Across the aisle by P Chidambaram: Sengol that must not bend

Tiruvalluvar, Elango Adigal, Avvaiyyar and the Sangam poets will turn in their graves if they heard about the startling interpretation of Sengol by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, the distorians and the BJP’s spin doctors. In their interpretation, Sengol has become the symbol of temporal power. The imaginary handing over of the Sengol by a priest or a former ruler to the new ruler has been portrayed as a transfer of power.

How history and an ethical principle can be shamelessly distorted was demonstrated on May 28, 2023. The trumpeters played the trumpets, the courtiers fawned on the ruler and the inauguration of a new building that will accommodate the two Houses of Parliament was converted into a virtual coronation. Lord Mountbatten and C Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) were summoned to be witnesses to a royal ceremony that was incongruous in a democratic republic. It was unfortunate that self-effacing heads of Saivite adheenams (mutts) were called to inject a large dose of religiosity into what ought to have been a secular event.

Also read: Across the aisle by P Chidambaram: Spin doctors at work

As the people watched the proceedings on their television screens, they would have surely contrasted the choreographed ritual with the unadorned swearing-in of President Murmu on July 25, 2022. And the people, especially of Karnataka, would have wondered ‘who was transferring power to whom?’

Poet defined Sengol

In 31 BCE, Tiruvalluvar, a Tamil poet and philosopher, wrote his immortal verses that are contained in the celebrated Tirukkural. In the part called Wealth, he included two chapters titled Sengonmai (the Righteous Sceptre) and Kodungonmai (the Cruel Sceptre). Couplet 546 reads —

‘Velandri vendri tharuvathu mannavan

Kol aduoom kodathu enin’

Kol is the sceptre. The verse means that ‘it is not the spear that brings victory to the ruler, it is the Kol (sceptre)’, but mark the poet’s last three words: the Kol that will not bend. The sceptre must be erect. It must not bend this way or that. The same thought is present in the oath taken by the prime minister on being sworn in “…I will do right to all manner of people in accordance with the Constitution and the laws without fear or favour, affection or ill-will”. The Kol is a symbol of Righteous Rule, no more, no less. It will be a Sengol if it did not bend, if it bends it will be a Cruel Rule.

Sengol stands for Righteous Rule, not Power. The ruler who holds the sceptre promises to govern righteously. Tiruvalluvar placed the Sengol as one among four virtues of the ruler: ‘Charity, compassion, righteous rule and protection of the weak (poor) are the four virtues of a good king’ (Kural 390). Another chapter is titled Kodungonmai, the opposite of Sengonmai, and described as a Cruel or Unjust Rule.

Also read: Across the aisle by P Chidambaram: The rhetoric and the reality

Songs praising Sengol

A Sangam poet praised Karikalan, the legendary Chola king, for his ‘aranodu punarnda tirnari Sengol’, meaning that his wise rule was wedded to ethics. Another Sangam poet described the ruler as ‘Ererku nizhandra kolin’, meaning that the ruler ensured that the farmers who produced food faced no distress. Elango Adigal, a Jain monk, who authored the epic Silappathikaram, bemoaned the injustice done to Kannagi and prophesied the doom of the king who had caused the Sengol to bend.

Avvaiyyar, a people’s poet, composed verses in simple language. A celebrated poem reads:

‘When the bund rises, water will rise,

when water rises, paddy will rise,

when paddy rises, families will rise,

when families rise, the kol (sceptre) will rise,

and when the sceptre rises erect, the ruler will rise’

A sceptre that will bend is the mark of an unjust or cruel rule. There cannot be any bias towards one section or bias against another. There is no place for ill-will against any community or religion or language.

To give contemporary examples, there can be no place for hate speeches or vigilantism or love jihad or bulldozer justice. There can be no place for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that discriminates against Muslims of any neighbouring country, Christians and Buddhists of Nepal, and Tamils of Sri Lanka.

There can be no place for ‘farm laws’ that put farmers at the mercy of traders and monopolists. There can be no place for snatching a project from Maharashtra and taking it to Gujarat. A righteous ruler’s political party cannot refuse to field a candidate from the Muslim or Christian communities in a state election like the just-concluded election in Karnataka. Nor can a righteous ruler’s police break, by use of force, a peaceful protest by medal-winning sportspersons who sought justice.

Don’t defile Sengol

To equate the sceptre with power is to defile the concept of Sengol. To cite Lord Mountbatten and Rajaji is not only to distort history but belittle a pragmatic Viceroy and a wise scholar-statesman and attribute to them a lack of common sense.

Let the Sengol adorn the podium where the Speaker will sit. Let it be a silent witness to the proceedings of the House. The Sengol will stand upright if there is free debate in the House; if there is full play for freedom of speech and expression; if there is the freedom to disagree and to dissent; and if there is the freedom to vote against unjust or unconstitutional laws. Let us hope the Sengol and what it stands for — Sengonmai (Righteous Rule) — will prevail.