Speaking of a Hindu Narrative - I was yet again reminded of the sorts of things that should go into a narrative while reading a link posted on BRF. This is the record of a Bangladeshi narrative.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Bangladeshi writer Tahmima Anam has told the BBC how the stories of her family brought to life her debut novel A Golden Age - already described as one of the most outstanding of recent times.
< snip >
Much of the book is based on similar human stories - written about individuals rather than battles and military campaigns.
Anam explained that this had happened because she found, when she went to Bangladesh to interview people involved in the war, that their stories "weren't necessarily war stories - they were stories about the people they fell in love with during the war, or what happened to their families, or the things that they ate and those mundane kind of details.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ages ago when I read the book "Roots" - I was amazed at how an oral narrative was transmitted from Africa to modern day America to link up people from the past with those of the present.
Judging from the paucity of written references of the humongous numbers of Hindus displaced and generally made to suffer compared with stories that one hears in every family of what happened in days gone by - it is clear that there already is an oral narrative of Hindu history. It needs to be written and I repeat that the narrtive may not obviously be of significance - but you don't complete a jigsaw unless you put in every piece - so even the top right hand corner of the jigsaw containing a bit of blue sky and no there detail is important to complete the puzzle.
Ask your father or grandfather about what he has heard about the past and record it. Do not feel it is unimportant just because your famil's narative does not sound so exciting as that of say someone who is descended from Shivaji or something.
It is important not to let stories of the past de with those who are passing away.
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I did get my father to write down what he knew of the family history. So we do have a narrative of sorts but written quite late in my father's memory.
Kaushal has setup a website to document the narrative of those who want.
I need permission from my siblings and cousins before I get the account out.
I wanted to start a webiste to record the Indian American first generation narrative "In their Own Words" and did get some traction but its languishing.
I had promised to post excrpts from an autobiographical ebook I have that describes the lives of Madhwa Brahmins of Karnataka from about 1850 to independence.
Here are some paragraphs about a "grandfather Krishtachar" who was born in 1847.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->GRAND FATHER KRISHTACHAR
Tambarahalli Krishtachar was married to Seetha Bai from a family group that I cannot remember. Our relatives rarely talked about her. Krishtachar and Seetha Bai had three children with a spacing of about 5 years between each child. The first born was a daughter, Kaveri Bai, the second our father, Narasimha Murthy and the third child was Padmavathi. Father was about five years old when his mother died at birth of Padmavathi. Two decades later, when our eldest sister was born, she was, in accordance to the family tradition, named after her grand mother, Seetha Bai. Our grand father did not live long. After the death of his wife, he ran the family house in Kolar for another 10 years with the help of his widowed sister, Venkatthe, in moderate comfort. He was neither affluent nor very poor, and he was a popular priest known for his quick silver performance, pleasing tongue and good public relations. In those days Bramhin boys became either priests or scholars. Those who were good at Sanskrit studies became disciples of known scholars of Madhwa scriptures. After some years of under study, they established themselves as spiritual gurus in their own right. Those boys, who could not pursue their studies of Sanskrit scriptures, took up apprenticeship with a practicing priest. After a few years spent mastering the rituals and the associated mantras for various Bramhanic ceremonies- family idol worship; Punyarjane, a common inaugural purification ritual; 16 samskara ceremonies, including birth, initiation, marriage & funeral rites. The higher order of the priests confined their practice to few selected Bramhin families while the poorer and less versatile priests served both Bramhin and non-Bramhin families. The Vaisya community in Kolar was a prosperous group and many of them were our grand fatherâs patrons. The income from the profession was not sufficient to give a secure income to the family and so following the practice of other Bramhin households of the time, he withdrew his only son from scripture studies and put him in the English school to prepare him for employment with the Government.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->AUNTY KAVERI
Kaveri was married to a distant cousin, Krishna Rao from Jayamangala village, who having failed the SSLC examination, had joined the P.W.D. as a maestri. In course of time he was promoted as a sub-overseer and later on as an overseer. After retirement he settled in a village called Janakondu near Chitradurga with his mistress and a son by her. This man had a tragically romantic career and during the major part of his later years lived the life of an outcast. He was practically the first member of the kin group to give up the family profession of priesthood and take up service with the Government. He thus started in his family, the process of social change that was going on among most middle class and poor bramhin families of the time. The establishment of a stable government in the state under the regency administration of the British had opened a wide field of employment in Revenue, Police & the PWD. The bramhins were foremost to take advantage of this development. The young men of these families who joined service, either humble or respectable, generally changed the suffixes of their names from Achar to either Rao or Murthy. The break with the traditional occupation started slowly at first and gained momentum later. As a consequence, their original contact with the village community as a respected elder ceased and snapped. The villagers, who had respected them before, now saw the same people, in their government uniforms, as more of an exploiting class.
