By Jawed Naqvi
Monday, 06 Apr, 2009
Its election time in India and the countrys two largest parties know they have run out of ideas to conjure a great future to woo votes. But they know that even in these times of economic distress and bursting financial bubbles they can target the lowest common denominator with the promise of a great past. There is nothing new about this pursuit. The Congress party periodically takes recourse to its romance with Mahatma Gandhi even if it involves two-timing the great sage with its new found taste for neo-liberal romp.
Offering the counterpoint is the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP. Never at a loss for outlandish notions of the past that can be accommodated only with considerable falsification of history, the BJPs election manifesto for the April-May race begins with a virtual Biblical incantation In The Beginning There Was India or something to that effect. In fact, the BJPs notion of India is hard to disassociate with early nationalist obscurantism promoted by its ideological founders. Guru Golwalkar, one of the partys greatest icons, posited in a book he published in 1939 that the North Pole was once located in India, somewhere on the borders of todays Bihar state. With passage of time the North Pole shifted to its present location, while the rest of India remained where it is.
An unstated purpose behind fudging what would be otherwise akin to Wagners theory of continental drift appears to be a need to justify the location of Indo-Aryans as a people that were eternally rooted in India. Golwalkars theory has not been denied or disowned by his followers. It continues to help rationalise the imagined son of the soil claims of a few whereby all other groups who came to India later are projected as invaders. Then there is this other strand of historiographers that have influenced and inspired a range of poets and pamphleteers, not the least the BJP itself. Allama Iqbal was not immune to their influences either when he proclaimed that Iran, Egypt and Rome were lesser civilisations compared to India. Its all a great idea, but little more than that. The Ashokan pillar in Allahabad remains a compelling testimony that blows away the myth of civilisational invincibility. The first inscriptions belonging to Ashokas empire were in the form of his edicts, inscribed in Prakrit. That was the Buddhist phase in India. Then emperor Samudragupta added a litany of his conquests in Sanskrit and finally Mughal emperor vandalised the pillar what other word can we use for what was after all royal graffiti in Persian.
Within this lot of historiographers are those that claim, for example, that the Taj Mahal was a refurbished ancient temple to Lord Shiva. It would be an engaging banter were this genre of myth-making not to have far-reaching consequences, not always peaceful in nature, inflicted on helpless Indians.
Whether the dispossessed Indian voter revels in the BJPs version of his past or not, the party makes sure it is writ large enough to induce him forget the present, thereby also the future.
History, according to the BJP, tells us that India was a land of abundance. The country has been blessed with great natural fertility, abundant water and unlimited sunshine. According to foreigners visiting this country, Indians were regarded as the best agriculturists in the world. Records of these travels from the 4th century BC till early-19th century speak volumes about our agricultural abundance, which dazzled the world. The Thanjaur (900-1200 AD) inscriptions and Ramnathapuram (1325 AD) inscriptions record 15 to 20 tonnes per hectare production of paddy.
Now, even after the first green revolution, according to government statistics, Ludhiana in the late-20th century recorded a production of 5.5 tonnes of paddy per hectare. It is, therefore, imperative that India rediscovers an agricultural technology which incorporates all the inputs from our own wisdom and agricultural skills that made us a land of abundance in food.
Indian economy was as flourishing as its agriculture. Foreigners from Magasthenes to Fa-Hian and Hiuen-Tsiang have described and praised Indian material prosperity. Indian villages around 1780 in Bihar have been cited as an example of cleanliness and hospitality. The streets were swept and watered and the people had a remarkable sense of hospitality and attention to accommodate the needs of the travellers. Old British documents established that India was far advanced in the technical and educational fields than Britain of 18th and early-19th century. Its agriculture technically and productively was far superior; it produced a much higher grade of iron and steel.
It has been established beyond doubt, says the BJP, apparently quoting reports on education at the end of the 18th century and the writings of Indian scholars, that not only did India have a functioning indigenous educational system but that it actually compared more than favourably with the system obtaining in England at the time in respect of the number of schools and colleges proportionate to the population, the number of students in schools and colleges, the diligence as well as the intelligence of the students, the quality of the teachers and the financial support provided from private and public sources.
Contrary to the then prevailing opinion, those attending school and college included an impressive percentage of lower caste students, Muslims and girls. Mahatma Gandhi was absolutely right in saying that India was more illiterate in 1931 compared to its state of literacy 50-60 years ago, i.e. in 1870, says the BJP. And notice how almost all political parties by now claim Mahatma Gandhi as their hero. However, having heard its proclamations about the nations past, one would have thought the BJP would set about offering its thoughts on how we can catch up with our supposedly golden era of yore. A few clues are available in the manifesto. Building a grand temple to Lord Ram at the site of a mosque its supporters razed would be a good first step towards the golden past, hints the BJP. There is an overwhelming desire of the people in India and abroad to have a grand temple at the birth place of Sri Ram in Ayodhya.
Abrogating Article 370 in the Indian Constituion, which grants Jammu and Kashmir a special status, would be a major input to usher the elusive golden period. Cancelling plans to construct a shipping channel between Sri Lanka and southern India would be another. Ram Setu (a mythical bridge the project would otherwise disturb) is our national heritage. Millions want to visit it and it can be developed as a centre of cultural tourism. Of course, much of Indias ancient spirit can be revived by getting the angry and youthful rabble-rouser Varun Gandhi freed from jail where he was recently locked up for making hate speeches against fellow citizens. It is clear that India is again ready to march forward, into the past, until the next round of polls fall due.
