I see V.M. Tarkunde as one of the last major figures of that remarkable phase in Indian history which is commonly called the Indian renaissance. Taking place as it did in the constrictive context of colonial rule, it had its obvious limitations. Nonetheless, its achievements in the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth were undeniably considerable. New ideas and ideals, institutions and techniques, methods and morals, flowing in from the West, itself emerging from the stranglehold of its own dark and moribund religio-feudal heritage, found in some of the boldest and finest spirits in India a creative response which expressed itself in multiple directions. Languages and literatures were revolutionised in one Indian vernacular after another. There were energetic efforts to reform society, to expose its fetid institutions and beliefs to the fresh air and light of free inquiry and to break its rusted fetters. The new values of freedom, justice and all-round human development opened inspiring perspectives and visions among the educated. Much of what is cherishable and inspiring in modern India – human rights and a democratic constitution, scientific advancement and social mobility, remarkable efflorescence of literatures and the arts – is the heritage of the Indian renaissance. Despite the vicious efforts of revivalists, nationalists and communists to denigrate it from various angles, the achievements of the Indian renaissance stand out permanently, in particular in sharp contrast to the decadence of culture and morality that seems to be fast overtaking contemporary India.

What particularly characterized the Indian renaissance was the appearance of several generations of individuals who were persons of integrity and intellect, richly sensitive and articulate, deeply committed to truth and public welfare. I have in mind persons like Rammohun Roy, Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, Akshay Datta, Viresalingam Pantulu in Madras, Karsondas Mulji of Gujarat, the Parsi Behramji Malabari, and others who were their kinsmen in spirit. I see V.M. Tarkunde as belonging to that memorable line of singular individuals whose great tragedy was that despite their lifelong efforts they did not succeed in carrying the common people with them in their pursuit of freedom, truth and justice. That too was the tragedy of Tarkunde’s mentor and mine, M.N. Roy, and the shadow of that tragedy deepened, in the last quarter of twentieth century. What has made the Indian situation so very desperate at the opening the new century is not simply poverty and over population, but the pervasive absence of honesty and integrity in public life – the fearful obiquitousness of corruption and cynicism and total lack of concern for the rights and interests of common citizens. In the circumstances I feel the loss of Tarkunde all the more acutely, for looking around I hardly find any one in contemporary India who may fill that gap.

I came to know Tarkunde personally for the first time in May 1946 when about a hundred fifty radicals from all over India had gathered at Dehradun for a national study camp. The camp, its topics and principal speakers were all planned by M.N. Roy who opened and directed the discussions. I had not yet formally joined the Radical Democratic Party whereas Tarkunde had been its General Secretary since 1944. A barrister and economist with a degree from London who had abandoned the path to a lucrative career to devote himself to full-time party work, his intellectual brilliance, organizational ability and total dedication had already established him as Roy’s most trusted right hand man in the party. A complete newcomer, I was twelve years younger than Tarkunde, and my interest in politics was marginal. But by that time I had devoted several years of intensive study to Marx and Marxism, had my first book published at 24, and already gained some recognition as a writer and professor of English. I had come to the camp mainly out of curiosity, but I was delighted to find that ideas which I had been trying to formulate tentatively on the strength of my studies and researches were quite close to those which Roy had been exploring since his disillusionment with communism and the Soviet Union. In the course of the camp deliberations he presented his first formulations of a new political philosophy which went beyond both liberal democracy and communism. Among the old Royists in the study camp Tarkunde and Professor G.D. Parikh responded most positively to the new development. I believe they were able to do so because three years ago, under Roy’s guidance, they had jointly prepared, together with Prof. B.N. Banerji, the People’s Plan for Economic Development of India which anticipated some of the novel features of the new philosophy.

Although I was a new comer I was encouraged by Roy to give shape to my ideas which he not only serialized without delay in Independent India, but also got published as a book with a generous introduction under the title Radicalism, simultaneously with his own collection of camp lectures, New Orientation. In the following months there were intensive discussions conducted by Roy at Dehradun, Bombay and Calcutta on the basis of his formulation of the fundamental principles of Radical Humanism. It is my recollection that in the first draft formulation there were sixteen theses, which in the course of discussion developed into twenty two theses. Marx’s “Theses on Feuerbach” probably provided the formal model, but the contents were very different. Tarkunde took a prominent part in these discussions, among others who participated at one stage or another I remember Philip Spratt, Tarkteerth Laxman Shastri Joshi, G.D. Parikh, G.R. Dalvi, Sudhin Datta and Sushil Dey. Naturally I was very much involved in these deliberations, and after the 22 Theses were adopted by the Radical Democratic Party at its conference at Bombay in December 1946, and New Humanism: A Manifesto, drafted by Roy had been adopted and published in August 1947, Ellen Roy and I were asked to write “a systematic exposition” of the theses in the form of a full length text book. In Man’s Own Image was published in August 1948, but before that both Tarkunde and I had made our separate contributions to the quarterly The Marxian Way, on the new philosophy, Tarkunde under the title “Beyond Marx” (Vol. II, No. 1, pp. 38-56), and I under the title “Philosophy of Radicalism” (Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 127-48).

