Kolkata: Eminent classical dancer and cultural activist Mallika Sarabhai has spoken up against the “complete destruction of ideals” in the country, also stating ‘Hindutva’ is being shoved down the throat of people in the name of Hinduism.

Hinduism is actually all about asking questions, the 68-year old Padma Bhushan awardee said during a recent session about her life, career and initiation into the world of dance, at the concluding day of the Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival here on Sunday.  “What I am witnessing around today completely decimates me… Never had I thought there will be complete destruction of our ideals in India, and so many people blinded by the glory of advertisement and brand-building,” she said.

 “It is so nice coming to Kolkata and actually seeing (people) of different religions living side by side… which I don’t see in a similar way in Gujarat, in Ahmedabad, where ghettoisation seems to be so complete,” Sarabhai said.

She claimed that many of her friends are in jail, facing trial for asking questions, apparently referring to the arrests of some rights activists in recent times. “Hinduism is all about asking questions, as manifested in our scriptures. Unfortunately, it is Hinduism in the form of Hindutva that is quoted to us and shoved (down the throat of people),” the noted dancer said.

Sarabhai, who had portrayed Draupadi in Peter Brook’s play ‘The Mahabharata’ to great acclaim in the 1980s, apart from acting in solo theatrical works ‘Shakti: The Power of Women’ and co-directing ‘Women with Broken Wings’, said Bengal is among the few states where pluralism still exists in society.

 “Kolkata has always given me more love than any other part of the world”.

Woman BJP leader reacts

 BJP leader Roopa Ganguly, reacting to Malika Sarabhai’s strong criticisms about the narrowing down of political Hinduism. said Hinduism is not a religion, but a way of life that is connected to nature. Hindutva is a Hindi word and Hinduism is a globally known English word. That is the only difference between the two expressions, Ganguly, a former Rajya Sabha MP, said.

 “About the ghettoisation comments, shall I ask her (Sarabhai) to go through the population chart of Gujarat and (charts) of all parts of India. As she specifically mentioned Gujarat, I would ask her to check how many people engaged in diamond cutting live there?

 “Many of them are from Domjur in West Bengal and they are living peacefully in Surat.

Related:

“If this be our culture may it perish at once. If this be our sanskriti, may apocalypse come now.”: Mallika Sarabhai

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Reporters Without Borders has ranked India at 142 out of 180 countries in the light of recent attacks on journalists and scholars under a right wing Hindutva nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Narendra Modi. On the World Press Freedom Day, India has slipped on the global press freedom index. What could be more shameful for a country that claims to be the world’s largest democracy than this?

The news follows the recent incidents of slapping of criminal charges against several journalists in different parts of the country in an attempt to suppress voice of dissent and right to question.  

Only last month, a well-respected columnist Anand Teltumbde was sent to jail under malicious charges for being critical of a government that wants to transform India into Hindu theocracy and has given legitimacy to those involved in violence against religious minorities and other oppressed communities.

He has joined a few more thinkers already rotting in prisons. Among them is a disabled Delhi University Professor G.N. Saibaba, who is suffering with 19 ailments. His only fault is that he has been raising his voice against repression of minorities and state violence. Not only the Indian government and its courts have refused to set them free on humanitarian grounds in spite of a grave threat of COVID 19 in overcrowded jails, they have ordered the arrests of others, such as Teltumbde.  

Ironically, Modi government had recently started the broadcasting of Ramayan – a television serial based on the epic of Lord Ram, a revered Hindu god to entertain Indian masses locked in their homes because of COVID 19. It is believed that Ram was the King of Ayodhya. The Episode 13 of the serial (posted on Youtube) shows that when Ram was designated as the king, his father had advised him to be respectful of scholars and intellectuals as they are like “guiding lights” and accept their criticism with an open mid.

However, Modi government is doing exactly the opposite despite its advocacy for a Hindu nation. After all, the BJP has been campaigning for years to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya. The party supporters had razed an ancient mosque built in the city in 1992. They have been claiming that the mosque was forcibly built on the birthplace of Ram by the Islamic rulers after demolishing a Hindu temple. Ram has become a rallying point for BJP to polarize Hindu majority.  

In complete contradiction of its own politics that revolves around Ram, this government is throwing the scholars in jails, leave aside the question of listening to their concerns. It’s time for the Hindus to step forward and challenge this government which is bent upon using their religion for narrow political ends and show Modi and his hypocritical cabinet colleagues the mirror. If they really care for Ram, then they must liberate scholars and save democracy otherwise, the history won’t ever forget Modi and those who voted him to power in the name of a faith that teaches everyone to see the entire world as one big family.

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When Raosaheb Kasbe’s Zot was published in Marathi in 1978, RSS cadres made a public bonfire of it at the Janata Party convention in Pune that year. The book presented an incisive critique of M.S. Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts, the main ideological treatise of the RSS. Kasbe traced the historical roots of cultural nationalism as outlined by Golwalkar, and exposed its authoritarianism. His study of the functioning of the RSS revealed its communal blueprint, its anti-modern views and anti-democratic objectives. 

Kasbe challenged the RSS on its own turf—its interpretation of Hinduism. Through a rigorous critique of Golwalkar’s text and careful analysis of ancient texts, the scholar showed how the RSS version of Hinduism was unapologetically casteist and deeply patriarchal.

