A letter to the Prime Minister’s Office by famous danseuse Padma Subrahmanyam set off meticulous analysis into the Sengol, which might result in the set up of the golden sceptre within the new Parliament constructing when it’s inaugurated on May 28.
Sources within the Culture Ministry mentioned that Dr. Subrahmanyam had quoted an article within the Tamil journal Thuglak which had carried particulars of the ceremony in 1947 when the Sengol was handed over to India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The article had appeared in May 2021 and the famous dancer and researcher had requested the federal government to make this info public on the event of the Independence Day that yr.
This set the tone for a relook on the historic occasion and a Culture Ministry crew, assisted by specialists from the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), started the analysis into the stories.
The Sengol ceremony seemingly occurred minutes earlier than Nehru hoisted the nationwide flag and made his well-known ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech at midnight on August 15, 1947. It had been saved at his Prayagraj residence-turned-museum until now.
It was discovered to have been broadly reported in Indian and overseas media at the moment together with within the Time journal together with pictures.
“With the nation ravaged by partition and violence, the ceremony had to be arranged post-haste and it not being a legal or formal matter, remained unrecorded. As a result, the sacred Sengol and its vesting ceremony seem to have disappeared from the institutional memory of the Indian state,” Prof. Sachidanand Joshi, Member-Secretary of the IGNCA informed The Hindu.
It was in 2017 that stories once more started showing within the Tamil media about how minutes earlier than Mr. Nehru addressed the nation because the Prime Minister, the Government of India had adopted the sacred Sengol-vesting mannequin of Chola kings of Tamil Nadu for switch of energy from the British to Indians. The then Prime Minister had been handed over the Sengol with the Nandi (bull deity) finial amid the singing of sacred Tamil textual content Thevaram – symbolic of divine blessings and command to rule justly and pretty.
The researchers delved into document holdings of the National Archives of India, up to date newspapers, books in addition to info on the topic accessible on-line.
They discovered that the golden scepter was studded with jewels, was value ₹15,000 at the moment and was made by Vummidi Bangaru Chetti and Sons, jewellers and diamond retailers of Chennai.
The Vummidi Bangaru Chetty household has confirmed that they made the Sengol. Though the eldest member of the household who made it’s over 95 years outdated and is unable to remember the main points, the {photograph} of the occasion is saved at their home, the sources mentioned.
On May 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will set up this historic emblem of authority close to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chair within the new Parliament constructing.
Source: www.thehindu.com