From 1946 to 1948 I worked quite closely with Tarkunde, for during those years I was in charge of the Bengal branch of the RDP while Tarkunde was its All-India Secretary. Partly the difference in age, but even more the difference in personality and predilection prevented our developing a relation of bonhomie which from the beginning I had struck with G.D. Parikh. However, I deeply appreciated Tarkunde’s integrity and commitment, his sharp intellect and capacity for hard work, and since he was an experienced organizer, he too, I presume, did make his own assessment of my strong and weak points. In any case I don’t remember any serious hitch in our collaboration during those two years.

In May 1948 took place the Summer School of Higher Studies of the Indian Renaissance Institute where, besides clearing up several theoretical issues, agreement was reached that political parties were incompatible with radical democracy and that for a movement committed to a cultural revolution, a political party was an altogether unsuitable instrument. In December 1948 the Calcutta Conference of the Radical Democratic Party decided to dissolve the Party organization and transform itself into the Radical Humanist Movement. Not many among Roy’s old followers were happy with the decision, the dissolution of the Party made them feel homeless, many feared that without the Party, the movement would disintegrate. They had a point, but I argued strongly in favour of the dissolution, and if my memory serves me rightly, Tarkunde preferred to keep his mind open on this issue, at least at this stage. The decision, apart from the logic which led to it, released Roy from pressing organizational obligations, and to concentrate on the elaboration of his new philosophy which resulted in his magnum opus, Reason, Romanticism, and Revolution. It also allowed him to write his fascinating Memoirs which unfortunately he had to leave incomplete, due first to the accident in June 1952 and then death in January 1954. Tarkunde who had left his legal practice to be a whole time organizer of the Radical Democratic Party was also now free to return to his legal practice in the Bombay High Court, where his honesty and acumen soon won him many clients and admirers. In 1957 he was made a Judge of the Bombay High Court and occupied that position till he retired in 1969. As Nani Palkhivala wrote in a personal tribute, Tarkunde “made an ideal Judge – courteous and impartial, wise and quick on the uptake, combining great legal acumen with judicial detachment.”

Meanwhile Independent India which had changed its name to The Radical Humanist in April 1949 was caught in a crisis. Debts had accumulated, and the comrades at Bombay no longer found themselves in a position to carry the mounting burden. I who had hoped also to be set free after the dissolution of the Party to devote myself to my literary and academic pursuits, had already been saddled with the management of The Marxian Way (changed to The Humanist Way in August 1949) where the philosophical implications of Radical Humanism were considered in great detail. And now Roy appealed to me to attend to the survival of The Radical Humanist, and it was an appeal that could not be denied. In May 1951, I brought over that weekly from Bombay to Calcutta, and for the next twelve years it never failed to come out punctually every Saturday afternoon. I had Tarkunde’s fullest cooperation and advice at the time of this transfer, but what I remember with particular gratitude is Mrs. Tarkunde’s coming over to Calcutta, and helping us during the first month of our venture with her managerial expertise.

During the fifties while I looked after the journal and other publications, it was Tarkunde, more than anyone else, who took full care of the material requirements of the Roys at Dehradun. I knew personally from Ellen how much they depended on Tarkunde’s loyalty and support. Tarkunde, of course, never wanted this to be known, but a significant segment of his lawyer’s income went into the maintenance of 13 Mohini Road. He surely passed the test of fealty and authenticity with the highest credit.

When after Ellen’s tragic death I became the Secretary of the Indian Renaissance Institute, I saw as one of my first tasks the preservation of the nine volumes of the Jail Manuscripts left behind by Roy. I wanted those nearly three thousand foolscap size pages of closely handwritten notes to be mirror-copied and this was a formidable undertaking, requiring high intelligence and acumen, familiarity with Roy’s thinking and handwriting, absolute scrupulousness and hard work. Parikh and I went through the manuscripts preparing page by page synopsis (which I still have in my possession), but for the physical “mirror-copy” of that vast tome; we had neither time nor competence. At this point Tarkunde came to my rescue; he lent me the full-time free service of his very efficient personal secretary-typist, Mr. Pai, himself a radical humanist, and Pai made an excellent job of it under my supervision in 1962-63. Five ‘mirror-copies’ of the jail volumes were made (those were days before photocopy and microfilm), and they were left with Prof., A.B. Shah while the original manuscripts were placed in Parikh’s safekeeping when I went abroad in March 1963.

From 1962 to 1968 I was a member of the Executive and the Board of Directors of the International Humanist and Ethical Union.  It was then situated in Utrecht, Holland. At one of its meetings the Dutch group proposed to provide an equivalent of one hundred thousand rupees in Dutch guilders as seed money for a developmental experiment in rural India on humanist lines. I immediately consulted Tarkunde, and we readily agreed that our best choice would be Sheopujan Singh of Sahabad who was the most active and respected radical humanist in Bihar. The amount was duly sent to Sheopujan Singh, but I gathered later that the experiment did not prove to be a striking success.

