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SPECIAL ARTICLES
'Dying
Hindus
Production of Hindu Communal Common Sense in
Early 20th Century Bengal
Pradip Kumar Datta
The discursive power of Hindu communalism does not spring exclusively from single texts or even a chain
of them at from the swift creation of a popular network of certain tropes, themes, structures of apprehension
and reform, at the heart of whichfunctions a single mobile trope to provide the necessary ideological orientation.
This produces a formation of immense potency and amazing flexibility. For,it constantly accretes new meanings,
whole traditions to itself producing from its formative moment a web of thought that ranges from stereotypes
to statistical and sociological analysis.
ONE of the first markers of difference
between 'Hindu' and 'Muslim' I learned
as a child, was the 'fact' that Muslims
marriedfour times. I did not question this
assertion; not even when, many decades
later during the Muslim Women's Bill
agitation, Hindu communalists cited it as
a privilegethat was sought to be protected
by the Muslim community as a whole.
Though now the venom with which it was
invoked made me a little uncomfortable.
A few years later,my credulitywas rewarded with a grim retribution. While investigating a riot-one of the many that the
Ram Janmabhoomi agitation has produced-a key characterisation of the
Muslims that was made to us, by all
shades of fighters for the Hindu 'cause',
was their alleged marital excesses. It was
claimed that this allowed them to proliferate in numbers; hence it would be a
matter of time before they overran the
country. The 'fact' that I had learned 'innocently', now revealed paranoia and
violence. Yet its projection seemed
unimaginably remote. Wherethen did the
intensityof this fear come from?Was this,
I wondered, something that was dormant,
that what we were hearing today was a
trace, which was being bloated to produce
yet another story of mangled bodies and
torn minds. But in that event, could the
trace be made to revealthe power of a past
deposit? Together with the nature of the
formation?
Inspecting the shelves of the library, I
was struck by the title of a publication of
the Hindu Mahasabha called, They Count
Their Gains- We Calculate Our Losses,
which had come out in 1979. The foreword said that the title was taken from a
statement of Bhai Parmanand; the book
itself tried to raise a scare of the rising
population of Muslims and Christians.'
Soon I discoveredevidence from an earlier
period. Writingto Malaviyaabout his impressions of a talk with a British statesEconomic and Political Weekly
1305
11
In his remarkablyperceptiveessay, Kenneth Jones sums up the decisive effects of
the census, as: 'Religions became communities mapped, counted, and above all
compared with other religious communities"7 However Jones belies expectations
by go)ng on to simply describe how the
formation of Hindu identity is preoccupied throughout its careerwith the census; although the logical move would have
been to consider its momentous significance for communalism. The evidence
for such a reading, it may be added, is
overwhelming. H H Risley, home secretary, government of India, who proposed the partition of Bengal in 1903, for instance, is as frankly excited as a bookie
at a horse race, when he declares: "Can
the figures of the last censu.s be regarded
in any sense the forerunner of an Islamic
or Christianrevivalwhich will threatenthe
citadel of Hinduism or will Hinduism
hold its own in the future as it has done
through the long ages of the past."8
Risley's comments were overdetermined
by the 'calculations' made by O'Donnell,
the census commissioner for 1891,who on
the basis of slower growth ratesof Hindus
relativeto the Muslims, leapfroggedacross
simple statistical logic to deduce the
number of years it would takeefor the
Hindus to disappear altogether! Even as
late as the 1911 census, whenz it had
1306
Why is English society given such prominence in this argument?And what does
this imply for the conception of Muslims?
