tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/hindus-14443/articlesHindus – The Conversation2024-01-30T13:34:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2217152024-01-30T13:34:33Z2024-01-30T13:34:33ZThe opening of India’s new Rama temple made waves – but here’s what the central ritual actually meant<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571512/original/file-20240125-15-t0kpkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C13%2C2261%2C1493&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center left, performs rituals during the opening of the temple dedicated to Lord Ram in Ayodhya, India, on Jan. 22, 2024.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IndiaHinduTemple/8ee5a9844b5f4124965e6fd8b2525d08/photo?Query=rama%20temple%20india%20modi&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=648&digitizationType=Digitized&currentItemNo=NaN&vs=true&vs=true">Press Information Bureau via AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The consecration rituals of the icon of Lord Rama were performed in a newly built mega-temple in the town of Ayodhya, India, on Jan. 22, 2024. The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMumilPMcfs">performed the rituals</a> during a <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/what-is-ram-mandir-pran-pratishthas-abhijeet-muhurat-which-will-last-84-seconds-101705901568681.html">48-minute period considered auspicious</a> by Hindu astrologers. Lord Rama, an avatara or incarnation of Vishnu, is one of the most important deities in the Hindu tradition.</p>
<p>Amid the carefully staged pageantry, the media’s hysteria over the guest lists and the celebrations of <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/ram-mandir-celebrations-in-us-car-rally-organised-at-golden-gate-bridge-with-tesla-light-show-101705896670586.html">exultant Hindus</a> – not just in India but <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X437KhS9Wl4">from Golden Gate Bridge to Times Square</a> – the religious significance of the rituals, known in Sanskrit as “prana pratishtha,” or “establishment of breath,” was completely lost. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/others/ram-lalla-s-idol-from-makeshift-temple-shifted-to-sanctumsanctorum-101705860918400.html">Media all around the world, particularly in India, referred</a> to the icon of Lord Rama as an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/why-indias-new-ram-temple-matters-dispute-behind-it-2024-01-22">“idol</a>.” However, the term does not capture the Hindu belief that matter transforms into divine reality during this ritual. Although there are many nuanced Sanskrit words, there is no English term that does justice. In fact, the word “idol” has pejorative implications. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://religion.ufl.edu/directory/vasudha-narayanan/">professor of religion</a> who has studied the religious significance of deities in temples, I want to highlight this important ritual, which is said to transform the material image. </p>
<h2>From matter to deity</h2>
<p>The ritual of “prana pratishtha” is a culmination of several days or even weeks of preparation. At crucial moments during the performance of the ritual, many Hindus, though not all, believe that the divine being comes to abide in a carefully carved icon. </p>
<p>In an idea roughly analogous to <a href="https://www.usccb.org/eucharist">transubstantiation</a> in the Catholic Church – where, when the priest consecrates the bread and wine, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23013382">the whole substance of the bread and wine</a> is believed to become the body of Christ – through prana pratishtha, the material icon becomes a divine presence.</p>
<p>Although several Hindu texts speak of the supreme being as being beyond form, gender and even number, paradoxically, Hindus also see the supreme entity as graciously taking a “material” form and <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Gods_of_Flesh_Gods_of_Stone/LD91JTIl8uIC?hl=en&gbpv=1">abiding in a temple as an incarnate deity worthy of worship</a>. </p>
<p>Despite textual and regional variations, there are many common practices in this ritual. During the process of prana pratishtha, this image carved by a master sculptor is initially purified, then covered in <a href="https://www.republicworld.com/india/ram-mandir-interesting-facts-rituals-for-19th-20th-and-21st-jan-details-inside/">water, grains, fragrant substances, herbs, flowers and other materials</a>. In doing so, it is said to absorb the energies of the universe. Texts called “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Classical_Hindu_Mythology/zobyDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=cornelia+dimmitt&printsec=frontcover">Puranas</a>” and “<a href="https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/agama">Agamas</a>,” composed in the first millennium C.E., give many details for the procedure. </p>
<p>There are fire sacrifices in a pavilion outside, the deity is taken formally into the temple and also in a <a href="https://thedailyguardian.com/ram-lallas-pran-pratistha-the-grandeur-of-ayodhya-dham-is-increasing-every-moment/#google_vignette">procession through the town</a>, and there is recitation of mantras.</p>
<p>Precious stones and metals, as well as a yantra, a metal plate with geometrical drawings, are buried in the ground in the inner shrine where the deity is to be installed. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ram-lalla-eyes-mandir-idol-pran-pratishtha-sculptor-arun-yogiraj-ayodhya-temple-shwet-shila-2492448-2024-01-23">The eyes of the icon are also ritually opened</a>. Since the unrestricted power or “shakti” of the deity is believed to blaze out through its gaze, a mirror is held in front of it both to guide the sculptor in opening the eyes carefully and also to reflect the power back to it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PtVX2Fhx0Q">In Ayodhya, a scarf was removed from the eyes of the deity</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BQGTmW10NZQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The consecration ceremony at the Rama temple in Ayodhya.</span></figcaption>
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<p>At the crucial time, the chief priest invokes the divine being, inviting it to abide in the icon. With the opening of the eyes and the invoking and transfer of breath, the material icon is said to be transformed into an incarnation of the deity. </p>
<h2>Controversies over the temple land</h2>
<p>The “prana pratishtha” rituals have been done in thousands of temples in India and globally. But the Ayodhya one has arguably drawn the most attention politically and has also been the most controversial. </p>
<p>The new temple has been built on the land where <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-IRTB-17391">a 16th century mosque – the Babri Masjid – was destroyed by Hindu activists in December 1992</a>. Some Hindus claim that the mosque had been built by razing a 15th century Rama temple, said to be the site of his birth. While there seems to be evidence that a temple stood where the mosque was built, scholars have disputed the claim that that <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3517901">spot was the very one where Rama was born</a>. Representatives of Jainism, another ancient religion of India, have also claimed that a <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jain-body-claims-disputed-site-in-ayodhya/articleshow/39766315.cms?from=mdr">sixth century Jain temple</a> existed on this site before the mosque was built. <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Creating_a_Nationality/1hduAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Creating%20a%20Nationality:%20The%20Ramjanmabhumi%20Movement%20and%20Fear%20of%20the%20Self">Several scholars have argued</a> that the destruction of the mosque is directly connected with Hindu nationalism and communal violence.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hindu worshippers stand above the top dome of an ancient mosque waving saffron flags." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571527/original/file-20240125-27-o148ri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People atop the 16th century Babri mosque before the structure was demolished in 1992.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-file-photograph-taken-on-december-6-1992-hindu-news-photo/88756585?adppopup=true">Douglas E. Curran/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Hindus’ and Muslims’ rights to worship at the site have been litigated for more than a hundred years, and in 2019, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/ayodhya-ram-mandir-babri-masjid-supreme-court-verdict-security-on-alert-1617220-2019-11-09">land be given to a Hindu trust</a> and a five-acre lot be given to the Muslims to build a mosque. Building the temple was started soon after this judgment. </p>
<p>Politically, the attention accompanying the rites highlighted the metaphor of Rama “<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/pm-narendra-modi-completes-ram-mandir-pran-pratishtha-ceremony-as-millions-celebrate-homecoming-of-ram-lalla-after-500-years/articleshow/107046063.cms?from=mdr">returning home</a>.” It refers to an incident in the story of Rama as told in the ancient epic, the “<a href="https://southasia.ucla.edu/religions/texts/ramayana/">Ramayana</a>,” when he is exiled from Ayodhya on the eve of his coronation and returns home after 14 years of exile.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/new-yorks-times-square-witnesses-hindu-joy-over-ayodhya-temple-1862932">Devotees’ sentiments</a> as well as speeches at the inauguration of the temple spoke of Rama’s return to Ayodhya after 500 years of being banished from his birthplace. </p>
<p>It was a clear reference to what the government and many Hindus believed to be a return of Rama to Ayodhya after his presence was “banished” <a href="https://time.com/6564070/india-modi-temple-ram/">with the building of the mosque</a> in the 16th century. </p>
<h2>‘Not in our names’</h2>
<p>There were many <a href="https://www.hindusforhumanrights.org/en/blog/dont-weaponize-faith-huge-times-square-projection-denounces-modinbsppolitical-stunt-in-ram-temple-controversynbsp?fbclid=IwAR3NPFKp3yvOpzTlMBDHPJFsEFxAGSN5GBCbPD6WTJTbkPfhsnif3rNjtrw">Hindus who objected</a> to the <a href="https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/i-condemn-repudiate-what-is-being-done-in-the-name-of-hinduism-in-ayodhya">politicization of the event</a> as well as the active role of the government and its agencies in the ritual fanfare. Indian Air Force choppers <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/video/iaf-pilots-showered-flowers-ram-mandir-pran-pratishtha-ceremony-ayodhya-2492123-2024-01-22">rained flowers on the temple after the consecration</a>. </p>
<p>Some observers, including outsiders sympathetic to Hinduism, saw these rituals as a <a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/modi-is-god-a-jewish-perspective/">glorification of Modi, not Rama</a>. The event was also contested in religious circles. Several monastic heads refused to join the event, but a prominent Hindu writer said that these religious leaders were not representative of Hinduism and <a href="https://swarajyamag.com/commentary/shankaracharyas-hindu-unity-and-the-ayodhya-triumph-of-ram-bhaktas-a-closer-look">refuted their objections</a>. </p>
<p>Despite these controversies, for those Hindus who supported the building of the temple, it was a sacred moment. For during the prana pratishtha, the divine is said to become present in the icon, if the rituals are properly performed. The “idol” made of material substance is then transformed, and the temple becomes the home for the deity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vasudha Narayanan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A scholar of Hinduism explains the importance of the consecration ritual, which is believed to bring the presence of the divine into the temple.Vasudha Narayanan, Distinguished Professor of Religion, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2126752023-09-05T19:00:13Z2023-09-05T19:00:13ZKrishna Janmashtami: Celebrating the birthday of a beloved Hindu god, renowned for his compassion and his wisdom in the Bhagavad Gita<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546430/original/file-20230905-22792-pd70to.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C0%2C4940%2C3293&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A child dressed up as Lord Krishna poses for a photo during the Krishna Janmashtami festival in Kolkata, India.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/little-child-dressed-up-as-lord-krishna-poses-for-a-photo-news-photo/1242603762?adppopup=true">Avishek Das/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Hindus around the world <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/destinations/this-is-how-the-south-india-celebrates-krishna-janmashtami/articleshow/70818421.cms">will celebrate Krishna Janmashtami</a>, the birthday of the Hindu god Krishna, on Sept. 6. The birth celebrations occur on the eighth day after the full moon in the month of Bhadrapada, or during August-September; in some parts of southern India the celebrations are held during the fifth lunar month of Shravana, which is in July-August. </p>
<p>In Sanskrit, Krishna means “dark” or “black,” and like the deity Vishnu with whom he is associated, Krishna is often depicted as dark-skinned. He is identified <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-love-story-of-radha-and-krishna-has-been-told-in-hinduism-for-centuries-198716">as the eighth avatar, or incarnation, of the deity Vishnu</a> in many texts, while other sources identify Krishna as the highest divine being. He is especially loved for his divine attributes of compassion, protection and friendship. </p>
<p>The observance of Krishna Janmashtami has moved far beyond its place of origin in Krishna’s homeland of Vrindaban, in north-central India, where Krishna is said to have been raised. Today, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/04/02/hindus/#:%7E:text=The%20number%20of%20Hindus%20around,pace%20with%20overall%20population%20growth">in the global community of about 1.2 billion Hindus</a>, Krishna Janmashtami is considered an important holiday among all lineages and traditions. </p>
<h2>Krishna’s birth</h2>
<p>The story of Krishna’s divine birth is told in households across South Asia on Krishna Janmashtami. According to lore, Krishna’s uncle, Kamsa, the king of Mathura, a town in northern India, heard a celestial voice prophesying in his court that his downfall would come at the hands of the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-concise-oxford-dictionary-of-world-religions-9780198804901?cc=us&lang=en&">eighth child born to his cousin Devaki</a>.</p>
<p>In an effort to preserve his reign, Kamsa imprisoned Devaki and her spouse, Vasudeva, and killed each child born to them. According to a sacred Hindu text called the “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Bhagavata_Purana/-1WrAgAAQBAJ?hl=en">Bhagavata Purana</a>,” when the eighth child, Krishna, was born, the gates of the prison opened miraculously and a divine voice instructed Vasudeva to ferry Krishna across the Yamuna River. A torrential rain caused the Yamuna to flood, but the river rose only to Krishna’s feet; Vasudeva delivered the divine infant unharmed to his cousin Nanda and his wife Yashoda in the region in northern India known as Braj.</p>
<p>To quell Kamsa’s suspicions, the gods replaced Krishna with Yashoda’s daughter in the prison. When Kamsa’s guards attempted to kill her, she transformed into the goddess Yogamaya and reminded Kamsa of his inescapable fate and vanished from the prison cell. </p>
<p>The exploits of Krishna as a child are especially celebrated during the holiday. Devotees commemorate the love of Yashoda for Krishna and recall his playful pranks in songs and dances. </p>
<h2>Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita</h2>
<p>While many around the world may not know much about Hinduism, or about Krishna, they might still recognize him from his role in the “Bhagavad Gita,” or “The Song of the Lord,” a section in the <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo5948252.html">world’s lengthiest epic poem, the “Mahabharata</a>.” </p>
<p>Often dubbed the “Bible of Hinduism” because of its immense popularity, the Bhagavad Gita is chanted in homes and temples in the days leading up to Krishna Janmashtami.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546447/original/file-20230905-24-jyytij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting showing a charioteer with blue skin color while behind him sits a warrior holding arrows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546447/original/file-20230905-24-jyytij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546447/original/file-20230905-24-jyytij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546447/original/file-20230905-24-jyytij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546447/original/file-20230905-24-jyytij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546447/original/file-20230905-24-jyytij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546447/original/file-20230905-24-jyytij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546447/original/file-20230905-24-jyytij.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A scene from Hindu mythology featuring the god Krishna with Prince Arjuna on a chariot heading into war.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/this-famous-scene-from-hindu-mythology-features-the-god-news-photo/1354436400?adppopup=true">Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In the Gita, Krishna, disguised as a charioteer, advises the warrior Arjuna, who is heartbroken that he has to fight his own cousins, about his duty on the battlefield. In its 18 chapters, Krishna counsels Arjuna about three paths, or “margas,” to realize salvation, or “moksha,” from the eternal cycle of suffering and rebirth. </p>
<h2>Festivities on the day</h2>
<p>On the first day of the celebration of Krishna Janmashtami, activities culminate in a “Krishna puja,” a devotional form of worship using a form or an image, such as an idol of Krishna. After midnight, statues of Krishna are bathed in milk and water, dressed in new clothes and venerated in homes and temples. Devotees enjoy a celebratory meal after breaking the daylong fast. </p>
<p>In addition to fasting during the holiday, Krishna’s devotees sing songs called “bhajans,” or “kirtans,” dedicated to Krishna, reenact episodes from mythology about his life, known as “Krishna Lilas,” and perform folk dances, or “garbhas.” </p>
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<img alt="A number of young men, dressed in yellow shorts, forming a human pyramid." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546431/original/file-20230905-23-xuho6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546431/original/file-20230905-23-xuho6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546431/original/file-20230905-23-xuho6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546431/original/file-20230905-23-xuho6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546431/original/file-20230905-23-xuho6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546431/original/file-20230905-23-xuho6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/546431/original/file-20230905-23-xuho6l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young Hindu devotees break a dahi-handi, or curd pot, suspended from a rope.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/indian-young-hindu-devotee-hangs-from-a-rope-after-breaking-news-photo/1242590987?adppopup=true">Imtiyaz Shaikh/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In northern India, Krishna Janmashtami is followed the next day by a raucous and spirited event called “Dahi Handi,” loosely translated as “curds in an earthen pot.” Young men and boys imitate the childish pranks of “Makhan Chor,” an epithet given to Krishna in his beloved form during his childhood as a “butter thief.” Folklore is full of stories about Krishna and his childhood friends stealing sweetened butter from the village gopis, or cow herdesses. </p>
<p>To engage in the reenactment, a pot of sweetened butter and curds is suspended in midair, while teenage boys dressed as cowherds form human pyramids, climbing on each other’s backs to reach and break the pot, sharing the sweet yogurt within. A 2012 group from Mumbai holds the world’s record for forming <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/nine-tier-handi-breaks-into-guinness-records/articleshow/15441796.cms">a 13-meter tall</a> Dahi Handi pyramid. </p>
<h2>Beyond South Asia</h2>
<p>Krishna devotion spread in the United States with the founding of the <a href="https://www.iskcon.org/">International Society for Krishna Consciousness, or ISKCON</a>, in New York City in 1965. Since then it has become a global movement, with the devotees being referred to as “Hare Krishnas” due to their devotional chants to Krishna.</p>
<p>On Krishna Janmashtami, the devotees observe the birthday of the founder, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, as his “<a href="https://boisetemple.org/31-aug-2021-appearance-day-srila-prabhupada/">Appearance Day</a>,” believing him to be another incarnation of Krishna. </p>
<p>Krishna is believed to be eternally present. In the Bhagavad Gita, <a href="https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/10/verse/20">Krishna reminds Arjuna</a> that “he is not far from the soul – in fact he is closer than the closest.” For many, the commemoration of Krishna’s birth is a time to remember God’s abiding love and closeness, as well as to express gratitude for the freely given gift of grace.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212675/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert J. Stephens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated as the birthday of the Hindu god Krishna. Many Hindus reenact episodes from mythology on Krishna’s life, known as ‘Krishna Lilas,’ and perform folk dances.Robert J. Stephens, Principal Lecturer in Religion, Clemson UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2112532023-08-16T12:28:34Z2023-08-16T12:28:34ZOppenheimer often used Sanskrit verses, and the Bhagavad Gita was special for him − but not in the way Christopher Nolan’s film depicts it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542213/original/file-20230810-21-j2fxu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C13%2C4452%2C2984&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The words Robert Oppenheimer quoted from the Gita, seen written in dust on part of a deactivated nuclear missile at the Pima Air & Space Museum. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-words-of-robert-oppenheimer-an-inventor-of-the-atomic-news-photo/473277288?adppopup=true">Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A scene in the film “Oppenheimer,” in which the physicist is quoting a Bhagavad Gita verse while making love, has upset some Hindus. The information commissioner of the Indian government, <a href="https://twitter.com/UdayMahurkar/status/1682824374238466048">Uday Mahurkar, said in an open letter</a> the scene was a “direct assault on religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus” and alleged that it amounted to “waging a war on the Hindu community.” He also said that it almost appeared to be “part of a larger conspiracy by anti-Hindu forces.” </p>
<p>It is hard to say how many Hindus were offended by the Gita quote in a sexually charged scene, but there were those who disagreed with the views expressed in the tweet. <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/why-oppenheimer-controversy-is-a-misplaced-outrage-over-bhagavad-gita-12925572.html">Pavan K. Varma, a former diplomat, wrote</a> that the controversy was a “misplaced outrage.” </p>
<p>Some others were <a href="https://twitter.com/HinduAmerican/status/1684209365249671168">not offended, just disappointed</a> that the context of the lines quoted from the Bhagavad Gita was not brought out well. I should also add that Hindu texts composed over 1,000 years, starting around the sixth century B.C.E., have Sanskrit mantras for every occasion, including reciting some ritually before having sex. But they are context-specific, and certainly the Bhagavad Gita would not be used. </p>
<p>Overall, the controversy brought attention to the words quoted by J. Robert Oppenheimer while looking at the erupting fireball from the atomic bomb explosion in Los Alamos, New Mexico, on July 16, 1945: “<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/manhattan-project-robert-oppenheimer/">Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds</a>.” These words are a a paraphrase of <a href="https://www.holy-bhagavad-gita.org/chapter/11/verse/32">Bhagavad Gita 11:32</a> where Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu – whom many Hindus think of as the supreme being – says that he is kala, or time. </p>
<p>Kala also means “death.” Oppenheimer’s teacher, <a href="http://texts.cdlib.org/view?docId=hb0g50035s&doc.view=frames&chunk.id=div00011&toc.depth=1&toc.id=">Arthur Ryder, a professor of Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkeley</a>, had translated the verse as “Death am I, and my present task Destruction.” </p>
<p>Beyond the sex squabble, the biopic can be a good starting point to understand how Oppenheimer’s deep knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita and other Sanskrit texts helped him with his assignment in New Mexico. It can also be a catalyst for the public to have some hard conversations about weapons of mass destruction. </p>
<h2>Wisdom of the Gita and the Panchatantra</h2>
<p>As an undergraduate at Harvard University, Oppenheimer read Hindu texts in translation, but at Berkeley, he learned Sanskrit from Ryder, meeting in his teacher’s home on <a href="https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,853367-6,00.html">long winter evenings</a>. On Oct. 7, 1933, he wrote to his brother Frank that he had been reading the Gita with two other Sanskritists.</p>
<p>This text was special to Oppenheimer, more than other books. He <a href="https://www.academia.edu/42699096/The_Gita_of_J_Robert_Oppenheimer_by_James_A_Hijiya">called it</a> “the most beautiful philosophical song existing in any known tongue,” <a href="https://archive.org/details/storyofjrobertop0000roya">and he gave copies to friends</a>. When talking at a memorial service for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he <a href="https://archive.org/details/robertoppenheime00oppe">quoted his own translation of Bhagavad Gita 17:3</a>, “Man is a creature whose substance is faith. What his faith is, he is.”</p>
<p>Oppenheimer’s reaction, when he looked at the mighty explosion, seems to be close to what the German theologian Rudolf Otto called “<a href="https://oxfordre.com/religion/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-88;jsessionid=144E00E3B5FE35D9B0C12F98B86E6FB6?rskey=THv4iA&result=7">numinous</a>” – a combination of awe and fascination at this majesty. His reaction was to think of the Bhagavad Gita’s verse 11:12: “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one.”</p>
<p>Oppenheimer also read many other Sanskrit texts, including the fifth-century Sanskrit poet Kalidasa’s “Cloud Messenger,” or “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Meghaduta">Meghaduta</a>,” and his letters show familiarity with “The Three Hundred Poems of Moral Values,” or the “Satakatrayam,” a work from the sixth century C.E. From his quoting the text in many contexts, he seems to have been fond of the <a href="https://sites.pitt.edu/%7Edash/panchatantra.html">Panchatantra</a>,“ a text of animal fables with pragmatic morals. Ryder, Oppenheimer’s Sanskrit mentor, had also translated this book of <a href="https://archive.org/details/Panchatantra_Arthur_W_Ryder">charming stories with sometimes cynical messages</a>.</p>
<p>Oppenheimer’s familiarity with the Panchatantra is also evident in the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-66288900">naming of his new car Garuda</a>, after the eagle-vehicle of Lord Vishnu. He explained the name to his brother, not with the bird’s well-known connection with Vishnu, but by alluding to a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=du3LAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA307&">lesser-known story</a> from the Panchatantra, in which a carpenter makes a wooden flying vehicle shaped like the mythical Garuda for his friend.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542873/original/file-20230815-17-lmss2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man wearing a black jacket and tie, with his hands on a paper folder, speaking to an audience." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542873/original/file-20230815-17-lmss2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542873/original/file-20230815-17-lmss2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542873/original/file-20230815-17-lmss2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542873/original/file-20230815-17-lmss2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542873/original/file-20230815-17-lmss2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542873/original/file-20230815-17-lmss2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542873/original/file-20230815-17-lmss2e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">J. Robert Oppenheimer testifying before the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Atomic Energy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keystone/Hulton Archives via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,853367-6,00.html">Oppenheimer loved a Sanskrit epigram</a> from the Panchatantra: "Scholarship is less than sense, therefore seek intelligence.” The line is a <a href="http://panchatantra.org/imprudence/the-lion-that-sprang-to-life-1.html">rueful reflection at the end of a story</a> in which four men go to seek their fortune. </p>
<p>Three of them were learned scholars who held the fourth in low esteem. On their path, they came across some bones. On seeing those, the first, believing the bones to be of a lion, said that he could put the skeleton together. The second said he would the graft skin and flesh on it, and the third said he would make it come to life. The fourth – believed to be the less learned person – warned them against it. However, when they insisted on going ahead, he asked them to wait until he could climb a tree for safety. The lion came to life and devoured the three scholars. </p>
<p><a href="https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,853367-6,00.html">Oppenheimer used the Sanskrit verse that followed</a> this story often. From the Gita, he learned and rationalized that it was his duty to build the bomb, and it was the leaders’ duty to use it wisely. In other words, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/42699096/The_Gita_of_J_Robert_Oppenheimer_by_James_A_Hijiya">Oppenheimer went along with government decisions</a> not because they were government decisions but because he thought political decision-making was the duty of government leaders, not scientists. </p>
<h2>A missing discussion</h2>
<p>It is hard to know director Christopher Nolan’s motivation for juxtaposing the Gita verse with an intimate scene – it could be creative license or simply <a href="https://theconversation.com/orientalism-edward-saids-groundbreaking-book-explained-197429">Orientalism</a>, or the West’s stereotypical description of the East. Given Oppenheimer’s deep love for the Bhagavad Gita, he would not have, I believe, quoted the text with disrespect. </p>
<p>As for the Hindus who are offended, there could be multiple reasons: It could be the centuries of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26873149">a colonial gaze</a> that was fascinated with and horrified by the erotic in Indian spirituality.</p>
<p>For example, the 10th-century temples of Khajuraho – <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/destinations/khajuraho-temples-are-more-than-just-erotic-here-are-some-interesting-facts/articleshow/70192795.cms">where only about 10% of the sculptures are erotic</a> – and texts like the Kamasutra informed early missionary views on Hinduism. It could also be that some Hindus valorize <a href="https://vivekavani.com/swami-vivekananda-quotes-renunciation-sannyasa/">the spirit of renunciation</a> and the ascetic impulse of some Hindu texts. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542214/original/file-20230810-25-fuh1e4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An aerial photo showing a large dark center with disbursing particles in the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542214/original/file-20230810-25-fuh1e4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542214/original/file-20230810-25-fuh1e4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542214/original/file-20230810-25-fuh1e4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542214/original/file-20230810-25-fuh1e4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542214/original/file-20230810-25-fuh1e4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542214/original/file-20230810-25-fuh1e4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542214/original/file-20230810-25-fuh1e4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aerial view after the first atomic explosion at the Trinity test site in New Mexico on July 16, 1945.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/OppenheimerNewMexicoLegacy/3a45ce040c8b4f10af4e38d456dd3f81/photo?Query=atomic%20bomb%20oppenheimer&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=53&currentItemNo=22">AP Photo, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But beyond this controversy, this film offers an opportunity to reflect on more profound issues. The detonation of atomic bombs led to <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2020/08/counting-the-dead-at-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/">the death of possibly 200,000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki</a> and <a href="https://www.icanw.org/hiroshima_and_nagasaki_bombings">horrific effects on survivors</a>. Kai Bird, coauthor of the book on which the biopic Oppenheimer is based, said that he hopes the film “will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/opinion/kai-bird-oppenheimer-christopher-nolan.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article">initiate a national conversation</a> not only about our existential relationship to weapons of mass destruction but also the need in our society for scientists as public intellectuals.” </p>
