I do not suggest that one Converting Histories: Hindu should generalise from such an example, a very specific one, directly linked to the particular And Muslim Narratives situation of a small community of Muslim Gujars in Delhi. What I will point out in that case and also how it comes to interfere DENIS VIDAL* will elaborate further more in with their own beliefs, memory another example, equally in Old and identity. Delhi, is how similar patterns of n the vast amount of litera­ argumentation and of narratives ture dedicated to the study of In other words, if the new circulate and used today, perhaps modes of instrumentalising of I radical religious movements more than any time before, across in contemporary India, a shared beliefs and religious practices religious boundaries. assumption underlies most of the have an impact today, this is not only, I believe, because they in­ analyses: this is that in order to This is not to say that such a form new arenas of public life but understand the impact of these fact is never acknowledged; still, movements, one must fullv ac­ also because such an instrumen­ it must be stressed in the contem­ b~liefs talisation of religion contributes know ledge how religious porary context. It is too often im­ to a redefinition and a reformula­ and religious affiliations are plied that the main result of tion of existing religious beliefs divested of their original mean­ religious tensions and of new and practice in a more indirect ing and selectively chosen or forms of Hindu and Muslim way. And it is this process which reinvcnted, so that they can be militancy is to forbid the sort of used and manipulated for needs to be progressively better common interplay which is sup­ documented. It is this perspective mobilising people according to posed to have characterised the I intend to pursue by analysing the diverse agenda of such or­ religious culture of India. It is the occurrence of a 'miracle' ganisations. The same pattern of easily forgotten that the very fact which happened recently in the explanation is often also of antagonism is not necessarily old part of the city of Delhi. employed in relation to the use of by itself the proof of any decisive historical events and more form of social or cultural dis­ generallv to the reconstruction of The second point I want to tance; it may in fact also be at the past-in Indian society. raise concerns the interpretations times, the most blatant sign ­ given of the impact of com­ though certainly not also the But, by focusing the analysis in munalism during the last decade. most desirable one - of a strongly such a way, one can explain, at It has been rightly stressed that shared culture. best, only part of the story. It is one of communalism's most too often assumed, for example, damaging effects has been to in­ CONTEXTUALISING that one can effectively make a crease the gap between diverse NARRATIVES clear distinction between authen­ sections of the population on the t!c beliefs and religious tradi­ basis of religious divide, thereby Naya Bans tions, on the one hand, and be­ threatening the potential for tween the instrumental use of people to define their identity in Naya Bans remains one of the them in political or communal a pluralistic way. Here again, few areas to have retained a arenas on the other. Without without denying the reality of predominantly residential char­ den~ing.the relevance of existing such a trend, I would like to point acter in Khari Baoli, an area studies. It seems to me that such out some alternative repercus­ situated in the most heavily con­ a distinction can not always be sions of communical discourse gested part of Old Delhi where maintained. which should, I believe, be given one finds some of the most im­ more detailed attention. To il­ portant wholesale markets of the The problem is not only to un­ city. One could easily forget, that derstand the instrumental use of lustrate my point, I will briefly re­ at the beginning of the century, religion: it is also to explain the late an example, also in Old before the construction of New way people react to such in­ Delhi, which attests the pos­ Delhi, this was one of the most strurncntalisation in their own sibility of a different use the selec~ neighbourhood of the city. lives: I which means not only, stereotypes associated with But, lJ1 Naya Bans, in spite of the how they react to it politically but Hindu communalism. way the houses have been pack-

