The Art of History

By Tom MacFarlane

India’s Dream State

In thewakeof theriots andviolence that followed thestorming of amosquein Ayodhya,ancient

religious hatredsare being touted as the cause. Yet, India’s history is characterizedmore by

religious tolerationthanconflict. Thesehatredsareoften inventedby Hindu nationalistswho are

revising historyto supporttheirplansfor aHindu state.

The Art of Histoiy* Ancient Hatreds, Modern Inventions * Ayodhya and Rama * Hinduism and Hindu "Unity"Enter Rama, Modern Television Star * Reshaping Reality: India’s Muslim Era * Indian Culture: A Muslim-

Hindu Blend * The BJP-Whose Movement? Popular Dissatisfaction: CongressStruggles to Hold the Middle*A Cautionary Tale.

A s curious as it may sound,perhapsthe besthistory of India Ihaveever comeacrossis a piece of fiction. I am referringto

SalmanRushdie’s 1981 novel, Midnight’s Children. In it, thenarrator, SaleemSinai, relates the fantasticstory of his life. Heis born at midnight on the fifteenth of August, 1947, the verymomentthat the Indian stateachieved herofficial independence.From that instant,his story and India’s historyare yokedmythically andmetaphorically.

I know as I make sucha claim that there are plenty ofaccomplishedhistorians who would laugh off my impertinence.After all, what use is fiction to the purposes ofhistory, much lessa streamof consciousnessnarration which misdatesthe assassination of MahatmaGandhi?Still, Saleem’sfabuloushistory hecalls it a "chutnification [or pickling] of history"-self-consciously trying to "encapsulatethe whole of reality" while at thesame time giving it shapeand meaning-introduces,explains,and represents contemporaryIndia, with all its magical andexplosiveenergy,in a way that a moreconventionalhistoricaltext cannot.

For a country in which the majority of the populationusesthe sameterm for ‘yesterday’ as ‘tomorrow’ andunderstandsallearthlyexistenceas the dream ofagod, the idea of history is a complicated one. There exist few othercountriesin the world whose factsare so tangled in fiction and whosepast is so intricately knotted to itspresent. It is a countryof inventionin which languages,customs,cuisines,histories,and religiouspracticesvary from region to regionand personto person.

When recountingto a friendrecently the latest rash of disturbingnews out of India-the JanuaryHindu-Muslim riots sparkedby the MohandesK. Gandhi,Mohammed Ali Jinnah. and Jawaharlal Nehru.

storming ofa mosque,the fatal explosions inBombayand Calcutta in March, reportsthat Pakistanand India were on the vergeof nuclearwar for Kashmir in 1990-I rememberedSaleemSinai and the"fear of absurdity" which promptedhim to findconnectionsin everything. Were there anyconnectionsin thefrenzy of theseevents?,I wondered.

Still puzzlingabout India, I pulled Midnight’s Children offthe shelf and wasstartledupon re-readingthe book’s final passagein which Saleemsharesan apocalypticvision of the future."I am the bombin Bombay, watchme explode," he announces.Then later,"they will trampleme underfoot,the numbersmarching one two three, four hundred million five hundredsix, reducing me to specksof voicelessdust." Thefirst allusion-bombsinBombay-caughtmy eye immediately. As for the second,thesix hundred millionpeopleof India now, in fact, closerto nineand counting obliteratetheir collective history as it is made,marching restlessly through,and over, it to find themselvesinfamiliar yet new places,tracingthe innerlogic of a dream.

Ancient Hatreds, Modern Inventions

I will concentratehereon the most disagreeable ofcontemporarydevelopments:the rising tension between Hindusand Muslims,as exposedby the destructionof a sixteenthcenturymosqueatAyodhya a city in the northern province of UttarPradeshand

16- ORIGINS - MAY1993

by the subsequentwave of mob violencethat crippled much of

north and westIndia in earlyJanuary.On the surface,perhaps,the reports oftheseincidents corre

spondmore rigidly to a patternof historythan the otherevents-bombings and proposedbombings-broughtlately to ourattention. Certainlyour news media manages hastilyto packagethe unrestin languagewhich hasbecomeconventional. We seea ten second highlightpackageon televisionand are made tobelievewe understandthat the peopleon our screenare actingthis way out of "ancient hatreds"and "religious fanaticism."