Four decades and seven editions after its first publication, Kasbe’s zestful polemic is finally available for the first time in English, published by LeftWord Books as Decoding the RSS: Its Tradition and Politics. The book has been translated by Deepak Borgave and edited by Vinutha Mallya. The introduction to the book has been written by Shamsul Islam.

In this interview, the author speaks to Vinutha Mallya about the book, and highlights the value of socialism for India.

Vinutha Mallya [VM]: Why did you write Zot?
Raosaheb Kasbe [RK]: When I was a student of MA, I read four books that sparked something in my mind. The first was Karl Marx’s [and Friedrich Engels’] The Communist Manifesto. Then I read Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste and Caste in India. After that I read M.S. Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts—it left me disturbed. I decided that one day I must write about this. 

After I started teaching at Sangamner College, I began writing articles for newspapers and periodicals like Samaj Prabodhan Patrika, which was one of the best journals in Marathi. I wrote a lot for this publication. In those days, you were considered an intellectual if your writing was published in Samaj Prabodhan Patrika. My writing was noticed by Pu La Deshpande, Vasant Bapat, Vijay Tendulkar, and Kusmagraj. They wrote to me and invited me to meet them whenever possible. I went and met them all at that time. 

I had already been teaching at Sangamner College for five years when Zot, my first book, was published in 1978. My second book, Dr. Ambedkar ani Bharatiya Rajyaghatana (Ambedkar and the Indian Constitution), was released a month after that.

VM: How was the book received?
RK: There was a store in the college where the books were kept on sale. The college management consisted of many RSS people. They protested to the principal [M.V. Koundinya] and demanded that the college store stop selling the book because it portrayed the RSS in a bad light. Koundinya said that if I had written a book it must be something good. He sent them back with the advice that they should write something nice about the RSS and get it published. Then the store could sell both books.

At the Janata Party convention in Pune later that year, the problems between the old Jan Sangh and the socialists began to surface. The socialists had kept this book on sale there, along with Baba Adhav’s Sanghachi Dhongbaji (Shenanigans of the RSS). People from the RSS demanded that the book be removed. There was an outbreak of fisticuffs between the two sides. The Jan Sangh group made a bonfire of the book and burnt it in public. I found out about it only the next day in Sangamner. I was on my way to give a talk somewhere and was at the state transport bus stand when I saw a newspaper with my name in the headline, ‘Raosaheb Kasbe’s Zot burnt’.
 
After it was burnt, Zot kept making headlines in the newspapers. It received a lot of support in Maharashtra, among the socialists, communists, the Dalit Panthers, and even from the Congress. The Congress raised the matter in the state assembly as well. In fact, Indira Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan both condemned the book burning and said that it would not kill the ideas that were in it. The book rode on a wave of popularity. It was priced at Rs 5. Pu La Deshpande bought a hundred copies and gifted them to his visitors. Sharad Pawar, who was Maharashtra’s chief minister, also bought a hundred copies to give away. Some freedom fighters in Dhule sold the book standing by the wayside. 

Many well-wishers started telling me, out of concern, that the RSS was dangerous. I said that they wouldn’t harm me because they knew it would cause retaliation. But I received a lot of anonymous letters with threats (I didn’t have a phone connection in those days). So things kept going on like this. 

VM: You never formally joined a political organisation. Why?
RK: Who will follow its discipline? It is good to remain independent. However, I’ve been friendly with all Left parties.

When my book Ambedkar ani Marx was released at Tilak Smarak in Pune in 1985, it was a big event. S.M. Joshi, a socialist, launched it. One of the speakers was S.Y. Kolhatkar, who was a member of CPI-M’s central committee. There was Republican Party of India’s Dadasaheb Rupwate too. Ram Bapat, professor of Politics in Pune University, was also there. Former chairman of the state legislative council V.S. Page, the socialist leader Nanasaheb Gore, and the noted freedom fighter Bhausaheb Thorat, were in the audience. So I was reassured that many people were with me. But I was also aware that when a person achieves fame, it requires a balancing act. You don’t know when you’ll fall. 

VM: What is the relevance of socialism and communism now? Do they have a future?
RK: Whatever is happening here is happening in Trump’s America too. It is the same thing in Brexit England. The situation will continue like this, and the violence will go on until socialism is established. Like Marx said, the criticism of religion is the premise of all criticism. And religious criticism can end only when it becomes clear that the human being forms the core of the world. There will be no contradictions then—and the social and political systems that will work, and move forward, are those that keep the human being as their base. 

Capitalism is going through a crisis just now. [Narendra] Modi’s rise is a strong indication that India’s capitalism is in crisis, and he is here to strengthen it. The contradictions [emerging from capitalism] will become stronger one day or the other, and it will lead to an explosion. It will lead to anarchy, and movements will begin from there—with the struggles between the poor and the capitalists. It is socialism that will win this battle. But we need to create a mass movement, no? Who is thinking of a mass movement? Everybody is going behind electoral politics.

There is a lot of illiteracy and lack of discernment just now. India’s people are not yet ready for democracy. That is why in his last speech in the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949, Ambedkar warned the country about the social and economic inequalities in our newly formed political democracy. It was a great lecture, which won great applause. But people haven’t read all this; they are now waking up to it because there is a need. Unless economic and social equality arrives in India, nothing will change here. 

