Skip to main content

Blindness of the Religious



Religions have an uncanny knack for making people intellectually blind.  The latest example for religious blindness is the withdrawal by its publishers (Penguin) of Wendy Doniger’s book, The Hindus: An Alternative History.

Doniger quotes in a letter to the press:  “An example at random, from the lawsuit in question: ‘That YOU NOTICEE has hurt the religious feelings of millions of Hindus by declaring that Ramayana is a fiction. “Placing the Ramayan in its historical contexts demonstrates that it is a work of fiction, created by human authors, who lived at various times……….” (P.662) This breaches section 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). ‘ 

Doniger is an accomplished scholar on Hinduism.  It is absurd that ignorant people are questioning her scholarship and trying to ban it from public access. 

Ramayana may not be the only bone of contention in this case.  However, since Doniger has mentioned that explicitly in her letter, let me quote some relevant passages from Dr Amartya Sen’s book, The Argumentative Indian:

“... many Hindu political activists today seem bent on doing away with the broad and tolerant parts of the Hindu tradition in favour of a uniquely ascertained – and often fairly crude – view which, they demand, must be accepted by all.  The piously belligerent army of Hindu politics would rather take us away from these engagingly thoughtful discussions and would have us embrace instead their much-repeated public proclamations, for example that Rama, the epic hero, is an incarnation of God; that all Hindus worship him; and that he was born on a well-identified spot ‘nine lakh [900,000] years ago’.  We are thus not allowed to see the Ramayana as ‘a marvellous parable’ (as Rabindranath Tagore saw it), but as a historical document which cannot be questioned.  It is also taken to have enough legal status to give actively destructive Hindu politicians a licence to tear down a place of worship of other people ... in celebration of his alleged birth exactly there.”

“Many Hindu schools of thought,” continues Dr Sen, “do not mention Rama at all, and, among the texts that do, many hardly portray him in the spectacular light of divinity in which the present day Hindutva activists insist on seeing him.”

There may be many other points in Doniger’s book, apart from her views on Rama, which infuriated the blind believers (or those who maliciously make use of religious sentiments for political purposes, which is a more vicious thing to do).  But all those points will have rational and historical counterviews too.  So why should the book be banned?  Isn’t it better to let the readers find out the truths about their religion and beliefs? 

It is more likely that these so-called religious leaders want to keep people in darkness.  Every religion flourishes when the people are ignorant.  Anyone who tries to remove the ignorance is persecuted in one way or another.  Wendy Donigen is the latest victim of religious blindness and its attempts to keep others blind too. 


Top post on IndiBlogger.in, the community of Indian Bloggers


Comments

  1. I'm all for freedom of expression. If it is banned how are we intellectually better than the mullahs of Bangladesh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This kind of intolerance is the same whether it is in Islam, or Hinduism, or Christianity... based on narrow religious views. I don't know if Doniger's book is a great work or not. I didn't buy it even when it became controversial at the time of its publication because the reviews had mixed opinion, many arguing that it didn't reveal the author's real scholarship. Nevertheless, she has a right to express her views just as much as we have a right to question it. But why demand a ban? If a book is not good, it will die naturally.

      Delete
    2. Religion is said to be the opium of the masses.Religion in my view cannot be viewed with intelligence. It needs your total devotion to it blindly. Religious preachers and guardians want us to be faithful and never apply logic to it. So either you are in or you are not .Choice is yours.by the way ,well written, got me thinking onit

      Delete
    3. You're right, Nima. Intelligence and religion don't go together. Faith is quite the antithesis of intelligence.

      Delete
  2. Completely agree. We are getting more and more intolerant by the hour and it actually goes against Hinduism's basic philosophy of tolerance. Putting anything above questioning is against scientific temper. And that is something we seriously lack.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I purposely chose Amartya Sen as an example here. He highlights the eminent level of tolerance that prevailed in the Hindu traditions. He cites the atheistic school of Carvakas, a character from Ramayana who questions the greatness of Rama, and so on. Such tolerance is the real greatness of our cultural heritage.

      Delete
  3. And we say we are a democratic country!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Democracy may be losing out in our country, Pankti. We may soon have a Fascist as our PM!

