longer the case.

The factitious admixture of cultural nationalism and Hindu religious

revivalism is now a crucial issue for Indian democracy. It helps, hence, to be clear about

  what it involves and entails.

The Hindutva-Hinduism coalescence overlooks the irreconcilable tension between religion

and culture that widens, intensifies and turns malignant as time goes on. In the early
 


phase of their partnership, cultures are enriched by the spiritual resources of religions. At
Tuesday, July, 06,
2021  03:40:24 PM
this stage cultures seem like plants flowering on the soil of religions. The spiritual core of
religions nourishes cultures with universal ideals and ethical robustness. The aim religion
Search 
and culture share at this stage is the improvement of the human species. Art forms,
STOCK MARKET BSE 52845.64  -34.36(-0.06%) NSE 15818.25  -16.10(-0.10%) nourished initially by religion, symbolise this human thirst for perfection. But religion and
Home  Opinions culture diverge through time into incompatibility. But the glorious past of their reciprocal
enrichment leaves the door open to those who wish to invoke and abuse religions for anti-
Religion and cultural nationalism spiritual cultural projects. Its initiation is attended by a barrage of propaganda. The more

The historical fact that cultural nationalism is not native to India, but an early 20th century irreligious a cultural project is, the heavier its dependence on propagandist deflections.
import from war-demented Europe, has ceased to bother us. The primary value of religion, as Gandhi said, lies in its capacity to empower our ethical
sense. Spiritual ideals and ethical imperatives rest on the premise of our universal
kinship, the insight embedded in vasudhaiva kutumbakam. The spiritual vision penetrates
Published: 04th September 2018 04:00 AM  |  
Last Updated: 04th September 2018 06:42 AM   |   A+ A  A-
the veil of surface diversities and discerns the deep, irreducible oneness of humankind.
Culture takes the opposite route. It delinks itself from the depth of life and situates itself
on the surface of things, where ethical demand seems dispensable. Diversity begins to
offend and homogenisation seems the desired state. So even when  violations of ethical
norms are perpetrated against ‘the other’, people’s sense of righteousness is suppressed.
Culture lends itself readily to nationalism; but religion cannot, since religion is nothing if
not ethical.

The second point of growing divergence between religion and culture pertains to the cult
of violence. What love is to religion, violence is to culture. Culture, by definition, is rooted
in violence. The confrontation between the British Raj and Gandhi is its classic, near-
mythological illustration. The Raj represented the genius of culture at its materialistic,
violent invincibility. Gandhi encountered it with the resources of spirituality, especially
truth-directed ahimsa. At the root of our struggle for freedom, the freedom of humankind
everywhere, is a rejection of violence. Freedom, as Swami Vivekananda insisted, is
By Valson Thampu
essentially spiritual. The genius of culture, on the other hand, is inhospitable to freedom.
The historical fact that cultural nationalism is not native to India, but an early 20th
Slavery, in one form or another, has been a feature of all ‘high cultures’. At the zenith of its
century import from war-demented Europe, has ceased to bother us. We are inured to it in
cultural expansion, there were more slaves than citizens in Rome. While cultures of the
the garb of patriotism and majoritarian religious revivalism. Even a decade ago, the
past enslaved specific sections of society, modern culture enslaves a people as a whole.
distinction between Hinduism and Hindutva mattered to most Hindus. That seems no
Hindutva, a cultural project in the garb of religion, is bound to be inimical to freedom: the
freedom not merely of certain minority communities but also of citizens as a whole,
though it may now seem to be otherwise behind the smokescreen of majoritarian
triumphalism.
More From The Section
•1•2•3•4•5•6
The violence embedded in culture, by which cultures have risen and fallen, undermines
social cohesion and dissipates the energies of a nation. The core spiritual concern in
Lakshadweep: When Revisiting policies Pricing water, a bitter Why are India's How or how not to
religion is, or should be: “What kind and quality of human beings do we nurture?” This is the law unsettles and programmes is pill to swallow? economically remember the
everything no weakness competitive states hit emergency
the essence of dharma. Culture, in its invasive pursuit of hegemonic control, feels vexed hard by the second
by, and flouts, dharmic restraints and consequently, precipitates social disarray. It is naive Covid-19 wave?

to label acts of gratuitous violence—like mob-lynchings—as accidental aberrations

perpetrated by lunatic fringes. They have the air and aura of an orgy, and appeal to an Now we are on Telegram too. Follow us for updates
instinct unhinged from ethical restraints. They appeal to a psyche devoid of the sense of
India Matters
fellow humanity. Humanity turns malignant without a sense of fellow humanity. Mob-
lynching as a symbolic cult, if akin to the spirit of cultural nationalism, could well presage
the sort of holocaust over which Hitler presided.  

