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The myth of Hindu tolerance
by Scott Gilbreath ~ May 28th, 2009
The claim that Hinduism is a uniquely pacific and tolerant religion is dangerous bunk, says (UK) Guardian columnist Rahila Gupta.
There is a profoundly disquieting myth about Hinduism which has been put about by its adherents so often and so successfully that it is in danger of crystallising into a truth – that of its essentially pluralistic and tolerant traditions. Recently this viewpoint was repeated in the Face to faith column of this newspaper by Nitin Mehta who argued that “There are thousands of sects within Hinduism, and violence between them is unknown.” This is, at best, disingenuous and, at worst, dishonest. He appears to gloss over the troublesome fact that caste Hindus have been callous towards their own – the Dalits or the “Untouchables” as they were previously known.
Nitin Mehta uses a piece of sophistry to suggest the superiority of Hinduism particularly vis-à-vis Islam without once mentioning Islam by name. He refers to the tolerance of religions that have their roots in India namely, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism – thereby implicitly damning Islam as a “foreign” imposition and as intolerant. Well here are the facts: Islam in India dates back to at least the 7th century. A presence of 1400 years is surely long enough to put down roots; there were nearly 10,000 cases of recorded crimes against Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members in 2007 and we know that most crimes do not get recorded in India because of a corrupt and brutal police force; many Indians are still reeling from the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, one of several over the years; and only last year vicious attacks in Orissa left at least 60 Christians dead. It is little wonder that in the recent elections in India, many parties and political candidates defined their agendas in opposition to the BJP (Bharatiya Janata party), the political face of Hinduism.
Also, of course, many of India’s Christians trace their roots back to the ministry of the Apostle St Thomas, almost 2000 years ago.
Ms Gupta points out that religions that have come into contact with Hinduism have been infected with caste-based hatred; witness the recent killing at a Sikh temple in Vienna by upper-caste Sikhs.
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May 30th, 2009 at 12:53 AM
It’s ironic that the idea of Hinduism as pluralistic even in principle seems itself to be an artifact of foreign imposition: the Hinduism we know appears to be the result of religious groups that had spent centuries in utter opposition to each other hastily making alliances in the face of British occupation. Prior to that time interaction between the various sects was rather hostile; but the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the saying goes: they found something they could all oppose.
June 3rd, 2009 at 11:48 AM
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