In the Left movement, people criticise Modi saying he is this and that. I say that Modi’s arrival was imminent—it was to happen. Because the Left failed to do what Marx said is the first thing to do, i.e. the premise of all criticism being religious criticism.  We did not do a diagnosis of religion and culture. This is why there are so many illusions about religion in people’s minds. We haven’t tried to dispel these illusions about religion. 
The first reason to bring in socialism is caste. But we did not initiate the anti-caste movement. It could not be done until caste converted to varga, class. 
The Naxalites are talking about it now because there are many from the Scheduled Castes in that movement. They say ‘Jai Bhim, Comrade’ today. But it should have been said 50 years ago. And, because of not paying attention to the caste system, see what happened to the communists in Bengal. The Communist Party there was seen as a bhadralok party. 

VM: Isn’t it said that there is no casteism in Bengal?
RK: This is the thing about communists—they didn’t believe that casteism existed in India. They believed that there was no caste in India, only class. That’s why they called Ambedkar a ‘bourgeois liberal’. Ambedkar raised the question in Annihilation of Caste in 1936. He asked the communists how they were going to bring the revolution, because for revolution you need class. How will you create class? Even between the poor upper caste person and poor lower caste person there is caste conflict. Had anyone thought about it?

VM: There are many misconceptions about Ambedkar and his philosophy.
RK: Ambedkar was asked by a journalist once, ‘What is your political character?’ Ambedkar responded, ‘Is this something you should ask? I am a socialist’. The journalist persisted and said there were many socialists in the Congress too, so why didn’t he join the Congress. Ambedkar replied that the socialists in the Congress were suffocating and he wanted to breathe freely in the open.

Many didn’t understand Ambedkar, including the Left parties. Madhu Limaye once asked me, ‘Was Ambedkar a socialist?’ I felt, what were people saying? They don’t at all read Ambedkar. At least read him first, I said. Later, in his Prime Movers: Role of the Individual in History, Limaye wrote 110 pages on Ambedkar. 

They used to think Ambedkar was a sectarian leader and that Gandhi was the tallest leader. But Ambedkar established the Independent Labour Party. How could he have been a sectarian leader? So one set was blinded by Gandhi and the other by Marx. But is every single word of Marx the final truth? Something would have changed, no? Like Stalin said, there is no rulebook on Marxism. It is a dynamic thought; it must keep changing. Ask any question, and Marxists pull out a book, and say, ‘No, no, Marx has said this, Engels has said that, Lenin has said this, Stalin has said that.’ They should state what they want to do.

VM: If you had written Zot now, do you think the responses would be very different and the risk too?
RK:Things are happening exactly like I’ve written in the book, isn’t it? LeftWord should have published this [the English translation] by 1980. But they thought it was a book about religion… Oh, but LeftWord didn’t exist in 1980! [Laughs]  

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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Shantidas Gosai, the Hindu missionary, who came to Manipur early 18th century, burnt the Puya – the sacred scripture of Meiteis after converting them to Hinduism. The burning of Meitei Puyas has assaulted the culture, language, religion and social harmony of the Manipur society. The notions of purity and impurity plague the sections of the society after coming in contact with Hinduism and has affected the lives of people.
 
The concept of untouchability or the word used for it in Manipuri is a confusing terminology. The people are denied the existence of caste within the Meitei society. It is denied because; the people of Manipur do not like the label and don’t want box themselves with other untouchables in India. Whereas, the practice and symptom of caste are seen in every part of life from birth to death.
 
However, the language for untouchables, the concept of “Pure and Impure” “Amang – Asheng” in Manipuri, has become a trending topic day in social media.
 
The word for casteism and untouchability in Manipuri is “Amang-Asheng”. The literal meaning of “Amang-Asheng” is “pure and impure” in English. The concept of pure and impure blood from birth is rather closer to the description of casteism in Vedic scriptures.
 
After the attempt to insert the Hindutva machinery in Manipur University by the central government and ignorantly accepted by the state government, the talk about the practices of pure and impure – Amang-Asheng- has become a talk of the day in social media among the people of Manipur. It was fuelled by the unconfirmed rumour about the construction of Rash Lila Mandop within the sacred place of Kangla. People were appalled as they want to keep the Kangla sacred for Sanamahism.
 
Did the Amang-Asheng exist before Hinduism arrived in Manipur or is it the same connotation of casteism or untouchables?
 
For the last twenty years, I have been addressing casteism and its impact on the life of people in Manipur. Every time I identify caste, I am accused of bringing casteism in Manipur. I want to help our people understand the practices of caste among the section of societies in Manipur.
 
Brahmins not eating food cooked by other communities, no intermarriage between Brahmins and Meiteis and other communities, restriction of temple entry to non-Brahmins are the realities of life in Manipur, yet they are not seen as caste-based discrimination. If these are not caste-based decisions, then what are they?
 
Meitei’s, as well other communities in Manipur, before the coming of Hinduism, had the concept of sacred places, sacred days and sacred events. The sacredness or sanctity of the belief system of Meiteis is different from the untouchability or caste system. However, it becomes mixed with the practice of casteism or untouchability after the Meitei’s adopted the Hinduism.
 
Amang – Asheng (pure and impure) is rather an appropriate word for a confused and mixed concept of casteism and untouchability.
 
The concept of a Brahmin becoming defiled in the presence of untouchables, the practice of Brahmins not eating food cooked by the untouchables never existed in Manipur. Now, this has become a part of life after Hinduism came to Manipur.
 
Intermarriage between the people of the valley and people of the hill has been a historical practice in the state. The kings of both the valley and hill used to have wives from both sides. There was no concept of untouchability like Meitei’s becoming defiled by marrying tribal women, as it is now after the arrival of Hinduism. Shudhikaran in Hindi, Shengdokpa in Manipuri is the word for the purification ceremony after marrying a tribal woman. This practice never existed among the Meitei society before Hinduism in Manipur.
 