Kaveri and Krishna Rao had a son, Sripathy. When Kaveri was pregnant with their second child, Krishna rao had an attack of plague. Kaveri, known for her great devotion to her husband and her strong faith in God, nursed him to full recovery with prayers and courage. But, as fate would have it, she fell a victim to the same disease and died within a week. Krishna Rao was distraught for many years and went to work as sub-overseer while looking after his son. After a few years, he fell in love with the maid servant who was helping him run the household and chose her as his life-long companion. His relatives, including our father, prevailed upon him to give up the guardianship of his son, Sripathy. Our father, then on his first job, brought home the young Sripathy.
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my mother used to always say "in those days... people had more respect brahmintvam or brahmin ways of life". i do see that.. slowly down the years brahmins are are becoming extinct w.r.t to narrate their history and value system. there are village brahminists who are poor and economically weak but due to their class status, they have become ostricized by GoI policies. these poor families would only live to follow pure naturalizm and do not cause harm. in fact lot of them are commiting suicide, and some yahoo groups have take initiatives to help them out once they hear a genuine story.
GoI needs "Vajrasuchika Upanishad" to erradicate class and castes from govt setup, and ensure all are considered equal. I would also like to hear the narration especially about brahmins who have created a self-imposed policy structure that they have to be the super class, and elite? that they deem to rich for ever. modernism has to take values with respect better narrations, that reflects more truth, and looks forward and not backward (that can be used only for comparing relative merits or for statistics).
some of the bad examples of brahmin narrations that treated badly the other castes:-
1. brahmins followed un-touchability {reason : hygiene?, way of life?, caste (discriminatory or inferior stature?)}
2. brahmins never let the other castes to read and go thru what they went thru {applicability to modern times?, may be some counter EJ theories could be developed if we analyse if this true, and how it can be resurrected.}
3. brahmins illtreated the other castes {not sharing facilities, food, infrastructure, etc}
4. ...i can't think having heard any other story.
Now, the question, how many of the above is true? and how much of it is part of those aryan invasion theorists and anti-brahminical EJistic mullers who have subjucated GoI minds, such that brahmins must be made to suffer, cause of the above. is it not a different type of ethnic cleansing that GoI follows?
One of my dreams was what if everyone follows brahminism.. because thats where people have been complaining in the dharmic society, that have been subjected to bad past history. Or, we are not yet there.. we have failed as a whole, w.r.t getting the people into one-hindutva movement? we could have gone by "new rules for all" concepts since independence.. and erasing bad memories to continue. this does not seems to be happening. pirangs and invasionists (including islamists) having seen this weakness, have plundered India since ages, and is continuing to do so in some respect.. like land occupation, dis-orienting themselves with nationhood, distributing sweets and mithais whenever pakistan wins, etc).
there could be one-movement narration that we should lead to a future, that nets everyone.. whose future generation, would only have to reflect on these narrations, that would make us all look like having lived thru viking years, while our modern next gens talks about the goodness they are going thru, led by certain foundations made by new-age-hinduism.
i am sure, our past narrations have only fewer or lesser distractions towards a well evolved culture.. hence all the more reason, that we proceed towards that future.