But, thesesimplifications-true only to a point-so oftenonly makeus co-conspirators,sharersof the myths and fantasiesat the root of the violence. More often than not they concealtheparticularity of the upheaval-thecomplex and decidedlymodem set of circumstancesthat combineto make it possible-and,in India’s casecertainly, the haphazardnessof it, The impetusbehind the Hindu extremist movement has,some would say, asmuch to do with political and economic poweras it does withreligion or deep felt hatreds.Nevertheless,Hindu nationalistleadersstruggleat every turn to reinventIndia’s pastby exploiting religious sentimentand merginghistory with legendand fiction.

As politically radical as the Indian nationalistmovementwas led by Gandhi and India’s first PrimeMinister, JawaharlalNehru, its emphasison pluralism, secularism,and tolerance-ideals reflectedin the evolution of India’s legal and politicalstructuresince independence-wasnothing new. In fact,throughoutthe subcontinent’slong and turbulent history,thereissurprisingly little record of religious intolerance.Early HinduKings are known to have respectedthe variouspractices of theirimmigrant populations.Subsequently,as the power of thesekings began to declinein the eleventhcentury, the conqueringMuslims, who maintainedcontrol until the collapseof theMughal empirein the eighteenthcentury, were, with few exceptions, everybit as lenient.

Incidentsof conflict betweenHindus and Muslims took onnew,more serious,characteristicsfollowing British colonization.The division of the subcontinentinto administrative units oftenfell along religious lines-for examplethe 1905division of Bengal into what is today easternmostIndia and Bangladesh. Withthe traditional multi-religious principalities gone,indigenousleadersfound mono-religious administrativepocketsin which tobuild support. Politicians exploited Hindu andMuslim fears totheir advantage.

Moreover,eventswith non-religiousorigins often resultedincommunalconflict. In 1920, thousandsof Muslims returningearly from a failed pilgrimage to Meccafound their lands appropriatedby their Hindu neighbors. The violencethat ensuedpitted Hindu againstMuslim but had equallyas much to do witheconomicnecessityas sectarianhatred. The violence of1924-26had similar economicroots as the poorer Muslim peasantsandlandlesslaborerslashedoutagainst Hindulandowners.

Hinduism and Hindu "Unity"Hinduism has alwayshad a dynamismand flexibility that beliedany attempt to discriminateon groundsof faith. Ancientlyderivedfrom a mixture of importedAryanbeliefsand indigenouscustoms,Hinduism’s earliest doctrinesall acknowledge diversetheories andstandards. The rigid caste divisionsbetweenfollowers of thereligion-which still exist despitethe fact that

Gandhi insuredtheir constitutionalabolishment-areseverelydiscriminatory. However, they alsoemphasizethe fundamentalplurality within Hinduism, giving a place to all-rich and poor,low and high. Moreover,among Hindus,no central structureofauthority or hierarchyof clergyexists. Nor do Hindussubscribeto one central set of scriptures. Rather,thereare only regionallybasedgroups. Virtually no formal coordinationhas evolvedbetween regionalleadersand differing schoolsof thought.

In fact, Hinduismhas only relatively recentlycome to beunderstoodas a religious designationat all. The travelerswhofirst coined the term used itas a tag for the peoplesof, andaround, the Indus river valley-a large and various assemblagegrouped togetheras a result of geographical orientationonly. Itwas commonevenin the earlyBritish periodto refer to "HindooMuslims" and "Hindoo Christians."One might well still arguethat Hindus, with their looseconfederationof legendsandphilosophies, comprisemore a societalbody than a religious one.Mocking the past, today’s Hindu nationalistsand opportunisticmilitants do their bestto obscurethehistory of Hindu diversity.

