Dzhirgal Adzhikeevna Kutmanalieva

Prominent Educator of the Kyrgyz Republic, Director of the Humane Pedagogy Center Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek

India in the works of Chingiz Aitmatov

For me, India - is the one-of-a-kind unique reservoir of spiritual experience that has accumulated over the millennia. It is the cradle of world civilization, the foremother of Indo-European languages. This alone means a lot in the history of world culture. This greatness of philosophical and artistic thought of India gives me the feeling that I cannot call otherwise than reverence.

Chingiz Aitmatov

Reverence – is a special word. "There is no homeless word, - writes Ch. Aitmatov. - Every person is the home of word and the lord of word. Even when a person turns to God in the secret hope to hear His voice, he hears himself in his word. Word lives in us. Separating from us and returning to us, as if devotedly serves us from birth until death, as if holds the creation of spirit and grandeur of the Universe" (1. P. 264).

Reverence - a feeling of particularly profound esteem and respect for India, Ch. Aitmatov carried through the whole life.

The name of Aitmatov became known in India in 1966. In that year the Soviet delegation headed by Ch. Aitmatov visited India. In an interview with the correspondent of Indian newspaper "Indian Express", the writer talked about the primary concern - the preservation of life on the planet and that is inseparably connected with this concern - how to live with dignity.

Magical, mysterious and beautiful India entered the consciousness of Chingiz since childhood. Sultanmurat, the hero of "The Cranes Fly Early" - is the writer himself who endured all the hardships of war. That is he sitting in a cold classroom of a village school in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, listening to a story of the teacher about a remote island in the ocean near the coast of India, inhibited by monkeys and elephants, where grow "bananas (some kind of fruit), and the best tea in the world, and all sorts of other strange fruits and unseen plants. But the most wonderful thing - it's so hot there that people could live all the year round and not care a straw: no need in boots, caps, puttees and coats. There is no need in wood at all. And if so, no need to go to the field for quray and to carry by bending double the heavy bundles of twigs home. That's where life!" And here "how many people in the village died at the front. Mother cries every day, does not say anything but cries and is afraid that father is killed. She has said to a neighbor: where should I go with four…" (2. P. 326-327).

Sultanmurat could not know that during these years of war against fascism, in India one of the greatest people in the world - Nicolay Konstantinovich Roerich was listening hard to the radio programs bringing news from the far long-suffering Homeland fighting with Nazi hordes. "The third year out of life. The peace train has derailed and has been out at elbows over bumps and ruts. People become accustomed to reports about death of many millions of people. The world is filled with maimed. Crying refugees. Innumerable disadvantaged families. Bottomless coarsening and savagery. All these disasters are immense.

You can pray for peace, but what will be that peace? When and how to calm the human consciousness? Disaster shock is immeasurable and fathomless. And what would be the youth among gnashing and hatred? The crops are violated and the hunger threatens, but the spiritual hunger, hunger of hearts is worse. One can die from such hunger. How to prevent this death?

Feat, feat, feat" (3. С. 443-444).

Following the wise conviction of N.K. Roerich it is topical today to encourage the feat. The Roerich Pact and Banner of Peace as a phenomenon of world culture - the imperative of the time. Our forums on the theme "How to protect the living tissue of Culture?" - is a living history, communication of contemporaries, with whom you live in the dialectics of reality, with whom you learn the meaning of life. Where, there is a spiritual light, the beauty and virtue of which we feel and realize by contemplating a painting, listening to music, talking to people - there is Culture.

The story "The Cranes Fly Early" was written by Ch. Aitmatov in May 1975, the year of the 30th anniversary of Victory in World War II and devoted to his son Askar.

The story has several epigraphs (2. P. 326):

"Aksai, Koksai, Sarysai - I walked the earth,

But could not find such as you anywhere...

(Kyrgyz folk song)

"And comes a messenger unto Job, and said:

"The youths are struck down by the edge of the sword..."

(The Book of Job)

"Time and time again ploughmen plow the field,

Time and time again cast seed into the ground,

Time and time again the heaven sends the rain... "

***

"With the hope they plow the field,

With the hope they sow the seed,

With the hope they go to sea... "

("Theragatha", 527-536. From ancient Indian literature)

Once Ch. Aitmatov was asked what helped him to find the origins of justice, whether he was able to identify where these origins? "I dare think, in love to a man who is born and must be happy and free", - answered Aitmatov. The words of Kyrgyz folk song taken in the first epigraph of the story "The Cranes Fly Early" are about this.

