Rise of Goa’s Cultural Censors Published on: August 2, 2010 - 00:07
(Courtesy:-The Navhind Times, Goa, Monday, August 2, 2010) Original article weblink:- http://www.navhindtimes.in/opinion/rise-goa-s-cultural-censors *By Nandkumar Kamat** *Any serious student and practitioner of Hinduism who has cared to learn about the personality, life, work and scholarship of one of the greatest Goans of all times, Indologist Dr Jose Pereira would not agree with the intimidatory methods adopted by self-styled cultural censors of Goa who claim to represent the Hindus. The Governor of this state needs to take a serious view of this entire matter and send his confidential report to the President of India and also intervene immediately and proactively to correct the lethargy of the constitutionally established state of Goa in consistently neglecting, and at times, indirectly encouraging such acts of intimidation against artists and scholars. The police and administration of Goa is yet to prove its neutral and secular character. The government of Goa owes an apology to Dr Jose Pereira who has not visited Goa to get such ridiculous treatment in the name of safeguarding religious sensitivities. Dr Pereira, now crossing 80 years, is a victim of Parkinson’s disease. He has full right to be treated with respect, dignity and honour. The police of Goa had no business to judge the works of art and order removal of paintings. It was a knee-jerk reaction especially when the assembly was in session and the whereabouts of the Home Minister were not known. We are not under Taliban rule to be told about the alleged telephonic threats of decapitation which Dr Jose Pereira has received. Issuing a threat to a scholar’s life and the silence of the police and Home Department on this matter is a sign of things to come - the boost to Goa’s self-styled cultural censors. Hinduism, a multicultural ecosystem This is a very serious matter which should have occupied prime attention of the assembly in session because people of Goa have elected the 40 representatives to safeguard their mandate under our Constitution. To me, after 40 years of deep and still-evolving contemplation, rich spiritual insights, Hinduism is not just another religion but an entire religious, multicultural ecosystem. It is like an ever-growing, expanding Banyan tree with myriads of microhabitats within its folds. It is not so shallow and superficial so as to get offended by nude artwork representing epical, puranic and mythological entities. Its fathomless spiritual and philosophical depth is its greatest strength. This is offset by rising cultural schizophrenia so aptly commented by Wendy Doniger in her monumental treatise - ‘The Hindus’ - An Alternative History (2009). It is a text which every modern Indian Hindu needs to read seriously as an external scholarly peer review by an American non-Hindu Sanskrit scholar and Indologist. The painting from Orissa on the jacket of Wendy’s book too would have offended the self-appointed moral conscience keepers of Goa’s Hindus. It shows Lord Krishna riding a figure of horse made by topless dancing women. Doniger has made an interesting comment on this painting and therein lies the answer to understand the nude mythological figures in some of Dr Pereira’s works. Doniger says - “The glorious horse that graces the jacket of the book is an example of contribution of a foreign culture to Hinduism since composite animals of this type came from Persia and entered India with the Mughals, and an example of the intersection of court and village, as the image travelled from the Mughal court in Delhi to a village in the state of Orissa. It is an image of women almost certainly painted by a man. Depicting Lord Krishna as the rider on the horse makes the Muslim image a Hindu image and the rider on the horse is an enduring Hindu metaphor for the mind controlling the senses, in this case harnessing the sexual addiction excited by naked women. This multivocal masterpiece is, like Hinduism, a collage made of individual pieces that fit together to make something far more wonderful than any of them.” The self-styled censors The self-styled censors are overworking to destroy this collage and scatter the pieces. Is it not an irony that the only scholarly scientific research work of high merit on pre-Portuguese Hindu temple architecture and sculptures, hero and Sati stones, caves and man-made cave temples of Goa should come from a non-Hindu German Indologist, Prof Gritli Mitterwalner? The self-styled cultural censors would have objected to her discovery of an ancient temple at Taide, Sanguem depicting a sexual scene. But because of rational scholars like her, Hinduism has immensely benefitted. This is also the lesson from the Indian renaissance post-Raja Rammohan Roy. If the government gives a free hand to cultural censors of Goa then it would be impossible to host an International Sanskrit conference or Indology conferences here because the censors would take objections to some of the research papers on tantrism and Kamasutra. Would they henceforth dictate the agenda for artistic creativity and scholarship? Then why we need a state under Indian Constitution? Four decades ago, Marathi scholar Narahar Kurundkar had commented that there is no external danger to Hinduism of any sort because it is not a monolithic and scriptural religion. Kurundkar was fascinated by the infinite absorptive and assimilative capacity of Hinduism which did not collapse after rise of Buddhism, ingress of iconoclastic Islam or dominance by western colonial powers. The wise men among the Hindus rose to the occasion and exploited the western education to empower themselves. Kurundkar was more worried about the rise of revisionist and revivalist currents. It was none other than Itihasacharya Rajwade who despite critical opposition and threats had published a monograph in early years of last century on the history of Indian marriage system and had exposed the hypocrisy of a section of Hindus who wished that the book should never get published. Hinduism has nothing to hide and absolutely nothing to be ashamed about. Dr Jose Pereira has not broken any tradition of Hindu ritualistic art, neither has he created anything absolutely new or vulgar in exhibiting his paintings which I had seen on the day of inauguration as an invited guest and I reiterate that I found these to be a rich tribute to India’s almost forgotten tradition of Kapalika school of tantric art. The ritual art of India and the depiction of nude figures is a subject by itself. The selective opposition to his work shows complete ignorance of tantric traditions of Indian sub-continent and the extreme freedom enjoyed by artists, poets and sculptors. Instead of wholesome appreciation of Dr Pereira’s attempt to reconnect to his pre-Portuguese, pre-colonial Hindu past and his Indian cultural ethos, his opponents have humiliated and insulted him in the name of religious sensitivities. What shall we expect in future? A new regime of fear psychosis imposed by the cultural censors while the state sits back and enjoys the scene? -- Dr. Nandkumar Kamat, GOA * * * Encounter hints (and more) of the Goan life in Zanzibar, Poona, Mombasa, Basra, Dubai, and even Nuvem and Colva, Sanvordem and colonial Goa. Learn of experiences that shaped Goans worldwide. Selma Carvalho's *Into the Diaspora Wilderness* now available at Broadways Book Centre, Panjim [Ph +91-9822488564] Ask a friend to buy it, before it gets sold out. 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