After the arrival of Hinduism, untouchability became a part of life in Manipur. A Meitei marrying a tribal woman had to go through the purification ceremony in two ways. One uses the old practice of purification which involves asking the tribal women to drink cow dung mixed with water or cow urine. Another practice is by asking the tribal women to drink holy water collected from washing the feet of the Brahmins, which is known as pavitra choran – the holy feet of Brahmins.
 
Until the purification ceremony takes place, the Meitei man and the tribal woman remain unclean. Until then the parents of the man will not allow the tribal woman to enter the kitchen to cook food for them. If the parents of the man happen to die, both the man and the tribal woman will not be allowed to perform the final ritual for parents.
 
These social taboos never existed among the societies of Manipur before Hinduism entered society. These social taboos of Amang-Asheng become worse among the Meitei society. The untouchability extended between the royal families and general Meitei’s. It extends further between the general Meiteis and scheduled caste communities and the hill people.
 
Madhu Chandra is National Secretary of All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations based at Hyderabad.
 

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Image credit: India Today

On 30 January 2018, retired civil servants and veterans of the armed forces jointly organised a conclave on ‘Hinduism and Hindutva’ at the Indian Social Institute, New Delhi. The conclave attended by over hundred participants, emphasized the need to rescue both Hinduism and the Indian Constitution from the clutches of the political project that calls itself Hindutva, and which has nothing to do with religion as such. The participants at the conclave sought to make a plea for saving Hinduism without making any concessions to the monstrosity of caste oppression, which in the spirit of many earlier reformers, they rejected.

This conclave followed an earlier one on ‘A Fractured Polity: The Relevance of Gandhi Today’ organised on 10 October 2017, which had been addressed by Justice A P Shah, Mrinal Pande and Ramachandra Guha. The speeches are available on YouTube (Justice A.P. Shah, Mrinal Pande, Ramachandra Guha). These civil servants and veterans have also raised severe concerns about the present situation in a series of open letters over the last few months: on vigilantism and hyper-nationalism; the suspicious death of Justice Loya; and violence and discrimination against minorities in India. (See: Retired Civil Servants open letter – 10 June 2017, Armed Forces Veterans open letter – 30 July 2017, Retired Civil Servants Letter 02 December 2017 – Enquiry into Judge Loya’s death, Armed Forces Veterans letter to Supreme Court & Bombay High Court on Judge Loya’s death, Retired Civil Servants open letter – 28 January 2018).

The Conclave on ‘Hinduism and Hindutva’ began with all observing silence for two minutes in tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on the anniversary of his death. It was
chaired by Air Marshal Vir Narain (Retd), and addressed by Prof Ram Puniyani (Retd), Shri Ashok Vajpeyi IAS (Retd) and Swami Agnivesh. The speeches were
video-recorded and live-streamed on Facebook and can be accessed at (30 January Conclave – Speeches).

Air Marshal Narain began the proceedings by asking why a group of retired civilservants and veterans have chosen to speak out at this moment, though they are
not known for making public statements. The reason was that they have sworn allegiance to the Constitution of India, and this is a post one does not give up after
retirement: it is a life-long commitment. They are speaking now because they think constitutional values are under threat.

Professor Ram Puniyani (retired, IIT Bombay) began by taking the audience into a fascinating detour into “communal historiography” aided by the British policy of
‘divide and rule’ for their own interests. He pointed out how, over time, with the rise of new social and economic groupings like industrialists, the working and
middle classes, the ‘perks, powers and privileges’ of the ruling classes like Rajas and Nawabs were threatened. These groups camouflaged their political interests
behind the banner of religion, and created the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League. Though they claimed that their religion was under threat, it was actually
their power which had been threatened. As a result, the core ethical aspects of religion were displaced by concerns about religious identity.

Professor Puniyani contrasted these Hindu and Muslim nationalisms with Indian nationalism as practiced in different ways by Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar, and the
Indian National Congress of Gandhi, Maulana Azad, and Annie Besant. The need of the hour is to focus upon liberty, equality and fraternity, and improving
the living standards of the poor and disadvantaged in India, rather than upon emotive issues of religion, orchestrated for political gain by whipping up hatred
against minorities.

This orchestration often takes place through the rewriting of history. For instance, many Muslim kings such as Akbar had Hindu officers, and even Hindu leaders
such as Shivaji had Muslim bodyguards; indeed, Muslims formed a considerable portion of his army. Yet we do not see these complexities.

Shri Ashok Vajpeyi pointed out that religions today have grown intolerant, even of their own plurality, and violent as well. As a result, they have ceased to make
spiritual progress. Though the Constitution of India is a socio-political document, not a spiritual one, the values of freedom, justice, equality, fraternity stressed in
the Constitution are essentially spiritual values.

What is distinctive about Hinduism is its plurality, and the fact that it is born out of a sense of lila (joy), rather than a consciousness of sin. That plurality is reflected
in the six schools of philosophy and in the absence of a single book or God. It has been the fount of a great deal of creativity, and has allowed for much by way of
dissent and criticism – even of the Gods.

Unfortunately, this pluralistic and open metaphysical structure has not translated into an open social structure: the caste system, whatever its origin, is simply unpardonable.  Recent research affirms that there has been a lot of violence displayed by Hindus in the past. In any case, both in terms of spiritual and creative progress, Hinduism seems to have hit a roadblock, and one does not see spiritual leaders come out and condemn violence in the present moment.

