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Reflections of India

~ by facing my shadows

Reflections of India

Tag Archives: India

Rann of Kutch: right out of a fairytale

17 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by opus125 in Indian Art, Indian Clothing, Indian Festivals

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Gulf of Kutch, India, Rann of Kutch, Rannustav Fstival, Thar desert

monsoon-lake

The beauty of the white desert shimmers in the moonlight.  By day, a “desolate area of unrelieved, sun-baked saline clay desert, shimmering with the images of a perpetual mirage.”[1] Equally, there is also a darker side, of salt cured labourers lugging sacks of salt for merchants and vibrant embroidered colour.

During monsoon, the region is covered in water, and over winter, the water evaporates leaving a salty crust that must be seen to be believed.
The salt crunched beneath our feet as we walked on it, and some of the earth gave way beneath us where the water had still not entirely dissipated after monsoon.  Before us we could see nothing but pure white land that melted into the horizon.  There were no people or buildings in sight, it was like we had reached the end of the earth.
In what is one of the most inhospitable places on earth, you can even stay in a tent overnight and wake up to this beautiful sight.

Rakhee Ghelani

walkingsaltplains

One of the world’s largest seasonal marsh lands, once shallows of the Arabian Sea, turn into desert during the dry season. Crossing Gujuruat and Sindh Pakistan, 30,000 square km of encrusted salt between the Gulf of Kutch and the Indus River, it is the only large flooded grasslands zone in the Indo-Malayan region.

Flamingo-City

Perhaps the bleakest, dustiest, and hottest region in India, sitting along the Tropic of Cancer at the end of the at the end of the Luni River, draining the the Aravalli Hills, the Great Rann of Kutch is refuge for the last population of the endangered Asiatic wild ass (Equus hermionus) and supports the one of the world’s largest breeding colonies of the greater and lesser flamingos.

A lake since the Mesozoic, when geological uplift created a vast lake still navigable when Alexander the Great invaded it has since silted into a a vast, saline mudflat.

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Yet, during the full moon in winter, the festival of Rann utsav draws tourists to dazzling white salt encrusted desert plains.  At Dhorodo in the Banni grasslands, a tent village rises from the sand for the festival. Fringing the Great Rann of Kutch, camel carts take tourists to the salt flats. Food is served in the desert wilderness accompanied by Sindhi Bhajans and Sufi songs.

Many seek the deserts of Rajasthan, but comparatively few cross  the Thar desert to witness the magical sunset over salt white sands. Gujrurat’s promotion of Rannustav seeks to change that. Close to the Pakistan order, you will pass several security checks on your visit.

ranofkutchsunset

Stay for sunset – it’s magical.

The silence of salt white sand is almost a spiritual experience. You almost need to pick up a handful of sand o remind yourself its salt. The blinding white desert looks like snow but the weather is hot.

As the sun starts to set, the mountain slowly changes from red to grey to black and you will witness the salt reflecting these changing colours of the sun.  In some parts, the monsoon water can still be seen, creating a little island in the middle of the salt desert. The sun reflected on the edge of the water, in a ring of bright blue.

I have never seen a landscape like this before. Where the Bolivian salt desert looks like a lunar landscape, Kutch looked like it came straight out of a fairytale, the salt flats glistened steely blue, they felt like you could ice skate on them ever so gracefully. As eagles soared above, the view was both spectacular and peaceful. As the sun came down in a brilliant blaze of orange, I reflected on just how large the world was, and perhaps how I had finally seen a part of the world that felt like it was right on the edge, where past the horizon you could almost fall right off.

– Rakhee Ghelani

Kutch_2

oulookIndia.com

 

Near Dhorodo the Dattatray Temple sits in the Kala Dungar, or Black Hills, only 462 metres it is one of the Kutch districts  highest points, but easily climbed. Desolate and bouldered, below is the panorama of salt, you can trek scrub among bulbuls and larks or watch the dramatic feeding of golden jackals at the temple.  As the priests call out “Lo-Aang, Lo-Aang”, packs of jackal come to feast from the temple offerings of rice and jaggary.

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The pastoral villages of the Banni grasslands also produce some of India’s finest hand embroidery.

Loneyplanet.in

Loneyplanet.in

“Suf embroidery is counted on the warp and weft of the cloth in a surface satin stitch worked from the back. Motifs are never drawn. Each artisan imagines her design, then counts it out in reverse, thus requiring much detailing. The craftswomen fill symmetrical patterns with tiny triangles, and accent stitches. Khaarek is a geometric style also counted and precise. Paako is a tight square chain and double buttonhole stitch embroidery, often with black slanted satin stitch outlining. The motifs of paako, sketched in mud with needles, are primarily floral and generally arranged in Riding these decorated camels on the white sands of the Kutch is an unequalled experience With a steady hand, a plain piece of wood quickly turns into a vibrant art before your eyes .

aditirindani.wordpress.com

aditirindani.wordpress.com

The mesmerising  rainbow of colour adorns women exquisitely dressed in embroidery made in their  homes of picturesque mud-plastered round houses called bhungas lovingly decorated with hand-paintings and mirror inlays.

Each village has its own style of embroidery, the colours of culture glisten heavily embroidered attire. Kutch is one of the most colourful regions of India and offers a glimpse of Gujarat at her exotic best.  A rich repertoire of woodcarving, leather crafts and pottery also thrive in the Banni villages.

Bhuj, Indiamike.com

From the walled city of Bhuj, Medieval forts to the the modern city of Gandhidham, majestic palaces, historic ports, temples, monasteries and pretty beach of Mandvi are close by.

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Or visit the sacred lake of Narayan Sarovar, the shore temple of Koteshwar, the Ashapura Mata-no-Madh temple, a number of Jain Derasars, the Gurdvara at Lakhpat and Sufi shrines.

Lakhpat once a port on the Arabian sea at the junction of Kori creek and Rann of Kutch. It was abandoned after the 1819 AD strong earthquake which changed the flow of  Sindhu (Indus) River

Lakhpat once a port on the Arabian sea at the junction of Kori creek and Rann of Kutch. It was abandoned after the 1819 AD strong earthquake which changed the flow of Sindhu (Indus) River

[1] Cubitt and Mountfort 1991

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More vital than a carnival

21 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by opus125 in Indian Festivals

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bazaar; indian bazaar;, India, Stanley Wolpert

tulsibaug41a

“The average Indian bazaar is more crowded and colorful than most museums the world over. A modern Indian city street is filled with more vitality, color, sound, and smells than any theater or carnival on earth. India pulsates, vibrates, scintillates with such a plethora of human, animal, botanical, insect, and divine life that no camera or recording device, no canvas, pen, or cassette can fully capture the rich design of daily, ordinary existence. Each of her hundreds of thousands of urban and millions of village dramas is enacted free of charge before audiences that never pause to note the beauty or poignant tragedy unfolding itself every day on countless stages under India’s tear-filled sky.”

