Gautam Sen’s scathing piece in the Pioneer, reproduced in full because Pioneer’s links don’t work the next day. Dire and unnerving as the piece is, it is another wake up call, one among the thousands that we continue to ignore at our peril.
India’s long defining moment
Remember the Nineties as the decade that signalled the end of Hindu civilisation, says Gautam Sen
The decade on the eve of the 21st century was a momentous one for India. This was the decade in which the true political consequences of the fragmentation of Indian society became firmly entrenched. The political protagonists of supposed Hindu interests unexpectedly came to the fore and just as quickly decided there was no such constituency and espoused the politics of being in power for the sake of power alone. Just as jihadis resplendently speak of dying for their faith, contemporary Hindus overwhelmingly seek personal advancement and also apparently crave vacuous entertainment.
The nuclear tests in May 1998 marked an apparent fresh beginning of India’s quest for a place in the high table of the international arena. But it proved a chimera in retrospect since it mainly managed to instil fear in Indian policy makers and hobbled their ability to act. The economy began to grow rapidly, but much of this advance was insubstantial because it has primarily been clever Indians hawking their intellectual skills and the rest remitting foreign exchange by skivvying abroad.
The real hard economy remained in the mendacious thrall of politicians and bureaucratic pilferers and trade union thuggery. The rapid advance of the crucial manufacturing component of the economy that has accompanied success elsewhere remains hostage to the socialism of the few, squeezing a sore udder at the expense of the disorganised many.
Yet, this is clearly the decade in which the final denouement of Hinduism began, accelerating unprecedentedly. The clock ticking ominously for 12 centuries since the conquest of Sindh suddenly sounds fearfully audible. The deeply rooted self-doubt and self-destructive impulse of Hinduism has joined hands with the opportunistic Semitic paws that had been stroking their kill since time immemorial. They conjoined malignantly with the mundane imperatives of venal business greed that Indian politics unequivocally incarnates now. In this denuded world, children and grandparents, any country’s future and the past, cease to matter. The melancholy historical fate of womenfolk being bartered in foreign bazars becomes a resigned metaphor.
The rapid advance of centrifugal political forces in India is loosening central authority, now in constant negotiation with diverse explicit separatist demands. India’s separatists have invariably formed relationships with India’s external foes in the expectation of a fleeting moment of political power and, as always, the prospect of personal enrichment. These foreign enemies of India are likely come to the aid of separatists by interceding directly at a moment when internal dissent rises to a crescendo, pointing to Indian help in creating Bangladesh for justification.
The likeliest scenario is the loss of domestic political legitimacy that incites individual states to declare sovereign independence. Tamil Nadu may be an unexpected candidate for this dubious honour since it’s in the hands of the most wilful and depraved politicians, exhibiting vaulting self-regard. Others likely to follow the clamour too include Punjab, Assam, Bihar and West Bengal. Such an awesome scenario is most likely in the context of prophylactic intervention by the armed forces during a growing phase of national collapse at the Centre. The moment that happens, all political legitimacy will evaporate.The fiction of electoral politics binds India together, though in reality only serves to justify personal and parochial political ambition.
Alas, the historic Hindu world has long been a vale of tears, untold stories of countless enslaved women and children walking across desolate mountain passes to faraway places. It is this tragedy that is being celebrated with scornful glee by the enemies of the Hindu people. The single accusatory word, communal, demolishes all Hindu entreaties in the contemporary world. It turns them into utterly friendless creatures, much like the medieval auto da fe that almost invariably led to burning at the stake.
Yet it is Hindus themselves who have made material greed their predominant impulse, above all else. Even their worship of the divine is a mockery to facilitate material acquisitions while tragedy unfolds all around them. No Hindus, with the sole extraordinary exception of Sri Lanka’s Tamils, have shown willingness to die for their beliefs. Of course, Tamil militants perish exclusively for their ethnic community and only incidentally as Hindus.
Perhaps this is why Hindus are accused of lacking historical sensibility, a misfortune now surfacing as grim amnesia, though fortified by wilful self-denial. This is the fate of slaves since they do not possess legal personality and autonomy, consigned to an anonymous footnote in the history of their masters. Hindus like having masters, otherwise so many would not be serving them so earnestly.
At every juncture Hindus are fighting each other on behalf of imperialist intruders. In comparison, the discord between the Latin and Orthodox churches that facilitated the Ottoman conquest of Byzantium seems a household infraction. The nominally Hindu intellectual class is in virtual unison in their wish to crucify their past, embracing Christian and Islamic imperialism instead. The loathing to utter a single word in defence of their own heritage is surely remarkable on sociological grounds alone. Is there any other people, who find nothing in their history to celebrate, recalling it only as suffocating and oppressive?
