1 HINDUTVA – The Background

1.  HINDUTVA – The Background

First subject I dare take is Hindutva!

And the contextual background is the simmering acceptance of Hindu nationalism amongst a vast majority of Hindu intelligentsia. The results of 2014 Lok Sabha elections and more recently, those of state legislatures of U.P. and few other states have clearly pointed towards this trend.

What is my locus standi or what qualifies me to write on this controversial subject? No, I am not a Dharma Guru, nor a philosopher, not even a man from the RSSS (at least for the time being), yet I am a citizen of India, who is concerned with the development and existence of this great nation. In parenthesis above I have emphasized the phrase ‘for the time being’ purposely. I am keeping my future options open. Though, I shall never be a Guru, for sure. I feel that Gurus function on business textbook models. They create a need and become whole-time professionals and thrive on the gullible people.

I am a Hindu, a proud Hindu, who has lived ‘Hindutva’ for last about half a century after I became aware of my own existence and that of my surroundings. I have a big library of Hindu scriptures, assiduously raised by my late father, who was a devout Hindu and a Sanskrit scholar. I read only a few books, that too only during my early years. Therefore, I don’t claim any scholarly insight into Hinduism. My rumblings are based on my empirical approach to Hindutva, as this is very keenly used word in India today.

I am deliberately using the word Hindutva, not Hinduism. When we use the suffix ‘ism’, we tend to evaluate it the way we evaluate Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism etc. and loose the very essence of the discussion. ‘Hinduness’ would have been a closer synonym to Hindutva than Hinduism.

Hindutva is not a complex entity as many would make you believe. It is simply an elastic way of life evolved through centuries of human existence. It is sum total of their beliefs, rational or irrational, gathered through their day-to-day experiences. Hindutva is as ancient as the time when homo-sapiens organized themselves in agriculture-based settlements. Historians tell us that early agrarian societies feared natural forces, which used to spell catastrophes at times. Gradually fear gave way to worship in order to placate these forces. There were certain enigmatic phenomena which they failed to comprehend. They started worshipping them as well.

Thus they worshipped the Sun, Moon, air (Pawan), fire, thunder, oceans, rivers and the like. They worshipped Snakes (Naga) because of its being so fatal.

As such they were the earliest Hindus, professing Hindutva in its basic form. Even early Greeks and Romans did the same and by implication they also professed Hindutva.

This is what the Hindus do even today. This is what was compiled later in the first written treatise of the world ‘Rig Veda”.

Then came the thinkers – Rishis. They were philosophers who pondered on the rationale of life and the cause and aim of human existence and started complicating the hitherto simple Dharma, though un-knowingly, by compiling their thoughts into a multitude of books we call now – scriptures.

19^th April 2017

(to be continued)