Why hindu intolerance is rising in india
India’s history is a testimony of Hindus tolerance. Hinduism still manages to praise the fact that Hinduism had a benign, harmless tolerance. But in recent years the image of Hinduism and of Hindu society in general has changed drastically. Upon revealing your religion as Hindu, It is very common to hear questions like “Are you secular”, Are you one of the extremists”, or “Are you follower of hindutva” etc. Shocking!!! isn’t it? Hindus are known for their tolerance yet they have to prove their secularism and tolerance. This is because of the massive coverage of foreign paid Indian media who generally shows Hindus in bad light (also read Why you should not trust foreign funded news channel >). Such media die to take coverage of Hindu mob roaming on the streets with sticks or swords under the influence of materialistic desire for greed and money.
This article is in response to an email sent to me on intolerance of Hinduism
Does Indian scriptures preaches intolerance
Since none of the Indian scriptures preaches intolerance, Hinduism is naturally a tolerant religion. By firmly declaring that all paths (religions) lead to the same god, Bhagavad gita clearly preaches tolerance between religions. (Also read ;Why hinduism is the most tolerant religion <> ) It encourages everyone to practice their beliefs instead of interfering in the beliefs of others.
Bhagavad gita clearly defines the divine and demoniac practices in this materialistic world and encourage everyone to follow the path of virtue and righteousness. Flexibility in the beliefs, dogmas and doctrines of Hinduism makes Hindus very lenient and forgiving with believers of other faiths. Anyone can follow Hinduism without undergoing any ceremony or conversion. This makes Hinduism not a religion but a cultural and democratic way of living life. You don’t have to convert to Hinduism for practicing Hinduism. You can be a catholic and still a Hindu, as long as you follow the ethics and philosophies of Hinduism. To become a Hindu, You should live in total harmony with nature, develop the feeling of grace and tolerance, do not harass or trouble other living beings and should be fully aware of your responsibilities and dharma.
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Message from Swami Vivekananda on How Hindus Worship One God
Few precepts of Hindu tolerance
When the land of Hindustan was abundant with great seers and sages, following were the points on god, preached by most sages and kings:
1) the world is in God
2) God is in this world
3) God and world are distinct
4) God is distinct from universe, but universe is not distinct from god
5) It is impossible to realize this world if it is distinct from the god.
Hinduism never persecuted the one who rejected sacred scriptures like Vedas and questioned its conventional beliefs. Ex: Hindus did not persecute Lord Buddha for his rejection of Vedas and Upanishads. Spiritual leaders like Ramakrishna, Prabhupada and yogananda showed immense tolerance to other religions in their speech and code of conduct. They preached the importance of tolerance and communal harmony by teaching the similarities of Hinduism with other religions.
Tolerance toward Christianity
Christianity in India arrived with St.Thomas in 1st century AD, long before it became popular in the European countries and American sub-continent.
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One of world's ancient Christian community - Syrian Christians of Kerala - 2
Tolerance toward Zoroastrians (Parsis)
Following the Islamic conquest, Zoroastrians or Persians (present Iran) fled to India and took refuge in Indian state of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Today, they are the most affluent community of India living without any fear of persecution. Known as Parsis, they control the huge business empire of India. For Ex: Tata group, Wadia group. Indira Gandhi, India first lady prime minister and most powerful woman of all times, was married to a Parsee “Feroz Gandhi”
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Parsis and Iranis in India and Pakistan
Tolerance toward Jews
Judaism arrived in India in 70 AD when the Romans threw Jews out of their homeland and destroyed all their sacred temples. While the Jews were persecuted in Middle East and western countries, India was the only country that gave refuge to Jews and didn’t persecute even a single Jew in whole recorded history. Since many Jews were greedy and selfish, they were royally executed all around the world but there was no such episode of anti-Seminitism in India. When Jews went to Israel after its creation in 1948, Israel government thanked India and recognized India as the only place where no Jews were persecuted.
Migration route of Indian Jews to Israel
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Jews of Mumbai (Bombay)
‘It is an undoubted fact that in India, religions and philosophical thinkers were able to enjoy perfect, nearly absolute freedom for a long period. The freedom of thought in ancient India was so considerable as to find no parallel in the west before the most recent age.’-Max Weber
Hindus tolerance against other religions
The most appropriate indicator of Hindus tolerance is- Indians never launched a religious attack on any other religions. Indians have been living in a heterogeneous society with members from different linguistic and ethnic background coexisting together, practicing their faith independently with no interference with other religions. Even the kings never interfered in the religious beliefs of its citizens and built temples of worship according to the demands and belief of his citizens. Religious and cultural debates, interactions and discussions among religious scholars were encouraged by kings of ancient India.
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Top 20 Indian Kings in Indian History
Most of such religious discussions happened in places of educational importance like takshila and Nalanda University. Despite the growing instances of religious terrorism, conversion propaganda of foreign missionaries and widespread communal violence that led to massive loss of property and life, Hindus have showed a great restraint towards belief and conduct of other faiths. Though invaders and missionaries have been attacking Indian temples and beliefs for centuries, attitude of majority of Hindus remains friendly and tolerant to believers of other faiths without any kind of resentment and anger.
