Converting Mythologies Into Historical Facts
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
19 June, 2012
Countercurrents.org
It has always been a fascinating question for me why despite so many mythological interpretations of Ramayana there is nothing historical related to them in the South of India as well as Srilanka. Some years back when I visited Rameshwaram and the so-called Ram setu to find out what was the reality behind it, except for the Rameshwaram temple, there was nothing which could be linked to Lord Rama. Even a trip to the last point of India in the Dhanushkodi area does not give you a glimpse of Vaidik Aryan culture in the region. In fact, in the Ramnathpuram district people have been protesting against Nuclear Power Plant at Kudankulan and 1983 an entire village in Meenakshipuram embraced Islam to as a mark of protest against continuous humiliation and scorn by the upper caste Hindus. In the temple towns such as Madurai, Rameshwaram and Kanyakumari, the violence against Dalits is rampant and continues to remain unabated. It reflects the growing trend of the Hindutvaisation process in Tamilnadu where the powerful OBCs fought with powerful Brahmins to control the political power. But in terms of equality and self respect the involvement as well as engagement of Dalits remained completely outside the Dravidian politics though these issues remained the hallmark of Periyar's self respect movement . Apart from anti Brahmin posturing, the other important point for politicization of Tamil masses was the anti Hindi agitation which fetched good votes to political parties in the region. Hence, when I travelled to Srilanka, my understanding of Tamil nationalism helped me a lot to understand further the nature of the ethnic crisis in that country and who could be the forces aggravating it. And the result is quite interesting but deeply disturbing and hence need to be further explored.
Advent of Buddhism in the Southern India particularly in the erstwhile Madras province, which is today known as Tamilnadu, was recorded by many scholars including Pandith Ayothidas. Why is there no trace of Buddhism or atheism in Tamilnadu today despite its glorious anti Brahmanic crusade? Who were the people benefitted from it? Where are the movements and issues gone when we see a gradual rise of brahmanical values in Tamilnadu and huge growth of temples despite political parties like DMK who owe their success to the anti God ideology of Periyar. The point I am mentioning here is because the ethnic crisis in Srilanka involves the Srilankan Tamils and their issues. Srilanka embraced Buddha and its values of life. Unfortunately, the Tamils in Srilanka could not do so. Contrary to growing anti Brahmin movement in Tamilnadu, Srilankan Tamil leadership remained in the hands of hardcore upper caste-Brahmins of the mainland Sri Lanka whose issue of identity was not confined to Tamil language and ethnicity but also strong claim of Vaidik Hinduism.
The positive side of Srilankan Buddhism was that they have accommodated Hindu gods and goddesses in various Buddhists temples in the island nation. It is a different matter that when Baba Saheb Ambedkar embraced Buddhism he had asked his followers to take 22 oaths in their life and completely do away with the Hindu rituals as well as Hindu Gods which were against equality and dignity of human beings. During my trip to Colombo and other parts of Srilanka, it was great to see the impact of Buddhism in the socio cultural lives of that country . The mobility of women in the social lives is perhaps higher than in any part of South Asia. That apart the people are remarkably open hearted and do not confine their discussions to narrow national boundaries. They are proud of their Buddhist heritage.
Unfortunately, just a few days before, I embarked on my tour; an incident was blown out of proportion. A news report came in the media about the ‘destruction' of a ‘mosque' in Dambula by the Buddhist monks. For any one supporting human rights of people, this incident was a shocking. In fact, it created further tension in that country where newspapers condemned it. However, to compare it with the Babari demolition would be a bit too much and need to be explained further. I decided to visit the area and find out what had happened there. Many of my friends advised me not to visit the area as administration would not allow me to visit that but my curiosity to see what has happened won the day for me. Dambula's ‘Golden Temple' is situated on the historic Buddhist site which attracts thousands of people every day from world over. It is a huge campus and I tried to find out where the mosque was but could not find. I went to the last point near the caves and thought may be a mosque was demolished. In the past few years, Srilanka also developed some kind of right wing Buddhism, which was very aggressive and unable to accommodate the different view point and it was therefore important to find out what has happened. To my utter disappointment, I did not find anything in the entire area. It was shocking that an event which has made so much of noise in Srilanka and abroad yet there was no trace of it in the city. Later, we decided to find out from the locals particularly the cab drivers. And they said that there was no mosque but an attempt was being made to construct a new mosque adjacent to the historic temple and that because of future repercussions the Buddhists objected to it and demolished it before construction. While right to profess one's religion exists in the constitutions of modern democracies, it is also a fact that Sri Lanka has seen enormous growth in construction of mosque in past few years much to the discomfort of the Buddhists though it is also a fact that Government has promoted Buddhism officially and secular groups resent it. According to them it violates the basic principle of equal distance from all the religion. But then there are historic realities of the state too and that need to be taken into consideration.