Ayodhya and Rama

Ironically, the fuss overthe Ayodhyamosquecommonlyknownas the Babri Masjid, or ‘Babur’s Mosque’-mosqueis the namegiven to Muslim housesof worship servesto highlight both thetraditional diversity within the Hindu faith, and the uniquelymodem sources forrecentdeclarationsof Hindu unity. The siteon which the mosque stoodis reputedto be the birthplace ofRama,the hero ofthe Hindu epicRamayana. Hindu nationalistsargue that an original temple to Rama had beendestroyedbyBaburthe first Muslim Mughal emperorand the mosqueerected in its place. They hold, thus, that the December6 razing ofthe Babri Masjid was not an act of vandalismso much as one ofrestoration,and thatdestroyingsuch an enduring symbol of

[Electromap,Inc.]

MAY 1 . ORIGINS .17

repressionhails a reclamationof their historical andreligious

roots. Theyare now impatientfor a new temple to Rama tobe

built, no doubt to function as a centrepiecefor the struggle

towardsthe recognitionof a Hindu nation.Whetheror notone were to disputethe justifications forthe

raid on the mosque-allbasedon historical speculation-thevery figure Rama in whose namethe raid was carried out, is

markedby an ambiguity that hasalso beenignored.While in thenorthwestRama may be worshipedas the preeminentgod, mostHindus would probablyquestiongrantinghim sucha high status.Moreover,many in thesouthmight disputethat he is a god at all.The idea, then,of uniting Hindusthrough the reparation ofthis"insult to Rama"seemsincongruous.

Enter Rama, Contemporary Television Star

What emboldenedthe Hindu-nationalist BharatiyaJanataPartyBJP to seizeon the issueof the Ayodhyamosque, though,wasthe power of televisioncombined with that of a good story. InJanuary 1987, the state-runtelevisionnetwork Doordarshanbeganto air an eighteenmonth longmegaseriesof theRaniayana. The Ramayana "Rama’sWay" is one of the twogreatepicsin South Asianhistory. As William Buck, scholar ofHinduism, describes,it "tells a story of courtly intrigue, heroicrenunciation,fierce battles,and the triumph of good over evil"and depicts the noble god-king Rama’stwelve-yearexile andbattle with the demon Ravana. An estimated audience of100million watchedthe series. Hinduism became standardized insucha way that gaveself-servingmilitant political factions, formerly quite obscure,a collective enthusiasm to harness,and acauseto exploit.

Not long after the concludingepisodewas televised,theVishua HinduParishadWorld Hindu Council was calling onHindus acrossthe country to make bricks withinscriptionsofRama’s namefor a temple at Ayodhya where Babur’smosquewas. Then, appropriatingthis concept for its campaign,the BJPbeganits abrupt climb to prominencein the 1989 national elections. This is an ascentthat has now madeit the secondlargestparty in India, currently holding 119 parliamentseatsup fromtwo in 1984!. Polls suggestthat the party would win 170 wereelections held today-not the 273 needed fora majority, but amomentous,and still growing number. During these last few

years it has also won four state elections,including that in Uttar

Pradesh.As clear as it is that the Ramayanaseriescontributed tothe

recentrise of Hindu nationalism,this would have certainlybeen

difficult to predict. Doordarshan,which producedthe epic, has

alwaysbeen a secularizingvehicle that attemptedto forge

"national" or "Indian" consciousness.It was the voice of moder

nity and internationalculture, uniting casteand creedbehind its

national cricket team. Furthermore,the Ramayanaitself is gen

erally treated as a piece of sharedfolklore, and waswatchedas

eagerlyby Muslims as Hindus. Thestory is, in fact, popular

throughoutSoutheastAsia, and integral tothe dramatictraditionsin Buddhist Thailand and Muslim Indonesia. What’s more, theRama we find in it, while idealized, is morean exemplaryworld

ly ruler than a deity. However, an all-too easy target,he hasbeen co-optedand re-inventedfor thepolitical purposes ofHinduradicalsand their reconstructivetendencies.