04-25-2007, 12:43 AM (This post was last modified: 04-25-2007, 12:45 AM by Bharatvarsh.)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->1. brahmins followed un-touchability {reason : hygiene?, way of life?, caste (discriminatory or inferior stature?)}<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
so did the other castes among themselves, but obviously the weak one's will always be picked on.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->2. brahmins never let the other castes to read and go thru what they went thru {applicability to modern times?, may be some counter EJ theories could be developed if we analyse if this true, and how it can be resurrected.}<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
nonsense, Kamban was a Vellalla (so technically a "shudra") but he composed the beautiful Kamba Ramayan, in the surveys listed Dharampal in his book about pre British Indian education, non Brahmins almost always outnumbered Brahmins in schools.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->3. brahmins illtreated the other castes {not sharing facilities, food, infrastructure, etc}<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
so did other castes but no one questions them, it's ok to say "putt jattan de" but the moment you say anything about being proud of being a Brahmin you will be labelled a casteist.
A lot of myths have been circulated by motivated parties to make out brahmins as the oppressors and the muslims as the bringers of civilization and equality to the masses (coupled with the most sophisticated slave system of course!!!)
well bharatvarsh.. though i agree largely, i have a different take on it. i think brahminics also have lost their senses and the very purpose of their ways of life. it effects those who are really not elite (high ranking, got money, got brains kind).
hence, they have let themselves to become over powers my thought than the thought that projects they have been done with like that, in the hindu society. why i am saying this way is that never in the history nor now, brahmins have been dependent on either the govt social setup or lived in charity (may be some of them are, and thus became vulnerable, but in my understanding..), or given a projection that somebody will feed you, you have your own quota or seat reserved, don't worry, things are rosy for you.
never.. most brahmins in the vulnerable class are people who have the capability to work hard and come up or have the brains to demonstrate, and flourish. hence, my theory is that brahmins need to think why they are getting fooled rather blaming the fooler.
corrective steps for narrations would be to remove the negatives from projections angle (counter attacks are okay), but work towards the future, and ensure the narrations lives for centuries to come. I.E., "MODERNIZE" the "way of life" without losing the first principles.
more..
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Most of my friends, like me were, children of middle class or lower middle class parents who were first generation of students to attend the new public schools. The parents usually had small plots of land just adequate to sustain the family and were aware that the school education was vital to bring in the additional income in the years ahead. The public school, where children of all sects were taught in one class in close proximity, was considered as polluted. Most of us had to lay out our school clothes in a secluded corner of the house and take a cleansing bath after returning from school. True, in our class, there were boys who were very sharp and scored high ranking in oral and written tests. But they were either Iyyengar or Smartha boys and communion with them was strictly taboo in our Kanimbele group.Â
The gossip with which we were usually engaged was about girls and ladies in our neighborhood and their alleged sex life. Elderly boys among us talked of masturbation and once I was a witness to its demonstration too. That was my introduction to sex education of the morbid type. The other most popular item of conversation was about ghosts and devils and their evil deeds against humans. In the night none of us dare walk alone in certain streets or in front of certain houses for they had been identified in our gossip as the most infected. Mohini was one of the devils coming up very often in our discussions. This devil was said to appear in the form of a beautiful lady to lure young boys to purgatory. The usual recommended antidote for ghosts and devils, according to my friends, was to show them oneâs sacred thread and oneâs knot of hair (juttu or shendy). I had not yet acquired my sacred thread and so felt more vulnerable to attacks from ghosts. When I told Padmavathi my fear of ghosts and my lack of the sacred thread as an antidote, she advised me that till such time as I got my sacred thread, I should loudly utter the name of Lord Vayu and Lord Bhima, which would strike instant terror in all types of ghosts and devils.