16 November 30,1YY5 EC0110mic News & Views NATIONAL _ POLITICS

ed together, they retain nonethe­ in the temple. The water dripped one person put it, are particularly less a certain flavour of past gran­ throughout afternoon as weIl as stressed these days. For example, deur. It was an area mainly in­ the foIlowing Saturday. Never­ it is known that Hanuman has habited by Hindu Khatri theless, when 1 first arrived there been traditionally associated businessmen but there were also was no trace of water on with wrestling activities. Such an some wealthy Muslim trading Hanuman's knee although the association is explicitly acknow­ families, mostly originating from pujari and others present seemed ledged in the banner of a sports Punjab, it seems. However, since confident that the miracle would club in Silampur where partition, it has become an ex­ occure again. They asked me to Hanuman was prominently rep­ clusively Hindu area. come back another day and took resented, this in spite of the fact my telephone number in order that the organiser of the club There is in Naya Bans a small that 1 could check it myself if it declared himself a staunch sup­ Shiv mandir with a chablltra happened again. Effectively, porter of Congress and insisted where one always finds people when 1 returned to the temple, on the purcly secular and recrea­ resting in front of the only gate of the foIlowing day, water was tional vocation of his club. this Kiltra. When l first came to dripping slowly from the statue. visit othis milndir, l found out that A few months later, it seemed to 50, let us now consider the dif­ an extraordinary l'vent had taken have become just a regular fea­ ferent dimensions of the miracle place just the week beiore. It was ture of this temple with worship­ of Hanuman's weeping knee. On about noon, on the 7th May 1994, pers coming to drink the droplets the one hand, there can't be any when the pl/jllri of the temple had of water from Hanuman's knee. doubt that its very occurrence suddenly realised, while officiat­ participates in a broader trend, ing in the temple, that the sindl/I" Now, there is no doubt that a directly associated to cllfrent he WilS applying to a 11Iurti of link can be drawn between such fonns of Hindu revivalism. Such Hilnuman (revered in a small happening and the recent Hindu a form of revivalism focuses neat­ chape!, in front of the mandir) trend of placing particular em­ ly on a few selected gods in the was being washed ilway before phasis not only on the devotion Hindù patheon, as yvell as on his eyes. He discovered then that of Ram but also Hanuman. Such defined aspects of their character, some water was mysteriously a trend has increased dramatical­ thereby emphasising the dimen­ dripping from the left knee of this Iy with the diffusion of the sions of Hinduism that marble statue. Ramayana on Doordarshan in revivalists wish to stress.

1987 and has found a new 0 ac­ After a moment of initial tuality in the controversy at On the other. hand, one should surprise, he J:Ushed to cali other Ayodhya. l can not speak for the not doubt either that such a people and to show them the country as a whole but J know miracle could eguaIly have a per­ miracle. lt took them some time that in Delhi, the cult of fectly authentic religious charac­ to check it and to convince them­ Hanuman, which has always ter. Tt would certainly make no selves that the water could not been present in the religious life sense to red uce it to a mere have leaked from anywhere else of the people, has certainly in­ opropaganda tool for Hindu ilnd that it was reaIly dripping creased in popularity in recent revivalism. As far as 1 know, the from the knee of the ml/rti. years. It seems to be even par­ one and only person to have ex­ During this time, the rumour of ticularly the case in parts of Delhi pressed any fonn of scepticism this supernatural l'vent had inhabited by both Hindus and about the authenticity of this spread aIl over the neighbour­ Muslims, where one can see a miracle was a sardani who recog­ hood, particularly in Khari Baoli, number of new temples, usually nised nevertheless the deep .an area densely crowded with dedicated to Shiva but where religious feelings which per­ Hindu traders as weIl as coolies Hanuman is also prominent. One me~ted the life of the Hindu and customers. According to can also notice the vast display of traders in this mahal'ah. reports, the miracle disrupted the posters and of images which rep­ street as thousands of people resent the Monkey God as well as 50, in this particular case, as in flocked to the temple in order to pamphlets which traders dis­ many other cases, 1 suspect, one witness the miracle and to get tribute to their clients. should be not too eager to over­ darshan of the divinity. Huge stress, as it is often done, the con­ guantities of sweets (hundred of It would seem that the martial trast between sorne kind of kgs if one believes what J was virtues of Hanuman and his roll.' authentic religion and what is told) had been offered as prasad as the 'security guard' of Ram, as generaIly defined as a lesser form

