All india saraswat cultural convention by Saraswatha Veda Vijnana

ALL - INDIA SARASWAT CULTURAL CONVENTION THE PREPARATORY COMMITTEE Office Bearers CHAIRMAN N. S. RAO 1 2. D. D. Yennemedi 3. A. M. Kamath 4. U. Sanjeeva Kamath

VICE CHAIRMEN D. N. Nadkarni 5. K. S. Laud 6. A. R. Savoor 7 M. S. Bhujle 8. B. N. Bhandarkar SECRETARY GENERAL S. V. PIKALE JOINT SECRETARY GENERAL J. S. RAO SECRETARIES 3. V C. S. Rao 4. (Smt ) Vatsala D. Kamath

1. S. R. Wagh 2. R. S. Udyavar

TREASURER S. G. BHATKAL JOINT TREASURER H. N. RAO 1 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

U. V. Acharya A. S. Banawalikar P S. Bhat R. M. Bhat (Smt.) S. G. Bhatkal (Smt.) Meenakshi K. Bhandarkar 7 (Smt.) Suman M. Chikramane 8. Dayanand Dhareshwar 9. Gajanana Shastri Gaitonde 10. Ratnakar A. Golikeri 11 B. L. Hattangadi 12. M. G. Kamath 13 N. D. Kalbag 14 G. U. Kuber 15 D. K. Kamath 16. Venkatesh Kamath 17 D. D. Kalyanpur 18 N. L. Kodikal 19 L. G. Khedekar 20. M M. Kulkarni 21 S R. Murdeshwar 22. M. S. Mantri 23. D. M. Nadkarni 24. S. V. Nadkarni 25. I. M. Nadkarni

MEMBERS 26. S. K. Nadkarni 27 Vasant Nadkarni 28. S. M. Nadkarni 29. G. V. Nadkarni 30. A. V. Nayak 31 R. R. Padbidri 32. Madhavrao A. Pai 33. V. M. Pai 34. V. V. Pai 35. M. N. Padukone 36. Yashavantrao Madhukar Sukhthankar 37 K. R. Sharma 38. Y. G. Sharma 39. P G. Sirur 40. Prabhakar Nagesh Wagle 41. P. B. Zanekar

ALL-INDIA SARASWAT CULTURAL CONVENTION (Bombay, 26th to 28th November, 1971). PREAMBLE The Kanara Saraswat Association, Bombay, a social organisation of Saraswats of the Chitrapur Math, is to celebrate its Diamond Jubilee in November, 1971. As part of the celebration, the Association thought of organising a conference of Saraswats of the four Maths, namely, Kavle Math, Chitrapur Math, Gokarn Math and Kashi Math. A few friends from among the respective followers of these Maths were invited for an exchange of views on the project. The idea caught on so well, that it quickly developed into a plan for an All-India Saraswat Cultural Convention. An ad hoc Preparatory Committee evolved itself, independent of the Kanara Saraswat Association but free to draw on the Association‟s well-known organisational and man-power resources. It was considered convenient to hold the Convention immediately following on the Kanara Saraswat Association‟s celebrations; and at the same site, so as to avail of the facilities already organised. The Preparatory Committee is doing the ground-work for the Convention, and intends in due course to install a properly representative Reception Committee with a Subjects Committee. The concept of the Convention is based on the premise that the Saraswats of all India share a distinctive cultural trait and tradition, that the trait and tradition call for refurbishment in the context of the current social and economic transformation of the country, and that consolidation of the Saraswat identity and organised progress of the Saraswat people are clearly promotional and by no means inhibitive of the national interest. OBJECTS The objectives motivating the Preparatory the All-India Saraswat Cultural Convention are:—

Committee

planning

To consolidate the Saraswat identity in terms of its historical traditions and native qualities of altruism, patriotism and public spirit.

To strengthen the bonds of brotherhood between the several sections and groups of Saraswats, separated by languages, distance and allegiance to different Maths.

To develop healthy rapport among the various social service of organisations of Saraswats, including those restricted to regional or sectarian groups as well as those serving the public at large.

To stimulate the process of modernisation and tion of the management of Saraswat religious institutions.

