TOI Opinion Login | Register I ask therefore I’m Hindu: Hinduism stands for freedom of thought, don’t stifle that spirit August 20, 2014, 12:02 AM IST Sagarika Ghose in TOI Edit P The word ‘Hindu’ is in the news, both as a political and cultural identity. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat believes all those who live in Hindustan are Hindus. For book policeman Dinanath Batra Hindu is a crusading word, evoking a campaign against Macaulayite secularists who have monopolized Indian thought and education. ‘Hindu’ is posited as the opposite of the rootless and the westernized, India’s Hindu past an ’Indian’ riposte to western imperialism. Fear of westernization has always gripped Indians both of Left and Right persuasions. The Left regarded English as the language of foreign elitists and banished it from Bengal’s primary school education for three decades. The cultural Right believes – with some justification – that the modern post-Independence elite created an Indian knowledge system that suppressed and ignored Hindu traditions. Sangh activists like Batra believe it is their dharma to restore Hindu sanskriti to the school curriculum. Even as Batra campaigns for rewriting textbooks, an ASER report shockingly revealed that 9% children in class V cannot identify numbers, 44% cannot read paragraphs and 29% are unable to divide and subtract. Despite spending years in school, millions are growing up ‘functionally illiterate’. Even as the Chinese pour resources into bringing their education to global standards, the Right wants to pull Indian students back into an illusory ‘Vedic’ Age. What’s ‘Indian’ and what’s ‘western’ in our thousands of years of globalisation? To quote Amartya Sen: Does the use of penicillin amount to westernisation? Is paneer deeply anti-national because cottage cheese was first brought to India by European settlers in east India? Is chilli non-Indian because it was brought to India by the Portuguese? Is tea non-Indian because it was brought to India by the British? Education is not about content, not just about providing the right texts to create ideal bharatiya/ Hindu citizens. Education is how we acquire knowledge, how we learn to ask questions. One of Hinduism’s greatest inheritances is the pride of place given to the questioner, the free thinker, the reformer, the iconoclast. Did Arjuna blindly accept his guru’s command to go into battle? No he did not. He asked questions and demanded answers. Did Gargi, the brilliant interlocutor, fear her guru’s wrath when she challenged Yajnavalkya to a debate? Both the atheist and agnostic can exist under Hinduism because belief in a single god, or ‘the single truth’ or the concept of ‘blasphemy’ are hardly central to Hindu traditions. But Batra and his ilk appear enamoured of Semitic religions and determined to imitate them. In this semitised Hinduism, debates about the Vedic and Upanishadic traditions can hardly take place because of the atmosphere of fear, bans, diktats, sedition charges, issuing like thunderbolts from a vengeful enraged orthodoxy, an orthodoxy unknown in that glorious multiplicity known as sanatana dharma. Vaad vivaad samvaad have always been part of Hindu traditions. Were Buddhism and Jainism not movements that questioned religious orthodoxy? Did the Bhakti saints not question the role of priests, of caste and of elaborate rituals? Dronacharya’s treatement of Eklavya, the castes of the Purusa Sukta have been questioned by Dalitbahujan scholars. Justice A R Dave may insist that Gita is the only holy book, but for some sects of Vaishanavites the Bhagwat Purana occupies a place even higher than the Gita. Hinduism’s religious democracy has created numerous reform movements: the Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj, the Swadhyay movement of Pandurang Shastri. Bans, diktats, insisting on a single interpretation and a single holy book are profoundly at odds with the dizzyingly varied Hindu inheritance, shaped crucially by individual choice. The atma chooses his brahma and is therefore invincible. The individual shapes his religious universe, an unprecedented religious freedom that has made sanatana dharma unconquerable. A single shrine is open to assault but millions of little shrines are too diffuse to subdue. To quote scholar and author Jonardon Ganeri: “The essence of Hinduism is that it has no essence. What defines Hinduism is its polycentricity, multiple centres of belief and practice…. Hinduism is a banyan tree… under which a great diversity of thought and action is sustained.” No doubt sterile political official secularism of the post-Nehru era has created space for Dinanath Batra to cry culture-in-danger. While the architects of freedom may have been genuinely and idealistically neutral on all religions, the secularism of the Indira and Rajiv years was not secularism but what sociologist D L Sheth