Bahá’í World/Volume 6/Russia’s Cultural Contribution to the Bahá’í Faith, by Martha L. Root
RUSSIA’S CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE BAHA’I FAITH
BY MARTHA L. ROOT
MRS. ISABEL GRINEVSKAYA, a Russian poet in Leningrad, gave a great impetus to the Bahá’í Movement and to world art in her three celebrated writings, the two dramas, “Báb” and “Bahá’u’lláh,” and a narrative called “A Journey in the Countries of the Sun.” The last named is an account of her visit to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1911 when He was in Ramleh, Egypt. While the last is in prose it has verses introduced so that we might almost say that the three form a trilogy in poetic form presenting the new universal religion of the oneness of mankind proclaimed by those three heavenly personages, the Báb the Forerunner, Bahá’u’lláh the Revealer of the Word and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the Center of the Covenant of the Bahá’í Faith.
From the point of view of art the dramas rank high. Russian critics affirm that these works have proclaimed their author a poet of the first order. One of her countrymen, Mr. Wesselitzky, President of the Foreign Press Association of London, said that he read the drama “Báb” on a railway train when he was returning to England from Russia in August, 1905. His own words were: “I was at once attracted by the rare combination of philosophical thought with a great power of expression, beauty, imagery, and harmony of verse. I keenly felt the delight of reading a new, great poem and discovering a new first-rate poet. I should have felt so on broad, general grounds from whatever country the poet came! However, my joy was intensified by the fact that the poem had been written in my own language and that the author was a countrywoman of mine.”
This article purports to give a little history of these works, for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself praised these dramas. (I do not know that He saw the narrative.) When He held the manuscript of the drama “Bahá’u’lláh” in His hands, He blessed it and prophesied to the author that these two dramas would be played in Ṭihrán!
The drama “Báb” was published in May, 1903, and was played in one of the principal theatres in St. Petersburg in January, 1904. It was this drama that first brought to Count Leo Tolstoy a knowledge of the Bahá’í teachings. He read the book and at once wrote to Mrs. Grinevskaya his appreciation of her great drama and his sympathy with the Bahá’í Movement; the letter was printed in the Russian press and the poet has his letter in her possession now.
I have before me as I write a clipping from the “Herold” of January, 1904: “The play Báb appeared in May of last year, 1903, the most inconvenient time for the appearance of a book. Nevertheless the pens of the critics began to move in the journals and magazines in order to compose hymn-songs of praise to the author. Moreover an enlightened Persian society sent her an inspired letter of thanks; and above all, Mrs. Isabel Grinevsky had the spiritual satisfaction that among those who eulogized her drama was the lion of contemporary Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy. The impression was such that it made us think that amidst the statists representing the Persian throngs were real Persians; it seemed as if the scene exhaled the perfume of the roses of Shíráz!”
Mr. Wesselitsky, whom I mentioned earlier in this story, gave a lecture in London in 1907 about this drama and his speech was afterwards published in pamphlets in English and French1 I quote two
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1Pamphlets in French and English, London, 1907, at the Press of “Chronide," 29 Besborough Street, London, S. W.
[Page 708]
paragraphs: “Amidst
the sorrows of disastrous
war and those dreadful inner troubles, that
book ‘Báb’ was my only happy impression,
and it remains since a permanent source of
joy and comfort as a manifest proof of the
vitality of Russia and its creative genius.
“The romantic side of this drama, too, is quite original. The plot is not based on adultery as in French drama and not on seduction as in ‘Faust,’ but on renouncement and self-sacrifice. The romantic side of the Báb is closely allied with the metaphysical-ethical side. The drama has so much of the latter that every act may seem to be a sermon and the drama itself a suite of sermons. Yet all that preaching is relieved by genuine enthusiasm, eloquence of the heart and real passion. The conflict in the soul of the hero is not between passion and reason, but between two passions—human love and love divine—the latter being stronger and more ardent than the former. It is that manifestation of the power of the higher aims in the heart of man which is the chief feature of this book and the secret of its irresistible charm.”