– Stanley Wolpert

 

 

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Injured during Raahgiri Day!!

22 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by opus125 in Indian Festivals

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India, Raahgiri, Raahgiri Day, ReclaimYourStreets

raahgiri2Injured during Raahgiri Day!! A frisbie thrown with all the power of youth connected with the bridge of my nose at close range.  Just a minor cut – but t was funny. The poor little grill looked a little uncertian, the father quickly smiled reassuringly as did I . But boy it hurt!

Never mind, festivals should be fun. They are great for sponsors, educational and even an inspiration.

Good festivals rise from the community and express the scale depth and gravity of shared experience: from artists and communities mainstream and minority.

India loves it’s vast community spirit. A vibrant spirit, which occasionally can suffocate individual expression. In the close of parks we can sing nd dance together, while simultaneously expressing our uniqueness.

Raahgiri Day reminds us that cities are more than structures. They are living , breathing organisms of whole communities working and playing together.

Raahgiri day promotes good health in a uniquely Indian way. It groves up the music and engages the senses with dance, meditation, yoga, storytelling friends old and new jostling and friction of bodies  It  offer us alternative food experiences.

raah giri bhopal (82res)The ideas behind the festival – celebration, identity, community – usually remain free-floating concepts given life by the shard but different perspectives of different groups. Festivals can be the bridges through which we connect to each other. Again and again, and in ever-evolving ways.

But sometimes a festival is not about connecting or reaching out, but turning inward in some sense. For example, worldwide Diwali attracts people neither Indian or Asian. Yet the festival provides a public face for a community as well as a focal point for organizing community resources and energies. This in itself builds community; even if it is based away from its Indic home.

When I first I first saw street poster I neither knew what to expect or that it was a weekly event. I  saw another dated a week earlier, guessed I must have made a mistake.

I soon discovered that Bhopal, like Gurgeon before it, is determined to get people out of cars and evxercising on the streets. Delightfully, the whole atmosphere charged the city blessed with so much greenery.

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Cauldering off a section of road for a No Vehicle Sunday to promote exercise and eco-friendly living gives fellow pedestrians (raahgir) somewhere safe to walk.  But not a sedentary walk, Vishal fitness Plant turned the street into an outdoor gym, writhing to the crowd to Bollywood rhythms,

stuntbhopal

Source: raahgiridays.com

When I first visited Raahgiri Day in Bhopal, in October the theme was Clean India-Green India. Saplings were offered to plant and people could donate old clothes and toys as Diwali gifts for the under privileged. The local government promoted new projects and environmentally friendly cab pooling, or safety messages.

The name ‘Raahgiri Day’ has been coined using two words, ‘Raah’  and ‘Giri.’ ‘Raah’  means a path to reach a goal, and ‘Giri’ comes from ‘Gandhigiri,’ which is a colloquial expression popularised by the 2006 Hindi film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai,   to refer to the tenets of Gandhism.

The idea started in 1976, Bogata Columbia. Ciclovia or closing specific streets to automobiles exclusively for cyclists and pedestrians changed the lives residents of 2 million residents then spread internationally.

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First the very Indian Raahgiri Day took off from Gurgeon. Every Sunday, for a fixed time period, a street or road is kept closed for all motor transport then opened exclusively for walking, jogging, cycling, skating, and exercising. In Bhopal a 2 kilometer stretch is closed off from the Van Vihar National Park (Bhopal zoo) past the the Boat Club to the Bharat Bhavan.

raahbhol

Source: raahgiridays.com

More than just exercise, Rahgiri Day showcases conservation and innovation. It was awarded the Parivartan Sustainability Leadership Awards 2014 by Sustainability Outlook. In Bhopal I know many who hurt by the Bhopal disaster proudly support organic alternatives.  It also allows local government to ensure community messages are seen by the public.

Raahgiri day reveals our need for a vibrant life that dances in good health, community and individuality.

raahgiribho

Source: raahgiridays.com

Aussie doc gets Raahgiri therapy, is how the newspaper described me.

Yes I made The Times of India, but I’m not a doctor.

“He read about it and took a morning BRTS bus to reach location. Brain Sullivan is a Bowen therapist (a hands-on therapy to heal pains, where a practitioner uses thumbs and fingers to gently move muscles and tissues). “It is quite an experience. Hustle bustle of chaotic traffic often gets to me. This is fun and a joy altogether,” he said.”

(Hustle and bustle? I never use those words: I did say I was surprised by the level of obesity in Bhopal compared to other paces I had lived in, so exercise was good. I did lament the traffic, however I came by bus, but not the BRTS bus route). I simply enjoyed the local art student’s work as they explored a typical Raahgiri Sunday.

raah giri bhopal (65)

Raahgiri Day is a wonderful relief.

I love cycling and walking but my first bike ride after arriving in India saw y back wheel bent by an impatient driver.

Every year 1.5 lakh die in Indian traffic accidents:, 20% in towns and cities of which 70% are cyclists and pedestrians. About 6 lac people die annually on account of air pollution and transportation accounts for 1/4th of these pollutants  Another 4 lakh die o lifestyle diseases caused by a sedentary lifestyle.

The founders of Raahgiri day realized 5000 Gurgoan people, primarily cyclists and pedestrians die. Rather than hope to peruade the authorities to act, they made a change themselves. Beginning on Novemeber 17, 2013, over 300,000 people joined in forcing the original 4.5 kilometre route to expand to 22 kilometres in 22 weeks.

raah giri bhopal (61)res
I admit I am sceptical of India’s Bourgeoisie  Environmentalism:  It may see charity in helping the poor, but screeches to stop when you are asked to quit your car and use a bus: Buses are seen for the  common folk. Money still means wasteful and polluting entitlement for the rising middle class.

