04-26-2007, 08:05 AM
sengotuvel,
For now, I will leave your main question (Who is a Hindu?) untouched. However, I have a question:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A narrative of a man born into a Hindu family with such restrictive practices that he rebelled. That is why I put it on here. But neither he, nor his descendants converted. They were reacting to the deficiencies of seemingly pure Hindus around them and changing some restrictive and mindless rules for a better life. You won't see a Muslim being able to do that without being threatened.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you believe that the question "Who is a Hindu?" is both important and, as yet, unanswered, then you have a few problems:
1. what makes the narrative of one person, a Hindu narrative? After all remember, you don't know he is a Hindu in the first place.
2. How do you know that neither he nor his descendants converted? Converted from what? After all, since you don't know he is a Hindu, then how did you decide he was not converted?
From your series of posts here, I understand that you do have an implicit, working definition of what makes a Hindu, a Hindu: it is self-identification. But I have to ask whether the writer actually identifies himself as a Hindu, or even thinks that being a Hindu is an important aspect of his personality?
For now, I will leave your main question (Who is a Hindu?) untouched. However, I have a question:
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->A narrative of a man born into a Hindu family with such restrictive practices that he rebelled. That is why I put it on here. But neither he, nor his descendants converted. They were reacting to the deficiencies of seemingly pure Hindus around them and changing some restrictive and mindless rules for a better life. You won't see a Muslim being able to do that without being threatened.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you believe that the question "Who is a Hindu?" is both important and, as yet, unanswered, then you have a few problems:
1. what makes the narrative of one person, a Hindu narrative? After all remember, you don't know he is a Hindu in the first place.
2. How do you know that neither he nor his descendants converted? Converted from what? After all, since you don't know he is a Hindu, then how did you decide he was not converted?
From your series of posts here, I understand that you do have an implicit, working definition of what makes a Hindu, a Hindu: it is self-identification. But I have to ask whether the writer actually identifies himself as a Hindu, or even thinks that being a Hindu is an important aspect of his personality?