INDIAN PROFESSOR

Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1929, Page 13

INDIAN PROFESSOR

RESEARCH IN AUCKLAND VALUE OF BRITISH RULE. NO REAL DESIRE FOR CHANGE. “There is an overwhelming body of opinion in India wholly favourable to British rule,” said Professor P. Mitra, of Calcutta University, at Auckland on Saturday, in discussing racial problems within the Empire, and the world’s need of co-ordinating culture and welding national outlooks into an evenly-balanced whole. Professor Mitra is an expert in ancient and modern culture, and he is now engaged in an intensive study of ethnological questions relating to the Pacific races, on behalf of the Bishop Museum of Honolulu. He intends to spend about a month in New Zealand, and at present he- is carrying out research work at the War Memorial Museum.

Stating that his views on present day constitutional problems in India were naturally affected by hie individual conclusions concerning the past history of his country and its bearing upon the modern phase, Professor Mitra said that it was generally agreed that it would be fatal for England to withdraw her guardianship. There was only a very small section of the population in favour of India breaking her relations with the British Commonwealth of Nations, and the noise it made was not a true index of its size. India was surrounded by a series of different economic levels, and it was realised that only Britain could maintain a satisfactory equilibrium. There was more in Britain’s occupation of India than mere material government, that she was performing a great function in stabilising the country’s economic life and at the same time giving India a chance to work out her own destiny in the cultural sphere. Revolutionary factions were to be found in every country, but the separatist party in India carried no influence and would never gain the upper hand. NEW ERA ENTERED UPON. Thinking men among the native population would not fall in with the views of the revolutionists, realising that India had made great strides since Britain gave it the advantage of her protection. India had definitely entered upon a new era, and great advances had been made in education and culture generally. “This is the great synthetic century,' Professor Mitra said, in referring to his own work and that of others in attacking the questions of ethnology and the racial and cultural links- which bound the world. Scientists were endeavouring to reveal the casual connections between, phenomena, philosophers were aiming at laying bare the relations between the ultimate things, and ethnologists were working to unfold the past life of man by a study of present similitudes. The work would not be completed in a day, and no doubt would be handed on to others to complete, but it was within the bounds of possibility that the presc t century would witness a great co-ordinating movement, not only between nations, but also between the material world and mental life. Just as Macedon was called upon to keep burning the flame of Hellenic civilir-'tion, it was being recognised more and more that the younger nations bordering the Pacific were destined to play an ever greater part in the work of securing international understanding and breaking down racial and cultural barriers. Thinking men were still searching for the roots of modern civilisations. The nations of the Pacific were recognised as of great importance in the synthetic process. If once they could lay their hands upon evidence of the inner meaning of different mental outlooks and the basis upon which these had been built, great results would have as their fruit a new conception of mau’s place in the international sphere. ART OF THE MAORIS. Studies carried out in various parts of the Pacific had assured him of the existence of cultural bonds over a wide area, Professor Mitra said. His investigations were of a technical nature, but they revealed affinities between Pacific culture and that of India. The study, of anthropology was still in comparative infancy, although the Indian philosophers had made greater use of it than had those in the West, for the reason that they attached more importance to the individual in relation to the whole. He would publish his conclusions in book form at the end of his research next year. Professor Mitra said that he had been agreeably surprised to find so much material for research in Auckland. The War Memorial Museum was a treasurehouse for the student, and he had been given every facility by the authorities for study. The history of the Maoris was a subject of vital interest. Their art wae particularly important in assessing their traditions and spiritual outlook. It was evident, that the Maori was a born artist and his conceptions of form were remarkable.

From specimens of native carvings he had seen } one thing stood out from general conclusions. The Maori was a master craftsman in continuity of design. It Avas noticeable among much modern art that the work gave the appearance of compact and unrelated conceptions. However, the Maori was an adept in maintaining a continuity of form, thus imparting consistent harmony among the expressions of his ideas.