<p>While that would be valuable, an important discussion, left out from the narrative, is about the ethics of American leaders who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/30/opinion/international-world/oppenheimer-nuclear-bomb-cancer.html">knowingly caused harm</a> at the time. The atomic test explosion led to devastating health consequences for about 13,000 New Mexicans who lived within a 50-mile radius and were not warned beforehand or afterward. This exposure to radioactive material took a toll over several generations. </p>
<p>In the end, the lesson is that the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita have to be balanced with the pragmatic lessons of the Panchatantra. Despite Oppenheimer’s quoting the Panchatantra about common sense being more important than intellectual scholarship, his own interpretation of duty gave undue credit and power to political leaders. </p>
<p>With the atomic explosion in New Mexico, the lion from the Panchatantra story that Oppenheimer cautioned about did come to life, and some may say it lives in a straw cage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vasudha Narayanan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Oppenheimer’s knowledge of Sanskrit literature was more than cursory. He used quotes and parables from Sanskrit texts as a guide to right actions in his life.Vasudha Narayanan, Distinguished Professor of Religion, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2093112023-08-04T12:27:54Z2023-08-04T12:27:54ZShaligrams, the sacred fossils that have been worshipped by Hindus and Buddhists for over 2,000 years, are becoming rarer because of climate change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536833/original/file-20230711-29-xz2dcq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C5%2C877%2C592&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Shaligram on top of a bed of small rocks.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Holly Walters</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For more than 2,000 years, Hinduism, Buddhism and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195154146.001.0001">shamanic Himalayan religion of Bon</a> have venerated <a href="https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463721721/shaligram-pilgrimage-in-the-nepal-himalayas">Shaligrams</a> – ancient fossils of ammonites, a class of extinct sea creatures related to modern squids.</p>
<p>Originating from a single remote region in northern Nepal – the Kali Gandaki River Valley of Mustang – Shaligram stones are viewed primarily as manifestations of the Hindu god Vishnu. Because they are not human-made, but <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/12027">created by the landscape</a>, they are believed to have an intrinsic consciousness of their own. As a result, Shaligrams are kept in homes and in temples, where they are treated as both living gods and active community members.</p>
<p>I went on my first Shaligram pilgrimage in 2015. After arriving at the village of Jomsom in Mustang, I, along with a group of Indian and Nepali pilgrims, started the five-day trek northeast from there to the temple of Muktinath, where the journey culminates. </p>
<p>Making our way through the winding river passage, between 26,000-foot (8,000-meter) mountain peaks, we carefully looked for Shaligrams in the fast-moving water and gathered up any we could reach.</p>
<p>Since then, <a href="https://www.wellesley.edu/anthropology/faculty/hollywalters">as an anthropologist</a>, I have documented a wide variety of Shaligram practices while working with devotees in Nepal and in India. In 2020 I wrote the first ethnographic account, “<a href="https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463721721/shaligram-pilgrimage-in-the-nepal-himalayas">Shaligram Pilgrimage in the Nepal Himalayas</a>,” which demonstrates how popular and important the pilgrimage is among South Asian and the wider global Hindu diasporas.</p>
<p>However, my ongoing work focuses more on how climate change and gravel mining are altering the course of the river, which is endangering the pilgrimage by making it harder to find Shaligrams.</p>
<h2>Living fossils</h2>
<p>The mythology of Shaligrams is associated with two legends. The first is told in a series of three Hindu scriptures, the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Purana">Varaha, Padma and Brahmavaivarta Puranas</a>. </p>
<p>In each version of this story, the Hindu god Vishnu, believed to be the supreme creator, is cursed by the goddess Tulsi, who is also called Brinda, because he compromises her chastity. As the story is told, Vishnu disguised himself as her husband Jalandhar so that the god Shiva could kill the demon in a fight. This was because Jalandhar, born from Shiva’s third eye, had previously won a boon from the god Brahma that his wife’s chastity would keep him invincible in any battle. </p>
<p>Angry at the deception, Tulsi <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/%C5%9A%C4%81lagr%C4%81ma_kosha.html?id=32XXAAAAMAAJ">transformed herself into a river</a> – the Kali Gandaki – and turned Vishnu into a river stone, a Shaligram. In this way, Vishnu would be continuously born from her, like a child, in repayment for the karmic debt of killing her husband and making her a widow. The landscape of Mustang thus represents the bodies of Tulsi and Vishnu, producing Shaligram stones as divine manifestations from the waters of the Kali Gandaki. </p>
<p>The second legend is told in the Skanda Purana, which explains that Shaligrams are physically created by a type of celestial worm called the vajra-kita – translated as thunderbolt or adamantine worm – which is responsible for carving out the holes and coiled spiral formations that appear on the stones. </p>
<p>As a result, the beliefs around the mythological formation of Shaligrams involve <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9789048550142.007%5BOpens%20in%20a%20new%20window%5D">both legends</a>. As part of the first legend, Vishnu takes up residence within a sacred stone that appears in the Kali Gandaki River of Nepal. The story of the second legend is expressed in the carving of that stone by the vajra-kita to give it its uniquely smooth, rounded shape and the characteristic spirals both inside and on the surface. </p>
<h2>Rivers and roads</h2>
<p>Shaligram pilgrimage takes place high in the Himalayas, usually between April and June and again between late August and November. This helps avoid both the worst of the July monsoon rains and the December snows. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540226/original/file-20230731-3774-9xstra.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Snow-capped mountain peaks near a flowing river." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540226/original/file-20230731-3774-9xstra.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540226/original/file-20230731-3774-9xstra.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540226/original/file-20230731-3774-9xstra.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540226/original/file-20230731-3774-9xstra.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=356&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540226/original/file-20230731-3774-9xstra.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540226/original/file-20230731-3774-9xstra.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540226/original/file-20230731-3774-9xstra.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mount Nilgiri seen from the bed of the Kali Gandaki River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Holly Walters</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mustang, however, is <a href="https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:130645682">currently divided</a> into the upper or the northern region and the lower or the southern region. In 1950, both Upper and Lower Mustang were <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/92e748bdfc52a6614ab21387b145eb95/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y">closed to travel</a> following China’s annexation of Tibet. But though Lower Mustang was reopened to pilgrimage and trekking in 1992, Upper Mustang remains highly restricted. </p>
<p>This means that the current Shaligram pilgrimage route does not include visiting the Damodar Kund – the glacial lake that produces Shaligrams from the high-altitude fossil beds – because pilgrims are still not allowed to freely cross into Upper Mustang.</p>
<p>The village of Kagbeni marks the principal boundary between the two divisions and is also one of the main stops on the Shaligram pilgrimage route. The village sits directly on the banks of the Kali Gandaki and is one of the few areas where pilgrims can reliably find significant numbers of Shaligrams by wading through the river themselves and by watching the river bed for any signs of a black spiral emerging from the sand.</p>
<p>The last destination on the pilgrimage route, at roughly 13,000 feet (4,000 meters), is the temple site of Muktinath, which contains <a href="https://doi.org/10.4135/9788132107729">multiple sacred areas of worship</a> for Hindus, Buddhists and followers of Bon. As a place of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3673473">Hindu worship</a>, Muktinath offers a central shrine to the deity Vishnu as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.14789.78561">108 water spouts under which pilgrims must pass</a>. The water spouts themselves are hammered directly into the mountain side, which contains a natural aquifer, and provide one last opportunity for practitioners to bathe themselves and their Shaligrams in the waters of Mustang.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004443723_002">Bon sanctuary</a>, Muktinath is home to the “Jwala Mai,” or the mother flame, a natural gas vent that produces a continuous flame that burns next to the constant flow of water from the mountain aquifer. Along with the high winds of the Himalayas, representing the element of air, and Shaligrams, representing the element of stone, Jwala Mai contributes to Bon practitioners’ view of Muktinath as a rare place where all of the sacred elements of their religion come together.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://hal.science/hal-03112094/document">Buddhist complex</a>, Muktinath is more commonly referred to as “Chumig-Gyatsa,” or the Hundred Waters, and the icon that is worshipped by Hindus as Vishnu is venerated by Buddhists as Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. In 2016, Muktinath also became home to the <a href="https://nepalnews.com/s/travel-and-tourism/35-feet-tall-buddha-statue-on-mustang">largest statue of the Buddha</a> ever built in Nepal.</p>
<h2>Climate change and Shaligrams</h2>
<p>These traditions then come together to provide a place to ritually welcome all of the new Shaligrams that have just been taken from the water into the lives of the people who venerate them. But Shaligrams are becoming rarer.</p>
<p>Climate change, faster glacial melting, and <a href="https://cot.unhas.ac.id/journals/index.php/ialt_lti/article/view/888">gravel mining in the Kali Gandaki</a> are changing the course of the river, which means fewer Shaligrams are appearing each year. This is mainly because the Kali Gandaki is fed by meltwater from the Southern Tibetan Plateau. But with the glacier disappearing, the river is becoming smaller and shifting away from the fossil beds that contain the ammonites needed to become Shaligrams.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540228/original/file-20230731-23-hm04z7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A snow capped mountain with blue clouds in the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540228/original/file-20230731-23-hm04z7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540228/original/file-20230731-23-hm04z7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540228/original/file-20230731-23-hm04z7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540228/original/file-20230731-23-hm04z7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540228/original/file-20230731-23-hm04z7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540228/original/file-20230731-23-hm04z7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540228/original/file-20230731-23-hm04z7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Kali Gandaki riverbed near the village of Kagbeni.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Holly Walters</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the moment, though, the majority of pilgrims are still able to find at least a few Shaligrams every time they travel to Mustang, but it’s getting harder. Even so, once the new Shaligrams are introduced to worship at Muktinath, it is time for pilgrims to leave Mustang and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/717110">return home</a>. </p>
<p>For many, this is a bittersweet moment that marks the birth of their new household deities into the family but also means that they will be leaving the beauty of the high Himalayas and the place where deities come to Earth. </p>
<p>But all the pilgrims, me included, look forward to the days when we can return to walk the pilgrimage paths again, hopeful that Shaligrams will still appear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209311/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Holly Walters does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many Hindus, Buddhists and people who follow the shamanic religion of Bon undertake a pilgrimage each year to northern Nepal to look for Shaligrams, believed to be a manifestation of Lord Vishnu.Holly Walters, Visiting Lecturer in Anthropology, Wellesley CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1919922022-10-18T18:42:30Z2022-10-18T18:42:30ZDiwali: A celebration of the goddess Lakshmi, and her promise of prosperity and good fortune<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490398/original/file-20221018-7213-c797sk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C4000%2C2988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The worship of the goddess Lakshmi on Diwali is said to bring prosperity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/hand-of-a-woman-purchasing-goddess-lakshmi-small-royalty-free-image/1350553084?phrase=HIndu%2Blakshmi%2Bgoddess%2B">Aman Verma/ iStock / Getty Images Plus </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Diwali, a popular festival for Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs, is celebrated on the Amavasya, or new moon day, of the month of Kartik in the traditional Indian lunar calendar, which typically occurs in late October or early November. </p>
<p>Devotees across around the world will bring festivities into their homes by lighting earthen lamps called diyas, setting off fireworks, displaying colored electric lights and exchanging gifts. In northern India, this date also marks the beginning of the new year. </p>
<p>The day is specially dedicated to the worship of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity and good fortune. </p>
<h2>Who is Lakshmi?</h2>
<p>In modern images, Lakshmi is typically depicted wearing either a red or a green sari. The upper two of her four hands are holding lotus flowers, while her lower right hand is upraised in the “do not be afraid” gesture, or abhaya mudra.</p>
<p>Her lower left hand is pointed downward with her palm facing out and golden coins are falling from it. She sits or stands upon a large red lotus flower. Often, there are two elephants behind her with their trunks upraised. As poet <a href="https://www.patricia-monaghan.com/">Patricia Monaghan</a> writes, sometimes these elephants “shower her with water from belly-round urns.” </p>
<p>Lakshmi is believed to be the consort of <a href="http://rajhisco.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Raj-HISCO-Vol-35.pdf#page=152">Vishnu</a>, who is the preserver of the cosmic order, or dharma. As Vishnu’s shakti, or power, Lakshmi is his equal and an integral part of his being. </p>
<p>In the Srivaishnava tradition of Hinduism, Lakshmi and Vishnu make up a single deity, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Devi.html?id=EyAoAQAAIAAJ">known as Lakshmi Narayana</a>. Also known as Shri, Lakshmi is believed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2058203">mediate between her human devotees and Vishnu</a>. </p>
<h2>Origins of Lakshmi</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An idol of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi that shows her with four hands." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490395/original/file-20221018-16-vwt47t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C85%2C4385%2C2732&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/490395/original/file-20221018-16-vwt47t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490395/original/file-20221018-16-vwt47t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490395/original/file-20221018-16-vwt47t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490395/original/file-20221018-16-vwt47t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490395/original/file-20221018-16-vwt47t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/490395/original/file-20221018-16-vwt47t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Devotees all over the world pray to the goddess Lakshmi on Diwali.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00086495.1976.11829270">RapidEye/Collection E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to the sources I have studied as a <a href="https://www.etown.edu/depts/religious-studies/faculty.aspx">scholar of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist traditions</a>, Shri in fact seems to be the earliest name given to this goddess in Hindu texts. This word originally means splendor and it refers to all that is auspicious: all the good and beautiful things in life. The name Lakshmi, on the other hand, refers to a sign, imprint or manifestation of Shri. These two words seem to refer to two distinct goddesses in the earliest Hindu literature, the Vedas.</p>
<p>By the first century, however, which is the period of the writing of the “Puranas,” or the ancient lore of the Hindu deities, these two deities appear to have merged into a single goddess, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-ancient-and-early-medieval-india-from-the-stone-age-to-the-12th-century/oclc/1077247251">known as Shri, Lakshmi or Shri Lakshmi</a>. </p>
<p>There are many stories of Lakshmi’s origins. In the most popular of these, from the fifth century Vishnu Purana, she emerges from the ocean when the Devas and Asuras, the gods and the anti-gods, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Classical_Hindu_Mythology/re7CR2jKn3QC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Laksmi">churn it to acquire amrita</a>, the elixir of immortality. In another source – the Garuda Purana, a ninth-century text – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00086495.1976.11829270">she is said to be the daughter</a> of the Vedic sage Bhrigu and his wife, Khyati. </p>
<p>Those who wish for prosperity in the new year say special prayers to Lakshmi and light diyas in their homes so the goddess will visit and bless them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/191992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffery D. Long does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Shri is the earliest name given to the goddess Lakshmi in Hindu texts. The word originally meant splendor and refers to all that is auspicious.Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1873402022-08-12T12:16:11Z2022-08-12T12:16:11Z5 books and films that tell the story of the trauma of the Partition of India and its aftermath<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478780/original/file-20220811-4172-96iiux.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C4%2C3126%2C1881&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Muslim refugees sit on the roof of an overcrowded coach railway train near New Delhi, trying to leave India after the 1947 Partition.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PakistanRememberingPartition/a5d0f116750b4ce0801e3867886119c8/photo?Query=india%20partition&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=148&currentItemNo=24">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: At midnight on Aug. 14, 1947, India achieved independence from British colonial rule and Pakistan was created as a separate homeland for Muslims. More than 200 years of British rule had come to an end – a painful process in which some <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple">15 million people were displaced</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-british-royals-monumental-errors-made-indias-partition-more-painful-81657">another million or more killed</a>. The trauma of the Partition is seared in the collective memory of the two countries to this day.</em> </p>
<p><em>For the 75th anniversary of this momentous day, The Conversation asked scholars from the U.S., Canada, France, U.K. and Australia to provide a list of the best Partition films, literature or art. Here are some recommendations:</em></p>
<h2>1. ‘My Name is Radha: The Essential Manto’</h2>
<ul>
<li>Recommended by professor Madhur Anand, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada</li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478702/original/file-20220811-27-5abx08.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="book cover with title" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478702/original/file-20220811-27-5abx08.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478702/original/file-20220811-27-5abx08.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478702/original/file-20220811-27-5abx08.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478702/original/file-20220811-27-5abx08.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=911&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478702/original/file-20220811-27-5abx08.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478702/original/file-20220811-27-5abx08.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478702/original/file-20220811-27-5abx08.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1145&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Book cover for ‘My Name is Radha’ by Saadat Hasan Manto.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Partition in South Asia refers to that horrific year when an arbitrary red line was drawn across a map by British colonial rulers – namely, the last viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, and Cyril Radcliffe, a barrister from England who was given five weeks to draw the line that severed India and created Pakistan. The violence of that crooked line has traumatized an uncountable number of people. I know some of this history through the lives of my own parents. </p>
<p>While writing <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/602590/this-red-line-goes-straight-to-your-heart-by-madhur-anand/9780771007774">my memoir based in part on the Partition and my parents’ childhood</a>, I hunted for nonfiction books and memoirs written by witnesses, but when I found little, I turned to fiction and poetry. One of the most influential books for me was Saadat Hasan Manto’s “<a href="https://penguin.co.in/book/my-name-is-radha-the-essential-manto/">My Name is Radha</a>,” a collection of translated short stories. </p>
<p>A former journalist and screenwriter, Manto was one among the millions who were displaced: Manto moved to Pakistan and wrote fiction about the lives of marginalized people. He wrote about Partition from the perspective of insane asylum residents and prostitutes and, in so doing, powerfully illustrated the unimaginable horrors and absurdities of Partition. He was tried in India for obscenity in his writing, but never convicted. He said, “With my stories, I only expose the truth.”</p>
<h2>2. ‘Midnight’s Children’</h2>
<ul>
<li>Recommended by professor Geetha Ganapathy-Dore, “Université Sorbonne Paris Nord” </li>
</ul>
<p>Salman Rushdie’s “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/158932/midnights-children-by-salman-rushdie/">Midnight’s Children</a>,” which won the Booker Prize in 1981, the “Booker of Bookers” in 1993 and was judged “Best of the Bookers” in 2008, has not aged one bit. Translated into over 24 languages, the book was adapted for the stage by British directors Simon Reade and Tim Supple in 2003. In 2012, filmmaker Deepa Mehta brought out a cinematic version of it. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Cover of Salman Rushdie's book" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478704/original/file-20220811-19-mv38ak.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478704/original/file-20220811-19-mv38ak.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478704/original/file-20220811-19-mv38ak.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478704/original/file-20220811-19-mv38ak.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=934&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478704/original/file-20220811-19-mv38ak.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1174&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478704/original/file-20220811-19-mv38ak.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1174&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478704/original/file-20220811-19-mv38ak.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1174&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Midnight’s Children’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is a must read on the multiplicity of India: There are as many dreams of India as there are people in this dramatically diverse land – plus the “moth-eaten” Pakistan, as founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah described it, with a divided Punjab and Bengal.</p>
<p>History, in this novel, is inseparable from story, as its protagonist Saleem Sinai was born on the same day as the nation. The twin hero of “Midnight’s Children,” Shiva, though he shares his name with one of Hinduism’s most important deities, is ironically the son of a Muslim couple. Yet this embodies the hybrid nature of identity in the subcontinent, which is almost always multicultural. The epic narrative also incorporates the history of Pakistan and Bangladesh, which was carved out of Pakistan in 1971. </p>
<p>Writing back to the empire, asserting its independence in “chutnified” Indian English, this masterpiece of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/magic-realism">magic realism</a> borrows the device of the storytelling scribe from the “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mahabharata">Mahabharata</a>,” an ancient Indian epic.</p>
<p>“Midnight’s Children” thus remains an incontrovertible narrative on decolonization and the birth of new nation states.</p>
<h2>3. ‘Train to Pakistan’</h2>
<ul>
<li>Recommended by professor Amitabh Mattoo, University of Melbourne, Australia </li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478799/original/file-20220811-17-rw1vqt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A book cover showing a burning train" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478799/original/file-20220811-17-rw1vqt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478799/original/file-20220811-17-rw1vqt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478799/original/file-20220811-17-rw1vqt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478799/original/file-20220811-17-rw1vqt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478799/original/file-20220811-17-rw1vqt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478799/original/file-20220811-17-rw1vqt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478799/original/file-20220811-17-rw1vqt.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Train to Pakistan’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_to_Pakistan">Abe Books</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Khushwant Singh’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Train_to_Pakistan.html?id=naLu3tkS-RwC">“Train to Pakistan”</a> is one of the most moving accounts of the Partition of India and the way local communities, which had lived peacefully for generations, were torn apart by the forces of <a href="https://byjus.com/free-ias-prep/communalism-in-post-independent-india/">communalism</a>. As the Partition plan is announced in the summer of 1947, millions of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs flee across the new border between India and Pakistan. Mass violence ensues.</p>
<p>“Train to Pakistan” is set in what at first seems like an island of hope: the imaginary village of Manmo Majra, on the border of India and Pakistan, inhabited primarily by Sikhs and Muslims. In the viciousness of the violence, this small village’s traditional social structure and relative harmony is destroyed to a point where all sense of humanity is lost. There is still hope, however, in the resilience of love.</p>
<p>One day, a train arrives from Pakistan, “a ghost train” full of corpses of Hindus and Sikhs. The Sikhs are provoked to retaliate, with a plan to murder en masse Muslims leaving the village on a train traveling back to Pakistan. But a local outlaw, Jugga – a Sikh – sacrifices his life to save the train. He does so because be believes his Muslim lover, Nooran, is traveling on it. </p>
<h2>4. ‘Earth’</h2>
<ul>
<li>Recommended by professor Ajay Verghese, Middlebury College, U.S.</li>
</ul>
<p>Deepa Mehta’s 1998 film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150433/">Earth</a>” is a chilling story about the horrors of the Partition. Based on Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel “<a href="https://milkweed.org/book/cracking-india">Cracking India</a>,” the film revolves around three friends in colonial Lahore, in present-day Pakistan: Shanta, a Hindu nanny to a young Parsi girl named Lenny, and two Muslim suitors, Hassan and Dil. The film portrays how their carefree friendship is upended by the violent division of India, slowly turning them against each other and finally into enemies solely on account of their religion. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A man and woman flying a kite." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478703/original/file-20220811-21-caczya.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478703/original/file-20220811-21-caczya.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478703/original/file-20220811-21-caczya.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478703/original/file-20220811-21-caczya.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478703/original/file-20220811-21-caczya.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478703/original/file-20220811-21-caczya.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478703/original/file-20220811-21-caczya.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=396&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A scene from the film ‘Earth’ by Deepa Mehta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Earth/Jhamu Sugandh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Several aspects of the movie provide viewers with a unique window into the ground-level realities of the Partition, which included, as one grisly scene shows, an entire train car of slaughtered Muslims arriving to Lahore. The narrative is presented via the recollections of a young girl who lived through the event. Lenny is also from a wealthy Parsi family, a minority religion in India and one that is not normally featured in Partition discussions. Her family’s naïve attempt to stay neutral during the conflict when the mob comes reflects the reality of times when not just Hindus and Muslims but every religious group was involved in some act of violence. It was almost impossible to stay neutral.</p>
<p>Finally, the film powerfully centers the narrative around Shanta. She’s last seen when she is abducted and taken away by a Muslim mob, and viewers never learn of her ultimate fate. Shanta’s story is a reminder that Partition was not just about religion or land, but also about widespread, underreported sexual violence against women. </p>
<h2>5. ‘The Long Goodbye’ (album)</h2>
<ul>
<li>Recommended by professor Uditi Sen, University of Nottingham, U.K. </li>
</ul>
<p>Riz Ahmed’s album “<a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/riz-ahmed-the-long-goodbye/">The Long Goodbye</a>” is a commentary on contemporary race relations in Britain. It explores British-Asian belonging in the context of rising racism and xenophobia, using the metaphor of a breakup. It takes a deeper look at the lyrical complaints of the dumped partner, whose pain and anger mirror the emotions of contemporary British Asian and Muslim communities – shot through with a historical awareness of the British empire and the Partition of India. </p>
<p>In the song “The Breakup (Shikwa),” “Brittney baby” is the partner who took the money (“my stash was a quarter of the cash in the world”) and labor (“my people built the west”, “fought for you in the war”), and yet seeks to disown “the new kids” (the South Asian diaspora in the U.K.). It’s impossible to separate what Ahmed says of the now from the then as he evokes the history of the equally impossible Partition of India. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A2tGEVwUuKw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Ahmed raps that during the Partition, Britain “carved a scar down my middle just to leave me stretched out.” It’s left a bloody legacy of conflict: “My Kashmir jumper still stained red” and “the bleeding never ends man.” </p>