calls “permissive communalism” which “prevented the normal process of secularisation in communities and directly spurred the return to identity politics”. But why are school and university students paying the price in a political battle? Banning Doniger and Ramanujan, prohibiting English and Urdu phrases in textbooks, is not Indianising education, it is closing the Indian mind. Indianising education should mean to create the questioning spirit of Gargi, of Arjun, of Shastri, of Ram Mohan Roy, who questioned fearlessly. Hinduism has always stood for intellectual freedom, freedom that has led to super-achievers both at home and abroad. It is in fact decidedly un-Hindu to ban, to exclude and to suppress any form of knowledge, because the Hindu tradition has always honoured those who embraced intellectual striving and forged new ways of reform. DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the authors own. MORE FROM TIMES OF INDIA BLOGS Confusing signals: Modi chiding Pakistan for pursuing a proxy war… BJP double standards: Denying Taslima Nasreen shelter, granting… It’s the IPL, stupid! BJP forces will press for saffronisation of history books: Partha… Powering up: Modi may soon control two-thirds of the states FROM AROUND THE WEB Why England Are Winning Against India Bleacher Report On Modis call, IOB to build toilets in 59 schools Yahoo Shops in Delhis walled city stop selling US, western products Yahoo Wholl win the tablet war: Apple or Samsung? Hindustan Times New dimension for digital cities BBC PARTNERED CONTENT Recommended by Gururaj B Narayan• 11968 •Influencer Moderator Wordsmith •Bangalore•3 mins ago oops! pl read not after the words it is... in fifth line. 0 0 •Reply•Flag Gururaj B Narayan• 11968 •Influencer Moderator Wordsmith •Bangalore•4 mins ago the rhetorical questions in para 4 are absurd. certainly, none of us want to go back to bullock cart age! the issue is about what is perceived as attack on the socio-cultural ethos of hindus. hindus are concerned with their cultural space, not necessarily with hindutva. the attacks by scholars and people of left, left of centre and plain anti-hindu have provoked communalism and intolerance amongst hindus. it is because of rss or batra introducing monotheism and my godism from abrahamic religions. hinduism is not amenable to such changes introduced by a group of people even if it is rss with fifty lakh members. at best they will become a separate sect by themselves, like arya samaj etc. hindus and hinduism will always remain a tolerant. 0 0 •Reply•Flag annumallya• 27830 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Mangalore•7 mins ago true, but by asking sensible questions from a bunch of ignoramuses and obscurantists, you are asking for a bad beating-up , at the very least ! 0 0 •Reply•Flag Sushil• 49644 •Influencer Movie Buff Moderator •india•2 hours ago i agree with view point who so ever lives in hindustan is a hindu . 0 0 •Reply•Flag yuresh Sinha• 361 •Wordsmith News King Frequent Flyer •Gurgaon•2 hours ago wendy donigers book is just slander and misrepresentation. to call it a different view is disingenuous. and batra follows the court route and does not commit violence to ban books. the fear of violence is a very vague concept that is used for so called hindu extremists which is laughable in a world where isis is calling the shots in the middle east. rather than condemming that you find it worth your while to talk about how intolerant hinduism has become. the publishers voluntarily decided to pulp the book bot because it fears violence but because on getting it reviewed they realize that it is in poor taste. you should appreciate the openness of hinduism and not misuse it. 0 0 •Reply•Flag reader x• 5832 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Unknown•2 hours ago batra taking india to hell by talibanising hinduism. 0 0 •Reply•Flag Kallol Dasgupta• 21261 •Influencer Movie Buff Moderator •Kolkata, India•2 hours ago we can still be a hindu even after accepting global / western culture. culture should not be restricted to one community and society, there should be always exchange of thoughts and culture and our culture should give to the world as much as we can accept. the article is a good reflection of the paradoxes which exist in the so called staunch hindutva believers who might not have been able to understand what hinduism really is. 0 0 •Reply•Flag Tango Joker• 13808 •Influencer Moderator Wordsmith •India•2 hours ago poor sagarika, she is a sickular idiot. she has taken up writing useless articles now that she cannot blabber on tv. some people do not learn. ever. 1 0 •Reply•Flag Jay Prakash• 4201 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Bangalore•2 hours ago nicely written n diplomatic too because here we have to talk about hinduism... just wanna ask the people who are protesting, why dont they start discussing