From 1963 to 1981, I was much of the time abroad heading a newly started department of Indian studies at the University of Melbourne. However, the terms of my appointment allowed me to visit India once every two years for a couple of months. I was thus able to keep in touch with many of the active radicals in Calcutta, Bombay and Delhi. I met Tarkunde after he moved to Delhi and started practice as a senior advocate in the Supreme Court. At his instance the Radical Humanist weekly which had fallen into bad shape at Calcutta was brought over to Delhi to be published henceforth as a monthly. He took the initiative and formed the Radical Humanist Association of which he was chairman from 1969 to 1980. He also revived the Indian Renaissance Institute, of which he became chairman of the Board of Trustees.

But Tarkunde’s finest hour came during the dark years of the Emergency. As a true radical humanist he knew that Fundamental Rights, though enshrined in the Constitution, could be saved from authoritarian attacks only by conscious citizens who truly understood and prized these Rights, and were organized to defend them against, such attacks. Sensing the drift towards authoritarianism in the country he founded with Jayaprakash Narayan an organization in April 1974 named “Citizens for Democracy”. Its objectives were to eradicate corruption from public life and to educate the common people in democratic values and processes. I was in India during the Emergency and I was present at some of Tarkunde’s public lectures. With J.P. in jail, Tarkunde virtually at that critical moment became the voice of an outraged nation fighting to defend its democratic Constitution against authoritarian onslaughts., through his public speeches and his writings in The Radical Humanist and other journals he, probably more than any other single individual, contributed to the stirring of public conscience which eventually led to Indira Gandhi’s defeat in the elections, in my campaign abroad against the Emergency I drew much inspiration from Tarkunde’s courageous stand inside India., besides his writings and speeches, Tarkunde also appeared in a very large number of cases to defend the civil liberties of the people – particularly in cases related to punitive detention under the MISA, jail conditions of the detenues and freedom of the periodicals and the daily press. The People’s Union for Civil Liberties founded by J.P. and Tarkunde in 1976 served for some time as a beacon light of freedom in an India temporarily submerged in darkness.

After my return to India in 1981 I was almost immediately summoned to be the Director of Rabindra Bhavan where I spent the next two years and a half building up the archieves and museum devoted to Rabindranath Tagore which formed part of the Visva-Bharati University at Shantiniketan. Thereafter I decided to give top priority to repaying at least partially my very deep intellectual debt to M.N. Roy. During my years abroad I had been collecting various source material relating to Roy from archives and libraries in different parts of the World. I now drew up a detailed project of editing, translating (where required) and publishing the major works of M.N. Roy in six volumes, with all the necessary scholarly paraphernalia. I approached Tarkunde who immediately fell in for the idea, Brahma Dutt arranged a grant from the government of Uttar Pradesh to meet the cost of publication; R.M. Pal negotiated publication arrangements with Oxford University Press on behalf of the IRI. It took me over twelve years to edit the first four volumes (1985-1997) and get them published by OUP. Tarkunde, as chairman of the IRI, very considerately proposed that I should accept some honorarium for my wholetime arduous work. I thankfully rejected the proposal, in fact, at my instance it was decided that all royalties from the volumes should go to the IRI. However, I was provided with a typist-assistant from the grant that had been made for this purpose. Since then, for the last seven years I have been working on a biography of M.N. Roy, the first two volumes of which have been already published. I am now working on the third and final volume, and I feel sad that I would not have the privilege of presenting to Tarkunde the full set (assuming that I would live long enough to complete the project).

A few months ago when I met Tarkunde for the last time at Dr. Gauri Bazaz-Malik’s house in Delhi we talked about the future of 13 Mohini Road. I was and still am strongly opposed to the idea of selling that place once its ownership is physically restored to IRI. I pleaded that 13 Mohini Road was a place of historic significance, and that both the union and the Uttaranchal Governments should be approached to declare it as “a place of national importance”. I thought it could be made into a Museum devoted to M.N. Roy, Ellen Roy and their Age. Tarkunde was also opposed to the idea of selling the place, but he preferred to establish there as humanist school. I saw no contradiction between his proposal and mine; they could very well be combined. I was hoping to take the matter up with him on my next visit to Delhi this year. But, may be, there would be no next visit. I am 83, and in a while my turn will come to return to the elements. Meantime I grieve with others the loss of one of the last fall poppies of the Indian renaissance.

• This piece appeared in The Radical Humanist, No. 410, May 2004.
• Prof. Sibnarayan Ray was a senior Radical Humanist and former editor, The Radical Humanist, Weekly. Professor of English and author of many books in English and Bengali, the latest being a well-researched life of M.N. Roy in three volumes titled, “In Freedom’s quest”.