More on Washpost article, and Hindutva
More on Washpost article
Interesting, and feel free to speak your mind here. However, my experience as a devoted student of Indian religion is that the tradition has too many confusions to be viable. And that I have to abandon it, because I can’t use it. that’s not bias, but frustrated interest.
I can’t argue with people who think the Code of Manu is a sacred tradition justfiying Brahmanism and the law of caste. I just pull up stakes and move on, sad that the great tradition of Indian religion has been corrupted.
That puts the whole thing at risk. Indic religionists need to consider their position, and do some radical thinking about their tradition and its confusions.
Fussing over Hindutva is the recipe for the destruction of that tradition.
I can’t quite evaluate Rajneesh, especially his endgame, but his basic position very clearly addressed these issues, from a man born on Jain terrain with no Hindu baggage but an immense respect for the real Indic stream of religion predating most probably the red herrings injected into the mix by the Indo-European concoctions of Vedism.
Sujay Rao Mandavilli said,
07.05.10 at 12:22 am ·
Hindutva tactics:
I am posting this because I am convinced all of us are truth seekers. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have wasted my time.
(a) Most people who beleive in ‘Hindutva’ (within inverted commas) theories are innocent. The Colonial- Marxist school of Indology is
primarily responsible for the mess, they haven’t changed with the times or connected with the people.
(b) Even those who propound ‘Hindutva’ (within inverted commas) theories are innocent. The colonial- marxist school of Indology is primarily responsible, they haven’t changed with the times or connected with the people. The ICHR is now synonymous with senility (like anything else to do with Marxism always is). However, all other government departments have turned a new leaf since 1991.
(c) There are however some dangerous people using this chaos and confusion to create havoc
the 19th century school of Indology cannot last beyond a decade – most optimistic estimate. But what will take its place? That’s what scares me to death. Will this be like a collapse of the USSR, a much smaller verion perhaps? It will have large implications though, but most won’t
even ‘understand’ what is ‘happening’!
Hindutva tactics
1.Shouting out against a myth, an obsolete or a half-imaginary theory
i.e The Aryan Invasion theory (which should have been abandoned before it actually was- or at least the fact that it was abandoned should have been communicated properly)
2. The obsession with whether the “Aryans” came from inside out outside India – this is irrelavant to history because identities keep on changing every 30 years or so. Such people are not interested in history but in politics. The “Aryans” migrated to Iran and other parts of the world as well, nobody creates a hue and cry there. Current research supports the idea that they came in small numbers and the transfer of power from the Harappans to the “Aryans” happened due to a series of Acculturations and internal movements
3. Not interested in history: The history of the Gangetic plains was and is being researched by Non-Hindutvavaadis, Pargiter, Smith, Rau, Witzel and now myself. Hindutvaavadis
will not be interested in history because it will conflict with their ideology.
4. Not interested in what is “theirs”,(whatever that means) Everything which is not “theirs” should be “theirs”
5. Introducing a crude “is “mine” older” or “is “theirs” older” competition
.i.e Vedic is pre-IVC theory.
6. Using the services of foreigners who cannot understand the complexity
of Indian culture to promote Hindutva.
7. Equating a sect of Hinduism with the whole of Hinduism and equating
it again with the whole of India.
8. Using the perceived weaknesses and irrationlity of Marxist ideology
as an excuse for promoting the Hinduvta movement
9. Using Dravidian nationalism as an excuse to
promote Hindutva (‘They misused history and so can I’)
10. Using the fact that current approaches to Indology are considered to
be hopelessly obsolete to their full advantage
11. Taking full advantage of the fact that the man in the street
cannot understand or will not be interested in understanding the complexity of the Aryan problem and using his historical naivety to their advantage.
But ultimately Hindtva (misuse) of history is more dangerous in the long-term than the Babri Masjid demolition or the Godhra massacre. The fact that a majority of people don’t understand what the Aryan problem is doesn’t make it less dangerous!
Therefore only a few people who can understand what they are upto must expose them
12. Indian Hindutva agents posing as Europeans
13. Indian Hindutva agents posing as Pakistani Muslims
Their strategy has been so successful that many Americans, Europeans (some of them older) and even Pakistani muslims
now implicitly beleive them!!
14. Not interested in the ‘Indus script’ – strictly outside their purview (Exception: (pseudo)-decipherment(s))
I will still say
(a) Very few people are interested in History
(b) Even fewer would opt for history as a career, much less in a developing country like India where people are driven by economic compulsions
(c) But issues such as this have far-reaching implications not just for India but for the rest of the world.
There are fundamental differences between Egypt , Mesopotamia and India . Egypt , Mesopotamia are Islamic countries which don’t even encourage their pre-ISLAMIC past (!!!!) . In India , religion which comprises of Mythology or mythologized history is intertwined and inseparable
with daily life. IF Indians don’t get what they want from mainstream sources, they are in the control of people like Rajaram.That is it! That is what has happened .. and is threatens not just India but the rest of humanity, in a way. Most people who believe in Hindutva are innocent. But that is what makes it all the more dangerous. (!)
Almost everybody in India today thinks Rajaram et all are correct. WHY?
Is there something seriously wrong with the education system here .. YES .. there is !!
What could be the reason?
(a) There are many unresolved issues in Indian history
(b) Marxist Historians did not make an attempt to understand underlying problems / invest in research
(c) Western Indologists did not make an attempt to connect with Indians
Wait for the impending catastrophe. We fear for India and its future. The world may well sink with it.
Sujay Rao Mandavilli
New Man, New Age, New Socialism 