However, a study of 185 people revealed that after enjoying a car free morning in Gurgeon 28% said that they had bought cycles after experiencing cycling on Raahgiri day, and a significant 87% people said that they now cycle/walk to cover shorter distances. 2) At the Raahgiri loop, there were 5 road fatalities from Jan-Oct, 2013. But from Nov 2013 onwards (since Raahgiri started), there have been 0. Also 2500 reflective tapes have been installed on cycles of LIG people like maids & labourers, & on cycle rickshaws, to make them visible & safe at night. 3) Impact on environment: The noise pollution level on Raahgiri Day is 18% lesser than on weekdays and 2% lesser than on non-Raahgiri Sundays. . While the air pollution level on Raahgiri day is 49% lesser than on weekdays and 24% lesser than on non-Raahgiri Sundays.

The lesson? Give people the infra structure and people will walk or cycle.

Hopefully, the same good results can spread across a new Clean and Green India.

safetyindia

About time! Finally the government agrees passengers should wear a seat belt.

 

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Greed or forced conversion? Mahmud and Aurengzeb are not the future

02 Tuesday Dec 2014

Posted by opus125 in Indian History, Religion & Spiritualty

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Babri mosque, hindu muslim unity, India, Medieval India

Child
Prime Minister Nehru described India as a palimpsest, a manuscript page, either from a scroll or book, its text scraped or washed clean to be reused. Arcehoeollogists find the text is never quiet removed, the past remains to be examined. India, a land of four main racial types, and innumerable migrant cultures has allowed the ‘prajas’ or the common people more or less remained peaceful. Meanwhile Raja’s and Nawabs periodically fought against each other in the military sport of kings.

At times invaders came to wipe the slate clean, or at least that is how many see India’s British and Muslim past.

Sadly the story that  Medieval India was peaceful before Muslims arrived “at the point of a sword” ignores that for centuries previous Muslims had made many diverse inroads into India settling as mostly peaceful traders.

Atrocities occurred, but India’s future success on taking responsibility for the present. India will not grow if it continues to blame former Mughal or British rulers.

Unfortunately, Nationalism is rewriting history to help promote Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra.A review of Muslim and Christian websites reveal other religions are equally able to fall in the same trap. However, the size of Hindu population could result in discouraging the essential questioning required by historians seeking to learn from history o make a better India.


Greed or conversion?

Souce: Urduseek.com

Souce: Urduseek.com

We cannot deny Mahmudh attacked the Somnath but it was with the help of Hindu generals who equally enjoyed looting. Mahmud, with the help of a Hindu king Anandapal, also  destroyed the Muslim town of Multan and every mosque within it.

The ruthless ferocity of the Somnath attack remains scarred in public memory:  50,000 Hindu troops died, it is said that the Shiva lingam was destroyed by Mahmud himself, and 6.5 tons of gold, and the famous, intricately carved, temple doors were looted.
“The communalist interpretation portrays Mahmud as someone who harbored a special hatred for Hindus, but there is nothing he did to Hindus that he did not also do to Muslims, especially Muslims he considered to be heretical.’

As Guru Golwalkar wrote[1] “it was the Hindu blood of our blood, flesh of our flesh, soul of our soul, who stood in the vanguard of Mahmud’s army. These are facts of history…”
Perhaps cleric at times pressure d some Muslim rulers, but I suggest temple destructions were driven by more  Machiavellian motives , to quote, Jayanti Alam , than forced conversions, balancing political and financial powers and plundering of gold and precious gems.

Then, as now, political decisions often involve many other pressures often forgotten to history. Temples were destroyed by Muslim and Hindu alike for for the wealth within them.

Period historians often want their rulers to appear saintly and evout, when greed was a bigger motive.

auragnzeb2 (1)Consider Aurangzeb: He razed the Vishwanath temple of Kashi, but  he also gave ‘jagir’ to the Jangambari temple in the same city.  Aurengzeb extensively destroyed many temple and yet built a Ram temple at Chitrakoot, paid for  ‘ghee’ ensuring the  earthen lamps at Ujjaini’s Mahakal temple remained lit perpetually, donated ‘Jagirs’  to the Allahabad’s Someshwarnath temple, the Umananda temple at Guwahati, Dattatreya Gurumandirat Mohanpur  in Maharashtra, the Dantadhavan mandir at Ayodhya, Nageshwara  and to temples at Junagadh, Gaya and Mount Abu. He had also donated to Shatrunjay Jain temple at Ahmedabad and to some gurdwaras[2].

Muslim legend claims he was gifted with being able to speak to dead Saints and destroyed as false the Muslim shrines of saints who did not answer his call.  He also executed Sufi Said Sarmad who supported Prince Dara Shikoh as heir to the throne. Perhaps then, Aurengzeb’’s motives mixed were greed and power with displays of religiosity, or even a genuine attempt to seek the divine.

Even today  Mafioso and war lords are extremely religious,  because they believe only god can understand why they are compelled to violence! But it is not faith that drives them.

The religion of power has been drawn Indian rulers of all religions to simultaneously exploit and at times support their peoples.

unity

Peace after Babri?

More recently, the agitation t rebuild Ayodhya’s Ram temple ‘further polarised India. The Ramayana, which has many versions, inspired many nationalist symbols during the Independence struggle. Sita was the model for Gandhi’s non violent struggle, and claimed “a devotee of Tulasidas from my childhood and have, therefore, always worshipped God as Rama[3].”

So the believed birthplace of Rama is very close to the heart of many Hindus.

More recently, swirls and  swastikas discovered beneath the ruined Babri mosque, suggest a Hindu, Jain or Buddhist structure preceded it. Contrary to media hype this does not prove  this is the birthplace of Rama, god or not. That question is beyond scientific ability to prove.

I remember that as a foreigner I was advised to stay indoors as Babri  Masjid court case was decided. There was less reaction than many feared. A few people pelted a bus nearby.   But as a  lover of archaeology I was bemused by claims that Rams birth place had been discovered.

When questioned by journalist Christopher Kremmer[4], archaeologist Dr Swarajya Prakash Gupta author of the ASI report Ayodhya 2002-03 clearly the researcher believed the 50 plus pillar bases discovered proved the Babri mosque was built directly on top of a pre existing Hindu temple placed behind a hall supported by 84 pillars.   Gupta exhibited a malencholic love of his work, but also a fiery love of his religious tradition. The professor, in a weaker moment, argued you cannot prove scientifically Muhummad visited heaven from Jerusalem, or Jesus was born of a virgin. True, it is beyond the realm of science, as it is to prove where Rama was born.

However, archaeologists of all persuasions can give into politics. In Israel skeletons at Masada were proclaimed remains of freedom fighters against Rome, but why were they buried with pig bones? Meanwhile archaeologists bemoan flushed out artefacts from cleaning activities in the temple mount, beneath the Dome of the Rock unable to be excavated.

