Why I Am A Hindu

Product Information

More so, I would like to ask Mr. Tharoor, if he feels Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya or Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was not great enough that any institution or project could be named after them then what about the 500+ project named after the Gandhi dynasty which runs your party? Did Rajeev Gandhi and Indira Gandhi not give India the gifts of emergency, the lynching of Sikhs, caste-based reservation for votes and Bofors Scam? Does that make them great enough?

If I was to give a rating for the first 138 pgs I would give 4 out of five stars. But the book's as deceptive as the author himself, it has Political approach from 139 pgs nearly 300 pgs. In the process, a highly textualised Hinduism was abstracted from the social context as well as from contestations. Philosopher J.N. Mohanty suggests that the wisdom of the Vedas was constantly challenged both by supporters and opponents of the philosophy. The main division was between philosophical schools that believed in the Vedas, and those that did not: the Sramanic tradition. Within the Vedic tradition we discern considerable self-criticism. For instance, Samkhya philosophy, that belonged originally to the Vedic tradition, developed a strong strain of atheism and naturalism. This is paid scant attention. Also excluded from metaphysical conceptualisations of Hinduism is the heretical materialist school of Carvaka philosophy that nurtures a robust anti-Vedic materialism. Other sceptics refused to accept the claim that the Vedas code absolute knowledge. The construction of a hegemonic tradition has spectacularly marginalised critical philosophies within and outside Hinduism. Without a hint of doubt, these words which moved the world when were recited by Swami Vivekanand in United Nations will move any reader and make them proud of Hinduism!

So who knows truly whence this great creation sprang? Who knows whence this creation had its origin? Kancha Ilaiah writing for The Caravan, wrote a critical book review in which he questioned the theories put forth by Tharoor for praising Hinduism while being unaware of his own caste. [7] MK Raghavendra of Firstpost wrote that “books such as Shashi Tharoor’s 'Why I am a Hindu' simply take sides in the Left vs Right unproductive struggle, without adding much of intellectual value to the socio-political issues confronting India today.” [4] According to Tharoor, art should be seen as an art there is nothing to get offended. Agreed. Then, why they have to bar Salman Rushdie from entering India? https://m.economictimes.com/news/poli... Hindutva is an assault on Hinduism: Shashi Tharoor". The Economic Times . Retrieved 25 October 2021.

The remainder of the section mostly corresponds to what has been going on in Indian communal politics and if you have been following the news ardently you already know pretty much. Let's take Tharoor as some person who supports the work of a historian who gathered information which was not available in the past and came to a conclusion. Then why not he against Tippu Jayanthi who massacred many Hindus and these were not mere speculations but the letters written by Tippu himself to his commander asking how many were converted and killed. While politically this change for Mr. Tharoor might be rewarding, but the question is – If putting his reputation at stake worth the reward? a b "Why I Am A Hindu: Shashi Tharoor's sentiments are those of a liberal trying to reclaim the religion from the fringe". Firstpost. 19 February 2018 . Retrieved 25 October 2021.The last section talks about tolerance, Hinduism without fundamentals and how we should embrace the faith for what it is rather what a handful of people would like us to believe. In Why I Am a Hindu, one of India’s finest public intellectuals gives us a profound book about one of the world’s oldest and greatest religions. Starting with a close examination of his own belief in Hinduism, he ranges far and wide in his study of the faith. He talks about the Great Souls of Hinduism, Adi Shankara, Patanjali, Ramanuja, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and many others who made major contributions to the essence of Hinduism. He delves deep into Hinduism’s most important schools of thought (such as the Advaita Vedanta). He explains, in easily accessible language, important aspects and concepts of Hindu philosophy like the Purusharthas and Bhakti, masterfully summarizes the lessons of the Gita and Vivekananda’s ecumenism, and explores with sympathy the ‘Hinduism of habit’ practised by ordinary believers. He looks at the myriad manifestations of political Hinduism in the modern era, including violence committed in the name of the faith by right-wing organizations and their adherents. He analyzes Hindutva, explains its rise and dwells at length on the philosophy of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, its most significant ideologue. He is unsparing in his criticism of extremist ‘bhakts’, and unequivocal in his belief that everything that makes India a great and distinctive culture and country will be imperiled if religious ‘fundamentalists’ are allowed to take the upper hand. However, he also makes the point that it is precisely because Hindus form the majority that India has survived as a plural, secular democracy. Ashwani Kumar is a poet, author, and senior fellow at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. His latest anthology is Banaras and the Other The second half is nothing but political propaganda aimed at his adversaries and has nothing in relation to the question 'Why Shashi Tharoor is Hindu'. He trains his guns on RSS, Golwalkar, Savarkar, Modi and Deen Dayal Upadhyay. In the process he only convinces the validity of philosophy Deen Dayal Updhayay. His analysis of Golwalkar and Savarkar is biased as does not recongnise that their ideas were in reaction to those of the vile propaganda by Muslim League.

But Vivekananda’s thesis neatly flattened out the challenge that Buddhism had posed to Brahmanical power, the monarchical state, ritualism, and caste discrimination. It simply assimilated Buddhism into Hinduism. Scholars in other countries, shuddering under the impact of religious politics, have tried to appeal beyond politics to texts and syncretic practices. The strategy has simply not worked. We might have to counter and dare dominant formulations with alternative forms of politics. That is precisely what the leaders of the Indian National Congress did in the early 20th century. They introduced the language of minority rights in the 1928 Constitutional Draft and secularism after the major Kanpur communal riot in 1931, as a part of constitutional democracy. Shall we think of politics as a radical critique of an inequitable religion as well as religion as politics? This book is co-authored by Shashi Tharoor, the intellect, and Shashi Tharoor, the politician. The intellect Shashi Tharoor begins the book beautifully, elaborating on the core tenets of Hinduism and all things that makes Hinduism not just a religion, but the very way of life worth emulating. Briefly delving on the probable origins of Hinduism, the challenges it faced all along its many millennia-old existence, the ways in which it overcame those challenges and the innumerable saints and holy personae that stand as shining beacons for all the virtues that Hinduism is all about. Ironically, Mr. Tharoor makes you feel proud about being Hindu, more than all the antics and assertions of the so-called saviours of the ‘Hindutva’ brigade. Though later in the book he goes on to praise the work of Pt. Deen Dayal and quotes that his Hindutva was a Hindutva of inclusion and of respect for all religions. It seemed to me that Mr. Tharoor’s mind was divided when he tried to write this book and he couldn’t decide which side he is batting for, which is so unlike him.Even as Orientalists, colonial administrators and intellectuals in Western universities set about translating, codifying and reducing a complex philosophic system to manageable proportions, we witnessed the creation of a homogenised Hinduism. This was upheld by nationalists as the anchor of an Indian identity. Such is the power of intellectual colonialism!