Many Srilankan Buddhists actually blamed the Tamil journalists for spreading lies about Srilankan ‘demolishing' the mosque. According to them, the Tamil Diaspora is trying to isolate the Sinhalese internationally and hence try to work with different religious groups including Muslims and Christians who might also have their own grievances against the Srilankan state officially promoting Buddhism there. It would be too naïve and untrue to say that minorities live in utter despair in Srilanka. Definitely, the government needs to be more open and secular in its nature yet it is also important that minorities do not use their majority neighbors to bully the country. When I met a Muslim in Colombo, he simply complained that the Buddhists are the biggest ‘terrorists' but then it was definitely an over statement given the nature of the accusations. Sinhalese scholars in Srilanka complain that that cannot really do anything against Tamils as the entire Tamilnadu rise in their support if anything happen here. They still feel that the mainland Tamils were upper caste Hindus with nothing in common with those tea estate workers who were transported by the British to engage in their tea estates in the Northern Province of Jaffna and tea estate in highlands. Most of them were untouchables and the upper caste Tamils had no relations with them.
As I visited many areas in the highlands, my host wanted me to see some of the Hindu temples which according to her were ‘historical'. Though, I realized that she as a practicing Hindu wanted to see those places and felt it would be good for me to see that too. I was informed about a temple where ‘Sita' had stayed after Ravana had abducted her. This temple is called Sita Eliya. On the gate, a Tamil gentleman inform us about the ‘historic' temple where Sita stayed after her abduction. It was here only that Hanuman flew and found Sita. The temple has many interesting things. A small water stream is flowing on the back of the temple amidst some rocks. On the big stone there are two holes and now they have been marked with yellow paints as sign of Hanuman's feet when he jumped from the mountain. There is a small tree which is not even 10 years old but it is claimed as Ashok Vatika. Then there are posters in Hindi of Murari Bapu as well as some other Hindus in Srilanka. It is surprising that while it is difficult to find posters in Hindi in Tamilnadu but they are visible in Srilanka. It is not a secret that a number of Tamils from Tamillnadu are supporting the temple construction here.
It clearly means that Tamils who could not promote Hinduism in Tamilnadu are now doing so in Srilanka in the name of their separate identity as well as to counter Buddhism there. It is reported that many Indian ‘spiritual' gurus as well as political leaders have been visiting and planning some bigger temples in that country. Just about 10 kilometer towards Kandy, there is a new temple called as Hanuman Eliya. It is now being popularized and young Hindus predominantly Tamils come here daily. The temple is built by ‘Chinmay Mission'. It is surprising that Chinmay Mission normally has its discourse on Gita and Vedas but it sounds strange how they have build up this huge Hanuman temple. Here the Hanuman is standing unlike the Hanuman which we have seen in the North. You are not allowed to take picture of the statue inside the temple. At the gate is posted a poster asking the ‘Hindus' to assert their Hindu identity and not to be ashamed of being a Hindu. The Brahmins and their purity are very much visible in the temple. Unfortunately, Sita is seen on the right side of Rama and not on the left as usual is the picture. My Srilankan host though a born Buddhist is a practicing Hindu and reminded the priest about it to which the priest admitted the mistake. My problem is not with the right or wrong of the statues but of the well planned way of defining and redefining the mythologies in Srilanka. Now, in front of Hanuman Eliya is a beautiful mountain range which the priest describes as Sleeping Hanuman. It is strange how the Brahmins can defy logic to everything and make their own illogical things look logical.
The fact is that both these temples have nothing historic. Not even the photographs inside them which are very ordinary but then over the period of them they will become ‘ancient' Hindu temple and in next few years we will see how the Sangh Parivar and their various offshoots would prove that Rama was a historical figure and that they have found various places linked to them. It actually suits to their bigger agenda of justifying the Rama Temple in Ayodhya which do not have any historical linkages accept that it was a temple of 14-15 th century. The digging in Ayodhya has already proved that it was a Buddha Vihara before being demolished by the Hindus and hence they are claiming the site very much to the resentment of the Hindutva forces.
It is important to understand this huge project of the right wing Hindutva forces who have unleashed their agendas in different direction. They have found their supporters for these initiatives for a bigger Hindu Unity world over even if happens at the cost disturbing relationship with other communities in their respective countries.
The larger agenda of right wing Hindu forces is to make the issue of Ram Temple legitimate through they want to establish the Aryan Supremacy and fight against the Muslim-Christian agenda of domination. In that they have made common cause with Buddhists too. But it seems that in Srilanka with growing differences with Buddhist clergy, they have charted on a different mission to counter the growth of Buddhism . As Srilanka become a popular destination for tourists' world over to see the Buddhist places, it is time for these religious right wings also to ascertain the Hindu legitimacy in that country. How you legitimize the mythology of Rama if it remain non- existent in Lanka which has been so much highlighted among our young minds. As Buddha's path of peace become more attractive the chances of caste based Hindu Dharma as a legitimate voice of peace and nonviolence would become redundant and therefore it is resorting to those mythologies, rituals and superstition to bring back people to its fold. It is essential to expose Hindutva's hidden agenda which has potential to further jeopardize peace in Srilanka.
Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social and human rights activist. He blogs at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com
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