The recent near-unanimous chorus of a virtual who’s who of Indian academics around the world, led without self-respect by the nose by Harvard’s Michael Witzel, against changes to the curriculum on Hinduism for California’s schoolchildren is an apposite illustration. Many who signed the petition’s scathing denunciation remained unfamiliar with the requested changes when they signed it, suggesting a classic instance of self-hatred. In stark contrast, there was not a single protest voiced from any quarter against the many more tendentious changes demanded by other religious groups, some of them truly outrageous.
In comparison, the changes sought by Hindu parents and their supporters were on the whole innocuous, at worst, prone to give a slightly positive spin on minor issues. But they provoked the vehement ire of hundreds from the world’s leading universities and all religious affiliations, including Muslims and evangelical Christians. It is an astonishing testament to the piranha-like feeding frenzy at the smell of blood. The serried ranks of evangelists and jihadis are truly lining up to deliver the coup de grâce.
This is surely the decade that will be remembered in generations to come, if anyone remains to write its history, as the one that signalled the final demise of the Hindu civilisation. Like many rich polytheistic cultures before them, from Greece to Persia, the monotheists will have terminated them. The ostensible defenders of Hindu interests turned out to be traders looking to make a fast buck while they chanted sacred hymns in feigned religiosity to divert attention. The treacherous intellectual tradition within it hoisted a banner to dwarf the skies, while senselessly proclaiming their own moral excellence.
It will not last, since the celebration of ultimate triumph will be reserved for their victorious masters alone. Their temporary havens and rewards will be withdrawn and they too will find themselves kneeling before the enemy they served only too well. A small band of the defeated will make their lonely passage to oblivion though they knew what was in the making, but could not bring their community along to do battle.
I’ve read and heard several intelligent, educated people talking about the innate strength of Hinduism that has enabled it to survive so long and will continue to, on the basis of that strength. I can only laugh. These people claim to have read the Gita but they are either lying it or they haven’t understood its essence for one of the very first things that Krishna does is to chastise Arjuna to “cast away his meek-heartedness and fight for his duty.” A majority of us have no clue of what duty faces us and our meek-heartedness forbids us to even think about it. And we therefore sit happily in our self-imposed stupor, chanting the “strength of Hinduism” Mantra.
Tags: History, Indian Philosophy, Indian Politics, International Politics, Terrorism & Pakistan
Sandeep in thispostwrites, what I think should be the answer to “Hinduism has survived for blah blah years and will continue to survive”, “… I’ve read and heard several intelligent, educated people talking about the innate strength of Hinduism that has enabled it to
Wow ! what an essay by Sen ! I sometimes feel, and this is straight from the heart, that i should leave everything, dump all my material and fight for Hinduism. But then within seconds i realize that who will i be fighting for ? When i look at our generation, 90% of us (Hindus) don’t care. They are least bothered if Kanchi Shankaracharya is arrested or three hundred thousand Hindus are rendered homeless or 60 Hindus are roasted alive in a train. On the other hand these very Hindus , for whom i ever thought of fighting, rejoice at US denyig Visa to Modi or Sonia Manio leading the nation.
Since long i have ceased to start a conversation with a fellow Indian of my generation about the sorry state of affairs. Most do not know whats happening and even if they know they are as apathetic as one can get.
Clearly we need to re-define who does the word “Hindu” really represent and may be give a nice name to it. We, as in the ones who really feel emotionally about Hindu culture and India as a nation, should call ourselves something else. Or may be name those “Hindus” on the other side of the “fence” something else.
We cannot talk for all Hindus , i mean people who were born with a Hindu name, now. We need to redraw the lines and clarify a few things before we even think of representing the “Hindu” view point. For me George Fernandes is bigger Hindu than lets say Somnath Chatterjee or Mani Shankar Iyer. APJ Abdul Kalam is a bigger man than all the “Hindus” of the communist hue.
I am cynical and bitter man. And no, Islam or Christianity is not the reason for that. The reason is the very “Hindu” i ever thought i would raise a banner for.
