Thread by @MihirPurohit08

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐤 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫: 🧵

Hon'ble PM @narendramodi will inaugurate the new Parliament building on 28th May, 2023 on the occasion of 140th birth anniversary of Veer Savarkar Ji. The key part of the event is going to be the installation of the historic Sengol - a five foot long, golden sceptre topped with a

figure of Nandi Ji, the vahan of Bhagwan Shivji and a symbol of 'Nyaya', or the embodiment of justice and strength - next to the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair.

The History And Significance:

Sengol - Tamil for sceptre or Dharma Danda, derives from the Tamil word ‘Semmai’, indicating righteousness and symbolising power and justice. It was used during the Chola empire for transfer of seat of power from one King to another by the Rajguru.

Sengol and Indian Independence:

Ahead of announcement of independent India, Mountbatten, the last viceroy, asked Nehru how India would mark the historic moment of the ceremonial transfer of power.
Nehru sought the advice of C Rajagopalachari, the last Governor-General of India

and who hailed from Thorapalli in Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri district (then the Madras Presidency). Rajaji, as he was popularly called, suggested the use of the 'Sengol'; he was inspired by the the Chola dynasty.

Rajagopalachari got in touch with Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam,

a prominent centuries-old Dharmik Shaivite mutt, in Tanjore in present-day Tamil Nadu. The Adheenam of the mutt accepted the responsibility. This ensured that the preparation would be done with the spiritual significance and adhering to the traditions.

The gold-plated silver ‘Sengol’ was reportedly designed by Vummidi Bangaru Chetty, a jeweller in then Madras. Vummidi Ethirajulu, 96, and Vummidi Sudhakar, 88 years who made the sceptre are still alive.

On 14th August 1947, the deputy high priest of the Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam, Nadaswaram player Rajarathinam Pillai, and the Oduvar (singer) were among the priests flown in from Tamil Nadu to participate in the ceremony of transfer, and they carried the Sengol with them.

Below is an extract from the book - Freedom at Midnight - signifying the Dharmic nature of the transfer of power and significant spiritual traditions that were adhered to as India’s reign was handed back to it by the British.

“The two holy men in the car behind him stared straight ahead with celestial indifference. They were sannyasin, men dwelling in the highest state of exaltation a Brahmin could attain, a state so sublime that, according to Hindu belief, it conferred on those who had reached it

more spiritual blessings in one lifetime than an ordinary man might hope to attain in ten million reincarnations.

With their bare chests and foreheads streaked with ashes, their matted, uncut hair tumbling in black strands to their shoulders, they were pilgrims from an ancient, timeless India. Beside each were the three possessions they were allowed in their life of renunciation:

a seven-jointed bamboo stave, a water gourd and an antelope skin…... One of the two bore a massive silver platter upon which was folded a swathe of white silk streaked in gold, the Pitambaram, the Cloth of God.
The other carried a five-foot sceptre, a flask of holy water from

the Tanjore River, a pouch of sacred ash and a pouch of boiled rice which had been offered at dawn at the feet of Nataraja, the dancing God, in his temple in Madras.
Their procession moved through the streets of the capital until it came to a stop in front of a simple bungalow

at 17 York Road…...As once Hindu holy men had conferred upon ancient India’s kings their symbols of power, so the sannyasin had come to York Road to bestow their antique emblems of authority on the man about to assume the leadership of a modern Indian nation.

They sprinkled Jawaharlal Nehru with holy water, smeared his forehead with sacred ash, laid their sceptre on his arms and draped him in the Cloth of God…… In military cantonments, at official residences, naval stations, government offices; at Fort William in Calcutta

where Clive had started it all, Fort Saint George in Madras, Viceregal Lodge in Simla; in Kashmir, the Nagaland, Sikkim and the jungles of Assam, thousands of Union Jacks slid down their flagstaffs for the last time....the Union Jack came down those thousands of flagstaffs at

sunset, 14 August, to go quiet and unprotesting into Indian history. At sunrise 15 August, its place would be taken by the banner of an independent India.”

Thus, the mantle of modern India was handed back to it in the most Dharmik manner, a fitting tribute to the Bharatiya civilization.
Unfortunately, the Sengol was not given any significant place but kept in a museum in Anand Bhavan in Prayagraj.

The inaugration of New Parliament building on the occasion of Veer Savarkar Jayanti, amidst Dharmic traditions dating back to ancient Bharat is a PROUD declaration of the Hindu nature of India i.e., a Hindu Rashtra.

Jai Shree Ram.

#CentralVista #SengolAtNewParliament

Sources:
Swarajyamag: swarajyamag.com/amp/story/cult…
The Print: theprint.in/india/followin…
Firstpost: firstpost.com/explainers/sen…
Hindustan Times: hindustantimes.com/india-news/pm-…
Hindustan Times: hindustantimes.com/india-news/new…

@MySutradhar

https://twitter.com/MySutradhar/status/1661670356304707586?t=DEvkcibsc7o5NoPusdfb5Q&s=19