Celebrating the decade of the first performance of "Báb” in January, 1914, Mrs. Grinevskaya gave a great conference on the drama in one of the most beautiful concert halls of Leningrad. The “St. Petersburg Informations Paper” gives the event a long review praising the author and her reading of selections from the poem and her address. One paragraph particularly I remember: “As a characteristic of the frame of mind of the poetess during the creation of her poem, the following words of her own may serve as an illustration: ‘A well known professor told me that the name of my poem, "Báb” does not sound well to the ears of Russians. I answered that the names of the people who preached the ideals of love, paying for those ideals with their lives, must sound well to all those who have ears to hear. All noble ideals are so few in these days that it would be worth while to renew the performance of "Báb” in order to awaken the remembrance of these ideals. We, the people of the West, rise too late, we do not know the East where the sun shines!’ ”
The play was presented again in the Folk Theater in Leningrad in April, 1917, after the Russian Revolution. People came even from Moscow and Turkistán to see it. Diplomats from foreign countries were in the audience; the ambassador from China was one. A second edition of the drama had been published in 1916, and these books were sold at the entrance of the theater; many spectators sat with the open books in their hands during this performance. It is a long drama in five acts, equal in the number of verses to “Don Carlos” of Schiller and “Cromwell” of Victor Hugo.
When I wrote asking Mrs. Grinevskaya about these dramas she sent me several letters. I should state that she has written many works along different lines of thought and lectured on many subjects in Russia, and had often spoken in conferences on these two dramas, “Báb” and “Bahá’u’lláh.” She was a member of the former Philosophic Society of the University, an active member of the former Oriental Society, and is a member of the present Bibliological Society and several literary societies and unions. She said that before she wrote her poem “Báb,” the Russian public generally had not heard much about the Bahá’í Movement. She herself knew about it only from reading. The critics thought she had traveled much in Írán, she was so well informed about the life there, but as a matter of fact she had not been in Írán. She had heard that some Bahá’í believers from Írán had been driven out of their land into Turkey and India, and that some had come to Turkistán and were residing in the cities of Táshkand, ‘Ishqábád and Mary and in the city of Báku in the Caucasus.
“Still, I thought,” she says, “these believers in the Báb now called Bahá’ís had mingled with other nations, and perhaps had ceased to exist as a religious entity. The description of Professor Edward G. Browne seemed to me a fairy tale. How astonished I was when, after my drama ‘Báb’ made its appearance in 1903, I received one day a letter with the following address: ‘To the Author of the book "Báb,” Mrs. Isabel Grinevskaya in St. Petersburg.’ Neither street nor number of the house was marked, yet thanks to the careful postal authorities, that letter, though unregistered, reached me safely.”
[Page 709]
Both the handwriting
and signature
proved unknown but she relates: “That
letter was from ‘Alí-Akbar Mamedhanly
from Báku who wrote that he was a believer
in the Báb, that he had read in the
Isabel Grinevskaya
News of Báku about my poem, the account of which had interested him greatly and that he would like to get the book. He asked that if he found any mistakes against the Teachings of the Báb, could he perhaps point them out? It was like a star falling from heaven at my feet! As if I had found a precious stone where I had not expected to find one.”
The book was mailed to him at once and
she explained to that Bahá’í that she had
had to deviate just a little from a few of
the historical facts for the sake of a
dramatic whole. She added: “I wrote for a
public all unprepared to hear moral, religious
[Page 710]
and philosophical ideas from the stage; it
was accustomed to lighter plays, not a theme
about God, of religion, especially about the
conception of a new religion or rather, I
would say religion renewed!”
The Bahá’í from Báku politely replied to Mrs. Grinevskaya’s letter as follows: “The impression which I received in reading your drama was such that I could not see any mistakes of any kind, even though I read it many times. We read it in the Bahá’í Assembly (meeting) and the believers send you sincerest thanks. They feel sure that the literary world will soon unite in a general solemnizing of your creative powers.”
