UNFOUNDED OUTCRY

Vahe H. Apelian

In my blog regarding installing a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Yerevan, I had noted the following: “Throughout my penning in my blog, I have steered away from making commentaries that may come across polarizing in nature. The 283 posted blogs attest to that. Most of my blogs are originals. They are my own. But I have also translated many stories that I thought shed light on our history which otherwise might not have been accessible to my English reading audience. The primary language of my blog is English. This blog will be an exception.”

And exception it became with almost hysterical and unfounded outcry against the government of Armenia for having accepted the Indian government’s proposal to have a statue of Mahatma Gandhi installed in Yerevan which the municipality of Yerevan has agreed to do and have the statue installed in Armenia’s capital city, Yerevan.

I make no biblical reference but allude to the common parlance that “no man is a prophet in his own country” and surely Mahatma Gandhi is not in his own country. But yet again he is generally accepted to be the father of passive resistance. I quote Wikipedia “passive resistance. passive resistance A tactic of non-violent resistance to authority pioneered by Mahatma Gandhi in his campaign against the British government in India in the 1930s and 1940s. Passive resistance has since become an accepted way for minorities to place moral pressure on majorities.”  I am no social scientist so I invite those who have expertise in the matter to refute what is generally accepted to be the case regarding Mahatma Gandhi, that Martin Luther King Jr. based the Civil Rights movement he led on such a principal; so did Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu led their movement that ended apartheid in South Africa.

As to a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, I quote Wikipedia to note that: “In the United States, there is a statue of Gandhi outside the Union Square Park in New York City, and the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, and a Mahatma Gandhi Memorial on Massachusetts avenue in Washington, D.C.  near the Indian Embassy. There is a Gandhi statue  in San Francisco Embarcadero Neighborhood. In 2009, a statue of Gandhi was installed outside the Bellevue Library in Washington state.”.  

As a further note from Wikipedia again, there is a statue in Brisbane, Australia, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Burgos, Spain, Beijing, China, Johannesburg, South Africa, and list goes on.

A statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Yerevan, surely would not be looked out of place.

As to Armenian Indian relations, I would like to bring to the attention of interested readers that  during the last few years I have read several authoritative articles in keghart.com about the Armenian presence in India by Liz Chater, who is an authority on the presence of Armenians on the historic Indian subcontinent. I invite interested readers to visit Keghart.com and type her name in the search and read the informed articles she wrote about the presence of Armenians in Indiat, that continues to this day where prominently stands, I quote her “ the Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy (ACPA) of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta)” that celebrated in 2016, its 195^th year, "honouring founder Arratoon Kaloos, financial supporter Sir Paul Chater, and six former students who left their mark on the Far East business life and on the Armenian Diaspora.” Armenian students from Diaspora continue to study there.

For my contemporaries growing in the close-knit Armenian community in Lebanon and attending Armenian schools, the following were fairly known. I quote Wikipedia to substantiate what I had accepted to be true.

        “Under the shade of frangipani trees in the quiet garden of Chennai’s 245-year-old Armenian Church is a grave decorated with an open book. Engraved on the book in block letters is the word “Azdarar”, which means “The Intelligencer” in Armenian. This was the first Armenian journal in the world, published in Madras in the year 1794, when the merchant community from the mountainous, Eurasian country was thriving in the city. The grave belongs to Reverend Haruthium Shmavonian (1750-1824), who was the editor and founder of Azdarar, hailed as the Father of Armenian Journalism. Shmavonian was born in Shiraz, a cultural hub in Iran. After the sudden death of his two sons, Shmavonian moved away from the crowded city to study Persian, which he ultimately mastered. His later voyages led him to settle down as a priest in Old Madras, where he eventually began the journal Azdarar on October 28, 1794 publishing business and world news in Armenian for the settlers in Madras.” Yes, the first Armenian journal was printed in India.

The great Armenian sea faring merchants were based in the city of Madras, the present Chenai. As a testament of their prominence to this day stands “Armenian Street, locally known as Aranmanaikaran Street, is one of the historical streets of the commercial centre of George Town, in Chennai, India” .

It is fascinating to read  that  “The little known Armenian constitution was titled Vorogayt Parats and Nshavak – “Snare of Glory” and “Target” – which were volumes that represent some of the very earliest modern constitutional political writing in the world. Authored and published by Shahamir Shahamirian in his printing house in Madras (India) where he settled as a merchant among a small Armenian community of India.” The printing of this constitution took place in 1773. 

No, I am not going to bother the esteemed readers with tidbits such as the ones I quoted. Those interested to read about the few century old presence of the Armenians in India, may do so by purchasing the following book “Armenians in India, from the earliest times to the present day: A work of original research”. The book is written by Mesrovb Jacob Seth. It is printed on January 1, 1983. The book is 629 pages long. Amazon.com claims that it has only one copy left and it retails  for $935.25. No, I do not have a copy and yes, I have not read the book.

To the person who cynically questioned me if I am a member of Yerevan Municipality for standing by its decision to have a statue of Gandhi installed in Yerevan; I say, no I am not a member of the Yerevan municipality but I, not only  support its decision to have responded affirmatively to the Indian Government’s proposal, but I also applaud its decision. 

It’s high time that we acknowledge the historic ties of Armenia / Armenians with India by honoring one of its internationally acclaimed historic figure, Mahatma Gandhi.