Culture and Communication
VAC — Essential Readings
Comprehensive Study Notes
1. Introduction to the Gita
Author: Bal Gangadhar Tilak | Type: Expository / Philosophical Prose
Summary
This text is Tilak's introduction to his commentarial work on the Bhagavad Gita. He sets the
philosophical and contextual stage by discussing three elements: the Speaker (Sri Krishna), the
Listener (Arjuna), and the Circumstance (the battlefield of Kurukshetra). Tilak argues against
purely symbolic or allegorical readings of the Gita and insists it is a practical guide to righteous
action in the world — the 'Yoga of Works' or Karmayoga.
Key Sections & Content
a) The Nature of the Gita
• The Gita is described as 'a bottomless sea' — inexhaustible in its wisdom.
• It contains the highest knowledge (dharma) applicable to all people across ages.
• Tilak argues that even a surface-level reading yields strength and joy; deeper study yields
boundless wisdom.
b) The Speaker — Sri Krishna
• Krishna is identified as God Himself (the Avatar), not merely a symbol.
• Tilak directly opposes allegorical readings that treat Krishna, Arjuna, and Kurukshetra as
metaphors. He says this 'reduces the Gita to the law of ascetic quietism.'
• Krishna is described as a 'hero of action, a great Yogin, a warrior, a knower of Brahman in
the body of a Kshatriya.'
• He incarnated at the juncture of the Dwapara and Kali ages — a cosmically significant
moment — to destroy evil and sow seeds of a new creation.
c) The Listener — Arjuna
• Arjuna is chosen not because he is the 'best' in any single quality, but because he embodied
both devotee and friend.
• The unique quality Tilak highlights: Arjuna related to Krishna as a friend, not merely a
disciple. Friendship here enables fearless, honest engagement.
• Tilak draws a contrast: a devotee obeys blindly; a friend argues, doubts, and engages freely.
• Arjuna represents the 'Karmayogin' — the ideal person of action — not the ascetic or the
withdrawn philosopher.
• Arjuna had fulfilled his rajasic (action-driven) propensities through Kshatriya duty, while
turning them towards sattwa (purity).
d) The Circumstance — Battlefield of Kurukshetra
• The war was not incidental but essential. The Gita had to be delivered at this moment of
extreme action.
• The Karmayogi's spiritual knowledge dawns in the midst of action — not in hermitages or
solitude.
• Tilak argues: 'For the Karmayogin, life itself is the Ashram.'
• This circumstance validates the Gita's central teaching: detached action (Nishkama Karma) is
the path to God.
e) Core Teaching Restated
• The Gita's aim is not asceticism or renunciation of work, but teaching the 'way of works' —
acting without attachment to outcomes.
• Questions raised: What is God? What is life? What is the way to right living? The Gita
answers these without evasion.
Key quote (paraphrased from the Gita, as cited by Tilak): 'Do works in a state of union with
the Divine by giving up attachment... If a man works in a spirit of detachment, he will
certainly find God.'
Literary Devices & Representation
• Metaphor: 'The Gita is like a bottomless sea' — conveys the inexhaustibility of its wisdom.
• Metaphor: 'The Gita is an inexhaustible mine of jewels' — knowledge as a precious,
endlessly rewarding resource.
• Allusion: References to the Mundaka Upanishad, the Avatar doctrine, and the four yugas
(cosmic ages) situate the text within a larger Vedic framework.
• Juxtaposition: The 'ordinary Yogin' (who escapes life) vs. the 'Karmayogin' (for whom life is
the Ashram) — to argue for active engagement over withdrawal.
• Rhetorical Questions: Tilak poses questions that various worldviews (Buddhist, Advaitin,
atheist, Christian) fail to answer, positioning the Gita as the only text that faces reality directly.
• Analogy: Arjuna's relationship with Krishna compared to planetary sub-periods within larger
cosmic cycles — to explain the significance of the historical moment of the Gita's revelation.
• Characterisation: Tilak constructs detailed 'portraits' of Krishna and Arjuna to argue for
literal, not symbolic, reading — a rhetorical move that grounds philosophy in personality.
Representation: The text represents the Gita as fundamentally about worldly, heroic action —
challenging the popular notion of Indian spirituality as passive or world-renouncing. It positions
Karmayoga as universally relevant, making a nationalist/reformist case through religious
interpretation.