While cultural nationalism may begin, as it did in Germany, with an air of religious
partisanship—Hitler was a Jew-hater also because he was a Christian bigot—it is inevitable
that it effects the desecration not only of the religions it abuses but also of the religion it
uses. Such use is, in itself, an abuse. History testifies that attempts to stitch alliances
between religion and culture are preposterous. It is bound to work to the detriment of
religion.

The Ram Janmabhoomi movement was not a religious project. That religious symbols and
sevaks were co-opted into it does not prove the contrary. So, while tearing down a mosque
excited hysteria, building a temple did not. The underlying political doctrine of the
movement presumes that polytheism is a hindrance to homogenising and mobilising a
people. The merit of polytheism is that diverse aspects of the Divine are intuited through
We are not giving any protection to Twitter, Centre is free to take action: Delhi HC
different manifestations. Tolstoy, in A Letter to a Hindu, which had a profound influence
on Gandhi, quotes profusely from the teachings of Lord Krishna for the reason that he
revered Krishna as an exemplar of ‘love’. Love inspires truth. 

Truth is the guard and guarantor of freedom. Cultural nationalism, which stayed
tangential to our freedom struggle, has no use for love. It projects a martial remake of
Lord Ram, who is, otherwise, an embodiment of righteousness. Lord Krishna as a
Hindutva icon is unthinkable! The contrast between Gandhi’s Ram and Hindutva’s Ram
measures the distance between religion and culture,and its political avatar of cultural
nationalism.

Valson Thampu

Former principal of St Stephen’s College, New Delhi

Email: vthampu@gmail.com
Recipe for higher potency Covid vaccines found by researchers

 Kane
Would be interesting to know Mr. Thampu's opinion on the repeal of 377
2 years ago reply

 SURESH BINDHUMADHAV
what should hindus do when another proselytising religion encourages its neo-converts to keep their
original names and hide their new identity so that they may continue to claim minority status and the
benefits of reservation and for other reasons best known to them? i was not alive to such issues until
2 years ago reply

Latest
Amid cabinet reshuffle buzz, Union Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot appointed Karnataka Governor

Lakshadweep denies entry to Left MPs from Kerala, says visit 'against public interest'

Petrol, diesel price rise paused a day after reaching new highs

Money laundering case: Anil Deshmukh's aides sent in judicial custody till July 20
No bypoll? Mamata Banerjee has a workaround, says Trinamool
BJP holds mock session outside Maharashtra Assembly against suspension of 12 MLAs

Taapsee Pannu to headline in Telugu film 'Mishan Impossible'

Videos

India to make CoWIN platform available to all Cyprus hit by worst forest fire in decades, 4 found
countries: PM Modi dead
Stan Swamy and the murder of justice

Gallery

Comments(2)

Write a comment...

Name Email Post

From Gulf of Mexico to Tokyo Bay, a brief pictorial Suriya to Kamal Haasan: Indian film stars slam
history of oil spills Narendra Modi government over Cinematograph
Bill 2021

Trending
Additional income? Enter: Binomo

Bodybuilding hasn't gone mainstream: Tarun Gill

Man kills woman, sends picture to her husband in Bhubaneswar

His death an 'institutional murder', 'indifferent courts' responsible: Stan Swamy's family, friends

Stan Swamy and the murder of justice

FOLLOW US      

Copyright - newindianexpress.com 2021

The Morning Standard | Dinamani | Kannada Prabha | Samakalika Malayalam | Indulgexpress | Edex Live |
Cinema Express | Event Xpress
Contact Us | About Us | Careers | Privacy Policy | Search | Terms of Use | Advertise With Us
Home | Nation | World | Cities | Business | Columns | Entertainment | Sport | Magazine | The Sunday
Standard