To promote the idealist view and values of life, and for that purpose to examine and re-orientate the religious beliefs and practices common to all Saraswats in the light of the demands of modernism, so as to clarify and emphasise their pristine social motivation and cultural significance.

To examine feasible ways and means, including a common code of conduct, for the social and economic preservation and development of Saraswats and for a progressive advancement of their place in the national life.

social

orienta-

7 To find means of promoting the cultivation of the arts, sciences and humanities among Saraswats, with active encouragement of outstanding talent, and publicising of the works of genius and of public interest. 8. To organise a permanent All-India body, (a) to work out the plans and dĂŠcisions made by the Convention, (b) to receive and implement the reports and recommendations of Committees or Study Groups appointed by the Convention, (c) to organise similar Conventions periodically, (d) to promote the objectives of the Convention generally, and (e) to organise ways and means of financing the projects and activities in its hands. STRUCTURE Eligibility The Convention is open to all adult Saraswats without sectarian or regional distinction. Any non-Saraswat married to a Saraswat may claim eligibility. Reception Committee : Any adult Saraswat may enrol himself (or herself) a member of the Reception Committee on payment of a lee of Rs. 101. Delegates Any adult Saraswat may register himself (or herself) a delegate to the Convention on payment of a fee of Rs. 25. A member of the Reception Committee is not subject to the delegateâ&#x20AC;&#x;s fee. Student Delegates Any adult Saraswat, student may enrol: himself (or herself) a delegate to the Convention on payment of a fee of Rupee One only.

THE SWAMIS Religious belief and social obligation being inseparable in the Hindu concept of Dharma, which the Saraswats share, it is intended to invite the Swamis of the four Maths, namely, Kavle Math, Chitrapur Math, Gokarn Math and Kashi Math, to grace and bless the opening session of the Convention. They will be welcome, if they are so pleased, to attend and participate in all proceedings of the Convention. PROGRAMME Subject to a detailed work-out by the Reception Convention programme is intended to be as follows:—

Committee,

the

Friday, 26th November, 4-30 PM. Inauguration, with the Blessings of the Swamijis. Saturday, 27th, 9 A.M. to 12-30 Noon: Opening Session, with Presidential Address; outlining of procedures; principal speech on the subject of Saraswat Integration, to be followed by brief discussion. Saturday, 27th, 4-00 P.M. to 7-30 P.M. Open Session, with one principal speech, to be followed by brief discussion, on each of three subjects chosen by the Subjects Committee. Sunday, 28th, 9 A.M. to 12-30 Noon: Same as on the previous evening. Sunday, .28th, 4-00 P.M. to 8 P.M. Ad hoc speeches and discussions as permitted by the President; adoption of the Constitution of the permanent body indicated in item 8 of the Objects, and elections under such constitution; closing address by the President. The President of the Convention shall be chosen by the Reception Commiittee. The Subjects Committee, elected by the Reception Committee, will select the subjects for specific discussion at the Convention. In view of the very limited time available to the Convention, the present intention is that a single principal speaker shall be chosen to deal with each subject. The discussion which follows shall have to be necessarily brief. “SARASWAT SANMARG” A tentative list of plausible subjects is given in this Prospectus. They all call for wide enquiry, careful study, and planned long-term action. 3

It is expected that the permanent institution to be brought into being at the Convention will be seized of these and similar other subjects; that it will arrange a meaningful study of them by such means as Study Groups, Research Groups and Seminars; and that it will also organise a course of action based on the conclusions so reached. The purpose of the Convention, in the main, is to launch the process of organised thinking and activity on the right lines. Creation of the permanent body thus becomes the crucial task of the Convention. A Constitution of such an all-India institution is being drawn up by a special Committee and will be placed before the Convention for adoption. The Convention will be also called upon to select the first Executive of the institution. The name SANMARG”

chosen

for

the

proposed

The privilege of being founder-members will be open to all Delegates at the Convention.

institution of

the

The Saraswat Sanmarg is meant to be more than is intended to be a Movement, the harbinger of a new Saraswat Era.

"SARASWAT

Saraswat an

Sanmarg

institution.