She said that he also wrote beautifully about the Bahá’í life in Caucasus, stating among other points: “We live here cherishing the tenets for which our grandfathers, fathers and brothers shed their blood maintaining the chief principles: pardon, patience and love to mankind.” Mrs. Grinevskaya said that these letters were written in Russian and showed that the Bahá’ís were very enlightened in literature and science. She also added: “It was such a joy to me to find that there are in the world people so congenial to me in feeling and in vision. I loved with my soul those spiritual people who, just like the people in my drama, were holding those principles of pardon, patience and love to all mankind, holding them not as a dead dogma but as a living truth!”
Now I shall speak of the tragedy-poem “Bahá’u’lláh.” Mrs. Grinevskaya wrote me how she received the inspiration to write it. She said: “Among the many letters which I received from unknown people, all writing me about my play, ‘Báb,’ was one from a gentleman who to my astonishment had a profound knowledge not only of the Báb but also of Bahá’u’lláh. Like the Báb, until 1903, Bahá’u’lláh was generally unknown even among the cultured classes, professors sometimes asking me who my hero was. Even one (Czarist) politician had once asked me, ‘What is Bahá’u’lláh?’ Not who, mind you, but what! So I was all the more impressed to hear from my Russian provincial correspondent the name of Bahá’u’lláh. He said in his note: ‘I was fascinated by the poem Báb like a youth though I am not a youth in years. I have passed two faculties of the university and have in my library all the available works which appear in the literature of the world.’ ”
“He counselled me,” Mrs. Grinevsky says, “to compose a tragedy about the life of Bahá’u’lláh. I myself had thought of it but had been so occupied I had never attempted it; now I determined to undertake this big work. I always remember with gratitude the memory of this Russian gentleman who was not a Bahá’í but a man of great heart. He passed on before my work was published, and I never met him. His name was Nicolas Zazuline; he, as I knew, was president of the nobility in Kishinef and the author of several philosophical treatises.”
She continues: “When my work was finished and notices about it appeared in the press, a number of people who had assisted at the representations of my poem ‘Báb,’ and had heard my conferences about that poem which I gave many times, asked me to prepare a lecture about my new composition. The first address about it was given in our summer capital Siestroretzk and afterwards I also lectured in the capital itself at the Society of Oratorical Arts’ Hall, in the year 1910.”
Mrs. Grinevskaya explained that when her Bahá’í correspondent of Báku, Mírzá ‘Alí-Akbar Mamedhanly, read in the newspapers that the work was finished (he had known from her that it was being written), he asked to have a copy sent to him. She mailed to him several excerpts from the poem. A few weeks later she was amazed to receive a telegram from him saying: “ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá permits us to visit Him in Egypt.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was at that time making a short stay in Egypt.
She writes in her letter to me: “That had
been my secret, my innermost desire, to see
with my own eyes those people whom I had
described, who, as my correspondent said,
‘love all mankind.’ I had thought it
absolutely impossible, and yet, unexpectedly,
wonderfully, it had come to pass that I
could go to see even the greatest of those
people! I started from Russia with my
manuscript of the poem ‘Bahá’u’lláh’ in
December, 1910, my aim being to see the
[Page 711]
surroundings of my
dreams, of my fancy,
about which my former respectful
correspondent and present
fellow—traveler in that
journey to Egypt had spoken—to see
‘Abdu’l-Bahá!”
Seven years had passed between the appearance of the drama “Báb” and the concluding of the tragedy “Bahá’u’lláh” followed by this memorable journey. Mrs. Grinevskaya spent two weeks in Ramleh, Egypt, as the guest of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. After she returned to Russia she had several letters or Tablets from Him. In one of these He speaks of an article which He had just received about her poem “Bahá’u’lláh.” From the Tablet (or letter) addressed to Madame Grinevskaya and signed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, I quote:
“The article which was published in the Saint Petersburg Journal about thy recent book (Bahá’u’lláh) was in the utmost eloquence and fluency. It was an indication of thy praiseworthy services. The publication of such articles is very useful. They are conducive to the promotion of the divine Call. Praise be to God that thou art assisted in the service of the world of humanity and art spreading the summons of the Kingdom of God. Day and night thou must praise God that thou art assisted to perform such a great service. Rest thou assured that that which is the utmost desire2 of thy heart shall come to pass concerning this matter.
