About the Book
Book: An Ode To Fraternity
Author: ROHINTON F NARIMAN
Publisher: Penguin
Price: Rs 799/-
Exploring the deep fault lines where faith, power, and ideology collide in modern India’s complex landscape, says KUMAR CHELLAPPAN
Kunchan Nambiar (1705-1770), the great Malayalam poet, once wrote that all wars in the world are fought over women and wealth. Had the poet been around today, he would have said that all battles are fought over women, wealth, and religions. A concept that gave identity to their followers, religions are not inherently bad. Those faced with hardship often turn to God Almighty seeking peace of mind. Many religions and gods have offered solace to people in times of distress.
Of late, however, many political ideologies have evolved into a form of religion, further complicating the landscape. In South India, we have Dravidian politics, where the party’s founding leaders are worshipped almost as deities. I have heard countless hymns composed and sung to invoke the blessings of Muthuvel Karunanidhi, the DMK patriarch, who, for party members, is seen as a divine figure.
While Dravidians are typically rationalists, they have no hesitation in worshipping Karunanidhi as a god. “Who is the god of Tamils across the universe? It is Kalaignar… our own Kalaignar,” was a popular DMK hymn in Tamil Nadu. Yet, over the years, Indian communists have begun to view religion as an essential ingredient for their survival.
The genocides that have occurred in India were often driven by a desire to annihilate the major religion of the subcontinent. It is with the intention of bridging the divide between these rival religions that Rohinton F Nariman, a former judge of the Supreme Court, wrote An Ode To Fraternity, a book that seeks to determine whether there is truly unity in diversity. The book explores all major religions in India, offering a comprehensive understanding of their values. Nariman, a Parsi priest and scholar of comparative religion, is well-qualified to author such a work. In his analysis, while explaining in detail the nuances of each religion, he refrains from offering any judgments on their pros and cons, leaving this decision to the readers.
The chapter that particularly caught my attention was the one on Islam, a topic brought into stark focus by the recent attack on innocent tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir. Islamic terrorists selectively massacred 26 Hindus, ensuring the victims were identified as “hardcore” infidels. Reports suggest that the perpetrators went to great lengths to test the victims to confirm they were kafirs. This was, according to them, the “gift from Allah, the All-Merciful, and the All-Compassionate,” delivered by the so-called “Angels of Peace.” This is far from the first such massacre in India. Since the arrival of Islam in India through the invasions of Muhammed Ghazni and Muhammed Ghori, murder and mayhem have marked the relationship between the invaders and the native people. The Islamic invaders, crossing the Khyber Pass, came with the intentions of plundering, looting, and proselytising the subcontinent. The invaders were authorised to annihilate the non-believers and idolaters. The Holy Quran, in Chapter 9, explicitly exhorts believers to “fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war” (Surah 9, Ayat 5-7). These are revelations received by Prophet Muhammed straight from Allah, the Merciful. Surah 9, Ayat 28 further warns believers that idolaters are the only unclean people and must be kept far from mosques. There is no harm in these messages, as they are seen as direct instructions from the Almighty. Nariman, however, keeps a safe distance from such controversies and writes in a style that would endear him to religious authorities, particularly the Mullahs. What stands out, however, is that communal clashes in India occur primarily between Muslims and Hindus. Much of this tension arises from the increasing number of love jihad cases and religious conversions, with Hindus often at the receiving end. No other religion seems to demand such drastic measures for those who do not follow its ideologies. In conclusion, Nariman compares all religions and seems to give full marks to Islam, which he believes teaches the principle of surrendering to the will of God.
According to him, if God will something, nothing can stand in the way, and if God does not will it, nothing can be achieved. Indian philosophy, however, teaches that all religions are equal. This is in direct contrast to the stance held by Abrahamic religions, which insist that their way is the only way. Sanatana Dharma, unlike other religions, does not have religious police to monitor its followers, while the same cannot be said for others.
The teachings of Sanatana Dharma, such as “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu” (May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all) and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The world is one family), offer a universal perspective on human existence. We do not require religious police or guards to ensure that followers adhere to religious dictates.