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  • Jul 25, 2024
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KANWAR YATRA AND THE PERILS OF NOSTALGIC HINDUISM

Relevance: GS 1 – Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.

Why in the news?

  • Uttar Pradesh police issued an order mandating restaurants along the Kanwar Yatra route to display owner names.
  • The order claimed this measure was necessary to protect the “purity” of pilgrims’ faith.
  • The Supreme Court stayed the order, deeming it unnecessary and potentially discriminatory.
    • Critics argue the order represents an attempt to redefine Hinduism and impose specific religious beliefs on others.
  • The incident highlights concerns about religious intolerance and government overreach in India.

Reinvention of Concepts of Purity and Impurity

  • The current reinvention of Hinduism emphasizes notions of purity and impurity, disconnected from its everyday life and actual history.
    • This transformation is heavily influenced by nostalgic cultural changes.
  • It implies that a religion robust for centuries, with Muslims integral to its rituals, has suddenly become fragile and in need of protection.
  • Those expected to participate in this reinvention have no role in its propagation.

Nature of Practiced Hinduism

  • Hinduism boasts an impressive textual tradition. However, the religion practiced rarely draws upon its holy books.
    • Hinduism has not traditionally derived legitimacy from a set of written rules.
  • Unlike the Bible and the Quran, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata do not prescribe proper ways of being devout.
    • These texts are expansive stories about the multiple possibilities of being good and the often blurred lines between good and evil.
  • Demons can become saints, and saintly persons can fall from grace based on their behavior.
  • Caste in India does not follow a uniform template (e.g., Brahmins in Punjab and Haryana do not enjoy the same social and cultural dominance as elsewhere).

Interdependence of Hindu and Muslim Service Providers

  • In traditional Hindu society, the jajman (patron) relied on services from both Hindu and Muslim providers.
  • Hindu rituals and festivities were often completed with the help of Muslim barbers (nais), tailors (darzis), and drummers (dholis).
    • This interdependence made it impossible to maintain a strictly self-contained Hindu world.

Comparison to 19th Century Christian Missionary Attitudes

Historical Perspective on Hindu Religious Knowledge

  • In the early 19th century, Christian missionaries found rural Hindu families unfamiliar with events in the Vedas and other religious texts.
    • Peasants’ worship practices, such as ancestor worship in Haryana and household gods in Kumaon, did not align with Vedic texts.
    • Missionaries often lamented that “Hindus did not know their own religion.”
  • The UP government’s mandate on nameplates is seen as an extension of the missionary attitude.
    • It suggests that everyday Hindu practices are not representative of the religion and that Hindus are unaware of their own faith.
    • The nameplate edict has little to do with the core, everyday aspects of the religion.

Flaws of Seeking Purity in Modern Times

  • The kanwar yatra, a quintessential modern phenomenon, highlights these flawed efforts.
    • Under modern conditions, projects seeking “purity” are inherently flawed and often comical.
  • These projects invent pure ways of life by tracing identity through history.
  • Hinduism’s history is a narrative of learning to live amidst diverse ideas, practices, foods, and beliefs.
    • People have historically stood in the flow of these influences without drowning or yearning for a non-existent past.
    • There is a distinction between cultural propagandists and those who genuinely live the culture.

Shift in Cultures of Nostalgia

  • Over the past decade, there has been a definitive shift in nostalgia cultures.
  • Earlier, nostalgic proclamations of a “glorious and pure” past were limited to anti-colonial and pro-Hindutva campaigns.
    • These campaigns aimed to show that Indians were intellectually equal to Europeans.
  • The current shift involves lifestyle nostalgia, where everyday aspects of the past are seen as lost worlds of a better time.
    • Lifestyle nostalgia is a middle-class invention and preoccupation.
    • Ironically, the kanwariya phenomenon is not primarily a middle-class event.
    • The nameplate episode on the kanwar route derives from the rise of lifestyle nostalgia.

