The south Asian bombs

Lars Martin Fosse lmfosse at ONLINE.NO
Tue Jun 2 17:03:12 UTC 1998


>I think the problem is the angle. I think that no person with the slightest
amount of common sense is applauding the latest fireworks of the party of
Bombs Jabber and Poverty. But India is not alone. Other countries like
France made the same mistake fairly recently. But what amazed me was the
almost total absence of any antinuclear protest, like we've seen in France.
Such demonstrations can count as kind of a slight rehabilitation. But they
didn't happen in mother Bharat. Gandhi must be turning and tossing in his
grave! I wonder if the popularity of the RAmAyana and Bhagavad GItA are
causing this blindness. The real battle of power is going on in the field of
economy and India (and Pakistan of course) are going down here. The battle
on the nuclear field is over, since most politicians understand that nobody
can win a nuclear war and the possession of nuclear weapens is very
expensive and full of risks.
>Rama and Arjuna are no executives, but fighters who use mythical nuclearish
weaponry to defie the bad guys. Maybe many Indians see the atom bomb just as
a new episode of one of their great epics. My suggestion would be therefore
to look at the question: 'in what way and to what extend does Indian
mythology influence Indian economics and politics?'

This is an interesting question indeed. Personally, I believe that the
persons behind the Indian / Pakistani nuclear politics are modern
politicians making calculations in the way such calculations are made all
over the world. And strange as it may seem, both parties (India and
Pakistan) have rational reasons for acting the way they do. At least
rational seen from certain angles, and in a Machiavellan sense.

But what about the general public? A friend of mine once said that
Pakistanis thought the nuclear bomb was some kind of glorified handgrenade.
In other words, they had no idea what it really was. Are Indians in general
aware of what a nuke really is? And do their epics and mythology influence
their attitudes when they feel happy for being a nuclear power? Or is it the
same attitude you would find in the old Soviet Union, or in the US, the love
of power and prestige (which is simply human and not related to religion at
all?)

I would say this angle is Indological - even Sanskritic!

Let's have a go at it.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse


Dr.art. Lars Martin Fosse
Haugerudvn. 76, Leil. 114,
0674 Oslo

Tel: +47 22 32 12 19
Fax: +47 22 32 12 19
Email: lmfosse at online.no
Mobile phone: 90 91 91 45





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