November 30, 1995 17 POLITICS NATIONAL

of hinduism, perverted by What 1 wish to stress here is a of a Committee in charge of the politics and the media. Rather, very similar point to the one that management of the second-hand one should take into full account 1 made in relation to the miracle market organised, every Sunday the difficulty and, oftel~, the im­ of Hanuman. It seems more than behind the Red Fort in Old-Deihi. possibility of establishing any plausible that sorne sort of link Finally, he was also the President clear-cut distinction between the existed between the telling of the of the Ali India Muslim Gujars various faces of religious dis­ story of this temple and the very Association. course. existence of the butcher's strike. But what sort of link? 1 do not Something he stressed in front While 1 was enquiring about believe that anyone could define of me was how Gujars like him­ this temple which, according to it clearly. self were in fact Hindus who had its inscription, had been built in converted to Islam. He could still 1883, a member of the Temple The past history of Delhi is trace his previous Hindu an­ Committee told me the following such that one cannot dismiss the cestry and he did not hesitate ta historv in front of the other fact that such a story seems per­ assert his knowledge of Hindu people· present. During the riots fectly plausible to the people of epics and Hind u traditions which accompanied partition, the the 771al1allal1. Furthermore, it generally. He also explained temple had been practically would be wrong to assume a how he had personally taken care destroyed and the lingam which recent origin for this story simply of Hindu shopkeepers, in the Sita served as its main murti had been because it was recounted at the Ram Bazaar whenever there was 1 stolen by a butcher who used it time of the butcher's strike. communal tension in the city. He for sharpening his knives. But pointed out that the real divide one resident of the Katra saw Perhaps the only way ta com­ was not between Hindus and Shiva in a dream. The god was prehend the liaison between Muslims but rather between covered with blood and ad­ these elements is ta emphasise Hindu or Muslim Indians like dressed him with the following the manner in which contem­ himself and that category of words: "1 am there, in this porary events, individual Muslims which he defined as house". Shiva tli.en described to memories and local stories can fit 'foreigners' (Pathans, Shei1

