How the Sengol embodied India’s freedom & why it was forgotten & lost | Gurumurthy writes

A solemn and sacred Tamil tradition of Sengol (Dharma Danda) vesting ceremony accompanied by a recital of 11 verses from the Theveram text invoking the blessings of Shiva for the ruler took place on August 14, 1947, symbolising the transfer of power from British Viceroy Lord Mountbatten to Indian Prime Minister Pandit Nehru. It happened just before Pundit Nehru hoisted the national flag and addressed the nation at midnight.

Vesting the Sengol in the hands of the new ruler by Rajaguru is the Tamil Chola Empire tradition of anointing a new ruler. An ancient Tamil Shaiva Adheenam (Math) performed the ceremony and vested the Sengol in the hands of Pundit Nehru. The Sengol - which symbolises virtual and ethical rule – is highly spoken of in the ancient Tamil texts, and saint-poet Tiruvalluvar has written 10 verses celebrating Sengol and "Songonmai" – which means rule based on "Aram" – the Tamil world for Dharma. 

The sacred Sengol ceremony occurred just before Pundit Nehru hoisted the national flag and addressed the nation with his stirring message of Tryst with Destiny. Indian and even foreign media had reported, preceding and succeeding August 14, 1947, on the Sengol ceremony. 

With the nation ravaged by partition and violence and, as the Sengol ceremony had to be arranged in posthaste, and being not a legal or formal matter by oral orders, it remained unrecorded.

As a result, the sacred Sengol and its vesting ceremony seem to have disappeared from the institutional memory of the Indian state.

The Tamil Media had reported that the vesting of power and the assumption of it by Pundit Nehru on behalf of the people of Independent India was administered by the saint who belonged to Tiruvavaduthurai Math and their team of musicians and Oduvars (Grantis) who were specially invited by the government to perform the vesting of the Sengol. Adopting the traditions the Chola Kings had adopted the Adheenams handed over to the Prime Minister a golden Sengol with the Nandi (Bull) at its top, purified with waters from holy rivers, and singing sacred Tamil text Thevaram symbolic of the divine blessings and command to rule just and fairly. 

The reports had said that the background to the ritual was the query by the Viceroy Mountbatten to Pundit Nehru as to what was the traditional ritual to be followed to symbolise the transfer of power. Nehru sought the advice of Rajagopalachari, Rajaji as he was popularly known. And it was Rajaji who conceptualized the Chola model of assumption to the throne and approached the Tiruvavaduthurai Math and requested to perform the sacred function at Delhi. He made travel arrangements for the Adheenam team to come to Delhi to administer the vesting of the Sengol in the hands of the Prime Minister on the model of the age-old ritual prevalent at the time of the Chola kings. 

The photos of the event with Pundit Nehru which were available with the Tiruduthurai Adheenam showing Pundit Nehru holding the Sengol with devotion as the Saints performed the singing of the verses were also carried in the media. 

The popular Tamil Weekly Thuglak founded by the famous Tamil journalist Cho Ramaswamy published a detailed account of the historicity of the event tracing it to the recorded conversation of one of the most revered saints of the last century the Kanchi Paramacharya with his disciples. The text of the conversation showed that it seemed to have taken place on independence day in 1978. The conversation was found in a book that was published much later after the Kanchi Acharya had attained Siddhi in 1994.

The Thuglak magazine also cited the Tamil media reports and also the photos of Nehru standing with the Sengol. The Thuglak article appeared in May 2021 Immediately thereafter Dr Padma Subrahmanyam one of the most well-known classical dance artists and also the winner of Pama Bhushan and other awards translated the Article into English and sent it to the office of the Prime Minister. She had pleaded that such a profound, sacred, historic ceremony of Sengol vesting has been kept out of public knowledge and history. She requested that the government must make this public on the occasion of the nation’s Independence Day in 2021. 

This is what set off the government to verify the media reports and authenticity of the Sengol Vesting ceremony on 14/15 August 1947. Since then the Government has been able to identify that the golden Sengol was studded with jewels worth Rs 15,000. At that time It was made by Vummidi Bangaru Chetti and Sons, Jewellers and Diamond merchants of Madras. They have even kept the photo of the event in their house. It was commissioned by His Holiness Sri-La-Sri Ambalavana Desika Swamigal, the Mahasannidanam of the Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam, Tanjore. 

The Sengol was brought to Delhi by Sri-La-Sri Kumaraswami Thambiran of Thiruvathigal and Mr R Ramalingam Pillai, Dakshinam Superintendent of the Adheenam. It was presented to Pandit Nehru at his residence on the night of 14 August 1947.