Parimal,
One first step would be to perhaps re-indigenize the religion - i.e. to go back to the fields and coastal communities - and re-invigorate the folk Hinduism of the farmer, the fisherman and the artisan. Too much emphasis has been on the elite underpinnings of our religion. The real life blood of the nation is in the field and that is where one starts. The dharma shastras were specific that local custom preceded formal law. The texts of Indian classical music mentioned that the ragas drew from folk melodies. Panini explained that Sanskrit itself took from the rural idiom but perfected it! So the roots of Hinduism lie in the folk tradition. Its a bottom-up approach, not top-down.
Too much emphasis to date has been on high Hindu culture and philosophy. The world of thought is key but practice is more relevant. How do we make a difference as urban elites? Well, we get back to practice in our own lives which will make a difference to those around us. This much is in our hands and we can unleash positive energies that gather a momentum of its own.
And also comment on blogs such as this one on issues of Hindu interest
Best regards
Hindu intellectuals don’t seem to believe in political process and media power. I was watching Man Mohan Singh’s press conference just now. There was not a single question about Hindu interests. Out of the dozens of press correspondents, if none feels like asking a question about the fate of Hindus, it is clear to me that Hindus have no future.
Second point, LTTE might not have anything to do with Hindu interests. Is the author sure LTTE chief Prabhakaran is a Hindu? Is it at all likely that LTTE is dominated by Christians?
Jaffna,
Your point of re-indigenizing the religion is well taken. But i would say, that is a long term strategy. Really, the only Hindus speaking out today are the urban ones, even if they form the minority.
Let’s just say that we (Hindus) are at war. The enemy is strong and ruthless. We need to re-define our strategy. When at war, a team has both short term and long term plans.
Currently Hindus are like Jews or probably worse. We are dhimmis of our own nation. Atleast technically Jews did not belong to Germany or Italy.
Jews probably erred in their imagination to fight oppression. I just cannot fathom how 6 million of them could be killed. And to think that the Jews unlike Hindus constitute a monolithic block; sans any cast or ethnicity.
But ya i agree. The real Hindu power - if at all there is one - exists in it’s folk tradition or rural makeup.
Reading these comments was sort of therapeutic for me. The reason is because I have felt exactly like Parimal (oh my God, Parimal’s experience and emotions are so remarkably similar to mine) for a long time. For a while, I used to engage in discussions about the perils faced by Hinduism with my so-called “Hindu” friends. All it would result in was unanimous condemnation of me as some sort of fundamentalist. Yeah, I don’t mind being labelled fundamentalist if speaking for a peaceful, and one of the world’s oldest philosophies is going to incur the label of fundamentalism. So be it. I completely agree with Parimal. I gave up a while back precisely because of the same deep sense of betrayal by my fellow Indians. I have come to the conlusion there is no monolithic Hindu society. I have resigned myself to the inevitable end of Hinduism as our ancestors knew it. I will practice it deep within my heart and in my home till the day I die but I have given up faith in a Macro Hindu cause because I am convinced none exists. This leads me to the conviction that the philosophy will die a sure death at least on the macro level, never mind individual adherents. - A deeply anguished Hindu.
The problem is the “assumption” about hindu definition? Whenever someone defines hindu, invaribly he is assosciated with a certain political party (guess which?) Thats not true , i dont need to belong to certain political party to be a hindu. Invaribly if only a hindu cares about a hindu all the problems will be solved. Think of all these “students’ demonstrating for replacement of displaced kashimiri people?
The greatness of Hinduism is is ability to assimlilate different types of beleifs and reinvent itself continuously…..
But if there is one thing lacking, it is a comprehensive encyclopaedia of Indian
philosophy and teachings…. it would serve as some sort of a practitioners
guide to the best of Indian philopophy… the best of the Upanishads / Bhagavad gita/
local traditions (even Budhist / Jain teachings/ Thirukural) etc etc … Why doesn’t someone take this up as a project ?
So that we have a complete guide to what is best in Hinduism? I personally think this
is a must ..Any comments ?
Sujay Rao Mandavilli
Budhism made us forget how and Mahabharta was fought and How Porus had fought with Alexander. Brahminism axed our society further with castism. We became a weak and meek community waiting to be plundered–Islam arrived and raped our bodies, religion and soul–we became cowards and frieghtened–waiting to be conqured by anyone–Briish arrived and looted whatever we had left-our gold and money– we somehow managed to fight back and got independence–Gandhi and Nehru screwed up everything again and we have an India whose command is in hands of a Sikh, who is a boot licker of an Italian christian, we just had first citizen a muslim and Hindus meekly and proudly (?) declare as an achievement! What a shame ! I am a Hindu, and deeply wounded. Where is a conutry I can call my own, what will happen to my great religion and philosophy? I only Hope Hindus will wake up some day.
