The Other Meaning of Darwin

Charles Darwin's pathbreaking "The Origin of Species" was followed by "The Descent of Man." Here Darwin meant genealogical descent of humans from earlier animal species. It may be mentioned here in passing that this idea was anticipated in the Hindu Dashavatara theory. Bronowski produced a TV series & a book called "The Ascent of Man" where he implied the cultural ascent or rising from earlier animal species.

The only difference between humans & the rest of creation is curiosity about the external world & who may have created it. (God?). Sadly these differences seem to be vanishing, pulling down humans towards non human creation. The only human interest seems to be strictly confined to acquiring material wealth & status,  hitting out all other interests out of the park. We seem to be building a human (?) society without God (apart from temple runs to get wealth & status) & without any interest in culture.

The only acceptable human goals especially in India seem to be clearing competitive exams (and on succeeding, become like the infamous dog-walking couple) or build a successful start-up, and become a slave driving corporate honcho, exploiting vulnerable fellow creatures. 

Darwin might be turning in his grave to see the (social & cultural) descent of man into the abyss of a (biblical) "Golden Calf" worshipping society of unapologetic philistines.

Karl Marx on Early Indian Economy

In his "Das Kapital", Marx was highly critical of Capitalism as practiced in Western societies. However, he wrote quite approvingly of early Indian economy.

In Volume 1, Book 1, Part IV, Chapter XIV entitled "Division of Labour & Manufacture" he writes about early Indian communities, whose practices continued to the present (Marx's) day, where land was possessed in common for use in agriculture & handicrafts. The chief part of the products is destined for the direct use of the community itself & does not take the form of a commodity. It is the surplus alone that becomes a commodity. The land is tilled in common, & the produce divided among the members. At the same time, spinning & weaving are carried on in each family as subsidiary industries.

Apart from the agricultural & handicrafts workers, the others are the village chief who is the judge, police & tax-gatherer in one, the book keeper who keeps the accounts of the tiilage, another who prosecutes the criminals, the boundaryman who guards the boundaries, the water overseer who distributes water from the tanks, the Brahmin who conducts the religious services, the school master who teaches the children, a smith, a carpenter, potter, washerman & the silversmith.

The rules of the guilds limit the number of apprentices & journeymen that a single master could employ, preventing him from becoming a capitalist.

Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand" & Bengali Shyama Sangeet

In part 2 of the Symphony, Mahler sets the ending of Goethe's "Faust" to music. The main characters in the poem are Faust, his muse Gretchen (similar to Beatrice in Dante's "The Divine Comedy") & Mephistopheles.

In her only utterance, Mary (mother of Christ) invites Gretchen to ascend to higher spheres. The soul of Faust will be drawn upwards with her. The chorus urge them on:

"Look up to the redeeming gaze

All penitent tender souls

Virgin, Mother, Queen.

Goddess, be ever merciful."

The combined choruses ("Chorus Mysticus") enter pianissimo (softly) singing:

"All transitory things

Are nothing but Allegory;

The unattainable

Is now achieved;

The inexpressible

Is accomplished;

The Eternal Feminine

Draws us upward."

The spirit of the above lyrics are strikingly similar to that of Shyama Sangeet, a genre of Bengali devotional music, devoted exclusively to the Divine Mother. Shyama Sangeet got a boost by Sri Ramakrishna, who was frequently singing them. The major composer was Ramprasad & the most popular singer was Pannalal Bhattacharya.

So pervasive is the influence of Shyama Sangeet in Bengal, that even an agnostic like Satyajit Ray composed one in the style of Ramprasad for use in his film "Devi".