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Book Review by
Koenraad Elst
LEUVEN, BELGIUM, February 23, 2012 (Dr Koenraad Elst, respected Belgian
writer and orientalist, reviews the "History of Hindu India,"
published by Hinduism Today magazine):
Nowadays, multiculturalist state authorities in Western countries encourage
the newer and more exotic religious denominations to produce textbooks
explaining in simple language their own traditions and doctrines. While
formally serving as textbooks for the religion's own followers and their
children, their interest for the authorities lies in the religion's
self-presentation to society at large. This way they know what gestures to
make and what gaffes to avoid, and what holidays to acknowledge in the
official calendar. An additional benefit is that it streamlines the
religions' self-understanding in a multiculturalism-friendly sense: even
religions with a record of intolerance find they cannot get away with a
straightforward restatement of their monopolistic claims on truth, and end up
teaching pluralism to their children in spite of their inherited dogmas.
This latter consideration is really quite unnecessary in the case of
Hinduism, because the Hindus never needed any prodding from outside to take a
pluralistic view of religion. Hinduism itself is already a commonwealth of
communities, doctrines and practices, so it is thoroughly comfortable with
peaceful co-existence in spite of differences. The Dutch, British and
American textbooks of Hinduism that we have seen are simply being authentic
when they declare unisono that Hinduism has a hoary tradition of heartfelt
pluralism. Thus also the latest Hinduism textbook, under review here, The
History of Hindu India from Ancient to Modern Times, by the editors of
Hinduism Today magazine (Kauai, Hawaii) and Prof. em. Shiva Bajpai. It says:
"Hinduism does not dictate one way as the only way. Hindus believe
'truth is one, paths are many'" (p.6), and: "Hindus accept the
spiritual efficacy of other paths and never proselytize" (p.107) So, no
chest-thumping let alone the sound of war-drums in this pleasantly shaped
Social Studies "textbook for all ages".
General appreciation
The internal plurality of Hinduism is at once a major challenge for those who
cherish an ambition to present the religion to the world in a not-too-bulky
textbook. In comparing Dutch and British textbooks published by the Arya
Samaj, Vivekananda Centre, Vishva Hindu Parishad, ISKCON and other Hindu
groups, we could not help noticing a certain bias in favour of the
publishers' own sectarian assumptions in spite of a serious over-all effort
to make the presentation inclusive of all strands of Hinduism.
Thus, the ISKCON textbook speaks of the Devas (normally translated as
"gods" or "deities") as "the demigods", in
keeping with the quasi-monotheistic ISKCON view that only Krishna is God, all
while recognizing the other gods as lesser but nonetheless divine beings. The
edits proposed by the Vedic Foundation in the California textbook affair
included the systematic replacement of "the gods" by
"God" or "the manifestations of God", obviously from an
internalized Anglo-modernist bias (borrowed from Christianity) against
polytheism. What such organizations should keep in mind during their editing
is whether every Hindu can recognize his own religion in the description they
give of it. We don't believe that the Vedic seers thought of Indra as merely
a "demi-god", or that today's ordinary Hindu devotee thinks of
Ganesha, Lakshmi and Saraswati, the three deities he worships on Diwali, as
lacking in distinct identities.
The great step forward made in this book is that it is consistent in its
attempt to represent Hinduism rather than just one of its sects. While some
textbooks try to confine Hinduism to the Vedic tradition, here we read that
by 600 BCE, "the social, religious and philosophical ideas and practices
central to Hinduism are fully evident. These are in continuity with the
religion of the Indus-Sarasvati culture, the teachings of the Vedas,
Dravidian culture and elements of the tribal religions." (p.4) If any
bias was to be expected here, given the affiliation of the Hinduism Today
editors, it would be to Tamil Shaiva bhakti, embodied in the tradition of the
Nayanar poets. These get hardly half a page (p.33), and after having been
ignored in so many introductions to Hinduism, it was about time they got their
due. (For the same reason, it is commendable that Tiruvalluvar, recently
honoured with a giant statue on India's southern tip, is highlighted,
p.77-78.)
