What is Hindutva?
If we ask this question to the youth of this nation who interacts with society regularly then the answer we'll receive will be a very vague image of something that has lost the test of time. It is not shocking that the modern Hindu is unaware of its true identity that has been passed on through thousands of years, from generation to generation. It seems that everyone is breathing in the air of validation and their senses are overwhelmed by the stupidity of modernism. In all this turmoil the beauty of Indian culture is getting blurred.
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| Stone image of Trimurti |
Although Indians are not completely unfamiliar with the roots as there are still some stems connected to the roots that are visible during special occasions like festivals, marriages, jagrate, etc. But even during those events, people behave in a similar pattern or we can say that everyone plays a role. Usually, the mother of the home (homemaker) or grahini will act like the manager who assigns duties to the rest and under whose supervision all the tasks are conducted. She tries her best to keep everyone involved and instill her sanskaar within her successors. This scenario is quite common throughout India and not just in modern times but during ancient times also. Our culture is known for passing on eternal truth, and wisdom through festivals by associating them with thought-provoking stories.
But the problem is that the lack of engagement and interest with the tradition is keeping us oblivious to our own history and culture. This becomes quite evident when you ask someone what is their perception of Hindutva. Even while calling themselves Hindu they still don’t understand what is it to be a Hindu, what does it take to be a Hindu. When I asked some of my friends what is Hindutva to them, none of them could answer clearly. Almost all of them answered concerning other religions. It was as if they were trying to fit their knowledge of Hindutva into the norms of western beliefs. They just couldn’t find the correct words to describe their thoughts. This made me realize that not only our culture is suffering from misconceptions but lack of conception also.
Current Situation of India
In my opinion, there is an urgent need for the people of this land to realize the importance of our traditions as an identity crisis is pulling itself upon us. The people of this land have been socially engineered to undermine the value of the Indian culture in their minds for generations now and this process has become more aggressive than ever. This isn’t just my opinion but a realization that happened to many who study Indian history.
This isn’t about conspiracy theories, or assumptions, or logical conclusions. The factual data that still remains in the shadow is very overwhelming. The deeper I dug the bizarre it got.
I was watching a youtube video of Abhijit Chavda in which he mentioned that India never got full independence and the 1947 incident was just a transfer of power to people who worked for the Britishers. He went on to claim that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi were agents of the British. At first, it was hard for me to believe but when I gave it a thought he seemed right. The freedom struggle was very brutal and still, both Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had 0 scars. Lala Lajpat Rai died due to head injuries after police lathi-charged a peacefully protesting crowd. One more thing I have always wondered was why India participated in World Wars on behalf of the British when they could have simply revolted against the British. Abhijit Chavda answered that it was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who convinced the Indians to fight the wars. In fact, he was the one to recruit Indians into the British army. British rewarded India’s help in World War 1 by imposing draconian laws. Isn’t it odd that a personality known for being an apostle of peace would encourage his countrymen to fight world war for their oppressors? There are many such incidents in the history of our nation that were against our nation but still glorified.
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| Jawahar Lal Nehru with Mohandas Gandhi |
Growing up I was somewhat ashamed of my culture. I bought the ideology that Hindus do idiotic meaningless things in the name of culture, we pray too many Gods, so many crimes are done in the name of religion, Hindi is useless in the modern world, etc. I’d look at other religions especially Christianity with awe. As a child Christianity seemed very sophisticated to me as they prayed to one God, their rituals were simple as everybody goes to church on Sunday, English is used worldwide. In other words, I was heavily influenced by western culture and believed that the west is the best. Recently I found out that none of my friends could answer a simple question “What is Hindutva?” and it made me realize that the claim of Indians being socially engineered towards western interests is true. Therefore, I made this blog not only to create awareness but to provide some comfort to all the young truth-seekers in our country that Hindutva is indeed something worth preserving and our rituals are not meaningless or stupid.
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