2. Vande Mataram
Original Author: Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay | Type: Patriotic Song / Poem
Translators included: Nares Sen-Gupta & Sri Aurobindo
Background
• Written by Bankim Chandra and first published in his novel Anandamath (1882), set during
the Sanyasi Rebellion against British rule.
• The song is addressed to the 'Mother' — both the physical land of Bengal/India and the
goddess Durga-Lakshmi-Saraswati in unified form.
• It became a rallying cry for Indian nationalism and was sung at the 1896 Indian National
Congress session.
Line-by-Line / Stanza-by-Stanza Explanation
Stanza 1 (Nares Sen-Gupta): The mother (land) is praised for her sweet waters, rich fruits, cooling
winds, and lush greenery. The speaker bows in devotion.
Stanza 2: The mother's nights are silvery with moonlight, her trees bloom abundantly; she bestows
joy and bliss. She is described through sensory abundance.
Stanza 3: The speaker invokes the collective strength of 70 million voices and hands wielding
swords — the people of Bengal/India — asking why the mother is called weak.
Stanza 4: The mother is praised for her strength and prowess as the 'Redeemer of her children'
and 'Chastiser of aggressive foes.'
Stanza 5: The mother is identified with knowledge, faith, heart, mind, and vital air — she is the
very life-force of the speaker.
Stanzas 6–8 (Aurobindo's translation): The goddesses Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati are
evoked as manifestations of the Mother. Her beauty, strength, and divine power are praised in rich
imagery. She is described as 'pure and perfect, without peer.'
Literary Devices & Representation
• Apostrophe: The poem is addressed directly to the Mother ('Mother, I bow to thee!') — a
direct address to an absent or abstract entity.
• Personification: The land is personified as a mother — nurturing, powerful, divine.
• Metaphor / Syncretism: The Mother is identified with multiple goddesses: Durga (warrior
power), Lakshmi (wealth), Saraswati (knowledge). This merges the political and the sacred.
• Imagery: Rich natural imagery — hurrying streams, orchard gleams, winds of delight, dark
waving fields — to evoke emotional attachment to the land.
• Hyperbole: 'Seventy million voices roar thy dreadful name from shore to shore' —
exaggerated scale to convey collective national power.
• Anaphora: Repeated 'Mother, I bow to thee' / 'To thee I bow' creates a devotional,
incantatory rhythm.
Representation: The poem represents the nationalist movement through the lens of bhakti
(devotion) — the nation is a goddess deserving worship. It blends Hindu religious symbolism with
political resistance, making the act of loving one's country a form of spiritual practice. The two
translations also demonstrate how the same text is 'represented' differently through language
choices.
3. A Flowering Tree: A Woman's Tale
Author: A.K. Ramanujan | Type: Folklore / Critical Essay + Story Retelling
About the Author
A.K. Ramanujan (1929–1993) was a celebrated poet, scholar, folklorist, and translator. He taught
South Asian Language and Literature at the University of Chicago and is known for revealing the
richness and complexity of folk cultures in languages such as Kannada and Tamil.
Summary
The essay-story combination presents a Kannada folk tale ('A Flowering Tree') and analyses it as a
'women's tale' — stories addressed to and centred on women's experiences, creativity, and
vulnerability within patriarchal society.
The Story (Paraphrased)
• A poor younger sister discovers she can turn into a flowering tree — she asks someone to
pour two pitchers of water over her, and she becomes a tree full of fragrant flowers. When
her sister pours water again, she turns back into a human.
• The sisters sell flowers at the palace. The prince discovers this secret and eventually marries
the younger sister.
• At his sister-in-law's house, the prince's adolescent sister-in-law and companions force the
girl to transform into a tree, then tear her branches and pluck her flowers cruelly. She is left
mutilated — only half a tree, half a human.
• The prince, finding her, is horrified. After great difficulty, she finally demonstrates her
transformation again and he carefully restores her to full human form by following her
instructions precisely.
• They return to the palace; there is reconciliation and celebration.
Ramanujan's Analysis
• In folk tales, women are often secondary — helpers to male heroes (qualifying him for prizes,
helping him slay the ogre, etc.).
• In women's tales, however, the woman is the protagonist. Men are secondary.
• The flowering tree is a metaphor with multiple layers:
◦ Biological: A menstruating woman in Kannada and Sanskrit is called a pushpavati (one
in flower). Menstruation and flowering are metaphorically linked.
◦ Creativity: A woman's special gift/creativity (here, the ability to become a tree) is her
unique power — but it makes her vulnerable.