Aspects of Lifestyle Nostalgia

  1. Golden Age Concept: Refers to an apparent Golden Age from the 1960s to the 1990s.
  2. Idealized Human Relationships: Imagines this era as a world of pure, unsullied relationships.
  • Social media memes and videos often depict:
    • Unconditional parental love.
    • Joyful family togetherness.
    • “Simple pleasures” like train travel.
    • Delightful moments of frolicking in monsoonal downpours with cousins and friends.

Sentimentalized Goods and Commodities: Goods and commodities from the 1960s to the 1990s are now seen as markers of a sentimentalized past.

  • Examples frequently shared on social media include:
    • Cassette tapes with scribbled notes.
    • Metal pencil boxes.
    • Black-colored dial telephones.
    • Spinning tops.
    • Ambassador cars.
    • Rooftop TV aerials.

Impact of Lifestyle Nostalgia

  • Disconnect Between Reality and Romanticized Version
    • Lifestyle nostalgia creates a gap between the actual conditions of life and its romanticized version.
    • It overlooks authoritarian parent-child relationships and infrastructure issues causing monsoon misery.
    • It ignores the symbolism of the black telephone and Ambassador cars as markers of access hierarchy.
  • Middle-Class Self-Absorption
    • Lifestyle nostalgia reflects the middle class’s capacity for self-absorption.
    • The nameplates diktat is aimed at the middle class rather than the participants, mostly non-middle-class pilgrims.
    • Pilgrims are aware of their entanglement with Muslim lives and have not demanded nameplates.
    • Kanwariyas experience hospitality equally in both “Muslim” and “Hindu” areas.
  • Color of Nostalgia vs. Everyday Life
    • Sepia, a template for nostalgic thinking, does not reflect the color of everyday life.
    • Sepia Hinduism benefits only a tiny minority, not the broader population.

Dangers of Lifestyle Nostalgia

Fictional Template for Actual Life

  • Life is expected to adhere to a fictional template created by lifestyle nostalgia.

Lack of Participation in Propagation

  • Those expected to partake in lifestyle nostalgia had no role in its propagation.
  • This aligns with broader trends in religious mobilization, where those who suffer the consequences are not the ones who initiate it.

Limited Beneficiaries

  • Sepia Hinduism, a nostalgic view, benefits only a tiny minority and does not reflect everyday life for the majority.

Way Forward

  • Acknowledge Historical and Cultural Interconnectedness
    • Recognize the historical interdependence and cultural blending between different communities.
    • Foster appreciation for the contributions of all communities to shared cultural practices.
  • Promote Inclusive Narratives
    • Encourage narratives that highlight the inclusive and diverse nature of religious and cultural traditions.
    • Counteract romanticized and exclusionary versions of history with more accurate representations.
  • Strengthen Infrastructure and Services
    • Improve infrastructure and services to address practical issues like monsoon misery and access inequalities.
    • Focus on enhancing the quality of life for all citizens.
  • Encourage Authentic Cultural Practices
    • Support and promote authentic cultural practices that reflect the true diversity and richness of traditions.
    • Discourage the imposition of artificial and nostalgic templates on contemporary life.
  • Engage with All Stakeholders
    • Ensure that policies and initiatives involve the participation and input of all affected communities.
    • Avoid top-down approaches that do not consider the perspectives and needs of those directly impacted.
  • Promote Religious Harmony
    • Foster dialogue and cooperation between different religious and cultural groups to maintain social harmony.
    • Highlight and celebrate instances of intercommunity collaboration and mutual respect.
  • Educate on Historical Context
    • Provide education on the historical context of cultural and religious practices to build a more informed and tolerant society.
    • Challenge myths and misconceptions that fuel exclusionary ideologies.

Alternative articles

https://universalinstitutions.com/download-types/indian-society/

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/kanwar-yatra-perils-nostalgic-hinduism-9470752/

Mains question

Discuss the impact of lifestyle nostalgia on contemporary religious practices and social harmony in India. How can policymakers address the challenges posed by romanticized historical narratives? (250 words)