On the 134th birth anniversary of celebrated polymath #SukumarRay, a long thread on his powerful satirical commentary on World War I recruitment efforts using the medium of his signature nonsense verse (1/n) 
While he was a double Honors in Physics & Chemistry, a pioneer of photography & lithography in India and a skilled illustrator, Sukumar Ray is best known for his body of literary work (2/n)
This includes humorous stories, plays, scientific essays and most importantly his nonsense verses in AbolTabol (Bengali - আবোলতাবোল) which are unparalleled (3/n)
While these verses are an enduring favorite for children & adults as a medium of unfettered humor, what is not so commonly known is that many of his poems were also allegorical & contained commentary on important social and political events of the time (4/n)
One such poem is Woody Old Man (Bengali - কাঠবুড়ো). This is a poem about an old man who boils different kinds of wood and tastes them while sitting under the sun, making complex calculations at the same time (5/n)
He claims that each type of wood has its unique character, and only he can discern their true merit. The British colonial policymakers had started profiling the different native communities right after the 1857 mutiny (6/n)
The Jonathan Peel commission was formed with the sole purpose of identifying a resource pool for recruiting soldiers for internal and potential external battles (7/n)
By the 1880s, it had divided the population into two categories, martial & non-martial communities. Certain communities were considered racially brave and loyal, hence suited to serve the British military (8/n)
Soldiers were majorly drawn from certain communities in the North West, the hilly regions and certain Muslim communities. The Southern and Eastern people were deemed political, effeminate and generally unsuitable for combat (9/n)
Predictably caste also played into the equation, various scheduled castes and tribes who formed the bulk of the army prior to 1857 were gradually replaced in favor of the ‘martial’ people (10/n)
The poem, written in 1915, is believed to provide a satirical commentary on the World War I recruitment efforts, which predictably had an exclusionary principle in keeping with these theories (11/n)
The following poster clearly indicates who can enlist in the infantry - Muslims (Shaikh, Saiyyid, Mughal, Pathan), Brahmin, Rajput, Bhumihar, Ahir, Kurmi, Pasi, Lodhi and Gaderiya (12/n)
It also specifies that the artillery would only accept someone from whom Hindus would accept water (13/n)
The old man and his absurd classification of woods mocks this policy of classifying people based on racial and caste identity into who can join the army & who can’t. (14/n)
Following are excerpts from the original & the translated versions which will help make the connection. This poem would be equally relevant today as these caste-based divisions continue in Indian society more than 100 years since the poem was written (15/n)
Translation of the poem at this link: parabaas.com/translation/da…
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