The general structure of the book is chronological, from the Vedic poets and
Harappan cities down to modern Indian democracy and its state religion,
"secularism". These chapters are interspersed as appropriate with
cultural intermezzos on dress, food, the arts, rituals, pilgrimage cycles,
etc. As a didactic device, every chapter opens with a challenge about what
you would do in a thorny situation in which Hindus have found themselves, and
ends with a list of exam-type questions. Where would you go if you lived in a
Harappan village and you found the river on your doorstep, the Saraswati, was
drying up? If in the present age, you are given the chance to go to college,
would you abandon your family of blacksmiths back in the village? If after
growing up in the West with a resolve to be independent, you meet the
prospective groom your country-born parents have sought out for you, what
would you do?
The hard part
And when faced with the back-breaking toleration tax and numerous
discriminations imposed by the Delhi Sultans and Aurangzeb, would you convert
to Islam? For indeed, this book doesn't avoid the unpleasant issues of
Islamic persecution and "British rule's mixed blessings" (p.62). We
can only commend the spirit in which the authors go about this challenge:
"We now enter what historians call a 'difficult period' of Indian
history. (...) Muslim historians recount in detail the destruction of cities,
sacking of temples, slaughter of noncombatants and enslavement of captives.
British accounts reveal the mismanagement and greed that led to famines that
killed tens of millions of people and ruined the local industry during their
rule. (...) It is difficult to study such unpleasant pasts in a way that
leads to understanding, not hatred. (...) True reconciliation comes when
people honestly face the past, forgive misdeeds, learn to truly respect each
other's religious beliefs and traditions and promise to move forward in
peace." (p.42)
Very briefly, the canard is laid to rest that Hindus lost to Muslims because
of the caste system, a claim heard from both anti-Hindu missionaries and
Hindu reformists. In fact, many castes participated in warfare together. As
any strategist could have told the moralizing caste-mongers, victory was by
virtue of "superior military organization, strategy, training, weapons,
horses and mobility", which the natives had neglected. (p.45) Conversely,
"the caste system was a main obstacle to conversion. It guaranteed to
Hindus a secure identity and place in their community, which they would lose
by converting." (p.49) In their revolt against Muslim rule, Hindus
observed a certain morality of warfare: "While Shivaji was not above
sacking an enemy's city if he needed the money, he did not kill
noncombatants, take slaves or damage Muslim holy sites." (p.48)
Far from fostering resentment, these chapters breathe a spirit of positive
thinking. As illustrated by the title of chapter 3, "Hinduism endures:
1100 to 1850", it emphasizes Hinduism's capacity for survival over its
losses. In the time of Muslim and then British domination, "the country
remained overwhelmingly Hindu despite foreign domination and religious
oppression". (p.41) Since all is well that ends well, this makes it
easier for Hindus to take a cool view of these painful episodes than for,
say, the Zoroastrians or the Australian Aboriginals.
If anything, this book errs on the side of being over-diplomatic in
describing inter-religious conflict. Consider this: "India's transition
to freedom brought with it a terrible tragedy. Pakistan was partitioned from
India on the basis of religion. A huge migration followed as 7.5 m Muslims moved
to Pakistan from India and an equal number of Hindus and Sikhs fled
Pakistan." (p.65) The first two sentences keep the active agent of
Partition out of view, as if it was impersonal destiny overcoming India, when
in fact it was the Muslim League's violent agitation that forced both the
British and Congress into compliance. The last sentence suggests a symmetry
between the Muslim and Hindu-Sikh "migrations". In fact, Hindus and
Sikhs were terrorized into fleeing their ancestral homes which they had wanted
to stay inside multicultural India, whereas the Muslims simply moved to the
promised land they had carved out for themselves (with the seeming exception
of East Panjab where the Muslims were put to flight, but only after millions
of hapless Hindu-Sikh refugees from their own new state started streaming in
with their horror stories).