Monday, 06 Apr, 2009
Its election time in India and the countrys two largest parties know they have run out of ideas to conjure a great future to woo votes. But they know that even in these times of economic distress and bursting financial bubbles they can target the lowest common denominator with the promise of a great past. There is nothing new about this pursuit. The Congress party periodically takes recourse to its romance with Mahatma Gandhi even if it involves two-timing the great sage with its new found taste for neo-liberal romp.
Offering the counterpoint is the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP. Never at a loss for outlandish notions of the past that can be accommodated only with considerable falsification of history, the BJPs election manifesto for the April-May race begins with a virtual Biblical incantation In The Beginning There Was India or something to that effect. In fact, the BJPs notion of India is hard to disassociate with early nationalist obscurantism promoted by its ideological founders. Guru Golwalkar, one of the partys greatest icons, posited in a book he published in 1939 that the North Pole was once located in India, somewhere on the borders of todays Bihar state. With passage of time the North Pole shifted to its present location, while the rest of India remained where it is.
An unstated purpose behind fudging what would be otherwise akin to Wagners theory of continental drift appears to be a need to justify the location of Indo-Aryans as a people that were eternally rooted in India. Golwalkars theory has not been denied or disowned by his followers. It continues to help rationalise the imagined son of the soil claims of a few whereby all other groups who came to India later are projected as invaders. Then there is this other strand of historiographers that have influenced and inspired a range of poets and pamphleteers, not the least the BJP itself. Allama Iqbal was not immune to their influences either when he proclaimed that Iran, Egypt and Rome were lesser civilisations compared to India. Its all a great idea, but little more than that. The Ashokan pillar in Allahabad remains a compelling testimony that blows away the myth of civilisational invincibility. The first inscriptions belonging to Ashokas empire were in the form of his edicts, inscribed in Prakrit. That was the Buddhist phase in India. Then emperor Samudragupta added a litany of his conquests in Sanskrit and finally Mughal emperor vandalised the pillar what other word can we use for what was after all royal graffiti in Persian.
Within this lot of historiographers are those that claim, for example, that the Taj Mahal was a refurbished ancient temple to Lord Shiva. It would be an engaging banter were this genre of myth-making not to have far-reaching consequences, not always peaceful in nature, inflicted on helpless Indians.
Whether the dispossessed Indian voter revels in the BJPs version of his past or not, the party makes sure it is writ large enough to induce him forget the present, thereby also the future.
History, according to the BJP, tells us that India was a land of abundance. The country has been blessed with great natural fertility, abundant water and unlimited sunshine. According to foreigners visiting this country, Indians were regarded as the best agriculturists in the world. Records of these travels from the 4th century BC till early-19th century speak volumes about our agricultural abundance, which dazzled the world. The Thanjaur (900-1200 AD) inscriptions and Ramnathapuram (1325 AD) inscriptions record 15 to 20 tonnes per hectare production of paddy.
Now, even after the first green revolution, according to government statistics, Ludhiana in the late-20th century recorded a production of 5.5 tonnes of paddy per hectare. It is, therefore, imperative that India rediscovers an agricultural technology which incorporates all the inputs from our own wisdom and agricultural skills that made us a land of abundance in food.
Indian economy was as flourishing as its agriculture. Foreigners from Magasthenes to Fa-Hian and Hiuen-Tsiang have described and praised Indian material prosperity. Indian villages around 1780 in Bihar have been cited as an example of cleanliness and hospitality. The streets were swept and watered and the people had a remarkable sense of hospitality and attention to accommodate the needs of the travellers. Old British documents established that India was far advanced in the technical and educational fields than Britain of 18th and early-19th century. Its agriculture technically and productively was far superior; it produced a much higher grade of iron and steel.
It has been established beyond doubt, says the BJP, apparently quoting reports on education at the end of the 18th century and the writings of Indian scholars, that not only did India have a functioning indigenous educational system but that it actually compared more than favourably with the system obtaining in England at the time in respect of the number of schools and colleges proportionate to the population, the number of students in schools and colleges, the diligence as well as the intelligence of the students, the quality of the teachers and the financial support provided from private and public sources.
Contrary to the then prevailing opinion, those attending school and college included an impressive percentage of lower caste students, Muslims and girls. Mahatma Gandhi was absolutely right in saying that India was more illiterate in 1931 compared to its state of literacy 50-60 years ago, i.e. in 1870, says the BJP. And notice how almost all political parties by now claim Mahatma Gandhi as their hero. However, having heard its proclamations about the nations past, one would have thought the BJP would set about offering its thoughts on how we can catch up with our supposedly golden era of yore. A few clues are available in the manifesto. Building a grand temple to Lord Ram at the site of a mosque its supporters razed would be a good first step towards the golden past, hints the BJP. There is an overwhelming desire of the people in India and abroad to have a grand temple at the birth place of Sri Ram in Ayodhya.
Abrogating Article 370 in the Indian Constituion, which grants Jammu and Kashmir a special status, would be a major input to usher the elusive golden period. Cancelling plans to construct a shipping channel between Sri Lanka and southern India would be another. Ram Setu (a mythical bridge the project would otherwise disturb) is our national heritage. Millions want to visit it and it can be developed as a centre of cultural tourism. Of course, much of Indias ancient spirit can be revived by getting the angry and youthful rabble-rouser Varun Gandhi freed from jail where he was recently locked up for making hate speeches against fellow citizens. It is clear that India is again ready to march forward, into the past, until the next round of polls fall due.