Every hindu should illume the flame of self belief and should always remember the sacrifice of their ancestors i.e. Our Ancient Hindu Warriors who flew their blood for the mother land ‘Bharat Varsha’, and their resistance towards the evils who kept trying to annihilate Hindus for last many thousands years. We all should pledge to sustain the same resistance to keep alive our Great Hindu Dharma till the last drop of blood remains in us.
i dream of the day we take inspiration from the jews and establish Bharat as our fatherland and sanskrit as our national language. If the jews could revive hebrew, which was “dead” for four hundred years, I dont see the difficulty in doing the same with sanskrit which is more alive.
In the last 4 years since my visit to Qutub-Minar(where the ASI plaque says the pillars and stones adorning the structure with Hindu deities came from 57 demolished temples.) and `Mathura(where a big mosque’s wall runs through the chamber considered to be the birth place of Lord Krishna. Courtesy Aurangazeb) there has been an extrordinary metamorphosis in me. It is not the shock that made me think but the treachery of Congress in hiding all these facts and showning as if only muslims have been at the receiving end in India.
I have also been the by-product of Congress propounded secularism. Even when Sonia was touted the Prime Ministerial candiate I didn’t find anything wrong with it. Today i hold entirely opposite views and do not think that is going to change. To me Hinduism wasn’t important as it is today. Today it is my identity. While working in the UK one of my colleagues from India had an English sounding name (he is a christian from India). The locals were amused at his name because he had two surnames together that wasn’t an English tradition. Infact that combination had a euphemism and it jocularly refered to the male genital. That is when I realised how significantly my name represents my identity.
To me the problems confronting Hinduism today are because we haven’t begun doing what Christians and Muslims are doing: proseletysation. We might want to be proud of our open mindedness but the political situation in the world isn’t favouring us. Yes I am worried and concerned about the survivability of Hinduism. In past the attack was from outside and hence though we were meek we just survived by being slaves. Today we are attacked not from outside but by our own people who have taken to other religions namely Chrisitanity, Islam and of course the communists. If we have to survive this we need a good leader who can unite us. A leader who can help Hindus unite cutting accross caste barriers. We need someone who can fight throug the machinations of Secularists and communists.
I recently reaslised that world stability rests on India. Not an exaggeration by any means. Please have a look at the world map : http://btw.imb.org/news_map.asp . The region stretching from Turkey on the west all through Africa Libya, Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, middle east, sub continent to Indo-China upto Malaysia is the muslim world. The only country that stands beetween complete islamisation of this world and freedom is India. And it remaining a stable and powerful country is of paramount importance to the survival of human kind. With Saudi Arabian money that is being poured into various parts of the world for political control, India is still considered to be an unfinished business in so far as islamisation is concerned. We need to protect not only our culture and religion but would have to fight for our lives. The way we have been made passive by Congress for the last 60 years I doubt if we presently have the will to do that. We need a leader who can instill confidence and pride amongst Hindus.
Muslims have a problem not only with Hindus(also includces Sikhs, Buddists and Jains) but aslo with Chrisians (Russians, Americans, Brits, Europeans) and Jews. I think what Samuel Hutington postulated is going to happen : The Clash of Civilisations.
The question is will Hindus fight for their rights in their own country.
Shanth…
I BEG YOU SANDEEP, DO SOMETHING TO SAVE HINDUISM.WE NEED ANOTHER CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ TO SAVE US FROM the monotheists.
Please watch “BAD MANNA” (3 parts) on youtube. The video highlights xtian missionary misdeeds in India.
Sandeep. What u r saying is 100% truth. Already the muslims started attacking hindu women west bengal on the lines of bangladeshi model. We ned hardcore hindu leaders like Modi who can be tough to atrocities against hindus. Also we need to convert people from other religions into our religion. Also we need to catch up with the alarmingly rising muslim population. Hindus should have 4 to 5 kids otherwise we will become minority in india in next 50 years. The situation is looking dangerous with lot of political parties are looking for 15% muslim votes rather than hindus. We need to improve our population and expand into other countries. First of all pakisthan should be disintegrated. Already baloochisthan is on the verge of seperation from pakisthan. Sindh is prefering to have independent country. Then pakisthan will be left with west punjab which the fertile land. In the cIA and pentagon archives, i have read an article where USA is preparing blueprint to disintegrate pakisthan and unite iwth india by parts to counter china as china is posing severe threat to them. One thing i can say is we are saved from muslims by the british conquest. I am not supporting british but it’s true otherwise by 16th century india was having many hindu women under the grip of muslim kings. Akbar abducted more than 300 rajput princesses. horrible things happened.
