RAJMOHAN GANDHI’S Do You Know Your Hinduism begins with a fundamental question: What do the world’s nearly 1.2 billion Hindus truly believe in? What principles and values do they cherish?
At the outset Rajmohan makes it clear—and emphatically so—that Hinduism has no single equivalent of the Bible or the Quran, no historical founder, and no individual who left behind a definitive set of principles.
The Sanskrit phrase Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam adorns the cover of the book, and Rajmohan takes great pains to explain the significance of this celebrated Upanishadic verse. Yet, he rightly observes, “Hindu children rarely learn the venerated Upanishads… and even more highly venerated Vedas. Most Hindu children learn their faith through the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, and religious stories narrated by the elders. Apart from festivals and rituals, Hinduism, today, is also conveyed, sustained, reinforced and often distorted by television and social media.”
One full chapter is dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi’s Hinduism. But, before reaching there, Rajmohan takes readers through the lives and ideas of reformers and spiritual figures such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and Vinoba Bhave.
Perhaps the most compelling section of the book is titled “Gandhi Should Have Fasted Against Partition”. Here, Rajmohan traces the events leading to Partition and explains convincingly why the father of the nation did not undertake such a fast. He also challenges the propaganda of the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha that they opposed Partition. “The fact,” writes Rajmohan, “that Muslims remained in truncated India in 1947 annoyed the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha much more than the emergence of Pakistan.”
Rajmohan quotes another Hindu scholar K.M. Munshi to underline: “During the Mughal rule, the world witnessed one of the most magnificent empires of all times.” He argues that although Muslim rulers occupied the throne, the overwhelming majority of Hindus continued to practise their faith freely. In the process, Rajmohan asks a deeply troubling question: why are so many Hindus, with no personal experience of suffering at the hands of Muslims, comfortable with the notion of revenge against Muslims? The revenge, he notes, is being sought a 1,000 years after Mahmud of Ghazni, and 500 years after Babur. He reminds readers that both Ghori and Babur founded Indian kingdoms. “Good, bad or middling, the sultanate and Mughal kings were Hindustani kings.”
Before concluding, Rajmohan asks one final question: “If the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis of India are members of our family—our relatives—are they receiving from us the treatment that our relatives deserve?”
Twenty-first century Hindus, especially those who genuinely believe in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, would do well to ponder over this question.
Davar, is a columnist and author.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR HINDUISM?
By Rajmohan Gandhi
Published by Aleph Book Company
Price: Rs499; pages: 168