ReshapingReality: India’s Muslim Era

The BJP platform rests almost entirely on similar creativeself-fashioning. Ironically enough,they have adoptedthe "twonation" theorythat MohammedAli Jinnah, former head oftheMuslim League,initially proposedin his campaign forthe creation of Pakistanin the l940s.This theory rests on the inaccuracy that the Indian Muslim communitydescendsfrom immigrantpopulations,and thus is not native. Most of the Muslims in Indiahave,rather,an indigenous ancestry, theirfamilies having simplyconverted toIslam at some point sinceand quite possibly fornothing morethan political expediency.

Moreover, many Hindus voice suspicionsthat Indian Muslims are more loyal to the hatedenemy-Pakistan-thanto theirown country. Others,however, castthesequestions ofallegianceaside. During the partition period in 1947-that separatedBritish Colonial India into India, West Pakistanand East Pakistan now Bangladesh-MuslimIndians made specificdecisionsto stay in India when giventhe choice to leave. However,it must be said that the partition was a time of near anarchyinwhich approximatelyten million people changedlandsand morethan one million died. Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs butcheredeachotheras themigratory streambecamea flood.

The primarytheme of Hindu nationalist revisionismis thatof Muslim religious repression. There is a grain of truth to theaccusationbut Hindu nationalists have cultivatedit into a generalprinciple. The early Muslim invaders, first arriving in theeleventhcentury, did leave a path of devastation overmuch ofthe territory they conquered. They destroyed lavishtemplesandravaged greatcities. However, this pattern becameless andlessfrequentas the Afghansand Turks beganto settle on the subcontinent. The Mughal empire, foundedunderBabur in the earlysixteenth century,had, as I mentionedabove, a remarkablerecord of religious openness.

Akbar 1556-1605,who, more than Babur and Homayunbeforehim, establishedthe lasting structure ofthe empire, did soby allying himself with the Hindu Rajput warriors in Rajasthanand giving Hindus positions in his government. Akbar tried tofind a commonground betweenthe peoples.He deviseda compositereligious cult which, while it centredon himself-consolidating the emperor’s statusas somethingakin to a divineright-also detached Mughalrule from any strict Muslim orientation. Such moves were to insurethat the Mughal empire,with

Durga Puja-J-linduFestival, Calcutta/Governmentof India Tourist Office]

18 ORIQS . MAY1993

its Persiancultural mantle,would ceaseto be thought of as a

‘foreign’ rule. As PercivalSpear pointsout in his History of

India Vol. 2: "[the Mughal empire]has remaineda legend in

India becauseit lasted long enough tobe part of the accepted

order of things and because,thoughnot Hindu, it was generally

felt to be Indian."Hindu obscurantiststend to neglectAkbar, though,in favor

of Aurengzeb,who ruled during the late seventeenthcentury. AnorthodoxSunni Muslim, he won the throne from his elderbroth

er Dara whom his fatherShahJahanbuilder of the Taj Mahal

had endorsed.He ruthlesslyheld on to power,after imprisoning

Shah Jahanand beheadingDara, foroverforty years. He did not

treat Hindus as well as Akbar, and he tore at least one templedown in Varanasito build a mosque. But he was in all likelihood not the cruel zealotportrayedby some. Besides, outsideobserversbelieve that Aurengzeb’sreligious intolerancewas aminority in the durationof the Mughal empire.Notwithstandingthe probability that his record ofmisdeedshasbeen exaggerated,to holdhim up as a typical Mughal leaderis an overstatement.