      Delete
  4. Fanatics are everywhere..be it Taslima Nasrin works or Salman Rushdie's...remember the painting of Goddess Saraswati by MF Hussain ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why is people's religion so touchy, Maniparna? Do you think people lack deep faith in their religion?

      Delete
    2. I agree with your views. I do not know anything about this author or the particular issue, so I'll say that this issue runs both ways, in general. While perfectly good books may be banned for hurting unfounded beliefs, some self-styled scholars also abuse the freedom of expression to publish trash, and conveniently generalize all critics as blindly religious.

      Delete
    3. The author, Doniger, is a scholar. She must be laughing like Nietzche's God now.

      Delete
  5. The intolerance part is well imbibed in all schools of Hindu philosophy. But my question is a little different - why is this intolerance stemming in? My take is that though the intelligentsia is heavily left leaning in this country(which is disproportionate to the political space they are given) it's bread and butter stroke is to somehow search for an Indian identity which is devoid of Hinduism - is that really possible(unless you dissolve the constitution which essentially preaches 'positive secularism' against 'negative secularism' of the west)? In reality these same leftist intellectuals preach religious freedom for the minorities, while trying to undermine today's ritualistic Hinduism. Besides, practicing Hindus don't need the advice of an atheist(Sen) and a Christian(Doniger) as to how they should go about seeing or perceiving their religion.

    The Carvakas you just mentioned above(even though were atheists) were still Hindus and refused to call themselves a different cult. Would Sen, the poster boy of Marxist interpretation of Economy and Culture in India, dare add this in that essay? I doubt.

    I was one of the petitioners who petitioned Penguin against the book and there were thousands like me. The constitution of India does not permit blasphemy against any religion in India and the Supreme Court has said time and again that there is nothing called Absolute Freedom of Speech, freedom in a democracy is always subjective to the comfort level of other citizens and society at large. As an unlikely example what would happen if anti-Christian riots break out in here initiated by some fringe elements as the writer was a Christian? Could Doniger sitting ten thousand miles away be held responsible for it?

    Many friends of mine, some revolutionary Marxists, show zero tolerance towards the fact the society is not ready for such cultural shocks. You just can not force them into it. If and when the fault-lines(which are so apparent today) get blurred and a piece of literature no longer threatens to damage the, already fragile, social fabric - write what you want. But not today.

    P.S.: I am as much against the circulation of books such as Rushdie's Satanic Verses, Nasreen's Lajja, Brown's Da Vinci Code etc, though I have read them all. There are much better things to write about than 'exposing religion'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Its interesting that you read the books and came to the conclusion that it should be banned.Considering that you read it from a literary perspective and chose to to reject it , was again completely your choice. This is precisely what every citizen of a free thinking nations needs - choice and be able to decide for oneself whether to accept it or reject it. To decide to ban some work by some people, and not letting the other people decide for themselves is the root problem here.

      Delete
    2. Thank you moon for having the patience of sitting and reading through the entire comment.
      1. The book wasn't banned. The publisher withdrew it.
      2. As much as the people have the right to voice their opinion, others have the right to feel offended by those views. As the celebrated American jurist - Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior said: Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins. The Marxists claim the moral high ground while 'protecting the freedom of speech' while they themselves are intolerant towards the sensitivities of their compatriots.

      Delete
    3. Sid, you display quite a bit of arrogance (along with ignorance, I'm sorry to say) in your comment. First of all, Dr Sen has mentioned again and again in the book quoted that the Carvaka school is an integral part of Hinduism. Either you never cared to read Sen or you're intentionally (as most religious people do) misinterpreting him.

      You say that intolerance "is well imbibed in all schools of Hinduism". I don't know what you mean by that. My question for clarification of what you mean is: Are you saying that Hinduism is essentially an intolerant religion or culture?

      Your attitude toward books that question religious ideas shows how blinkered your approach is toward reality.

      Religion is one of the most pernicious forces as it has always been in human civilisation. It is the duty of every thinking human being to question the evils it breeds relentlessly.

