Hindu Mela was a political and cultural festival started in 1867 in Calcutta. Its primary objective was to instill a sense of national pride among the city-dwellers to indigenous handmade products rather than imported British-made products. It included the display of swadeshi wrestling, swadeshi art and recital and performances of swadeshi poetry and songs.[1] The mela met regularly until 1880 after which it lost its importance due to the establishment of other institutions such as the Indian National Congress.[2]

Founding

In 1867, the National Paper published the Prospectus of a Society for the Promotion of National Feeling among the Educated Natives of Bengal by Rajnarayan Basu. Inspired by this booklet Nabagopal Mitra founded the Hindu Mela and the National Society in 1867. [3] The mela was initially called the Chaitra Mela since it was celebrated on the last day of Chaitra, the last month of the Bengali calendar.[4] The founding of the mela was supported financially by the Tagore family of Jorashako. Members of the Tagore family recited poetry and performed songs at the event.[1]

The mela was initially led by Nabagopal Mishra and Ganendranath Tagore, with Nabagopal Mishra as the Assistant Secretary and Ganendranath as the Secretary. After three years, due to the untimely death of Ganendranath, Dwijendranath Tagore took over the post of secretary, helping the mela run for four more years. In addition to this, Dwijendranath also presided over the 8th and 10th annual conferences.[3]

Objectives

During the second meeting of the Hindu Mela in 1878, it's then organizers, Nabagopal Mishra and Ganendranath Tagore laid out six objectives that the mela would aim towards achieving. One of the major objectives laid out during this event was the creation of a national council that would promote fraternity amongst Indians and work towards the upliftment of country. To further this, the organizers established the practise of preparing an annual report regarding the upliftment of Indians that was to be presented every year at the mela.[3]

Amongst the other objectives laid out during this event was the promotion of education amongst Indians. Anyone who would engage with this goal would be provided support to pursue this objective. In addition to this, the mela would also serve as a hub for the exhibition and promotion of indigenous arts, crafts and sports with support being given to the artists and sportspersons who practised the same.[3]

To further these objectives, six committees were setup in collaboration with the leaders of the Hindu society.[3]

Later years

Satyendranath Tagore was deeply associated with the Hindu Mela. He was not present in the founding session of the Hindu Mela held in April 1867 as he was in western India. However, he was present for the second session. He composed a song "mile sabe Bharat santan, ektan gaho gaan" (unite, India's children, sing in unison), which was hailed as the first national anthem of India.[5]

Despite being too young to participate during the founding years of the mela, Rabindranath Tagore quickly became deeply involved in the mela. It was here that he got first exposed to anti-British sentiments which shaped his beliefs later in life. On the tenth anniversary of the mela, Rabindranath Tagore recited a poem attacking the then newly appointed Viceroy Lord Lytton's decision to hold a lavish Durbar in Delhi where Queen Victoria was proclaimed the "Empress of India" all while a famine raged across the country. This was among his first acts of publicly attacking the British Raj.[1]

Several organisers of the Hindu Mela came together to form a secret society, Sanjivani Sabha which manufactured swadeshi matchsticks and cloth woven in swadeshi looms.[1]

The Hindu Mela also provided sufficient exposure to indigenous physical sports. In the first session of the mela, renowned wrestlers in the city were invited and felicated. In the following session, competitions for indigenous physical sports such as lathi-play and wrestling were organized. In 1874, when the fifth session of the mela was held, tickets for muscle-posing shows sold at a rate of 50 paise. As a result of this exposure, many schools introduced physical education into their curriculum. Physical education was also included into the syllabus of Indian Civil Service examinations.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hogan, Patrick Colm; Pandit, Lalita (2003). Rabindranath Tagore: Universality and Tradition. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 30. ISBN 9780838639801.
  2. ↑ Sen, Sailendra Nath (2010). An Advanced History of Modern India. Macmillan India. p. 235. ISBN 9780230328853.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Datta, Amaresh (1988). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Devraj to Jyoti. Sahitya Akademi. p. 1578. ISBN 978-81-260-1194-0.
  4. ↑ Gupta, Swarupa (2009). Notions of Nationhood in Bengal: Perspectives on Samaj, C. 1867-1905. BRILL. p. 52. ISBN 9789004176140.
  5. ↑ Bandopadhyay, Hiranmay, Thakurbarir Katha, pp. 98–104, Sishu Sahitya Sansad (in Bengali).
  6. ↑ Raha, Bipasha; Chattopadhyay, Subhayu (22 December 2017). Mapping the Path to Maturity: A Connected History of Bengal and the North-East. Routledge. p. 99. ISBN 9781351034128.

Further reading

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