[Music] welcome to hrj e Samad Center a center for digital creation and distribution of knowledge by the use of Internet with the active collaboration of all the teachers The Faculty the Learned staff at hrj College we are here to deliver the best lectures to you my name is peush Chri and I'm teaching as an assistant professor at the department of English at hrj College University of Delhi the topic that we will be discussing today is the value Edition course the VAC paper which is a unique paper which is offered in all the colleges of University of Delhi so this video will not only be beneficial for the students of hrj but can be accessed can be viewed and can be taken benefit from all like all the students from the various colleges of University of Delhi studying this particular vac culture and communication can watch this lecture and prepare for for their incoming exams now the VC paper as we know is is is a value Edition course the VC stands for Value Edition courses which is a set of several courses which are offered in all the colleges of the University of Delhi as part of the NEP 2020 program the VC that I will be teaching and I'm teaching this paper at hrj College currently I've been teaching this paper for over an year and the VC that I'll be discussing today is culture and communication it's a paper which is offered mostly by the department of English across the various colleges and I will be taking on and I will be going on a detailed discussion on the syllabus of the VAC that is culture and communication then I will be also discussing the various readings so in this paper there are some seven or eight readings and I'll be discussing all these readings and I'll be taking on to the journey of vacc culture and communication so welcome back stud students and all the viewers so from now from here we will be discussing the syllabus of this of of this vac culture and communication so I'll be discussing the syllabus I'll be discussing the the rational behind this paper and uh we'll be discussing the course objectives and also the various readings so what I've done is I've made five or six slides to First give you a brief overview of this particular vac and then we'll be discussing this vac and then one by one in in the subsequent lectures uh I'll be discussing the various texts the various the various points the various readings that are there in our syllabus subsequently I'll be looking at that as well so look at the very first learning objective that we have right now so the first learning objective is to focus on Traditional Values see the point is that this particular V that is culture and communication will the various readings that are given to us for example we are giving the given the reading of bankim chandra's uh vand mataram then we'll also be reading sudha's life story her autobiographical piece then we will also be reading Shri oro's introduction to the Gita we will also be reading Swami vivekanand speech that he delivered which was well received and which definitely you know it was one of the most famous speeches by a Hindu by a sanatani in a foreign land which was very well received by the American audience as well so basically Bally the various points that the various readings that we have in our syllabus the various short stories the various poems we'll also be reading some short stories we'll be reading some poems then we'll also be looking at uh some essays some some commentaries on several other texts we'll also be discussing chanakya Niti by Kila so basically the idea is as you can see on the screen to focus on Traditional Values disseminated from the Indian cultural Heritage so that is going to be our our you know our main aim in reading this particular vac that is culture and communication to also understand how the past of our country how the Glorious past of our country can be reinterpreted and can be brought back to the fold can be brought back to the focus of the Contemporary readers so that is the purpose of University of Delhi because you know we have started this course vac that is the value addition course to add values to the students and this part particular vac culture and communication promises to deliver certain values as well as to deliver the the ancient Heritage the culture of India while also maintaining our modernity at the same very time right so then we will also be developing and and through these various essays through these various poems through these various short stories we will be celebrating as you can see the third Point our diversity our pluralistic culture so we'll be taking up ideas from various aspects of our culture and we'll be discussing them in a detailed manner later on so basically the core idea the learning objective is to inculcate life skills to inculcate Value skills amongst all of us now these are the course outcomes uh so through these through these uh readings that we have students will be able to appreciate the relevance of ancient Indian wisdom as I mentioned the traditional Indian knowledge the Indian knowledge systems or more popularly known as IKS right now it's very much in Trend and for all the right reasons because India needs to reclaim and to reclaim its glorious past to reclaim its Heritage and for that we have to hop back to our ancient cultural and knowledge systems to our ancient Indian philosophical thoughts so basically after the studying of this vac the students will be able to appreciate the ancient Indian wisdom and to also inculcate that in their own lives isn't it then you'll be so we'll be discussing several of the various traditional short stories so to understand how the past can be used in the present to inculcate values of morality and to also appreciate the Deep culture of India the Deep the the Deep philosophical culture of India that is for all of us to understand and to live by right so students will be encouraged to involve themselves in teamwork