Wendy Doniger’s book Hinduism: An Alternate History was
pulped. Enough has been written about it by the pundits of prose and I need not
go into them here. But there are two aftermathic consequences I wish to draw
attention to here. The book must be pulp by now, rotting in the gutter or in
the recycling factory but two things give me sleepless nights, i.e., causes for
frequent hotness under the collar.
Censorship
One, first and foremost is Censorship. There is grave danger
here. The publishers instead of being editors would turn into censors and will stop
considering whatever they don’t like. The excuses they can mouth are so many:
No, this won’t sell
No, the plot line is weak
There’s no market for this
To them I say: first you publish a cerebral author writing about
controversial and topical human issues and then see if there is a market for
it. With this attitude of censoriousness nothing controversial can be published
in India and we will have more cookbooks, hagiographies, and travel
directories. It’s better not to take a risk than try out something that could
turn controversial. It’s as they say: sit at your desk for 20 years and then
complain that nothing ever happens.
The danger is in us becoming a people without history and a
people who needs foreigners to write our history. We then become a people whose
human condition went unexamined and we complain that foreigners have a
stereotypical attitude towards us. Heard that familiar refrain, eh?
Self-censorship
Second, is self censorship. This would be a corollary of the
one mentioned above, i.e., censorship. When a writer finds that his/her works
are slammed even before they could see light, then he/she goes into a shell and
becomes his own censor. This is also a virulent disease in society. We find
hundred of articulate people who write well and they fail to find a publisher
to give them the opportunity. They go into a shell, become depressed and begin
to think they aren’t good enough.
This is a phenomenon that is really happening in our
society. There are so many narrow-minded vigilante groups around that we tend
not to take up issues which we think are important for our own benefit. One of
them is culture vigilante-ism. This is the most pernicious of the brain-dead
groups advocating going back in evolution. The reasons they trot out are, “but
that’s not our culture,” “but, we need to preserve our culture.” Well, if
culture is to be preserved then insert it in a bottle, pour some formaldehyde
in it, and keep it on the shelf for all time. We would never have progressed
from leaf-wearing Neanderthals if we believed this type of people.
A culture is as good as its ability to adapt. And, adapt we
must to changing patterns of life around us. Otherwise, we would go the way of
the lemmings. Sorry, lemmings, no harm meant.