Indian Culture: A Muslim-Hindu Blend

In an attempt to legitimize their reinterpretations ofthe past, theBJP and theneo-fascist, Bombay-basedShiv SenaShiva’sArmy are pushing torevise school textbooks to minimizethepositive contributionsand inflate the transgressions ofMuslimsin India. They denythe contemporary evidencethat Indian culture is a thorough blend of Islamic and Hindu influences. Mod-

em literature, painting,music and architecturedraws from bothtraditions, as does popularculture. It is not unconventionalthat

the scriptwriter and lead actor of the Mahabharata,the second

Hindu epicmade into a televisionseriescapitalizing on the suc

cessof the Ramayana,are Muslim. The enormousIndian filmindustry, so central to the collectivesubconsciousof Indian soci

ety, hasvirtually sinceits inceptiondrawnon an integratedcommunity of collaborators.

Even the actualcontemporaryreligious beliefsand customsof Hindusand Muslims in India show a tremendouscross-pollination. Somewould argue that Islam is as much an Indian religion as Hinduism is. The conventionsof India’s Muslims haveevolved quite distinctly and discretelyfrom thoseof the rest ofthe Islamic world and are closely allied to Hindu practices. Infact, the over 100 million Indian Muslims effectively comprisethe secondlargestcollection of Muslims in the world. Furthermore, it is an Indian version of Islam that spreadto what is nowthe largestMuslim country, Indonesia.

The BJP: WhoseMovement?

When analyzed closely,the idea of making India a Hindu stateseemsunfeasible. Perhapsnot eventhe BJP canultimatelybelieve in it. While the Muslim populationamountsto onlyaroundeleven per cent ofthe populationrelatively speaking,therealnumbersof Muslims are formidable. It would be impossibleto suppresssuchan enormouscommunityor be rid of them. Further, becauseout of all the statesonly Kashmir a different case

Fiddling while Ayodhyaburned.[Governmentof India Tourist Office]

MAY m . ORIGINS 19

entirely has a Muslim majority, another partition ofthe countryappearsout of thequestion.

The BJP have,indeed,mixed religion and politics in theory

only. L. K. Ardvani, BJP’s top man,and the rest of the partyleadershipall from the high Brahmin casteadmit no holy mento their innercircle. Even if a Hindu theocracywere conceivableandit is unlikely for a splinteredfaith like Hinduism, it wouldrun contraryto the self-interestof the BJP’s power-hungryelite.In fact, what the BJP has always espousedis a more moderate,evena secularline, stressingcultural overreligiousunity.

The grievancesvoicedby the BJP havehad to do primarilywith certain legal concessionsto Muslims guaranteedin the constitution. In radically overhaulingHindu personallaw to conform with his westernliberal conceptof the rights of theindividual, Nehru notonly abolishedcasterestrictionsbut managed topass less popular bills certifying the rights of women.Theselaws, however,are not binding on Muslims. Thus, aHindu can be taken to court for polygamy while a Muslim cannot. Equally, the liberal terms for divorce apply only to Hindumarriages.Not so much sanctioninga bias against Hindumen asagainstMuslim women,thesedifferencesare nonethelessbrought up constantlyas unfair to the majority. A call for theircorrectionhasbeenthe BJP’s centralplank.

It would not be fair to blamethe BJP alone forthe riots and

communal atrocities of January. One mightwell argue that a

violent hatred ofMuslims is the true expression ofthe party and

that the moderategoals it professesare only a thin veil. Howev

er, if it set out to exploit the ignoranceand disaffection ofthe

masseswith its latest rhetorical stances,it clearly lost control of

them in the end. The frustrationsthat fed the anarchywere cer

tainly more deep-seatedthan the BJP could haveimagined, and

came to be directed by more extremeelements-sadhusholymen with megaphones, organized crimebosses,and the Bombay-basedShiv Sena.