and group activities so as part of this VC in all of your respective colleges your teachers will be giving you certain group group work certain certain you know uh group activities so that you know what culture actually means and how to communicate one's own culture then students will be able to develop communication skills so this is also one of the course outcomes then extension activities will be also given to the students as I've mentioned in your own respective colleges right so let us now discuss the brief syllabus right so this is the syllabus in front of you in unit one the unit one is titled iCal values from Indian cultural heritage so we will delve into the idea of VV kutumbakam how the world itself is a big large family and also how vev kutumbakam is one of India's most ancient uh you know methods of of inculcating globalization Glo globalization as we have already studied till now as students would have studied in their school till now is is more or less considered as a western phenomena but no that is not how it is it has been a btia phenomena which has been deeply embedded in our culture since Millennia so we will also understand the concept of united we stand divided we fall basically the concept of unity in diversity and also we'll be also discussing briefly on a bat sh bhat and how this idea of a bhat shr bat can be inculcated in our academic lives in our professional lives in our social lives in our cultural lives to bring in a more glorious idea about India and about BH culture then unit two will be on developing life skills so through these various readings we will be learning several life skills such as empathy such as adaptability so for example when we read sudha mti's autobiographical short story on on how when she was a young woman in her early teens so when she joined college and how she was discriminated because she used to study in an all boys College in an engineering College way back in 1960s and early 1970s through this story we will learn the idea of adaptability the we learn the idea of empathy so basically the idea is that the various short stories the various poems the various essays the various readings the various readings that are given to us through all of this we will learn several life skills such as empathy such as adaptability such as conserving our natural resources and sharing our knowledge resources then through these very activities and through the various SE CA and the Ia projects the ca project The Continuous assessment and the internal assessment projects we will also be learning the art of empathetic listening considerate speaking analytical writing and in analytic analytical reading and informed writing right so these are the various essential readings that we'll be discussing the very first reading that we'll be discussing is Shri endo's introduction to the bhagavat Gita so as we know the bhagwat Gita is the ancient literary text it's not just a Hindu text it's a basic B Tex because it not just talks about one religion it talks about Humanity as a whole it talks about the and at the same time it also talks about it also talks about the Indian philosophical thought so the bhagwat Gita is definitely a Hindu text a Hindu religious text but at the same time it's very Universal it's an absolutely Universal text which can be implemented and which can be Tak advantage of which from which humans can learn regardless of their religion regardless of their Creed regardless of their nationality so the bhagat Gita is such a storehouse of knowledge that several people have given their introductions they have given their you know their commentaries on the bhagat Gita so the very first topic of our syllabus will be Shri orindo contribution and Shri orindo views on bhagwat Gita as you can see on the screen then you have SP danhil English and soft skills so basically how you know we can use soft skills to improve our communication so that that is also a part of your readings then you have a and d husar a and huskar's chanakya Niti shastra as we all know chanakya Niti was written by Kila so we will be reading A and D husar's introduction and then we will be reading certain poems or certain verses I would say we will be reading certain verses by chanakya then next we have is kha Malik a de humanized environment so basically it's it's a short essay which talks about how our environment today is completely dehumanized and how humans are living in a very in in an almost apocalyptic world but then we are not realizing the fact that our natural resources are getting depleted very soon and we are not really acting on it so it's a it's it's a Sac essay that Kesha Malik writes talking about how our environment is getting degraded day by day then you have the famous and the very beautiful short story it's it's an autobiographical piece by sudam morti the famous philanthropist and the CEO one of the co-founders of the famous it firm infosis how to beat the boys so what sudam morti does is that sudam morti describes her story how she was able to defeat the boys in a boys game because sudam morti was an engineer in the 1960s and' 70s she started her career she started her student life as an engineer and at that point of time for a woman to enter into an engineering College was almost inconceivable because it was not considered proper for women to go into professional areas other than maybe you know other than medical Sciences or perhaps teaching because these two these two um professions are considered gentle they are considered more feminine right so how sudam morti broke the stereotype how sudha morti ushered in a new culture a new culture wherein girls were able to get education in almost all Fields possible so sudam morti was almost an alien when she went to her College because it was an all boys College they didn't even have a female washroom for her because it was totally inconceivable that a woman would be there that a