I believe the Hindu tradition is strong and vibrant enough without needing to politicize the past by bending history into a narrative of us versus them.

During the Independence struggle, Indian versus Invader had a strong political pull. Will it help now? War with Pakistan perhaps fuels, is used to fuel, fear.  As world economies decline history predict s the rise of fear based politics.

babripeace

But why dismantle a centuries old mosque?

As journalist Praful Bidwari wrote “Can the vandalism of the past justify revenge driven-vandalism today?[5]”  ’The claim of peaceful Hindu coexistence would be better served by building a new temple beside the Babri mosque instead.

Sadly political euphoria took over.  Bidwari asks if destroying monuments to avenge the past is akin to the Taliban’s destroying the Bamiyan Buddhas.
We must remember that in Ayodhya over a hundred Buddhist Viharas and 10 Hindu mandirs remained un-destroyed. This suggests there was there more to the temple destruction than Muslim intolerance. It also reminds us that Ayodhya was not just the holy place of the Ram bhaktís[6].

While Hinduism has been remarkably tolerant, it is wrong to deny Brahmin antagonism against Buddhism at times.

Some  Buddhist temples were destroyed or converted to Hindu use. Vivekananda claimed the Jagannath temple of Puri was built on Buddhist ruins[7]. We can list other Hindu wrongs through out History: Jaina temples destroyed by the Shaivites in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra. Parmar king Su bhat Barman, Kashmir k ing Shriharsha, Chola king Rajendra and various o hers like Shashanka, Pushyamitra Shunga,  Mahendra Barman and Pula-keshi II, destroyed Jaina and Buddhist temples to prove their power1.

wearealindian

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

The greatness of past Hindu civilization, with its scientific discoveries, are reinforced in the concrete and marble slabs of Delhi’s very beautiful Akshardham monument in Delhi. Rather than agree with the “The Hindu’s did everything, but the Muslims stole the credit”’ view of history, I suggest Islam better used and spread earlier Hindu science, much as Rome built from, and added too, the sciences of Ancient Greece.

As India weakened from within many shrines were forgotten over time, to be rediscovered by the British, Sanchi, Ajunta, Ellora were all over grown and forgotten. Even the Taj Mahal gardens declined as Mughul wealth shrunk.

Nationalism is like erotic love: the moments of passion can quickly die into indifference. At times, those who proclaim their heritage can as quickly misuse money for temple maintenance, or corruptly neglect their shrines.

The great civilization of India does not need exaggeration or misinformation to prove its worth. Reformers like Gandhi or Vivekananda recognized that Brahmin Hindu’s need to be reformed and corruption removed. However, they had also preserved the tradition as the Hindu world declined.

Rulers throughout history have had only one religion, the religion of power and domination.

Sanatana Dharma is  timeless, even if some of the many differing details may disagree with archeology.  Let science discover cold hard facts because transcendent truths will still remain. People will always be seeking meaning that transcends the religious formalism.

To quote the Rama devotee, Mahatma Gandhi,

“ I myself have been a devotee of Tulasidas from my childhood and have, therefore, always worshipped God as Rama. But I know that if, beginning with Omkar, one goes through the entire gamut of God’s names current in all climes, all countries and languages, the result is the same. He and His aw are one. To observe His law is, therefore, the best form of worship2.

india calling-religious unity

[1]  The ‘Organiser’, January4 , 1950 quoted by Jayanti Alam see 2

[2]  ‘Bigots’ and ‘Fanatics’,  Jayanti Alam Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 39, No. 14/15 (Apr. 3-16, 2004), pp. 1463-1464 URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4414860 .Accessed: 26/11/2014 00:57

[3] “Mind of Mahatma Gandhi” 24-3-1946, p56

[4] Christopher Kremmer, Inhaling the Mahatma, pp. 287-295, Harper Perennial, 2010, Sydney.

[5] Praful Bidwari, ‘No Voodoo archaeology, please’, Rediff.com 26 March 2003, p.239.

[6] One counter view by Ambedkar scholar Balwant Singh Charvak, in his book Ayodhya Kiski?Na Ram Ki, Na Babar Ki (‘Whose Ayodhya? Neither Ram’s Nor Babar’s’ suggests the site was once a Buddhist temple.

[7]  Swami Vivekananda, ‘The Sages of India’ , The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol 3, p264, Advaita Ashram, Calcutta

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I admit I am not into Hookah bars

23 Friday May 2014

Posted by opus125 in India, Madhya Pradesh

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

argrahbar, hookah' hookah bars, India, Madhya Pradesh

Source: Runawayguide.com

I admit I am not into Hookah bars, as it is I don’t smoke. Some of my female business clients had even tainted Agrabah with a reputation of skimpily dressed girls in harem pants.

Now I live only a block away, and just to say I have done it, I entered the Hookah bar. No, there was no harem, in fact not a girl in sight, but up two floors of marble stairs, bordered by yellow rope in place or railings, I found what was effectively a sports bar with wide screen TV set to the latest innings of IPL. A few were smoking and only later was a hookah  set up on a table nearby.

Open toward the street, thatch cane ceilings and subdued hanging lights, the menu promises food delivered to the table in 15 to 20 minutes. The Green salad arrived on time, the delightfully smokey Paneer Seekh (120 rupee) was a little late, but only just.  It was delicious and worth the wait.

Other items include snacks from 60 to 100 rupee or Tandoori Chicken which looked delicious for the non vegetarian. Eight pieces cost 330 rupee, 4 pieces 180. The Green salad was nice but from a a  Australian perspective lacked many greens, being mostly cucumber, grated carrot, and onion but this is very common in India. I am used to lettuce!

For a vegetarian country I often feel Indians don’t eat enough vege’s!

So what was all the fuss about? It seems in my naive ignorance, hookah bars are often the place to get high. I did think looking on that they may make a good bong.

But then I wouldn’t know, I have never even indulged in a cigarette – it all seems such a waste of money! – and the thought of drugs repels me.

Perhaps next time I will need to be careful?

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Reflections on Adivasi and New India

22 Thursday May 2014

Posted by opus125 in India, Tribal India

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Adivasi, India, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Madhya Pradesh Tribal Museum. Bhopal Tribal Museum, Tribal India, tribals

Source: Indiatogether.org

Source: Indiatogether.org <http://indiatogether.org/johar-reviews&gt;

The word Adivasi literally means “original inhabitants” a people who risk being forgotten in the shadows of Indias rising economy. Now classified as scheduled tribes under India’ constitution, the term Adivasi is difficult since centuries of cultural exchange make it difficult to define them surrounding castes.