Bal Thackeray,the Shiv Senaleadercontorts the idea of aprivileged minorityMuslims are, on average,poorerand less literate than Hindus into a frightening hysteria. In a Time magazine interview January25, 1993,he takescredit for controllingthe Bombay mobs and,rather shockingly,adds thatbecauseMuslims "behave.. like Jews in Nazi Germany,"he sees"nothing wrong if they are treatedas Jews werein Germany."Suchextremismhas never beenassociatedwith the BJP; butthe factthat it madeno attemptsto detach itself from the likes of Thackeray raisesthe suspicionthat the party is radicalizing as itexpands.

Popular Dissatisfaction: CongressStrugglesto Hold theMiddleWhat is it that appeals toso many Hindus aboutthe BJP, theShiv Sena,and othermore marginal extremist organizationssimilarly bent on revoking the civic status of theirMuslim neighbors?Why havethe lies suddenly becomeso dangerouslyseductive?Theseare not simple questions toanswer. But theissue,no doubt, has somethingto do with the fact that theCongressparty, which has so dominatedIndian governmentsinceIndependence,seemsto havelost its vision of secular,pluralist democracy. They are unsure whichpolitical winds to follow-thoseto defend the secularstate or those to color the statestructureHindu. The public’s trust of politicians and patiencewith the system have beendiminishing steadily over the lastdecade, withincreasingreports of endemic corruption,societalills, a stalledeconomyand failed projects.

Prime Minister NarasimhaRao’s reactionsto the stormingof the Babri Masjid did nothingto help avertthe ensuingchaos.At first he expressedrage and vowed torebuild the mosque.Then, he gavein to the ‘soft Hindu’ line favoredby many in hiscabinet ofestablishingfunds for both a Muslim mosqueand aHindu temple. He was attractedby the supporthe might win formoving quickly on plans for the temple, and of the ease withwhich he might delay the building of the mosque until a morepolitically opportunetime.

On the other hand,he has, indeed, taken strong actionagainst the rival BJP, dismissingits four Hindi-belt stategovernments an act now being challengedin the Indian courts andefficiently imposing a ban on their rally in New Delhi. But hisparty made relativelylittle attemptto either control or condemnthe Shiv Senain Bombay. The Bombay policeforce, overwhichthe Congress-ruledMaharashtranstate governmentpresides,isactually underIndian court investigation forbeing complicitouswith the Hindu rioters. All of this points to a confusion inCongressparty strategy,with someadvisorsnudging the PrimeMinister towards open confrontationwith the BJP, and othersasking him to be more indulgent towards its followers. Rao has

Selling dreamson thest,-eet.[Tom MacFarlane]

20 ORIGINS . MAY1993

sincetried to deflect attention towardsthe economy which, with

a wave of foreign investmentand a decreasing inflationarybur

den,hasshowedrecentsignsof renewal.

An economicrecoverywould go a long way towards

answeringthe suspicionsaboutthe advantagesof seculardemoc

racy. It would also give the governmentthe confidence tochal

lenge the ideology of Hindu nationalismhead-on,and exposeits

historical revisionism.Most of the severeproblems arose in

regions with highrates of povertyand illiteracy. A liberalized

and growing economycould very well provide the upward

mobility that would keepHindi-belt communitiesfrom becoming

sucheasyprey for politically motivated obscurantists.By no meansare all of the trouble-makerspoor and illiter

ate, however.The most ardentand dangerousof the Hindunationalistcamp could becharacterizedas quite the opposite.

They are theeducated middleclass whose hopesand ambitionshave, moreand more, beenexceedingtheir opportunities.Borninto privilege, they havegrown disenchantedwith Indian society.They are resentfulof those upstarts fromminority groups orlower casteswho havebenefittedfrom the modem economy’sexpansionand threatento overturnthe formerly rigid Hindusocial hierarchy. They feelmuch the samebitternessas Nathuram Godse, the Hindu who assassinatedMahatma Gandhi forchampioning‘outcaste’and Muslim rights. Self-immolationsarecarriedout every yearby frustrated middle class youthsas ademonstrationagainstgovernmentaffirmative action hiring quotas for lowercastes.