SUBJECTS The subjects indicated below paratory Committee as meriting of the Saraswat Sanmarg. They sive nor to be adequately defined. 1.

are the are

tentatively s-uggested by the Preattention of the Convention and neither claimed to be comprehen-

Saraswat Consolidation and National Integration:

The All-India Saraswat Convention and the Saraswat Sanmarg are conceived essentially as an aid to the national interest. Both alike will be infructuous if approached with mental or moral reservations or with an apologetic attitude to this basic assumption. Integration of the various religious, caste, economic, occupational and social groups is obviously an essential national interest. The word „integration‟, in this context, may however mean many things to many men. It therefore appears to be eminently desirable that the relationship between the national interest and the Saraswat interest, between partiotism and Saraswat espirit de corps, is openly and frankly discussed-and spelt out.

Saraswats have accounted Struggle for Freedom.

for

than

their

the

national

Saraswats have contributed, and continue to contribute, more than their share to the Indian polity: in politics and administration, in defence and diplomacy, in the judiciary and the police, and in the proliferating branches of national socio-economic direction. These contributions are so traditional and substantial, and they are so natural to the Saraswat spirit, that they are taken for granted; which means that they are overlooked by Saraswats themselves. For stimulation and consolidation of the spirit of the Saraswats demonstrably in the national interest, it may be well to produce and publicise (A) (B)

a treatise on the Saraswat impact on the Indian polity; and a “Saraswat Who Is Who”.

The treatise is overdue. It calls for a vast deal of research, which must be conducted before meaningful memories fade out and relevant records pass into obscurity. Here is a prime subject for the Convention, and a primary task for the Saraswat Sanmarg. 2.

Saraswat History and Biographies:

Allied to the project of a treatise on Saraswat contribution to the Indian polity, would be a comprehensive project for a History of the Saraswats, free from myths and legends as to the remote past, and properly authenticated in respect of comparatively récent times. A corollary to the project of such a history would be a series of biographical sketches. There is hardly any healthy phase or aspect of the national life in which Saraswats have not made a mark or left a permanent impress. While men like K. T. Telang have found their place in the national celebrities, and a few men like Bhau Daji Lad and the Manipal” have found devoted biographers, there are eminent in living memory or still living among us, whose biographies permanence of print in the national interest.

ranks of “Pais of Saraswats merit the

Lady Rama Rao in the feminist movement, Smt. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya in the cultural movement, Shri B. Shiva Rao in political journalism, Shri Kashimath Raghunath Mitra in periodical journal-

ism. Shri Pisurlekar in historical research, Shri music, Shri Vinayakrao Wagh in sculpture, Shri Smt. Durga Khote on the stage and the screen, in letters and on the stage, Shri Subba Rao Pai Kosambi in scholarship, are typical of Saraswat even in a casual recollection.

Mangeshrao Telang in Guru Dutt in films, Shri P. L. Deshpande in banking, Dr. D. D. names which crop up

Saraswat Talent Survey: In continuity of any plans for Saraswat biographies and a Who‟s Who, a Saraswat Talent Survey would appear appropriate. Such a survey would have a twin objective. (i) While men like literateur P L. Deshpande and sculptor Brahmesh Wagh represent outstanding achievement in their respective fields, there would be many who, with timely encouragement, may be capable of making a bid for the same level of success. To locate such promise and to make practical assistance available to it would be worthy of the objectives of the Saraswat Sanmarg. (ii) A conspiracy of circumstances often leads to the neglect of works of national interest. Examples which readily come to mind are the writings and speeches of Dr. Bhau Daji Lad; the varied works of Dr. Kosambi, including original contributions to advanced mathematics; and the notes and records left by Shri Pisurlekar as a result of a halfcentury of historical and sociological research. It should be the business of the Saraswat Sanmarg to rescue these works from oblivion. Reprint of published works would also fall under this category of activity. While the Kanara Saraswat Association is about to revive Rao Bahadur Talmaki‟s admirable Book of Konkani Proverbs, his book on Hindu Festivals as well as that of Shri Vaman Mangesh Dubhashi on the same subject could bear the light of day afresh. 4 Saraswat Business and Industry. Despite the industrial and commercial enterprises like those of the Sirurs and the Pais, and despite three Scheduled Banks being of Saraswat parentage, it is only fair to admit that Saraswats as a class have made a better mark as administrators and managers than as entrepreneurs. The traditional partiality for education and the consequent preference for the “liberal professions”, and middle class genteelity which is naturally shy of risks, are among the historical reasons for this situation. However, a marked shift towards self-employment may be said to have developed since World War II, and especially since Independence. Most of the new Saraswat undertakings are of the Small-Scale category, though some of them are pioneer enterprises in their own fields. The large-scale Goan enterprises of the houses of Dempo, Timblo and Salgaokar are substantially post-liberation developments.