In England, Mukherji argues, the combined effects of the various institutions
produces a common relationship with the
self; thus, although a person may think
of himself as an individual, "as a matter
of fact he is a [sic] unit and generallya very
intelligent unit of a huge organisation
where everyone, irrespective of rank or
class, has a common idea and a common
object". The result is an awesome prospect, epitomised by English industry:
"Here Indians had to hold their ground
gress in 1911.18
against a set of men who after hundreds
Given the importanceof A DR, it would of years of work and experience had
be useful to start with a brief summary. reduced the art of making money into
something like an exact science, men in
Mukherji develops his argument by comparing a monolithic Hindu society with possession of everypossible information...
equally singular conceptions of Muslim carefully weighed, sifted and tabulated,
and English societies. Proceeding from with all the advantages that capital and
combination could secure..." The tone is
O'Donnells' warning, he asserts that the
lyrical; possessive. Figures of completion
fundamental cause for the decline of
Hindu numberswas because their peasan- abound: 'hundreds of years', 'exact',
The rhetoricis franklyground'every',
try was poor. Further,Hindu influence on
ed in the idea of Britishsuperiority,which
village life was also declining because of
the shrinking power of the mahajans. in the 19th century the moderates had
Conversely, the Muslim peasant was assuned would be beneficial for the
developmentof their own society. But here
becoming wealthier and buying up land.
it carries other resonances. The English
In Calcutta too, the labour market and
petty artisanal enterprises were being maybe a model, but the lyricism also confesses the impossibility of attaining it.
taken over by immigrants, since Hindus
Hindus cannot match the investment in
(implying Bengali ones) werepreventedby
caste rules from changing their inherited competitive time, nor command a comparable volume of knowledge. Desire is
occupations and competing with them.
Muslim immigrants were religious, hard- shrouded in disenchantment.
The disenchantment was unavoidable,
working, and ate well; Hindu low castes
drank liquor, were unkempt and lazy. for in the years preceding 1909, the proMukherji then contrasts England with
spect of rivalling British industry (in adHindu society. The latter was characteris- dition to elements of its administrative
ed by immense gradationsof caste; shared machinery, such as Swadeshi arbitration
occasions like the Durga puja served to -ourts providing an alternative to the
etiphasise caste divisions since the low judiciary) had enthused the Swadeshi
castes were kept at a distance. This state movement; but by 1908, it was becoming
of affairs remained unregenerate,because apparentthat all these initiatives werecoleither actively complicit lapsing.20 But nationalism had not lost
upper castes %wre
or simply disinterested. On the other its pride, nor the sense of outrage
hand, social classes in England were Mukherji'sconcluding lines in the passage
cited above runs: "If ever there was an
bonded by the same feelings on common
occasions such as those provided by unequal fight it was this" The Swadeshi
sports, defence requiremen-tsanid church movement had left anger in addition to
activities:an ability that accounted for the disenchantment-making it doubly imoverwhelming organisational power their possible to regardthe English as a model.
But the shutting out of one possibility
society possessed. Islam too had produced a sense of commonness throughmasjid
opens another: "There is nothing in the
congregations. As a matter of fact, their
laws that specially affects the Hindus
reform movements of the 19th centurv
unfavourably", Mukherji states, adding:
were responsible for both their wealth as
"The superiority of the...Mohammedans
well as their unity under British rule. is entirelydue to their religiousrevivaland
Hindus, however,faced disaster from three systematic moral training..." Of course
sources: Morley's equivocating reply to
Mukherji does not specify how the
Ameer Ali's petition; "` the pulverisation
Muslims had suffered under colonialism
to make their condition comparable (this
of Bengali industry by the British; and
could conceivably spoil the argument by
now, dispossession of land by Muslims.
The cause of their helplessness, MQukherji arousing sympathy for them); but also,
reiterates, iay in caste exclusiisn;s.
the
Mluslims need to remainsuperior,.sinc:e
Minto
reforms
of
1909,'
that called
1307
male 24 However,
the
very
concern.
ed the burdenof humanitarian
In the fifth section of the book,
Mukherjiidentifiessix broadca,steclus-
1309
1310
of authority-dairningsupremacyimposing
restrictionsissuing licence.." On the other
hand, Hinduismis not only heterogeneous,
but also valorises its plurality.31 In other
words Mukherji here affirms the status
quo. Hinduism is in fact portrayed as an
utopia, where there are no problems of
power. It is rnotsurprising to find that
Mukherji jettisons all proposals for
reform. Even untouchabilityis justifiedas the comparison of a housewifecleaning
her rooms to prepare for puja, to an
and
suppressions
that
underpin
1311
1312
1313
Patrika and a leader of the Bengal Hindu Sabha, which is revealingly entitled,
'The Best Way to Organise the Hindus'.