To this we can add the ill effect of the colonial pseudo science of anthropmetry. Racist Colonialists  was used spread ideas of a shared Indo-Aryan share racial origin. Whether Aryans were a distinct race or group of tribes I will let the historians decide. However, the idea was grabbed  by upper caste to emphasize distance from original peoples.  Buttressed by ideas of caste pollution or purity, Tribal’s are often seen as anachronistic fringe dwellers,  called savage or backward  by Hindu, Muslims or Christians if unconverted.

Even today, poor Adivasi in western India discouraged from sitting in front of bus if upper caste Hindus travelling. Their women typified as promiscuous  and subject to sexual harassment. I find this ironic since my experience has seen  many promiscuous upper caste  making a public appearance of being moral examples.

While the term Adivasi may be difficult and imprecise, international law has given a legitimacy hard to ignore. India is a signatory to the  1957 International Labour Organisation sought to protect “indigenous and other tribal and semi-tribal populations” that protects Adivasi under provisions five and six.

Since then India added the Panchayati Raj Act for Scheduled Areas (PESA)  inspiring some Adivasi to lay claim to their traditional resources both material and symbolic.

Adivasi lag behind income, literacy, life expectancy, and infant mortality. The welfare state has failed them.  The post colonial society has deprive them of their land based, forest economy.  Resources such as minerals are mined and rivers dammed.

Many are now seasonal labourers.

There is a stark difference of bazaarias (towns people, upper caste Hindus, Muslims) but for some educate Tribals the difference is less defined.  Wealthier Adivasi families may send a son (rarely a daughter) to school.

He hangs out in chai or coffee shops, or cigarette and paan kiosks, looking  ‘cool’ in bazaaia life. It appears more egalitarian. More probably it is subsidised from a home proud of their white colour child who feels the contempt of other city dwellers.

Lacking the connections or academic qualifications for hard to get government t jobs he scrounges for work driving jeeps, and running petty trades while trying to strenuously avoid manual work. .

Bazaaria life may appear cool, but the unending promise of urban comforts are an illusory drain on the wallet.

Their are also inter tribal distances in the village. Bhil, Bhilala and Tadvi keep a strict distance in marriage and food . The Bhilalas, who have greater economic and political resources  will not accept water from Bhils whom they derogatorily call padkhadya (beef eaters).

Also there are differences among the powerful Chaudhiris in Gujurat and the Meenas in Rajasthan.

Source: Odoshan.com

Source: Odoshan.com <http://odishan.com/2279/adivasi-mela-re-tribal-dance-navarangpur-4&gt;

Will Adivasi’s fit in the new India?

As Adivasis attempt to move forward, some urban commercial upper caste Hindu question whether those Adivavasi converted to Islam or Christianity can be considered indigenous.

I have no personal view on the rise of Indian nationalism. I live in the BJP controlled state of Madhya Pradesh and while their has been some issue by some suspicious of me as a foriegner, my experience has been remarkably positive.

Madhya Pradesh (MP) capital Bhopal proudly show cases the India’s Tribal diversity with the Tribal Museum ad the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS).

Still, it is easy to be romantic of the past. It is easy to blame British or Muslim invaders “corrupting” a tribal purity.  For example, nationalist Sangh Pariwar consider Hinduism India”s original religion and Christianity and Islam colonial intrusions.  Although mainstream historians suggest masculinised Aryans were themselves foreigners who conquered earlier   Dravidians and, according to Vardana Shiva, destroying the more inclusive Matrisitc feminine Tribal culture.

What of the question of national and tribal identity with the change of India’s new BJP government?  Philosophically attached to the  Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), teaching  dedication to ‘Selfless service of the motherland’. During the anti colonial period, M S Golwakar advocated that the boundaries of nation (rashtrabhoomi) coincide with Motherland (matribhoom) and Sacred Land (punyabhoomi)could only be applied to Hindu’s. Muslims look to Mecca and Christians to the Vatican, as if their primordial loyalties will always subordinate loyalty to India. In the past there have been reports of RSS cadres attempting to turn Hindu Adiivasi  on their non Hindu brothers.

The suspicions of non Hindu Adivasi remind me of how in 1962 people feared US president JFK would be controlled by the Pope.  Now Americans  laugh at it.  The word wide rise of nationalism, accompanied by economic downturn,  is increasingly polarising the world.

Travelling between India and Australia,  I find Indian peoples that include Modi supporters whether the new RSS government of Nahendra Modi will undermine India’s tradition of inclusion.  Frustrated by the perceived failures of a corrupt Congress, they still hope political realities will tone down any claims of  combined nationalism, religion and Fascism.

It is my prayer that Tribal harmony will be stronger than short term spasms of nationalism.

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Reflections on the Maji Mamola Masjid

19 Monday May 2014

Posted by opus125 in India, Madhya Pradesh

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bhopal, India, Madhya Pradesh, maji mamola bhai masjid, mamola bai

Maji Mamola Masjid Bhopal

Maji Mamola Masjid Bhopal

I enjoy walking in Bhopal’s old city. It is not just the tourist spots, like Taj-ul Masjid, the biggest mosque in Asia. Ienjoy the side streets and buildings sometimes overlooked. One is the Maji Mamola Masjid, one of three built by Bhopal’s first woman ‘ruler’.

In summer heat, before the monsoon sweeps the dust from the street, I watched, read the sign, and reflected on my readings of Bhopals history. Why this building stayed in my memory I am unsure. Perhaps, as a historian, I know ghost from history reappear benign and malevolent.

At Independence Bhopal was a largely Muslim state of around 70,000 in seven thousand square kilometers, and famous for mosques, locals tell conflicting histories. Some tell of a successful integration of non Muslims to build Nehru’s dream of a religiously integrated India,  more probably one must revisit the unofficial  reign  of Mamola Bai, consort to Yar, and for 50 years the power behind the throne, the first of five unofficial women Nawab Begum, she is a  testament to positively shape a man’s world.

In 1947, distant religious slogans echoes first from Calcutta, of death to Muslims or Alluha Akhbar and now as 2015 sees a shift in India’s politics  I wonder if the ghosts of Bhopal also offer us guidance.

