M.S. PRABHAKARA has a piece in The Hindu today on, among other things, the near-unanimous demand by the so-called progressive forces, seeking a ban on those inciting communal tension in Baba Budangiri from entering Chikamagalur district, and an “externment” of all those already engaged in such communal mobilisation.
Concepts like preventive arrests, banning entry of citizens, and banishing trouble-makers, he says, are vestiges of colonial rule devised by colonial rulers to stop people from fighting their legitimate, even necessary, political battles. That democratic India has seamlessly appropriate such oppressive features is sad.
“Assuming that the State concedes such a demand, would communal mobilisation be all right if it takes place outside Baba Budangiri or outside Chikmagalur district? This ‘Not In My Backyard’ mindset, with its open invitation to the State to use anti-democratic measures, poses grave dangers to the very democratic values that those protesting communal mobilisation seek to advance. Indeed, measures like externment or political detention are, of their nature, double-edged swords that make no distinction between democrats and fascists.”
Read the full article: Avaunt, thee wretch!
Perhaps MS Prabhakara would prefer a good old fashioned lathi-charge or a police firing to deal with communal disturbances…
When we know that mischief can be caused by the presence of certain persons, does it not make sense to prevent such people from entering the district rather than waiting for the mischief to be caused and then trying to take remedial measures?
Bababudangiri was a happy mountain spot until the BJP and Komu Sauharda Vedike turned it into a battlefield, or nearly so. Nobody even knew about the claim that the place’s original name is Chandradrona Parvatha. That is strictly in line with the old Hindu practice of giving rivers and mountains Sanskrit names.
Why do we keep reminding Muslims in India they are Muslims and Hindus they are Hindus? No religious or language community prefers to lie low when it is threatened. The history of our country is a religious nightmare.
How about initiating the practice of using religion-neutral names? Just happened to notice that airports in India are now located in a country called Hindustan. At least that is what travel agents say.
Every piece Psuedo secularists write is a double edge sword. There is a hidden Hindu identity inside everybody, even if he/she is a card carrying CPIM member. The psuedo piece triggers that.
(I have seen it myself in my own family and friends circle where there are few card carrying CPIM members- they support Modi in private, though publicly they say different thing.)
I myself became convinced of hindutva after reading Ashish Nandy’s “Creationg nationality”, though intended purpose of the author was opposite.
Psuedos are making same mistake on Datta Peetha as they did on Hubli issue which contributed hugely to rise of BJP in northern karnakata.
This process started with the imposition of emergency. Many people were silenced by putting them in jail. Whether it worked or not is a different matter. This CULTURE is being kept alive. On the one hand you say that we are a free country wherein fundamental rights are honoured and on the other hand they say that you shoulc not go there, here. It is a state property. Who says people will make trouble by going there. There are so many instances in Karnataka when the Ganesha procession starts troubles started. Who do this? Which is older Chandradrona Parvata or thre new name Bababudangiri? Respected everybody but respect your parents more. What is the contribution of such Vedikes excepting driving a wedge in the peoples minds?
@Pulikeshi the last
The names of our rivers and mountains are in use from time immemorial. Just because people of other religions ( invaders, shelter seekers etc) came to our land and settled here, we cannot change the names. Names tell a story and gives an identity.
For example, take Bangalore. Literally it means nothing. But BendakaaLooru it’s original name, means “place of boiled beans”. Each time we say BendakaaLooru, it reminds us of history of hundreds of years associated with the city. And Bangalore reminds us of our colonial past.
So, we just can’t change the names of the places, mountains, rivers etc just like that in the name of secularism.
Don’t you think using the existing sanskrit names irrespective of whether you like it or not is secularism?
I agree that names depict history. But the part on Bangalore and Benda Kalooru is something debatable. When was the last time we addressed bangalore as bendakaluru. Also what is bendakalooru’s history vis a vis bangalore’s history. Bangalore is a new city of modern india and it is not a historic city. Kempegowda’s tower notwithstanding, there is no great history of Bangalore to talk about beyond 150 – 200 years.
Bangalore was just an example. Maybe a bad example.
You can take the example of Prayag which was renamed as Allahabad.
Anonymous Coward,
Allahabad/Prayag is ‘Not In Our Backyard’. And BendaKaaLooru is kannada not sanskrit. And probably dont approve of kannada names or the history of Karnataka.
Not that it all matters – but since you brought it up…
Pulikeshi,
‘religion-neutral names’
Wonder if we can come up with even 1 name which isn’t interpreted as neutral by some nutcase or the other.
That is a really tough one AG- well lemme think- What about Kudure Mukha or Tunga ( doesnt it mean elevated?) or Bengalooru or even the delicious CHURUMURI!
Protima Akka the name you might actually have for the relatives you describe might be HYPOCRITES rather than pseudo-secular- dont you think so?
gaby – good tries. Only churumuri probably passes the religious-neutral test. Just shows for good or for bad, how all-pervasive religion is in everything around us.
I was wondering about my cowardly friend’s statements:
Bangalore reminds us of our colonial past…. Don’t you think using the existing sanskrit names irrespective of whether you like it or not is secularism?
So I need to erase my colonial past since it was an ‘invasion’. And go back to some other hoary past (which in itself may be termed some other invasion by some other people) – to get my names? And since Bangalore/Bengalooru isn’t of pure sanskrit origin, how about making up some name while we are at it? Just to make everything fit your version of things. Sounds colonial to me.
The influence of Sanskrit in Indian languages, including Urdu, is inerasable. It is not desirable either.
