Beware of the Hindu
Excerpt from the play Tughlaq by Girish Karnad (Kannada playwrite), set in 14th century India... [Three Modern Indian Plays, OUP 1989; p2]
**Crowd scene. A bunch of Muslims chatting with each other.**
Old Man: Beware of the Hindu who embraces you. Before you know what, he'll turn Islam into another caste and call the Prophet an incarnation of his god...
It is a nice little satire on the Hindu's thirst for universality. It is also a pointer of how even if you try to embrace everything, ppl who have closed themselves into only thinking "you or me" find it difficult even to agree with such universal accpetance.
Here is another dialogue from Fountainhead, which illustartes this point:
"Howard, why do you hate me?"
"I don't hate you."
"Well that's it! Why don't you hate me atleast?"
"Why should I?"
"Just to give me something. I know you can't like me. You can't like anybody. So it will be kinder to acknowledge people's existence by hating them."
Funny world. Some ppl find it easy if they are hated by Hindus, because then it will place the Hindus too on equal pedestrial to themselves. "I dont accept your religion; you too dont accept my religion" gives him a moral satisfaction than saying "My religion is the only true religion and it rejects your religion as a false religion; but your religion accepts my religion as true"
Anyhow lets not forget that Truth is not something which can be changed as we like so that it suits our requirements.
**Crowd scene. A bunch of Muslims chatting with each other.**
Old Man: Beware of the Hindu who embraces you. Before you know what, he'll turn Islam into another caste and call the Prophet an incarnation of his god...
It is a nice little satire on the Hindu's thirst for universality. It is also a pointer of how even if you try to embrace everything, ppl who have closed themselves into only thinking "you or me" find it difficult even to agree with such universal accpetance.
Here is another dialogue from Fountainhead, which illustartes this point:
"Howard, why do you hate me?"
"I don't hate you."
"Well that's it! Why don't you hate me atleast?"
"Why should I?"
"Just to give me something. I know you can't like me. You can't like anybody. So it will be kinder to acknowledge people's existence by hating them."
Funny world. Some ppl find it easy if they are hated by Hindus, because then it will place the Hindus too on equal pedestrial to themselves. "I dont accept your religion; you too dont accept my religion" gives him a moral satisfaction than saying "My religion is the only true religion and it rejects your religion as a false religion; but your religion accepts my religion as true"
Anyhow lets not forget that Truth is not something which can be changed as we like so that it suits our requirements.
posted by S at 10:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home