◦ Agency: The girl can speak, move, act — but only when someone else pours the water.
She needs a trusted other to 'hold her' while she transforms.
• The story uses the chronotope of akam (interior/domestic) and puram (exterior/public) spaces
from classical Tamil poetry, marking alternating domestic and public spaces the girl moves
through.
• The girl's mutilation represents what happens when her gift is exploited without care or
consent. Healing requires the right person, attentive and gentle.
Literary Devices & Representation
• Metaphor (Central): The girl becoming a tree — symbolises a woman's creativity,
menstruation, vulnerability, and the conditions under which she can safely 'bloom.'
• Symbolism: The two pitchers of water: the ritual act of transformation requires trust and
care; without it, disaster follows.
• Irony: The girl's gift is also her greatest vulnerability. The very thing that enables her to
flourish (turning into a tree) is what leads to her mutilation.
• Chronotope: The narrative moves between interior/domestic and exterior/public spaces,
reflecting the constraints women face in moving between private and public worlds.
• Motif: The five violations (requests to transform) correspond to the five stages of the girl's
journey — each marks a progressive series of exploitation.
Representation: The story challenges the male-centric folk tale tradition by centring a woman's
experience, creativity, and suffering. Ramanujan uses it to argue that women's oral traditions
encode a sophisticated critique of patriarchal society, one that is often overlooked in literary
scholarship.
4. A Dehumanized Environment
Author: Keshav Malik | Type: Personal Essay / Cultural Critique
Summary
The narrator, an urban Indian intellectual, describes his stay in Rampur — a small Himalayan hill
town. He contrasts the sensory richness of the natural environment there with the dehumanizing
noise, ugliness, and spiritual emptiness of modern urban Indian life (the 'mega-town on the plains').
The essay meditates on what has been lost in the rush of modernization: the ability to perceive
nature, to experience beauty, and to find inner peace. Malik argues that civilization's gadgets and
inventions are means, not ends — and that the true 'fundamental primary end' of human life is the
consumption of beauty, which requires simplicity, open senses, and receptivity to nature.
Key Ideas / Argument
• In the city, 'the silhouette of personality is lost' — individuals are subsumed by the crowd,
commerce, and noise.
• True civilization's purpose has not changed: it is 'the flavour man gives to his life' or 'the
consumption of beauty.'
• Nature offers sensory richness — running water, cowbells, eagle-circling clouds, oak leaves
— but urban life drowns it all out.
• Modern religion and spirituality have also been corrupted: meditation and yoga are used as
'technologies for emotional control' rather than paths to inner peace.
• 'A growing will to power... but a rapid loss of the sense of beauty — and therefore no peace.'
Structure & Style
• Stream-of-consciousness passages alternate with clear analytical statements — mimicking
the movement between the narrator's reverie in nature and his critical thought.
• The essay is deeply personal, written in first person, and draws heavily on sensory detail.
Literary Devices & Representation
• Contrast / Juxtaposition: The hill town (Rampur) vs. the mega-town on the plains. The
essay is structurally built on this opposition.
• Sensory Imagery: 'I hear the cows' bells tinkle on the slopes... I breathe a deep sigh of
relief.' Thick natural imagery anchors the argument emotionally.
• Irony: The essay notes that a culture that 'prided itself on deep meditation' has ended up
using meditation as a tool of power and self-promotion, not contemplation.
• Allusion: References to 'before the Moghuls came, before the British came' situate the
problem historically — the loss of a sensory, nature-connected culture is linked to
colonization and modernization.
• Rhetorical Questions: 'What has happened, may I ask? Was it always like this?' — draws
the reader into the narrator's confusion and critique.
• Aphorism: 'A growing will to power, yes, but a rapid loss of the sense of beauty — and
therefore no peace.' A compressed, memorable statement of the essay's central argument.
Representation: The essay represents a post-colonial, middle-class Indian intellectual's alienation
from both Western modernity and the possibility of returning to an idealized pre-modern India. It
does not romanticize either position but instead locates the problem in the 'worship of means' at
the expense of ends.
5. Chanakya Niti
Original Author: Chanakya / Kautilya (Vishnu Gupta) | Type: Aphoristic Verse / Classical
Wisdom Literature
Background
• Chanakya (also Kautilya / Vishnu Gupta) was a Brahmin scholar, political advisor, and
economist from the 4th century BCE, associated with the founding of the Mauryan Empire
under Chandragupta Maurya.
