The angry Brahminical god has tried to dominate the aboriginal, ambiguous deities. Then came the poet-saints, who transformed worship into an act of deep, silent personal love.
THE line of the title of this piece does not come from an atheist. Akappey Cittar, the Tamil Siddha from around the fifteenth century who wrote it, is marking his distance from orthodoxy by proclaiming ‘pure nothingness’. Not just the Lord, but for him, he himself does not exist, nor does the Self or the preceptor. Much of the world of appearances does not exist either. Only ‘pure void’ exists. But his is a minority voice, overwhelmed and overpowered by a strong binary that Chapter 1343(15) of the Raja Dharma Parva of the Mahabharata proposes.
Without fear of punishment and of violence, says the Mahabharata, neither fame nor prosperity can be attained on this earth. Gods who had killed (Rudra, Skanda, Agni, Varuna, Yama, Surya, Vayu, Kubera, the Vasus, the Maruts, the Sadhyas, the Vishvadevas) have greater respect and veneration than those gods prone to peace, self-control and restraint (Brahma, Dhata, Pushan). Depending on the context, people in India have chosen to portray their gods as angry, violent and punishing; or as benign, compassionate and loving. The story of god/gods in one of the religious traditions in India, then, is the story between two impulses: the retributive and the compassionate. Put differently, the contest is between reassertion of a Sanskritic and Brahminical universe upon forces of marginality, ambiguity, liminality, transformation and non-transcendence. In other words, the avarna, folk, aboriginal and rural battle against a dominant monochromatic view that seeks to impose itself.
この記事は Outlook の January 08, 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Outlook の January 08, 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
My Secular Mentor
A rare psychologist of Indian culture, Sudhir Kakar leaves behind seminal works that will have relevance for many generations
Battle of the Bahubalis
Gangsters in Bihar no longer enjoy the kind of dominance that they did in the 90s, but that has not kept them away from politics
Memories of Riots
Have frequent communal tensions changed the social fabric of Bihar?
Didi's Achilles Heel
Mamata Banerjee stays the course but her party, plagued by corruption charges, spins out of control
Memory Metamorphosis
What happened on March 14, 2007 in Nandigram? People still ask this question as they take part in the dance of democracy
Minority Report
He has not lost the Dhubri seat in Assam since 2009. Now he is fighting for political survival as Bengali Muslims look to favour the Congress
THE POWER OF PURPOSE
Doing good is good business as it transcends bottom lines and impacts lives positively, yielding profits that go beyond numbers.
CURRENT FARMING METHODS ARE EXACERBATING CLIMATE CHANGE
Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) project is supporting transition of 850,000 farmers covering 377,801 hectares of land and operating in 3730 villages. \"Natural farming is in harmony with nature. It is a holistic land management practice that leverages the power of photosynthesis in plants\", says Mr. T Vijay Kumar, a retired IAS officer, who is the Executive Vice Chairman of Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, a non-profit organization set up by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2014. Since 2016, this platform has been utilized to integrate and promote APCNF activities, aimed at fostering the overall development and empowerment of farmers. Excerpts from an interview with Mr T Vijay Kumar:
IN PURSUIT OF SUSTAINABILITY
Harshavardhana Gourineni, Executive Director, Amara Raja Energy & Mobility Ltd, in an interview shares how through its products and operations the company is helping reduce carbon footprints and meet SDGs. Excerpts:
COOLING NO MORE A LUXURY, BUT A NECESSITY
With the rise in demand of air conditioners due to heat stress, sustainable air conditioning is the way forward to bring relief to people as well as manage emissions