Watched the army bands play Abide with Me at the Beating the Retreat ceremony! Amazing, soul-stirring music!
I was reminded of Navina Jafa’s recent article (The Abiding Presence) where she discusses the “geometric setting” in which the hymn is played and its implications for us today.
In her article, she writes,
The final ritual in the festival for the Constitution of India is a poignant, poetic audio-visual phenomenon. It is held in a sacred geometric setting of buildings of governance. It lays responsibility on those who govern to honour of the Constitution of India and its citizens.
1) Beating Retreat’ takes place at the Vijay Chowk (a square).
2) It is juxtaposed with the circular Parliament meant to guard the constitution.
3) The arm forces owe their loyalty to their supreme commander (President of India) on top of the Raisina Hill and the constitution.
4) The square where the ritual in the form of the melodies takes place represents a Yantra or a mandala.
5)The square in the Indian thought as a shape of equidistant provides a symbol of an anchor and stability required for a country.
6) The circular parliament represents the infinity of the spirit of an ongoing democratic civilisation.
7) The roads leading out from the square represent the progress and movement of the country.
8) Interestingly, there was already a reclaiming of the symbolic physical geography by free India when the ‘King’s Way’ came to be called the Rajpath (ruler’s road) and which intersected with the ‘Queen’s Way’ now known as Janpath (people’s road).Thus, they represent the dialogue between the two stakeholders: the government and the citizens.
9) The towers of the Secretariat represent churning of thought in governance while guarding the Constitution
May God bless our great Nation and our leaders. May His abiding presence be with us, now and forever.