<p>He highlights how seemingly overnight, Muslims in India and Hindus in Pakistan became foreigners in their own home. Ahmed notes in the song “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DmabQguml4&ab_channel=RizAhmed">Where You From</a>” that this racist question takes on a deeper meaning for British Pakistani Muslims, whose ancestors survived the Partition’s <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2019/08/what-really-caused-the-violence-of-partition/">displacement</a>: “My ancestor’s Indian but India was not for us.” </p>
<p>Ahmed uses the Partition to lay bare the violence inherent in racist ideas of national belonging. “The Long Goodbye” dares listeners to learn from the past and imagine a form of belonging that celebrates being from “everywhere and nowhere.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187340/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madhur Anand received funding from the Ontario Arts Council for This Red Line Goes Straight to Your Heart.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ajay Verghese has received funding from The Fulbright Program and the American Institute of Indian Studies. He has consulted with the Pew Research Center and the Foreign Service Institute of the US Department of State. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geetha Ganapathy-Doré has organised several scientific events with the non profit organisation SARI (a research association about the Indian world) which she coordinates. She also recently presented work at the international summit ont 'Gender, Governance and Sustainable Development” organised at the University of Pondichery with support from the Indian Ministry of Development and Human Resources. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amitabh Mattoo and Uditi Sen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On the 75th anniversary of India’s partition, scholars from the US, Canada, France, UK and Australia write about their favorite book or film that best explains the trauma of a violent division.Madhur Anand, Professor & Director, Global Ecological Change & Sustainability Laboratory, University of GuelphAjay Verghese, Assistant Professor of Political Science, MiddleburyAmitabh Mattoo, Honorary Professor of International Relations, The University of MelbourneGeetha Ganapathy-Doré, Maîtresse de conférences HDR en anglais, Université Sorbonne Paris NordUditi Sen, Assistant Professor the history of modern and contemporary India, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1872382022-08-11T12:14:33Z2022-08-11T12:14:33ZAt 75, Pakistan has moved far from the secular and democratic vision of its founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476580/original/file-20220728-32863-63te5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C26%2C2901%2C2057&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mohammad Ali Jinnah addressing the assembly in Karachi on Aug. 15, 1947, after the creation of Pakistan.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PakistanJinnahandMountbatten1947/0b799f7f407344be8715b0240f948c69/photo?Query=jinnah&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=195&currentItemNo=5">AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This month marks the 75th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence and of its Partition from British India in a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple">devastating process</a> that uprooted more than 15 million people and resulted in 1 million to 2 million dead. Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs – communities that had coexisted for hundreds of years – all participated in the sectarian violence. Countless people have borne the scars from these events over multiple generations. </p>
<p>Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, sought to create a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sole-spokesman/53629540A69011A6E2719E347AA80E91">democratic, egalitarian and secular</a> country where the Muslims of the subcontinent, who constituted about <a href="https://www.sciencespo.fr/mass-violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/hindu-muslim-communal-riots-india-i-1947-1986.html">25%</a> of the population, could enjoy full equality. For most of his life, he sought to achieve this equality within an undivided Hindu-majority India. <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sole-spokesman/53629540A69011A6E2719E347AA80E91">Later</a> he became convinced that a separate homeland was necessary to realize such equality.</p>
<p>Today, widespread and escalating <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/19/india-government-policies-actions-target-minorities">violence against Indian Muslims</a> under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691206806/modis-india">right-wing, Hindu-nationalist</a> rule seems to confirm Jinnah’s fears.</p>
<p>Jinnah died just a year after Pakistan was born. As a <a href="https://ir.sas.upenn.edu/people/farah-jan">scholar of South Asia</a>, I know that in the years that followed, the military and the business elite consolidated their power and helped shape a country that bears little resemblance to his vision – although many continue to fight for it. </p>
<h2>Pakistan today</h2>
<p>Ideology and religion are divisive forces in Pakistan today – from <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/sectarian-terror-strikes-pakistan-again/">sectarian violence</a> against Shia Muslims to the state’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48204815">blasphemy laws</a> that authorize a death sentence for anyone who insults Islam. Religion, as interpreted by the state, plays a significant role in politics and governance. An example of its harmful role can be seen in the deterioration of the rights of <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-pakistans-ahmadis-and-why-havent-they-voted-in-30-years-100797">Ahmadis</a>, members of a religious minority targeted by the state. </p>
<p>Other religious minorities also face discrimination, with <a href="https://hrwf.eu/pakistan-statistics-about-victims-of-blasphemy-laws-1987-2021/">Christians</a> subject to particularly harsh treatment. According to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/10/in-pakistan-most-say-ahmadis-are-not-muslim/">Pew Research</a> statistics, 75% of Pakistanis say blasphemy laws are necessary to protect Islam, while only 6% say blasphemy laws unfairly target minorities. </p>
<p>Pakistan also remains on a turbulent political and economic trajectory. The army has been in direct control of the state for most of its existence, with four military coups and decades of military rule since 1958. The military and notorious intelligence services remain in direct <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/pakistan/will-pakistans-military-lose-its-grip-power">control of domestic and foreign policy</a>, making decisions to protect their power and economic interests, including vast <a href="http://www.plutobooks.com/9780745399010/military-inc/">commercial holdings</a>. </p>
<p>Economically, Pakistan has <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/pakistan-stares-at-bankruptcy-as-economic-crisis-worsens/articleshow/92512596.cms">lagged behind</a> other developing countries, with <a href="https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3186274/political-pressure-crippling-efforts-stave-economic-crisis-pakistan">debt as high as 71.3%</a> of its GDP. <a href="https://mhrc.lums.edu.pk/why-do-income-and-wealth-inequalities-matter-for-pakistan/">Inequality is high</a>, with the top 10% of households owning 60% of the national wealth, and the bottom 60% owning just 10%. </p>
<p>The elite <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2010/09/15/pakistan-s-roller-coaster-economy-tax-evasion-stifles-growth-pub-41562%209-10">evade taxes</a> on a massive scale, contributing to the country’s economic instability. While millions live in <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/1509963/rising-inequality-pakistan">dire poverty and hunger</a>, the government’s spending to mitigate poverty is among the <a href="https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/d8files/knowledge-products/SDD-SP-Social-Outlook-v14-1-E.pdf">lowest</a> in the region. Dissidents, human rights activists and <a href="https://cpj.org/asia/pakistan/">journalists</a> face <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/asia-and-the-pacific/south-asia/pakistan/report-pakistan/">censorship and repression</a>.</p>
<p>Jinnah had hoped for much better.</p>
<h2>Jinnah: An advocate for Muslims in British India</h2>
<p>Born in Karachi in 1876 to a Muslim family, Jinnah was first educated at a local Muslim school and later at Karachi’s Christian Missionary Society High School.</p>
<p>At 16, Jinnah was sent to London, where he decided to study law. After returning to India, he established himself in Bombay as a successful and eloquent lawyer.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men -- one dressed in a white suit and another with a white shawl draped over him -- standing next to one another and laughing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476576/original/file-20220728-20589-kls226.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Happier days: Mohammad Ali Jinnah with Mahatma Gandhi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/muhammad-ali-jinnah-lawyer-politician-and-the-founder-of-news-photo/985011434?adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jinnah <a href="https://pakistan.gov.pk/Quaid/political_career.html">joined</a> the Indian National Congress in 1906, becoming part of the largest Indian political party organizing for independence from British colonial rule. At this time, he was the foremost proponent of Hindu-Muslim harmony in India and pursued a strategy of a unified front against the British.</p>
<p>He considered himself “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sole-spokesman/53629540A69011A6E2719E347AA80E91">a staunch Congressman</a>” and rejected political organizing that separated Muslims and Hindus in India. Accordingly, Jinnah delayed joining the All-India Muslim League, the political party formed to represent the rights and concerns of the Muslims of British India, until 1913. For years he remained a member of both parties.</p>
<h2>Jinnah’s concerns over Hindu nationalism</h2>
<p>Jinnah’s faith in the Congress party would wane, and he resigned in 1920. He was increasingly concerned with Congress’ growing emphasis on India’s <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/P/bo3637242.html">Hindu identity</a> and the lack of political representation for the country’s Muslim minority.</p>
<p>Jinnah was also deeply disturbed by the emergence of right-wing Hindu nationalist groups like the <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-hindu-nationalist-movement-in-india/9780231103350">Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS</a>, a violent paramilitary group that drew inspiration from <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/21/india-kashmir-modi-eu-hindu-nationalists-rss-the-far-right-is-going-global/">European fascist parties</a>, opposed Muslim-Hindu unity and increasingly sought to force Muslims to convert or leave India. </p>
<p>In 1934, Jinnah was unanimously elected as the president of the Muslim League, and he continued to advocate for the rights of Muslims in a unified India. He did not embrace dividing the Indian subcontinent into separate Muslim-majority and Hindu-majority areas <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/sole-spokesman/53629540A69011A6E2719E347AA80E91">until the 1940s</a>.</p>
<p>In this period, escalating sectarian violence stoked by both Hindu and Muslim right-wing groups, and Congress’ refusal to accept a federation in which Muslim-majority regions enjoyed greater political representation, contributed to foreclosing an alternative to partition. During this period, Jinnah stressed that Muslims would never enjoy security and full equality in the Hindu-majority nation. </p>
<p>Jinnah eventually led the Muslims of India to form a nation of their own with the creation of Pakistan in 1947. He insisted that this new nation be a secular democratic country with equal rights for all who resided there.</p>
<h2>Jinnah’s vision for a secular Pakistan</h2>
<p>Jinnah <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010316506&view=1up&seq=119&skin=2021&q1=Jinnah">emphasized the necessity of secular education</a> to improve social and economic conditions in the Muslim community, argued for <a href="https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010316506&view=1up&seq=119&skin=2021&q1=Jinnah">equality between the sexes</a> and advocated for the discarding of the parda, or veil. </p>
<p>Jinnah did not write a book or memoir, but his speeches give an insight into his vision for Pakistan. Notably, his speech a few days before becoming Pakistan’s first president, delivered on Aug. 11, 1947, expressed his secular aspirations for the newly formed country. In it he <a href="https://na.gov.pk/en/content.php?id=74">stressed</a>: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the state.” </p>
<p>Four days later, on Aug. 14, 1947, British India was divided into the independent nations of Pakistan and India. As the first president of Pakistan, Jinnah again emphasized his secular vision for the new country, <a href="https://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/legislation/constituent_address_11aug1947.html">saying</a>, “We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. … We are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.”</p>
<h2>Jinnah’s dream unrealized</h2>
<p>Jinnah’s achievement remains a significant milestone of the 20th century. But 75 years later, Pakistan is far from the country he envisioned.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Happy Independence Day billboard with images of founder leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476584/original/file-20220728-32331-s1rvmj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pakistan today is far from the country that its founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, envisaged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PakistanIndependenceDay/8fd8945d17c24ae08ba8f966e82ad0a3/photo?Query=pakistan%20jinnah&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=180&currentItemNo=53">AP Photo/Anjum Naveed</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>People from the region, nostalgic for a unified country and cognizant of the suffering during Partition and beyond, sometimes express that it might have been better if they had not been divided based on their <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/06/29/the-great-divide-books-dalrymple">religious identity</a> but had instead continued the struggle for a pluralistic society with equal rights for all. Others maintain that <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/jinnah-was-right-but-pakistan-has-a-long-way-to-go-38894">Jinnah was right</a> to conclude that Muslims in India were bound to face continued violence and be treated as second-class citizens in a Hindu-majority country.</p>
<p>What is certain is that Jinnah’s dream of a compassionate homeland for the minorities of the subcontinent remains unrealized. But glimmers of it have lived on in movements and people who have gone on to dream of a more equitable, inclusive and just Pakistan. </p>
<p>For example, Christian and Muslim landless farmers in the <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=26757">Peasant Movement</a>, one of the largest and most successful land rights movements in South Asia, have resisted violent efforts to quash their demands for a more equitable society. Some 80,000 lawyers were part of the <a href="https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/pakistans-lawyers-movement-2007-2009/">Lawyers Movement</a>, which challenged the power of the military and fought for a free and independent judiciary. And individuals such as human rights activist <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-life-and-death-of-sabeen-mahmud">Sabeen Mahmud</a> have paid with their lives for their dream of a just and pluralist Pakistan. </p>
<p>And while today’s Pakistan is far from Jinnah’s vision, the work of these people and movements reflects the famous words of Pakistan’s most <a href="https://mronline.org/2010/07/17/the-dawn-of-freedom-august-1947/">celebrated revolutionary poet</a>, Faiz Ahmed Faiz: “We must [continue to] search for that promised Dawn.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Farah N. Jan has received funding from Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania. Thanks to Leili Kashani for contributing ideas and edits to this piece.</span></em></p>Jinnah insisted on secular education, gender equality and equal rights for minorities – all of which remain unrealized dreams in Pakistan.Farah N. Jan, Senior Lecturer, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1833272022-05-27T12:29:35Z2022-05-27T12:29:35ZYes, Muslims are portrayed negatively in American media — 2 political scientists reviewed over 250,000 articles to find conclusive evidence<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464506/original/file-20220520-23-1akrty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C30%2C5022%2C3517&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students with the Muslim Consultative Network's summer youth program gather on the steps of New York's City Hall on Aug. 14, 2013, to speak out against Islamophobia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/IslamophobiaProtest/377cff5c542648e2a1ba59e3f404cd2a/photo?Query=%20islamophobia%20united%20states&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=44&currentItemNo=4">AP Photo/Richard Drew</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The warm welcome <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/us/ukrainian-refugees-biden.html">Americans</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/23/ukraine-refugees-welcome-europe/">Europeans</a> have given Ukrainians in 2022 contrasts sharply with the uneven — and frequently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/17/world/europe/europe-countries-refugees-embrace-ukrainians.html">hostile — policies toward Syrian refugees in the mid-2010s</a>.</p>
<p>Political scientist <a href="https://politicalscience.stanford.edu/people/david-d-laitin">David Laitin</a> has highlighted the role that religious identities play in this dynamic. As he pointed out in a recent <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2022/03/24/ukrainian-refugees-face-accommodating-europe-says-stanford-scholar/">interview</a>, Syrian refugees were “mostly Muslim and faced higher degrees of discrimination than will the Ukrainians, who are largely of Christian heritage.”</p>
<p>The media provide information that shapes such attitudes toward Muslims. A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2007/09/26/public-expresses-mixed-views-of-islam-mormonism/">2007 Pew Research Center survey</a> of Americans found that people’s negative opinions on Muslims were mostly influenced by what they heard and read in the media. Communications scholar <a href="https://www.comm.ucsb.edu/people/muniba-saleem">Muniba Saleem</a> and colleagues have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12234">demonstrated</a> the link between media information and “stereotypic beliefs, negative emotions and support for harmful policies” toward Muslim Americans. </p>
<p>To better grasp the evolution of media portrayals of Muslims and Islam, our 2022 <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/covering-muslims-9780197611722?cc=fr&lang=en&">book</a>, “Covering Muslims: American Newspapers in Comparative Perspective,” tracked the tone of hundreds of thousands of articles over decades. </p>
<p>We found overwhelmingly negative coverage, not only in the United States but also in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. </p>
<h2>Negative coverage of Muslims</h2>
<p>Previous research has identified widespread negative media representations of Muslims. An <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1748048516656305">overview</a> of studies undertaken from 2000 to 2015 by communications scholars <a href="https://saifahmed.net/">Saifuddin Ahmed</a> and <a href="https://advertisingresearch.univie.ac.at/team/joerg-matthes/">Jörg Matthes</a> concluded that Muslims were negatively framed in the media and that Islam was frequently cast as a violent religion.</p>
<p>But the studies they reviewed leave open two pressing questions that we address through our research. </p>
<p>First, do articles touching on Muslims and Islam include more negative representations than the average newspaper article? Second, are media portrayals of Muslims more negative than articles touching on other minority religions? </p>
<p>If stories about minority religious groups made it to the news only when they were involved in conflict in one way or another, then they may be negative for reasons that are not specific to Muslims. </p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>To answer these questions, we used media databases such as LexisNexis, Nexis Uni, ProQuest and Factiva to download 256,963 articles mentioning Muslims or Islam – for which we use the shorthand “Muslim articles” – from 17 national, regional and tabloid newspapers in the United States over the 21-year period from Jan. 1, 1996, to Dec. 31, 2016. </p>
<p>We developed a reliable method for measuring the positivity or negativity of stories by comparing them to the tone of a random sample of 48,283 articles about topics drawn from a wide range of newspapers. A negative value on this scale means that a story is negative relative to the average newspaper article. </p>
<p>Crucially, this approach also provided a baseline for additional comparisons. We collected sets of articles from U.S. newspapers relating not only to Muslims, but also separately to Catholics, Jews and Hindus, three minority religious groups of varying size and status in the United States. We then assembled stories linked to Muslims from a broad array of newspapers in the U.K., Canada and Australia. </p>
<p>Our central finding is that the average article mentioning Muslims or Islam in the United States is more negative than 84% of articles in our random sample. This means that one would likely have to read six articles in U.S. newspapers to find even one that was as negative as the average article touching on Muslims. </p>
<p>To give a concrete sense of how negative typical Muslim articles are, consider the following sentence that has the tone of the average Muslim article: “The Russian was made to believe by undercover agents that the radioactive material was to be delivered to a Muslim organization.” This contains two highly negative words (“undercover” and “radioactive”) and implies that the “Muslim organization” has nefarious goals. </p>
<p>Articles that mentioned Muslims were also much more likely to be negative than stories touching on any other group we examined. For Catholics, Jews and Hindus, the proportion of positive and negative articles was close to 50-50. By contrast, 80% of all articles related to Muslims were negative. </p>
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<p>The divergence is striking. Our work shows that the media are not prone to publishing negative stories when they write about other minority religions, but they are very likely to do so when they write about Muslims. </p>
<p>Beyond comparing coverage across groups, we were also interested in coverage across countries. Perhaps the United States is unique in its intensely negative coverage of Muslims. To find out, we collected 528,444 articles mentioning Muslims or Islam from the same time period from a range of newspapers in the U.K., Canada and Australia. We found that the proportion of negative to positive articles in these countries was almost exactly the same as that in the United States.</p>
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<h2>Implications of negative coverage</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108782814">Multiple</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048321000328">scholars</a> have shown that negative stories generate less favorable attitudes toward Muslims. Other studies that looked at the impact of negative information about Muslims also found an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12234">increase in support</a> for policies that harm Muslims, such as secret surveillance of Muslim Americans or the use of drone attacks in Muslim countries. </p>
<p>In addition, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqz001">surveys</a> of young American Muslims have found that negative media coverage resulted in weaker identification as American and in lower trust in the U.S. government. </p>
<p>We believe acknowledging and addressing the systemic negativity in media coverage of Muslims and Islam is vital for countering widespread stigmatization. This may, in turn, create opportunities for more humane policies that are fair to everyone regardless of their faith.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183327/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In examining media coverage of Muslims over a 21-year period, in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, scholars found that articles mentioning Muslims were far more negative than other faith groups.Erik Bleich, Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science, MiddleburyA. Maurits van der Veen, Associate Professor of Government, William & MaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1550182021-08-30T21:09:16Z2021-08-30T21:09:16ZUnderstanding Islam – a brief introduction to its past and present in the United States<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416131/original/file-20210813-19-1l8mj4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5455%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Historians believe Muslims first arrived in the U.S. in the 17th century</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TrumpAmericanMuslims/6f451048e3b942d58fe4a1355fa74c94/photo?Query=American%20AND%20muslims&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=3749&currentItemNo=6">Julie Jacobson/AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>For people who would like to learn more about Islam, The Conversation is publishing <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/understanding-islam-108919">a series of articles</a>, available on our website or as <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/understanding-islam-79">six emails delivered every other day</a>, written by Senior Religion and Ethics Editor Kalpana Jain. Over the past few years she has commissioned dozens of articles on Islam written by academics. These articles draw from that archive and have been checked for accuracy by religion scholars.</em></p>
<p></p><hr> <p></p>
<p>For much of my childhood in India, the sound of the adhan – the Muslim call to prayer broadcast from the minaret of a mosque – was what I heard upon waking each morning.</p>
<p>In the shared religious life of my small hometown, we celebrated the festivals of Eid with our Muslim neighbors and they joined us at the time of Diwali, a holiday primarily celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains. Religious education happened quite informally in these day-to-day interactions.</p>
<p>In my new home in the United States, I learned not many Americans have the opportunity for such daily interactions. A <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/07/U.S.-MUSLIMS-FULL-REPORT.pdf">2017 Pew study</a> found that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/08/in-the-u-s-and-western-europe-people-say-they-accept-muslims-but-opinions-are-divided-on-islam/%22">less than half of the American population</a> personally knows someone who is a Muslim.</p>
<iframe title="Muslims around the world" aria-label="Map" id="datawrapper-chart-lIAo1" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/lIAo1/9/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="413"></iframe>
<p>This unfamiliarity can often lead to Islam being viewed as a foreign religion – and can even lead to <a href="https://www.ispu.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/ISPU-Infographics_1_WEB.pdf?x46312">Islamophobia</a>. </p>
<p>Former President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/09/politics/donald-trump-islam-hates-us/index.html">said in a March 2016 media interview</a>, “Islam hates us.” This comment and others by the former president, scholars found, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3149103">quickly led to an increase in hate crimes</a> against Muslims. Trump also signed an executive order <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/02/01/2017-02281/protecting-the-nation-from-foreign-terrorist-entry-into-the-united-states">banning nationals from seven Muslim-majority nations</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-islam-hatecrime/u-s-anti-muslim-hate-crimes-rose-15-percent-in-2017-advocacy-group-idUSKBN1HU240">further stoking anti-Muslim sentiments</a>. The ban was <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/proclamation-ending-discriminatory-bans-on-entry-to-the-united-states/">overturned by President Joe Biden</a> within the first few hours of his taking office. </p>
<p>As an editor of the religion and ethics desk at The Conversation, I have tried to improve the understanding Islam and its long history in the United States, with the help of articles from our scholars.</p>
<p>For example, historian <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/denise-a-spellberg-212270">Denise A. Spellberg</a> of the University of Texas at Austin wrote a piece exploring how <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-jeffersons-vision-of-american-islam-matters-today-78155">Muslims first arrived in large numbers to North America as enslaved people during the 17th century</a>. Muslims constituted as much as 30% of the enslaved West African population of British America, though that number is hard to verify. Nonetheless, their presence in the U.S. was so notable that Thomas Jefferson bought a Quran as a 22-year-old law student in Williamsburg, Virginia, 11 years before he drafted the Declaration of Independence. For Jefferson, Muslims were very much part of the United States. </p>
<p>In that same spirit of acceptance and discovery, The Conversation brings you a series of six articles that will explain Islam and its diversity and try to clear common misconceptions.</p>
<p>We will explore the history of American Muslims and gain a deeper understanding of their faith. </p>
<p><em>This article was reviewed for accuracy by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ken-chitwood-160245">Ken Chitwood</a>, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures & Societies at Freie Universität Berlin. He is also a journalist-fellow at the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture.</em></p>
<p><strong>In the next issue: <a href="https://theconversation.com/understanding-islam-knowing-your-muslim-neighbor-155023">What do Muslims believe and how do they pray?</a>?</strong></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>You can read all six articles in this <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/understanding-islam-108919">Understanding Islam series on TheConversation.com</a>, or we can deliver them straight to your inbox if you <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/understanding-islam-79">sign up for our email newsletter course</a>.</em></p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<h2>Articles from The Conversation in this edition:</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-jeffersons-vision-of-american-islam-matters-today-78155">Why Jefferson’s vision of American Islam matters today</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Further Reading and Resources:</h2>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/why-thomas-jefferson-owned-qur-1-180967997/">Why Thomas Jefferson Owned a Qur'an</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://bridge.georgetown.edu/">Bridge</a>, a Georgetown University initiative, conducts research on Islamophobia and provides valuable research-based information.</p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155018/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Fewer than half of Americans report knowing someone who is Muslim. Here we explain Islam, its diversity and its long history in the United States.Kalpana Jain, Senior Religion + Ethics Editor/ Director of the Global Religion Journalism InitiativeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1645542021-08-02T20:11:45Z2021-08-02T20:11:45ZIf I could go anywhere: India’s Varanasi — a sacred site on a river of rituals and altered states<p><em>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/if-i-could-go-anywhere-102157">this series</a> we pay tribute to the art we wish could visit — and hope to see once travel restrictions are lifted.</em></p>
<p><a href="https://varanasi.nic.in/">Varanasi</a>, or Banaras as the locals call it, is one of India’s most sacred cities. Located in the province of Uttar Pradesh in northern India, it is an important place of pilgrimage for Hindus. </p>
<p>Buddhists and spiritual seekers from around the globe are also drawn to its waters. For yogis there is a transformative promise of gurus and ashrams. For Buddhists there is Sarnath, the town where Buddha is believed to have given his first teaching after receiving enlightenment. </p>
<p>There is also <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/kbx94a/httpmunchies-vice-comarticlesthe-bhang-lassi-is-how-hindus-drink-themselves-high-for-shiva">bhang lassi</a>, a yogurt drink laced with cannabis for psychedelic effect.</p>
<p>Author Geoff Dyer hilariously rendered Varanasi in his semi-autobiographical novel — <a href="https://www.textpublishing.com.au/books/jeff-in-venice-death-in-varanasi">Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi</a> — as the place to go to lose and find yourself. </p>