Fact: Hindus are in majority in India.Heavy weight Hindu priests and Sadhus have to unite the hindu population and through the electoral process pressurise prospective MLAS to act on behalf of hindus and their policies. There should be diversification from apeasing the ideas and policies of other religions. The hindus themselves should rise and never yield to any threats from any individuals or any group made up of other religions. Device constructive ideas and plans to reconvert Indians of other religions to hindus.
Beat them at their own game.
Do not worry.Believe in God.Leave castism,follow the example of Guru Teg Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh,and fight like Banda Bahadar for the real Dharma . Then you will be blessed by the power of the Akal Purakh and you shall be out of any danger what so ever.
According to census hindus are losing 1.5% every decade in India since indipendance, a very grave situation.In Bangladesh hindus are down from 33% to 10%,in Assam 89%to 65% ,in West Bengal 92% to 73%,in Kashmir 24% to 0% ,in Kerala 70% to 55%,in UP 91% to81%.BUT YOU SEE HOW MUSLIM POPULATION IS ROCKETING IN BANGLADESH FROM 65%TO 88%,IN INDIA 8% TO 15%,IN ASSAM 11% TO 35%,IN WEST BENGAL 7%TO 26%,IN KASHMIR 75%TO 1OO%,IN KERALA 16% TO 26% ,IN UP 9% TO 19% SINCE LAST 50 YEARS.YOU TELL, WHAT HINDUS MUST DO SOON TO PREVENT THEM FROM PERISHING 100% SO THAT YOU CAN LEAVE BEHIND A TOLERANT LEGACY TO YOUR KIDS AND DESCENDANTS AND THE WHOLE WORLD, WHERE CLASH OF CIVILISATION IS GOING ON ACCORDING TO HUNTINGTON.YOU POOR HINDUS PROVE THAT YOUR POPULATION GOES FROM THE PRESENT DAY 80.5% TO 82% ie,1.5% UP ,BY THE NEXT CENSUS IN INDIA .THEN ONLY YOU HAVE SOME HOPES,OTHERWISE HINDUS WILL PERISH IN NEXT 50 YEARS IN THE LAND OF THEIR ORIGIN.
there is no need to worry. Hinduism can never be wiped out. Wnenever Hinduism came on brink of extinction great people like shankaracharya were born.so just pray and try to be a true hindu
Things the overwhelming majority of Indians do not know:
India was the world’s richest, most cultured, most educated country before the British came to rule it.
Most of the discoveries the West claims for itself were stolen from Hindus through Western jesuit missionaries who visited India.
The scale of the killing, torture, and rape of Hindus by muslim invaders and the British raj is monumentally massive. No group of people in the world has come close to suffering as much as the Hindus have.
There was no Aryan invasion. None.
“Bramhins were bad” is a myth concocted by the British to splinter India.
“The caste system” is alien to Hindu Dharma. The British, when they first arrived, themselves remarked how happy Indians of all social strata were. The true meaning of varnashrama was twisted beyond recognition by the Bristish to keep India locked in perpetual social war.
The British loot of India made India one of the poorest countries in the world by 1947.
(Details for the assertions above can be found on the web. Just google around. Please do not fall prey to this disease called pseudosecularitis, the symptoms of which are not looking at a website just because it is about Hindu Dharma and Hindu civilization; and pretending to be well-informed about India and the world because you read the opinions and “analysis” of established Hindu-haters.
To start you off:
http://www.hinduwisdom.info/index_new.htm
http://www.maanojrakhit.com/)
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What are the goals of the “Hindutvawadis” ?
The so-called Hindutvawadis have had one goal: to make India respect all religions alike. That is, to not have systems and laws which favour one religion over the other, and to punish criminality stemming from any religion. Today’s India is a place where Islam and Christianity receive special status, while Hindu Dharma is relegated to the dustbin. However, the Hindutvawadis are called “communal” by our so-called “secularists”.
What are the goals of the “secularists” like the UPA?
The so-caled secularists want to create an India which is deeply communal, with Islam and Christianity getting special status, and where Hindu Dharma has to subsist on leftovers tossed out to it by a government eternally in awe of these two minority religions. However, please note, India is to be termed a “staunchly secular” nation when all this happens.
One only has to follow the daily news to see the truth behind what I have written.