Temple demolished recently by Islam fanatics of Kashmir
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Babri Masjid or Ram Temple: A True Story
Tolerance of Hinduism is further boasted by the values of modern education and Indian secular democracy.
Demographics of Hindu intolerance
Even though all Hindus don’t practice tolerance equally, there are many knowledgeable and intelligent spiritual masters who display tremendous amount of tolerance even against intolerant spiritual leaders of other religions. There are other groups which believe in violence against violence. Between these two groups (Spiritual Hindus and aggressive Hindus), lies the majority of Hindus having different levels of tolerance and aggression. Though this group is very tolerant and harmonious, they do show their anger and frustration against the cruel ones who brutally assault their faiths.
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Killing of 23 Kashmiri Hindus by Islamic Terrorists in Kashmir
Evidence of intolerance
Though Hindus have been highly tolerant, there are few incidents of intolerance shown by Hindu bigots and atheists. However, such incidents were relatively rare and small, and so the 1925 encyclopedia States ‘though Hinduism is eminently eclectic and tolerant, disputes between rival sectarians, ending in bloodshed are not uncommon’. Still, In general, it would be very wrong to compare the intolerance of other religions with Hinduism. Hinduism responds and retorts to violence only when they are criticized and brutally assaulted by followers of other faith. Within Hinduism, there are different sects and communities, each one of which is more or less completely different to each other. Yet, all of them live in mutual harmony and their co-existence is the proof of the tolerance nurtured by them. Intolerance in Hindus is the result of loss of spirituality and increase in poverty, courtesy of cruel attacks by foreign invaders.
How Intolerance rose in Hindus in pre-historic era
Before the last ice age, whole world practiced Hinduism or the offshoot religions of Hinduism. As a result, there was no or very little intolerance by any one sect with beliefs of another sect. After the last ice age, all ancient spiritual scriptures and teachings were lost in the western world and the new organized religions took it place. This led to the conflict of beliefs between sect, community, creed and religion.
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A Brief History of Religion
Religious debates, discussions and arguments quite often ended with an unpleasant verbal or violent fight.
To portray their religion better than others, they distorted the writings of other religions and exaggerated the writing of their own religious beliefs. For Ex: Jains and Buddhist are depicted as descendant of demons in some purana while the jain writings downgrades immortal Hindu deities as mere mortals, affected by lust, greed, karma and death.
Intolerance between sects of Hinduism in pre-historic era
History of intolerance in Hinduism starts with the rivalry between two upper varnas(Brahmins and khsatriyas) for supremacy. It is believed that kshatriyas reforms for dominance were the cause for formation of new religions like Jainism, Buddhism and Zorastrianism. This rivalry also led to the disintegration of vast Indian kingdom into many smaller kingdoms. There were fights between the vaishnavas and shaivas on the belief of supreme god. Though they believed in both lord Shiva and lord Vishnu, they challenged the supremacy of any one god and believe their god to be the supreme universal brahman. ‘
Lord Shiva and lord Vishnu
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Shiva vs. Vishnu - Who is greater (Conclusion)
Rise in Intolerance during medieval era
Religious tensions existed even during the times of King Asoka. His act of embracing Buddhism and discarding the Vedic ceremonies led to conflict with Vedic Brahmins. On the contrary, Successor of Mauryans, sungas restored the Vedic religion and acted negatively against Buddhism. Idols of Buddha in caves were replaced by Hindu deities. Though the ancient Indian kings encouraged trade with the outside world, they never liked the interference of foreign invaders in their religious lives. Due to their intolerance and unethical morality, Indian kings treated foreign visitors like Greeks, Romans, Pahlavas as low caste or outcast. For example, shortly after the death of Jesus, St. Thomas sailed to India and started preaching aggressively the doctrine of Jesus to native keralites. This religious interference was intolerable to the local mob that killed him following a religious dispute but they didn’t harm the converts converted by st.Thomas. Portuguese, who arrived in Kerala in early 1700 AD, declared Christians of Kerala as heretics and destroyed all documents linked to st.Thomas
Intolerance against weaker sections of the society
While Hindus have been tolerant with other faiths, there were elements of intolerance against people of their own faiths (Ex: mlecchas and lower castes). During the mughal and British rule, most of the upper caste Hindus forged alliances with enemies to increase their status and power in society. Such Hindus were tolerant with Muslims and Christians because they feared the swords and guns of their army but the same Hindus were intolerant against lower caste Hindus who came with folded hands, seeking place to live in the society with respect and dignity. After the mughal and British rulers were thrown out of India, there were many incidents of conflicts between lower and upper caste Hindus. However, the conflict was very minimal and restricted to debate and minor fight.
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The Origin of Caste System in India: The Surgery
Intolerance of Hinduism is incomparable to intolerance of other religions
In comparison, intolerance of Hindus is nothing compared to intolerance of other faiths. Ancient Christians were the most intolerant and were known for worst crimes against the natives in European countries and American continent. 95%+ Christianity in European and American countries is the outcome of their intolerance. Similarly, there were endless killings by mughal and Persian rulers in the name of Islam.