Although it mouths warnings of a low
caste upheaval, the anger against upper
caste discrimination which accompanied
these warnings in both Vivekananda and
Bhattacharyais absent here. On the other
hand, the real emotional centre lies in its
proclamation that "it is on the grounds
of religion that the Hindus must meet",
for, "on no other basis will the unity last
long". And this unity, it can be guessed,
is compelled by Muslims; Ghosh advises
'brahmacharya' (celibacy) and 'suitable
physical exercise' for Hindu offsprings.
They could then die "defending his [the
Hindu's] religion and home and hearth",
a common newspaperphrase that invariably implied a Muslim threat.54
In a way, the shift to an overw!ielming
concern with Hindu organisation also
made Mukherji'sprivilegingof caste relations its victim. For, despite the efforts of
reformers, caste remained a signifier of
vertical cleavages that mere insoluble
within the framework of brahminism.
Tlhis did not mean that caste problems
would disappear from the rhetoric of
communal Hindu reform, since its manifest reality was far too forceful."5As a
matter of fact, caste remains a major
preoccupation in all three texts (with Ray
beginninghis speech by mentioning his indebtedness to Mukherji). But what it did
entail was the subordination of caste to
the more fearful question of gender.
VIIl
The new temper is enunciated in its
most extreme form by Bisi. The explanation he offers for decliningHindu numbers
has nothing to do with caste; on the contrary, it leads him to a consideration of
'unproductive marriage customs, that is
focused on the ban on widow-remarriage,
which he claims is responsible for many
social abuses. Bisi does discuss the problem of untouchability, but separatelysuggesting a certain move towards its
marginalisation. It is true that the others
bring in caste more directly in their
demographic considerations. But with a
"difference.For instance, THISasserts that
the decline in Hindus is due to the low
castes. But instead of discussing intercaste relations like the earlier generation,
it blames their marriage practices and
recommends widow-remarriage, which
would not only lead to the multiplication
of Hindu children, but would also
dispense with the dowry system. The importanceof widow-remarriageis underlined, by reiterating its necessity in the conclusion. Sir P C Ray begins his speech by
declaring the ban on widow-remarriageto
1314
be the cause for the drop in Hindu numbers; he deviates thereafter into Mukherji's analysis of peasants (the Hindu lacking initiative, the Muslim possessing it),
but comes back to offer widow-remarriage
as the first item on the list of solutions.
He highlightsits importance by providing
another table showing how the numbers
of Hindu widows outstripped those of
Muslims, in the 15 to 30 years age group,
which complements his citation of
Mukherji's table.
What dpes the Widow signify?The selfevident motivation is that of resourceoptimisation, which relates to widows in the
same manneras newspaperarticlesof this
time did to cows: in both cases the major
problem is that of efficient breeding. In
the process, this consensus summons up
th!ezeal and dignity of past reformerslike
Vidyasagar.But his humanitarianaspects,
the deep though admittedly patriarchal
outrageat the treatmentof Hindu women,
all these are absent. On the other hand,
where Vidyasagar is recalled,56 is in the
apprehension of moral contamination of
Hindu society by sexually deprived and
'available' widows. There is actually a
basic similarity in the way that both
Muslims and widows are treated:both are
seen as figures of potential sexual excess
and hence of fear.