• He is the author of the Arthashastra (a treatise on statecraft, economics, and military
strategy).
• Chanakya Niti is a separate collection of aphoristic sayings on everyday life, morality, social
conduct, and governance — compiled across several versions over centuries.
• The most comprehensive scholarly compilation was done by Ludwik Sternbach (1963–66),
who studied 2,235 verses across 235 manuscripts.
Selected Verses — Explanation
On Knowledge & Scholarship
• CN 1: 'Scholarship and royal rule are never comparable — the king is honoured in his land,
the learned scholar everywhere.' → Knowledge has universal, borderless value; royal power
is geographically limited.
• CN 4: 'Learning's gems are the greatest wealth.' → Knowledge cannot be stolen, plundered,
or depleted by donation. It is the most secure form of wealth.
• CN 49: 'A life devoid of learning is like a dress without an ornament.' → Knowledge is what
gives life beauty and dignity.
On Conduct & Wisdom
• CN 2: 'Do not say impossible things, even when seen by your own eyes.' → Epistemic
caution; humility about what one knows.
• CN 3: 'Wise folk act in accord with dharma, as if death already grasps their hair.' → Live
ethically as though time is running out.
• CN 8: 'The wise, while walking, take but one step... without checking the next position, they
do not leave the previous one.' → Caution and prudence in action.
• CN 17: 'On who tries again to bring his enemy and his friend together, that person with death
is sporting, like a pregnant she-mule.' → Naively mixing enemies and friends is self-
destructive.
On Social Life & Relationships
• CN 42: 'When at home there is no mother, nor a wife who sweetly speaks, one should then to
a forest go, for home is but a wilderness.' → The emotional and social value of women in
domestic life.
• CN 73: 'There is no friend like knowledge, nor like disease an enemy... and no love as in
calamity.' → Paradoxical wisdom about friendship, suffering, and love.
• CN 75: 'Woman is like a pot of ghee and man a burning brazier — both ghee and fire in one
place wise people do not keep together.' → A verse reflecting the patriarchal norms and
concerns about sexual temptation.
On Power & Society
• CN 60: 'A weak person's strength is in the king... a fool's strength lies in silence, of a thief it is
in falsehood.' → Social power dynamics mapped onto different types of people.
• CN 74: 'Land is by the sea protected, the fence protects the house, the king protects the
country, and their conduct the womenfolk.' → A patriarchal framing of protection and social
order.
Literary Devices & Representation
• Aphorism: Every verse is a self-contained, pithy statement of general truth. Easy to
memorize and quote.
• Simile: 'A life devoid of learning is like a dress without any ornament' (CN 49). 'Snakes are
pitiless, so are villains, but villains are always more so' (CN 9).
• Parallelism: Many verses use a list structure — 'The learned folk, the warriors, and those
who are in service: these three respectively prefer flowers, gold and land' (CN 10) — to
categorize types of people.
• Paradox: 'There is no love as in calamity' (CN 73) — challenging common assumptions.
• Zoomorphic Imagery: References to snakes, a pregnant she-mule, ghee and fire — rooted
in agrarian, everyday imagery accessible to common people.
Representation: Chanakya Niti represents a worldly, pragmatic, and at times cynical philosophy of
life. It reflects the social structures of its time — caste, patriarchy, kingship — while simultaneously
offering genuinely insightful observations about human nature that have remained quotable for
2,000 years. Reading it today requires critical awareness of its patriarchal verses alongside
appreciation of its wisdom.
6. How to Beat the Boys
Author: Sudha Murthy | Type: Autobiographical Narrative / Personal Essay
Summary
Sudha Murthy (née Kulkarni), philanthropist and wife of Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy,
recounts her experience of being the first — and only — girl to study engineering at the Basappa
Veerappa Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering and Technology (B.V.B.) in Hubli, Karnataka, in
1968.
The essay moves between her present-day self (speaking at an event in the US) and a detailed
flashback to her four years at B.V.B., documenting the social resistance, institutional
unpreparedness, peer harassment, and personal discipline that defined her journey. It is a first-
person account of breaking gender barriers through perseverance.
Key Episodes & Their Significance
Choosing Engineering (1968)
• Sudha's decision to pursue engineering was shocking in her conservative Brahmin family and
society. Engineering was an 'all-male domain.'
• Her grandmother warned no man from north Karnataka would marry her. Her grandfather
wanted her to pursue history; her mother, mathematics; her father, medicine.