Historicity
On the whole, this book respects the findings of modern scholarship, rather
than sweepingly committing its allegiance to either the traditionalist or the
secularist position. Thus, rather than speaking out prematurely, it
acknowledges uncertainty where appropriate: "The relationship between
the people of the Indus-Saravati civilization and those who composed the
Vedas is not clearly understood." (p.3) Rather than triumphantly
dismissing the Aryan Invasion Theory as a well-refuted colonial conspiracy,
it soberly observes: "Many scholars now dispute this theory because all
the evidence for it is questionable." (p.4)
Another nod to prevailing scholarly custom is the periodization implicit in
this chapter title: "Hindu India: 300 to 1100 CE" (p.21), for
indeed, the Orientalists divided Indian history into a Vedic, Buddhist,
Hindu, Muslim and British period. Concerning the authorship of the Vedas, the
existing belief is noted: "Hindus regard them as spoken by God"
(p.3), only to return to the realistic assumption of human authorship:
"the holy texts had to be composed well before 2000 BCE" (because
by that time the mighty Saraswati had shriveled, p.3), and "a few
[women] even composed several of the holy Vedic hymns" (p.5).So, clearly
the Vedic hymns were the handiwork of human poets.
Fault-finding
In a book review, it is only proper to indulge in some fault-finding, if only
by way of useful suggestion to the publishers for well-deserved future
editions. So, please bear with the pedantry that follows.
There are extremely few spelling errors in this book, but I found a few on
the maps, where Tapti is rendered as "Tapi" (p.112), and Mizoram as
"Mizeram" (p.87). The river-name Satlej is given the sloppy
British-colonial transcription Sutluj, following the same confusing pattern
as Panjab/"Punjab", Pashtu/"Pushtu",
Pandit/"Pundit". No big deal, but considering the importance the
Vedic seers accorded to correct pronunciation, why not just do our best? And
speaking of maps, the map of pilgrimage sites (p.87) should have covered the
Islam-occupied parts of the subcontinent along with the Republic of
remainder-India, so as to include places like Hinglaj and Nankana Sahib.
The epic's name Mahabharata does not mean "Great India" (p.9).
Rather, it means "great [epic of Vedic king] Bharata's clan", just
as Bharatanatyam, discussed on p.55, refers not to Bharat/India but to the
dance style conceived or at least described by an ancient choreographer named
Bharata.
Likewise, it is admittedly traditional but by scholarly standards not
acceptable to analyze the word guru thus: "gu means darkness and ru
means remover." (p.14) Well, guru is cognate with Latin gravis, whence
English gravity, and means "heavy". Anyone is free to fantasize
meanings into words, but a textbook should aspire to higher standards.
The history of the caste system is complicated and the authors have wisely
chosen to treat it only briefly. Still, they could have done better than
this: "Later on, the varnas divided into hundreds of sub-sections called
jatis (castes)." (p.4) Varna and jati are two distinct systems that
ended up combining, and if at all one preceded the other, certainly jati came
first. Varna is the layeredness of complex societies, characteristic of
late-Vedic society when it started expanding from the Saraswati-Yamuna region
to the rest of India; jati means "tribe" and was the social
formation prevailing in most of India. As these tribes integrated into the wider
Hindu society, they retained their identity through endogamy and became
castes. In most of India they received or grabbed a place in the varna
hierarchy, but that was mainly a ritual label immaterial to their internal
self-organization. Varna is late-Vedic, jati is pre-Vedic.
Finally, in our opinion it was not a good idea to include a section on the
chakras (p.94-95). Kundalini yoga and the chakra system are medieval
innovations, i.e. fairly recent by Indian standards, and have remained very
marginal before becoming fads in the 20th century. Of all pre-Independence
Hindus, 99% never heard of them. Writing their exact history is a job that
largely remains to be done, and an introductory textbook is not the place to
do it.
That said, among social studies textbooks this book is now the best
introduction to Hinduism.
Shiva Bajpai & editors of Hinduism Today magazine, 2011: "The
History of Hindu India from Ancient to Modern Times - A Textbook for All Ages
(a Social Studies textbook)", Himalayan Academy Publications, Kapaa
(Hawaii), 119 pp., US $ 19.95 ISBN 978-1-934145-38-8, also available as
e-book at Amazon and iTunes.
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