However, Hindutva should not be seen as a religious movement at all, but rather as a 19th century attempted Semitization of the religion, which has led to violence, hatred, and the ‘othering’ of minorities. In fact, votaries of Hindutva, with their adherence to a single doctrinal interpretation blissfully ignore the richness and diversity of thought that Hinduism offers. They are ignorant of the Indian intellectual tradition. They may say, for instance, that the Gita should be the Holy Book of India. However, our tradition is one in which one makes a book one’s ‘own’ by writing, commenting upon it: thus Tilak, Aurobindo, Radhakrishnan and Gandhi. Which RSS leader has written a commentary on the Gita?

It is a shame that so few people are speaking out today about the current situation; that this group has done so is commendable. After all, as the poet said, even if
nothing comes of my speaking out, at least someone spoke – and that is something.

Swami Agnivesh began by invoking both ‘Om’ as well as ‘Bismillah’, saying that he would anger either Hindus or Muslims if he invoked only one of these. But in
fact, there is only one religion, and it stands for truth, compassion, love, and justice: values recognised by believers and non-believers alike. All great souls in
the various religious traditions have reminded us that God does not live outside us, but within us. A focus on the external realm leads us to divide god for our own
purposes: we then focus on ‘religion’ rather than dharm, peddle it in the marketplace, and create strife. We end up caring more for the purity of our temples
and other places of worship than for our own purity.

Swamiji pointed out that we do not get to choose the religion into which we are born; the earliest source of religious indoctrination arises in the family His own
childhood was ‘religious’ in nature because it involved practices and rituals which were not to be questioned; at the same time, many injustices in the form of
untouchability and bonded labour were not questioned.

Seen correctly, religion involves rationality as well: one must question what one sees, rather than accepting things blindly, like sheep. Followers of false sadhus
and babas make the mistake of not questioning their leaders, but this is not the path of true spirituality. One should in fact be sceptical of all organised religions
as opponents of true spirituality.

Different people realise this truth in different ways. His own realisation came from reading the Vedas in college (they do not teach discrimination themselves, and
nor does the much-maligned Manu Smriti; these are later interpolations, he held). Gandhiji said earlier that God is Truth but later came around to the view that Truth is God. That is the knowledge which leads to true religion rather than sectarianism.

Satyam vada (Speak the Truth) and Dharmam chara (Do what is right) are the very essence of religion.

He commended the organisers – retired citizens who could have lived a quiet life – continuing to ask questions: “It is a courageous thing you are doing, to keep
standing up and questioning.”

More than a hundred participants attended the Conclave. There was a general consensus about the need for concerted action to preserve our Constitutional
values and rebuild our democratic institutions. It was also agreed that Hinduism as a religion should be distinguished from Hindutva as a political project, and that
new narratives would be needed to resist to the forces of communal polarisation.

Courtesy: Kafila.

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Close on the heels of a mega convention of Lingayats in Kalaburagi, thousands of members of the community, led by several heads of various Virakta mutts congregated in Chitradurga on Thursday,  September 28, to reiterate the demand for independent religion status for ‘Lingayata Dharma’.
 

He raised questions on how the Jain religion was able to receive minority status in 2014 and stressed that political  support for the movement was essential . He also emphasised the need for political support to take the agitation to a logical conclusion.

Terming the convention as the fifth for Lingayata Dharma, president of the Basava Samiti, Aravind Jattis, said all those who wore ‘Ishta Linga’ on their body were Lingayats.

Sri Basavalinga Pattadevaru of Bhalki Hire Samsthana Mutt emphasised the need to rectify the mistakes committed earlier to proceed further and also highlighted the need to establish ‘Lingayat Mahasabha’.

Sri Nijagunu Prabhu Tontadarya Swami of Mundaragi Tontadarya Mutt said there was a need to use social media to strengthen the movement . inister for Water Resources M.B. Patil said one needed to make efforts to arrive at a decision by December 15.
 

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Battle scene between Kripa and Shikhandi from the Mahabharata. Credit: Wikimedia. Public Domain.

Unlike most of my peers, my favorite time of day as a child was bedtime. Well, at least it was when my maternal grandmother — who visited my family every other year from the time I was born to the time I left for college — was in town. From the minute she arrived at the airport, I would latch onto her like a tiny barnacle, pestering her with questions from sunup until she finally fell asleep at night, no doubt exhausted by a five-year-old girl with a seemingly unquenchable curiosity about everything.

There was one question to which, however, she never said no. “Ajji?” I’d ask her, my voice high and ever so slightly petulant as she brushed my hair and got me in my pajamas, “Can you tell me a story?”

And she always did. Her repository of stories was seemingly endless, and she had a natural talent for making these tales accessible to a kindergartener without glossing over any moral nuances or situational complexities addressed therein. She drew upon her knowledge of Hindu epics to feed me bite-sized excerpts; exciting tales of kings at battle or goddesses who harnessed their rage to destroy evil.

This is how, before I even really knew what religion was, I was soaking up parts of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, getting my first primer to the Bhagavad Gita, and obtaining a solid foundation in the religion that would leave me conflicted for the next several years to come.