<p>To be lost in Varanasi is dangerously exciting. </p>
<h2>Everyday death and renewal</h2>
<p>In 2018 I was awarded a two-month artist residency by <a href="https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/arts/whats-on/2020/5-questions-with/5-questions-artists/cherine-fahd">Asialink</a> to Varanasi’s <a href="http://www.kritigallery.com/ResidencyProgram.aspx">Kriti Gallery</a>. I had never been to India, and what I did know of Varanasi I had learned from <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b070n86f">television trips</a> featuring actors Miriam Margolyes and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2989254/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_4">Judith Lucy</a> as guides. I remembered Margolyes’ visit to a hostel where people from all over India could reserve a room to wait out their death. </p>
<p>Varanasi is where Hindus want to die to escape the cycles of birth, death and rebirth.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rDsOi3MByCI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Ghats of Varanasi, along the banks of Ganges River, from Sunrise until the night time ceremony.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Dying in Varanasi is everyday. That’s not to say dying is ordinary. On the contrary, it is a sacred art form, a spiritual passage that is part of the daily practice of living. </p>
<p>Art is everywhere, especially in the rituals and ceremonies performed in celebration of the Hindu gods.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411768/original/file-20210718-25-18qxbaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411768/original/file-20210718-25-18qxbaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411768/original/file-20210718-25-18qxbaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411768/original/file-20210718-25-18qxbaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411768/original/file-20210718-25-18qxbaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411768/original/file-20210718-25-18qxbaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411768/original/file-20210718-25-18qxbaf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A father blesses his child in the waters of the Ganga.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I want to return to hear the chanting performed by the hustle of pallbearers as they commemorate the dead on their way to the rising flames. I wish to follow them to Manikarnika, one of the cremation ghats (broad steps to the riverbank). </p>
<p>To see a body in the street — veiled and wrapped in the most beautiful coloured silks, ribbons, pigments and flowers, and carried upon a bamboo stretcher for all to see — changed my view of death.</p>
<p>To be close to the everydayness of death reminds me I am alive. This is why Varanasi is addictive. Its effect is to make me hyper-aware of my living status, especially when I’m pinned by the horns of a bull to the wall of an alleyway as he tries to pass me. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-images-of-mourning-and-the-power-of-acknowledging-grief-112129">Friday essay: images of mourning and the power of acknowledging grief</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Life without seatbelts</h2>
<p>I long to be lost in the commotion of Varanasi street life, among the <a href="https://www.varanasiforanimals.org">street dogs</a>, buffaloes, cows, horses, and monkeys. A family on a motorbike, bodies piled onto and into every sort of automobile. No seatbelts, just flowing fabrics of the most beautiful patterns, colours and textures.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411770/original/file-20210718-14242-1jpe1yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411770/original/file-20210718-14242-1jpe1yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411770/original/file-20210718-14242-1jpe1yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411770/original/file-20210718-14242-1jpe1yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411770/original/file-20210718-14242-1jpe1yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411770/original/file-20210718-14242-1jpe1yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411770/original/file-20210718-14242-1jpe1yn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=543&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ordinary day in Varanasi just hanging out at one of the ghats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I want to cross the treacherous roads, to walk in front of cars, buses, trucks and tuk-tuks that are continuously beeping their horns in a cacophony of blasts and blares, knowing they won’t run me over. </p>
<p>Not even the smell of rotting rubbish mixed with the sweet aroma of cow dung, chai and warm milk deters this dream. </p>
<p>Varanasi is beautiful and filthy, vibrant and muddy, and home to stunning silks with intricate gold and silver thread work. You take the good with the bad in Varanasi: the abject poverty, friendly people, dust bowl cricket, endless paradoxes and the <a href="https://www.harmonybooksonline.com">Harmony Bookshop</a>. </p>
<p>When I return I will be customarily dressed in my all-black uniform from home. I will gaze upon the beautiful women in their brightly coloured sarees, the bits of flesh poking out teasingly at the waist. And I’ll wonder, “Why don’t I wear colour?”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411764/original/file-20210718-22-xth2iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411764/original/file-20210718-22-xth2iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411764/original/file-20210718-22-xth2iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411764/original/file-20210718-22-xth2iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411764/original/file-20210718-22-xth2iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411764/original/file-20210718-22-xth2iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411764/original/file-20210718-22-xth2iy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women wear brightly coloured fabrics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In India, art is wearable. Art is on the streets and in the temples. And the front door of every house. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-the-uncanny-melancholy-of-empty-photographs-in-the-time-of-coronavirus-133615">Friday essay: the uncanny melancholy of empty photographs in the time of coronavirus</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Bathing and prayer</h2>
<p>Varanasi has 88 ghats. In two months, I only visited a quarter of them, including my favourite, <a href="https://www.putumayokitchen.com/blog/2016/3/3/varanasi-life-death-and-the-worlds-best-lassi">Lassi Ghat</a>. </p>
<p>The ghats are used chiefly for bathing rituals, for puja, and somersaulting. </p>
<p>It is oppressively hot, 38°C at 8am. The locals bathe and pray and touch. Touch is everywhere. Bodies feeling, pushing, pressing, caressing, splashing each other. The texture of bodies. Hair and wrinkles. </p>
<p>No one is flexing, or spray-tanned or botoxed. Life is dirty and sacred and real. There is no airbrushing and no denying death. The water is magical but muddy. Highly polluted. No one seems to notice. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411767/original/file-20210718-21-1vviws6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411767/original/file-20210718-21-1vviws6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411767/original/file-20210718-21-1vviws6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411767/original/file-20210718-21-1vviws6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411767/original/file-20210718-21-1vviws6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411767/original/file-20210718-21-1vviws6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411767/original/file-20210718-21-1vviws6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A group of bathers are playful in the morning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The performance of private rituals in public has long been my thing. In Paris, during the heatwave of 2003, <a href="https://cherinefahd.com/THE-CHOSEN-2003%7E1248">I photographed bathers along the Seine</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yearning-for-touch-a-photo-essay-159704">Yearning for touch — a photo essay</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Women with cameras</h2>
<p>Unlike Bondi Beach, I don’t need a permit to take photographs at the Ganga. The locals and pilgrims are unperturbed by a woman with a camera. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411766/original/file-20210718-13-1kee879.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411766/original/file-20210718-13-1kee879.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411766/original/file-20210718-13-1kee879.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411766/original/file-20210718-13-1kee879.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411766/original/file-20210718-13-1kee879.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411766/original/file-20210718-13-1kee879.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411766/original/file-20210718-13-1kee879.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The ghats are always crowded in the mornings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cherine Fahd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I learn that I am following in the footsteps of other female photographers. The late Australian photographer <a href="http://www.robynbeeche.org">Robyn Beeche</a> had been a regular visitor, as was the late great US photographer <a href="https://www.maryellenmark.com">Mary Ellen Mark</a>. </p>
<p>Studying their works reminds me that art is chiefly an expression of our humanity. An expression that is everywhere in Varanasi. </p>
<p>For now, from lockdown, I’ll travel through my photographs and as I do, I will perform a prayer for India, a country devastated by the pandemic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cherine Fahd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dying in Varanasi is everyday. That’s not to say dying is ordinary. On the contrary, it is a sacred art form, a spiritual passage that is part of the daily practice of living.Cherine Fahd, Associate Professor, School of Design, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1610672021-05-24T12:12:36Z2021-05-24T12:12:36ZFaith in numbers: Fox News is must-watch for white evangelicals, a turnoff for atheists…and Hindus, Muslims really like CNN<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402152/original/file-20210521-13-puxeqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C5742%2C3155&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fox News has a faithful audience.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Media-FoxNews-Virus/217f6c06ad154f98bd961e0d44fcabd4/photo?Query=Fox%20AND%20News&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=3935&currentItemNo=5">AP Photo/Richard Drew</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fox News possesses an “<a href="https://www.prri.org/buzz/prri-data-shines-light-on-fox-news-republicans/">outsized influence</a>” on the American public, especially among religious viewers.</p>
<p>That was the conclusion of the nonprofit <a href="https://www.prri.org/">Public Religion Research Institute</a> in <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/trumpism-after-trump-how-fox-news-structures-republican-attitudes/">a report</a> released just after the 2020 presidential election. It noted that 15% of Americans cited Fox News as the most trusted source – around the same as NBC, ABC and CBS combined, and four percentage points above rival network CNN. The survey of more than 2,500 American adults also suggested that Fox News viewers trend religious, especially among Republicans watching the show. Just 5% of Republican viewers of the channel identified as being “religiously unaffiliated” – compared to 15% of Republicans who do not watch Fox News and 25% of the wider American public.</p>
<p>To further explore the relationship between different faiths and the TV news they associate with as part of my research on religion data, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XnbzexUAAAAJ&hl=en">I analyzed</a> the result of another survey, the <a href="https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi%3A10.7910/DVN/E9N6PH">Cooperative Election Survey</a>.</p>
<p>The annual survey, which was fielded just before the November 2020 election, with the results released in March, polled a total of 61,000 Americans over a number of topics. One question was on their news consumption habits. It asked what television news networks respondents had watched in the prior 24 hours.</p>
<p><strong>Percentage of respondents who saw TV news in past 24 hours</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402143/original/file-20210521-15-7nx644.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/ryanburge/status/1392100756547854336">Ryan Burge/CES</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some very interesting patterns emerged across religious traditions – and the nonreligious – and the type of media being consumed. For instance, of the the big three legacy news operations – ABC, CBS and NBC – there was no strong base of viewership in any tradition.</p>
<p>In most cases, about a third of people from each religious tradition said that they watched one of those legacy networks in the last 24 hours. PBS scored very low among every tradition. In most cases fewer than 15% of respondents reported watching PBS in the time frame.</p>
<p><iframe id="AvW0Y" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/AvW0Y/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>However, the numbers for the three major cable news networks – CNN, Fox News and MSNBC – were much higher across the board. In eight of the 16 religious and nonreligious traditions categorized in the poll, CNN viewership was at least 50% of the sample. This was led by 71% of Hindus who watched CNN and 63% of Muslims. </p>
<p>The least likely group to watch CNN was clearly white evangelicals, at just 23%. In comparison, MSNBC scored lower nearly across the board. In fact, in none of the 16 classification groups was viewership of MSNBC greater than it was for CNN. </p>
<p>Fox News viewership was higher than that of MSNBC, but was not as widely dispersed as it is for CNN. It’s no surprise, given its reputation as a conservative news outlet, that 61% of white evangelicals say that they watch Fox News – in the last election, around <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/11/09/exit-polls-show-white-evangelicals-voted-overwhelmingly-for-donald-trump/">80% of white evangelicals voted for Republican candidate Donald Trump</a>. The other three traditions where viewership was at least 50% are white Catholics, Mormons and members of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It should come as no surprise, as <a href="https://twitter.com/ryanburge/status/1394288790047543298?s=19">those are three groups</a> that <a href="https://religionnews.com/2020/10/07/how-did-mormons-become-so-republican/">consistently vote</a> for <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/religious-tradition/catholic/party-affiliation/">the Republican Party</a>. Just 14% of atheists watched Fox, which is just about in line with the share of white evangelicals who watch MSNBC.</p>
<h2>Fracturing right-wing media</h2>
<p>But with the fracturing of conservative media sources seeing more competitors vying for viewers among the right, Fox News could see a drop in viewership from the religious right.</p>
<p>In the wake of the 2020 presidential election, Fox News viewership <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/fox-news-ratings-trump-newsmax-b1798081.html">plunged</a> as many Trump supporters believed that the network was not being loyal to their standard-bearer of the GOP. </p>
<p>Given the vast number of news options that people of faith have and the increase in political polarization in the United States, the pressure for networks to deliver the news that people want to hear will only increase as time passes.</p>
<p>[<em>Explore the intersection of faith, politics, arts and culture.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-explore">Sign up for This Week in Religion.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Burge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fox News viewers sway religious. A dive into who exactly is watching shows that it is a favorite among white evangelicals, Mormons and members of the Eastern Orthodox Church.Ryan Burge, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Eastern Illinois UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1600762021-05-04T12:17:12Z2021-05-04T12:17:12ZIndians are forced to change rituals for their dead as COVID-19 rages through cities and villages<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398447/original/file-20210503-21-1jco2wf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C3288%2C2169&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mass cremations in the city of Bengaluru, India, due to the large number of COVID-19 deaths.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/men-wearing-ppe-perform-the-last-rites-of-a-deceased-news-photo/1315456370?adppopup=true">Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past several weeks, the world has looked on in horror <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/24/world/asia/india-coronavirus-deaths.html">as the coronavirus rages across India</a>. With <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-pandemic-record-coronavirus-oxygen/2021/04/24/3afea474-a4f3-11eb-b314-2e993bd83e31_story.html">hospitals running out of beds, oxygen and medicines</a>, the official daily death toll has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/01/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases">averaged around 3,000</a>. Many <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/04/30/992451165/india-is-counting-thousands-of-daily-covid-deaths-how-many-is-it-missing">claim that number</a> could be an undercount; crematoriums and cemeteries have run out of space.</p>
<p>The majority of India’s population are Hindu, who favor cremation as a way of disposing of the body. But <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/21/by-2050-india-to-have-worlds-largest-populations-of-hindus-and-muslims/">the Muslim population, which is close to 15%,</a> <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/muhammads-grave/9780231137423">favors burying its dead</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A worker digging a cemetery in Guwahati, India." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398449/original/file-20210503-21-1kuba0d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers digging as they prepare to bury the body of a person who died of COVID-19 in Guwahati, Assam.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/workers-digging-as-they-are-prepare-to-bury-a-body-of-a-news-photo/1232595392?adppopup=true">David Talukdar/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Generally, tradition holds that the body is to be cremated or buried as quickly as possible – within <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Death-and-Religion-in-a-Changing-World/Garces-Foley/p/book/9780765612229">24 hours for Hindus, Jains and Muslims, and within three days for Sikhs</a>. This need for rapid disposal has also contributed to the current crisis.</p>
<p>Hundreds of families want their loved ones’ bodies cared for as quickly as possible, but there is a shortage of people who can do the funerals and last rites. This has led to a situation where people are <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/covid-narendra-modi-pits-smashan-against-kabristan-in-polarising-elections-speech-in-uttar-pradesh/cid/1813065">paying bribes</a> in order to get space or a furnace for cremation. There are also reports of <a href="https://qz.com/india/1824866/indian-doctors-fighting-coronavirus-now-face-social-stigma/">physical fights, and intimidation</a>. </p>
<p>As a scholar interested in the ways Asian societies tell stories about the afterlife and prepare the <a href="https://faculty.txstate.edu/profile/1922200">deceased for it</a>, I argue that the coronavirus crisis represents an unprecedented cultural cataclysm that has forced the Indian culture to challenge the way it handles its dead. </p>
<h2>Cremation grounds and colonial rule</h2>
<p>Many Americans think of cremation happening within an enclosed, mechanized structure, but most Indian crematoriums, known as “shmashana” in Hindi, are open-air spaces with dozens of brick-and-mortar platforms upon which a body can be burned on a pyre made of wood. </p>
<p>Hindus and Sikhs will dispose of the remaining ashes <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/hinduism-today-9781441138200/">in a river</a>. Many shmashana are therefore built near the banks of a river to allow for easy access, but many well-off families often travel to a sacred city along the banks of the river Ganges, such as Hardiwar or Benares, for the final rituals. Jains – who have traditionally given significant consideration to humanity’s impact <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P86357M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">on the environmental world</a> – bury the ashes as a means to return the body to the Earth and ensure they do not contribute to polluting rivers.</p>
<p>The workers who run shmashana often belong to the Dom ethnicity and have been doing this work for generations; they are lower caste and subsequently perceived as polluted for their intimate <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Nomads-India-Proceedings-National-Seminar/dp/B0042LSNH0">work with dead bodies</a>.</p>
<p>The act of cremation has not always been without controversy. In the 19th century, British colonial officials viewed the Indian practice of cremation as barbaric and unhygienic. But they <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520379343/burning-the-dead">were unable to ban it</a> given its pervasiveness. </p>
<p>However, Indians living in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/sep/05/law.religion">United Kingdom</a>, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3557415">South Africa</a> and <a href="https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1178&context=jhcs">Trinidad</a> often had to fight for the right to cremate the dead in accordance with religious rituals because of the mistaken and often racist belief that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/sep/05/law.religion">cremation was primitive, alien and evironmentally polluting</a>. </p>
<h2>Rituals and a long history</h2>
<p>The earliest writings on Indian funerary rituals can be found in the Rig Veda – a Hindu religious scripture orally composed thousands of years ago, potentially as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rigveda-9780199370184?cc=us&lang=en&">early as 2000 B.C.</a> In the Rig Veda, a hymn, traditionally recited by a priest or an adult male, urges Agni, the Vedic god of fire, to “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Textual_Sources_for_the_Study_of_Hinduis.html?id=YxoaUKmMG9gC">carry this man to the world of those who have done good deeds</a>.” </p>
<p>From the perspective of Hindu, Jain, and Sikh rituals, the act of cremation is <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Many_Colors_of_Hinduism.html?id=RVWKClYq4TUC">seen as a sacrifice</a>, a final breaking of the ties between the body and the spirit so it may be free to reincarnate. The body is traditionally bathed, anointed, and carefully wrapped in white cloth at home, then carried ceremonially, in a procession, by the local community to the cremation grounds. </p>
<p>While Hindus and Sikhs often decorate the body with flowers, Jains avoid natural flowers for concern of inadvertently destroying the lives of insects that may be hidden within its petals. In all of these faiths, a priest or male member of the family recites prayers. It is traditionally the eldest son of the deceased who lights the funerary pyre; women do not go to the <a href="https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/why-women-are-not-allowed-at-shamshan-ghat-55126.html">cremation ground</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Relatives gather around the body of a man who died of COVID-19 in India, to perform religious rituals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398450/original/file-20210503-17-1g3f6c0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Family members perform rituals at a crematorium for a person who died of the coronavirus in India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/family-members-and-relatives-perform-rituals-before-the-news-photo/1232622320?adppopup=true">Sajjad Hussain/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After the ceremony, mourners return home to bathe themselves and remove what they regard as the inauspicious energy that surrounds the cremation grounds. Communities host a variety of postmortem rituals, including scriptural recitations and symbolic meals, and in some Hindu communities the sons or male members of household will shave their head as a sign of their bereavement. During this mourning period, lasting from 10 to 13 days, the family performs scriptural recitations and prayers in honor of their deceased loved one. </p>
<h2>The changing times of COVID-19</h2>
<p>The wave of death from the COVID-19 pandemic has forced transformations to these long-established religious rituals. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/india-delhi-pyres-public-parks-b1838649.html">Makeshift crematoriums are being constructed</a> in the parking lots of hospitals and in city parks.</p>
<p>Young women may be the only ones available to light the funerary pyre, which was previously not permissible. Families in quarantine are forced to use WhatsApp and other video software to visually identify the body and recite digital <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/30/opinion/india-covid-crematorium.html">funerary rites</a>. </p>
<p>Media reports have pointed out how in some cases, crematorium workers <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3dggy/we-spoke-to-a-cremator-at-the-center-of-indias-covid-hell">have been asked to read prayers</a> traditionally reserved for Brahmin priests or people from a higher caste. Muslim burial grounds have begun to run out of space and are tearing up parking lots to bury more bodies. </p>
<h2>The work of the dead</h2>
<p>While other important rituals such as marriage and baptism may take on a new appearance in response to cultural changes, social media conversations or economic opportunities, funerary rituals <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195183559.001.0001/acprof-9780195183559">change slowly</a>. </p>
<p>Historian <a href="https://history.berkeley.edu/people/faculty/emeritus/thomas-w-laqueur">Thomas Laqueur</a> has written on what he calls “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691157788/the-work-of-the-dead">the work of the dead</a>” – the ways in which the bodies of the deceased participate in the social worlds and political realities of the living. </p>
<p>In India’s coronavirus pandemic, the dead are announcing the health crisis that the country believed it had conquered. As recently as April 18, 2021, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-modi-scorned-over-reckless-rallies-religious-gathering-amid-virus-mayhem-2021-04-19/">holding crowded political rallies</a>, and his government allowed the massive Hindu pilgrimage festival of <a href="https://theconversation.com/india-prepares-for-kumbh-mela-worlds-largest-religious-gathering-amid-covid-19-fears-158364">Kumbh Mela</a> to proceed a year early in response to the <a href="https://science.thewire.in/health/leaders-listened-to-astrologers-so-haridwar-mela-happened-after-11-years-not-12/">auspicious forecasts of astrologers</a>. Authorities began to act only when the deaths became impossible to ignore. But even then, the Indian government appeared more concerned about <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/27/991343032/indias-government-is-telling-facebook-twitter-to-remove-critical-posts">removing social media posts that were critical of its functioning</a>.</p>
<p>India is one of the world’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/18/978065736/indias-role-in-covid-19-vaccine-production-is-getting-even-bigger">largest vaccine-producing nations</a>, and yet it was unable to make or even purchase the needed vaccines to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/world/asia/india-covid-vaccine-astrazeneca.html">protect its population</a>. </p>
<p>The dead have important stories to tell about neglect, mismanagement or even our global interdependence – if we care to listen.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha Mikles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As cremation grounds struggle to keep up with the long line of people dying from COVID-19, age-old customs are being pushed aside.Natasha Mikles, Lecturer in Philosophy, Texas State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1583642021-04-08T12:04:31Z2021-04-08T12:04:31ZIndia prepares for Kumbh Mela, world’s largest religious gathering, amid COVID-19 fears<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393872/original/file-20210407-17-1gpfykb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C18%2C5990%2C3921&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hindu devotees attend evening prayers on the banks of the Ganges River during the religious Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar, India.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/hindu-devotees-attend-evening-prayers-after-taking-a-holy-news-photo/1231647366?adppopup=true">Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Massive crowds are expected to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/14/india-holds-massive-kumbh-mela-pilgrimage-amid-covid-worries">gather at India’s northern city of Haridwar</a> throughout April 2021 for the religious festival of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kumbh-Mela">Kumbh Mela</a>, despite the country’s <a href="https://science.thewire.in/health/india-faces-health-challenge-as-millions-set-to-gather-at-kumbh-festival/">grappling with a COVID-19 surge</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.kumbhamela.net/">Kumbh Mela</a> is a Hindu pilgrimage held every 12 years at <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520249141/the-life-of-hinduism">sacred tirthas</a>, or river-ford sites, along the Ganges River in India. </p>
<p>This year the government expects over <a href="https://zeenews.india.com/photos/india/kumbh-live-photos-check-latest-photos-from-haridwar-maha-kumbh-2021-2351956">a million pilgrims a day</a> to bathe in the sacred river. Over 5 million people are expected per day on the most auspicious days – April 12, 14 and 21 – for a total of a 100 million celebrants. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/tulasi-srinivas">scholar of Hinduism</a>, I celebrate this peaceful mammoth congregation of humanity. Shaped by mythology, astrology and society over the long course of history, this festival is the largest religious gathering of its kind in the world. </p>
<p>Rooted in Hinduism’s ancient theological texts, the bathing ritual has survived wars, revolution and famine – but its biggest threat has been epidemic diseases. Authorities from the colonial British government of the 19th century to the Indian government today have had to contend with the challenge of managing the spread of contagion during this huge gathering of people. </p>
<h2>Festival of immortality</h2>
<p>The festival celebrates the Hindu myth of <a href="https://www.hinduwebsite.com/churning.asp">Samudra manthan</a> – the churning of the cosmological ocean by the gods and demons to get the nectar of immortality, known as amrita. </p>
<p>In the fight that ensued for the amrita, several drops of the elixir fell to Earth, sanctifying the waters where they landed. The word Kumbh refers not only <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/banaras/9780231114479">to the pot of nectar spilled on its way to the heavens</a>, but also to the astrological sign of Aquarius, the water carrier, the time when the Kumbh Mela takes place. Hindus believe that bathing in the sacred Ganges on the auspicious days of the festival leads to salvation from the endless cycle of reincarnation.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/makar-sankranti-2020-date-history-importance-and-significance-of-makar-sankranti-festival-6210114/">traditional start date of the Kumbh</a>, Makara Sankranti, or the winter solstice, is in January. However, this year the festival was delayed by the Indian government because of fears of the spread of COVID-19. </p>
<h2>Colonial Kumbh</h2>
<p>The festival is mentioned in British colonial records. In 1812 the archives of <a href="https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-East-India-Company/">the British East India Co.</a>, a joint stock company that had been formed in 1600 to engage in trade with India, mention a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=NeM-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA301#v=onepage&q&f=false">“great” congregation of people at the “melah” that had not occurred in 28 years</a>. Historians of religion have noted that the British conflated another ancient fair, which went <a href="https://www.academia.edu/323796/Making_the_Colonial_State_Work_for_You_The_Modern_Beginnings_of_the_Ancient_Kumbh_Mela_In_Allahabad">by the name Magha Mela, with the Kumbh Mela</a>.</p>
