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
- Golden Age Concept: Refers to an apparent Golden Age from the 1960s to the 1990s.
- 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)