Maji Mamola Masjid Bhopal

Maji Mamola Masjid Bhopal

When the more powerful British, Marhatta and Mughal warlords slogged it out, Manji Saheba (Revered Mother), as she was known, maintained a just subservient and vassal state. When her husband died, Mahji Mamola headed a 5000 strong army against the half brothers who claimed the throne. She appointed ruler her husband’s oldest 11 year old son, Faiz Mohammad Khan, born to another of Khans wives.  Known for her charity, kindness to the poor and respected as just and fair, she consolidated Bhopal’s fragile authority in a time of social upheaval.

As Major William Bough wrote of her:

“From the account given of her conduct, under the most trying circumstance, it seems difficult to pronounce whether she was most remarkable for the humanity of her disposition, or the excellence of her judgment. She was beloved and respected by all. Her memory is still cherished by the natives, both Hindu and Mahomedan, of Bhopal, and it is consoling to observe, in the example of her life, that, even amid scenes of violence and crime, goodness and virtue, when combined with spirit and sense, maintain that superiority which belongs alone to the higher qualities of human nature; and which, without these, can be permanently conferred by neither title nor station.”

Perhaps her greatest honour came from Pir Ghous Ahmed Shah Gailani, a diret descendant of the Muslim saint, Pir Abdul Qader al-Gailani, who declared her to be Rabia Basri,the second, ensuring the title formerly attested in the Mughal court.

Who was Mamola Bai?

A war prize of matchless beauty, Mamola Bai, soon became Dost Mohammad Khan favourite consort, known for exceptional character. That she was reputed a Brahmin Rajput princess, though a Muslim convert,  was welcomed by neighboring Hindu rulers and she encouraged harmony between the Muslim elite and Hindu locals. Her devotion to the integrity of her step sons rule impressed the Pathans, from whom the Khans descend.

When the traitor Wasl Mohommad Khan, conspired against Faiz Mohommad Khan, sceded almost half of Bhopal to the Peshwars, who then appeased, did not give authority to the traitor. In an act of great kindness, Mamola Bai assisted Wasils widow and daughter, Saleha.

She herself led a force on horseback to occupy Raisen Fort. After defeating the Moghul force she diplomatic use emissaries and gifts persuaded the Moghul emperor to formerly assign Raisen to Bhopal.

Vassal first to the Nizam and then the Mahattas. Her far sighted welcoming of General Thomas Goddard, as he forced his troups through harassing Hindu and Muslim opponents, stood against public opinion. Aware of British growing influence in Bengal, Bombay, Oudh and the south and by securely billeting them in Raisen fort she ensured her kingdoms future security after her death. In 1778, indolent Hayat, her second step son, was Bhopals fourth Nawab, Warren Hastings was Britian’s first Governor General in India, Britain and France were struggling for India’s heartland.  Britains East India Company was attempting to link India’s East and West while suppressing the Mahattas.

So revered was Mamola Bai that fearing she would succumb to illness, Muslim saint Shah Ali Shah prayed for seven days in seclusion, himself dying while Mamola Bai recovered. To this day, Shah Ali Shahs Island tomb is a pilgrimage site in Bhopal Lake.

Island shrine of Muslim saint Shah Ali Shah

Island shrine of Muslim saint Shah Ali Shah

Critics suggest Mamola knew her reclusive step son Faiz Mohommad Khan uninterested in politics, giving herself real power. Faiz became revered as saintly. interested in politics and his successor Hayat was unwilling or incapable. Perhaps another blot on her rule came from her fourth adopted son the Brahmin Chottey Khan known for his ruthlessness. However, after the 1762 death of chief administrator Bijjeh Ram Bhopal saw the violent death of three ministers and the city overrun by the Peshawrs who Mamola Bai wisely bought off with territory and tribute.

in 1776. Mamola Bai adopted four Hindu boys (a tribal Gond, two Aheer, and a Brahmin) converting them to Islam. Whether this was an attempt to show to Muslim subjects her devotion to Islam, Chottey Khans, improvement of administration, modern taxation, facilities and life style was tainted by his aggressive and ruthlessness.  Chottey was appointed minister 17 years later he gave Bhopal needed stability.

Although extending diplomatic and trade ties with Gwalior, Indore and Baroda, better administering mosques and modeled the artistic life to mirror Delhi and Hyderabad,  Chootey’s heavy handedness saw Bhopal again threatened.  First by the maneuverings of Seleha, daughter of the traitor Wasl Mohommad Khan, who then married Nawab Faiz Mohamad Khan.  On his death,  the Bahu Begum, as she was known, refused to accept her husband’s bother, Hayat. Defiant of the woman who raised her, she ran a second court at nearby Islamnagar taunting her former in-laws to defend family honour. This was the same year Mamla controversially showed hospitality to the British. Hayat had even offered to stand down to pacify her for the good of the kingdom.

During the authority of Chottey, she then taunted Dost’s grandson, Shareef Mohomad Khan, to attack this non family usurper:  “If I were a man, I would never allow this Brahmin slave to rule over the family of Dost Mohomad Khan.” She failed to finance a rebellion and later Shareef was defeated in the Battle of Phanda that stained Chottets character for its gorey arrogance that disturbed the Nawab Hayat and showed the aging Momola Bai was losing her grip on power. Afterward, Chottey astutely bought off the ferocious Pindaras, a group of  Muslim Maurauder’s, ensuring Bhopals peace.

In 1794 Chottey died,  two tears before Mamola Bai. She was buried in Grinnor Fort.

I am reminded of the feuding Kaarava’s and Pandava’s families from the Mahabharata. Then, remembering the Khans were Muslim, think of early wars that followed te death of Mohammad that fractured Islam into Shia and Sunni.

Without Mamola Bais guidance, dissent , decline and intrigue followed. Fortunately, the Peshwars were already in decline that the farsighted British alliance would later help.

With all this turbulence, it is amazing to see an artistic heritage that flowered into a city of regular concerts, tribal dance displays, the Tribal Museum as well as 200 hectares displaying India’s diverse tribal life.  While tigers and bears do not roam a few kilometers from the city edge as they did in 1947, Madhya Pradesh boasts jungle reserves, such as Pench, where ‘lived’ Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli, Baloo and Sher Khan.

I would like to see her as a reflective woman in difficult times, and yet recognise she must have been a woman of action of strong character and action.

Concerned that extremists destroyed girl schools in Pakistan, Urdu poet and journalist,Muslim Saleem  reflected on his childhood in Bhopal, praising Mamola Bai and future women who shaped Bhopal.

