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Secularism, Chauvinism, but Objective Hindu-ism?

In recent times I have realised that several people feel obliged to apologise; apologise for being Hindu, apologise for a ‘Hindu’ party winning the elections, updating status messages on facebook or tweeting that while they may be called Hindu, they should not be mistaken to be fundamentalists. ‘I am not a religious Hindu. I am secular!’

I was raised in a Tamil Brahmin household. I remember spending my afternoons hearing tales from the Siva Puranam, the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha from my grandmother. I remember learning to draw a 18-pulli Kolam, making strings of mango leaves for festivals, learning Carnatic music and bharathanatyam, making a compulsory visit to the puja room after a bath every morning. As a young child, the stories of Parvati or Rama were fascinating, festivals were a lot of fun, rituals were intriguing and practices were just that- a way of living.

In my growing up years I asked a lot of questions- why do we do this? How will it matter if I don’t do this? Why am I not allowed to do this? How will this help me? Many of these questions stemmed from smirks and ridicule around me. ‘You are not coming because you have to visit the temple? How lame!’ or ‘Why should you have a bath so early in the morning? You guys have too many rules.’ Unfortunately, apart from all the fascinating mythology, my knowledge of my own religion was so little that it was no trouble getting cornered into embarrassment. I stopped wearing a bindi, I took more pride in my knowledge of Wordsworth than my knowledge of the Tirukkural, cut my hair and grew my nails. My own apology for being Hindu began at teenage.

A chance project during my graduate student days on the science (by our modern definition) of ancient customs around the world was suddenly the moment when I turned around to look at Hinduism again, more objectively and with lesser arrogance. What came off the project were seemingly convincing answers to many of the questions that I was asked by scornful peers. But there were several more questions – my own- that were now looking to be answered.  

What led me to discover answers to these questions was something that had always been a part of my life.  Dance- Bharatanatyam, drew me back in – not to the superficial ritualistic ways that seemed to stifle me but to the philosophy behind these ways of worship. The abstract nature of the philosophy was so mind boggling and yet the finite, colourful forms, sculptures, rituals and practices that were built to visualise this profound philosophy seemed so simple. As I danced and gathered information from family, artists, teachers, scholars, books and lectures, I saw through what seemed to be mere rituals to a Dharma that was deeply rooted in seeking knowledge and understanding existence, the same thing several physicists around the world work on every day.

What also became obvious was that patriarchy and chauvinism had slowly but surely ensured that rituals and scriptures were manipulated to place power in the hands of the patriarch and only these twisted rituals of oppression, casteist and otherwise, however inconvenient, survived the centuries. What we are unfortunately left with today are ignorant men (unfortunately powerful by brute) justifying abuse and oppression in the name of religious beliefs, women justifying these men because their once immense power of knowledge has been replaced by a meek hunger for power over other women. With the essence of learning being replaced by a life of unfounded rules and fanaticism, we stand embarrassed by this public persona of the religion. And by proclaiming our Hinduism, we fear to be placed in the same bracket as these insane chauvinists and self-proclaimed ‘protectors’ of the religion. By openly admitting our religious identity, we fear further mockery by non-Hindus, by radical feminists and atheists. And so for the sake of convenience, we remain closet Hindus at best.

While several of us have shunned our religious identity, it is time to stand back and objectively look at the origins – the very roots of our cultural identity. Chauvinism, not just in the Hindu context but in cultures around the world, has been the demon- It’s time he was vanquished. It is time we shunned those practices that are mere tools of oppression and learnt the tenets of the religion that never decried any gender pure or impure. Caste is in the mind- not a weapon of the so-called upper castes. The Vedas are gems of wisdom, not the sole property of the male gender. As educated individuals, it is time we did not stagnate at the rituals and learnt to evolve towards the philosophy. Our current definitions of science and religion have led us to draw a distinct line between the two. Rather inconveniently (!), Hinduism is both.  It holds within its scriptures matters of intellectual query, a religion of philosophy, science and faith. It is time we realised this and made attempts to study it.

I still sport short hair, I still don’t wear a bindi with jeans, I enjoy English literature more than Tamil (but that’s to do with our language of education- which is another matter altogether)… but not out of apology.  I understand now that it is not all these things that make me a Hindu or an atheist. I am a practicing Hindu and a student of Hinduism. Being a Hindu does not mean that I do not respect and befriend those with other religious beliefs or those with none. Being a Hindu does not mean that I will not stand up against wife-beating. Being a Hindu woman does not mean that I will not aim to be a successful entrepreneur. Being a Hindu does not mean that I justify anti- Valentine’s Day riots. Being a Hindu does not mean that I will not enjoy the music of Beethoven or the poetry of Amir Khusro. Being a Hindu does not mean I am not liberal. Being a Hindu does not mean that I am not secular. 


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