Critique of the West in Indic literature and society

[vidya at cco.caltech.edu]

Dominik :
> I tend to come on rather strong on matters of right-wing and
> fundamentalist Hindu politics, I know, and perhaps I am over-sensitised
> ....
> I often get the feeling that people living most of their time in Europe
> or America, reading publications like HT, don't realize the
> implications of some of the more fundamentalist views expressed.  In
> India, people are being killed over these issues.

I know, which is why I am sensitive about fundamentalist views too. But
as far as I can see, HT seems more interested in presenting a somewhat
unique, shall we say, version of Hinduism, based more upon their guru's
catechism and the Kuai monastery's need to gather a lasting following.

In addition to that, HT enters into a defensive mode about old social
practices in India, and strangely enough, also about some New Age ideas
about religion. It is difficult to see a relation between the causes HT
champions and the Hindu-Muslim strife in India.

> > The real right-wing Hindutva
> > fundamentalists in India have other goals in mind.
>
> What goals were you thinking of?  Apart from power?

Much more. The Hindutva brand of fundamentalism has little to do with inter-
preting religion in a literal sense. By its very nature, the momentum of 
the Hindutva crowd cannot rest even if they succeed in obtaining power. The
irony of it all is that they have to be accomodated if they obtain that
power through an election in the present democratic setup. I compare the Hindutva ideology to the demon who ate everything
that came his way, till he had nothing left but his own body to eat, and
was left with only a head. I hesitate to call it completely fascist, but
it can get pretty close, if pushed to its logical conclusion. Therein lies
the real danger. 

Regards

S. Vidyasankar