By Pavi Ramhota
Great men’s anniversaries of significant life events give academics a reason to evaluate the importance of the honoured person. They also provide a chance to assess the state of the field’s scholarship from scratch and look for fresh, critical perspectives. Basdeo Bissoondoyal, one might assume, requires no such justification given that he is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest writers and intellectuals of the modern age, despite the complexities of his unequalled reputation. 
By remembering Basdeo and fathoming his centrality as a splendid figure of Mauritian cultural renaissance, we are trying to evaluate our own age, along with its plethora of cultural expression and creative norms. Basdeo Bissoondoyal has become a touchstone for the creativity of our times. Born in the little village of Tyack, Basdeo Bissoondoyal and his two brothers attended Villiers René School, formerly known as « Men’s Training School, » when the family relocated to Port Louis in late 1912. Mr. Villiers René, the head teacher of that school, had a lasting impression on them. Later, from 1922 until 1932, he was a teacher at the Reetoo Primary School in Saint Julien.
After travelling to India for his postgraduate studies, Basdeo graduated with a B.A. (Hons) from Punjab. In 1937, he moved to Calcutta, where he earned an M.A. He worked on numerous literary journals, including Saraswati (in Hindi), Satyavadin (in English), and East and West. He was forced to return to Mauritius because his elder brother Soogrim passed away too soon, and Raoul Rivet welcomed him back to Mauritius in a Le Mauricien piece. In the sixties, he contributed articles under the title “La littérature hindoue” every Saturday in Le Mauricien. 
Basdeo Bissoondoyal was a good and hardworking reader, a seeker who was knowledgeable enough about other branches of knowledge, historical and contemporary local and international issues and events where he expressed and transformed them with literary ingenuity and talent. 
He was very much interested in history. Learning and knowing one’s history is a process that has influenced us since our childhood, creating a consciousness that is very difficult to express and an emotion whose trajectory is, most often, impossible to predict and chart. Basdeo pointed out that the essence of a nation enters our consciousness in childhood, enjoying a near unhindered seepage through our affection, imagination, and other related imperceptible sources. He delivered sermons on all aspects of life. He studied Sankhya, one of the ancient systems of Indian philosophy. In his “parchar” he recommends people who are interested in the History of India to read Alexandre Le Grand authored by Racine. He was very much impressed by the words of Romain Rolland : “le métier des intellectuels est de chercher la vérité au milieu de l’erreur.” He not only translated the Bhagvad Gita but Paul et Virginie in hindi. He very often recites verses from the Vedas. Professor Basdeo once said that “si les fables de la Fontaine ne vieillissent pas, les Védas qui sont si vieux conservent leur jeunesse.” His major masterpiece was Les Hindous et leurs écritures sacrées published in 1965, in Paris. He loved to compare the literature of India with those of other countries of the world. For instance, the Ramayana to L’Illiade d’Homère; Sita, Heroine of Ramayana to Hélène.
Professor Basdeo stressed largely on education; as he says one of the main aims of education is to prepare the individual for the service of the nation and education stands for human regeneration, cultural representation, harmony and intellectualism. Educational institutions should build on the power of thinking and imagination in an individual and help turn herself/himself into a self-sustained building block of human society and a creative canvas of nation on the whole. This thought has impressed the young Bissoondoyals, namely Surendra and Uttama, and they served the nation at their best, based on the principle of their elders. Basdeo pundit very often referred to Rabindranath Tagore and he was highly influenced by this great noble prize winner. To quote Tagore: “A day will come when the unvanquished man will retrace his path of conquest, despite all barriers, to win back his lost heritage”.
When Basdeo was a student, he recited a poem in the class, from Gitanjali.
“This is my prayer to thee, my lord – strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart
Give the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows
Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service
Give the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might
Give me the strength to raise my mind high above the daily trifles
And give me strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.”
It seems that “never bend my knees before insolent might” has been his resolution.
Basdeo’s strategy was to start with the local, the particular, the grass roots and gradually build them up. He baptised a building Swaraj Bhawan at Lalmatie, a village that can be called the bastion of Prof Basdeo. There is a small bust of Professor waiting for some activities to be organised by the villagers. The adepts of punditji still eager to listen his songs of “Om ka janda ata hai” … He very often visited this place and there in his lecture on swadeshi samaj tried to explain how the British control of Mauritius is the « political symptom of our social disease » of self-subjugation. He urged people to believe that as Tagore wrote « there can be no question of blind revolution, but of steady and purposeful education ».
Throughout his life, Basdeo Bissoondoyal has worked to promote Indian culture and has consistently upheld the Hindi language. He was a gifted orator, and the general public has found encouragement in his lifelong learning. In the field of Hindi, he was also granted the highest honour, Sahitya Vachaspati.
The sense of regard I have for Basdeo Bissoondoyal is therefore compounded by a keen awareness of the fact that he rendered to Mauritius, Indian literature and culture, a precious amount of service. In short, he left behind his essence in an enormous amount of writing that is available to anyone who cares to access and benefit from it. His most precious and ageless gift to human kind.
On a conclusive note I quote Mr Emrith who unhesitatingly in his book “The Muslims in Mauritius” wrote: “The Indian community as a whole has produced few writers and their contribution either in English, French, Hindi or Urdu has been modest and timid. Except for the scholarly works of Professor B. Bissoondoyal, M.A., the Indians of Mauritius have produced, until now, little as literary feats that call for any serious attention”.
References
Meri kotharian (Mes Prisons, Port Louis, 1949)
Professor Basdeo Bissoondoyal, Gangaram, 1982