      Delete
    4. @Sid,

      I think I have to agree that you have the right to feel offended by the book.
      Just as much as I have the right to feel offended at the thought of society clamping down on freedom of expression. While I also agree, that one cannot indulge in any kind of expression in a society bound by certain rules, but there's a thin line.If one cannot question established beliefs, thoughts and if one cannot face such questions, we seek to quell the scientic temper in each one of us by a rigid imposition of rules.

      The problem with this approach is that the confines of what is acceptable will get smaller and smaller , till all thoughts of a different thinking is completely extinguished. Blind superstitions which exist to this day, are nothing but a culmination of such a behaviour.

      The question is, irrespective of religion , if that's where we want to head.

      Having said that, I do not dispute your right to petition against the book, which is the most peaceful approach one can adopt to dispute contentious issues instead of taking to the streets and indulging in arson.

      Delete
    5. Ignorance - My intellect is not even a fraction of yours but you didn't read my comment properly(or maybe I couldn't articulate it well). The Carvaka school is different from the Carvakas(who followed that school) and I said that Sen didn't write that the Carvakas resisted attempts to call themselves different from the followers of Lord Ram when the demons tried to coarse them into excepting the same. Read the English adaptation of Bhanubhakta Ramayana.

      Arrogance - Will not tow the line of Marxists and for that you can call me names. I will resist with all my heart any attempt by a bunch of leftist pseudo-liberals to exercise their 'right to blasphemy'. In fact some of them are so liberal and tolerant that they deleted the comment by Sachin Manan placed right below mine as it out-rightly justified the action by Penguin.

      Delete
    6. Sid, you're crossing the limits of basic decency. Sachin deleted his comment himself as far as I can see in my dashboard. Stop hurling immature allegations, that's my request. And, for your kind information, I have never (NEVER) been part of any Marxist, Socialist, Communist or Leftist organisation and don't intend to join any either. I'm a liberal thinker, a self-professed intellectual with my own strong convictions and principles. Full stop.

      Delete
    7. @ Sid,
      After reading the article, I am forced to take back my words.
      This provided a very strong justification on why it happened and I would have to agree that whatever happened, was for the good.

      http://www.firstpost.com/india/why-the-wendy-doniger-episode-is-not-a-free-speech-issue-1388751.html

      Delete
    8. Moon, I just read the piece you've cited. How do those arguments justify demanding the ban of the book? The writer is right that the West had skewed notions about India and Doniger has not done justice to India in her book. So what? Let the readers decide whether to believe her or not. I, as a potential reader, decided not to buy the book after reading 4 or 5 reviews. Can't people make their own decisions? Why should any organisation make the decisions for people? Why do I need a moral guardian to decide what I should read or write?

      Delete
    9. I would have completely endorsed what you are saying , but couple of reasons now forces me to rethink. I also think these reasons forces one to look at the 'grey' instead of a pure black and white picture.

      1.There are enough and more instances of religious fanatics purposely trying to malice another's religion. While we may split our hair trying to endorse freedom of speech, there could be, put simply,other forces at work.

      2.Also, we cannot ignore the fact, that these kind of books are sometimes used simply as a manipulative means to just hike the sales.More the controversy the better it is, so why not write controversial stuff, just to make a quick buck out of it.

      3.The language used for depicting the religion can definitely set fire to the tinderbox emotions of the huge not so-educated population of our country who can easily be swayed by political / religious reasons and who I suspect would not reason it out across a discussion table.The fact that the author belongs to a different religion can be strong motivation to retaliate against the other religion.

      4.Freedom of choice of all parties concerned - both the petitioners and the publisher.If it had been a ban, there would have definitely been more cause for debate.

      I think all of these cases should be viewed on a subjective and case by case basis keeping all the factors in mind as taking a hard stand might just be the best way to deal with it.

      Delete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please fell free to put in your view, Sachin. At least for the sake of those who question me about the deletion of your comment.