A Directory of Saraswat Business and Industrial Enterprises would be an invaluable appendage to the Saraswat Who‟s Who. The least that may be claimed for such a Directory is that it would tend to produce in Saraswat society a better awareness of its own abilities, and that it would also tend to step up the self-confidence in those who are already engaged in what Saraswat society generally regards still as an adventure rather than as a way of life. 5.

Problems of Middle Class: Despite the growing ranks of youthful industrialists and businessmen, Saraswats by and large are part of the middle classes in the economic structure of the country. Despite a comparatively high level of education and a high degree of patriotism, they are not immune to the weaknesses of middle class genteelity, including the compulsive effort to “keep up appearances‟. In the face of the pressure of the inflationary trends on fixed incomes, there is a visible decline in the spirit of austerity created by the erstwhile Swadeshi Movement. A sizable measure of socio-economic good may be achieved by an Austerity Code, to be publicly accepted by leaders of the several groups of Saraswats. This is a problem in which Saraswat women should and certainly would take an active interest, if given a due opportunity. Their fairly high average level of education and their demonstrated capacity for organisation hold out fair promise of success. Another major middle-class problem is that of Vocational Guidance. This problem, perhaps, relates less to the availability of guidance than to its social acceptability. Few Saraswat students, for instance, are found in High Schools with a technical bias. This problem, therefore, calls for a joint effort on the Saraswat businessmen, educationists, social leaders and women generally.

part

Educational Institutions: Three cultural characteristics in the main identify the Saraswats: a high level of education, a high degree of patriotism, and an instinctive tendency to altruism. This triple feature of Saraswat life accounts for its impact on the national life. Saraswats being essentially, if not wholly, of the middle classes, it is no wonder that this instinct of altruism is demonstrated in the solution of middle class problems, and in the service of the poor and the needy. Thus, the Shamrao Vithal Cooperative Bank, the Saraswat Cooperative Bank and the North Kanara G.S.B. Bank in Bombay gave the lead in organising urban savings and credit, and they still retain their lead

among the urban cooperatives by their performance. Rao Bahadur Talmakki rose to be a prophet of Cooperative Housing, and Bombay is studded with Saraswat-sponsored housing achievements. To the Saraswat Cooperative Housing Colony at Gamdevi in Bombay goes the distinction of being the first project of its kind in Asia. Dr. Bhau Daji Lad, graduating in the first batch of Grant Medical students in 1851, set the pace for Saraswat doctors by placing his time and talents unreservedly at the disposal of the needy. That example continues to be honoured; and men like Dr. M. R. Divekar and the late Dr. A. V. Baliga of Bombay, and Dr. V. G. Desai of Kurduvadi, who regard their time and earnings as a public trust, are not solitary examples of response to the famous directive of the Isha Upanishad. It is not surprising, again, that Saraswat altruism should come to flower in the field of Education. The “Pais of Manipal” have converted a forest wilderness into a Kingdom of Saraswati, and are spreading the spirit in the neighbouring area with a series of protege institutions. South Kanara is studded with colleges and schools, many of them pioneer enterprises, testifying to the Saraswat spirit. So is North Kanara where Shri Dinker Desai of the Servants of India Society is currently carrying education to the backward interior and the backward tribes, with schools providing milk and snacks as well as lessons. In Bombay, the Chikitsak Samooha leads with a College and a School, followed by the Baal Mohan Vidya Mandir, the Arvind Gandbhir High School and the Saraswati Vidya Mandir. Saraswat altruism greeted the liberation of Goa with the Dempo Group of Colleges. Indeed, it was the Saraswat spirit, in the main, that kept popular education alive in Goa during the benighted Portuguese regime. A study of Saraswat managed educational institutions will not be a mere exercise in self-adulation. There are problems of common interest, worthy of attention. A few such are indicated here. (i)

Should Saraswat managed Schools and Colleges give a religious bias to education? Schools and Colleges conducted by Christian Missions naturally suggest this idea. There is at least one Saraswat managed institution which is successfully working it out. Shri Dadasaheb Rege, founder and controller of the Baal Mohan Vidya Mandir of Bombay and Talegaon, gives his students elementary lessons in Hindu religion and ethics and encourages them to learn “abhangs” and chapters of the Geeta by heart.