<p>At the time, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders">the East India Co.</a> imposed a “pilgrim tax” on participants, even though it did not provide infrastructure or amenities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white sketch shows people gathering on a grand river bank." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393874/original/file-20210407-23-fbkfiv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The scene of Kumbh Mela in Haridwar, India, in 1850.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haridwar_Kumbh_Mela_-_1850s.jpg">J. M. W. Turner via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The East India Co. ruled India for the British Crown from 1757, and the company-crown alliance lasted a century until <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/indian_rebellion_01.shtml">the Indian rebellion</a> of 1857. During that time the British administration, in collaboration with the local police and heads of pilgrim organizations, made attempts to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=HznRCwAAQBAJ">improve the infrastructure</a> of the Kumbh Mela, including laying new railway lines, widening the access roads and building bigger bathing platforms, or ghats. They hoped to increase access, prevent pilgrim stampedes near the waters edge and garner better revenue. </p>
<p>Inadvertently, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3591863">British helped legitimize and popularize the Kumbh Mela as the supreme sacred festival</a>. At the same time, they believed the Kumbh was a political gathering where <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/research/with-kumbh-mela-back-at-its-original-site-in-haridwar-a-look-at-how-this-recent-pilgrimage-always-has-a-political-undercurrent-7262923/">revolutionary and nationalistic ideas took birth</a>.</p>
<h2>Politics of Kumbh</h2>
<p>Until 1801, before the colonial rule in the state, the Kumbh Mela was controlled and managed by sects, or “akharas,” of <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195338942.001.0001">militant ascetics</a> who fought for the privilege of bathing first, as going first conferred power and status. These were often violent battles of alarming scale in which thousands died.</p>
<p>But the akharas skillfully managed the logistical challenge of the massive pilgrimage and festival. They organized hostels and food, provided policing, and oversaw the arbitrating of disputes over congregant living facilities. They also instituted and collected pilgrim taxes. The ascetics of the akharas engaged in <a href="http://www.kumbhmelatour.com/sadhu-rituals.html">religious discourses and philosophical lectures</a>. Their presence was an attraction for ordinary pilgrims who sought their audience and blessings. </p>
<p>But by 1858 the British Crown controlled all of India and attempted to take over the logistics and rules for the Kumbh Mela, particularly for pilgrims’ movement at the site, to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=-ktHKWRR5xAC&pg=PT68#v=onepage&q&f=false">avoid stampedes and upgrade the sanitary conditions</a>. At the time <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/research/with-kumbh-mela-back-at-its-original-site-in-haridwar-a-look-at-how-this-recent-pilgrimage-always-has-a-political-undercurrent-7262923/">legal agreements over the bathing order</a> ensured an end to the violence between the akharas.</p>
<p>The British allowed and instituted an order for <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/kumbh-mela-shahi-snan-begins-in-prayagraj/various-akharas/slideshow/67539585.cms">the ascetics of 14 akharas</a> to bathe on the three auspicious bathing days of the mela. Following Indian independence, subsequent Indian governments have also tried to control the crowds and organize the akharas’ bathing schedule.</p>
<h2>Fear of contagion</h2>
<p>The first British reference that specifically mentioned the Kumbh Mela was made in an 1868 report that stated the need for <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3591863">increased and tighter sanitation controls at the “Coomb fair</a>” to be held in January 1870. Recognizing the threat of rapid spread of contagion among the crowds, the British government attempted to <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/381707">sanitize and control </a> the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at the Kumbh.</p>
<p>In 1870 <a href="https://www.dailypioneer.com/pages/about-us">the Pioneer newspaper</a>, the voice of the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1936/04/the-young-kipling/306598/">British in the northern city of Allahabad</a>, said that the control of crowding was seen as a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3591863">well-directed activity towards averting, or at any rate mitigating, the ravages of disease</a>” among pilgrims. The spread of disease was viewed as a threat to the possible collection of taxes and governance. </p>
<p>Between 1892 and 1908, when major famines, cholera and plague epidemics struck in British India, the <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/1336846.pdf">colonial government controlled entry to the Kumbh</a>, citing hygiene concerns. Pilgrims dropped to a low of around 300,000 <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195338942.001.0001/acprof-9780195338942">as reported by the Imperial Gazetteer</a>. In 1941, the British government <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/allahabad/british-scrapped-magh-mela-in-1942/articleshow/50575926.cms">banned sale of tickets</a> amid rumors that Japan, in advance to entering World War II, was to bomb Allahabad where the Kumbh was slated to take place. </p>
<h2>Rising religiosity</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C2454%2C1616&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Men are shoulder to shoulder on the edge of the water. Most are naked from the waist up. Many wear flowers and orange clothing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C0%2C2454%2C1616&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393853/original/file-20210407-19-ffarsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ascetics take a holy dip in the waters of the Ganges River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/naga-sadhus-take-a-holy-dip-in-the-waters-of-the-river-news-photo/1231641535?adppopup=true">Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the past century the Kumbh has become so popular that “half” versions – Ardh Kumbh – are held every six years. </p>
<p>The dramatic arrival of the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=MALacgnsroMC&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q&f=false">akharas</a> – <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/the-famous-akhadas-at-kumbh-mela/story-x5TCnQW9n51cwXkkR4lfJJ.html">that includes 14 sects of Hindu and Sikh ascetics as well as warrior monks</a> often illustrated with exoticized photographs – has become the signature visual of the Kumbh. </p>
<p>These tens of thousands of ascetics, some dressed in saffron robes, some nude and covered in ash, with wild dreadlocks, come riding <a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2010/jan/30/sadhus-astride-elephants-horses-at-maha-kumbh-165762.html">on horseback</a>, or in golden seats on elephants. The processions are accompanied by loud drumming, conch blowing and the sound of gongs as they enter the sacred water, in wave upon wave of humanity. </p>
<h2>COVID controls</h2>
<p>This year’s event takes place amid fears that a massive gathering like this could turn out to be a COVID-19 superspreader event. According to <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/india">Johns Hopkins University</a>, by April 1, 2021, the start of the Kumbh Mela, India had reported 12 million cases and 162,900 deaths. </p>
<p>The Indian government has issued several directives to <a href="https://www.india.com/news/india/haridwar-kumbh-mela-2021-dates-covid-protocol-guidelines-shahi-snan-order-all-details-here-4481213/">control the spread of the disease</a>: Thermal screening checkpoints have been set up, and efforts are being made to sanitize all restrooms and sleeping quarters. <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/kumbh-mela-centre-warns-of-covid-surge-asks-state-govt-to-impose-strict-curbs-11616330231370.html">Strict protocols for participation</a> in the Kumbh have been issued, including a <a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/travel-tourism/kumbh-mela-2021-mandatory-masks-maximum-20-minutes-of-bath-heres-what-covid-19-protocol-states/2209339/">limited time period of half an hour for each akhara to bathe</a>. Furthermore, the government has stated that after April 1 all visitors to the Kumbh have to <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/kumbh-mela-2021-pilgrims-must-show-covid-19-negative-report-in-haridwar-2399067">produce evidence of a recent negative COVID-19 test</a>. </p>
<p>However, even before the Kumbh began, the city and neighboring areas had already emerged as <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/rishikesh-and-haridwar-emerge-as-covid-19-hotspots-ahead-of-kumbh-mela-2021-6712651.html">COVID-19 hot spots</a>. As the festival began, <a href="https://zeenews.india.com/india/coronavirus-at-kumbh-mela-2021-around-300-covid-19-cases-reported-from-haridwar-in-last-4-days-2352472.html">seven living Hindu saints</a> in the city of Haridwar tested positive, and 300 pilgrims were found positive during the first few days of the festival. </p>
<p>Images emerging from Haridwar of millions of the faithful, praying, eating and bathing, often maskless and in close proximity with one another, are <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/kumbh-mela-raising-the-spectre-of-covid-superspreaders/the-spectre-of-a-covid-superspreader/slideshow/81665575.cms">raising fears</a> about how the desire for the divine nectar of immortality might turn out in a pandemic year.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tulasi Srinivas received funding from The Luce Foundation and The American Council of Learned Societies, as well as the American Institute of Indian Studies.</span></em></p>Kumbh Mela, a Hindu pilgrimage that started earlier this month in India, has survived wars and famine since its origin. But the biggest threat has been the spread of illness – back then as now.Tulasi Srinivas, Professor of Anthropology, Religion and Transnational Studies, Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1526752021-01-27T13:26:22Z2021-01-27T13:26:22ZThe problem with India’s ‘love jihad’ laws<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/380722/original/file-20210126-23-9yhkkt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=61%2C27%2C4531%2C3029&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Activist protest against 'love jihad' laws being proposed in India.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/activists-belonging-to-various-human-and-civil-rights-news-photo/1229888083?adppopup=true">Manjunath Kiran/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, the Bharatiya Janata Party government has put forward <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/30/how-indias-bjp-cultivated-muslim-front-its-hindu-nationalism/">several anti-Muslim policies</a>. The latest is a clampdown on what it sees as “love jihad,” the belief that Muslims are seeking to <a href="https://www.japss.org/upload/1.%20Iwanek.pdf">deceive Hindu women</a> through marriage and convert them to Islam. </p>
<p>Over the course of the past year or so <a href="https://theprint.in/opinion/pov/new-india-has-a-solution-to-all-its-problems-blame-the-muslim/436670/">several BJP politicians</a> have suggested that this is part of an <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24480870?casa_token=2H55RxftHVEAAAAA%3A8ZJhCmeofosGwAmPtuohyp-SQ-gQFpJ1Os30oHp4l___dX-IwJc6IcOyp5fc2_gafNak-zERr6oA09H_SzqAii4n31VaRKsVqEn3jw4TZ2nU-V8kthb7&seq=1">Islamic conspiracy</a> <a href="https://www.japss.org/upload/1.%20Iwanek.pdf">to increase India’s Muslim population</a>. </p>
<p>More recently, one of India’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-india-legislation-marriage-narendra-modi-762228da489d95b4ab9bb66f4b2148ee">most populous states has assumed the right to intervene</a> in matters of marriage – particularly between a Hindu woman and a Muslim man. Other states are planning to follow suit. </p>
<h2>A new law on marriage</h2>
<p>As a <a href="https://polisci.indiana.edu/about/faculty/ganguly-sumit.html">political scientist</a>, I see the rapid growth of religious tensions/conflicts in India as a continuation of BJP’s anti-Muslim policies.</p>
<p>Despite being a Hindu-majority country, India is <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/india-muslims-marginalized-population-bjp-modi">home to nearly 200 million Muslims</a>. </p>
<p>Since the BJP came to power with a clear majority in parliament in August 2019, it <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691006710/the-saffron-wave">stripped the special provisions in the Indian Constitution</a> that had granted a substantial degree of autonomy to <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/understanding-kashmir-and-kashmiris/">India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir</a> – now a Union Territory, an arrangement in India’s federal dispensation under the direct rule of the national government. </p>
<p>In 2019, the Indian government also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-poised-to-pass-controversial-citizenship-law-excluding-muslim-migrants/2019/12/11/ebda6a7e-1b71-11ea-977a-15a6710ed6da_story.html">passed the Citizenship Amendment Act</a>, which eases the pathway to citizenship for a range of religious groups from India’s neighboring countries but excludes Muslims. </p>
<p>Now, in its latest move, India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, where about a <a href="https://www.census2011.co.in/data/religion/2-muslims.html">fifth of the population is Muslim</a> and the state government is led by the BJP, has taken to policing the private lives of its citizens. In November, the state passed the first “love jihad” law in the country. </p>
<p>Known as the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/et-explains/the-up-prohibition-of-unlawful-conversion-of-religion-ordinance-2020-explained/articleshow/79717402.cms">Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance</a>, it requires couples from different religious communities to provide two months’ notice to a district magistrate before getting married. A district magistrate is an official belonging to India’s administrative services – a vestige of the British colonial rule – who is in charge of the district, the basic unit of administration, and has legal as well as significant executive powers.</p>
<p>Under the terms of the ordinance, the presiding judicial official would have the discretion to decide whether the conversion was through compulsion; the offending person could then be denied bail and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The irony of this issue is that few individuals routinely choose to marry outside their religious affiliation. </p>
<p>Notionally, this law applies with equal force to all interfaith marriages. However, for all practical purposes this would affect Muslims, as Islamic personal law requires a non-Muslim to convert to sanctify the marriage. So far, enforcement has targeted only Hindu-Muslim marriages. Since its passage last year, as many as 30 Muslim men <a href="https://time.com/5915579/love-jihad-uttar-pradesh/">arrested in Uttar Pradesh are facing possible prosecution</a>. It remains unclear at this stage what sanctions Muslim women marrying Hindu men might confront. </p>
<p>Following the lead of Uttar Pradesh, four other BJP-ruled states introducing similar <a href="https://www.loc.gov/law/help/anti-conversion-laws/india.php">legislation</a>. In late December, the central state of Madhya Pradesh passed the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/madhya-pradesh-cabinet-gives-nod-to-religious-freedom-bill/article33422383.ece">Freedom of Religion Bill</a>, which would also place similar restrictions on interreligious marriage. This law also holds the possibility of 10 years’ imprisonment.</p>
<p>Since the BJP holds a majority in the state legislature, there is a strong possibility of this becoming a law. Thus far there has not been any effort to enact a national law. Currently, the BJP rules in 16 out of India’s 29 states, and several other states are said <a href="https://scroll.in/latest/978723/love-jihad-law-in-madhya-pradesh-soon-with-provision-for-five-years-in-jail-says-minister">to be considering enacting such a law</a>.</p>
<h2>Anti-conversion fervor</h2>
<p>The strong opposition to any kind of conversion goes back to British India. In the 1920s, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25663907?casa_token=xQdf_07K9DQAAAAA%3A4wf8gIB_zVLTIIwrLiCpGEAQNOduP050mYSOz24bDGUmCrhRLorKymmkJyW-tJsv4J-jGhdkDggfaDLb2Es39coeQubexslU3P3yUK6zFawJPv8nHVr7&seq=1">a Hindu revivalist movement</a> known as “shuddhi” emerged. It sought to reconvert those who had chosen to embrace other faiths, most notably Islam. At the time interfaith marriages were a rarity.</p>
<p>The movement had a strongly patriarchal tenor and portrayed Hindu women as hapless victims of the ruses of Muslim men. This movement, while it initially acquired a degree of support, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4406586?seq=1">faded out as other more compelling</a> social and political issues, such as anti-colonial nationalism, came to the fore.</p>
<p>A somewhat similar fervor, I argue, <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/uttar-pradesh-love-jihad-anti-conversion-law-7127040/">has now returned</a> in independent India. Apart from this legislative onslaught, two other recent incidents in particular bear particular mention.</p>
<p>The first involved a television advertisement for a high-end jewelry chain that was launched on Indian television in October. The advertisement was from Tanishq, an affiliate of one of India’s largest conglomerates, the Tata Group, and was titled “Ekatvam,” or “unity” in Hindi. </p>
<p>The advertisement depicted a Hindu woman and a Muslim man preparing for a wedding. As soon as the advertisements were aired, some Hindu activists protested vigorously on social media. The company, fearing violence, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-54520390">withdrew the advertisement altogether</a>. </p>
<p>The other episode took place in November when Netflix aired BBC’s adaptation of the novel “A Suitable Boy” by the acclaimed Indian writer Vikram Seth. </p>
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<p>Once again, some Hindu activists protested because it depicted a Hindu-Muslim couple’s passionate kiss. The activists claimed that the film was “encouraging love jihad” and had “hurt religious sentiments.” </p>
<p>Accordingly, they demanded that it be forthrightly withdrawn. A minister in the state of Madhya Pradesh lodged a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/24/india-case-filed-against-netflix-over-temple-kissing-scene">formal police complaint</a> against the showing of the film, and <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/netflix-officials-charged-over-kissing-scene-in-temple-in-the-series-a-suitable-boy-cops-2329121">further investigations</a> are on.</p>
<h2>The perils of modernity</h2>
<p>Urban couples in India are <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47823588">increasingly stepping out</a> from the tradition of arranged marriages and choosing their own life partners, sometimes across religious lines. No previous government has sought to regulate such choices. However, under the Modi government, right-wing Hindu groups are <a href="https://thewire.in/communalism/hindu-muslim-couples-love-jihad-rightwing-marriage-notice">harassing such couples</a>. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Activists have spoken out vigorously against this tide of <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/protest-against-proposed-love-jihad-law/article33224758.ece">vigilantism</a>, and some regional courts have <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/up-love-jihad-law-hc-stays-action-against-man-cites-right-to-privacy-">questioned the very basis of a law</a> that encroaches on individual freedoms.</p>
<p>However, at a time when personal choices are under attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has maintained a studious silence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152675/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sumit Ganguly has received funding from the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Army War College and the Smith Richardson Foundation. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. </span></em></p>India’s most populous state has brought in a law to police interreligious marriages, known as the ‘love jihad’ law. Here is what that means.Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1497922020-11-12T13:27:51Z2020-11-12T13:27:51ZThe many stories of Diwali share a common theme of triumph of justice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368684/original/file-20201110-15-1u68rl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C2%2C1970%2C1275&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Diwali is the most important festival for the South Asian community.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/anjali-cq-voria-cq-and-her-sister-rakhi-voria-cq-at-news-photo/161008394?adppopup=true">Photo By Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sometimes called the Indian festival of lights, Diwali is arguably the <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/what-diwali-festival-lights-india-hindu-1467603">most important holiday</a> of the year for South Asian families. </p>
<p>The festival, which is observed by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, lasts five days in its entirety. Traditionally the third day is considered the most important. During this day, families gather to light candles, eat sweets and place lit lamps in their public-facing windows.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://faculty.txstate.edu/profile/1922200">scholar of Asian religion</a> and popular narratives, I’m interested in Diwali because it demonstrates how ancient tales in epics become part of religious practice. </p>
<h2>Popular stories from Hinduism</h2>
<p>There are many stories around what exactly Diwali commemorates and why it is celebrated. </p>
<p>Among Hindu families, <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520249141/the-life-of-hinduism">many</a> claim the festival celebrates the defeat of the evil demon king Ravana by Rama – an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu and the hero of India’s Ramayana epic. In the most famous part of this epic tale, Rama’s wife is abducted by the demon Ravana, and Rama must journey to the land of Lanka to save her with the assistance of his brother.</p>
<p>A different tradition states that the festival commemorates the defeat of the demon Narakasura by Lord Krishna. Like Rama, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Bhagavad_Gita/DtCvAC94ZbUC?hl=en">Krishna is an incarnation of the god Vishnu</a>, who has come to assist humanity in its time of need. </p>
<p>Stories tell of Krishna’s efforts to rid the world of demons. In this particular story, the King Naraka gains extraordinary abilities through a deal with a demon and becomes intoxicated with power. </p>
<p>Narakasura, as he is now called, destroys the kingdoms around him and eventually plans to assault even the heavens. Krishna appears and uses his divine powers to neutralize Narakasura’s weapons, eventually beheading him with a multi-pronged discus. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Guests_at_God_s_Wedding/3KcEotmV2MAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Guests+at+God%27s+Wedding:+Celebrating+Kartik+among+the+Women+of+Benares&printsec=frontcover%22%22">Other traditions</a> associate the festival with the birth of the goddess Lakshmi and her marriage to Vishnu. In the Hindu tradition, Lakshmi is worshipped as the goddess of wealth, while Vishnu is seen as the preserver of humanity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lord Vishnu and his consort goddess, Lakshmi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Lord_Vishnu_and_his_consort_Goddess_Lakshmi.jpg">Bikashrd via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>While there are many stories of her birth, the most prevalent is that Lakshmi appeared during the churning of the divine ocean of milk from which the nectar of immortality comes during a fight between the gods and demons. After appearing, she chooses to marry Vishnu and to assist him in working for the benefit of humanity. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.pitara.com/non-fiction-for-kids/festivals-for-kids/the-story-of-diwali/">In southern India, Hindu families</a> commemorate the defeat of the demon Hiranyakshipu by Narasimha, the lion-headed incarnation of Vishnu. Like many Indian stories, Hiranyakshipu is a demi-god who believes he is immortal after receiving a divine blessing from the Hindu creator-god Brahma that lists the conditions for his death. </p>
<p>According to the boon, he cannot be killed at day or at night, inside or outside, by human or by animal, by projectile weapons or by hand weapons, and neither on the ground nor in the sky. </p>
<p>In response to Hiranyakshipu’s terrorizing of the heavens and Earth, Vishnu then incarnates as the lion-headed god Narasimha to kill the demon. He kills him at dusk, on the step of his house, as a chimeric lion with his claws as he lies on Narasimha’s lap – all conditions that satisfy the elements of the boon.</p>
<h2>Stories from other religions</h2>
<p>The Diwali tradition is celebrated by Jains and Sikhs as well, who have their own interpretations of the festival. For <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jainism/JmRlAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">Jains</a>, Diwali celebrates the nirvana, or enlightenment, of Mahavira, the 24th spiritual teacher of the Jain path and the contemporary tradition’s founder. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Jain sculpture showing Mahavira in Madurai, Tamilnadu, India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mahavira_Keezhakuyilkudi.jpg">Francis Harry Roy S via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=w8yWAwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PT86&hl=en&source=newbks_fb%22%22">Sikhs</a> consider Diwali a commemoration of the release of Guru Hargobind, the sixth of 10 spiritual leaders, and 52 other men who were imprisoned by the Mughal Empire that ruled the Indian subcontinent from 1526 to 1857. </p>
<p>After the public execution of his father by Mughal leaders, Guru Hargobind became increasingly passionate about forming an independent Sikh homeland through military action if necessary. He was eventually jailed by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, but was released two years later on the day of Diwali.</p>
<p>Popular legends state that when he was freed, Guru Hargobind tricked the Mughal emperor into allowing him to bring out as many men as could hold onto the hem of his cloak and, in this way, helped release 52 other prisoners who held onto 52 threads coming off of his garment. </p>
<h2>Origins of Diwali</h2>
<p>The multiplicity of interpretations for why Diwali is celebrated and questions regarding the festival’s exact origins may have one potential answer: that the narrative of origins is an afterthought to rituals. </p>
<p>This problem is illustrated in a well-known episode of the sitcom “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali_(The_Office)">The Office</a>,” where the Dunder Mifflin team attends a Diwali celebration at a local Hindu temple. Before they go, they ask Kelly – the Hindu office worker who is playing hostess – to explain the origins of the festival. </p>
<p>She demurs, stating “I don’t know; it’s really old, I think,” before excitedly discussing the beautiful clothes everyone wears, the dancing and the food. Mindy Kaling, who plays Kelly and wrote the episode, <a href="https://mashable.com/article/the-office-diwali-episode-mindy-kaling-podcast/">explained</a> that she based Kelly’s cluelessness on her own, noting that – despite identifying as Hindu – she had to do significant research into her own religious tradition to write the episode.</p>
<p>In other words, while she was aware of and excited about the rituals, the narrative explanation was secondary to joining with her community in celebration. </p>
<p>But this does not mean that narrative may be inconsequential. It is important to think what these multiple narratives about Diwali’s origins may be able to tell us about the Indian culture. </p>
<p>Asian religions scholar <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Nl63ENwAAAAJ&hl=en">Robert Ford Campany</a> <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Garden_of_Marvels/0PHGDwAAQBAJ?hl=en%22%22">suggests</a> that narratives entail a subtle form of argument that “reveal, argue, or assume something significant about the world, about spirits, about relations between humans and other beings, or about the afterlife and the dead.” </p>
<p>Perhaps these diverse origin stories of Diwali point to a shared argument that Indian culture is making about the world: that good – whether as one of the many avatars of Lord Vishnu, an enlightened Jain prince, or an imprisoned guru – will necessarily triumph over the evils of demons, injustice and ignorance. </p>
<p>Certainly that’s an argument worth celebrating, especially in the chaotic times we live in today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha Mikles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many Indian Americans will be celebrating the festival of Diwali soon. A scholar of Asian religion explains what this festival of lights means – especially in chaotic times.Natasha Mikles, Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Religious Studies, Texas State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1269012019-11-18T14:04:00Z2019-11-18T14:04:00ZWhy Hindu nationalists are cheering moves to build a temple, challenging a secular tradition<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301817/original/file-20191114-26202-ggkyxm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Hindu woman prays to the bricks that are expected to be used in constructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya, following a verdict from the Indian Supreme Court.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Temple-Dispute/894390c5b6aa44d6bd2e1f9d31e2f364/2/0">AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A five-judge panel of the Indian Supreme Court has delivered its much-awaited verdict on the destruction of the Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque in the town of Ayodhya in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. </p>
<p>The court case had been lodged after a mob of Hindu zealots attacked and destroyed the Babri Mosque on Dec. 16, 1992. They <a href="https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/A/bo20847609.html">believed</a> that the mosque had been <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Ayodhya_City_of_Faith_Demy_Hb.html?id=s8mPwgEACAAJ">constructed on the ruins of a Hindu temple</a> during the reign of Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India in the 16th century. Hundreds were killed in a spate of riots that followed the demolition of the mosque.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/08/asia/ayodhya-dispute-india-ruling-intl-hnk/index.html">The court ruled</a> on Nov. 8 that the 2.77-acre site of the mosque should be handed over to the government, which could then form a trust to build a Hindu temple on that site. Simultaneously, it granted five acres of land in another part of the town for the construction of a mosque. </p>
<p>The court also conceded that the destruction of the mosque by a mob was unlawful and that the five acres granted for a mosque constituted a form of restitution. </p>
<p>This controversial ruling is considered a win for Prime Minister Modi and his party, which has come to be associated with rise in Hindu nationalism. As a <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/indias-watershed-vote-the-risks-ahead/">political scientist</a>, I believe the question now is whether India will remain committed to secularism, which is enshrined in its Constitution.</p>
<h2>A history of the dispute</h2>
<p>The dispute itself goes back to a time when India was emerging from British colonial rule. In 1949, Hindu activists surreptitiously entered the mosque and placed religious idols within it, claiming that Lord Rama had <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nation-world/ram-mandir-babri-masjid-issue-the-history-behind-the-dispute/dec-22-1949/slideshow/57774099.cms">returned to reclaim</a> his birthplace. The government, in an attempt to quell discord, had the doors to the mosque locked.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301822/original/file-20191114-26211-14yxoc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301822/original/file-20191114-26211-14yxoc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301822/original/file-20191114-26211-14yxoc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301822/original/file-20191114-26211-14yxoc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301822/original/file-20191114-26211-14yxoc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301822/original/file-20191114-26211-14yxoc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301822/original/file-20191114-26211-14yxoc2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indian Muslims in Ayodhya read about the Ayodhya verdict delivered on Nov. 8.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-India-Temple-Dispute/39a3d6f573c94c0c873cc51476906ba5/11/0">AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>This ruling has brought these past divides to the fore. While the Sunni Waqf Board, a government-supported body that was the litigant on the side of the mosque, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/respect-ayodhya-verdict-but-not-satisfied-says-sunni-waqf-board-lawyer-calls-for-review-1617324-2019-11-09">expressed disappointment</a> with the Supreme Court’s ruling, the right-wing ruling Bharatiya Janata Party expressed happiness.</p>