About the second epigraph we can say by the words of the parable: "once a martyr Job worn-out by troubles that one after another blamed on him cried with pain: "When will my sins be through!"

The third epigraph says that to take life with open eyes by recognizing the executable duty is the noblest and happiest destiny and wise joy.

May be, so.

Reference to India always appears in the works of Ch. Aitmatov as evidence that it has always occupied the imagination of the writer. In 1980 the world learned about the first novel of Ch. Aitmatov "The Day Lasts More Than Hundred Years".

The novel begins with the description of great patience of mousing hungry fox which only in exceptional cases earned its own food near the railroad. At the same time to the railway worker Yedigei runs his wife Ukubala and reports "about the death of poor old man Kazangap, lonely old man who died in an empty mud hut". Although Yedigei was not Kazangap's relative, he was the only person who took to heart this end. Only two of them, Kazangap and Yedigei stayed at the junction Boranly-Burannyi for life. Giving necessary instructions to his wife about funeral organization and sending her back to the village, Yedigei again left alone on duty waiting for Edilbai, who was supposed to replace him in shift. "It was two o'clock in the morning. Stars in the sky glowed, each star stood out by itself. And the moon lit over sarozeks (desert) little brighter, nourished with a certain odd, gradually affluent force" (4. С. 34). At such a night Yedigei suddenly saw a fox, he threatened her with his finger, but the fox was not afraid. Yedigei thought that it looked at him "intently and with sadness". The conduct of the fox seemed strange to him. "Why not kill her with a stone, once such a thing, if a prey itself comes to the hands. Yedigei fumbled a bigger stone on the ground. He aimed and raising his hand against it, dropped his hand. He dropped a stone at his feet. He even broke into a sweat. My goodness, what things come to mind! What nonsense!" (4. С. 34).

From where did suddenly the power come that made Yedigei drop a stone? Probably the power coming from the beauty of the starry sky... From the same area an idea came to him that "in India people believe in the doctrine according to which it is considered that if a person dies his soul moves to some living creature, to any, even an ant. And it is believed that each person once, even before his birth, was some bird or animal or insect. So it is a sin for them to kill any animal, even if they meet on their way a snake, a cobra they do not touch but only bow down and give way" (4. С. 35).

It is said that in ancient times, when a snake crawled into the Kyrgyz yurt (tent), they did not kill it and carefully took it out of the yurt pointing its way by drops of milk. Perhaps it is the action from the one wisdom of life? How can one not believe in one God and in the unity of mankind? On this occasion recalled the words of Mahatma Gandhi in his book "My Life": "One should not expect anything certain in this world, where everything is uncertain except God, who is the truth. Everything that appears and happens to us and around us is uncertain, transient. But there is a higher being, concealed under the guise of certainty, and blessed is the one who can catch a glimpse of that certainty, and sense it. The search for this truth is the summun bonum (supreme good) of life". (5)

In the novel "The Day Lasts More Than Hundred Years" India once again unexpectedly enters into the narrative. The fate brought Yedigei and a scientist Afanasiy Ivanovich Yelizarov together. Friends often spent time in long conversations. Yedigei remembered the late summer and early autumn of 1952, when the terrible heat subsided and there was a quiet grace in the sarozeks (deserts in Kazakhstan). It is necessary to turn attention to the word "grace". Reverence - goodwill - are complex words with a common first part which means "goodness". Grace -mercy, gift coming from God, sent down by Him. Or in another sense - is the abundance of natural wealth bringing joy and happiness.

"This happens, as Yelizarov once has told, when in the upper strata of air currents the major shifts happen, the directions of the celestial rivers change. Yelizarov loved to talk about such things. He has said that above us the huge invisible rivers flow with their banks and spills. These rivers, being in constant circulation, supposedly wash the globe. And the whole earth, wrapped by winds, floats on its circles and that is the flight of time. It was curious to hear Yelizarov. One cannot find such people, a man of rare soul. Yedigei Burannyi respected him, and Yelizarov did the same. Well, then, that heavenly river which brings in sarozeks a relieving coolness in the most heat, is somehow reduces from its ceiling and reducing meets the Himalayas. And the Himalayas, then God knows how far, but still on the scale of the globe is quite near. The aerial river meets the Himalayas and reverses: to India, it does not get to Pakistan, the heat there remains, and it spreads over sarozeks in reverse motion because sarozeks, like the sea, an open unobstructed space... And brings that river coolness from the Himalayas..." (4. С. 163).