woman would be U would be studying the discipline of engineering so how sudham morti defeated the stereotypes this is what we are going to study the next is AK ramanujan's a fling tree which is a folk tale which talks about women's idea of fling of menstruation and how the idea of menstruation is very similar to the idea of fling and so it's basically folk tale very beautifully constructed folk tail which talks about several aspects related to feminism and AK ramanujan has also given his detailed commentary on a fling tree a fling tree is basically a Canard folk tail so we'll be reading that next is vand matram the song by bankim Chandra chhatari which was originally first published in his famous novel Anand mut so we'll be also reading vand mataram we'll be starting this vac this session with vand matram very soon it I I'll I'll be teaching that and the last is Swami vivean as I've already mentioned a while ago in this lecture that it'll be you know how how he was uh welcomed at the you know at the conference when he talked about for the very first time way back almost 1502 200 years ago his welcome address at the you know historical Congress right so we'll be reading how Swami vivekanand also talks about his concept of bhata which is one of the first and you know it's it's one of the first ways in which globalization can be said to be as one of the defining features of btia culture right so the first topic that we'll be discussing today is vand matram the song by bankim Chandra chhatari so I'll be reading Shri orindo translation of the song and stanza by stanza I will be discussing the poem with you and I'll also be giving my detailed commentary on that so let us start reading the poem from here onwards so basically firstly this song is about the culture of India the song V mataram represents how the culture of a nation is represented so you know the poem talks about the space and the position of a Nation because right now we are not talking about India as a nation because when when the song vand matram was written the name India did not really officially hold its records in in the in the official records I mean the name India was still not officially recorded because we were still a country under the under the hegemonic under the under the influence under the influence of the British we were still a slave country we were not free the britishers ruled us at that point of time therefore throughout this lecture I will be talking about the unnamed country that is bhat mat right so the song as I mentioned is about the culture of the nation it's about the culture of the nation and how the culture is imagined in the popular imagination during the colonial rule the poem also shows I would say it also shows the culture of national identity in 19th century Bengal and in our country so here I'll be reading the very first stanza of the poem Mother I bow to thee rich with thy hurring streams bright with thy Orchard gleams cool with thy Winds of delight dark Fields waving mother of Might mother free so you see how Mother India is referred to so if if if you look at the poem closely notice that Mother India is referred to in terms of nature isn't it I can read here in terms of streams in terms of orchards in terms of winds in terms of dark Fields so streams Orchards winds and Fields what are these these are just representations of culture right representations of nature isn't it so Mother India the Mother Land the mother country the motherland is referred to in terms of nature why is it being done so this represents a close relation between nature and our country as we all know this also you know this concept also brings in the concept of ecology and how it is closely related to the Indian cultural thought this also brings in the concept of the Mother India rather than the father India because Mother India represents richness fertility and nature the way bankim Chandra has described the nation he has described the nation in feminine terms in natural terms so this also shows a close relation between femininity and between our culture so the readers I I will stop here for a moment and I'll discuss in more detail on the concept of Fatherland versus a motherland the readers would be interested to know that why why do we call India why do we call it as a bhat mat why not a PA what is the reason that India is being referred to in terms of Mother India and not father India the idea is that the Western nations with their intent towards capitalism towards materialistic economy the idea is that the West considers their country as a father figure as Fatherland but the East particularly countries such as India countries such as there are several other nations as well in in the eastern part of the globe where a country is referred to in terms of the feminine self right so India is being referred to as bhat mat and the reason for that is that in India there is a close Affinity I would say there is a close Affinity between nature and between femininity so nature is a feminine figure nature is a feminine entity because just like women just like mothers just like sisters just like mothers basically nature also provides us with food with oxygen with air with water to support ourselves so the idea is that Mother India is referred to as a mother because the nation also gives us a lot the nation also in a way the nation gives us the necessary things to live right and that is why in the very first stanza bankim says mother I bow to thee that's because the the country that bankim Chandra lives in the country the our country is a feminine entity and that is why you know the idea of a bhat ma is extremely and very closely related to the ancient texts to the ancient philosophy to the Indian philosophical and Indian knowledge thoughts to the Indian philosophical thoughts and to the Indian knowledge systems I would say right so we have to understand that when we talk about the Indian knowledge