There was an occasion when the sacred thread was of my friends was of little use to them or to me, in a face to face encounter with sheer fright. We had started playing football in the evenings in the mangrove adjacent to the tank. An old used tennis ball served us as the football and we would have a great time shouting and chasing the ball. Neighboring the mangrove was a Muslim suburb and a few young boys from there would always watch us intently. They were perhaps jealous of our tennis ball. One evening, in midst of our play, half a dozen of the Muslim boys rushed in to our play area, shouting loudly, words which none of us could understand. Our captain, a lad five years older than me and a high school student, was the first to run out of the field. Soon rest of us followed and we lost the ball to the bullies. Some of us lost faith in the power of the sacred thread that evening for it did not scare the raiders away. Next evening when we met at the corner of the tank street the incident and the effectiveness of the sacred thread was discussed from various points of view. Finally, we agreed that we had done the best under the circumstances for, if we had stayed and put up a fight, we would have made physical contact with the Muslims and thus polluted ourselves beyond redemption. We stopped playing there for few more weeks and started the game with a new ball. This time, we had a group of high school boys from our neighborhood to police the field for us. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Right in front of our house was a choultry of the Vaisyas where one rich merchant would distribute, once every fortnight, half a seer of rice and half a rupee to bramhins of all sects. There would normally be a long queue for this gift. Although it was time consuming, I would join the queue in my religious garb to collect my share of rice and cash. All my efforts to persuade Parikshit to join me in this proved of no avail. He was the first rebel among us children, against religious orthodoxy and social traditions. It was not a rational development with him, for he was too young when he showed signs of dissent. Perhaps it was an instinctive reaction. He made constant fun of the Vaishnavite caste marks and the dress which I put on when seeking help from religious folks. He declined to wear them even to please his parents. He had stopped fasting on Ekadashi and this had upset Father. At school, he was drawn more and more to the company of Muslim classmates than to bramhin friends. He was the first among us to discard the long tuft of hair and get a close cropped hair style. Father was really concerned at the strange behavior of this boy and expected me, the conformist, to bring him back to the traditional ways. Perhaps his was a spontaneous reaction to the excessive demands of fanatical behavior made on him while he was being exposed to an open and permissive society in his school. With Parikshit the rebellion started when he was very young and it bloomed in me five years later. The same spirit flowered with the rest of the family a decade later.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sorry to post such long passages - but I think they are relevant to the process of social change that occurred in India and are valuable because they are in the words of a person who lived in that time.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The visit to Mysore of Mahatma Gandhi in 1927, in connection with the national campaign for khadi and village industries, afforded a valuable opportunity for us to organize a studentâs reception for the leader. Weeks before the leaderâs arrival, we enrolled volunteers and traveled to the moffusil towns to enlist the support of the students there. We collected a singular studentâs fund and presented the purse to the Mahatma, who received it with a smiling message: âEvery little coin from the hands of a young khadi lover is so much more valuable than a sheaf of bank notes.â We had organized a mass meeting of all students in the cricket grounds and it was considered a great success.
The impact of Gandhian ideology was slowly eroding my faith in the Kanimbele rituals. For several months after joining the University lodge, I kept the fortnightly fast strictly in spite of jokes and jeers from fellow boarders. On Dwadashi morning, I would walk over a mile to grand uncleâs house for the ritual breaking of the fast. This had received high admiration from grand uncle, who himself was not so great a stalwart in the observance of rituals. Once, it happened that without checking the calendar, I had accepted to participate in a debate conducted by the studentâs union. This was to be my first attempt at speaking from a platform in front of my peers and had been goaded in to this by my close friends in an attempt to revive my earlier public speaking abilities. As the day of the debate neared and I realized that it was on an Ekadashi day, I was torn between withdrawing my name from the list of speakers and missing the decade old ritual of the fast on that day. I chose the latter and after that day, urgent and important excuses were not wanting for missing the fast on several subsequent Ekadashis. No doubt, I felt out of sorts on the first few occasions of my lapse and even felt a sense of guilt. But, the fact that no one else among my group in the college or at home in grand unclesâ attached any importance to this ritual made it easy for me to find excuses. The feeling that adherence to the narrow values of the Kanimbele group was intrinsically incompatible with the universal values of Gandhism and Russel-ism, supported me in my break away from the primary faith. From then on, I lived a life of double standards. With my father and his friends, a superficial acceptance of their practices to display my loyalty & respect to them and an open rebellion against all anti-rational Hindu practices in the domain of caste & class, when away from home. Looking back on this diabolical part of my early life, I wish I had integrated both the systems in to my life rather than fooling others. But Could I have done it? Probably not. The two forces are such that if a person is tangled in one, it will suck him deep in to its whirlpool and completely exclude all other forces or influences. I think I made a wise decision at that time to lean rather than embrace, towards the modern and the rational and yet keep peace with the elders by a little play acting.