18 November 30, 1995 Ecollomie News & Views NATIONAL POLITICS ~ .

tween Hindu and Muslim tradi­ forms of argumentation can as­ Such processes of transforma­ tions. This particular Gujar ex­ sume very different implications tion can not be considered in plained for example, why there according to who uses them. 50, isolation or even by referring was, in reality, no real distinction, in this particular example, a them only to any strictly but only a difference of designa­ theme, more commonly delimited local context or period tion, between Baba Adam and employed in order to dis­ of time. 50, for example, what is Lord Shiva. Gujars are in fact crimina,te against minorities of really at stake in the case of the divided between Hindus and the population on the basis of miracle at Khari Baoli is the sort Muslims who do not hesitate to their religious affiliation, could of links which were then estab­ eat, drink and smoke together be turned into an asset in the lished between not only the past even if they do not intermarry. hands of the subordinate fraction of Delhi but also the contem­ Moreovel~ in the particular case of one of these minorities. Fur­ porary evolution of Hinduism cited above, the man concerned thermore, the very fact of recy­ and the butchers' strike. Events was also associated with the ding similar sorts of arguments, observable at the local level are, tradition of akharas, a tradition beyond any weil established very often, only discreet elements egually known for its importance religious boundaries, has much in much larger sequences of in svncretic forms or urban cul­ more general implications, as will transformation which cross over, ture'in north India.J be shown in the next example. not only the usual sociological distinctions between confessional One the other hand, Muslim SEQUENCES OF boundaries or between religion Gujars have retained a relatively TRANSFORMATION and politics but also between any low status not only in the eyes of established dichotomies concem­ the Hindus but also in the eyes of The two previous examples ing geographical locations, past other Muslims; particularly those focused on isolated sequences vs present or fact vs discourses. ones who daim a higher status where one could point out varied Nevertheless, such connections by stressing their ancient links processes of transformation at do not always merge effectively with foreign ancestry (llshraj)4. stake in the ideology of people, together, whatever the efforts of from one level of explanation to those who try to establish the 50, in this very specific case, another one. 50, in the case of the links. 1 will try to demonstrate what one finds is more or less the Shiv temple at Khari Baoli, one this point in my last example. opposite of what is supposed to could see how a general trend in be the most damaging effect of the evolution of Hinduism, large­ From Hanumangarhi (1855) to Hindu revivalism: far from im­ ly informed by political motiva­ Akbaribad (1857) posing on this man a unidimen­ tions, nevertheless found a form sional identity, the rhetofic of of translation, at the most local While 1 was in Old Delhi, a Hindu nationalism seemed to level, which enabled it to be lived polemic arase between the Chief coincide for once, with the dif-· out by people as geauine Minister of Delhi, Madan Lai ferent standards of his identity. It religious experience. Khurana and the Naib Imam of aHowed him to assert both his In­ the Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed dianness and his religious faith; it In the same way 1 pointed out Bukhari. The question was to also allowed him also to elevate a the way in which contemporary know if the' former would give combination which has tradition­ events like a strike of butchers in the administrative authorisation ally been considered as inferior. the city coalesced in such a way to the latter to build a commercial This further enabled him to ques­ with collective evocations of a complex in the immediate tion existing forms of hierarchy local past that after a while, it vicinity of the Masjid. My inten­ within the Muslim community it­ seemed practically impossible to tion is not to go into the details of selë. distinguish any more what this polemic, about which 1 do belonged to the past and what not know much; but rather to· Such il case is certainly too sin­ belonged to the present. And in recount the sequence of narra­ gular for anyone to think to con­ the case of the discourse of the tives which came to be linked test the offensive power of Hindu Muslim Gujars, what 1 have together. propaganda and its divisive ef­ shown is the way in which the fects on the relations between same discourse can take on very According to the Imam, an in­ Muslims and Hindus. It is never­ different meanings according to formaI authorisation had been theless exemplary for different the context in which it is given to him to build this com­ reason: it shows how very similar employed. mercial complex while he was

ECOlUlIIlic News & VieIVs November 30, 1995 19 POLITICS NATIONAL

negotiating with representatives who worried that such a con­ another. 50 in the Old Delhi case, of the central government in the troversy could easily worsen and one could observe how different second half of 1992. 50, in 1994, degenerate into violence. actors attempted to link in one he expressed his indignation that way or another, the future of this the authorisation was now being What l want to stress here is commercial complex and the des­ refused by M.L. Khurana who in not the 'rights" or 'wrongs' of the tiny of two very different sorts of the mean time, had become Chief individuals involved. Neither do edifices: a Hindu temple at Ayod­ Minister of Delhi. l want to speculate about what hya and a mosque near the Jama was going on'. Rather l intend Masjid. The dates during which the only to reflect about the sequence original negotiations took place of narratives which have been One could assume, of course were not insignificant. It was in linked together by the main ac­ that it was only rhetoric that was the months which immediately tors in this controversy. But at stake in this particular case. preceded the destruction of the before doing 50, l would liketo And one could also argue as well Bélbri Masjid at Ayodhya and the recaH very briefly another se­ that the real question was reaUy a Imam was then the Vice-Presi­ quence of l'vents. civil matter to do with the con­ dent of a committee directly in­ flict between financial interests 7 volved in the controversy (All According to historians , the and the logic of urban planning lndiél I3abari Masjid Action Com­ seeds of the controversy in Ayod­ in a city like Delhi. Incidentally, it mittce). 50 when this new hya can be traced back to l'vents was precisely this position that polemic cmerged, in 1994, politi­ which seem to have been initially was openly taken by Madan Lai cal opponcnts of the rmam, both related, not to the mosque itself, Khurana, the Chief Minister of Hindu élnd Muslim Ol1es, in­ but to a nearby templ~ of Delhi. sinualcd tll