<p>As Lal Krishna Advani, a senior member of the Bharatiya Janata Party who had spearheaded the movement to build the temple in the 1980s, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/lk-advani-supreme-court-ayodhya-verdict-1617442-2019-11-09">stated</a>:</p>
<p>“This is a moment of fulfillment for me because God Almighty had given me an opportunity to make my own humble contribution to the mass movement, the biggest since India’s Freedom Movement, aimed at the outcome which the Supreme Court’s verdict today has made possible.” </p>
<p>Advani’s statement reflects the broader sentiments of many in the ruling party.</p>
<h2>Crucial to ideological identity</h2>
<p>Why is the construction of Ram temple so important for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party? </p>
<p>The answer can be traced to Bharatiya Janata Party’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Brotherhood_in_Saffron.html?id=AVRuAAAAMAAJ">ideology and political developments in India</a> following independence from British colonial rule in 1947.</p>
<p>The Bharatiya Janata Party is a successor to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a political party founded in 1951. It sought from the outset to <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/hindu-nationalism-and-indian-politics/2E218CFDC1A1052F511A311C45D5A3D2">serve as a right-of-center, Hindu majoritarian alternative</a> to the dominant, secular, nationalist party, the Indian National Congress. </p>
<p>However, for several decades the Bharatiya Jana Sangh failed to make much headway. Its opposition, the Congress Party, was quite popular and remained electorally dominant. In 1980 the Bharatiya Jana Sangh was <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Hindu_Nationalist_Movement_in_India.html?id=Y2buDDwdgIsC">reincarnated as the Bharatiya Janata Party</a>. </p>
<p>The Bharatiya Janata Party, like its predecessor, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, shared an identical Hindu chauvinist ideological orientation. Not until the late 1980s did it embrace an overtly pro-Hindu ideology focused on the building of a temple at the site of the Babri Masjid. And it began to see electoral success. </p>
<p>Since then, the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been nothing short of extraordinary. In 1984 the party had two seats in the 543-seat Indian Parliament. Today it has a commanding majority of 303. Much of this can be attributed to the successful mobilization and consolidation of the Hindu vote in the 1980s.</p>
<h2>Challenge to pluralism</h2>
<p>In an attempt to win back the Hindu vote the Indian National Congress Party in 1986 arranged to have the locks to the Babri mosque in Ayodhya removed to enable Hindu worshipers to <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Role-of-Arun-Nehru-Rajiv-in-opening-masjid-ignored/article16894059.ece">enter the premises</a> for the first time in 35 years. Hindu miscreants had placed idols in this site in 1949.</p>
<p>Following this decision, the Bharatiya Janata Party started a steady drumbeat of sentiment to construct a Hindu temple at the site in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, in September and October 1990, senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party Lal Krishna Advani took out a “rath yatra,” or a chariot consecrating Lord Rama across much of the country. This movement, which gathered steam over the course of a decade, culminated in the destruction of the mosque. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301819/original/file-20191114-26217-17cg2xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/301819/original/file-20191114-26217-17cg2xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301819/original/file-20191114-26217-17cg2xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301819/original/file-20191114-26217-17cg2xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301819/original/file-20191114-26217-17cg2xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301819/original/file-20191114-26217-17cg2xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/301819/original/file-20191114-26217-17cg2xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sweets are distributed after a verdict in over a disputed structure in Ayodhya, India, on Nov. 9, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Temple-Dispute/718af55ba1824e1fab9d55a33580c61a/33/0">AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After the destruction of the mosque, the electoral fortunes of the Bharatiya Janata Party continued to improve. By 1998, it had become the dominant partner in a coalition government composed of a <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/India_Government_and_Politics_in_a_Devel.html?id=pSyRgcSQhuIC">range of political parties</a> to form a government. </p>
<p>When the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power under Prime Minister Modi in 2014, it focused on other matters while occasionally paying some attention to the question of the mosque even though it had <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/indias-democracy-at-70-growth-inequality-and-nationalism/">been part of its election manifesto</a>. In effect, the Bharatiya Janata Party kept this issue alive in the public arena but did not undertake an active efforts to change the status quo at the site. </p>
<p>Now, in its second term, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has been handed an unexpected victory with the Supreme Court judgment. I believe building a Hindu temple on the site of the destroyed Ayodhya mosque will bolster its following among the most fervid Hindu followers. </p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126901/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sumit Ganguly receives funding from the US Department of State. I am a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and. Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute.</span></em></p>India’s Supreme Court has allowed a Hindu temple to be built on the disputed site of a 16th-century mosque. The verdict could have long-term ramifications for India’s tradition of religious diversity.Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1228512019-09-05T13:44:33Z2019-09-05T13:44:33ZKashmir: how Modi’s aggressive ‘Hindutva’ project has brought India and Pakistan to the brink – again<p>August is immensely important in the history of the Asian subcontinent, marking the month that India and Pakistan <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/partition1947_01.shtml">gained independence</a> from the British in 1947. Now, in 2019, it has once again proved momentous, when, <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/the-big-story/story/20190819-downsizing-kashmir-1578639-2019-08-09">ten days before</a> India’s Independence day celebrations, prime minister <a href="http://www.elections.in/political-leaders/narendra-modi.html">Narendra Modi’s</a> government revoked the autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir – a status provided for under the Indian Constitution. </p>
<p>This latest move was a manifesto pledge from Modi’s Hindu nationalist <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/india-bjp-190523053850803.html">Bharatiya Janata Party</a> (BJP), which claims that Kashmir’s autonomy has hindered its development while fostering an area of thriving terrorism and smuggling.</p>
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<p><em><strong>Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmiris-are-living-a-long-nightmare-of-indian-colonialism-121925">Kashmiris are living a long nightmare of Indian colonialism</a></strong></em> </p>
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<p>Soon, thousands of troops were deployed and the valley region faced unprecedented lockdown. Experts say that Modi’s move to tether the Muslim majority of Kashmir is a gamble that could trigger conflict with Pakistan while <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/05/india-cancellation-of-kashmir-special-status-will-have-consequences">reigniting an insurgency</a> that has already cost tens of thousands of lives.</p>
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<h2>Kashmir: a brief history</h2>
<p>Until 1947, Kashmir was a territorially well-defined and functional state that had existed for a century before its <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/9789004359994/BP000010.xml">seizure by the British</a> in 1846. The British decolonisation of the subcontinent in 1947 was instrumental in creating disorder that pushed Kashmir into a repeated cycle of war and stalemate <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-08-08/kashmir-autonomy-india-modi">between Pakistan and India</a>, which have both claimed the region as sovereign territory for the last 70 years.</p>
<p>Today, Kashmir’s geopolitical position and glacial water reserves – which provide fresh water and hydro-electric power to millions – add an extra dimension to the existing sectarian and ideological conflict between India and Pakistan over this small northern region.</p>
<p>The Kashmir issue has resulted in <a href="https://theconversation.com/kashmir-conflict-is-not-just-a-border-dispute-between-india-and-pakistan-112824">three wars</a> between these two countries – in 1947, 1965 and 1999 – triggering numerous UN <a href="http://kashmirvalley.info/un-resolutions/#.XWx1VVB7kWo">Security Council Resolutions</a> – which unequivocally call for the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.</p>
<h2>Modi’s Hindu nationalist project</h2>
<p>Many within the region feel that Modi’s BJP is brazenly trying to change Kashmir’s ethnic composition to disadvantage India’s Muslim minority by encouraging more Hindus into the region. Since the revocation of Article 370 (which assured the region’s autonomy), Indian Kashmiri leaders who vehemently opposed the decision – including two former chief ministers – have been <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/north-and-central/omar-mehbooba-being-provided-food-as-per-jail-manual-754489.html">sent to jail</a>.</p>
<p>Modi’s government has a history of stoking tensions between Hindus and Muslims, with its political rule now focused on “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3N4mGlbutbgC&pg=PA351&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Hindutva</a>”, which translates roughly as “Hindu-ness”, and reframes Hinduism as an identity rather than a theology or religion.</p>
<p>Modi has fostered Hindu nationalism through anti-Islamic rhetoric, accusing Muslim men of attempting to change India’s demographics by seducing Hindu women, as well as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/20/mobs-killing-muslims-india-narendra-modi-bjp">encouraging lynching</a> of Muslims falsely accused of eating beef (from the sacred Hindu cow) in BJP controlled states. Clearly, these are tactics designed to expand the notion of Hindutva and further isolate the Muslim population within India. Targeting Kashmir is a crucial part of the strategy.</p>
<h2>Dangerous tensions and nuclear options</h2>
<p>In the wake of India’s decision to revoke Kashmir’s special status, there are two key questions. </p>
<p>First, will it be beneficial to Kashmir as <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/3fa1cbac-c271-11e9-a8e9-296ca66511c9">claimed by Modi’s government</a>? The situation on the ground would suggest not. After a month of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/india-revokes-kashmir-special-status-latest-updates-190806134011673.html">curfew and lockdown</a>, protests have <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kashmir-protests-lockdown-india-pakistan-crackdown-public-movement-a9064531.html">turned violent</a>. The Indian government has been unable to restore peace in the valley despite the increasing atrocities. According to news reports, <a href="https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/4000-people-arrested-in-jammu-and-kashmir-since-august-5-say-govt-sources">4,000 people have been arrested</a> since the territory lost its status.</p>
<p>Second, how is the situation affecting the already tense relations between India and Pakistan? India’s land grab comes just five months after a breakdown in relations following claims by India that a Pakistani-based suicide bomber <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20190214-pakistan-india-kashmir-suicide-bomb-attack">killed 44 Indian soldiers</a> in the Kashmir region, leading to airstrikes by both sides. The situation threatens to reignite this conflict with both countries <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pakistan-wont-trigger-a-war-with-india-imran-khan/articleshow/70951509.cms">cautioning the world</a> about the nuclear option.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1498411">Addressing a joint session</a> of Pakistan’s parliament on August 6, prime minister Imran Khan briefed lawmakers on the steps his government had taken towards peace in the region. But he maintained the situation in Indian-occupied Kashmir would deteriorate and its neighbour would <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1498411">blame and attack Pakistan</a>. </p>
<p>Days later, Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh stated that India is committed to “no first use” of nuclear weapons, but future policy is dependent on the ever-evolving circumstances. These sentiments have led to <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/our-captured-wounded-hearts-arundhati-roy-on-balakot-kashmir-and-india_n_5c78d592e4b0de0c3fbf82bf?guccounter=2">international debate</a> over the possibility of nuclear weapons being unleashed.</p>
<h2>Parallels with East Timor</h2>
<p>With this nuclear threat ever present, the situation in Kashmir is now one of the most dangerous in the world. Since the two countries have consistently failed to make any progress, external help from the international community and the UN is crucial in resolving the conflict and preventing further escalation.</p>
<p>As the world witnessed in the case of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/East-Timor">East Timor</a> in 1999, independence from Indonesia after two decades of bloodshed was achieved following a referendum held under the stewardship of the UN. This result was not accepted by Indonesia, which launched a <a href="https://etan.org/estafeta/01/spring/6indo.htm">scorched-earth campaign</a>, killing more than 1,500 Timorese, displacing nearly half the population, and razing much of East Timor to the ground.</p>
<p>The subsequent progression towards <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20873267">independence and peacebuilding</a> was facilitated by external bodies such as the <a href="https://peaceaccords.nd.edu/provision/un-peacekeeping-force-agreement-between-republic-indonesia-and-portuguese-republic">UN-mandated</a> International Force in East Timor and the Transitional Administration in East Timor, underscoring the importance of support from both the UN and the international community.</p>
<p>The UN didn’t achieve success overnight, but endured through increasing international pressure, combined with a change in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/world/asia/28suharto.html">Suharto</a> government. Soon, Indonesia found itself falling out of favour with the international community.</p>
<p>There are parallels here for the Kashmir situation. Although progress may be slow while Modi’s populist BJP remains in power, pressure from the international community would likely go a long way towards pulling both countries back from the brink. In the meantime, while Modi tries to remake India in the BJP’s Hindutva image, for Kashmiris the struggle for self-determination goes on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Contributing authors: Alamgir Khan, a PhD student in Politics & International Relations, University of Dundee;
Roberta Dumitriu, (Mlitt/MSc) International Relations, University of Dundee; and
Rhiannon Dempsey, (Mlitt) International Security, University of Dundee. </span></em></p>Roughly translating as ‘Hindu-ness’, Hindutva reframes the majority religion more as an identity, stoking tensions and intolerance of Muslims.Abdullah Yusuf, Lecturer in Politics, University of DundeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1188482019-06-19T13:47:58Z2019-06-19T13:47:58ZSpatial analysis of India’s 2019 elections reveals the unique geography of the Hindu Right’s victory<p>Much ink has already been spilled on the 2019 general elections in India. The sheer scale of the triumph of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the defeat of the Indian National Congress (INC) has impressed commentators as the NDA, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), gained 353 seats among the total of 542 seats in the Lok Sabha (the Indian parliament). The NDA has secured seats in almost all Indian state and the BJP clearly ceased to be the strictly north Indian party <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Wahlergebnisse_Indien_1991.svg">it once was</a>.</p>
<p>In this paper, we want to show how a formal <a href="https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Spatial_analysis">spatial analysis</a> of the election results shows the unique geographical footprint of the BJP vote and how its recent progression follows obvious spatial patterns.</p>
<h2>The strength of the BJP in the Lok Sabha does not reflect its real vote share</h2>
<p>India’s <a href="https://aceproject.org/main/english/es/esy_in.htm">“first-past-the-post” electoral system</a> favours the largest parties, and as a result, the strength of the BJP and its allies in the parliament (63% of 542 seats) does not reflect its vote share (45%). This system also grants an advantage to smaller regional parties since their electors are geographically concentrated, as illustrated in Punjab, West Bengal, or Andhra Pradesh. Keeping these features in mind, it is important to examine the actual percentage of votes won by the NDA rather than just the distribution of seats.</p>
<p>Our map shows the share of votes for the NDA based on the official data published by <a href="http://lokdhaba.ashoka.edu.in/LokDhaba-Shiny/">Ashoka University</a>, with additional information on the NDA Lok Sabha seats.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=723&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280014/original/file-20190618-118535-1planls.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=909&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vote shares in the 2019 Indian legislative elections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.demographie.net/MapNDA2019HD.png">Guilmoto, Opigez</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A heterogeneity of voting behaviour</h2>
<p>The map first shows the heterogeneity of voting behaviour across India, with scores by the NDA ranging from less than 5% in the south to more than 70% in its strongholds of Western India. Yet in spite of the NDA progressing nationwide by more than 5%, the geography of its votes has only marginally changed over the last five years.</p>
<p>Unlike in regional elections characterised by the <a href="https://thelogicalindian.com/tli-explains/anti-incumbency/">“anti-incumbency” phenomenon</a> – when voters express their dissatisfaction against the incumbent party by voting against it – the NDA retained the vast majority of seats obtained in 2014.</p>
<p>The highest NDA scores remain concentrated in a few states of western and northern India, the coalition having in particular gained all the seats in a single regional block, stretching from Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttarkhand in the northwest to Rajasthan and Gujarat.</p>
<p>When studied through the lens of spatial analysis, the singular geographical impact of the NDA vote appears unmistakable.</p>
<h2>Constituencies influencing each other</h2>
<p>The national index of spatial autocorrelation (<a href="https://www.statisticshowto.datasciencecentral.com/morans-i/">Moran’s <em>I</em></a>, which measures the strength of similarities between adjacent observations), has reached 0.73: this means that the correlation between NDA votes in one constituency and those in the neighbouring constituencies is as high as 73%.</p>
<p>This is a very strong level of spatial dependence compared to other <a href="https://iussp2005.princeton.edu/papers/51529">social, religious or economic indicators</a>, which confirms the pronounced geographic patterning of the NDA votes in 2019.</p>
<p>This stable and regular distribution of voting behaviour contradicts the proverbial volatility of India’s regional politics last illustrated in 2018, when the BJP lost the local elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. This geographic structure also demonstrates that these spatial patterns owe less to the vagaries of local political coalitions and candidates than suggested by media reports.</p>
<p>constituency</p>
<p>In addition, the NDA vote has spread over the years to new regions of India, loosening up the geographical concentration around its historical bastions. Votes for the coalition are now more evenly distributed from one constituency to the next, mirroring the gradual regional spread of the BJP’s influence toward the east and the south.</p>
<p>The index of spatial autocorrelation has in fact increased since 2014 (I=0.69) and previous research shows that it has been on the increase since 1999 (<a href="https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/2795">I=0.43</a>).</p>
<h2>Discontinuity</h2>
<p>Yet <a href="http://www.demographie.net/MapNDA2019HD.png">if you look closer</a>, you can still distinguish areas of distinct spatial discontinuity, which are contiguous constituencies where the NDA strength drops significantly.</p>
<p>The most pronounced discontinuity line corresponds to southern and eastern Karnataka, a state where the NDA recorded an almost flawless victory: its vote share abruptly falls from around 50% to less than 20% when one crosses the boundaries to Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.</p>
<p>The NDA share declines slightly less dramatically in Tamil Nadu, thanks to its local alliance with the local AIADMK. Similar steep declines in voting shares are also on display in the northeast (Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim) as well in the Muslim-dominated constituencies of Kashmir. The NDA percentage also drops by half when one enters Andhra Pradesh from Odisha or Punjab from neighbouring Rajasthan and Haryana.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280064/original/file-20190618-118543-1v9xhzf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Discontinuity in the south.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">C. Guilmoto, E. Opigez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These cases of discontinuity contradict the otherwise high level of spatial autocorrelation highlighted earlier and points to the presence of strong regional parties that rejected any alliance with the BJP or to the presence of strong social heterogeneity along religious or ethnic lines.</p>
<p>More broadly, this corresponds to vigorous regional political traditions away from the Hindi belt, the states where Hindi is used as <em>lingua franca</em>. In such areas, local parties, including the Congress and Communist parties, fight against each other for local dominance and the BJP’s nationalist and conservative agenda appears somewhat irrelevant to Hindu voters.</p>
<h2>Several islands of organised resistance</h2>
<p>Apart from these <a href="http://www.hypergeo.eu/spip.php?article243">clear-cut regional break lines</a> acting as barriers to the progression of the BJP-led alliance, the map also points to several islands of organised resistance to the NDA. Three small such clusters of non-NDA MPs emerge in BJP-dominated states: two in northwest and eastern Uttar Pradesh and one in western Maharashtra.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280065/original/file-20190618-118501-v2pgqd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pockets of resistance in the north.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">C. Guilmoto, E. Opigez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Note the near absence of isolated non-NDA constituency in northern India. The resistance to the pressure of the NDA’s campaigning and ideology is organised around local bastions in which opposition parties have been able to preserve a dense network of politicians and activists. The combined strength of mobilization in adjacent localities and consistencies appears crucial for political survival in front of the BJP juggernaut.</p>
<p>Do these spatial patterns correspond to <a href="http://www.geocurrents.info/geopolitics/elections/regional-patterns-indias-2014-general-election">unchanging features of Indian politics</a>? The relatively stable contours of the BJP votes over several elections and the permanence of its strongholds would suggest so.</p>
<h2>Securing peripheral regions to build a new political geography</h2>
<p>Our mapping also points to the interesting geography of the NDA’s recent progression since 2014. New seats taken by the NDA coalition in 2019 are not randomly distributed on the map and illustrate its spatial diffusion away from the BJP core areas.</p>
<p>For instance, the NDA had gained its new sets in peripheral Karnataka, with two new seats in the northeast and five in its southeast tip. Similarly, the seven new seats grabbed in Bihar by the NDA in 2019 are all located in the state’s most eastern tracts next to West Bengal while the five seats gained in the northeast form a <a href="https://www.livemint.com/politics/news/how-bjp-breached-the-eastern-front-in-2019-1560090546957.html">contiguous block</a> from Manipur to southern Tripura.</p>
<p>The BJP’s foray into West Bengal (eight seats gained) follows clear spatial patterns from adjacent states to the south of the state, with the Kolkata metropolitan area now encircled. The NDA has also gained ground in Telangana (three new seats) from its porous northwest border with Madhya Pradesh and in western Odisha (four new seats) from nearby Jharkhand. It notably established for the first time a bridgehead by reaching the Bay of Bengal in northern Odisha (two new seats).</p>
<h2>Grassroots organisations at the forefront</h2>
<p>With the exception of south India’s current sanitary cordon, this geographical propagation is a unique feature of the BJP’s progress over the last three decades.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/280066/original/file-20190618-118522-yrazm6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Progression in the East.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">C. Guilmoto, E. Opigez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is very different from the segmented regional patterns of the Congress vote, which are <a href="http://www.hypergeo.eu/spip.php?article243">scattered over India</a>, with strongholds in the north, the south and east. It also underscores the role of local processes of political conversion through <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/files/BJP_In_Power_final.pdf">grassroots organisations</a>, in addition to the national media blitz and regional coalition building.</p>
<p>As to the tight barriers to BJP progression in southern India, there is no reason to believe that they will withstand indefinitely the pressure from India’s hegemonic party.</p>
<p>Not only could the BJP join forces with local partners – as it did in <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/election-results-2019-bjp-nda-performance-south-india-kerala-karnataka-tamil-nadu-andhra-pradesh-telangana-1533789-2019-05-24">Andhra Pradesh in 2014 and Tamil Nadu in 2019</a> – but also the spatial divides noticeable earlier along the West Bengal or the Telangana borders seem to have all but collapsed during the latest election.</p>
<p>It is time to recognise the map of the NDA’s electoral success for what it is: the signature of a successful diffusion drive of a consistent political ideology across the country that might, in the absence of organised resistance, incorporate in the near future more territories of south and east India. Without a consistent spatial perspective, we risk losing sight of its actual momentum.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118848/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christophe Z Guilmoto ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>A spatial analysis of India’s election results shows a unique geographical footprint of the BJP vote and how its recent progression follows obvious geographic patterns.Christophe Z Guilmoto, Senior fellow in demography, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1037962019-01-23T09:19:16Z2019-01-23T09:19:16ZA warning from India for European liberals on how to manage relations with Muslim minorities<p>Especially since the refugee crisis, Europe has been grappling with populist reactions to the growth of Muslim minorities. Yet, despite decades of migration, native Europeans have limited experience and imagination when it comes to relating to Muslim minorities. Europeans must look far back in time to the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml">Al-Andalus</a> period of medieval Spain, or to the Balkans, for European examples of Muslims and non-Muslims having shared the same space for centuries. </p>
<p>The record is distressing. Muslims in Spain eventually <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jun/15/moors-last-stand-blood-and-faith-spain-muslims">had to leave</a> or convert to Christianity in the early modern period. The Balkans saw atrocious wars and ethnic cleansing in the 1990s.</p>
<p>In researching my <a href="https://www.routledge.com/HinduMuslim-Relations-What-Europe-Might-Learn-from-India/Friedrichs/p/book/9781138625471">new book</a>, I decided to look at other parts of the world to see how non-Muslim majorities and Muslim minorities can live together – peacefully or not. I found the case of democratic India particularly instructive – not only for the similarities but also for the contrast. While Europeans can learn a lot from India in terms of managing community relations, the crisis of Indian secularism also serves as a warning. </p>
<p>For many centuries, Hindus and Muslims in India have mostly coexisted peacefully – unlike Europe, where almost any minority was at a risk of persecution until two or three generations ago.</p>
<p>But Hindu-Muslim relations have sometimes descended into deadly violence on a horrific scale. In 1947, when <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-partition-of-india-happened-and-why-its-effects-are-still-felt-today-81766">Pakistan separated from India</a>, atrocious violence happened on both sides. Since then, so-called religious or “communal” <a href="https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/4342">riots</a> have claimed more than 10,000 victims. In recent months, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-46318505">people have again mobilised</a> around a contested temple and mosque site at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, which was also at the heart of troubles in the 1980s and early 1990s.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/06/world/asia/modi-gujarat-riots-timeline.html">Riots in Gujarat</a> in 2002 were particularly bloody. While riots have claimed fewer victims in recent years, other incidents of communal violence, such as <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/crime-and-context-4739229/">“beef lynchings</a>” of people accused of killing cows, remain an issue. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/violence-against-indian-muslims-who-eat-beef-has-hypocrisy-at-its-heart-49457">Violence against Indian Muslims who eat beef has hypocrisy at its heart</a>
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<p>Despite such violence, Muslims have remained an integral part of India even after the separation of Pakistan. Today, India has a stable Muslim minority of <a href="https://www.census2011.co.in/religion.php">more than 14%</a>.</p>
<p>While lacking a similar history of coexistence, several European countries are moving into similar demographic terrain. According to the <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/29/europes-growing-muslim-population/">Pew Research Forum</a>, Europe’s overall population is projected to be between 7% and 14% Muslim by 2050 (up from 5% in 2016). In Germany, the projection is for 9%-20% of the population to be Muslim by 2050, in the UK 10%-17%, and in France 13%-18%. </p>
<h2>Resisting the lure of narcissism</h2>
<p>To find out what if anything Europeans can learn from Hindu-Muslim relations in India, I have interviewed Indians from diverse backgrounds covering the entire political spectrum, from politicians to social activists and from the middle class to slum dwellers. There are two warnings emerging from my research. </p>
<p>One warning is that majorities should resist the lure of narcissism. Take Hindu nationalists who support India’s current prime minister, Narendra Modi. Those I interviewed typically constructed an idealised Hindu “self”, and attributed to it all kinds of virtues such as generosity and tolerance. They then explained how that “self” is frustrated and victimised by an “other”, namely Indian Muslims failing to reciprocate the alleged Hindu generosity and tolerance. </p>
<p>From here, they would argue that if “they” (Muslims) exploit “our” (Hindu) generosity and tolerance, the gloves must come off and “we” must teach “them” a lesson. Ironically, the means to do so are at in stark variance with the virtues of generosity and tolerance that these Hindu nationalists profess to embrace. </p>