The tours that we undertook to collect money for the Gandhi Charaka Fund, took us to various nearby towns, where the local hosts were of different caste and community. In Nanjanagud, for example, our generous and enthusiastic host was a Vokkaliga, Sri Vishweshwara Gowda, whose hospitality and comradeship was so genuine and sincere that it laid a permanent foundation of cosmopolitanism in my private and social life.
This was followed by an incident in my University hostel which created a mild sensation among the student community. Our hostel was made up of about 40 bramhins, 10 non-bramhin Hindus and 2 Muslims. The regular big dining hall was reserved for bramhins who were served by the chief cook himself. The non-bramhins were served by junior kitchen staff in a small room by the side of the main dining hall and the two Muslim students were served their meals by the watchman in the narrow passage-way outside the dining complex. One noon, while we the bramhin boys were being served lunch, a couple of non-bramhin boys walked past our half open door to their own dining room. Few of the Bramhin boys took objection to this and loudly called for the door to be shut properly. This upset me very much and I strongly objected to such bigotry. A heated discussion followed and it was suggested to me that I should henceforth keep company with the non-bramhins, where my empathy lay. That evening, I joined the non-bramhins in their dingy dining room to be served by a junior kitchen staff who, made no attempt to hide his disapproval by practically throwing food on to my plate. This went on for a week and the non-bramhin boarders were appreciative of my defiance. One Sunday when we were dining leisurely, I suggested to my co-diners that we should invite the two Muslims to join us. There was an immediate furor of protest and a heated discussion among them. The majority of them was violently opposed to the suggestion and threatened dire consequences to the two diners who had welcomed my idea. That evening for dinner, I joined the two Muslims in their dark and dingy corridor to be served by an equally dirty watchman. The strange thing was that none from my vocal supporters among the bramhin and non-bramhin boarders cared to join me. But everyday there was a stream of my co-boarders and their friends from the college to watch me, a high class bramhin sitting down to eat with two Muslim boys and to crack rude jokes and laugh. This was in 1927. Just seven years later, when Mahatma Gandhi undertook his famous fast unto death in the Yerawada jail to push the cause of the Harijans, the whole nation was seiged with the shame of the practice of untouchability and other similar caste related practices. That week, boarders of all university hostels met spontaneously under the presidentship of Dr. Gopalaswamy, Professor of psychology, and resolved to abolish caste designated dining rooms. Then on there were only two dining rooms; Vegetarian and non-vegetarian. I had been invited to witness this historic resolve by the students.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Hindu tradition - with its multiple currents - has a rich treasure of narratives transmitted through a variety of media and in diverse interpretations from generation to generation since ancient times. These narratives have provided a major channel for transmission of religious knowledge within the tradition. This course will explore the world of Hindu narratives - not only the English renderings of the Vedic and Puranic myths as well as epics such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, but also stories associated with votive rites by women and non-canonical regional folk narratives such as the Epic of Pabuji (Rajasthan) that have informed lives of people from various strata of society who identify themselves as Hindus. Along with message and structures of the narratives, special attention will be given to diversity of media (text, oral renderings, musical/dance performances, paintings, temple sculptures, comic books, films, and websites) that have been used to transmit narratives as well as diversity of interpretations of stories from various sections of the society.
For queries regarding registration contact the Winter/Summer Session Office 732-932-7565
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/The_United_States/US_varsity_to_offer_six_courses_on_Hinduism/RssArticleShow/articleshow/1842998.cms
US varsity to offer six courses on Hinduism
NEW YORK: Recognising the interest of Indian American students in Hinduism, Rutgers University in the US state of New Jersey will start offering a broad-based programme to provide an overview of the oldest religion in the world.
Starting this summer, the university will provide six courses. These include undergraduate credit courses in Hinduism through its narrative tradition, Hindu rituals, festivals and symbols, Hindu philosophy and Hinduism and modernity.
Apart from this, non-credit courses will be available in Yoga and Meditation and Hindu Classics and folk dance.
"Very few institutions in the United States offer the kind of broad based programme that Rutgers will begin offering this summer," said Dr Michael Shafer, Professor at Rutgers University and Liaison to the Summer Programme on Hindu Studies.
