Pride and Prejudice

I was at Humayun’s tomb some weeks back. It has been restored by ASI and opened to public and is now a world heritage site. It is considered a precursor to Taj Mahal built a century later. It is a grand structure with a large garden. It is simple but dignified one and fits well as a Tomb for a king/ emperor. Be that as it may, it is not my topic.

I heard someone say that it is after all a grave and what is so great about it. A few minutes later I saw a Muslim adult standing near the tomb- eyes closed, face registering a reverential look and looking solemn and serious. Both were funny and worrying.

In Pakistan they have a problem in teaching History. Everything before Mohammad is not civilized or civilized enough. The achievements of people till then are difficult to stomach. The Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro cultures (some of the findings and sites are in Pakistan) cannot be praised or admired. (Recall how the militants destroyed ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan). In India, people of   Hindutva shades cannot find anything good in any of the periods of Muslim rule. Golden periods came before ( Gupta’s ) or after ( ‘ Shivaji ‘s or ‘ Vijayanagar’s  ) Muslim rulers.

When we identify (or disassociate) ourselves with an area, region, caste, religion, country, event, period or a person strange things happen. We forget that we are woven by blend of several strands. It is absurd to feel that (worse to proclaim) our ancestors were Vedic sages or cringe from the fact that there may be genes of Genghis Khan in us or that they (our ancestors) could have been cannibals. All we need to do is to go back in time a bit more and we would find changes like in a kaleidoscopic display. For instance if we go back in time for about  15  generations   we can claim  Akbar and 40 generations  Shankara , 120 generations - heroes and villains of Mahabharata or if you fancy Krishna himself and about 2000 generations a tiny African tribe. In fact we may find that we have descended from a woman in that tribe!  When we say ‘our culture’ what do we mean?  ‘Ours and theirs ‘is pure convenience but unhealthy trend. I am reminded of an Irish guide who said to us, “…they called him William the conqueror and Irish called him William the bastard “. Views – ours and theirs!

More basically why should we take unwanted pride in establishing ‘our culture’? Is it not just dependent on time? Why is it Mozart, Einstein, Shakespeare, Alexander (no pride though), Cleopatra and Stalin not mine but only Vysa, Ashoka, Guptas, Chanakya mine (as Hindutva person would claim)? Or as Bhutto once said how ‘we ‘ruled Indian subcontinent for 700 years? Should I jump with joy if Mouryas established a vast  pan India empire, if Cholas conquered some lands overseas , shed a tear for Babri Masjid built on a temple ( even if true ), not care if Vietnam war killed millions  or Iran - Iraq war killed countless Muslims ?

It is so easy to excite people – as German, as Dalit, as Muslim, as Born again Christian, as Jew , as Tamilian – the list is endless. Unless we teach Children not to feel proud  (  at least unduly ) of any one specific identity, or make them feel proud of all great legacy we will always suffer from historical injustice real or imagined , shallow prejudices and become poisoned.

I am reminded of a saying in Mahabharata which I have admired a lot. In essence it says : Sacrifice self for the group, group for the village, village for a country and all for redemption of soul. Large interest subsumes smaller ones. To change it a bit ( probably it meant just that )  : If any identity clashes with the larger one discard the lower one and for the sake of humanism discard all.