<p>Western Europeans are prone to similar contradictions. Many of them see Europe as a beacon of democracy and human rights but, when disappointed in their quest to promote such values, they are willing to embrace drastic measures. Take for example <a href="https://theconversation.com/british-readiness-to-allow-death-penalty-for-is-beatles-suspects-shows-the-need-to-strengthen-the-law-100425">limits to normal legal protections</a> introduced to fight terrorism, as well as botched attempts at forcible regime change in countries such as Libya and Syria. The purpose may be justifiable and the measures unavoidable, but Europeans might be better off if they cultivated a less narcissistic image of themselves as torchbearers of democracy and human rights, as doing so might allow them to deal with any challenges consistently rather than hypocritically.</p>
<h2>Avoiding trouble at the ballot box</h2>
<p>Another warning is that, when trying to accommodate minorities, ruling elites must not lose touch with prevailing perceptions of fairness among the majority. </p>
<p>Ever since the independence struggle, the Indian National Congress Party has struggled with a reputation of appeasing socially conservative religious minorities. Under the banner of <a href="https://thewire.in/culture/india-secularism-lesson-west">Indian secularism</a> and in pursuit of electoral advantage, the Congress and other secular parties felt compelled to accommodate Muslims and other religious minorities as deserving particular respect and, eventually, special treatment. </p>
<p>When Indian secularists began to realise that this was alienating the majority, they tried to redefine Indian secularism in more progressive terms: namely from a constitutional framework focused on supporting religious minorities into one that promotes community development, social justice, and cultural diversity. </p>
<p>However, too many Indians continued to see minority accommodation as appeasement. The Congress Party in particular has <a href="https://www.epw.in/journal/2017/12/web-exclusives/decline-congress-party-indian-politics.html">payed a heavy price for this at the ballot box</a>. Four and a half years after Modi’s electoral victory, and despite hopeful signs in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/31/india-worlds-biggest-election-has-suddenly-become-competitive">recent state elections</a>, it remains to be seen if and when India’s secularists can win another national election.</p>
<p>Under the banner of multiculturalism, European liberals are redefining their political project in similar ways – and are entering a similar crisis. </p>
<h2>What European liberals might learn</h2>
<p>India can therefore serve European liberals not so much as a model but rather as a warning from which they can learn. Like Indian secularism, multiculturalism prescribes that majorities should accommodate minorities rather than the other way round. Like Indian secularists, European liberals are tempted to engage in coalition building with minorities, regardless of whether those minorities share their liberal values. This means they may end up on the same platform not only with liberal community leaders, Muslim or otherwise, but also with illiberal ones. </p>
<p>European liberals, especially in leftist parties such as the UK Labour Party, have tried to <a href="https://immigrationlab.org/2017/09/15/the-european-lefts-wary-embrace-of-muslim-voters/">tap into</a> the minority vote. In doing so, they have sometimes turned a blind eye to illiberal tendencies in socially conservative milieus, such as sex segregation in <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/islamic-faith-school-sex-segregation-ruling-unlawful-raises-questions-discrimination-expert-warning-a7998816.html">faith schools</a>. During the Salman Rushdie affair and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/world/middleeast/perceived-anti-islam-insults-in-the-media-have-often-led-to-retributions-and-threats.html">repeatedly since</a>, many Muslims in Europe and elsewhere have called for a ban of criticism of Islam as “hate speech” or blasphemy. Such calls are hardly compatible with free speech. Yet, they have fallen on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/17/europe-blasphemy-middle-ages-free-society">fertile ground</a> with many European liberals. </p>
<p>However, as in the case of Indian secularism, there is considerable risk of a backlash from parts of the majority. European liberals should therefore reconsider their coalition building with illiberal minority brokers, Muslim or otherwise. Unless European liberals understand this sooner rather than later, the current wave of populism will continue and may eventually sweep away the liberal establishment. </p>
<p>That is what happened in India, where Modi and his allies almost wiped out the parliamentary presence of the Congress and other secularist parties. Populist parties have <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36130006">made inroads into many European countries</a> including France, Germany and Sweden. The alleged <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/7d012adc-dc32-11e7-a039-c64b1c09b482">bankruptcy of multiculturalism</a> is one of their favourite soapboxes. Many followers of these parties, however, are disenchanted liberals rather than rabid nationalists. Instead of alienating them further, liberals should try to gain them back by showing that they care about the majority at least as much as about minorities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103796/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joerg Friedrichs does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With Muslim minorities in Europe projected to increase, what lessons can be learnt from India?Joerg Friedrichs, Associate Professor of Politics, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1064232018-12-14T11:44:59Z2018-12-14T11:44:59ZWho are Yemen’s Houthis?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250550/original/file-20181213-178570-rs5rzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Supporters of Shiite Houthi rebels attend a rally in Sanaa, Yemen, in 2017.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Yemen/5e3dba120f09431cb34025096ffbadca/71/0">AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fully half of Yemen’s population – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/world/middleeast/famine-yemen-saudi-arabia-hudaydah.html">14 million people</a> – are on the brink of starvation. Some analysts blame their inability to access basic foodstuff on escalating conflict between two religious factions: the country’s Sunni Muslims and its Houthis. The Houthis belong to the Shiite branch of Islam. </p>
<p>Saudi Arabia, which shares a border with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/these-maps-show-where-yemens-conflict-could-be-heading-2015-3">Yemen</a> and is predominantly Sunni, has been helping Yemen’s government forces try to regain control over Houthi-held parts of the country. For several weeks, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/world/middleeast/famine-yemen-saudi-arabia-hudaydah.html">Saudi-led coalition</a> has unleashed near-continuous airstrikes on Houthi strongholds including access points for the majority of humanitarian aid coming into country. </p>
<p>What are the Houthis’ religious beliefs? </p>
<h2>Roots of Houthi movement</h2>
<p>Just as the Protestant tradition is subdivided into Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and others, Shiite Islam is also subdivided. Houthis belong to the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249485351_Zaydism_A_Theological_and_Political_Survey_Zaydism">Zaydi branch</a>. </p>
<p>From the ninth century onward, or for a thousand years, <a href="http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2567">a state ruled by Zaydi</a> religious leaders and politicians existed in northern Yemen. Then, in 1962, Egyptian-trained Yemeni military officers <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2017/12/18/who-are-the-houthis-and-why-are-we-at-war-with-them/">toppled the Zaydi monarchy</a> and replaced it with a republic. Because of their ties to the ancient regime, Zaydis were perceived as a threat to the new government and were subjected to <a href="http://www.mei.edu/publications/huthi-ascent-power">severe repression</a>. </p>
<p>Nearly three decades later, in 1990, the region known as south Yemen merged with north Yemen to become the <a href="https://blog.oup.com/2010/11/yemen/">Republic of Yemen</a>. Zaydis remained <a href="https://www.ecfr.eu/mena/yemen">a majority in the north and west</a> of the country, and also in the capital city of Sanaa. However, in terms of the overall population, they became a minority.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ym.html">2010 CIA estimate</a>, 65 percent of Yemen’s people are Sunnis and 35 percent are Shiites. The majority of those Shiites are Zaydis. Jews, Bahais, Hindus and Christians make up less than 1 percent of inhabitants, many of whom are refugees or temporary foreign residents.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250556/original/file-20181213-178573-1mffisw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250556/original/file-20181213-178573-1mffisw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250556/original/file-20181213-178573-1mffisw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250556/original/file-20181213-178573-1mffisw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250556/original/file-20181213-178573-1mffisw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250556/original/file-20181213-178573-1mffisw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250556/original/file-20181213-178573-1mffisw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yemen: 2015 Civil War map. The section in green is controlled by the Houthis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yemen_war_detailed_map.png#/media/File:Yemen_war_detailed_map.png">0ali1,via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To reduce the dominance of Zaydis in the north, government authorities encouraged Muslims belonging to two Sunni branches with links to Saudi Arabia – Salafis and Wahhabis – <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10576100903262716?src=recsys&journalCode=uter20">to settle</a> in the heart of the Zaydis’ traditional territories. </p>
<h2>Start of Houthi insurgency</h2>
<p>Contributing to this trend, in the early 1990s, a Yemeni cleric founded a <a href="https://ctc.usma.edu/deconstructing-salafism-in-yemen-2/">teaching institute</a> in the Zaydis’ heartland. This cleric, educated in Saudi Arabia, developed a version of Salafi Islam.</p>
<p>His institute proselytized with the goal of reforming Muslims through conversion. It educated thousands of Yemeni students and, in less than three decades, the new religious group grew large enough to compete with older groups such as the Zaydis.</p>
<p>According to scholar <a href="https://www.towson.edu/cla/departments/geography/cschmitz.html">Charles Schmitz</a>, the Houthi insurgency began in the early 1990s, spurred, in part, by <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31645145">Zaydi resistance</a> to growing Salafi and Wahhabi <a href="https://institute.global/insight/co-existence/what-houthi-movement">influence</a> in the north. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.academia.edu/4818151/A_Portrait_of_Tunisia_s_Ansar_al-_Shari_a_Leader_Abu_Iyad_al-Tunisi_His_Strategy_on_Jihad">Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi</a>, son of a prominent Zaydi cleric, gave the grassroots movement its name. He coalesced support among his followers around a narrative of Houthis as defenders and revivers of Zaydi religion and culture. </p>
<h2>Sunni vs. Zaydi Shiite beliefs</h2>
<p>What beliefs set Zaydis apart from Sunni Muslims? That is an old story, dating back to the seventh century when the Prophet Muhammad died. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-shia-sunni-divide-78216">Shiites and Sunnis disagree</a> about who should have been selected to succeed Muhammad as head of the Muslim community. Two groups emerged after his death. One group of the Prophet’s followers – later called Sunnis – recognized four of his companions as <a href="http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2018">“rightly guided” leaders</a> In contrast, another group – later called Shiites – recognized only Ali, the fourth of these leaders, as legitimate.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ali_ibn_Abi_Talib">Ali</a> was the Prophet’s first cousin and closest male blood relative. He was also married to Fatima, Muhammad’s youngest daughter. For these and other reasons, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/616187">Shiites believe that Ali was uniquely qualified</a> to lead. In support of this claim, they cite sources describing Muhammad’s wish that Ali succeed him. Shiites consider Ali second in importance only to the Prophet. </p>
<p><iframe id="lPEaI" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/lPEaI/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Over time, <a href="https://iis.ac.uk/academic-articles/what-shi-islam#zaydi%20shiism">further divisions</a> took place. Allegiances to different descendants of Ali and his two sons, Hassan and Hussein, split Shiites into sub-branches. A grandson of Hussein called <a href="http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2566">Zayd</a> gave the Zaydis their name. To them, he is the fifth imam after Muhammad, giving the Zaydis their other name: “Fivers.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250562/original/file-20181213-178573-1qa8jnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250562/original/file-20181213-178573-1qa8jnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250562/original/file-20181213-178573-1qa8jnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250562/original/file-20181213-178573-1qa8jnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250562/original/file-20181213-178573-1qa8jnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250562/original/file-20181213-178573-1qa8jnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250562/original/file-20181213-178573-1qa8jnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250562/original/file-20181213-178573-1qa8jnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The family genealogy of the Zaydi Shiites’ first five imams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation, CC-BY-ND</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Zayd earned the respect of his followers when he rose up against the powerful Muslim rulers of his time, whom he believed to be tyrannical and corrupt. Though his rebellion was ill-fated, his fight against oppression and injustice inspires Zaydis to actively resist. </p>
<p>A key Zaydi belief is that only blood relatives of Ali and Fatima are eligible to serve as religious leaders, or imams. In Yemen, these relatives form a notable class of people called <a href="https://www.oasiscenter.eu/en/war-in-yemen-who-is-involved">Sada</a>. Hussein al-Houthi, the first leader of the Houthis, came from a prestigious clan of Sada. </p>
<h2>Impact of sectarian differences</h2>
<p>Not all Zaydis have a favorable view of Sada elites. When north and south Yemen merged in 1990, the republican government, led by a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/04/former-yemen-president-saleh-killed-in-fresh-fighting">Zaydi president</a> sought to reduce their outsized influence and limit their privileges.</p>
<p>Some members of the Sada reacted to the country’s changing political landscape by joining electoral politics to secure honor and exercise power. This path was initially followed by Hussein al-Houthi but, after he decided it was ineffective, he abandoned it. </p>
<p>Other members of the Sada, particularly the youth, reacted by pledging to teach and promote Zaydism among their peers who had forgotten their ancestors’ religion. To accomplish this, they founded the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10576100903262716?src=recsys&journalCode=uter20">Believing Youth organization</a> and set up a cultural education program based on a network of summer camps in the north. Hussein al-Houthi joined this organization in the early 2000s and later transformed it into a political movement critical of the Yemeni government’s ties to the West.</p>
<p>Security forces sent to arrest Hussein al-Houthi touched off the first war with the Houthis. Hussein was killed during the conflict and <a href="https://institute.global/insight/co-existence/what-houthi-movement">leadership</a> passed to Hussein’s father and then to Hussein’s youngest brother, Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi. Abdul-Malik helped transform the Houthi movement into a powerful fighting force. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.academia.edu/4818151/A_Portrait_of_Tunisia_s_Ansar_al-_Shari_a_Leader_Abu_Iyad_al-Tunisi_His_Strategy_on_Jihad">Five additional wars</a> followed over the next six years until, in 2010, the rebels had grown strong enough to repel a ground and aerial offensive launched against them by Saudi Arabia. During these wars, the <a href="https://cfr.org/interview/who-are-yemens-houthis">Houthis</a> pushed beyond their traditional base and captured vast sections of territory.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244002/original/file-20181105-74775-tcslag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244002/original/file-20181105-74775-tcslag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244002/original/file-20181105-74775-tcslag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244002/original/file-20181105-74775-tcslag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244002/original/file-20181105-74775-tcslag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244002/original/file-20181105-74775-tcslag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244002/original/file-20181105-74775-tcslag.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yemeni women and children at a camp in north Yemen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/irinphotos/4437447101/in/photolist-7LbBas-7L85qD-7KTgRD-7L85qV-r9xKk3-V1rFYe-FVXHwd-244XFAY-S991QM-pXsjFW-26KRXzQ-F3ZFHT-HaNyf4-22oWX1e-23Lrqqk-FCty1E-FCqegb-ryxv8k-ryrExv-22oWWmD-qBLbnB-E7fq1K-23HuKuA-278Vcw2-FSoMgM-ryrWCC-23LrpMM-244XFUU-JPpdox-244XDzJ-FCqekE-275e39G-Kv6DzP-25seAwc">IRIN Photos/Flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many Yemenis, <a href="https://civiliansinconflict.org/dt_team/nadwa-al-dawsari/">according to one expert</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/houthis-endgame-yemen-171221082107181.html">believe</a> that the Houthis are fighting to restore a state like the one prior to 1962, led by imams who came exclusively from Sada families. </p>
<h2>Complex factors today</h2>
<p>Houthis continue to focus on protecting the Zaydi region of north Yemen from state control. However, they have also forged <a href="http://www.mei.edu/publications/huthi-ascent-power">coalitions</a> with other groups – some of them Sunni – unhappy with Yemen’s persistent high <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-13917706/yemen-s-unemployment-crisis">unemployment and corruption</a>.</p>
<p>A 2015 U.N. <a href="https://www.securitycouncilreport.org/wp-content/uploads/s_2015_125.pdf">Security Council report</a> estimates that the Houthi movement includes 75,000 armed fighters. However, if unarmed loyalists are taken into account, they could number between 100,000 and 120,000.</p>
<p>Sectarian tension is only one factor in the complex set of <a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/yemens-spiraling-crisis">interlocking factors</a> responsible for violence and starvation in Yemen. But it is, without a doubt, a contributing factor.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Myriam Renaud is affiliated with the Parliament of the World's Religions. </span></em></p>The Houthis belong to the Shiite branch of Islam. The Houthi insurgency began in the early 1990s, spurred in part by growing influence of different Sunni branches of Islam.Myriam Renaud, Principal Investigator and Project Director of the Global Ethic Project, Parliament of the World's Religions, University of ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1027682018-09-11T04:03:52Z2018-09-11T04:03:52ZThe myth of a vegetarian India<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235146/original/file-20180906-190673-pzgux8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Indian has a booming poultry market.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pau Casals/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>India has a reputation as a vegetarian nation, and Indians certainly consume far less meat than the <a href="https://data.oecd.org/agroutput/meat-consumption.htm">global average</a>. But the view of India as a predominantly vegetarian nation may not be quite accurate. </p>
<p>India, whose population is predicted to <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/a-i7465e.pdf">overtake China’s</a>, is <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2011/09/22/india-urbanization">rapidly changing</a> from an agricultural society to an industrial economy with a surging urban population. This is driving the fastest-growing poultry market in the world, as cultural norms change and eating meat becomes a status symbol.</p>
<h2>Total vegetarianism is rare</h2>
<p>Vegetarianism in India has been <a href="http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/LEAD/x6170e/x6170e09.htm#TopOfPage">gradually becoming less strict</a> over the past 30 years. Only about <a href="http://www.censusindia.gov.in/vital_statistics/BASELINE%20TABLES07062016.pdf">three in ten</a> Indians now claim to be vegetarian, and a 2016 national survey found that <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/733753/vegetarianism-among-young-adults-india">more than half</a> of people aged between 15 and 34 eat meat. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://rchiips.org/nfhs/NFHS-4Reports/India.pdf">National Family Health Survey</a> found that only 30% of women and 22% of men describe themselves as vegetarian. Other studies have similarly found that a <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/the-food-habits-of-a-nation/article3089973.ece">relatively small minority</a> practise vegetarianism.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-a-vegetarian-diet-really-more-environmentally-friendly-than-eating-meat-71596">Is a vegetarian diet really more environmentally friendly than eating meat?</a>
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<p>Even these numbers may well be underestimates. Indians are said to <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/%E2%80%98More-Indians-eating-beef-buffalo-meat%E2%80%99/article16085248.ece">underreport their meat consumption</a> due to religious and cultural stigmas associated with it.</p>
<h2>Tastes like chicken</h2>
<p>Poultry is India’s <a href="https://stats.oecd.org/viewhtml.aspx?QueryId=58654&vh=0000&vf=0&l&il=&lang=en">most popular type of meat</a>, and India is projected to be <a href="http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/resources/en/glw/Layers_JPG/Gl_PoultryMeat_GrowthDemand0030.jpg">one of the world’s largest growth markets</a> for poultry consumption. </p>
<p>The rise in meat consumption is <a href="http://mospi.nic.in/sites/default/files/publication_reports/Report_no558_rou68_30june14.pdf">predominantly driven by urban India</a>, and the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/653363/share-of-non-vegetarians-by-state-india/">highest percentages of non-vegetarians</a> come from southern states such as Telgana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. </p>
<p>Another reason may be that chicken can be considered a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4662155/">universally acceptable meat</a>, given the religious taboos associated with beef among Hindus and pork among Muslims. Although 80% of Indians are Hindus, India is home to several other <a href="http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/religion.aspx">major religions and sub-faiths</a>, each with its own strictures about <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Consumer_Behaviour.html?id=KF57x1Nrn2UC&redir_esc=y">food and eating</a>. Vegetarianism is less common among <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/the-food-habits-of-a-nation/article3089973.ece">Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Bahais, Parsis and Jews</a> who collectively make up <a href="http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/Religion_PCA.html">15% of India’s population</a>.</p>
<h2>Upwardly mobile urbanites</h2>
<p>In addition to religious and cultural variations, several key factors have influenced India’s shift, overall, towards meat consumption. These include <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4662155/">rising urbanisation, increasing disposable incomes</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Consumer_India.html?id=gZV_VfXv4aQC&redir_esc=y">globalisation and cross-cultural influences</a>. Many urban Indians are embracing consumerism as a sign of <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/026272801003000301">upward social mobility</a> and meat is widely considered to be a <a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/brunch/food-the-new-status-symbol/story-iSK8pzDHFHhlKpxaUd36WP.html">status symbol</a>. </p>
<p>Despite this, others still consider meat-eating to be <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/meaty-tales-of-vegetarian-india-47830">socially and culturally unacceptable</a>. A <a href="https://espace.curtin.edu.au/handle/20.500.11937/1656">2015 study</a> found young people felt “you eat [meat] in secret, away from your family”. </p>
<p>This appears to reflect differences in <a href="http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=11503">front-stage and backstage behaviours</a>, a trait mainly found in collectivist cultures. “Front-stage behaviours”, which is how we act in public, may have more role-playing elements than backstage behaviours, which tend to be carried out in private. </p>
<p>It seems urban Indians today <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Consumer_Behaviour.html?id=KF57x1Nrn2UC&redir_esc=y">face a dissonance</a>. On one hand, increasing exposure to new lifestyles is creating cultural change, but there is still pressure to adhere to traditions that have prevailed for centuries. </p>
<p>This contradiction is reflected in some of the urban Indian attitudes from the <a href="https://espace.curtin.edu.au/handle/20.500.11937/1656">2015 study on meat consumption</a>. On one hand, some felt:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>…in our Bhagvad Gita, Ramayan (in reference to the Hindu holy books) there are old teachings that non-veg is impure. It is the food of demons/monsters.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the other hand, it was also claimed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[When it comes to] holy men and Brahmins, it’s not like they don’t like eggs or meat. In front of people they will behave, but on the quiet/sly, they will smoke and drink and eat everything else.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Meat eating in India is a complex issue, with many facets. However, recent trends and figures certainly seem to indicate one thing: it is a mistake to label India as a vegetarian nation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102768/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tani Khara does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>India doesn’t eat much meat per capita, but that might be changing: it’s the fastest-growing poultry market in the world.Tani Khara, PhD student in Sustainability, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1007972018-08-08T10:36:22Z2018-08-08T10:36:22ZWho are Pakistan’s Ahmadis and why haven’t they voted in 30 years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230931/original/file-20180807-191013-j19bb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A portrait of Imran Khan, whose party won the recent elections, in Islamabad, Pakistan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Anjum Naveed</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pakistani cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan, <a href="http://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2018/aug/04/imran-khan-may-take-oath-as-prime-minister-of-pakistan-on-august-14-1853248.html">is all set to be the country’s new prime minister</a>. His party emerged the single largest in recent elections.</p>
<p>It is only for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/26/imran-khan-claims-victory-in-pakistan-elections">the second time</a> in the 71-year history of this second largest Muslim majority country that a democratically elected government, will transfer power to another after completing its full term. The nation’s <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/310667/pakistan-on-the-brink-by-ahmed-rashid/9780143122838/">military has intervened</a> repeatedly to remove leaders and has directly controlled the country for about half of its history.</p>
<p>And so this recent milestone in Pakistan’s democracy has <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1417636">elated many citizens</a>. However, one community boycotted the recent elections, as they have for over three decades: the Ahmadi, a religious minority. </p>
<p>Who are the Ahmadis and what does their boycott tell about the role religion has played in Pakistan’s nationalist politics? </p>
<h2>The Ahmadi of Pakistan</h2>
<p>The origin of the Ahmadi community goes back to the British-ruled India of 1889. At the time, in the province of Punjab (a region that would later be split between an independent India and Pakistan), a Muslim religious leader, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, became disenchanted with what <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=807412">he viewed as Muslim decadence</a> that allowed for the humiliating experience of foreign rule.</p>
<p>Like <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/religion-science-and-empire-9780195393019?cc=us&lang=en&">many Indians</a>, he wondered what needed to change in order to overcome the invaders.</p>
<p>Many European missionaries wanted to “free” Indians – both Muslims and Hindus – of what they <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=3193">characterized as their religious ignorance</a> by bringing them to the “truth” of Christian traditions.</p>
<p>With the British government’s consent, some traveled through cities and rural areas <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/religion-science-and-empire-9780195393019?cc=us&lang=en&_">to publicly denounce</a> Islamic and Hindu traditions, while others published pamphlets doing so.</p>
<p>To restore the wholesomeness of Islamic traditions that had once influenced much of South Asia, Ghulam Ahmad reinterpreted branches of Islamic thought. He broadcast the message of reform through his prolific writing. Most prominently, he claimed to be both <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Prophecy_Continuous.html?id=rv8EAAAACAAJ">the Messiah and a prophet</a>.</p>
<p>Most Muslims believe that Isa, or Jesus – whom they recognize as a prophet akin to Muhammad – will return as a Messiah, a figure expected to prepare the world for <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Prophecy_Continuous.html?id=rv8EAAAACAAJ">Judgment Day</a>. In contrast, Ghulam Ahmad claimed to displace Isa in this role and announced that the end times were near.</p>
<p>What was more problematic, particularly to Islamic scholars, was his claim as a prophet. Most Muslims understand Muhammad as the “seal of the prophets,” the last sent by God. The Quran represents the final revelation offered to humanity by God. Ghulam Ahmad addressed these concerns by <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=807412">claiming to be a lesser type of prophet</a>. </p>
<p>His message attracted growing numbers of followers among Muslims struggling to deal with the realities of British rule. Many were drawn partly to his <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=807412">strident criticism</a> of Christian missionaries and Hindu activists who denigrated them. In 1889 he inaugurated a small group called the Jamaat-i Ahmadiyya (the Organization of Ahmad), that <a href="http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=807412">helped spread</a> his message. </p>
<p>Although some Ahmadis later turned away from their leader’s most disputed assertions, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Islam_and_the_Ahmadiyya_Jama%CA%BBat.html?id=yDIqAQAAMAAJ">the Jamaat-i Ahmadiyya held steadfast</a> to his claim to prophethood. This group viewed him as nothing less than the Messiah who had returned to help humanity as it faced its end. </p>
<p>They made Rabwah, a town in Pakistan’s province of Punjab, their headquarters. </p>
<p>During Ghulam Ahmad’s life, Islamic scholars expressed disapproval with other scholars or individual Ahmadis. However, in 1947, after Pakistan was established as a separate Muslim homeland, some Islamic scholars publicly attacked the theology of the Ahmadis. Various politicians harnessed the controversy to their nationalist politics. </p>
<h2>The politics of defining the true Muslim</h2>
<p>The first major expression of anti-Ahmadi sentiment <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/788358">targeted an Ahmadi, Chaudhry Zafarullah Khan,</a> who held the foreign minister’s post in 1953. </p>
<p>Some Muslims circulated rumors that Ahmadis proselytized among Muslims and represented a Western-supported conspiracy. This spurred riots throughout the country in 1953 that led to six deaths. Subsequently the government <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/788358">removed all Ahmadis, including Zafarullah Khan</a> from prominent official posts.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230934/original/file-20180807-191038-1otmyr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230934/original/file-20180807-191038-1otmyr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230934/original/file-20180807-191038-1otmyr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230934/original/file-20180807-191038-1otmyr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230934/original/file-20180807-191038-1otmyr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230934/original/file-20180807-191038-1otmyr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230934/original/file-20180807-191038-1otmyr3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A minaret of the Ahmadi’s Garhi Shahu mosque.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For the next two decades, the campaign against the Ahmadi proceeded haltingly, staggering between occasional local tensions and evolving political agendas.</p>