"Several universities host scholarly courses on Hinduism and some offer courses on Sanskrit but the Rutgers Summer Hindu Studies Programme is unique in that it covers a wide range of topics in a ten week period."
Shafer added that while he expected a high level of interest from the estimated 5,000 students of Indian origin enrolled at Rutgers, such a programme on Hindu studies is likely to attract students and scholars from outside the Indian-American community as well, considering the growing interest in interfaith disciplines in New Jersey.
Himanshu P Shukla, Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Rutgers' Summer Hindu Studies Programme and one of its chief initiators, said the potential for the programme is evident from the number of undergraduates who could not be accommodated in the Hinduism course offered at Rutgers during the traditional school year.
Edwin Bryant, Professor of Hinduism, Department of Religion, Rutgers University, says the summer programme on Hindu Studies is a terrific idea.
"The world today is much more interconnected and I believe it is important to understand all major faiths. India has a very rich spiritual tradition. Millions of people wander around the country giving up everything in pursuit of spirituality. There is a whole subculture dedicated to spiritual pursuits that is worthy of attention," he said.
Bryant, who teaches Hinduism at Rutgers' Department of Religion spent several years in India in his early 20s in pursuit of spirituality.
"Hinduism is such a heterogeneous, variegated, and complex cluster of traditions, spanning over 5,000 years. It makes for fascinating study and the summer programme will provide students with exposure to some of its facets."
A few years ago, Rutgers had conducted a pilot programme on summer studies on Judaism which was very well received and prompted the university to launch a similar one on Hinduism as part of the university's commitment to the State's growing multicultural population.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Hinduism and Modernity<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
"Combining scholarly imagination, ethnographic acumen, and literary flair, Leela Prasad portrays a pilgrimage town and its memorable residents to offer a compelling experience-centered approach to ethics." -- Kirin Narayan, author of Storytellers, Saints, and Scoundrels: Folk Narrative as Hindu Religious Teaching
Book Description
Leela Prasad's riveting book presents everyday stories on subjects such as deities, ascetics, cats, and cooking along with stylized, publicly delivered ethical discourse, and shows that the study of oral narrative and performance is essential to ethical inquiry. Prasad builds on more than a decade of her ethnographic research in the famous Hindu pilgrimage town of Sringeri, Karnataka, in southwestern India, where for centuries a vibrant local culture has flourished alongside a tradition of monastic authority. Oral narratives and the seeing-and-doing orientations that are part of everyday life compel the question: How do individuals imagine the normative, and negotiate and express it, when normative sources are many and diverging? Moral persuasiveness, Prasad suggests, is intimately tied to the aesthetics of narration, and imagination plays a vital role in shaping how people create, refute, or relate to "text," "moral authority," and "community." Lived understandings of ethics keep notions of text and practice in flux and raise questions about the constitution of "theory" itself. Prasad's innovative use of ethnography, poetics, philosophy of language, and narrative and performance studies demonstrates how the moral self, with a capacity for artistic expression, is dynamic and gendered, with a historical presence and a political agency.
About the Author
Leela Prasad is assistant professor of practical ethics and Indian religions at Duke University. She has edited Live Like the Banyan Tree: Images of the Indian American Experience and coedited Gender and Story in South India. Her book in progress, Annotating Pastimes, is a study of folktale collecting in colonial India.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Orthodox & Roman Catholic Christianity begins with the birth of Christ and ends with the Church as an active player in modern western society. There is a discussion of the differences between these two branches of Christianity. Protestant Christianity chronicles this 16th century religious reaction against Roman Catholic excesses and the various denominations that resulted. African & African-American Religions explores how African cultural diversity and customs created a unique religious spirituality that has survived slavery and been influenced by Christianity and traditional African spirituality. Native American Spirituality traces the history of Eskimo, Aztec, Mayan, Iroquois, and other indigenous spiritualities. Judaism outlines the theology, history, and way of life practiced by adherents of the world's first monotheistic religion. The persecutions Jews have faced are emphasized. Islam begins with its inception in the 7th century by Muhammad and shows daily life and rituals. Ancient Religions of the Mediterranean explores Greek, Roman, Mesopotamian and Egyptian mythologies, gods, and rituals. Confucianism & Taoism focus spirituality on human thought and behavior. Buddhism promotes pacifism, nonviolence, and its Four Noble Truths.