“These enlightened (lady) rulers turned Bhopal State into a modern, prosperous, welfare state. They all spoke fluent Persian and Urdu and had learnt some English as well. They established a large number of schools, both for boys and girls, and provided free education. Nawab Sultan Jehan Begum made generous donations to Sir Syed Ahmed Khan for the establishment of Aligarh Muslim University and had the distinction of being its first Chancellor. After her death her son, Nawab Hameedullah Khan, who had graduated from Aligarh, was chosen as the Chancellor. Had those ladies not been educated, had they not encouraged education, both for boys and girls, I would probably have been no more than a kharkar, a cobbler or stone breaker.

Without the encouragement mothers can give, many children, even boys, would drop out of school, leading to an even higher rate of illiteracy. How then could we possibly progress as a nation? You are not only holding back women, you are holding back the nation.”

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Saving the Tribe

05 Monday May 2014

Posted by opus125 in India, Tribal India

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bhopal, iGRMS, India, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Poorvotsav 2014, Tribal India

Poorvotsav 2014 Bhopal

Tree frames lit in hues of Jasmine, Green and Reds silhouette cloth backdrops of tan and neem  Above, lilac, saffron and gold hang like coloured prayer flags.

The air is cool now.  Jupiter rides high above a quarter moon. An hour before, the harsh glare of sweat exploded in downpour over the old city. Lightening forks distantly, a madrassa of white skull capped youth find their mosque as dust blows over the blackened complexion of a prone street dweller by Kamla Park. Then the rush of rain flushes the air as I find shelter and coffee at Park View Fast Food Restaurant .

Poorvotsav 2014, Bhopal

Now,  as I admire the strength and agility of tribal dance I wonder whether good intentions are enough to save Tribal Culture.

A series of dancers where hats bound by strands of upright flowers. I am struck by the unity of design as much as by the variation f nature. The hats are not the factory designs of microscopically perfect regularity. Flower stems, like nature, have their own fractal chaos, that reminds me of the recursive ascension to mount Meru depicted in a Hindu temple roof, or the internal search within the  unadorned inner sanctum, garbhagrha, or  “womb room”, to be reborn again.

Poorvotsav 2014, Bhopal

The central energy of folk art is spiritual in an increasingly material world. This, wrote Doctor Narmada Prasad Gupta, has resulted in material and spiritual seen as antithetical opposites, like black and white. The natural and simple life is being lost because we have lost the purity of life that sees material and spiritual as an organic whole.

It is easy to be romantic of the past. It is easy to blame British or Muslim invaders “corrupting” a tribal purity. Others, like Vardana Shiva, suggest the masculinised Aryan invasion, conquered the more inclusive Matrisitc cultures that preceded them.

The village is no longer distant from the politics poverty, exploitation and manoeuvrings.

Tribal life found strength in its diversity, which modernity threatens to homogenise. The masculinised cultures likes to simplify, but nature, and the tribes dependent on her,  thrive in diversity.

So I am torn.

The wonderful beauty of tribal dance, performed so stunningly at the 3 day Poorvotsav, a North Eastern Tribal Dance Festival, at ,the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (Igrms) Bhopal leaves me in awe and sad.

Poorvotsav 2014 Bhopal

The explosion in interest in Tribal art is a beautiful here in Bhopal.  However, unless the elite see beyond nature destroying production the Tribes will not survive.

Tribes thrive in the rich natural havens of mountains, rivers and trees. In our technologically destructive world, where life styles corrupted and ruined

Every day in the City of Lakes green farmland is being shredded into another apartment block.

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While showing wonderful dance and art in a city centre is marvellous and important does it support the thousands of practitioners of the art in a distant village? A short recording does wonders to promote an art to an unknowing urban audience yet also risks losing the hundreds of subtle variations of a dance unrecorded elsewhere.

Then there is the onslaught of Bollywood, as beautiful as that is in itself.. The travelling performers of Rajasthan for instance have complained people want renditions of the latest glitzy movie and no the unglamorous traditional performers.

I am in awe every tribal performance I visit here.  The bright red frocks sashed in tan are beautiful. The men in black tunics and white pyjama are a delight. The incredible musculature of a woman aching backward stuns me. Without the support of her hands another dances on her stomach.

As I return home, a lift offered me by a local near to my Shahpura home, he asks me if I attend church, pointing out the Campion church near home. I politely decline but thank him for the thought.

My thoughts ask instead how we can inclusively keep alive – indeed help make thrive – the knowledge, experience and folk sensitivity that is Tribal India.

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Images for this post are supplied from the IGRMS, Bhopal.

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Video

Bombay Mirror

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by opus125 in India

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

communalism, India, secular society

The two men, who were earlier indulging in a friendly banter, can now be seen staring at each other with hatred and fear.

What happens next leaves you feeling numb …….. How quickly could I change?

“I shall for an India, in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country in whose making they have an effective voice; an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people; [and above all] an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony.”

– M K Gandhi

More than eighty crores Hindus cannot dream of a truly progressive India advance on the path of peace without co-operation of Muslims and other communities.  It is only possible when all from majority and minority communities walk hand in hand.

Each and everyone have to make a balance between his or her own religious community and national interests, he or she has to unite with nationalism, and then should move forward.  The teachings of a religious community may be great, but the followers of the community concerned should understand that nationalism is greater.  If they do not become familiar with this fact, they will be away from national stream; they will suffer.  This fact relates not only to India but also to many other countries of the world.

Each and every religious community has been founded on the basis of certain values that were best and necessary for circumstances of the country and times.  Goodness like adjustment with others, or co-operation, or consistency can be found in their teachings.  But by not moving  according to the teachings of their religious community those who depend upon fundamentalism and conservative practices, or those who use their co-religionists taking advantage of their poverty, illiteracy or innocence, are dishonest towards their own self, their co-religionists and also towards those great leaders who founded the religious community.  Everyone must understand this fact also.  Along with this, leaders of all communities, by knowing it, must come forward for an atmosphere surcharged with harmony, in which lies their welfare too.

Policies like appeasement, fun and frolic with the sentiments of people for individual and party interests, and selection of candidates on the basis of religious community or sect by keeping aside the qualifications, one, certainly, does the things against national interest or nationalism; are reflections of lower national thinking.  That is why; these kinds of acts should be stopped at government level and also at the level of political parties.

There is a great need to work towards eradicating the problem of unemployment among the youths, illiteracy and poverty and that too with honesty and without any discrimination.  This will help in solving many problems, and will create awakening.  The result will be in checking on communalism to a great extent.  That is why it is expected that a lot of work have to be done at government level in this direction.