(ii)

Can the Saraswat managed institutions, as such, take any specific measures to stem the obviously falling standards of education?

(iii) (iv)

Would a regional or central Advisory Board for all Saraswat managed educational institutions be feasible and desirable? Are reservations or safeguards for Saraswat interests feasible and desirable?

7 Scholarship Societies: It is not to be expected that Saraswats, so earnest in the promotion of public education, would be found wanting in ensuring the education of their own children. Institutions designed to assist needy Saraswat students, commonly known as Scholarship Societies, are an outstanding feature of Saraswat life; of Dakshini Saraswat life, at any rate. Symbolical of the spirit of the Scholarship Societies are Shri Yeshwant Hanmant Sukthankar who holds age itself at bay with his life-long dedication to the Saraswat Vidyarthi Sahayyak Mandali and the allied Rajadhyaksha Foreign Education Society; and the North Kanara G.S.B. Industrial and Education Society of the small group of Karwari Shenvis, which seeks out needy families and presses its assistance on them in fulfilment of the pledge that “no student of the community shall suffer for lack of means”. Among the leading scholarship societies in Bombay are thę three here mentioned, and the G.S.B. Scholarship League. The Subba Rao Memorial Fund of Mangalore and the Samyukta Gowd Saraswat Sabha of Madras are leaders of the scholarship societies in the South. There are numerous smaller ones, scattered all over; some, like the Dabhalkar Scholarships Trust, endowed by individuals. With their characteristic thoroughness, the Chitrapur Saraswats have organised a network of local scholarship societies in Bombay, Belgaum, Dharwar, and many Taluka headquarters in the two Kanaras. All these Scholarship Societies are sectarian in the strict sense, for none of them caters to Saraswats of North India. Numerically the large majority are restricted to sections defined by Math allegiance and regional identity. Here are some major issues which make the Scholarship Societies an appropriate subject for study: (i) Should the sub-caste Scholarship Societies be abolished by merger into All-Saraswat Societies? If so, should the entire system of Saraswat student assistance be centralised in a single Society, or in a few Regional Societies? (ii) If the sub-caste Societies are to stay, is it feasible and desirable to evolve a co-ordination of policies and patterns of assistance and of administration? (iii) Is it just and proper to make a fairly high standard of academic achievement an essential qualification of eligibility to assistances, apart from economic need?

Is it fair to discontinue assistance on the ground of a failure at an annual examination? Does not the lame duck deserve more sympathy than the admirable swan? (iv) (v)

Should weightage Medium?

given

students

adopting

the

English

Is there an excessive tendency to capitalise voluntary contributions for future stability, at the expense of disbursement to present students who will be the parents of the next generation?

The last of these issues is common to all social service institutions depending on voluntary contributions. 8.

Other Social Service Institutions: Besides the scholarship societies, there are several social service organisations of Saraswats. These are of three kinds. Firstly, there are social clubs which generally serve social interests in varying degrees. The Kanara Saraswat Association, the Gowd Saraswat Brahman Samaj and the Saraswat Mahila Samaj of Bombay belong to this category. There is, too, a local Saraswat Samaj wherever Saraswats are found in fair numbers: in Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore, Bijapur and elsewhere. The second category is of institutions which serve charitable as well as general social purposes; like the Samyukta Gowd Saraswat Sabha of Madras and the North Kanara G.S.B. Sangh of Bombay. And thirdly, there are the purely charitable organisations like the Saraswat Deen Vatsal Sangh of Bombay. There are also many private charitable Trust of Bombay and the Telang Trust of Bangalore.