20 November 30, 1Y95 ECOJ/olllic NL7l'S & VicH'S NATIONAL POLITICS

cultural repertoire and of a weil hand one could equally observe 2 For an aneient ethnographie survey of knmvn history even if it remains as weil that, because of this, com­ Cujars 111 North India, cf. A.H. Bingley (11)99) Jais a/ld CI/iars, Delhi, Ess Ess ,1 particularly controversial one. munal rhetoric could acquire Pub. Delhi, 1971>. 50, the organisation of certain very different implications in dif­ re1·.IglOuS proCl'sslOns. y or th e cur- ferent contexts. 3 cf ~. 13. Freitag, ed. (1989) Culture rllld rent trend in Delhi of building l'muer il! !leI/aras, Delhi, O.U.P. ncw mosques and new temples 50, each time 1 was made 4 cf Imtiaz Ahmad, ed. (1971» Caste and ,1S J'Icar ClS possible to each other aware of potential forms of com­ StrrrlijicaliOllsjl/lllJng MI/s/hns ill /ndia, belong dcfinitively to such a munalism in the area of the city Delhi, Manohar. tradition; and specific controver­ where 1 worked, they were either 5 Aeeording to Jamous (1991), Meos use very similar saris of argumenls in sies such as those related to the so contextualised that they ac­ order 10 deny the hierarchical supe­ issue of animal- slaughter or to quired altogether a different sig­ riorily of as!lmf Mlisiims in Mewat, cf. the past history of temples and nification (as in the case of the R. Jamous (1991) La relalion freres­ mosques arc very often part of it. Hanuman's miracle or of the soeurs, Paris, EHESS. Muslim GlIjars) or they were too 6 cf, as an example, the' declaralions of Conclusion decontextualised and politicised a l3JP le,lder Sikandl'r Bakt (4 luly to have, at this very point of time, 1994) and of S. Shilhabuddiil Fortunately, no serious com­ impact with the people (as ('Shahabuddin's slalements on main­ a real lenanCl' of Jama Masjid') reported in 111ll11al incident seems to have oc­ in the case of the Babri Masjid Mlls/illl /Ildio n. 140, August 1994 curred last year when l was commercial complex). This is, l working in Old Delhi. But, of suspect, what happens when 7 K.N. Panikkar "(1991) "A historical review" S. Capa1 (ed) 1111l1tolllY of Il course, this did not mean that ail nothing much happens.• cOllfnJlltlltioll, Delhi, Penguin. communal feelings or aIl com­ munal ideologies were absent. * A French Sociologist working in lndia. 8 for del,lils on the religious activities al Rather one could observe two The article was wrillen before the 'Milk Hanllmangiri al Ihis poinl of time, cf. Miracle'. P. Van der Veer (19S9) Cods (J/I ('Il,.th, diffl'rcnt sorts of processes at Oxford, O.U.P. Il is worth noting Ihat, work: on the onc hand, one References according 10 this author, Hanumiln n'èl1ised thèll communal feelings \VilS Ihen worshipped not only by Hin­ dus bul also by Muslims (p.149-150). could exist or be exacerbatcd One of Ihe most inleresting a

ADVERTISEMENTTARIFF "

BLACK & WHITE Full Page Rs. ' 5000;00 Half Page Rs. 3000.00 Inside Front Cover Rs. 7000.00 Inside Baëk Cover Rs. 7000.00

Back Cover Rs. 8000.00 " .. " ,', COLOUR : Full Page .' Rs. 12000.00 Half Page Rs. 8000.bo Inside Front Cover Rs. 10000.00 Inside Back Cover Rs. 10000.00 Back Cover Rs. 12000.00 Centre Spread Rs. 16000.00

Eco/lolllie' News E.,- Vil'ws November 30, 1995 21