HVK Archives: Rituals enchant, but to snare
Rituals enchant, but to snare - Indian Express
Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr
()
5 September 1996
Title : Rituals enchant, but to snare
Author : Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr
Publication : Indian Express
Date : September 5, 1996
IT was a curious conversion which affected some of the
most sensitive souls in Europe, ever since Luther and
Calvin imposed their iron rule of puritanism in a large
part of the continent. The German peasant and the Swiss
townsman banished not only icons from the churches but
also much that was aesthetic about Catholic ritualism
which was built up over centuries.
There is something emotionally soothing about ritualism
which has attracted modern men and women ever since.
Edward Gibbon had a temporary lapse when he converted to
Catholicism as a young boy. For that reason he was sent
away to Lausanne, Switzerland. The monumental Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire would have been unlikely to
have ever got written if Gibbon had remained a Catholic.
Individual episodes of conversion to Catholicism
continued to mark the history of 19th-and 20th-century
Europe. The most famous of all conversions was that of
Cardinal Newman in England in the 19th century. In the
20th century, Graham Greene was one of the celebrities to
have gone over to the old Mother Church.
Something similar is happening in the lives of some of
the modern, late 20th century Hindus. Many of them are
non-resident Indians, and others are non-practising
Hindus. There is a sentimental longing among them for
what is seen as a richly textured Hindu ritualism.
Modernism seems to have dessicated their souls so that
they want to get back to the life-giving waters of
ritualism. They are not very interested in philosophy
and all that. They have had too much of Upanishadic
monism. They now want to get back to the warm ambience
of rituals and communitarian celebrations. So, many of
them of late have been speaking up for the cause of good
old Hindu rituals, including such things as pilgrimage.
The return to ritual is no easy journey to the roots in
the case of Hinduism and modern Hindus. The public
celebration of the Kali Puja in Calcutta is a mid-19th
century concoction of the Bengal zamindars. The Ganesh
Puja is a century-old invention of Tilak. These are
really modern accretions which have no validity in
tradition. The worship of Kali is ancient but its public
display in the manner it is done in Calcutta is modern,
and is no religious affair. Similarly, the Ganesh Puja,
for all its colour and gaiety, is anything but religious.
The sociological significance of these festivals is
indeed interesting. But they do not sustain religion.
There is a modernise fallacy that religion is a feel-well
psychological substitute, and there is no need to bother
about its truth as such. If religion brings people
together, if it gives individuals their high, then it has
played its proper role. It is an argument which was made
popular partly by French sociologist Emile Durkheim and
partly by the American pragmatist philosopher William
James. Religion is reduced to its social and
psychological elements. It is an attractive formula
which wins over even surly sceptics.
It is the dangerous trap into which the neo-Hindus of the
1990s seem to fall rather easily. They are now busy
giving uncritical support to what they think is the
benign and colourful ritualism of Hinduism. But there
are some harsh facts about rituals. Not all rituals are
colourful. Not all of them are benign. Human sacrifice
is neither colourful nor benign. Animal sacrifice can be
less macabre but is no less gory. There are other
rituals which are mindless gestures because their
original meaning has been lost on the long historical
trek. To read about them in Janies Frazer's The Golden
Bough may be an exhilarating pastime, but you cannot
seriously think of re-enacting them. Innocent and
indiscriminate enthusiasm for rituals can prove fatal.
Secondly, neo-Hindus do not really recognise that the
collective religious enthusiasm which has been triggered
by the activities of organisations like the RSS, the VHP
and the Shiv Sena does not lead to human happiness, which
is the test of all genuine ritual. They incite passions,
awaken hidden furies and cause intoxication of the toxic
kind. The Greeks had their Dinoysian frenzies, which
they mistook for religion. It was Christianity, with its
higher calling, which harnessed ancient rituals into a
soul-soothing aesthetic. It was this which was retained
by the Catholic Church, and which was thrown away rather
recklessly by Luther and Calvin. Hindu ritualism too is
full of deep meanings, and it is this which has kept the
religion going for millennia. Instead of recovering the
true rhythms of religion, impatient Hindus are chasing
false rituals.
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Response
Ashok V Chowgule
Kanchanjunga
72, Dr G Deshmukh Marg,
Mumbai 400026.
September 5, 1996
Sir,
In the recent past there has been a spate of articles praising various
aspects Hinduism. In most cases it has been written by people who
have being conducting a hate campaign against Hinduism in the
past. Another feature is that all these articles give out one message:
"Hinduism in its essential glory is fine, but the Sangh parivar is trying
to pervert it."
Whether Shri Parsa Venkateswar Rao fits in with the first
categorisation, I am not able to say. However, his article "Rituals
enchant, but to snare" (Sept 5), fits in the second categorisation very
well. The so-called secular intellectuals have been trying to tell the
people of this country that there has been nothing to be proud about
in our country's past. The Sangh parivar said otherwise, and it is
now clear that the people have accepted the Sangh's version rather
than the secular intellectuals'. So, to try and keep their hold on the
people the latter group can only try and sow confusion in the minds
of the people. That they have failed has to be accepted when one
reads the editorial in The Times, London, in context of the milk
miracle of last year. It said, "(T)he behaviour of those Hindus who
live in our midst today (i.e. those who live in the UK) does describe
an intriguing message. It is that religious faith can exist alongside
emancipated behaviour, and that modernity must not always inhibit
religion."
Yours sincerely,
(Ashok Chowgule)
The Editor,
The Indian Express,
Express Towers,
Nariman Point,
Mumbai 400 021.
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