systems when we talk about van matram as a song when we talk about our country so our country is imagined in terms of a feminine entity because just like a mother our country also gives us several things to survive and to sustain ourselves right so this is the reason why bankim Chandra has represented a very close relation a very close relation between nature and the country so you see how in the very first stanza Mother India is referred to in terms of nature in the very first stanza it says about streams about Orchards it talks about winds it talks about Fields so in the very first stanza it is quite clear that the imagery the imagery of nature is very dominant all right and this as I mentioned also brings in the concept of Mother India rather than father India with Mother India representing richness fertility and nature right so India or bhat mat is referred to as a feminine entity because of the close relation of nature with our country because India also has a rich Flora India has a rich Flora India has a rich FAA it's a land which has has traditionally been blessed with huge amounts of green cover isn't it so nature and and also one of some of the most prominent some of the most famous ecological developments and ecological fights to save the environment have begun from India the very first instance that comes to our mind is the chipco andolan right which was started in the hilly areas of utak the chipco andolan as we know was was started because the villagers the local inhabitants the tribal people they wanted to secure their Nation they wanted to secure their state and more importantly they wanted to save the Heritage the nature the green cover because it is ultimately the trees and the environment which gives us the power to sustain ourselves as a human race isn't it right so you the readers will notice that when you talk about India the Indian philosophical thought is deeply embedded I would say it is deeply very deeply embedded within the feminine space and within the cultural space that is and and there is a close relation between ecology and the Indian cultural thought so now when we come back to the poem so the very first stanza shows us the basic imageries in the very first stanza are of nature it's of fertility it's of richness the author is the poet is talking about Orchards the poet is talking about streams about rivers the poet is talking about about winds it's talking about the dark Fields ultimately the poet bowed down in front of his mother country in front of his bhat mat in the very first stanza itself let us now go to the second part the second stanza and I'm going to read it and then I'll also be discussing some of the important points in the second stanza so the second stanza begins as Glory of moonlight dreams over thy beaches and lordly streams clad in thy blossoming trees mother Giver of ease laughing low and sweet mother I kiss thy feet speaker Sweet and Low Mother to the eyeball right so once again the the the imagery the the dominant imagery is of nature in the second stanza itself it's talking about Moonlight it's talking about the lordly streams it's talking about the blossoming trees so the poet bankim here represents the landscape of his mother country through nature and natural descriptions isn't it now let us go forward to the third stanza which also which which talks about interestingly about the fighting Spirit right so here I'll read the third stanza who hath said Thou Art weak in thy lands when the swords flash out in 70 million hands and 70 million voices Roar thy Dreadful name from Shore to Shore so what is the poet trying to say here what is bankim trying to express here so the third stanza talks about the Warriors who will fight the battle for Independence against the colonizers against the britishers and against the oppressors so bankim says that he he says that the motherland should not worry and the motherland is not weak because the motherland has 7 million sons in her service who will fight in the honor of Mother India who will fight in the honor of the mother country so the poet says that there are 70 million sons who will come out having swords in their hands to slay the enemy who has tried to oppress them right so 70 million Sons will fight for mother country and therefore she has nothing to worry that is why the poet says when the swords flash out in 70 million hands and 70 million voices Roar thy Dreadful name from Shore to Shore moving forward with many strengths who art Mighty and Stor to thee I call Mother and Lord so the poet is referring to the to her mother to her mother country as mother and Lord thou who savest arise and save to her I cry whoever her for and drave back from plain and sea and shook herself free the next stza Thou Art wisdom Thou Art law very important stanza look at the different look at the way in in which bankim Chandra has has has described has described mother country the motherland his own country Thou Art wisdom Thou Art law Thou Art heart our soul our breath thou the love divine the awe in our hearts that conquers death so the poet calls Mother India as the epitome of wisdom of art of law of the soul and of love so look at the deep seated love that bankim has for his mother country look at the Deep seated love and respect that bankim has for his mother country because that is why he says that oh my mother country he's referring to his MAA to his bhat MAA you are wisdom you are law you are heart you are soul and you are the breath and you are the love so the poet refers to the Mother India as the epitome of wisdom law heart soul and love so it is not just a nation that bankim is talking about but there is this deep-seated love for the motherland that he has and that is how it is being expressed through this particular poem so basically the reason why this poem has been kept in this vac culture and communication is because as we know the vac's are meant to give