“This seed which thou has sowed shall grow. If the means are not available at present, unquestionably they will become realized. I pray in thy behalf that thou mayest become confirmed in the uninterrupted service of the Kingdom of God.”
The article which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. mentions in His Tablet had been published in the French newspaper "Journal de Saint-Petersbourg” January, 1912. The headline was "Bahá’u’lláh.” I quote paragraphs from this review: “Bahá’u’lláh means the Glory
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2“In a footnote Mrs. Grinevskaya adds that her utmost desire which she had expressed in Ramleh had been that her poems might be translated into European languages. The poem “Báb” has been translated into German and French, but the poem "Bahá’u’lláh is still untranslated.
of God—such is the title of the new tragedy with which Mrs. Isabel Grinevskaya has enriched Russian dramatic literature. We must praise without restriction a work whose high, dramatic significance is combined with admirable form. The author of the drama ‘Báb,’ that work of such strong thought, has never attained such a powerful conception as this poem.
“The mind of the reader, attracted by a rhythm of an unspeakably harmonious poetry, rises imperceptibly to summits where the most grave problems are discussed, problems over which thoughtful humanity bends with fear and despair, helpless to solve them. The characters are analyzed with great psychological insight.
“Bahá’u’lláh, the central figure, is depicted with the clearness and power of an antique high-relief. The complexity of that elect—nature is presented with the authority and truth of the great masters of the classical theater. What a lofty lesson, what eloquence sursum corda in that life of pure bounty, of selflessness in that wide desire to spread peace!
“How not to be moved, fascinated by the nobility of this Apostolic character?
“As in the ‘Báb,’ the events touch the great religious movement which roused the country of Persia in the middle of the last century. The historical part is exact. Mrs. Grinevskaya did not limit herself to the studies of documents, the great quantity of which we can hardly imagine; she knows the country very well. Her knowledge gives to the characters an intensive life and a warm coloring.
“The origin of a faith analyzed with the help of true science is carried forward with great art beginning with the first thought which moves the heart of the Apostle, who loves mankind as He, loves His family and His own country.
“The author gives a vision, a revelation of all that is hidden of moving, precious depths in that supreme struggle. The liberating pain, the majesty of effort, the active bounty—all these elements of that struggle remain ordinarily unattainable for the crowd which cannot fathom under their austere dogmas, one of the beautiful forms of human unity.
[Page 712]
“The love, the
deep necessity which lives
in each human heart passes throughout the
tragedy as an undercurrent, the
fountainhead of which, never drying,
remains hidden to the exterior world.
“That beautiful and bold work points a return to the school of majesty and aesthetic morality, the aspiration to the eternal truth, which are the indelible character of permanent works. We foretell for this book a most merited success. Humanity, be it to its credit, is tired of the histories of the impure which spoil the taste and soil the mind. It cannot but receive with enthusiasm a work of which the most civilized countries of Europe will be proud.”
Mrs. Grinevskaya, returning from Ramleh in January, 1911, gave interviews to the press at Odessa, the Russian port of the Black Sea, and as soon as she reached home she began her book, “A Journey to the Countries of the Sun,” which is an account of her visit to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This was interrupted because in the summer of 1912 she was called to Paris by the French translator of “Báb,” Madame Halperin. When she came again to Leningrad she immediately began the publication of the drama “Bahá’u’lláh” so that it was not until 1914 that she completed the manuscript of "A Journey to the Countries of the Sun.” It is interesting to note that when she completed it, three Íránians, Assad-Ullah Namdor of Moscow, ‘Alí Akbar Kamalof of Tashkand and an old Íránian Bahá’í friend whom she had met at Port Said, came to call upon her and she read to them many parts from the “Journey,” the central figure of which is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This book of 550 pages has not yet been published because at this time the world war commenced; neither has it yet been translated into other languages.
May this great Russian poet, Mrs. Isabel Grinevskaya, who has made such a cultural contribution to literature and to the Bahá’í Movement some day see all her works translated into European languages! The English reading world eagerly awaits them, I know, for many inquiries come from the United States asking where it is possible to get these books in Russian, in French, or in German!
