This book unabashedly throws a gauntlet in the face of HinduÂtva. In Why I am a Hindu, Shashi Tharoor remÂinds readers of the opennÂess of Hinduism바카라”a way of life with interpretations and practices left open to followers. He states that HinÂÂduism could still be an open religÂion since at heart most people prefer to choose the deity they relate to and practise their faith in an understated manner.
Tharoor starts with his own home, and how he picked up whatever he knew from his family while choosing Ganesha as his favourite deity. His father was simple in his beliefs and never forced his son to join him in prayers.
From the personal, Tharoor바카라™s world of Hinduism expands to the public, or to society. He writes about how Hinduism has the capacity to take in other faiths if required and how there is no one theory. He also states that the rigidity of the caste system was reinforced by the British. This was accepted as valid by later generations of Indians, who found their original traditions rather too absÂtruse for their liking. To highlight the fact that Hinduism was not casteist, Tharoor brings up the story of Adi Shankaracharya and the Chandal. To strengthen his argument, Tharoor goes on to talk about various reformers down the ages. He reserves his admiration for Swami Vivekananda, who spoke to the world about the openness of Hinduism.
Hinduism began to adapt to take in extÂernal influences in keeÂÂping with its history. There was no particular problem during the Mughal era, as many rulers had Hindu warriors in their armies and married the daughters of Hindu kings. Nor was there any move towÂÂaÂrds conversion, even in Aurangzeb바카라™s time.
The problem began with the British바카라”the colonial rulers who were befuddled by Hinduism with its thousands of deities and were convinced of something vaguely savage about the 바카라˜Hindoos바카라™. Raja Rammohan Roy founded the Brahmo Samaj in an attempt to give Hinduism the appearance of monotheism with a recognisable church-going format. Ultimately, of course, the BritÂish straitjacketed Hinduism to make administration easier for themselves by giving Indians an identifiable anchor and nationalists accepted this newly-Âpackaged aspect of what had been an easy-going way of life. Though there had always been dissensions between the schools that believed in the Vedas and those that subscribed to the Sramanic tradition, these were ignored in the form propagated by the Orientalists.
Following a timeline, Tharoor winds down through gradually changing theories of Hinduism, leading up to the almÂost rigid set of principles that Hindutva has begun to dictate바카라”turning, says Tharoor, into something like a football team with a rowdy bunch of fans. He goes through the theories of V.D. Savarkar, M.S. Golwalkar and praises Deen Dayal Upadhyay, who said that nationalism could possibly encÂompass all religions, provided the basic tenets of 바카라˜Bharat mata바카라™ and 바카라˜Hindu superiority바카라™ were accepted.
The final section discusses political Hinduism of the kind that has been prevalent for the last few years. AccoÂrÂding to Tharoor, the Hindutvavadis are following a model close to an almost monotheistic puritanism바카라”which is ironic, given the prevalent antipathy to Westernisation바카라”based on what the British laid down. He talks about AyoÂdhya and Godhra and speculates that Narendra Modi is trying to establish a legacy for the Hindutvavadis because the BJP has no lineage like that of Jawaharlal Nehru. The fact that Tharoor is essentially a liberal is clear, as is the fact that he is a member of the UPA.
Through the ages, Hinduism took in popular opinion and adapted accordingly. When the core belief was losing appeal, Hindu philosophy broke into splinter groups like Buddhism and Jainism to offer a wider approach. ThaÂroor uses a perorative approach, peppering his writing with phrases like 바카라˜as I said above바카라™ or 바카라˜I will expand on this바카라™, so that the book sounds like an easy-flowing conversation between student and teacher. Through this, he describes the state of Hinduism as it was and as it is, supporting his theories with quotes and stories.
However, what is missing, perhaps, is a concrete suggestion as to what Hinduism might become and how it could rise above the current scenario. Tharoor바카라™s suggestion is that we should go back to the original texts in their diversity and examine them in search of a solution바카라”in short, return to the fundamentals to combat fundamentalism. The question is, given the way things are, is that a strong enough solution? Surely, the religion he describes as a shape-shifter could shift shape yet again to rise to the occasion.