"What miracles are in the world! Who knows to what extent all this is true. The world is big, and man cannot know everything", - Yedigei reasoned that night when he suddenly remembered India. He understood the explanations of Yelizarov, accepted and admitted in his mind the life in other worlds, and "celestial rivers" too. Distant India and Himalayas became close to him.

In 1985, on the eve of the significant date - the Independence Day of India - Ch. Aitmatov was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Prize. In an interview with M. Salganik about this Ch. Aitmatov thanked for the praise of his work and said: "A writer works alone, and any evidence of need, usefulness of the fruits of his work encourages him, gives him new strength. Of course I am glad that the heroes of my books "have settled" in India" (6. С. 191).

Ch. Aitmatov has admitted that he has inner attraction to India because India is mentioned in the Kyrgyz epos "Manas". The entire history of Central Asia from ancient times linked with India in the mutual interference of cultures.

And in the same interview Ch. Aitmatov said that he was struck by the words inscribed on the Indian National Emblem: "Only the truth wins". "These great words belong to ancient Indian emperor Ashoka who smashed the neighboring state of Kalinga and understood the deepest property of human nature: he realized that violence, even triumphant, bred violence and that this ominous chain reaction was endless. Ashoka renounced the use of force and bequeathed to his descendants to remember that the rulers must perceive their goals not in conquests, and "if they have to take up arms, they should not forget that only the truth wins" (6. С. 192-193).

"There is a special greatness, - notes R. Rakhmanaliev, researcher of Aitmatov's works, - greatness of not power but of spirit". (12) A book-dialogue "The Ode to Greatness of Spirit" of two great thinkers: Daysaku Ikeda, Japanese theologian and Ch. Aitmatov - is "a clever way to approach a common truth, very important for all". "Loyalty to the directed principles of existence, emotional warmth and responsiveness to human pain - is what unites the inner peace and cordial contacts of these giants of thought", - writes R. Rakhmanaliev (7. С. 29).

The thinkers began their conversation with the "Book of Childhood", and again unexpectedly for us, the readers, they remembered the wisdom of India: "God does not completely lose faith in people, if sends down angels". "Aitmatov. If we, today's adults, look at our children quite so! Because "angels" - are they? Ikeda. Yes".

From reflection about the education of younger generation, the conversation turned to philosophical themes. Ikeda said that many of the sermons of Christ, Buddha and Confucius, came down to our time presented in the form of dialogues. The thinker quoted a famous Indian philosopher Nagarjuna who lived in the ll-lll century and sharply criticized the emptiness of words, arguing that it was impossible to cover the real life with words. Nagarjuna noticed that the flow of things and phenomena not staying in the same position for a moment was pointless and dangerous to reinforce by words. A dialogue is possible only when the interlocutors listen to each other, and this is possible only with mutual emotional disposition. Aitmatov has supported this position of Ikeda and has added that it is sad to take part in the conversation of people not listening to each other. Aitmatov remembered the importance of the words of the great Indian classic poet Ghalib in the following verse:

If my words one day turn out, people will see,
That the underside of rags - the golden threads woven.

"Aitmatov. It is highly instructive to note that these verses appear in the letter "to dear friend" of our contemporary, also Indian thinker Abul Kalam Azad. A letter from the prison. No less interesting and original is the comment that should I read, looking at the book: "Out of prison my jail habits - constant self-control and self-examination - do not change. The mind does not want to be released from captivity of thinking; the heart does not want to leave the cloister adorned with ornaments of memories. I'm not made to be the life of the party, but I'm proud that never have left my friends: a piece of my heart belongs to them".

"What conclusion comes from this? A man cherishes hopes, he will be properly understood, for it is not without reason he thinks and knows that he, in his turn, is not abandoned by friends, a piece of their heart belongs to him. And when the communication is from heart to heart, it often replaces the words; and sometimes does not need them" (1. С. 366-367).

The book "The Ode to Greatness of Spirit" asks the eternal questions: What is good and evil? Whether there is a limit to the human spirit? What is the dialectics of the past, present and future? Like this the fabulous and mysterious country of India is gradually presented in a heroic guise - the person of Mahatma Gandhi.

