Some brilliant points here by Amit Chaudhuri: But if Hinduism, rather than what Indians call secularism, is to be the dominant paradigm for the near future, what does it mean for politics today? Given that it was never an organised religion, and even its name has a Persian rather than indigenous provenance, Hinduism is hard to pin down. Its fluidity encompasses the caste system, mythology and austere philosophical positions including atheism. Even texts that are now associated with Brahminical Hinduism, such as the Bhagavad Gita, are really subtly anti-Brahminical given the influence on them of Buddhism. Second, the political, instrumental use of Hinduism to defend and assert identity while assailing other identities, and a general ignorance of religious experience on the part of the most active religionists, means that not only do we live in an age when to be Hindu is to constantly take offence, but the line separating obeisance from offence, the holy from the disgusting, religious pride from poor taste, is blurred. Indians are being schooled to defend the sacred, but have absolutely no idea how to recognise it. theguardian/commentisfree/belief/2014/may/02/india-hinduism-bjp-2014-election-religion
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 15:31:20 +0000
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