Confessions of an Epic Indian

Part 3 of the series by Blokesablogin (a.k.a. Meenakshi Srinivasan) posted on Desicritics

Who, then, is a Hindu? According to dictionary.com here is the meaning. Note the year it comes into usage-1662

1662, from Pers. Hindu (adj. & noun) “Indian,” from Hind “India,” from Skt. sindhu “river,” specifically the Indus; hence “region of the Indus,” gradually extended across northern India. Hinduism, blanket term for “polytheism of India,” is from 1829.

This clarifies why I do not see the word Hindu in any form in any “Hindu”, Jain or Buddhist text. This is the reason why I shall refer to the pre 17th century texts as Indic texts. Strangely, the Sangam texts in Tamizh share a similar worldview with the Samskritam texts. Therefore, to limit the identity of the “Hindu” to Sindhu river is very narrow. The year 1829 is also significant. Earnest missionary activity in India begins around this time. Every district (county) has a missionary station (they are called Missionary Districts), busy converting the polytheistic pagans to monotheism. Within 6 years, Lord Macaulay introduces English in the place of Samskritam and Arabic, as the main medium of instruction for higher education.

“It is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.” Excerpt from his Minute on Indian Education, 1835.

That was a pivotal point in the history of India. This was the time when the Afgan wars began against the British. It is amazing how the entire sub-continent shared a palpable connection. Missionaries begin work in the deep South and the equally monotheistic Afgans from the Northwestern Frontier Province fight back.

From the time of Chanakya, Gandhara (ancient name for Afghanistan), has resonated with the Indic world view as described in the Vedas. The roles of the brahmin (that Chanakya was, born to Jain parents) and the kshatriya king he served, were clearly demarcated. His treatise, the Arthashastra lucidly enumerates the types of governments found in his time. Prajathantra, or democracy, was one of them. Independent nation states called Ganarajya are also mentioned. He outlines the characteristics of a Rajarishi- an enlightened ruler, one who serves his kingdom with no personal gain. In the Mahabharatha, Bheeshma gives advice to Yudhishtra at the end of the Kurukshetra war. The only difference between the two sets of advice, Bheeshma’s was more on ruling well and none on strategies to destroy the enemy; Chanakya’s was to rule well, never putting one’s economy in jeopardy and to destroy the enemy without leaving a trace.

The overarching cultural ethos of this part of the world has seen too many years of spiritual inquiry. From Gandhara to the Ayayarwady valley (similar to the name Aayarpadi in Tamizh that denotes Gokul, home of baby Krishna) of Myanmar, one thought pervaded: Who are you? What is your truth in this world? What is your relationship with this universe? The lifestyle reflected these inquiries.

If the “Hindu” is to be known, the entire South East Asian region has to be researched- a tough job indeed. This could be a charter point for the SAARC countries to add to their list of things to do- help each other piece together their history, going past the veil introduced by the colonisers alongside creating a economic bloc.

Part 4 shall deal with the two main “issues” the “rest of the world” has with ‘Hinduism”: Caste system and Polytheism.

Blokes aka Meenakshi enjoys writing along with being a mom, a school teacher, a musician and an Art of Living teacher (of meditation and breathing)