The Curious Case of New Angry Hindu (Part 1)

It has been a very recent phenomenon that religion as a conversation topic among an average Hindu as re-emerged. The average Hindu is filled with a rage accrued over a period of time caused by a perceived sense of injustice and non-granting of its due credits for a “glorious history” and so on. As is case with all the “organized religions” of the world where one has to forgo one’s reasoning faculties and submit oneself completely to the rules and regulations of that particular religion, the new age Hinduism is also no different. 

An image from the Kamakhya temple in Assam. The practices in Hinduism are as varied as the number of deities, if not more. In the state of Haryana while strict vegetarianism is the norm, in this temple animals are sacrificed during rituals. While the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh society forbids marriage alliance within same Gotras (sub-castes) leading to honour killing and social ostracisation, in Tamil Nadu a female can marry even her maternal uncle.

The precursor of my this two part series is a post on a  Friend’s social media profile that berated “Atheists” for criticizing religion and specifically Hinduism – that he said was “one of the most liberal and accommodating religion” – and in turn he gave various monikers to the non-believers like “pseudo-secularists” and “beneficiaries of western education”. I myself have been called many a times anti-national, radical, anti-Hinduism, anti-Islamic, stooge of western ideas (the fact that I ever stepped of my country only one and a half years ago is immaterial) so on and so forth depending on whose views I tried question.

This is a depiction form the epic Mahabhartha at Kurukshetra, the battlefield where Krishna has given the teachings of Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna during the 18-day long battle. I am personally a big fan of Krishna and Mahabhartha due to the sheer pragmatism of the text and the way it does not categorises things in strict categories of black and white. Krishna asked people to shun the path of ritualism and rather follow the path of knowledge and action towards salvation. But this message seemed to have been lost in the din of claiming the religion to be superior over others. I personally call Krishna as 'Devious God' (Before anybody raises issues of Blasphemy that how he has even been fondly termed as Makhan chore or Butter thief. I am in love with him).

As a matter of clarification I would like to say that I am critical (please pay attention to the word, as it is quite different from the word criticize) of certain religious practices and do not have any animosity to entire religion. Nonetheless, I decided to focus my two article series on Hinduism as my life has been affected by the dogmas of it and still continue to be so as I by some lottery of nature happened to be born in a Hindu household. While there is a lot of freedom in the world when it comes to deciding what you want to be professionally the leg room when it comes to religion is really closed.

Hinduism has always amazed me. On the one side it gives immense flexibility to the believers by not giving any fixed commandments, gospel truth or tenets, thus leaving each with his/her own conscience to follow the path to heaven. On the other hand it continues to be riddled with some abominable practices like Caste System. I have always tried to emulate the path of action or knowledge as espoused in Bhagavad Gita as my life’s philosophy. The Hindu society has long shunned the practice of didactic engagement with people. The moment one asks a question about the relevance or context of a particular ritual, you would just be put under one or the other above mentioned label. This series is dedicated to as I experienced Hinduism from my eyes.

QRs for Marriage

In a modern society that values equality, the primary quality in your life partner is his/her goodness. In the Hindu society one has to take care that he/she is not for a different religion, different caste, same Gotra (sub-caste prevalent in northern India) and same village. When you fulfill these criteria and your parents approve of the alliance you may marry peacefully or else “God be with you!”.

A child dressed as Lord Shiva - the destroyer. It is one of the few religions in the world where one does not only revers the deity but you rather have a personal love with him/her you. It is this adulation that allows a Hindu to refer Lord Shiva as 'bhola' (the Naive) one without actually offending any religious sentiments. The other thing about Hinduism that has impressed me has been the many discourses made possible in the religion. But the new age Hindus, in their bid to imitate the other religions, have been trying to homogenize it.

When I decided to marry, I did not know that I was ever going to see this ugly side of religious dogmas. But then a highly priest read my star signs and declared that my husband would die within one year of marrying me. This man has who predicted my future with such precision had never met me but managed to create a furore in my love life. I am happily married for over two and a half years now. 

Kanyadaan (literally translated as charity of the maiden)

I do not know about other Hindu women, but I found this practice to be personally very insulting. When a father performs Kanyadaan i.e. send his daughter in a charity, it is said to be one of the biggest credit earner in front of the god.  The father of the bride also needs to touch the feet of the both bride and the groom in this ritual. I felt outraged.

I know what many custodians of the traditions and ethos of Hinduism would say to this that it is my Western education speaking. My  answer to them is that I lived for 26 years in India and have only spent 1.3 years in total in Europe, and if this time is enough to shake the values imparted to me during two and half decades of my life, then they definitely had a shaky foundations. Moreover, my contact with outer world, further strengthened my belief that a world based on equality of all human beings is a reality and is worth striving for. 

Hinduism, which has a great tradition of discourses between opposing point of views, has been doing away the practice. It is becoming more difficult by the day to question the unjust practices or rituals. 

Son as the ladder to Paradise

Having a son is imperative if you want to have a space in paradise, as unless he lights your pyre your journey will not consummate. I do not even know how I would explain this in case I have a daughter.

Karvachauth

It is a Hindu festival whereby married women fast for the long lives of their husbands. I have never fasted in my entire life and in my 12 class when I declared I was an atheist I never had to. However, when Karvachauth came all hell broke loose. The peer pressure on me for observing this fast (which has now acquired huge commercial propositions) was akin to what my friends from Pakistan observe during Ramzaan. People, including family members, were pressurizing that people move mountains in love and why cannot I keep a fast!!!

I have two fundamental problems, first of all how my shunning food can increase somebody’s life and secondly, if it true what about the longevity of my life? Well I never got answers for these questions.

The ire of the new age Hindu

The other day I was just reflecting on some of the major reformations that have taken place in Hinduism and a question came to my mind that instead of using wood during the last rites can Hindus opt for electric cremation. I did not get any logical answer denouncing or accepting my suggestion, rather people just questioned me back I do not pose the same question to the Muslims or Christians? Yes I would ask the same question to people from other religions as well, but a little introspection would not hurt ‘one of the greatest religions all time’.

(The next part would talk about the still strong institution of caste system and the abhorrence of reservations among the upper caste Hindus.)