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Islamic History of India - Bloodiest in the history of World
Every religion has shown immense tyranny against the weaker sections of the society which is now increasing rapidly. The only way for peace in any nation or society is by acceptance of other faiths, teachings and philosophies. For Ex: Hindus never clashed with Buddhist on religious grounds due to similarities in ideas, beliefs, philosophies and the message of brotherhood, peace and non-violence.
Many Hindus criticize the action of intolerant Hindu bigots but the same is unseen in case of followers of other religions. This is only because our religion teaches better than other and only the uneducated intolerant Hindus continue with their act in the mode of ignorance.
Hindus feel insecure and uneasy against foreign missionaries
Monopoly of Christians and Islam is the strength of their faith. Their monopoly on the Australians, Americans, Europeans and sub-Saharan Africa have kept these areas under their influence without any effort and they have now focused on eastern countries where other religions are recovering from the tyrant impact of forced conversion and European colonialism. Western NGO’s and religious missionaries are very active in tribal regions of eastern countries where thousands of peoples belonging to backward communities are lured into conversion through charity and false teachings. Hindus are acting very aggressively to counter attack conversion by such missionaries.
Hindus retaliation in modern times
Retaliation by Hindus is wrongly projected as intolerance. The Retaliation of modern Hindus is the result of horrible history and memory of indiscriminate killing or forced conversions. Present intolerance/Retaliation in some Hindus is the outcome of protection and safeguarding from other faiths who continues to attack Hinduism to seek converts but note the fact that intolerance is only against intolerant believers of other faiths. Because of numerous foreign invasions, Hindus suffered unimaginable religious persecution by the hands of mughal and British rulers in their own homeland. Despite of such brutality, Hindus managed to survive unlike many other similar civilizations that persist only in the pages of history. Many Hindus believe that intolerance in Hinduism came because of the tyranny and conquest of conversion by Islamic and Christian invaders. They also triggered communal fights between Hindus-Muslims or Hindu-Sikh by political exploitation of communities.
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Know Your HISTORY - INDIA and its Brutal Islamic past
They feel enough is enough and having reduced to 25% from the total number of Hindus that existed in ancient times (Hindus succumbed to conquest by other faiths in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and other south east countries), modern Hindus believe that it’s the time to become aggressive and protect our identity.
Hinduism, once a dominant religion of whole Asia, is now restricted to India alone.
They are of the notion that if we don’t retaliate against intolerant believers of other faiths, then we would gradually lose our identity and Hinduism will become an extinct religion like Zoroastrianism, Sumerians, Incas etc. This belief increased after Indian independence that led to partition on religious grounds. This intolerance gave rise to “Hindutva” or Hindu nationalism, supported by different political parties or organization like BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party), VHP(Vishva Hindu Parishad) and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). Followers of hindutva believes ayodhya to be the birth place of shri ram and demands the exclusive right of worship and construction of temples in the city.
How the Hindus justify their retaliation
Since the intolerance against evil is fully justified in bhagavad gita and other scriptures, most Hindus don’t see any wrong in following intolerance against tyrant followers of other faiths. Vedas and bhagavad gita advocates intolerance and no compromise in case of war against evil and injustice. Sometimes, superior arguments placed by Hindu scholars in defense of their faith are also wrongly interpreted as intolerance. In the recorded history, Hinduism is the only religion to be seen as highly tolerant compared to all other religions. Even Buddhism, which rose through negative and false campaigns against Hinduism, cannot take the credit of being highly tolerant.
Is Hinduism the only tolerant religion?
I don’t think so. For centuries, upon persecution by Christians, Jews were safeguarded by Muslims before their spiritual leaders called out for conversion of non-Muslim followers. Today, Christian nations like America and United Kingdom are importing the Indian concept of tolerance and are becoming more and more liberal by pushing the values of equality, tolerance, fraternity, compromise and justice.
By and large, most of the Hindus are tolerant but all Hindus cannot claim this privilege. Idea of tolerance is for the benefit of society and nation at large, and hence, every country has the right to practice tolerance.
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Joy of Hinduism in america
Conclusion:
Present Retaliation/intolerance of some Hindus should not be used to degrade the image of Hinduism, which continues to remain the most diverse and inclusive tolerant religion of the world. Ignoring the regular terrorist attacks and communal violence, majority of the Hindus continue with their daily routine and activities. Taking into account everything, Hindus are still very peaceful and shows remarkable pride in their historical religious identity that survived despite of centuries of attacks by tyrant invaders. Hindus are well aware of the divisive tactics of foreign missionaries and the adverse effects it has in the society and country. Therefore, they believe in necessity of religious tolerance and calls for unity even when the communal violence is incited by greedy politicians, corrupt bureaucrats and missionaries seeking converts. Thus, Based upon the points discussed in this article, it would be wrong to say Hinduism as 100% tolerant religion but by far and large, attitude and approach of Hindus is remarkably soft and lenient towards other religion which makes it the most tolerant religion.
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