04-13-2007, 07:32 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-k.ram+Apr 13 2007, 06:26 AM-->QUOTE(k.ram @ Apr 13 2007, 06:26 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->There is no debate on the "need" for a hindu narrative here, but what are the components of this, and how to go about it?
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I believe that a Hindu narrative will be so huge, and found in such diverse places that nothing can be ignored.
I will use an analogy. The "Hindu narrative" has to be treated like the site of an aircraft crash - i.e everything is sifted, and every little piece is picked up and ever detail of each piece is recorded. There are stories, family traditions, family quirks in the way certain functions are celebrated or marked that reflect an unwritten History of Hindus. All those things must be put down and recorded by individuals.
There are aspects to the "Hindu narrative" that do not strike one as being a "narrative" at all - but forms part of the whole. The "temple tree" (Peepul?) by the roadside that becomes a shrine. The anthill that receives attention at Naag Panchami. The lone man silently praying in front of the Peepul or the lone married woman with a lamp circling "Naag"'s abode in prayer so she can have a child are undocumented and ignored aspects of the Hindu narrative, and parts of the story that can be told by individuals like us.
What we need is not an oligarchy of scholars but a babble of individuals keeping their own records - family blogs for others to see as part of what will be the richest and oldest surviving narrative in the world. A narrative that has been drowned out by the scholarly gobbledegook that I read.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I believe that a Hindu narrative will be so huge, and found in such diverse places that nothing can be ignored.
I will use an analogy. The "Hindu narrative" has to be treated like the site of an aircraft crash - i.e everything is sifted, and every little piece is picked up and ever detail of each piece is recorded. There are stories, family traditions, family quirks in the way certain functions are celebrated or marked that reflect an unwritten History of Hindus. All those things must be put down and recorded by individuals.
There are aspects to the "Hindu narrative" that do not strike one as being a "narrative" at all - but forms part of the whole. The "temple tree" (Peepul?) by the roadside that becomes a shrine. The anthill that receives attention at Naag Panchami. The lone man silently praying in front of the Peepul or the lone married woman with a lamp circling "Naag"'s abode in prayer so she can have a child are undocumented and ignored aspects of the Hindu narrative, and parts of the story that can be told by individuals like us.
What we need is not an oligarchy of scholars but a babble of individuals keeping their own records - family blogs for others to see as part of what will be the richest and oldest surviving narrative in the world. A narrative that has been drowned out by the scholarly gobbledegook that I read.