what we should put into our studyies from vedas n other ancient books which are the ocean of knowledge!! why till date govts avoid these studies???just because it is related to hinduism so it will hurt the so called secular people of india??? what a shame that in our country, study our own so enriched culture is an anti-nation act!!! i am not here in favor of rss but no one in our so called educated society and our so-called secular leaders never tried to spread the valuable knowledge which our history has, instead they just played their own game of secularism, just to get some attention and votes!! the worst part is, in media also it has been portrayed that talking about hinduism means eliminating other religions!! what a shame!!!!!! 0 0 •Reply•Flag Rajendra Vottery• 335 •News King Frequent Flyer Member •Secunderabad•2 hours ago sagarika ghoses well thought out arguments are forceful and convincing. her article is food for thought and worth reading. 0 0 •Reply•Flag Anil Kumar• 6483 •Influencer Movie Buff Wordsmith •Unknown•2 hours ago eevryone knows sagrika and her partial views. she shoudl have courage to speak against kashmis extremist, against saharanpur incident unpartially 2 0 •Reply•Flag Indian• 3275 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •India•2 hours ago she is we--known pseduo-secularist, so no surprise of me seeing her spiting venoms against her own people, perhaps she will advocate the barbaric culture of isis that will follow if we dont take firm steps. she cant answer a single question that in the period of 1000 years under islamic and british invaders, there is not a single contribution from india to science, maths, engineering, medicine etc. why? even in 20th century, we had mathematicians from hindu roots only. islamic or british times were about exploitation, slavery, loot and atrocities. when you want a culture where different opininons, faiths and understanding can co-exist, you must revert to the culture which promoted it and was epitome of wisdom and knowledge, vedic culture. i can understand that, people such as sagarika ghose has no understanding of science, engineering, maths, medicine, technology or even history...but she will talk about it, we need to save ourself from such ignorant people. 3 0 •Reply•Flag Timir Baran• 9824 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Navi Mumbai (New Mumbai)•2 hours ago nice article.enjoyed reading it and agree. 0 0 •Reply•Flag awarabadal • 12063 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •haryana•2 hours ago what does secularism mean? not a lot. it has come to mean the state will keep away from religion. but the congress secularists and its spin-offs copy cats have done anything but. they have made appeasement, vote bank and dislike for anything resembling hinduism as their main policy plank. you cannot destroy everything that the majority believes and support everything that a minority does. that will be a disaster and it is happening in india. for a fistfull of dollars and power hungry secularists , anything goes. including selling their soul. no longer. 0 0 •Reply•Flag Haradhan Mukhopadhya• 1386 •Influencer Wordsmith News King •Jamshedpur•2 hours ago very appropriate and timely article.we are proud to be hindu. because hinduism is freedom of way of worship, freedom of religious thought freedom of way of life. we have many ways of worship many gods and many awtars. 0 0 •Reply•Flag Radhakrishnan Menon• 26513 •Influencer Moderator Wordsmith •Chennai, India•2 hours ago i doubt, therefore i am said famous scientist, mathematician and philosopher, descartes. he argued that to doubt ones existence, there must be a mind, and mind cannot exist without a body. the essence of hinduism cannot be so established by merely asking a question. no doubt, multiplicity of thoughts beliefs and rituals has enabled hinduism to accommodate diverse cultures and practices. yet, it cannot be denied that over a period of time, it has come to be perceived as a religion in the eyes of other religions. if other religions think so, so be it. it is better to leave matters at that instead of trying to create a controversy by reiterating what is obvious and negate the spirit of tolerance which hinduism is known for 0 0 •Reply•Flag Rara R• 10108 •Influencer Moderator Wordsmith •Greenway•3 hours ago unlike these english media journalists, the hindi, tamil, telugu and other regional anchors and journos are far more clever and expressive. ghose makes the arguments that have been made before by western secularists and indian slaves of western thought and is therefore a plagiarist in that sense. 