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| Image from India Today |
“Between us and reality are our feelings.” Svetlana Alexievich
We won’t want to remember
Phulmoni Dasi. She was a little girl of 10 when she was married to 30-year-old
Hari Mohan Maiti. She died in the night of her marriage as her husband attained
the bliss of orgasm which is a man’s right and privilege according to our great
custom and tradition. Our glorified ancient culture which insisted that the
wife’s virginity should be proved in the “first night” itself. The blood of her
broken hymen should stain the bedsheet.
But the British government in
India at that time did not accept that as any greatness. Hari Mohan was charged
with “causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of
others” and was sentenced to 12 months of hard labour. Within 6 months of that
incident, on 9 Jan 1891, the Viceroy of India, Lord Lansdowne presented a bill
before the Council of India seeking to amend a relevant section of the Indian
Penal Code. Consequently, sex with a girl under 12 became a crime.
The guardians of the great
Indian culture opposed the British attempt to save the Indian girl children
from male brutality. Even someone of the stature of Bal Gangadhar Tilak opposed
the reform Bill stating, “We would not like that the government should have
anything to do with regulating our social customs or ways of living, even
supposing that the act of government will be a very beneficial and suitable
measure.” Many other eminent nationalists of the time vehemently opposed the
Bill.
The British had brought in
many reforms already in spite of objections from right wing Indian nationalists.
Governor General William Bentinck made sati illegal in 1829. Lord Ellenborough
enacted the Indian Slavery Act in 1843 making illegal many inhuman transactions
related to slave trades. Yet the caste system continued to be in force in India
in the name of culture and tradition. Slavery continued, in other words.
The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act
of 1856 was drafted by Lord Dalhousie and passed by Lord Canning. Once again it
was opposed by the Dharma Sabha, one of the many guardians of our ancient
culture. This is the same organisation that tried to jettison the anti-sati act
in the name of “the religious affairs of the indigenous people”. It is this subhuman organisation that
eventually morphed into a “society in defence of Hindu way of life or culture”
which then became a think-tank for RSS.
Between us
and reality are our feelings.
The purpose of this post is
not to show that the British were great and that Indian right-wing nationalists
were all brutes. That would be putting our feelings between us and the reality,
thus rendering us incapable of developing any proper historical sense.
The purpose of this post is to
show that our culture and traditions had too much savagery in them. Today when some
of our leaders are hellbent on glorifying all that and vilifying everything
that came from outside, it is important to sit back and look at their claims without
bringing our feelings between us and the reality.
Feelings obfuscate.
Nationalism is all about feelings. Genuine heroism is not at all about
feelings.
India had her greatness,
undoubtedly. Let us celebrate the greatness if we want (though resting on
ancient laurels is one of the inanest things anyone can do). That celebration
does not require the vilification of anyone at all, especially in the name of
religions and gods. If anything great was achieved, it was achieved not by any
god or religion but by some noble people who refused to put their feelings
between them and the reality. They saw the reality clearly.
If only we could achieve a
fraction of the clarity of their vision!
It's like my dad once told me, people who lived in this country over a 1000 years ago were great thinkers and the people who came after them ( over a 100yrs ago ) were animals.
ReplyDeleteInteresting observation. We like to be romantic about 1000+ years ago, I suppose.
DeleteTom, the RSS wanted manusmriti to be adopted as the constitution in 1947. Manu is the worst kind of male chauvinist who is held in such high esteem by the right wing. When the supreme court threw open the doors of the sabarimala temple to women I had a major argument with a highly educated woman who was against the decision. She was a chartered accountant and a director in a multinational company. Even the educated are not exempt from the religious prejudices that pervade our society. It is thanks to the British that we have come this far into becoming an enlightened society. The British were no angels but we owe them quite a bit when it comes to social reforms. And now the BJP and the RSS are hell bent on taking us back to the 5th century.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that surprised me too about the Sabarimala verdict was how Kerala's women came out in thousands on to streets in protest. They were subverting their own freedom and dignity! They were accepting that their monthly cycle made them really impure! The power of religion to befuddle people is beyond my understanding. But I know that there is more politics here than anything else.
DeleteI agree with what Jai said - the Brits were no angels, but they did implement a lot of social reforms. Left to our own devices, I wonder what the state of women and minorities would be in this country. And now this government wants to take us back to our "ancient glory" and no one stops to objectively think about what this so-called glory was!
DeleteNeither the British nor we are angels. Nor devils either. A mix of both. If we accept that, half the problem is over. We are Rama and Ravana. We build temples for Rama and hate worse than the rakshasas.
DeleteAs we make progress, or at least imagine that we do, our thoughts seem to digress. No one explains this digression better than the current party in power. What scares and disturbs me even more than they do, are the people who support them and their views.
ReplyDeleteYes, the people who vote for hatred are far more dangerous than the villainous leaders.
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