Daysaku Ikeda and Chingiz Aitmatov speaking of a great statesman have noted that the life of Mahatma Gandhi - is an open book, by which you have to learn. This is the high spirit which has not been broken by any difficulties in the struggle for freedom of India against British colonialism. All the suffering that fell to Gandhi's lot, he endured with dignity, thus they were no longer suffering and became wisdom. Mahatma Gandhi – is a man who lived in the love for all mankind. It was love that never required, but always gave; love that suffered eternally without anger and revenge. In the pursuit of happiness for all mankind Gandhi came to the conclusion that Truth by its nature did not require proof, you only needed to remove the cobwebs of ignorance beset it, and it immediately brightened. Mahatma Gandhi believed in the fundamental truth of all world religions.

Ch. Aitmatov added that Swami Vivekananda also said about the universal religion: "He developed this idea as follows: "Every nation like each individual has in its life one single theme which serves as the center of its existence, the main note, around which all other harmony notes form a group... If it will throw, if it will reject the principle of its own vitality, direction transferred to it for centuries - it, the nation, dies".

Believing in the divinity of each, Vivekananda called to brotherhood of people and nations: "Mutual assistance rather than fight. Interpenetration rather than destruction. Harmony and peace rather than fruitless discussions".

The faith in Man gave strength to his conviction. "Are you looking for God? -asked the teacher Ramakrishna. - Well, look for Him in person. The divine is manifested in a person more than in anything else" ("Gospel of Ramakrishna").

How much is given to man! And how little, however, great possibilities are realized in him. He breaks through to freedom and runs into his inner limitation. Outer freedom is possible only with inner freedom. Inner freedom implies the developed consciousness and moral sense.

Needless to say how relevant this topic! A new dream or a future state of the world, from any point of view, marked by the birth of a free man, search of individual way of improving through knowledge of the age-old culture of the East and West, through self-knowledge and self-actualization.

"Ikeda. Following Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, I insist on "the inside universality". The divine is manifested in a person more than in anything else, -these words of Ramakrishna deserve to crown our reasoning about "the long way to yourself". Mahatma Gandhi reasoned similarly. He said: "God is not some kind of personality. God is our inner principle. That's why I say that Truth is God" (1. С. 556).

It is consonant with the main idea of the Roerich Pact that the world needs peace, not just agreement on the inviolability of cultural monuments; the human life shall be inviolable. It's time to learn to appreciate the great people expressing the national genius. Therefore we will do our best to protect our spiritual leaders - the real TREASURE of the country.

The Roerich Pact protects the beautiful - art. How great is its power! If the heads of states have realized in full the high educational value of art, they would have made every effort and means to awaken the fire of creativity in people and fill them with sound, color and beautiful forms.

The interest in the works of Ch. Aitmatov worldwide did not weaken over the years. Academician R. Rakhmanaliev carried out a sociological study "The Publication of Ch. Aitmatov's Books in the World (1958-2004)". According to statistics, books of Aitmatov are published with a total circulation of more than 80 million copies in 176 languages in 127 countries worldwide. The table drawn up by the researcher provides the information that the works of the Kyrgyz writer translated into Hindi and 32 languages of India peoples (7. С. 34). The lives of Aitmatov's characters are continuing in India.

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Literature

1. Айтматов Ч. Ода величию духа. Диалоги. Полное собрание сочинений. В 8 т. Т 5. Алматы, 2008.

2. Айтматов Ч. Ранние журавли. Полное собрание сочинений. В 8 т. Т.2. Алматы, 2008.

3. Рерих Н.К. Листы дневника. В 3 т. Т. 2. М.,1995.

4. Айтматов Ч. И дольше века длится день. Полное собрание сочинений. В 8 т. Т.3. Алматы, 2008.

5. Ганди М.К. Моя жизнь М., 1969.

6. Айтматов Ч. Стала близкой Индия (Интервью М. Салганик). Полное собрание сочинений. В 8 т. Т. 7. Алматы, 2008.

7. Рахманалиев Р. Империя Айтматова. М., 2008.



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•  The Roerich Pact and the Banner of Peace as a Remarkable Phenomenon of the World Culture
Reports and Speeches at the International Social and Scientific Conference.
Delhi – Kullu – Shimla – Kalimpong October 22– November 5 2010


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