Thus, in order to get rid of the problem of communalism in India, there is a need of collective efforts. All will have to discharge their duties.  If we do so, definitely harmony will prevail.  Everybody will prosper. This must be done; this was the dream of Mahatma Gandhi for a free India.

– – Dr. Ravindra Kumar (adapted from)

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Sacred and Secular India?

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by opus125 in India

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Tags

India, indian secularism, Jawaharlal Nehru, secularism

India_by_Woooble

India_by_Woooble

When the Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah formerly introduced Pakistan o the world he spoke of a nation built on the principles of tolerance he saw as part of past Islamic civilizations. In his single minded pursuit for recognition for his minority Muslim friends he was equally careful to be unclear and nebulous of the details.

Muslims, excited by the prospect of some political recognition of their ideals, found Pakistan a geographically distant impossibility. To many unable to travel north to new West of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)if Pakistan was for Muslims then were they somehow less a Muslim when all the political hype and promises of independence softened?

Now Pakistan is seen by many Indians as the enemy that lost its ideals to a democracy weakened by military coups.

……….and what is India?

Westernised Jawaharlal Nehru with his ideas of semi socialist liberalism wanted a secular India, not strictly divided between Church and State as in the USA, but influenced by Gandhi , a secularism understood to mean a diluted tolerant pluralism, and a government not necessarily distant from faith[1].

How would this play out? When asked how Pakistan with its essentially Hindustani culture was different to India, Jinnah pointed to the USA and the power of an idea. America was essentially British but an idea birthed a new nation.

Selling one liner ideas is easier than sustaining a nation. Similarly, in India slogans may win elections but they are rarely sustainable policies.

For instance, Nehru’s deputy, the tea-totalling austere Vallabhbhai Patel , saw that minorities should prove their loyalty to India. Muslims who had once clamoured for Pakistan should prove to a nervous Hindu population they would remain loyal Indians.

Nehru felt the congress led government should ensure Muslims would want to be loyal. The minority must be treated as the majority. They should not only be treated fairly but feel they are being treated fairly.

I am reminded of how when the British allowed a semi autonomous government in Central Provinces in 1937, some Hindus demanded veneration of Durga as symbol of Mother India, much as the West may demand a flag salute or recitation of the Oath of Allegiance. The most pro Indian Muslim could not consent to idolatry and was seen as unpatriotic. In India, 1937 seems to me a stepping stone that led to a widening divide between Congress and the Muslim League.

Of course, Independent India was born from what Gandhi called “the vivisection of the mother”, the blood of partition.

A symbol of the tension of the New India may be the Somnath temple in Gujurat, destroyed by Muslims Mahmoud of Ghanzi in the eleventh century , and after being rebuilt, by Emperor Aurangzeb After two centuries, it was rebuilt for the last time and inaugurated by Rajendra Prasad, India’s first President. .

A close friend of the disciplined Patel, the Hindu Prasad had ignore Nehru’s advice to stay away.

“I respect all religions and on occasion visit a church, a dagah and a gardwara” he said.

Nehru feared a “spirit of communism and revivalism has gradually invaded the congress” speaking when another of Patel’s friends Purshottamdas Tandon was elected President of Congress in 1950.

Perhaps now the need to maintain the public order as different groups seeks to divide and conquer the voting public disillusioned by an unwieldy and corrupt government. Public supported tolerance has drifted into pacifying intolerant demands of pressure groups playing on people’s fears.

It is not a uniquely Indian problem. As an Australian based in Bhopal, I am appalled by the Abbott governments insistence of criminalising refugees as “cue jumpers” , the misuse of the Anzac legend to portray Australia as a nationalist Bronzed Aussie of British descent.   The myth ignores Australia’s post world war II European migration. 60% of Australians do not claim British heritage.

Similarly Gandhi called on the myth of a once great Hindu India. India has never been entirely Hindu. Gandhi’s ideas worked in the public mind because they gave the powerless a way to protest. Gandhi’s ahimsa , a Jain respect for animal life that the Mahatma turned into a political ideal, was born during the violent birth of Indian nationalism. The British could use guns against Tilak’s calling on the Mahabharata to over throw Colonialism. Violence against Gandhi’s defenceless salt marchers would destroy British claims of moral superiority.

By turning the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna’s great justification to Arjuna slaughter his warring brethren into a tale of personal spiritual struggle,[i] Gandhi recreated a myth as unhistorical, but more benign, as the singular and narrow Hindutva of some nationalist politicians.

“One nation one religion” as a slogan has even been used as a readymade garment manufacturer in Bund Garden Road Pune. Even if only intended for commerce, this large sign, politicized religious sentiment, whatever its creed, makes me nervous.

Manu’s legal code may have preferred the “twice born” upper class and Brahmins to live between the Indian ocean and the Bay of Bengal is contrasted with India’s ancient merchant diaspora .that is often quick to desert Brahmin ideals alone but whose displays of piety in he country are more Indian than in India.

[[I assume the stricter members of the Hindutva movement would disagree, The rise of the Brahmins to power came with feudal society, after the collapse of the Maurya’s, claims Devangana Desai (The religious imagery of Khajuraho), drawing on archaeological research. Hinduism pre-dated Buddhism, but Brahmins were given already religiously significant land such as Nashik and Mathura by rulers seeking to raise their prestige . Also, Dravidian south sees its religion predating the northern Aryan invasion, which some Hindus do not believe. It is quiet possible that the British spread idea of an Aryan race may have been tribal groups rather than a racial entity]].

“Hindui is tolerance, but [fill in the blank] are not rue Hindu’s.”

Yes, Hinduism has been remarkably tolerant over the years, what is less clear historically what Hinduism really is.

That will be another blog post …….

For the moment, consider how Prime Minister Nehru defined a secular constitution. Rather than evoke the strict church -state division of the USA, Nehru said “Some people think that it means something opposed to religion. That obviously is not correct. What it means is a state  which honours all faiths equally and gives them equal opportunities” (Sarveralli Gopal, Jawaharlal Nehru: An Anthology).

 

[1] Concerned over religions primal passions, Nehru’s ideas were initially more universally but moderated over time, perhaps influenced by the carnage of partition. Early nationalism was religiously inspired bur Gandhi realised the need to transcend its potential divisiveness. He taught ‘sarva dharma sambbhava’ or Equality of All Religions.

[i] In a sense it reminds me of the personal struggle or jihad of Islam, which is also used by some to justify conquest.

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