Writers stage a demonstration against increasing intolerance, New Delhi, on 23 October, 2015. Image Courtesy: IANS
The enterprise of intellection is in peril in India. Lest it be read as an alarmist, rhetorical rant from a confirmed anti-RSS pseudo secular, it would be useful to know what is happening in places away from the eyes of the metro media. The most recent incident is being reported from Mohanlal Sukhadia University of Udaipur. Effigies of professors of Philosophy are being burnt there. The minister who looks after education in the state of Rajasthan has issued orders to lodge an FIR against the professors. What has enraged the defenders of Hindutva is ironically a lecture in defence of Hinduism by professor Ashok Vohra, who is a well known scholar of Philosophy and has recently retired from Delhi University after having taught for more than four decades.
The latest news is that the dean of the university, Farida Shah, has herself lodged a complaint against Sudha Chaudhary and Ashok Vohra for having ‘hurt religious sentiments’. Meetings are being held demanding the arrest of Chaudhary and Vohra. The RSS and its different wings like the ABVP, Durga Vahini, Bajrang Dal are aggressively active.
What was poor Professor Vohra trying to do? He explains, in a letter to the Prime Minister of India, after he learnt of the real threat of a criminal case filed against him: “I had, quoting influential scholars like Wendy Doniger, Paul Courtright et al, shown how these scholars are misinterpreting and making false, maligning, derogatory and misleading propaganda in the name of scientific and objective study about Hindu gods and goddesses. I had argued in my lecture that these scholars without understanding the context – culture, values and form of life, misunderstood completely the narratives in the Hindu texts. I had shown that the all-inclusive character of Hinduism and its total neglect of the zeal for conversion is an enigma for the Westerners. They have to be educated about this distinctive characteristic. Not challenging these scholars is like being a pigeon who closes his eyes and thinks that the cat has disappeared and the danger is over. To evaluate the theories supported by these scholars one has to use their vocabulary, their descriptions and their interpretations. I had just done that and established my thesis that the claim of these scholars to being objective, psychoanalytic and scientific is a pseudo claim. Their claim is the outcome of their prejudices and misunderstanding.”
Now, this is something many of us may find problematic. But our reservation is not relevant here. Professor Vohra was delivering a lecture on the need and possibility of a dialogue on religion. He was speaking in the specific context of Hinduism. He was trying to understand why some scholars or observers from other traditions failed to initiate such a dialogue, which, he says is imminently necessary. According to him, such scholars, and he names some of them, instead of objectively observing and analyzing rituals and protocols attached with what is known as Hinduism, use the lens of their own traditions. It prevents them from comprehending the significance of the symbolism of Hindu traditions.
Professor Vohra uses the categories of “Antarik” (Insider) and “Bahya” (Outsider) for two different kinds of observers or scholars. He says that Hinduism is unique precisely because it does not treat anybody as “Bahya”. It is all-inclusive. Even the Charvakas and Meemansaks were not consider non-Hindu.
Professor Vohra was delivering a lecture on the need and possibility of a dialogue on religion. He was speaking in the specific context of Hinduism. He was trying to understand why some scholars or observers from other traditions failed to initiate such a dialogue, which, he says is imminently necessary
And yet, there is an outside of or to Hinduism. For example, it cannot claim Islamic or Christian traditions as its own. It is a different matter, as Prof Vohra argues in his lecture, that Hinduism is not interested in drawing people from other traditions to its fold or is indifferent to them. But for scholarship to start you do need to have an ‘ other’ or an outsider. Who would this ‘other’ be? Is this ‘other’ denied the right to discuss something he or she does not belong to? There are ‘others’ and there are ‘others’. Who are those ‘others’ who help us further our understanding of our own traditions, including religious ones?
To build his argument, Professor Vohra quotes a French traveller Baptiste Tavernier, who had visited India in the 17th century. He records his observation of the rituals attached with the ‘Puja’ being offered at the Bindu Madhav temple of Varanasi. It is a dispassionate description without any adjective attached to the rituals or idols of Gods and Goddesses. Vohra calls it an academically valid observation by an outsider. He is observing and recording his experience dispassionately without imposing his own understanding of what is truly religious or spiritual. What is most important is that he is non-judgmental.
Vohra contrasts this with the observations of other ‘outsiders’. They also observe and record the Hindu religious protocols and rituals but rarely without using adjectives like ‘demonic’, ‘grotesque’ – or a milder qualifier – ‘funny’. Vohra says graver than this is the problem which arises when they use analytical categories derived from their own traditions. To strengthen his contention he quotes from these scholars. It is obvious even to a person of modest intelligence that Professor Vohra is presenting their views only to demolish them. However, this is what went against him and his host Dr. Sudha Chaudhary. It is being alleged that Vohra used references which are derogatory to Hindu Gods and Goddesses and Dr. Chaudhary committed the crime of giving him a platform for his blasphemous act.
The defenders of Hinduism expressed their outrage by burning the effigies of Vohra and Chaudhary. This is a privilege mostly politicians enjoy. Academics would surely not like to join this club. Local newspapers chose to play along with the vandalisers. The minister of Human Resource Development of Rajasthan promptly asked the police to file an FIR against the offender- professors. One of the deans of the university said that such lectures could not be allowed on the campus. The university succumbed and ordered an inquiry into the whole affair. The committee appointed to “inquire” into the whole affair has not inspired too much confidence, however.
Professor Vohra is protesting. He says that he was using the truly Indian way of polemics. In this method you have to faithfully present the viewpoint of the “Poorva paksh”. Only after that are you allowed to dispute or refute it. This is the minimum one expects from academics.
The defenders of Hindutva would have none of it. They want to blunt our hearing. One must say that they have succeeded in their mission to a dangerous extent. Otherwise, how is it that a sharp ear like Karan Thapar failed to appreciate the rhetorical device used by Amir Khan to drive home the insecurity that is gradually engulfing not only the Muslim and Christian minorities but also other liberal and independent minded people? Thapar went on to sagaciously advise Khan to stay on and fight the irrational forces in India.
Was the fear of Kiran Rao, partner of Amir Khan misplaced? Should we ignore her as if the issue only concerns Muslims? As we can see from the attack on Sudha Chaudhary and Ashok Vohra in Udaipur, the seemingly innocent act of scholarship is now under threat. When scholars like Vohra are forced to seek protection from the high office of the Prime Minister, are we to understand that scholarship is no longer a ‘normal’ business in India? Would scholars be unpatriotic if they chose foreign universities for their pursuit of knowledge? For, is it not that the land of knowledge is where scholars live? Would they be advised by our ministers that they should face criminal charges bravely staying in India or they would be declared anti-nationals? Should all researchers and teachers secure anticipatory bail before publishing their work or attending seminars or even before entering classrooms?
(The author teaches Hindi at Delhi University)