This penumbra of associations was
widened by their position in the social
relationships of rural areas. Apropos of
allegations of abduction of widows in the
Mymensingh riots of 1907, the district
magistrate in his report stated that on enquiry these allegations were found to be
"merely threats, the fact that Hindu
widows are not allowed to marry again being always rather a subject of comment
among Mohammadgn
neighbours". 57
a grim
Obviously
they represented
shadowy area in male society; being outside the protection that the domestic identity of female chastity provided, she was
both an invitation and a threat. Matters
were exacerbated by another likely phenomenon. Some Muslim newspapers claimed that many of the Hindu women who
were reportedly abducted were in fact
widows, who rescued themselves from the
burden of their lives by eloping with
Muslims.58 Besides making widows more
'attractive' as the explanation for Hindu
numbers, it also led to an associated and
in many ways, a more powerful concern
in the 1920s.
After offering widow-remarriage as a
remedy, Ray suddenly transits to a new
recommendation,
exclaiming: "All the
wives of our kin, who are being abducted,
and whom, because of our weakness and
cowardice, we cannot rescue from the
virtues of physical fitness. A top level national leader like Lajpat Rai exhorted his
audience to be like Arjuna as he faced his
beloved enemy, Bhisma.12
The defencelessfemale body is counterpointed by the necessity for a trainedmale
body; both dramatise the necessity for
conflict. And withinlthis vortex of bodies
is located the anxiety of Hindu numbers,
1315
(which had occurred in January 1909). Further it had played a leading role in criticising Ameer Ali's petition (see below). All this
was in addition to large serialised articles
on Hinduism.
14 Deuskar (publication details given below)
and Chakravarty(op cit) provide contradictory figures. The latter claims that 50,000
copies of HS were distributed free. I have
opted for Deuskar'sfigures, since they seem
more in keeping with the practical disposition of Mukherji.
15 Cited in Chakravarty,op cit, p 44.
16 The precedence of the Morley Minto reforms encouraged the demand for separate
representation. A Namasudra resolution
gave the following reason: ...though our
religious riies and their observances and
social customs are similar to those of high
castes Brahmins, we have not the slightest
connection with aniy of the Hindu communities'! Sekhar Bandopadhyaya, Social
Mobility in Bengal in the Late Nineteenth
and in the Early TwentiethCenturies.(Ph D
Thesis, Calcutta University, 1985), p 401.
17 Lajpat Rai's'The DepressedClasses' (op cit)
appeared only a month after the publication of ADR in The ModeirnReview in July 1909, and provided similar recommendations.
18 Bandopadhyaya, op cit, p 424.
19 ADR quotes Lord Morley's reply to Ameer
Ali's petition, which typically encourages
initiativefrom the latter by a non-comniittal
attitude: "I submit it is not very easy [to
carry out the exercise of separating out the
low castesi and I have gone into the question very carefully to divide these lower
castes and to classify them'
20 Sumit Sarkar, The Swadeshi Movement in
Bengal 1903- 190, Peoples Publishing
House, New Delhi 1973, pp 135-36. The
Boycott mosemeri was practically over in
Calcutta by 1907, ibid, p 145. Highlighting
the general failure was the parting of ways
between the Moderates and Extremists in
1908.
21 A recent article by Tanika Sarkar has explored how in the 19th century, conjugality
representedthe only source for male Hindu
control (and therefore 'autonomy') in a
society that was increasingly being experienced as under the stifling control of a
foreign power. 'The Age of Consent Rhetoric: Resisting Colonial Reason and the
Death of a Child Wife', forthcoming.
22 Mukherji's citation of Hunter states how
Muslimsare no better than 'a mongrelbreed
of circumcised low caste Hindus'. After
returiningto their fundamental doctrines
through their Reform movements, they had
become dangerous, since, "a return to
Mahommedan first principles means a
return to a religion of intolerance and aggression" guided by the aim of "forcibly
converting the world".
23 Tanika Sarkar.op cit. Although it may be
added that there is a reaccentuation in
Mukherjiof an older strain of thtought.For
Chandra Deb, one of the first of
AMahesh
those who argued for a reform of the condition of Hindu women, an important im-
1317
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