us a value addition to give us to to to tell us basically about our old Heritage about the ancient Heritage about the rich Heritage of our country so this song vand mataram basically shows us the deep-seated love and the respect that we have for our country and how it has been transmuted and how it has been communicated through the cultural understanding through to to the understanding of the people through a cultural reproduction of this particular poem so this poem when we recite wand mataram we are not just reciting a poem out of patriotism we are also reciting the historical underpinnings the social underpinnings that are there when we talk about our mother country about our mother land all right so when we recite wand mataram we are referring to the fact that our mother country our bhat mat is a beautiful country which has offered us with food with all things that are needed to sustain us and at the same time we are at the service of the nation so it is the service so it is India first it is bat first it is our motherland our our country which comes first and the and when we recite wand matram we are also referring to the rich Flora to the rich FAA to the rich Flora of our country basically and how our country is very closely related to Nature and natural descriptions it's one of the strengths of our country now comes the next stanza which is one of the most powerful stanzas in this poem dine the strength that nerves the arm thine the beauty thine the charm every image made Divine in our temples is but thine Thou Art Dura lady and queen with her hands that strike and her swords of Sheen Thou Art lakmi Lotus throned and a muse 100 100 toned right so here what is the poet bankim trying to do here he's representing Mother India as Durga and what does Dura represent in our popular imagination today in in in in the Hindu DH in the sanatan DH Durga basically represents the warrior goddess Dura is a warrior goddess she's the goddess of removing all the difficulties right so the poet represents India as Durga and the entire idea of a bhat mat is also enshrined and also coded in this particular philosophical and traditional Indian philosophical thought that our country is a is a representative of dura the warrior goddess right so here the poet if you look at this stanza again the poet refers to our country as Durga as Duram ma right representing her fierceness and the warrior spirit that is there within the soil within the culture of India he also represents he also talks about the bhat ma as a lady as a queen as a calm lady as a queen and at the same time as Duram mat so the nation is compared then with several other Hindu goddesses as the stanza progresses the N the the nation our country is compared with several other Hindu goddesses for example Mata lakmi so the nation is compared with Durga the nation is compared with lakmi so therefore therefore this concept of bhat Ma so the conclusion that we come to is that the concept of bhat mat is closely related to and I would say it's a derivative of sanatan Hinduism right so that is why bankim Chandra has represented has has said that our country India is the epitomy is is rather the the the representative of the rep it represents Madura it represents a queen it represents lxmi the goddess of wealth the goddess of prosperity the goddess of happiness right so therefore the idea is that when we narrate when we read the the poem when we read this poem vand mataram we are once again reciting the cultural ideas that are there beneath the construction of our country that is bat so the concept of bhat MAA is a close derivative of Hinduism the concept of bhat MAA is very closely related to Hinduism and to sanatan DH so basically basically it's a derivative of Hinduism as I as I would say now let us go on to the final stanza and I will end the lecture after this the final stanza goes like this pure and perfect without peer mother lend thine ear rich with thy hurring streams bright with thy Orchard gleams Dark Of You O candid fair in thy soul with jeweled hair and thy glorious smile Divine loveliest of all Earthly lands showering wealth from well stored hands so representing India as a nation the country bhat mat the the the the the motherland as a nation which is which is Rich of resources so it is our country which is giving us resources showering wealth from well stored hands and I'm quoting I'm quoting it showering wealth from well stored hands so once again harping on the richness of our country on the idea that it is the bat MAA which is providing us with all the necessary things to sustain our life which is giving giving us food which is giving us water which is giving us nature and therefore therefore it is our responsibility as responsible citizens of our country to pay back to our mother and to serve our mother and therefore to make this country a better place to live in so I hope now that the readers would have realized why this poem is a part of our VC it is adding a value to our culture vand matram is a cultural point it's it's a it's a cultural High Watermark which represents our nation as the EP epy of law as the epitomy of love as the epitome of the warrior Spirit as a giver as a as a giver of Fortunes right as a giver of wealth right and then at the same time uh in bankim Chandra also refers to uh the motherland as a muse as an inspirational Muse as an inspirational Muse who who inspires poets to write poetry right so this is the idea of bhat mat this is the idea of our country that is being explicated through bankim Chandra chap G's poem V matram I hope the readers got food for thought from this particular lecture I hope to see you soon in several other lectures because as we know this is going to be an ongoing lecture series I will be uploading a lot of lectures on several other topics related to the VAC culture and communication hope to see you soon in the next lecture goodbye for now [Music]