• She drew inspiration from Hiuen Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim who refused discouragement
and walked to India. She told her family: 'I want to do engineering. Come what may.'
Institutional Barriers
• The college principal informed her father of practical problems: no ladies' toilet, no ladies'
room, concerns about boys' behaviour.
• He requested she wear a sari, avoid the canteen, and not talk to boys unnecessarily —
reflecting how the institution accommodated women by restricting them further.
• Sudha agreed to these conditions without giving up her goal.
Peer Harassment
• On her first day: blue ink spilt on her seat (a targeted act). She wiped it with newspaper and
sat down without complaining.
• Boys threw paper aeroplanes with mocking notes ('A woman's place is in the kitchen').
• Annual 'fishpond' tradition: anonymous notes about her were read aloud, including Kannada
limericks mocking her white sari, and romantic parodies of Bollywood songs.
• Despite feeling hurt, she adopted a personal code of tapas (penance/discipline): wear only
white saris, eat no sweets, sleep on a mat, take cold baths, and never miss a single class.
Academic Excellence
• She scored higher than all her classmates in core engineering subjects, including smithy,
filing, carpentry, and welding.
• Her marks were repeatedly displayed on the notice board by classmates and seniors — an
invasion of privacy she eventually reclaimed as a source of pride.
• By consistently topping the university, she earned respect from the same boys who had
harassed her. They began to depend on her for surveys, drawings, and assignment answers.
Legacy
• Her experience of inadequate toilets led her to later build more than 13,000 toilets in
Karnataka alone.
• She built a lecture hall in her father's memory at B.V.B. College — the man who had
supported her decision despite societal pressure.
Themes
• Gender and institutional discrimination in higher education.
• Individual perseverance vs. structural barriers.
• Tapas (self-discipline) as a personal strategy for survival and excellence.
• The gap between individual agency and systemic change.
Literary Devices & Representation
• Anecdote: The opening US speech scene is a framing device — it immediately establishes
Sudha's credibility and introduces the B.V.B. story as a contrast to expectations about
Western education.
• Flashback: The narrative shifts to 1968 — a structural device that places the present
achievements in the context of past struggle.
• Irony: 'They may not cooperate with her because they are not used to talking to girls' — the
principal's concern about the boys' discomfort, not the girl's rights, reveals the institutional
bias.
• Allusion: Reference to Hiuen Tsang's journey to India — positions Sudha's small act of
choosing engineering within a longer tradition of courageous, unconventional journeys.
• Simile: 'It was akin to expecting pigs to fly' — a colloquial simile capturing how unthinkable
women in engineering seemed in 1968.
• Intertextuality: The Bhagavad Gita is quoted ('Atma aiva hi atmano bandhu...') in connection
with Sudha's self-discipline — linking personal resolve to a philosophical tradition.
• Understatement: Her description of the 'tiny room' that turned out to be dusty and without a
toilet — delivered calmly — underscores the absurdity of the college's 'accommodation' for
her.
Representation: The essay represents women's entry into professional spaces as an act of daily,
sustained resistance. It is not a triumphant narrative of easy success but a carefully documented
account of institutional indifference, peer cruelty, and personal sacrifice. It also represents how
social change happens — not through dramatic moments but through years of unglamorous
persistence. Sudha Murthy's story is placed within a framework of Gandhian values (tapas,
simplicity) and classical Indian ideals (dharma, self-discipline), giving her feminist narrative a
cultural specificity.
Quick Revision: All Texts at a Glance
Text / Chapter Author Type Core Theme
Introduction to the Bal Gangadhar Philosophical Karmayoga — righteous action over
Gita Tilak Prose asceticism; literal vs. symbolic reading of the
Gita
Vande Mataram Bankim Patriotic Nation as mother-goddess; devotion and
Chandra / Poem political resistance merged
trans. Sen-
Gupta &
Aurobindo
A Flowering Tree A.K. Folk Tale + Women's creativity, agency, and vulnerability
Ramanujan Essay in patriarchal society
A Dehumanized Keshav Malik Personal Loss of sensory beauty and inner peace in
Environment Essay modern urban India
Chanakya Niti Chanakya / Aphoristic Worldly wisdom on knowledge, conduct,
Kautilya Verse relationships, and power
How to Beat the Sudha Murthy Autobiograph Gender discrimination in education;
Boys y perseverance and self-discipline