The Idea of India: 'Detox' Plan Needs Mediaeval Foundation (Amaresh Misra)

[The Times of India - September 17, 2004
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/853180.cms]

The Idea of India: 'Detox' Plan Needs Mediaeval Foundation

by Amaresh Misra

Congress's anti-sangh parivar detoxification campaign needs a perspective. Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi launched similar anti-communal tirades in the 50s and the early 70s, but the sangh parivar, despite its overtly extremist character, managed to bounce back. What perhaps explains some of this resurgence is the beguiling clarity with which it looks at the past. It categorises mediaeval India as a dark period, pushing liberal historians into a quandary.

During the 90s, the Congress, liberal-secular Hindu and Left intellectuals were asked: Wasn't there Muslim domination before the British? Was Babar justified in destroying a temple and building a mosque at Ayodhya? Did not Muslims destroy Indian culture? The standard secular reply was defensive: Some Mughal emperors may have done something (bad) but the need is to look beyond and focus on the present; let's not rake up the past; let's concentrate on issues which unite and not divide and so on and so forth.

In contrast, the parivar's view of historical wrongs is a powerful idea. It may not give the BJP enough seats to form a government on its own but has certainly ensured that irrespective of government change, the anti-Muslim Hindu consciousness remains the norm. In this context, it is not surprising that detoxification faces resistance from within.

The crucial and decisive issue is the status of years 1206-1857: Were they years of darkness and bondage as depicted by the parivar? Available evidence suggests that these years saw India coming of age in matters of statecraft, engineering, metallurgy, physics, defence industry, weaving, shipbuilding and astronomy. India's wealth stayed in India for Indians. 'Muslims' did not destroy Indian culture; the best and second best among them gave ancient traditions a contemporary expression. They saved Indian culture from stagnation.

Delhi's Khilji mosque, Jaunpur's Attala Masjid, Tughlaq architecture, Sharqi painting, and Deccan schools of art and masonry blended the beam and the lintel with the dome and the arch. The temples constructed during the 18th century by Maratha personalities in Benares and Mathura have a 'Muslim' look: Kashi's Vishwanath temple, next on the sangh parivar's hit list, can still be confused for a mosque because of its oblong cupola.

The Mughal era was path-breaking. The old system of bookkeeping was mixed with Islamic accountancy in Siyaqnamah. Ayurveda was revived and interpreted in the light of Unani prescriptions. Mughal-Deccani painting borrowed motifs and styles from pre-Sultanate Jain, Rajput and southern schools. Dhrupad, Khayal and Qawwali matured out of several folk and pre-Sultanate musical structures. The tabla and sitar were fashioned out of the mridang and veena.

Amir Khusro, the father of this lost Indian renaissance, discovered khari boli. He composed several lullabies, riddles, children's poems and serious masnavis. Amir Khusro humanised and modernised the Indian ethos. Can the sangh parivar deny that? Emperor Akbar had Mahabharata, Panchatantra, Puranas and Ramayana translated in Persian. Their copies can be found today in several national and regional libraries of India. Mahabharata and Ramayana begin with Bismillah-ur-Rahim and have beautiful miniatures of Indian gods.

The culture evolved by the Mughals was cosmopolitan. Caste and religion were neither manipulated nor swept under the carpet. The Mughal pan-Indian gesture encompassed the spunk of the Bhumihar, the spine of the Turani, the pride of the Multani, the ruggedness of the Bihari and the resilience of the Dakhani. Before Akbar, Lord Krishna's statue was painted in black; the emperor reinterpreted 'Shyam Varna' mentioned in the Puranas as a shade of blue.

True Hinduism is not Hindutva but Sanatan Dharma established by Adi Shankaracharya and carried forward by Tulsidas and Surdas. Written under great orthodox pressure, Tulsi's Avadhi Ramcharitmanas projected the absolutist ideal of a contemporary king. Akbar was celebrated as a symbol of Ram in several Rajasthani ballads.

Sanatan Dharma's ekeshwarvaad (One God) was often equated with Islamic monotheism. Respective Shankaracharyas blessed Akbar, Shivaji and Tipu Sultan, warriors who fought for justice. There was no communal element in the fight of Sikhs and Marathas against the Mughals. Hindus and Muslims fought on both sides. Maulvi Abdul Aziz of Delhi declared Hindustan dar-ul-harb (where jehad is legitimate) only after Lord Lake captured Delhi in 1803, not when Marathas ruled Delhi in alliance with the Mughals.

The Ganga-Yamuni tehzeeb or composite culture continued till 1857 through Urdu, Rekhti and a unique common Hindustani identity. All problems from modern communalism to invented histories can be traced to our defeat in the 1857 mutiny. The British doctored pseudo-reformist Hindu and Muslim currents after 1857, separating Hindi from Urdu and Hindu history from Muslim history. Ganga-Yamuni tehzeeb, which had filtered down to peasant village and artisan culture, was sidelined. The ensuing distortions culminated in the tragedy of Partition.

There was little resistance when VHP goons levelled Vali Dakhani's mazaar in Ahmedabad during the recent Gujarat riots. Urdu's father-figure Vali Dakhani symbolised Indianness, on which the sangh parivar had launched an audacious, brutal attack. The parivar fulfilled what the British had dreamt of doing.

The line followed from 1206 to 1857 offers hope amidst despair. Indians need to be reminded that in their cosmopolitan past lies their only way forward.