My point in the post about Chandradronagiri is it is later than Bababudangiri. Even as a new, vibrant Kannada conscousness is emerging, we should not be resorting to Sanskrit because, for good or ill, because it is closely knit into Hinduism and hence raises difficulties, however unintentional. I will be sad to see Mullayyanagiri disapprear into Poorvashikhara and Kuduremukha in Ashwadarpana. Just look in and around Bengaluru and see the irresponsible Sanskritization of our local parea names simply because the new ones are seen as most prestigious. Our paalyas, sandras, and hallis are headed in the direction of extinction. Anepaalya is now Gajendranagar. Hosahalli yielded to Vijayanagar, notwithstanding the empire of that name becoming part of the dust heap of history as a result of its rulers’ greed, weakness, and improvidence. Goripaalya sounds like the name of a particular community’s graveyard; so we decide to call it Gowripalya. Kanakapura used to be a perfectly lovely Kaanakaanahalli. Srinivasapura in Kolar district used to have a Kannada name that unfortunately I don’t remember anymore. Now we will be witnesses to further erosion in our local history embedded in placenames. Watch as Saarakki Layout, Maarathhalli, and a host of other sthalanamas becoming getting pranked out in Sanskrit garb.
Continued:
The influence of Sanskrit on Indian languages, including Urdu, is inerasable. Such erasure, were it possible, is not desirable either.
My point in the post about Chandradronagiri is it is later than Bababudangiri as far as its place in our memory is considered. AG, I believe that even as a new, vibrant Kannada consciousness is emerging, we should not be in a hurry to replace or rewrite present names having to do with land and water in Sanskrit because, for good or ill, the language is closely knit into Hinduism and hence raises sectarian difficulties, even when no harm is intended. I am perfectly aware that the only alternative we have now to sanskritisation is anglicisation. I am just as aware that sanskritisation of personal names in Indian society is somewhat blunting the edge of jaathi in admirable ways. But sanskritisation and anglicisation are a problem in many cases we locals should band together to deal with. I will be sad to see Mullayyanagiri disappear into Poorvashikhara and Kuduremukha into Ashwadarpana. What names did Murphytown and Coxtown have two hundred years ago? Can Whitefield not be renamed as Bengaluru’s Belagavi? Just look in and around Bengaluru and see the irresponsible sanskritising of our local area names just because the new ones appear more prestigious and sonorous. Our paalyas, sandras, and hallis are headed in the direction of extinction. Anepaalya is now Gajendranagar. Hosahalli yielded to Vijayanagar, notwithstanding the fact that the empire of that name became part of the dust heap of history as a result of its last rulers’ greed, weakness, and improvidence. Goripaalya sounds like the name of a particular community’s graveyard; so we decide to call it Gowripalya instead. Kanakapura used to be a perfectly lovely Kaanakaanahalli. Srinivasapura in Kolar district used to have a Kannada name that unfortunately I or most Kannadigas don’t remember anymore. Now we are witnesses to further erosion in our local identity and history as embedded in place names in short order. Watch as Saarakki Layout, Maarathhalli, and a host of other sthalanamas get pranked out in Sanskrit garb. East, Northeast, and Southeast areas of Bengaluru and its outlying exurbs are particularly vulnerable to such de-nomination or disfiguration because they are being swallowed up by the non –Kannada money of Brihath Bengaluru. I think we have much to learn from our Tulu speaking siblings in this respect. Padubidre has not become Paschima Vidarbha and Moodubidre Poorvavidarbha. Neither has Udupi become Somapura in spite of its premier status as a Sanskrit learning center.
I wish we would stop treating the folk story of “Bendakaluru” as if it were unquestionable linguistic fact. Given Kannada’s phonological features, “Bendakaluru” should have yielded “Bengaaluru” (the second syllable a long one like the third). The story of a kind woman—she is a Kannadithi, after all– offering a hungry stranger a handful of baked beans to eat is certainly a good and imaginative guide to conduct, but not to history. In any case, I believe if the recipient of that woman’s kindness had any decency, he would have named the spot for the woman and not for the beans (such is our Kannada male insensitivity). By the way, I am not at all sure that the Kannada “kaaLu” can be translated as “beans.” I am open to correction.
I hope what I have been saying has at least some bearing on the Rama controversy. Sanskritisation is also “puranisation,” a process whose key ingredient is apotheosis. Rama, as many thinkers have already said, is a human endowed with admirable human qualities as well as saddled with detestable human weaknesses. Krishna, on the other hand, is divine from the word go. He can assume human form only when he needs to, but Rama has to go through a process of humanization and stay human. How well he succeeds in the effort is open to interpretation. And it is no great revelation that Gandhi chose Rama as his ideal because Rama is human and capable of perfection. And Gandhi was as much a realist as he was an optimist who believed in human ability to reach perfection. I can think of no other mind which had as astounding a capability to detect ambiguities and paradoxes in what we have come to call life. Thinking about Gandhi reminds us of the danger of the simplistic Hindu purists leading us away from what is worth preserving in our national and regional cultures. Puranicisation is dehumanisation and if there is a threat to a religion that has survived for thousands of years despite the assistance of such pretentious puranicising outfits like the Bajarang Brigade, the Sangh Swamis, the ideologically damaged BJP, and the post-Gandhi opportunism of the Congress Party, it is not in danger of disappearing any time soon.
Let the religions in our country work out their own salvation without us, Muslim, Isai, Hindu, hubristically pretending to protect them. If they are truly germane to our lives, they will survive. In the meantime, let’s concentrate on how much we can renounce instead of how much we can grab if we are interested in more than our governmentally mismanaged, fragile coexistence.
Pulikeshi,
Agree with you 100%
Thanks, AG. I think this is the first time you have.