It is Hindusfrom this group to whom Bal Thackerayappealswhen he refers, odiously, to Nazi Germany,and the very samewho burn Muslim shops andenterwealthy Muslimneighborhoodsin Bombayto harass,vandalize,and murder. In a way thatso typifies the enigmasof India, the two groups-illiteratepoorand middle class-thatapparentlyrallied togetherin a movementto unite all Hindusare, themselves,at cross-purposes.The lowercaste believethat they are not receiving their fairshare in thenew India and cry for more. The middle classalso feel they aredeservingof a greaterpiece of the pie and woulddo so byentrenchingthe lower castewherethey are now.

A CautionaryTale

It is exceedinglydifficult to anticipateanything when speaking

a-"

S

Gatewayto Bombayin quietertimes.[Government of IndiaTourist Office]

of India-except, that is, its constantsurprise. I am temptedto

say that the historical,religious and cultural fictions which cloak

the contemporarypolitical and economicnegotiationsof theHindu nationalistmovementwill dissolve oncethose negotiations begin to show progress. Yet, despitegovernmentefforts,the prevalence of deeply ingrainedlegendunderstoodas factcontinuesunbowed. Myth, legend,history and fiction remainintertwined. It is notan easytaskto separatethem.

The news out ofthe country since the suppression ofthe

BJP’s rally in New Delhi has servedfurther notice of the coun

try’s ever-shifting sources of self-revelationandself-annihilation. To begin with, only weeks afterthe January sectarianviolence in Bombaythat followed the storming of Ayodhya,45,000 people cheeredthe Indian cricket team to a test matchvictory that marked their first-everseriessweep ofEngland.Thetriumphantcaptain, MohammedAzharuddin, is a Muslim; thepresidentof their host BombayCricket Association, ManoharJoshi,a deputyof Shiv Sena.

Then, in mid-March of this year, came the bombsthroughout that very samecity, dozensof them exploding simultaneously accordingto some latest hideousmasterplan, killing 317people without an apparentreason.The conclusionbeingdrawn-andthe sophistication ofthe terrorismdemandsthat wedecipherits message-isthat a Muslim undergroundfamily, inthe pay of Pakistan’ssecret service, coordinatedthe bombingswith the help, evidently,of severalhirelings eachof whom theypaid the equivalent of167 US dollars. No doubt, if there is anytruth to this theory of outside authorship,the motive wouldinvolve someconjuredhistory.

Less is known about the crudebombswhich killed 90 people in Calcutta less than a week later-four in a train stationwhen a bag thata vagabondwas carrying exploded,and 86 whenexplosivesstored in two old tenementbuildings were set off.Surely, in such sad coincidences,lies yet further fictions, moreprivate onesmaybe,which impose their tragic structureson anation all toosusceptibleto thecharmsof fantasies.

Finally, Seymour Hershin the New Yorker,March 29 gaveus news of the most destructive fantasy thereis, when he reported that, in the Spring of 1990, India and Pakistanwere on theverge of a nuclearconfrontation overthe quintessentialvale ofdreams:Kashmir-literally the "K" in "Pakistan"-andthebackdropfor probably every romantic Indian movie ever made.Hersh reminds us that, when thinking ofIndia, one should notunderestimatethe powers ofinvention.

Suggestionsfor Further. Reading

The Ramayanaand Mahabharata, trans. by RomeshDuttEveryman 1969

J. Keay,India Discoveed Collins, 1981V.S. Naipaul,India: A Million Mutinies Now Penguin 1990Salman Rushdie,Midnight’schildren JonathanCape,1981SalmanRushdie,ShameJonathanCape,1983K M. San,Hinduism Pelican,1987V. A. Smith, ed.,The Oxford History of India Oxford Urn

versityPress,1958PercivalSpear,A History ofIndia 2 vols. Penguin, 1990StanleyWolpert A NewHistory ofIndia, 4th ad OxfordUni

versity Press,1993

MAY 3 ORIGINS *21