Invoking India’s
past generally sets off three kinds of reactions, - ‘Glorious! inspirational’, ‘Right-wing,
revivalist stuff!’, or ‘Delusional, regressive’, depending on which past is
invoked or who is reacting. As always, our past is very much present and causing
complications.
The past (Hindu
in the present context) has two sides; the inspirational ‘legacy’ of art, culture,
literature, philosophy etc. and ‘orthodoxy’ of past customs and beliefs which,
to many, provide rhythm and sense of accomplishment to life. Legacy part is valuable and belongs to all, whereas orthodoxy
can be problematic when misused by community leaders and politicians. The two sides
of the past are often taken together, and the regressive parts of ‘orthodoxy’ are
highlighted to show Hinduism in bad light. It annoys many Hindus who are proud
of their legacy and protective of their core beliefs.
Being proud
of the legacy of the past is no sin, nor necessarily an obstacle to progress as
some believe. For instance, the rediscovered values of Classical Greco-Roman
period inspired Europe to lift itself out of Dark Age into a renaissance and the
founding fathers of the United States to fight for independence and write a great
constitution enshrining liberal values. Past-glory becomes a drag on progress only
if, instead of being inspiration for betterment, it becomes a matter for sterile
pride.
How not to
be inspired by the past is exemplified by the rampaging ISIS. It has committed
unspeakable crimes stirred by some cranky notion of Islamic valour of the past,
instead of emulating the legacy of tolerance and great learning during the
notable periods of Islamic rule. So, pride in the past can be progressive, regressive
or outright dangerous depending on which aspect of it is taken as the ideal.
India’s past,
being badly fractured along sectarian lines, has many ‘pasts’, often mutually
exclusive, to emulate, like perhaps -‘Sangam’ for most Tamilians, the Caliphates
for some Muslims, ‘Vedic’ for some Hindus (not for Dalits) and ‘Ramarajya’ for
many, and so on. So much so, mindful liberals prudently exhort the nation to just
march forward and forget the past.
India’s past
is a prisoner of politics and groups. But world over, countries take pride in
their past without any dissent, - like the West of its classical Graeco-Roman
period or Islam of its Caliphates- because their populations are far more homogenous
than India’s.
For a true
patriot like Nehru, India’s past was of only INDIA, not of any religion, region
or group. So, his ‘Discovery of India’ became the finest summary of our past:
to remember, be proud of and get inspired by. Our past, marked by individualism,
enquiring minds and scholarship, is rich with mythologies, architectural and
artistic achievements, literature and great philosophies. It has inspired and
continues to inspire our thinkers, artists and writers, while the music, dance,
Ayurveda and Yoga of the past are much in vogue in some or the other form. An
example of our past shaping the present is - how Gandhiji, an ardent follower
of Bhagavad Gita, developed satyagraha based on ‘Civil Disobedience’ by Thoreau,
who too was influenced by Bhagavad-Gita, the ‘stupendous and cosmological
philosophy’ - as he put it. The legacy of our past is very much with us and will
continue to inspire us in many ways.
But the
same is not true of the many Hindu customs and beliefs. While some are quaint and
add colour and cheer to life, others are misused by some Hindus for anti-social
acts such as lynching in the name of cow, aggressively opposing supposed ‘Un-Indian’
behaviour or promoting irrationality with preposterous theories about ancient ‘scientific
achievements’ based on events in mythologies which admittedly have ‘science-fiction’
touches remarkably clever for that time.
While past Hindu
customs like ‘Sati’ or untouchability are unequivocally condemnable, some like ‘caste
system’ and ‘cow protection’ are tricky to handle. For instance, caste is apparently
fair for reservations, evil as a social-system, and game for elections, even as
most Indians are comfy in its fold.
‘Cow protection’
issue arises due to certain Hindu sensibilities shaped by the bonding many
rural and semi-urban people have with the cows in their cowsheds, as also Krishna-legends
and the tradition of cow-worship. So, no wonder, illicit
and cruel cow-slaughter causes outrage, just as cruelty to pet dogs or stray
dogs might cause to pet-owners and animal-activists. If culling of unproductive
cows had been humane and well-regulated, the present flareup perhaps could have
been avoided. But appalling lynching incidents
have now vitiated ‘cow-protection’ issue. However, generalizing it as the sign
of an ‘intolerant society’ (read Hindu) has upset the tolerant Hindu-majority, who
feel they are being framed. Nothing good can come out of such allegation.
Ideally, lynching-accused
should be promptly punished, and illicit cow-slaughter eradicated. Unfortunately,
people are also lynched rather routinely on mere suspicion of committing crimes
like child-lifting or stealing, and such mobocracy in general can only be due
to the poor quality of human development over the years.
Lynching by
cow vigilantes, though rare and isolated considering our vast population, are unfortunately
used by some individuals to give a shine to their liberal credentials. Their narrative
of an intolerant (Hindus, obviously) society heading towards doom only creates a
sense of despondency while being an affront to the majority Hindus who are
tolerant. If the multiple, premeditated terrorist acts by radicalized Muslims with
hundreds of lives lost were rightly treated as crimes without generalizing them
to imply Muslims society as ‘intolerant’, certainly the lynching by the ‘cow-fanatics’
need not be generalized to imply Hindus society as intolerant.
Those who extrapolate
lynching incidents to doomsday scenario should remember the decades of
hate-mongering that led to Partition and horrendous carnage which neither the
national leaders nor the British could stop. While the current situation appears
‘tranquil’ in comparison, some of that poison is still in the soil. But despite
that, despite being riven by caste, creed, language and ethnicity like no other
nation, and despite the socio-political mischiefs being played, India continues
to prosper. It proves the overall resilience and tolerance of the people; we
should be proud of them- not run them down.
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