct impressions: three chapters include Gandhiji’s name in their titles; four chapters speak about the jail; three chapters have Harpurjan (a gurukul) in their titles; and three chapters focus on calamities (earthquake, flood, plague).? Meeting Gandhiji (and Kasturba Gandhi) on several occasions and being influenced by his principles was a turning point in her life. The frequent visits to the jail undertaken by many freedom fighters and the additional pressure of calamities remained in her memories. Harpurjan was not just a gurukul but a meeting point for political revolutionaries.
Some of the chapters are based on political events, a few come in with family details and some are situated at intersections of India’s political history, sociology and economy. The chapters carry a lot of conversations and even lyrics of several songs that were sung to draw strength and purpose for the movement. This juxtaposition of stories, dialogues and songs adds a flavour that holds the readers’ attention. The book is immensely readable, as it manages to captivate the readers’ attention and makes them curious about India’s freedom struggle. The translator could have added, for ease of reference, a map of Bihar, a glossary of the local words and a family tree of the protagonists. The cover design with its tricolour and a shadow of the group of ‘unknowns’ on one side is symbolic of the context and theme. The warp and weft of the freedom struggle is deftly woven with compassion for all those serving the cause of the nation. For patriots, historians, sociologists and readers interested in India, the book is a veritable treasure.
Though the book is structured interestingly, it is the substance that draws the readers’ attention. It manages to bring alive the challenges the freedom fighters faced and the extraordinary strength it required to carry on the movement. The details are authentic and revealing. Take, for instance Chapter 30, titled ‘Jail’. It states ‘The government spent Rs 75 per month per prisoner on food, clothing, soap, oil and other essentials. .. Prisoners were classified into ‘A’, B, and C. The ‘A’ class prisoners were also assigned a helper, another ordinary convict who used to wash their clothes, clean their cells, get food from mess and wash the eating utensils after meals. Political prisoners did not have to wear jail clothes.’
The book refers to ‘Magic Lanterns’ (p.146): ‘When the Congress had embarked on its campaigns for the upliftment of Harijans “magic lanterns” had been distributed. These were slide projectors to show how hygiene could help eradicate many common diseases and ailments.’ The word ‘magic’ is most appropriate for the information that was given instantly changed the thinking of the locals and led to improved health care conditions.
Let us look at another example from Chapter 27, ‘Life in the National School in Gogri’…‘the school library had many books but 3 had left an indelible imprint on my mind. This included two volumes of British Rule in India by Sunder Lal and the third book, or should I say booklet, was the issue of the magazine Chand on the subject of hanging. This was a detailed exposition of the various circumstances and ways in which Indians were hanged by the British.’
The above extract from the book tells us not just what interested the author, but her way of highlighting the many unknowns who had sacrificed their lives and were hanged to death by the British. It was not only the three people, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru. Countless others were ‘hanged’ yet their names and valour remains unknown.
Kaushalya Devi had the most perfect feel of the land and its events; she had steadfast memory and a keen interest in details of all that was happening and not happening. The illustration of such examples adds authenticity, richness and uniqueness to the text.
A little-known fact that unfolds in this book is how important is Bihar’s role in India’s freedom movement. Otherwise, one would have thought that it was Uttar Pradesh which was the political heartland during India’s freedom struggle. This book situates the importance of this state by recounting several visits of Gandhiji, the awareness regarding Jai Prakash Narayan’s Congress Socialist Party and that of Subhas Chandra Bose’s party, the Forward Block.
Unlike the perception we hold about the backwardness of Bihar today, this book shares several insights into how ‘modern’ and ‘forward was’ the state of Bihar. It specifies how the Mishras changed their surname to Sharma to avoid caste identity. The protagonists make it a point to highlight the values and adoption of Arya Samaj a sect which? encourages education for girls and expresses abhorrence towards rituals and superstition. The book is strewn with examples of the fight against social evils like dowry, illiteracy, superstitions, caste and class among others
The book transfers one back to the period of 1920s and 1930s and one wonders how different India was then and what India is now. Because the narrator has a long life and lives with insight and awareness, she also provides meaningful comparisons and contrasts. The last chapter of the book states: ‘dusty road we traversed on foot are now metalled...many of the diseases which regularly claimed countless lives can now be prevented and cured ...the age of Gandhi ji and Nehru is over....Every Gandhi Ashram resident was like a family member, we lived together and ate together, our needs and wants were few, but I think we were much happier than today’s generation with all its material riches....I wonder where these surging masses will live, where they will get food from, what they will do for a livelihood.’
The core of the book is Chapter 25, titled ‘Ma’s Last Journey’. The recount nails the title of the book. ‘There was no prayer meeting in her name, no procession was taken out in her honour, no stamps were brought out by the nation in remembrance of this brave and dauntless freedom fighter. She remained unknown, unrecognised and unheralded.’
The book however is not cynical or bitter about the unknown being unknown. All it tries to say in ways subtle and bold is that we could have been a bit more aware and a bit more concerned about recognising the unknown, especially the women who fought for India’s independence. For the contributions of those unknown to become known, Savitry Dubey’s book is a must-read. That is the least if not the best we can do for ‘They,’ who remained unknown in India’s fight for freedom!