Trusts

the

Gandbhir

These charitable organisations and Trusts are generally designed to give cash doles. Some provide medical relief. The Sabha of Madras is also a scholarship society. The problems of the charitable organisations are (i) lack of co-ordination of policies and assistance; (ii) lack of volunteer workers; and (iii) the conflict between financial conservation for stability and generosity in immediate relief of distress. Two fields of vital social service remain surprisingly neglected: 1 A rest home for the aged and the infirm is a pressing need of our rapidly urbanised life. The only step taken in the direction would appear to be a plan for a Chitrapur Saraswat Rest Home in South Kanara.

2. While there are several charitable institutions giving cash doles to those at starvation level, there is no large-scale effort to stave off starvation by providing part-time home based work to needy families. Such efforts as are made, on too small a scale to make any real impact. 9.

Temple Managements: There are many temples, large and small, managed by Saraswats. Some temple or another is always being renovated, and Saraswats respond handsomely to the demand for the necessary funds, especially if it happens to be the temple of a Kula Devata or a Graam Devata. Many of these temples suffer for lack of proper methods of management. Many therefore neglect their opportunities of social service. A Study Group may usefully set the task of examining the feasibility of â&#x20AC;&#x201D; (i) A Census of all Saraswat Temples; (ii) a Central Pool of administrative and financial assistance; and (iii) stimulating the social orientation of temple managements. The Study Group may well benefit by a close study of such model managements as the G.S.B. Temples Trust of Bombay, a body elected by all sections of Dakshini Saraswats of the City, to manage local Saraswat temples including the famous Bhuleshwar and Walkeshwar temples. The Trust has earned a well merited reputation for its services in housing, education and medical relief. 10. Saraswat Census: It is plain that full and accurate knowledge of the numerical strength, geographical dispersal, social conditions, and economic circumstances and trends of Saraswats would better ensure the success of efforts organised to achieve the objectives of the Convention. A Census of Saraswats of all India is indicated. Such a Census, however, calls for a measure of organisation which will necessarily take some time to bring about. A Study Group, meanwhile, may usefully examine the problem and may indicate ways and means of preparing the groundwork for the Census. The periodical Census conducted by the Chitrapur Saraswats with such brilliant success carries a streak of encouragement as well as of caution. 11.

The Saraswat View of Life: The educational institutions and the scholarship societies, the charity trusts and dedicated services, are all indicators of the Saraswat way of life, whose direction, destination and dependability are conditioned by the Saraswat View of Life.

There is a growing feeling of uncertainty as to the clarity and adequacy of this view at the present time. The motivations of the Saraswat way of life stem consciously or instinctively from the traditional Brahmanical concept of Dharma. The plea cannot be lightly brushed aside that this concept, derived from the Vedas and confirmed by the Upanishads and the Gita, has been obscured by the accretions of the Puranas and by popular interpretations of the saintly lore. The unique virtue of Hinduism has become its unique weakness. The unexampled catholicity, the incredible capacity for absorption, which has sustained Hinduism through the vicissitudes of history as the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x;s only religion not propagated by force, has also shaped Hinduism into such a maze of beliefs and practices that the average Hindu is prone to mistaking the tress for the wood. A concise, popular definition of Hinduism is a standing challenge to scholarship. What is true of beliefs, is also true of practices. The forms and rules of religious rituals, hardened by decades of unintelligent practice, have largely lost their original significance. There is thus a growing body of feeling that the time is ripe for a re-declaration of the Sanatana Dharma; and ,that the Saraswats, legendary saviours of the Vedas, may well take the initiative in the enterprise. It is claimed that the religion of the Vedas is a religion of altruistic socialism and vigorous patriotism that the first person singular pronoun rarely occurs in the vast body of the Vedic Mantras, and that the ideal of a purely personal salvation is a development of a later decadent age. This view cannot be summarily brushed aside. A definition of Sanatana Dharma needs to be framed, backed by an anthology of relevant sacred texts interpreted in terms of modem life and thought and translated in modern languages including English. A Saraswat Code from chaff, may go Saraswat life.

of Dharma derived from such sifting of grain far to activate Saraswat motivations and enrich