0 0 •Reply•Flag Prem Ncb• 45 •Member •3 hours ago another stupid article. this time with more stupidity 1 0 •Reply•Flag raniharidas207• 12 •Member •3 hours ago we hindustanis wanted the indian muslims too leave hindustan which was not possible. most hindus converted to islam and christainity and today we have a range of religions like the jains/swami narayan/brahmakumari and the list is endless 0 0 •Reply•Flag Uttam Jain• 299 •Wordsmith News King Frequent Flyer •Bangalore, India•3 hours ago everyone is want western culture not indian culture. they learn western culture.they want to talk in western culture. they want to talk in hindi 0 0 •Reply•Flag raniharidas207• 12 •Member •3 hours ago frankly dont understand this term hindutva but am very sure that when britishers were here for their convience to recognize from the muslims and non muslims the hindustanis were known as hindus then the muslims and christains and last the sikhs. 1 0 •Reply•Flag Ankur k• 5758 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Unknown•3 hours ago the whole point of this article is to fall back because of the backlash on the social media against the likes of sagarika, her husband rajdeep and the likes of barkha dutt who have been bashing hindus/hindutva or anything remotely related for serving their colonial funding master. now that the funding has dried up and they have lost their jobs, they are trying to gain sympathy of the largely gullible hindus who have no idea or education on the world geo political scenarios or either hinduism, 1 0 •Reply•Flag Sunil• 4335 •Influencer Wordsmith News King •Pune•3 hours ago pathethic article....sagarika ghosh as usual .....was happy to see her off the television sets...but she is back with all her stupidity.. 7 0 •Reply•Flag dibyashree dibyashree• 4468 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •India•3 hours ago she is a congress agent and like to appease some particular community... 3 0 •Reply•Flag Sumit Deshpande• 1055 •Influencer Wordsmith News King •Unknown•3 hours ago i see utter confusion while writing this article. poor study... 1 1 •Reply•Flag Tapan Naskar• 5823 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Kolkata•3 hours ago in any of our ancient text like ramayana, mahabharata, puranas, vedas world hindu was not used. 1 0 •Reply•Flag Bhagawati• 7334 •Influencer Moderator Wordsmith • Tapan Naskar•Bharat•2 hours ago bcos there was no other religion at that time! 0 0 •Reply•Flag nirmal Kumar• 2322 •Moderator Influencer Wordsmith •delhi•3 hours ago illusory vedic age ....wtf ?? 0 0 •Reply•Flag Ganesh Dubey• 2534 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Mumbai, Maharashtra•3 hours ago the people opposing hindutwa dont know the real meaning. hindu means freedom for expression , helping others , non violence, respecting women and older age people, and see whole world as family member 1 0 •Reply•Flag Nagarajan Raghuraman• 1070 •Wordsmith News King Frequent Flyer •Mumbai•3 hours ago what a stupid article.. 5 1 •Reply•Flag Manish Jindal• 6928 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Gurgaon•3 hours ago the author forgot to add one more statement. hinduism is also the only religion on which journalists can freely talk about. can somebody even imagine writing such text on any other major religion without fearing for their life. 2 0 •Reply•Flag Kaustubh Mishra• 5934 •Influencer Moderator Wordsmith •Bangalore, India•3 hours ago nicely written... last para is to the point.... 1 3 •Reply•Flag Umesh• 6813 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Surat•3 hours ago sagarika ghosh, barkha dutt are in the influential of congress. lot of people boycotted to watch their programme 5 0 •Reply•Flag Abrakadabra• 7191 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Timbaktu•3 hours ago please write why evangelists call hindu gods as devil ,please dare to write about them before you write anything on hinduism 0 0 •Reply•Flag Madan Malik• 296 •News King Frequent Flyer Inboxer •Amman•3 hours ago yes,our traditions allow people to practise rituals according to their own age and stage of life but the basic concepts are unchangeable.we all believe in karamvad leading to rebirth,four ashrams-four stages of life,four types of humans,incarnations of god from time to time,unity in diversity,vasudev kutumbkam.personalities like dr dina nath batra are also preaching reforms-reforms of the misconceptions,half-truths to crush our culture and produce pseudo-europeans to spread british culture and under its garb to convert us to their religion.the author seems to be pursuing an indefensible arguement ,initiated by the generation coached in the macaulay system of education.we have to be alert to this misleading line of thought.madan malik 0 0 •Reply•Flag Ampi• 477 •Wordsmith News King Frequent Flyer •Unknown•4 hours ago just another pro dongress supporter... 