<p>In 1974, however, the town of Rabwah became the epicenter of antagonism. Following riots targeting Ahmadis in many parts of Pakistan, Prime Minister Zulfikar Bhutto – among the least religiously inclined of Pakistan’s leaders – bowed to Islamist pressure to make constitutional amendments <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/788358">declaring Ahmadis as non-Muslims</a>.</p>
<p>Later in 1984, legislation <a href="https://herald.dawn.com/news/1152871">prohibited Ahmadi from proselytizing</a> or even professing their beliefs.<br>
Matters worsened a year later when the government divided Pakistan’s electorate into “Muslim” and “non-Muslim.” This required voters to declare whether they accepted Muhammad as the final prophet. Ahmadi who declared themselves Muslim <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/980272/beleaguered-community-jamaat-i-ahmadiyya-to-stay-away-from-forthcoming-polls/">faced penalties.</a></p>
<p>The bottom line is since 1985 most <a href="http://newsweekpakistan.com/pakistans-ahmadis-to-boycott-elections/">have not participated in an election</a>. Casting a vote would require them to <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/538686/franchise-ahmadis-still-out-of-electoral-process/">explicitly denounce themselves as non-Muslims</a>, which would have its own consequences. </p>
<h2>Nationalism’s double-edge</h2>
<p>What is important to understand is that the roots of the current electoral conflict do not inherently lie either in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad’s message nor the Ahmadiyya community. </p>
<p>The conflict emerges from <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-republic-unsettled">an ideology of nationalism</a> that inherently promotes a sense of belonging in its citizens, at the risk of exclusion of certain “outsiders.” </p>
<p>As Britain abandoned South Asia in 1947, Pakistan’s founders established a secular state meant to protect Muslims as a separate homeland from the political threats they saw in a Hindu-majority India. Certain Islamist political groups and politicians <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?content=reviews&isbn=9780674979833">combined religious identity, language and symbols to foster national unity</a>. </p>
<p>Specific domestic religious groups <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/10/in-pakistan-most-say-ahmadis-are-not-muslim/">were targeted</a> as the enemy of the public in order to garner popular support. In 2011, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/09/10/in-pakistan-most-say-ahmadis-are-not-muslim/">Pakistan was ranked at the top</a> on Pew Research Center’s index on social hostilities involving religion. The Ahmadis were one targeted group. </p>
<p>Just as the Trump administration <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538107379/Islamophobia-and-Anti-Muslim-Sentiment-Picturing-the-Enemy-Second-Edition">questions the loyalty of Muslim-Americans</a> and simultaneously defines “true” Americans, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/310667/pakistan-on-the-brink-by-ahmed-rashid/9780143122838/">increasing numbers of Pakistani politicians and Islamists </a> after 1947 portrayed the Ahmadis negatively in order to project themselves as protectors of “true” Muslim Pakistanis. </p>
<p>By 2012, <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2012/08/09/the-worlds-muslims-unity-and-diversity-5-religious-identity/">only 7 percent of Pakistanis</a> considered Ahmadis as Muslims.</p>
<h2>Target of attacks</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230933/original/file-20180807-191013-fw0psb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230933/original/file-20180807-191013-fw0psb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230933/original/file-20180807-191013-fw0psb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230933/original/file-20180807-191013-fw0psb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230933/original/file-20180807-191013-fw0psb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230933/original/file-20180807-191013-fw0psb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/230933/original/file-20180807-191013-fw0psb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Ahmadi mosque in the eastern city of Sialkot, Pakistan, demolished by extremists in May 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Shahid Ikram</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this environment the Ahmadis, <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/1652980/1-ihc-seeks-ahmadis-population-figures-since-1947/">representing perhaps 0.2 percent</a> of Pakistan’s <a href="http://www.pbs.gov.pk/content/provisional-summary-results-6th-population-and-housing-census-2017-0">208 million</a> population, continue to struggle. They have been been the targets not only of electoral discrimination but also of <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1409714">vandalism against their places of worship</a>. They have been accused of <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1363201">blasphemy</a>, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-election-ahmadis/the-town-that-doesnt-vote-pakistans-ahmadis-say-forced-to-abstain-idUSKBN1KB079">laws have made it illegal</a> for them to recite the Quran. They are also not <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-election-ahmadis/the-town-that-doesnt-vote-pakistans-ahmadis-say-forced-to-abstain-idUSKBN1KB079">allowed to have Islamic inscriptions on headstones</a>, or even call their places of worship “mosques.”</p>
<p>Many have despaired of finding acceptance in their national homeland and <a href="http://www.worldpress.org/link.cfm?http://www.thefridaytimes.com/">emigrated to other nations.</a> In Pakistan, as the recent election shows, they continue to struggle with a nationalist politics of exclusion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100797/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Gottschalk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A religious minority of Pakistan, the Ahmadis have been boycotting elections for decades. Casting a vote would require that they denounce themselves as ‘non-Muslims.’Peter Gottschalk, Professor of Religion, Wesleyan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/958272018-05-01T10:41:31Z2018-05-01T10:41:31ZWhy does Congress have a chaplain?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/216882/original/file-20180430-135803-dti43f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Father Patrick Conroy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>House speaker Paul Ryan has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/us/politics/house-chaplain-resignation.html">reinstated</a> Father Patrick Conroy as chaplain of the House of Representatives. Conroy, who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/27/us/politics/house-chaplain-fired.html">resigned</a> last week, later rescinded his resignation, daring the speaker to <a href="https://static01.nyt.com/files/2018/us/politics/20180304-chaplain-letter.pdf">fire him</a> instead.</p>
<p>We are <a href="http://www.wendycadge.com/">scholars</a> of <a href="http://laurao.people.clemson.edu/">religion and American politics</a> who, with Brandeis Ph.D. candidate Margaret Clendenen Minkin, have written about the <a href="http://www.wendycadge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Cadge.Olson_.Clendenen.2015.pdf">history and work of congressional chaplains</a>. The present controversy offers a unique opportunity to ask broader questions about what congressional chaplains do and why the U.S. Congress employs them in the first place. </p>
<h2>History of congressional chaplains</h2>
<p>The American tradition of legislative prayer dates to 1774, when <a href="https://chaplain.house.gov/chaplaincy/ChaplainHistoryCRS.pdf">Jacob Duché</a>, the rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, was recruited to offer prayers before the <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-continental-congress-convenes">First Continental Congress</a>. </p>
<p>After the Constitution was ratified, the U.S. Senate <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Senate_Chaplain.htm">selected</a> an Episcopal bishop from New York, Samuel Proovost, as its chaplain in April 1789. </p>
<p>For its part, the House of Representatives chose William Linn, a Philadelphia Presbyterian minister, as its first chaplain in May 1789. Proovost and Linn each received an annual salary of US$500. After Congress moved to Washington, D.C., local clergy took turns leading prayer before the permanent chaplaincies were institutionalized. </p>
<h2>Who are the chaplains today?</h2>
<p>Today, congressional chaplains hold full time, nonpartisan, nonsectarian jobs. They are formal officials of the chamber in which they serve. Each chaplain has a staff and is paid as a level IV executive federal employee: <a href="https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/18Tables/exec/html/EX.aspx">currently $164,200</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://chaplain.house.gov/chaplaincy/ChaplainHistoryCRS.pdf">chaplains</a> offer public prayers at the beginning of each day of congressional business. They also provide pastoral care for members of Congress and others associated with the House and Senate, including staff, police and family members. </p>
<p>It is noteworthy, however, that they <a href="http://www.wendycadge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Cadge.Olson_.Clendenen.2015.pdf">do not</a> demographically represent the American public, and quite strikingly so. Every congressional chaplain since 1789 has been a Christian man, and of those nearly all have been Protestant. Only one, the current Senate chaplain, Rev. Barry Black, has been a person of color. The only time that Muslim and Hindu chaplains <a href="http://www.wendycadge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Cadge.Olson_.Clendenen.2015.pdf">have delivered prayers</a> was as one-time guest clergy. It’s the same for women. </p>
<h2>Church-state separation?</h2>
<p>In a nation in which church-state separation is the law of the land, it has long been controversial to have chaplains formally working for the federal government. During the 1850s, Congress received a number of petitions calling for the elimination of the positions. But chaplains remained.</p>
<p>In 1983 a lawsuit led by Ernest Chambers, a member of the Nebraska State Legislature, to end the practice of legislative prayer reached the <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/463/783/case.html">U.S. Supreme Court</a>. However, the court decided to defer to historical custom rather than asserting a firm boundary between church and state. </p>
<p>The current controversy, however, is unprecedented. Father Conroy is the first congressional chaplain ever asked to leave office in the middle of a congressional term and certainly the first to rescind his resignation. As this debate continues there are more and more <a href="http://thewashingtonpost.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx">calls</a> to abandon the practice of having legislative chaplains all together. Perhaps that is the conversation worth having. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on May 1, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95827/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Cadge receives funding from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura R. Olson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Following the controversy over the resignation of House chaplain Patrick Conroy, in this speed read, scholars explain when the tradition of legislative prayer was started and how it has sustained.Wendy Cadge, Professor of Sociology and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis UniversityLaura R. Olson, Professor of Political Science, Clemson UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/834042017-10-02T00:51:52Z2017-10-02T00:51:52ZWhat Gandhi can teach today’s protesters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188230/original/file-20170929-21580-on1yzu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mohandas K. Gandhi during a prayer meeting on Jan. 22, 1948.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/File</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Almost a century ago, Mohandas K. Gandhi – commonly known by the honorific Mahatma, the great-souled one – emphasized nonviolent resistance in his campaign for Indian independence.</p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=4873#.WcgSR4prxgc">as my research shows</a>, Gandhi has become an iconic figure for people seeking social change, including communities across the United States.</p>
<h2>Explaining nonviolence</h2>
<p>For Gandhi, nonviolence was <a href="http://mettacenter.org/nonviolence/introduction/">not simply the absence of physical violence</a>. Self-rule and radical democracy in which <a href="http://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/village_swaraj.pdf">everyone participates</a> in the governance process were also part of Gandhi’s idea of nonviolence. </p>
<p>He believed that self-rule should extend to all people, rich and poor, male and female, and at all levels of society. To him, authority over others was a form of violence. To achieve that vision, he encouraged <a href="http://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/village_swaraj.pdf">participation</a> of women and the lower castes in economic and political matters.</p>
<p>These ideas about violence and authority had <a href="http://spot.colorado.edu/%7Echernus/NonviolenceBook/">circulated in the U.S.</a> in the 19th century, especially among the Christian peace churches such as the Quakers and Mennonites. In this view, equality and the lack of hierarchical structures are forms of nonviolence. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188231/original/file-20170929-21580-10q23pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188231/original/file-20170929-21580-10q23pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188231/original/file-20170929-21580-10q23pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188231/original/file-20170929-21580-10q23pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188231/original/file-20170929-21580-10q23pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188231/original/file-20170929-21580-10q23pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188231/original/file-20170929-21580-10q23pi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gandhi breaking his fast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Max Desfor</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For Gandhi, it was the <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00litlinks/gandhi/">Indian religions, Hinduism and Jainism,</a> that shaped his activism. His mother, a devout Hindu, taught him the importance of fasting as a form of self-discipline and religious devotion. From the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Jains.html?id=jt6-YXE2aUwC">Jains</a>, with whom he grew up, he learned <a href="http://simplicitycollective.com/the-simple-life-past-present-future">nonviolence and nonpossessiveness</a>. In particular, he drew on the Hindu text <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-bhagavadgita/9780231064682">“Bhagavad Gita”</a> (The Song of the Lord) for a <a href="http://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v7i1.65">religious framework</a> on the values of simplicity, duty and nonviolence. </p>
<p>All this translated into Gandhi’s peaceful expression of protest of which the most potent “weapon” was fasting. </p>
<h2>Nonviolent resistance</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.history.com/news/gandhis-salt-march-85-years-ago/print">Salt March of 1930</a> is one of Gandhi’s best-known acts of peaceful resistance.</p>
<p>Under colonial rule, the British taxed Indians for salt and declared that making or collecting salt was illegal. Since salt is necessary for survival, this issue affected each and every Indian. They considered this law unjust and morally wrong. </p>
<p>Gandhi organized a 241-mile march across western India to the city of Dandi in Gujarat, in western India, where he collected salt, illegally. He started with 78 people. But as the marchers proceeded, thousands more <a href="http://www.history.com/news/gandhis-salt-march-85-years-ago/print">joined</a>. Weeks later, his unarmed followers marched to a government salt depot, where they met violent retaliation.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.history.com/news/gandhis-salt-march-85-years-ago/print">In the words</a> of American journalist <a href="https://100years.upi.com/uni_anecdotes_1921.html">Webb Miller</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“At a word of command, scores of native police rushed upon the advancing marchers and rained blows on their heads…Not one of the marchers even raised an arm to fend off the blows. They went down like ten-pins.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For Gandhi, resistance meant placing one’s own body in harm’s way, open to the possibility of injury, imprisonment or even death. And that is what made it such such a <a href="https://gandhianiceberg.com/">powerful political tool</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188232/original/file-20170929-21580-1s28zqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188232/original/file-20170929-21580-1s28zqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188232/original/file-20170929-21580-1s28zqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188232/original/file-20170929-21580-1s28zqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188232/original/file-20170929-21580-1s28zqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188232/original/file-20170929-21580-1s28zqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188232/original/file-20170929-21580-1s28zqq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Martin Luther King Jr. giving a speech at Selma, Alabama.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Horace Cort</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Years later, Martin Luther King Jr., who met with Gandhi, would employ similar ways of <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/mahatma-gandhi/9780231159593">nonviolent resistance</a>. </p>
<p>Indeed, it was the visceral horror of what happened in the two countries that rapidly <a href="https://www.kentuckypress.com/live/title_detail.php?titleid=4873#.Wc5XnUqGOL0">swung public opinion</a>. </p>
<p>During the Indian independence movement, descriptions of British clubs striking unarmed Indians in the Salt March drew <a href="http://www.calpeacepower.org/0101/PDF/SaltMarch.pdf">worldwide sympathy</a>. Back in the U.S., Americans watched with horror as Birmingham police set dogs upon African-Americans during a peaceful civil rights protest in 1963. This pushed President Kennedy to take action and eventually led to the <a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/Civil-Rights-Movement.aspx">Civil Rights Act of 1964</a>.</p>
<h2>What can we learn from Gandhi</h2>
<p>In my research, I found many communities in the U.S. replicating Gandhi’s model: <a href="https://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/sustainable-communities/possibility-alliance-ze0z11zmar">Possibility Alliance</a> in La Plata, Missouri, and <a href="http://cherithbrookcw.blogspot.com/">Cherith Brook Catholic Worker House</a> in Kansas City, Missouri, are among those who have used nonviolent protests to raise their voice against racial and economic injustices. </p>
<p>But, for others, as we have seen in recent months, keeping protests peaceful can be difficult. There were reports, for example, of <a href="https://www.apnews.com/116336dc947e4e8faba1d5ccd1805398/US-colleges-confront-a-new-era-of-sometimes-violent-protest">violence during protests on college campuses</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/04/03/the-violent-rally-trump-cant-move-past/?utm_term=.b1ad0432c46d">rallies against or in support of President Trump</a>. The <a href="http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/">Black Lives Matter movement</a> has been accused of rioting, for example, in Baton Rouge where members <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-trumps-america-black-lives-matter-shifts-from-protests-to-policy/2017/05/04/a2acf37a-28fe-11e7-b605-33413c691853_story.html?utm_term=.215639f125de">blocked intersections</a>. </p>
<p>At times, oppressive regimes might themselves retaliate violently, blaming the protesters for their retaliation. King too was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/10/01/dont-criticize-black-lives-matter-for-provoking-violence-the-civil-rights-movement-did-too/?utm_term=.e7f011b56452">criticized</a> for inciting violence. Only later was he labeled ”<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/10/01/dont-criticize-black-lives-matter-for-provoking-violence-the-civil-rights-movement-did-too/?utm_term=.7eaa43dc78a3">passive and nonconfrontational.</a>“ </p>
<p>For contemporary protesters, Gandhi and King’s political strategies could provide some valuable lessons. The peaceful resistance that the two pursued was more effective in exposing hard truths about injustices. And it is worth remembering what King wrote, in his <a href="https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html">Letter from a Birmingham Jail</a>, that he
"earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83404/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Whitney Sanford receives funding from University of Florida Center for Humanities in the Public Sphere.</span></em></p>For Gandhi, whose birth anniversary is Monday, Oct. 2, nonviolent resistance meant placing one’s own body in harm’s way to expose social injustices, which made it a powerful political tool.Whitney Sanford, Professor of Religion, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/839432017-09-20T03:15:49Z2017-09-20T03:15:49ZWhy it’s offensive to offer a lamb dinner to the Hindu god Ganesha<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186666/original/file-20170919-22604-14gbpbq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Hindu god Ganesha.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/anantns/8019822560/in/photolist-ddFFQL-g3vMVw-A9U122-gqundV-dQwJqp-8AniW4-HhhU4-bFu8iT-L1oLMT-iNorcn-GuHVF-7vDifm-52j8cE-8H4-5W7eVG-X6Vi1D-oUgWPy-3FczZd-CACi4-jSjDna-RbPoS-eosvd8-pPEH5R-goA3VT-4rjywT-pw8Vdz-oBP5BW-j1Hg4r-B4u7Zd-aaLb4E-oSgUT5-9ZHuRi-9ozhSY-9ZLjZd-jSkmNp-eE3Tb-9noaxS-aaNUn-o5Rp5X-4VKm6G-SCAvFV-bmaAdW-bqwzH8-9frNnJ-5Lsd4B-oLy2Bb-cDN7iG-385wzv-7oDaBv-CJCeZ">Anant Nath Sharma</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A <a href="http://religionnews.com/2017/09/11/australian-ad-promotes-lamb-as-fit-for-the-gods-offending-some-hindus/">recent ad</a> from the meat industry in Australia, seeking to promote lamb as a food that people from a wide range of religious backgrounds can consume, has <a href="http://www.hcindia-au.org/Portal/ScrollingNews/45_1_8_9_17_Advertisement_of_Meat_and_Livestocks_Australia.pdf">given offense</a> <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-05/lamb-ad-under-fire-for-portrayal-of-vegetarian-god-ganesha/8875048">to many Hindus</a> in Australia and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/09/07/hindus-are-mad-about-australias-insensitive-new-lamb-ad-depicting-god-ganesha_a_23201054/">internationally</a>.</p>
<p>In Australia, the ad <a href="http://religionnews.com/2017/09/11/australian-ad-promotes-lamb-as-fit-for-the-gods-offending-some-hindus/">prompted a complaint</a> by the High Commission of India. In the United States, Hindu organizations issued a statement <a href="http://www.rajanzed.org/hindus-shocked-at-australia-advt-bureau-clearing-insensitive-ad-despite-worldwide-condemnation/">protesting</a> the airing of such an ad.</p>
<p>While the ad was initially released in Australia, it quickly made its way onto YouTube, where it had recorded over a million views at the time of writing. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f8kuoFGgj8s?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The ad features a host of deities from various religions sitting down to a meal of lamb. These diners include Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, Kuan Yin (the Buddhist goddess of compassion) and Confucius, as well as Greek Gods Dionysus, Aphrodite, Thor, Isis and the founder of <a href="http://www.scientology.org/">Scientology</a>, L. Ron Hubbard. Prophet Muhammad is left out as his depiction is considered highly offensive to Muslims. </p>
<p>However, on this guest list is a <a href="http://www.sunypress.edu/p-1161-ganesh.aspx">highly revered and beloved</a> Hindu deity, Ganesha, readily recognizable by his elephant head. As a scholar of Indic traditions, I can see why Hindus are upset.</p>
<h2>Animal sacrifice and Hinduism</h2>
<p>Vegetarianism is an important part of Hindu religious worship. To be sure, not all Hindus practice vegetarianism. According to a 2006 survey, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/the-food-habits-of-a-nation/article3089973.ece">only 31 percent of India’s population</a>, home to the <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-hindu/">vast majority of the world’s Hindus</a>, are vegetarian. </p>
<p>It is also true that there are some Hindu deities who are offered meat. Most famously, goats are <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=3xj-s2JWKBMC&pg=PA73&dq=kalighat+goats&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjO4vz9tbHWAhWDJiYKHXTFDn4Q6AEIMjAC#v=onepage&q=kalighat%20goats&f=false">regularly offered to the Hindu goddess Kali</a>. Meat offerings are also <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Nl7ZBL2O3XAC&pg=PA318&dq=nepal+animal+sacrifice#v=onepage&q=nepal%20animal%20sacrifice&f=false">not uncommon in Nepal</a>, a majority Hindu nation. </p>
<p>But the vast majority of food offerings to Hindu deities today are <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=KpIWhKnYmF0C&pg=PA194&dq=vegetarian+offerings+hindu+deities#v=onepage&q=vegetarian%20offerings%20hindu%20deities&f=false">vegetarian in nature</a>. This author has witnessed, for example, offerings of gourds, cucumbers and bananas being made to the goddess Kali at worship services in both the U.S. and India, despite the fact that this goddess is considered to be fierce and is widely associated with animal sacrifice. </p>
<p>These food offerings have religious significance. After being reverently presented to the deities, they are distributed to worshipers as “prasad.” <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=DOJMAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA184&dq=hindu+prasad+offered+to+deities#v=onepage&q=hindu%20prasad%20offered%20to%20deities&f=false">Prasad represents</a> the blessing of the deities in return for the worship and devotion they have received.</p>
<h2>Vegetarianism through the centuries</h2>
<p>Hindu vegetarianism developed gradually. In ancient times there were Hindus who ate meat, including <a href="https://theconversation.com/hinduism-and-its-complicated-history-with-cows-and-people-who-eat-them-80586">beef</a>, and meat was part of many religious rituals. </p>
<p>Later texts condemn the violence in meat offerings. “Bhagavata Purana,” an ancient Hindu text from the Vaishnava tradition, for example, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=j9BOGL8u2X4C&pg=PA41&dq=bhagavata+purana+vegetarianism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXmNyPt7HWAhWB4yYKHUNKAWQQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=bhagavata%20purana%20vegetarianism&f=false">condemns violence</a> against animals to feed oneself. In this tradition, <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/35375/krishna-the-beautiful-legend-of-god/">the popular deity Krishna is also worshipped</a> as the protector of cows.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/35167/the-laws-of-manu/">“Manu Smriti,”</a> considered to be the authoritative book on Hindu codes dating from roughly 300 to 100 B.C., also <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ZkkFCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=historical+dictionary+of+hinduism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk0vzZt7HWAhXE6CYKHRF9CXgQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=manusm%E1%B9%9Bti&f=false">condemns meat-eating</a>, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=DZAWCHnbwtoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=laws+of+manu&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjw2-OXuLHWAhUB5yYKHT_OA2sQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=meat&f=false">saying</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Whoever does violence to harmless creatures out of a wish for his own happiness does not increase his happiness anywhere, neither when he is alive nor when he is dead.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Indeed, by the eighth century religious rituals had become largely vegetarian. It was at this time that an influential scholar and reformer, Shankara, promoted <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810879607/Historical-Dictionary-of-Hinduism-New-Edition">the replacement of meat offerings to Hindu deities</a> with vegetarian substitutes. Meat, due to its association with death, came to be seen as ritually impure. </p>
<p>Today, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/the-food-habits-of-a-nation/article3089973.ece">roughly 55 percent of Brahmins</a> in India are vegetarian. </p>
<h2>Who is Ganesha?</h2>
<p>Coming back to the ad, what does it mean for Hindus when Ganesha is depicted in an ad serving lamb?</p>
<p>For many Hindus, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=YZBlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PP3&lpg=PP3&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false">Ganesha is a beloved deity</a> who is considered to be the “remover of obstacles.” As such, he is invoked at the start of any venture (including worship offered to other deities). Most recognizable for his elephant head, he is the son of Shiva, the supreme being for the Hindus and his consort, Parvati. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186635/original/file-20170919-25319-175unbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186635/original/file-20170919-25319-175unbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186635/original/file-20170919-25319-175unbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186635/original/file-20170919-25319-175unbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186635/original/file-20170919-25319-175unbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186635/original/file-20170919-25319-175unbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186635/original/file-20170919-25319-175unbd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A plate of ladoos, the favorite sweet of Ganesha.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vipez/2740120759/in/photolist-5b8Qrn-5LK1iD-5LxsfD-5jDHJo-bgmEZg-5jzrgH-aYPdLg-5jDGKo-bNdYFa-dFeiAP-dFjJGS-pMVFcg-dFjJFE-hkfVRa-hkeUVA-GfUX2-9n3ZxU-dooU1E-dooUz5-bmCvjc-9QroYz-dooTXN-xXRdS-6mnYwF-hkfVMT-hkeXEq-9WyRnU-oU7Gke-gfJ38-Frce5-gfJ3v-gfJ3T-bzjrT7-7kLys4-4CY6PB-5g1pTT-9mPYpA-pgw7Xp-9VQ93o-gfJ4k-XGHeNa-4d6vWj-PgmofR-4FKJwM-bczYPa-9vP4G-6dekYW-jCHTZp-drkDmW-dFXTiy">v i p e z</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While at least one ancient text, the “Manava Gṛhyaśāstra,” suggests that at one time, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=oF-Hqih3pBAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Ganesha&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi-rv3dubHWAhVG1CYKHSsWAgcQ6AEIMjAC#v=onepage&q=meat&f=false">Ganesha may have been offered meat</a>, in contemporary practice this has been replaced with vegetarian food, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=P-FqDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA234&dq=Ganesha+Ladoos&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi38b6hurHWAhVG0iYKHdcCBvEQ6AEIPzAE#v=onepage&q=Ganesha%20Ladoos&f=false">the most popular of which is the “ladoo”</a> – a delightful Indian ball-shaped sweet made from chickpea flour, usually yellow or orange in color. It is common for Ganesha to be depicted holding a plate of ladoos.</p>
<p>The chief rationale for vegetarianism is the principle of “ahimsa,” or doing no deliberate harm to any living being. This value is promoted not only in Hindu traditions, but <a href="http://www.ibtauris.com/en/Books/Humanities/Religion%20%20beliefs/Other%20non-Christian%20religions/Jainism/Jainism%20An%20Introduction">among the Jains</a> (a community that is almost exclusively vegetarian) and Buddhists in India.</p>
<p>While vegetarianism may not be universal among Hindus – nor have they always practiced it – the ideal it represents is held in high regard. This makes an image of Ganesha sitting down to eat lamb jarring, to say the least, for many Hindus.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83943/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffery D. Long serves as an unpaid consultant to the Hindu American Foundation. He is also a member of the Vedanta Society and past steering committee chair of DĀNAM (the Dharma Academy of North America).</span></em></p>Offering food to deities in Hinduism has deep religious significance. And most Hindu deities are not served meat.Jeffery D. Long, Professor of Religion and Asian Studies, Elizabethtown CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.