The key concepts in such a code would be Yagna and the Gayatri, with their pristine social motivations and implications interpreted in terms of current life and modern psychology. A pattern of rituals, also adjusted to the demands and inhibitions of urbanised living, would also be part of the code. Reason and faith alike need the exercise of rituals to sustain them. It will make a dif-

ference to Saraswat life and thought, especially among the youth, if the social motivations of such forgotten practices as Vaishwa Deva are explained and understood. The problem of the future of priesthood, the need for training householders in the essential elements of the priestly profession, is a corollary to such a move. All this is possible, without involvement in doctrinaire polemics or sectarian disputations. Indeed a sectarian tinge would invalidate the code. The Sanatana Dharma of the Veda is independent of all sects. 12. â&#x20AC;&#x153;House Journal A periodical publication, functioning at once as a mouthpiece of the Saraswat Sanmarg, that is, of all Saraswats, as an open forum for progressive views, and as a Saraswat Gazette, would obviously go far to promote the objectives which inspired the concept of the Convention and of the Sanmarg. The institution of such a journal calls for a great deal of thought and perspicacity, if only because some potentially sensitive areas are covered by the objectives to be promoted. Among the factors demanding careful advance planning are:â&#x20AC;&#x201D; (i)

Editorial independence;

(ii)

Scope of contents;

(iii)

Distribution organisation;

(iv)

Periodicity; and

(V)

Cost coverage.

It is hoped

that the Convention will find the time needed for a

careful consideration of this proposal. It is also hoped to present a well considered plan for its decision. APPEAL The purpose of this Prospectus is to present, as cogently yet graphically as may be, the motivations of the Promoters in visualising the AllIndia Saraswat Cultural Convention and its sequel, the Saraswat Sanmarg. Neither comprehensiveness nor even adequacy is claimed or intended in the presentation of ideas, facts and problems. The references made to individuals and institutions are by way of casual examples intended to exphasise the existence of others not mentioned. The intention is to stimulate thought on a theme. It is not the intention to present a thesis for judgement.

The crux of the propriety of this plan lor the Convention and the Sanmarg will be the interest evoked by this representation. And the measure of that interest will be the number of members enrolled to the Reception Committee and Delegates to the Convention, Student Delegates especially; as also the number of messages of good wishes and of practical suggestion that may come to the Preparatory Committee. The ultimate test of the validity of the concept of Saraswat Consolidation in pursuit of the “sanmarg" will be the general acceptance of the spirit of Yajna; of disciplined self-denial for the common good. An incidental illustration of that spirit is the “Vantiga" system of the Chitrapur Saraswats, the inspiring phenomenon of a couple of thousand middle class bread-winners voluntarily paying up a couple of lakhs of rupees every year without a collector coming to their doors. We hope and pray that the All-India Saraswat Cultural Convention will attract the choicest Saraswat talent and public spirit to inspire and activate the Saraswat Sanmarg, and to demonstrate that the holy Saraswati of the Veda is not a dried up stream but a perennial flow‫ ׳‬of the divine spirit in man. 4/418, Arun Chambers, Tardeo Road, Bombay-34. July 25, 1971.

N S. Rao Chairman, Preparatory Committee.

ENROLMENT FORM To The Chairman, Preparatory Committee, ALL INDIA SARASWAT CULTURAL CONVENTION, 4/418, Aran Chambers, Near Airconditioned Market, Tardeo Road West, BOMBAY-34-WB.

Dear Sir, 1. We/I wish to enrol ourselves/myself as a delegate(s) to the All India Saraswat Cultural Convention to be held at Bombay during 26th November 1971 to 28th November 1971 in the following category : Member of the Reception Committee Ordinary Delegate Student Delegate (Restricted to students only). 2.

Following subjects mentioned in the Prospectus interest us/me :

3 Our/my address (s) for correspondence is given below Office: Residence : 4.

Tel. No. Tel. No.

Enclosed herewith is cash/cheque of Rs. 101/-, Rs. 25/‫־‬, Re. 1/as Delegate Fee.

Signature. THROUGH: For Office use only Delegate No.: Category :

Seat No.

Date :

Remarks :

BOOK-POST

To The Chairman, Preparatory Committee, ALL INDIA SARASWAT CULTURAL CONVENTION, 4/418, Arun Chambers, Near Airconditioned Market, Tardeo Road West, BOMBAY-34‫ ־‬WB.