Hinduism, with no identifiable founder and no specific formal doctrine, has countless sects and practices.
Shiv, are you posting the Hindu narrative or the atheist's narrative? There is enough of that on the web. The narrative of Indian "social reform" usually ends up in the narrative of the typical atheist Gandhian, as it has ended up in the case of the writer you quote.
Or is it your belief that every ex-Hindu's narrative is an important part of the Hindu narrative? There is a lot of that too on the web.
Administrators, I think much of what is called the "Hindu narrative" in this thread is more or less an uncharitable <i>modernist narrative</i> of Hinduism, not the narrative of a believer. That may be good for the Indian state (which encourages "scientific temper") but why is it good for Hinduism?
I was afraid it would come to this. Perhaps administrators should consider closing this thread?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The evidence from Indiaâs earliest literary traditions reveals that Hinduism is a corruption of true religion. Though for most of its existence Hinduism has been an extremely pluralistic religionâbeing influenced by several cultures originally, and later by surrounding religions (Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity)âit appears to have grown out of monotheism. The renowned Sanskritist of Oxford, Max Müller, wrote: âThere is a monotheism that precedes the polytheism of the Veda; and even in the invocations of the innumerable gods the remembrance of a God, one and infinite, breaks through the mist of idolatrous phraseology like the blue sky that is hidden by passing cloudsâ (as quoted in Zwemer, p. 87).
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Make Me a Man!: Masculinity, Hinduism, and Nationalism in India
Synopsis:
"Make Me a Man! argues that ideals about manhood play a key role in building and sustaining the modern nation. It examines a particular expression of nation and manliness: masculine Hinduism. This ideal, which emerged from India's experience of British imperialism, is characterized by martial prowess, muscular strength, moral fortitude, and a readiness to go to battle. Embodies in the images of the Hindu soldier and the warrior monk, masculine Hinduism is rooted in a rigid "us versus them" view of nation that becomes implicated in violence and intolerance. Masculine Hinduism also has important connotations for women. Whose roles in this environment consist of the heroic mother, chaste wife, and celibate, masculinized warrior. All of those roles shore up the "us versus them" dichotomy and constrict women's lives by imposing particular norms and encouraging limits on women's freedom. Sikata Banerjee notes that the nationalism defined by masculine Hinduism draws on a more general narrative of nation found in many cultures. If the outcomes of this narrative are to be resisted, the logic of masculinity, armed manhood, and nation need to be examined in diverse contexts.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Now, Shilpa Shetty goes back to roots
Press Trust of India
Posted online: Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 1813 hours IST
Udupi, Karnataka, April 25: Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, who made headlines by winning one of UK's leading television shows, spent a night witnessing âBhuta Kolaâ (worship of the spirit) at her native home at Nidodi Mudapadi taluk in Udupi.
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Shilpa, who spent the last three days in the district, visiting various temples,was accompanied by her actress-sister Shamita Shetty and other family members during the âKolaâ.
Bhuta Kola or spirit worship is an ancient form of worship among the Tulu-speaking community in Udupi, Dakshina Kannada districts in Karnataka and Kasargod in Kerala. During the âKolaâ the âBhutaâ impersonator behaves like an incarnation of the spirit; listening and solving problems of devotees as well as warning and comforting them.
In an informal chat held in Tulu, Shilpa said all the preparations to organise the ritual had been completed four months ago, even before she left for London to participate in Big Brother television show,
Tracing her lineage to Nidodi, the actress, clad in a simple yellow dress, said it was a sacred place for the family âas it is our original place where the âjarandaya daivaâ (spirit) existed. This is my hometown, though I have lived in Mumbaiâ.
The actress, who sparked a controversy by protesting over alleged racist remarks made at the television show, was seen greeting her elders with folded hands and enquiring in tulu âencha ullarâ (how are you).
Shilpa, her mother and sister also made an offering of silver ornaments and silver masks to the 'family spirit.'