As I got older, I realized that Hinduism, and my relationship with it, would be a bit more complicated than I had previously thought. Well into puberty, I held fast to my tomboy-like tendencies; I far preferred to run around with the neighborhood kids, playing soccer and catching bullfrogs, to princesses or dress-up. I was incredulous, then, when I was stuffed into sequined lehengas, made to wear bejeweled bindis, and put flowers in my hair when visiting the temple or family friends’ houses.

When I protested, I was simply told that girls were akin to the goddess Lakshmi, and so it was expected that we dress like her to bring light into the home. It didn’t seem right that my discomfort — an alienation of my personal boundaries — was being justified via religion, but who was I to argue with a goddess? I kept my mouth shut, but even then, I knew something wasn’t sitting quite right with me.

The older I got, the more serious my problems with the religion in which I was raised grew. My family got their first taste of my self-righteous indignation shortly after I started high school. A few times a week, my whole family would get together to sing bhajans. Before one of these gatherings, however, I was pulled aside and told politely that I was not to participate in the bhajan because I was menstruating and therefore unclean and not allowed to enter the prayer area.
A rage heretofore unknown to me filled my soul — how was I being made pariah in my own home? Why was I being punished for performing a normal bodily function? Why did my religion, one that claimed to profess love and acceptance, make me feel nothing but shame and sadness?

Even then, I knew that my anger at the women in my family was grossly misdirected. They were not subjecting me to anything that they had not experienced, or forcing me to grapple with issues that they had not grappled with as young women. They were merely perpetuating the only lifestyle they had ever known onto the next generation — one that had been thrust onto them, and every generation of women before them, as an unquestionable rule with hazy religious rationale. Religion had become the ultimate crutch for a patriarchal society — one where men made the rules and God enforced them.

I carried my sense of disenfranchisement, and my ultimate disappointment with the religion of my family for many years. All through college I openly decried it, pointed out to anyone who would listen, it seemed, the misogyny I thought intrinsic to the practice of Hinduism.

Somewhere during this period I visited my grandmother, and as we were chatting, she asked me if I had been keeping up with my prayers and visiting the temple regularly while away at college. Though it seemed easier to lie and tell her that I was still pious, something stopped me — this woman, whom I had idolized since I was a toddler, deserved better. She deserved the truth.

I told her I had been struggling with my religion, with the idea of any sort of faith at all; in my view, it seemed to serve only as a way to oppress people, and enforce structures of power that turned people against each other. She thought about what I said for a minute, and then simply looked at me and said, “That’s okay. You love your family, your friends, and you want to help other people. That’s all God really wants you to do.”

While I didn’t know it then, this simple sentiment made an indelible impression on me, and softened my view on Hinduism, and religion in general. I went back to the Mahabarata, re-read the Gita, tried to make sense of the anger of my past. While I found the seeds of what could be interpreted as misogyny in these texts, I also found guidelines on how to live a fulfilling life as an insignificant human living in a cruel and confusing world. These texts were not meant to oppress me, but to try and enlighten me. Religion was a tool that humans used to understand a world that hurt them for no reason; a lack of education and an imbalance of power made it an easy scapegoat for systematic societal oppression.

While I cannot say that I am pious, devout, or even religious, I do have a renewed respect and appreciation for the faith I was raised in. And if, one day, I ever do have children of my own, I hope to tell them the same bedtime stories my grandmother told me as a child. In my mind, that is where the true beauty of my Hinduism resides.

Rashmi Venkatesh is (almost) a pharmacologist living in the Washington D.C. area. Her interests include feminism, pop science, South Asian diasporic culture and media, and biryani. You can find her on twitter at @rashmiv11.

This article was first published in The Aerogram.
 

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Vegetarians, vegans and religious groups are up in arms about the use of tallow in the new plastic fiver. Yui Mok PA Wire/PA Images

Of course, the introduction – for use by the British army and its Indian troops – of a new cartridge for the 1853 Enfield rifle which had allegedly been greased in pig and cow fat, was not the key trigger for the British Empire’s biggest revolt. Its power lay more in its force as a rumour than it leading to actual cases of Hindus or Muslims being directly polluted via contact with animal products.

But this is in some ways beside the point – as is the case with the petition started by Doug Maw, a hotel worker from Cumbria. The 120,000-odd petitioners – including vegetarian and vegan cafés across the UK and a range of religious groups – are probably aware of the fact that plastic bags, crayons, cosmetics, soaps and detergents, latex, toothpaste, and candles contain animal fats, too. But the tangibility and exchangeability of a banknote – its symbolic and material power – brings a greater social significance to the contaminated fiver.
 

Cartridges and chapatis

Like the greased cartridge affair of 1857, then, these symbolic campaigns suggest that the state’s relationship with consumer groups is fragile and the nature of political communication is ebullient. Key aspects of the £5 protest are its forms of rapid transmission. In 2016, social media allowed Maw’s greased fiver petition to quickly gather momentum. Similarly, the mysterious appearance of thousands of chapatis being passed from hand to hand among sepoy soldiers across northern India in February and March 1857, led British officials to surmise that the spread of this odd secret message, which outpaced the mail service, might be the harbinger of something serious.

The Sikander Bagh in Lucknow was the venue for a fierce battle during the Indian Mutiny.

The chapati wave had no proven link to the rebellion of May 1857 – despite official beliefs to the contrary. Nevertheless, government disconnection and security paranoia – as well as the enormous possibilities of mass communication via objects – characterise these moments of symbolic token distribution at both times.

