The views expressed in this column are the individualu2019s and donu2019t represent those of the paper I ndiau2019s definition of its culture as non- violent seemed a fiction at every lynching undertaken in the name of the cow over the last six years. The fiction resembled a charade as those barbaric killings failed to spark a popular outrage.
This puzzle of violence seducing a people who claim their culture to be non- violent is probed by Aparna Vaidik in her recently released book, My Sonu2019s Inheritance: A Secret History of Lynching and Blood Justice in India . It has the depth of an academic tome, traversing centuries to fathom the construction of the modern Hindu identity, yet it is as gripping as the best of fiction.
Born in 1924, Vaidiku2019s grandfather shifted from Khatu Shyamji, Rajasthan, to Indore, Madhya Pradesh, where he remained captivated by the memory of one of his ancestors, Bharmall, whose tale of bravery he often narrated to his granddaughter.
Why? This question has Vaidik investigate how the cow was sacralised in 17th century Rajasthan, and its emergence as the defining element of the sanatan dharma, or eternal religion. Taking their cue from the Orientalists, Indiau2019s 19th- century social reformers identified the eternal religion to have been embodied in its purest form in the Vedic corpus of the so- called Aryans race, looked upon as builders of the Indian civilisation. u201c In their understanding, the glorious Aryan tradition was synonymous with Hindu,u201d Vaidik writes. They believed that their pure religion became degraded because of their contact with the barbarian Others u2014 the Dravidians, the adivasis, the Muslims and the Christians.
The reformers sought to recover the Aryan Utopia by purging the pure Vedic religion of all false accretions, in the process spawning a few myths about Indian civilisation.
Among these were Vivekanandau2019s claims that the Aryans did not settle in India by annihilating the previous inhabitants, but by absorbing them; that the Aryan civilisationu2019s defining features of tolerance, spirituality and philosophy of non- violence enabled it to survive over centuries.
To the three attributes of the Aryan identity, Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of the Arya Samaj, added the fourth one u2014 cow protection. His movement to protect cows sparked riots between Hindus and Muslims.
Violence forged a Hindu identity, which was nationalistic and modern.
u201c This identity situated anyone consuming beef as not only outside the Hindu fold but also antagonistic to it ( as anti- Hindu),u201d Vaidik writes.
The grandfatheru2019s name is not disclosed until the mystery of his captivation with Bharmall is resolved.
It was through the story of Bharmall that the u201c Arya Samaj, cow- protection, the nation and his selfu201d came together for Jagdish, the authoru2019s grandfather, who had replaced his caste surname with Vaidik to become u201c a Vedic u2013 the Aryan.u201d u201c He saw Bharmall not just as his ancestor but himself in Bharmall.
Jagdish was Bharmall. Bharmall was a link in the chain that tied Jagdish to the Aryans. They were all warriorsu2026 who had devoted their lives to protect the eternal tradition,u201d Vaidik concludes.
It was about retrieving, and reliving, the imagined pristine life of the Aryan, in the same manner as Donna Tarttu2019s characters wish to experience the Bacchanalia of ancient Greece in her novel, The Secret History , with devastating consequences.
Jagdishu2019s ideology has turned lynching into the violence of the righteous. Their violence has been invisibilised and, therefore, normalised by religious myths, which portray it as just and necessary for maintaining the eternal tradition and its unequal social order, as Vaidik shows through the examples of Eklavya, Karna and Barbareek. None of the three was pure Aryan. Their redemption lay in their subordination, their sacrifice.
These myths show Indiau2019s past was bloody, as is its present.
My Sonu2019s Inheritance follows Upendra Singhu2019s Political Violence in Ancient India and Giovanni Verardiu2019s Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism in India . Vaidik, like the other two, interrogates the myth of Indiau2019s non- violent culture, with a style rarely adopted to write history in India.
And yes, I have not disclosed a twist in the story of Vaidiku2019s grandfather.
Aparna Vaidiku2019s historical work, My Sonu2019s Inheritance: A Secret History of Lynching and Blood Justice in India, examines how violence of the righteous has given India a bloody past and present A 2017 silent protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi following a spate of anti- Muslim killings. PIC/ AFP FILE The writer is a senior journalist Ajaz Ashraf monday blues Myth of Indiau2019s non- violent culture Send your feedback to mailbag@ mid- day. com To the three attributes of the Aryan identity, Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of the Arya Samaj, added the fourth one u2014 cow protection. His movement to protect cows sparked riots between Hindus and Muslims. Violence forged a Hindu identity, which was nationalistic and modern
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