3 0 •Reply•Flag rakeshkatyal16• 1763 •Influencer Wordsmith News King •4 hours ago sagarika is a renowned hindu basher. she will be silent if you ask her on isis. 6 0 •Reply•Flag utkalaputra• 175 •News King Frequent Flyer Member •4 hours ago not sure what the writer wanted to convey. she has tried to cover many topics in one article which is kind of hard to understand. though loved the facts and information, i believe it could have been written in a better way. 0 0 •Reply•Flag utkalaputra• 175 •News King Frequent Flyer Member •4 hours ago c 0 0 •Reply•Flag dexternasty• 1255 •Influencer Wordsmith News King •Location•4 hours ago thanks to this egoist writer, many indians must have got enlightened today!!! how lucky we are that we have such fine enlightened pseudo sickulars always ready to help the illiterate and destitute people like us!!! how merciful they are that they are ever ready to take a moral high ground and preach to us, the ordinary mortal through their empty monologues! thank god for small mercies! 1 0 •Reply•Flag MAHENDRANATH• 9176 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •India•4 hours ago thankyou for your enlightening article (sic). great news tea was introduced to india by britishers...great discovery!!!....you should have also added zero was the discovery of einstein or someone in europe. being born in a majority community you enjoy the freedom of spinning stories, enjoy this freedom, as the way india is progressing due to congress/ndtv/sp/etc very soon we will be in minority and we will seeks ways like in a container to migrate. 2 0 •Reply•Flag Edward Jones• 1453 •Influencer Wordsmith News King •Nanital•4 hours ago hinduism is not a religion but the religion is sanatan dharma which has been derived from religious book ved, puraan and bhagwat geeta. vedas teaches to believe in oneness of god and the god who has no image but hindus who believe vedas as their religious book but believe in several god and godesses which is absolutely against the sanatan dharma. 0 0 •Reply•Flag sanjay dasgupta• 2126 •Influencer Moderator Wordsmith •India•4 hours ago one of hinduismâs greatest inheritances is the pride of place given to the questioner, the free thinker, the reformer, the iconoclast - for me, this is laughabe to say the list! by her past performance, we know that she is not any one of the following - hindu, free thinker, reformer. yes - she considers chineese gandhis as her icon for sure! 0 0 •Reply•Flag skywalkermoon1• 478 •Wordsmith News King Frequent Flyer •5 hours ago but it does not mean others abuse and misuse hinduism, hindu gods and symbols in name of freedom of speech. 0 0 •Reply•Flag skywalkermoon1• 478 •Wordsmith News King Frequent Flyer •5 hours ago we all know this. hinduism is not one god, one book, one thought religion. thats why india is secular country. 0 0 •Reply•Flag Sanjay• 12159 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •India•5 hours ago these days news-traders in indian media has a fetish only on rss-chaddi and goan-bikini. 1 0 •Reply•Flag venkatesh gm• 339 •News King Frequent Flyer Well Connected •5 hours ago absolutely agree with your view sagarika on hinduism. 0 1 •Reply•Flag Subhash Chander• 521 •Networker Wordsmith News King •Chandigarh, India•5 hours ago there is not a single incident where hinduism has ever curtailed the freedom of any one . 1 0 •Reply•Flag Ganesh Hegde• 747 •News King Frequent Flyer Member •Mumbai•5 hours ago hinduism has always been an open book. ghose has not written anything spectacular in this article. it seems to be a nice compilation of facts peppered by strong english words 1 0 •Reply•Flag raja.sub.kumar• 913 •Wordsmith News King Frequent Flyer • Ganesh Hegde•Bangalore•5 hours ago like the way you insult her ... keep it up folks 1 0 •Reply•Flag Kamal Jeet• 232 •News King Frequent Flyer Member •New Delhi, India•6 hours ago good sagarika .it gives nice feelings for hindutva being discussed by your good self.....aa no bhadra.....yes hindutva welcomes good thought from all around.of course from insiders hindu like you also. 0 0 •Reply•Flag Shibashish Sarkar• 15881 •Influencer Wordsmith Networker •Calcutta•6 hours ago i am proud that i am a hindu. period. 1 0 •Reply•Flag Author Sagarika GhoseSagarika Ghose She is a senior journalist. Most Discussed Most Read 1. Kejriwal, heed Shanti Bhushan’s advice: else AAP will have nothing except your face 2. Leadership, vision and an unsettling ambiguity: Modi from the Red Fort 3. I ask therefore I’m Hindu: Hinduism stands for freedom of thought, don’t stifle that spirit 4. Real Independence Day 5. The PM knows he is a servant Popular Tags arvind-kejriwal delhi congress inflation government china bjp us rbi parliament upa anna-hazare aap pakistan modi manmohan-singh narendra-modi mumbai cricket food rahul-gandhi sonia-gandhi corruption bollywood ipl Recently Joined Authors Sagarika GhoseNalin MehtaTOI Q&AAalia FurniturewallaAnindya ChattopadhyayThe Times of IndiaAbhishek Manu SinghviSanjiv ShankaranAman DhallNamrata Singh Copyright © 2014 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 10:15:27 +0000
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