So it is worth pausing to consider the historical signs running through these bendy notes, both religious and secular. In calling people to join the fiver ban, the National Council for Hindu Temples in the UK made explicit reference to 1857, and the use of pig and cow grease in its statement of 1 December 2016.

The ensuing revolution has been called the First Indian Revolution … and helped to focus such a sense of national identity that many remark that it created the wave of anti British rhetoric which coalesced in the expulsion of the colonialists and ultimately the demise of the British Empire. Could an adharmic £5.00 be an equally expensive mistake? Time will tell.

Claiming that the “devout Brahmin” Mangal Pandey’s discovery of the contamination sparked the ultimate “demise of the British Empire” is hyperbole, but Hindu organisations in particular draw on a deeper history of anti-colonial protest rooted in animal product taboos. From the 1880s through to the 1930s, for example, protests against the slaughter of cows and the use of cow products in manufactured goods served as a mobilising (albeit religiously divisive) symbol across north India.

Ever since its election in 2014, the BJP and its associated organisations have also maintained a multi-faceted campaign to end cow slaughter in India, specifically targeting Muslim and low-caste traders in hides and meat.
 

Moral dilemma

In other ways, though, these reactions are predominantly secular and illustrate how minority groups perceive or articulate their political rights. Hindu, Sikh and Jain temples have pointed to the importance of “charitable donations” to their sustenance and the moral dilemma posed by the £5 note. Likewise, cafes in the UK banning the note have pointed out that they make a living by not having animal products anywhere near their establishments.

The twitter storm around the dirty fiver made references to the “rights” of vegans, vegetarians and religious communities, whose ire was raised against Professor David Solomon, inventor of the note for Innovia, for describing protesters as “stupid”.

But we might also consider here the significant moral purchase of vegetarianism in relative terms. There have been no protests yet against the inclusion of Winston Churchill’s image on the note – a diehard opponent of Indian independence and a man widely believed in India to have been responsible for the deaths of more than 3m during the Bengal Famine of 1943.

It may be that the UK Treasury will bite the bullet and consider new forms of manufacture before it releases the planned polymer £10 note featuring the image of Jane Austen in 2017. And in that year of the 70th anniversary of India’s independence, we might also consider anew – like Austen’s Colonel Brandon with his East India fortune, or the Austens’ friendship with Warren Hastings – the many difficult and ambivalent relationships between Britain and India.

Author is Professor of Indian History, University of Leeds

This article was first published on The Conversation

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The RSS may not harm Islam in India, but it will certainly destroy Hinduism, Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi said on Thursday.

“Mahatma Gandhi had once said that all religions are true, but they are not perfect. Through this he is saying that each religion can learn from another religion. A nation which is called so diverse which has millions of gods and over 700 languages.

“Now they are saying that you are a traitor. So if I am a traitor let me say something. At present in India, I don’t know how Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will harm Islam, but it will certainly destroy Hinduism,” he said, delivering a public lecture on the occasion of the Constitution Day at the Gandhi Peace Foundation here.

A vociferous critic of the policies of the Narendra Modi-led central government, Vajpeyi has been under attack by the Sangh parivar for returning his Sahitya Akademi award to protest rising intolerance in the country.

Referring to the recent controversy over the statements made by Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, he said: “There is a difference between the nation and its government. The nation is larger than the government. Protesting against the government doesn’t mean one is protesting against the nation.”

Intellectuals and activists were present at the gathering to mark 66 years since the country’s constitution was adopted, and the present socio-economic political situation, democracy, existing inequalities and right to equality and justice were among the issues taken up. The event was organised by Jan Awaaz, a citizen’s platform created to highlight public concerns.

Among others who spoke were Supreme Court lawyer Indira Jaising, activists Usha Ramanathan and Nikhil Dey and Delhi High Court’s former chief justice Rajinder Sachar.

(Ashok Vajpeyi is an Indian poet in Hindi, essayist, literary-cultural critic, apart from being a noted cultural and arts administrator, and a former civil servant.)
 

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Image credit:  Haroon Khalid

There is quiet struggle going on in the city of Nankana Sahib in Pakistan – the birthplace of Guru Nanak.

Facing Gurudwara Janam Asthan, built on the spot where the first Sikh guru’s home once was, is a large mosque with a tall minaret.

Over the last few years, on each visit I make to the city, I find that the length of the minaret has increased. Its construction seems never-ending – and perhaps it is. The minaret is a symbol, an assertion of an identity that believes it is under threat.

Leaving home

After Partition, no Sikh families were left behind in Nankana Sahib. Its holiest shrines, associated with Guru Nanak, were abandoned and came to be occupied by tall grass and drug addicts. Over time, with the situation worsening for the Sikh community in the tribal areas following the Indo-Pak wars of 1965 and 1971, a few Pathan Sikh families moved to Nankana Sahib. The numbers increased exponentially with the emergence of the Taliban in the tribal areas and their demand for Jizya, a tax historically levy on non-Muslim subjects in a Muslim state.

As the community’s population in Nankana Sahib grew, there emerged a confidence and collective sense of identity that Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan’s Punjab had been robbed of at the time of Partition. This reflects in the ever-increasing scale of celebrations during Guru Nanak Jayanti, when a festival is held here in November to celebrate the guru’s birthday.

Empowered local Sikhs and foreign-currency wielding pilgrims meant better care of gurudwaras in the city. The government of Pakistan woke up to the potential of Sikh religious tourism and started renovating and protecting Sikh places of worship. Nankana Sahib once again emerged as a significant Sikh city in the eyes of Pakistanis and the rest of the world, even though there are only a few thousand Sikhs living here compared to hundreds of thousands of Muslims.

