I have continued to read Slate’s dispatches feature this week which is titled “The Monkey God’s Army.” Despite criticism from a few SM readers on some finer points in the article, it has remained an absorbing read, and there are still two installments left. Rather than quote from the article itself (which I urge you to read) I will instead quote from The Fray. The Fray is Slate’s discussion board that is often full of gems. Slate editors recommended this posting from The Fray:
Hanuman is worshipped by a lot of people who have no affiliation with the Dal. The very phrase – Monkey God – sounds awful! Hanuman, happened to be a monkey. He is worshipped for his devotion to Ram. For his supreme love for the right way, regardless of how much pain he would have to bear. Not because he was a monkey. But because of who he was despite being a monkey. There is a very rich tapestry of philosophy and culture – to demean all of that in this manner is disgusting. It shows a complete lack of understanding and sensitivity towards Indian culture.
I have no qualms with being harsh with either the RSS or the Bajrang Dal. But if the KKK had decided to call themselves Jesus’s army, to belittle Jesus would have been as stupid and pointless as belittling Hanuman in this context.
The title reflects a racist insensitive view of Hindiuism and I, for one, would strongly urge Slate to post an apology and a retraction of the title.
Then we find this one which curiously wasn’t recommended by Slate editors:
Obviously, this newspaper editor is an ignorant fool. He doesn’t even know the Vedic Scriptures which flourished in India starting at least some 5,500 years ago, but are actually infinitely prehistorical.
For the education… let me offer some barebone background information. The last “Golden Age” or SatyaYuga, some 4,000,000 years ago, was the Age when dinosaurs also roamed the earth. The Bible also touched on that when it said, “when Men were giants.” (Some species of man were). What you know call the denizens of the “intermediate world,” i.e., animals, plants birds, and the filth-born, also speak the common language on earth, and understood each other. Meaning, an animal can speak to man, and vice versa and understood each other. The personification of the animals, the sky-ranging creatures like the birds, as well as plants were as intelligent as man.
Then there are the cynics:
You just read SHANTARAM by Gregory David Roberts; which takes place in the Mumbai slums. And you heard that Johnny Depp bought the book rights and is plnning a movie.
So, you figure it would be really cool to do a piece on the slums in Mumbai. So, you flew out for a week, lived in a 5 star hotel, maybe spect a few minutes taking pictures. And now ff the movie ever comes out or your friends talk about the book at parties. You can say, hey! I’ve been there. I know what it’s like.
Why didn’t be a complete rip off and thtle the article “The Army of the 12 Monkeys“.
Reading through other comments left in The Fray, I couldn’t help but hear the echo of the words of a man (who claimed to be the head of RSS military training for the whole of India) interviewed in the actual article:
“We believe in teaching lessons. If someone insults my god, I’ll teach him. If someone attacks us, we also attack them. Islamic terrorists are afraid of the Bajrang Dal because we are the only ones fighting them.”
Interesting article. Btw Shantaram is one of my favorite reads. Highly recommended if you like reading. Its HUGE tho. But really loads of fun. It supposed to be semi-autobiographical. And it just helps that Johnny Depp bought the rights (my fav actor). Interesting tho since the author describes himself as an ugly man. Lets see how they pull the film off.
Oh dear. Methinks more damage was done via the Comments section.
I think this series will be far more useful to the likes of us than to most of Slate’s readers, for whom it will form a disproportionately representational and badly out of context slice of life. But for those of us who are more informed & better able to place it in context, it’s really fascinating. I certainly don’t forsee an opportunity when I could go to Mumbai/Dharavi and meet these various slices of society, so I appreciate this. And this happened to be a week when my Slate reading was light, so I appreciate the link, too, Abhi.
What strikes me over and over when reading these things is how atraditional the theology is. I mean, I think there’s at least a slight disconnect between this “religious” philosophy and the religious tradition it’s supposedly grounded in. I’ve read convincing arguments (mostly by some French Scholar whose name escapes me. . .will have to dig out the book) that the founders of these movements were actually trying to lift items and perceived themes they found in the very religious cultures they were opposing, themes that they perceived as being responsible for the success of those cultures (mostly Muslim and Christian) in dominating Hindus. The idea being that they were actually trying to get away from the sense of materially detached resignation that a lot of serious Hindu traditions encourage in the pursuit of spirituality. Just a thought worth sharing. .will try to find that book.