      Delete
  7. Agree with your views, Sir. It's their profit if people remain blind... Even those who can see have become Gandhari in today's age!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why I won’t vote

From Deshabhimani , Malayalam weekly Exactly a month from today is the Parliamentary election in my state of Kerala. This time, I’m not going to vote. Bernard Shaw defined democracy , with his characteristic cynicism, as “ a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve .” We elect our government in a democracy. And the government invariably sucks our blood – whichever the party is. The BJP and the Congress are like Tweedledum and Tweedledee though the former makes all sorts of other claims day in and day out. BJP = Congress + the holy cow. The holy cow has turned out to be quite a vampire and that makes a difference, no doubt. In our Prime Minister’s algebra, it is: (a+b) 2 which should be equal to a 2 and b 2 . There is an extra 2ab which is the holy cow. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm , the animals revolt against the human master and set up their own nationalist republic. Soon politics develops in the republic and some pigs become leaders. The porcine

Prelude to AtoZ

  From Garden of 5 Senses, Delhi [file pic] Hindsight gives an unearthly charm and order to the past. There can be pain too. A lot of things could have been different, much better, if only we possessed the wisdom of our old age back in those days. As a writer put it, Oedipus, Hamlet, Lear and a lot of those guys must have thought, “I wish I had known this some time ago.” Life is a series of errors with intermittent achievements. The only usefulness of the errors may be the lessons they teach us. Probably, that is their purpose too. We are created to err so that we learn, I dare to put it that way. I turn 64 in a month’s time. It’s not inappropriate to look back at some of the people whom life brought into my life so that I would learn certain lessons. No, I don’t mean to say that life has any such purpose or design or anything. Life is absurd. People come into your life as haphazardly as vehicles ply on your road or birds poop on your head. Some of these people change the chemist

How Arvind Kejriwal can save himself

Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have a clear vision. Eliminate all opposition. Decimate them or absorb them. My previous post [link below] showed a few people decimated by them. Today let’s look at the others: those who are saved by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP]. 1. Himanta Biswa Sarma  This guy was in Congress and faced serious charges related to the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam. He also faced corruption charges related to drinking water supply in Guwahati. His house was raided by the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI]. Then he switched over to BJP and all his crimes just vanished. It’s as simple as taking a dip in the Ganga and all your sins are forgiven. Today he is the chief minister of Assam. Nothing is heard of all the charges that were levelled against him. 2. Amarinder Singh  This former Captain in the Indian Army was a Congressman until Modi’s Enforcement Directorate [ED] started raiding him, his son and his son-in-law. He put an end to all those raid

The Good Old World

Book Review Title: Dukhi Dadiba and irony of fate Author: Dadi Edulji Taraporewala Translators: Aban Mukherji and Tulsi Vatsal Publisher: Ratna Books, Delhi, 2023 Pages: 314 If you want to return to the good old days of the late 19 th century, this is an ideal novel for you. This was published originally in Gujarati in 1913. It appeared as a serial before that from 1898 onwards in a periodical. The conflict between good and evil is the dominant motif though there is romance, betrayal, disappointment, regret, and pretty much of traditional morality. Reading this novel is quite like watching an old Bollywood movie, 1960s style. Ardeshir Bahadurshah, a wealthy Parsi aristocrat in Surat, dies having obligated his son Jehangir to find out his long-lost brother Rustom. Rustom was Bahadurshah’s son in his first marriage. The mother died when the boy was too small and the nurse who looked after the child vanished with it one day. Ratanmai, Bahadurshah’s present wife, takes her

Kejriwal’s Arrest in Modi’s Kurukshetra

For some mysterious reason, Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest reminded me of Haren Pandya. Maybe, because Pandya’s 21 st death anniversary is approaching (26 March). Have you forgotten Haren Pandya? He was the Home Minister of Gujarat before Narendra Modi assumed dictatorial powers in that state. Modi chose to teach humility to Pandya by making him the Minister of State for revenue. Pandya chose not to learn humility from Modi and resigned from that post in Aug 2002. Remember Gujarat of 2002? You should. A fire engulfed a train on 27 Feb 2002 killing 58 Hindu pilgrims who were returning from Ayodhya where they had gone to discover their god, not very unlike Christopher Columbus undertaking a voyage to discover India and messing it all up. What caused the fire in the train? Lord Ram knows probably. The upshot was that there was a riot in Gujarat by Hindus against Muslims. Haren Pandya is one of the BJP leaders who gave statements in many places indicting Modi for the riots. He asser