On the surface, they share a harmonious relationship, with local vendors benefiting from the surge of the tourists and local Sikhs merging into the economy of the city. However, a little bit of probing reveals the tensions. One example is that of religious purity. Many restaurants refuse to offer food to members of the Sikh community, fearing that their contact would yield their utensils impure.

In 2012, a young Sikh from the city, Dhavinder Singh, was killed, leading to tensions between the Sikh and Muslim communities. Further, there is property running into hundreds of acres linked to the gurudwaras of Nankana Sahib, most of which is now under the control of Muslim traders. As a result of this, tensions between the communities remain high. It is in this context that the tall minaret of the mosque facing Gurudwara Janamasthan should be seen. The minaret is an exertion of dominance, of asserting that one religion is superior to the other.

Lost heritage

In this engagement between these two communities the Hindu heritage is ignored. It is conveniently forgotten that there was once a thriving Hindu community here as well, which has left behind an equally remarkable architectural heritage.

When I first spotted the turret of a temple from the roof of Gurudwara Tambu Sahib in Nankana Sahib, I was drawn to it like a magnet. It was a lone structure surrounded by houses, domes of the gurduwaras and minarets of mosques. It was the only one brave enough to fight for space in an already-contested land. Following the turret, I walked through the streets of Nankana Sahib, passing several Sikh pilgrims gathered around the gurudwaras.

The temple at Nankana Sahib

Unlike other street, this was quiet. The quest for the turret led me to a wooden door with a chain on the top. I knocked the chain on the door, and in an instant, the door opened, as if someone was already waiting inside.

“Please come in,” said a middle aged man wearing a white shalwar kameez, not even asking me my name or the purpose of my visit. His name was Amjad and he was a professor at a local government college. He led me past a narrow staircase to the top floor of his house. The temple was on the roof, a tall turret with a small room underneath. Outside, at the entrance, there was an idol of Hanuman.

Surprised, I turned towards Amjad.

“No one worships here, so I saw no point in destroying the idol,” he said. Islam is regarded as an iconoclast religion. Mahmud Ghaznvi’s invasion of Somnath temple in the religio-nationalist discourse is projected as a heroic action. It is the same tradition that the Taliban followed in Afghanistan when they destroyed thousands of years old Buddha statues at Bamiyan.

After Partition, most Hindu temples of Punjab were taken over by migrants who had come from India or property grabbers and were severely damaged. Their idols were removed and destroyed. Frescoes depicting Hindu deities were chiseled out.

Some of these temples were used as houses and were whitewashed to remove all trace of their Hindu past.

So this was a rare instance of residents making an effort to preserve the sanctity of the temple that gave way to their house. The main shrine was unoccupied but clean. Its frescoes – mostly floral patterns but also sacred scripts – were well-preserved.

“Hundreds of rioters gathered outside our home in 1992 after the destruction of the Babri Mosque,” he said. “They wanted to destroy the temple. But my father dissuaded them. He told them it is not a temple but our house.”

Remnants of the past

The story reminded me of another tale I heard hundreds of kilometers away, in the heart of Margalla Hills near Islamabad, where the mighty city of Taxila once thrived. The ruins of the ancient city are scattered along its vicinity. The Taxila museum next to the ruins contains hundreds of items unearthed from these ancient sites.

Almost exclusively Buddhist, the museum contains some of the most iconic depictions of the Buddha. I was on my way out of the museum when, in the middle of the contemporary city of Taxila, I saw the turrets of a Hindu temple. I knew I had to visit the shrine.

Driving through the crowded streets of the city I found myself at the gate of the temple, a black structure with three turrets. I was greeted at the gate by a young Pasthun boy named Muhammad Ali. “There are three families living in the complex of the temple but the main shrine which was upstairs is unoccupied and locked,” he told me. “One day when I was sleeping with my feet towards the temple, an old man with a white beard appeared in my dream who told me to respect the sanctity of the temple. He also told me that I should regularly clean it. Since that day, every morning I open the temple and clean it. I also pray here sometimes and know god is listening to me.”

On the outskirts of the historical city of Bhera in the Punjab province, a great learning centre when the Chinese traveler Fa Hien arrived here in the fourth century CE, is a lonely structure of a small Shiv temple, a little out of place in the midst of newly constructed brick houses. Sometime in the fourth century BCE, the city was razed to the ground by the forces of Alexander the Macedonian.

In the 16th century, it faced the wrath of the Mughal King Babur. It was then renovated by Afghan king Sher Shah Suri, in the 1940s. Sher Shah Suri had established the Sur dynasty after he deposed Babur’s son, Humayun, to become king. Just outside the walled city, there is a historical mosque believed to have been summoned by the Afghan king.

The Sher Shah Mosque at Bhera

Standing on a vacant plot, the Shiv temple is a single-storey structure, with a shivling in the centre. There were blackened lamps around it, showing that they had been recently lit.

A teenage boy followed me into the temple and told me that it was an abandoned shrine till a few years ago, when some people from the city noticed an old man – a saint with long, white hair and a beard – sitting inside. He sat there into the night. “It was then that the people realised this place was sacred and started lighting lamps here.”
 

Haroon Khalid is the author of the books In Search of Shiva: A study of folk religious practices in Pakistan and A White Trail: A journey into the heart of Pakistan’s religious minorities.

(This article was first published on Scroll.in.)

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