Sebastian Kappen’s Thoughts on Hindutva

Sebastian Vattamattam

Sebastian Kappen (1924 - 1993) was an Indian theologian, doctored in 1961 with a thesis on ‘Praxis and
religious alienation according to the economic and philosophical manuscripts of Karl Marx.’ His subsequent
studies had been geared to the requirements of transformative social action in India. This led him to an
investigation into the liberative and humanizing potentials of the original teachings of the historical Jesus as
well as of Indian religious traditions, particularly the tradition of dissent represented by the Buddha and the
medieval Bhakti Movement.
The last few years of his life witnessed the emergence of Hindutva as a fascist force in India. Dr.
Kappen wrote many articles responding to this, the last being entitled as ‘Hindutva: Emergent Fascism?’
Recently this writer compiled six of Dr. Kappen’s essays, edited and published as Hindutva and Indian
Religious Traditions.1
In 1522 a Dominican Bishop wrote from Goa to the Portuguese king, “And let him, who wants to live in
the island, become a Christian, and he shall possess his lands and houses, as he has till now done; if not, let
him leave the island.”2 This spirit of intolerance and bigotry was never akin to Indian religious tradition.
Then how comes that many a proponent of Hindutva today sounds exactly like the Catholic Bishop quoted
above? Dr. Kappen addresses this question with a deep analysis of the Indian religious traditions.
From Mother Goddess to Vedic religion
The discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization in the 1920s, and the subsequent investigations, have
proved the prevalence of matriarchy and Mother Goddess cult in the pre-Aryan civilization, in the Indian
subcontinent. Kappen identifies this period as the deepest layer of Indian civilization. Agriculture, the main
mode of production in which women took the leading role, was then the economic factor behind the pre-
eminence of the Mother-Goddess cult.
In this early stage of development, humans found themselves thrown into the midst of inexorable
cosmic forces. It is only natural, that they saw the Divine in every mysterious object. ‘Of all things what
appeared most enigmatic to our forebears, was the process of conceiving and giving birth, of which women
held the secret.’ 3 Thence emerged the cult of Mother Goddess.
The economic factor, such as the change over from hoe to plough cultivation, together with the
invasion of the patriarchal Aryans, brought about the transition from matriarchy to patriarchy. But elements
of the Mother Goddess cult still persist in our society.
The religiosity in the early Vedic period was based on the magical identity of the microcosm with the
macrocosm. Humans found themselves entangled in ever-recurring cycles of cosmic phenomena, which
instilled in them a cyclic sense of time. The Divine was identified with the cosmic order (rita). Humans
could influence it by symbolically re-enacting the cosmic cycles at a microcosmic level. This belief led to the
discovery of a magical-religious technology of manipulating the Divine, and the emergence of a priestly
class of religious technicians called Brahmanas. They evolved and propagated what Kappen calls ‘gnostic
religiosity’.
In gnostic religiosity, the microcosm and the macrocosm are conceptualized respectively as the Atman
and the Brahman. Ignorance of this non-duality (advaita) was construed as the source of all human alienation
and suffering. Humans could escape from the entangling cycles of birth and death by jnana (enlightenment),
the knowledge of the non-duality of everything that is, of Atman and Brahman.
The Brahmanic gnostic religiosity, Kappen observes, is not an escape but an ‘in-scape’. It is an ‘in-
scape’ from the cyclicity of existence and suffering into the timelessness of samadhi. Humans and their
concrete life activities are reduced to mere appearance (maya), the play of the unqualified (nirguna) Brahman.
This total submission to the cosmic laws, as well as the denial of human subjectivity is the essence of the
doctrine of karma, which is a law of necessity, not of freedom. Gnostic religiosity is highly individualistic,
an individualism that excludes the other. Bhagavad Gita preaches this philosophy of unconcern in no
unambiguous terms: “ Wise men do not sorrow for the living or the dead.”(Gita, 2.11)
 On the doctrine of advaita Kappen comments: “For, what is wrong with rape, murder, exploitation
and oppression if the rapist and the raped, the murderer and the murdered, the exploiter and the exploited,
the oppressor and the oppressed, are in the end an Atman-Brahman?” 4
Behind the veil of the advaita, lurks the most inhuman form of social stratification into castes and
varnas, justified by the doctrine of varnasrama-dharma. In Gita, Krishna is made to say that the Varna
system is his own creation. It keeps in bondage everyone to one’s own caste duties. Gita says, “Better to
perform one’s own duty, though void of merit, than to do well another’s. Better to die within the sphere of
one’s own duty. Perilous is the duty of other men.” (Gita, 3.35)
Sacred scriptures of the Brahmanas contain numerous tales that testify to their racial superiority.
Kappen cites an example from Padma-purana. There we see a Brahmana sage Bhrigu stamping his feet
on Vishnu’s chest. Vishnu responds, “I am fortunate today, O! Brahmana sage; I am fulfilled in every way,
for the touch of your foot upon my body will be a blessing.” 5
From the Buddha to Hinduism
In course of time, Vedic religion became more and more hierarchical, ritualized and oppressive. At
the same time, new productive forces, and the resultant break-up of tribal bonds, made men and women
aware of their own self-identity. It is at this juncture, that the Buddha came as a prophet of ethical religiosity.
He denounced the varnasrama-dharma of discrimination and preached the sanatana-dharma of equality,
universal friendliness (maitri), and compassion (karuna). Buddhism developed into a cultural movement,
for a genuinely universal ethics.
Nirvana is the universal love advocated by Gautama Buddha and central place is given to ethics in
its pursuit. It is the ultimate horizon of human existence signaled by the destruction of raga (lust), dvesha
(hate), and moha (delusion).6 The Buddha shifted the axis of religion from man-nature relationship to inter-
human relations.
Kappen writes, “With the Buddha, the doctrine of karma has no deterministic connotations, and
becomes a theory of freedom. What one does, his karma, has inevitable repercussions on society and
nature. So too, one is affected by the karma of others. Man, therefore, is a sum of multiple social and
cosmic relations. If so, each person is responsible for the whole of mankind, and the whole of nature.” 7
The Gita attempts either to assimilate or to distort the Buddhist precepts. One example is the concept
of Brahma-nirvana. It is nothing but one’s getting integrated with Brahman, with “his joy within, his bliss
within, his light within.”(Gita, 5.24) The author of the Gita has cooked up this narcissistic concept by
combining the two terms Brahman and Nirvana. In Buddhism neither of the terms has any spiritual
connotation. Evidence for the materialist connotation of the word Brahman can also be drawn from the
Gita. Krishna says that the great Brahman is to him a womb (mama yonir mahad brahma), in which he
plants the seed. (Gita, 14.3) This explains Kappen’s observation that the word Brahma-nirvana is ‘the
result of an attempt at hegemonic fusion on the conceptual plane.’8
The protest movements, like Buddhism and Jainism, were gradually absorbed or subdued by the
dominant Brahmanic religion. This process continued unabated up to the medieval period. Meanwhile
important changes were taking place, in the relations of production. The Brahmanic domination extended to
the economic life of village communities, in many parts of India. The Brahmanas got control of the agricultural
lands, and the peasants were subjected to exorbitant land-rent taxation. Caste discrimination became more
virulent than ever before.
It was as a protest against this, in a religious form, that the Bhakti movement emerged. It marked
a ‘historic mutation in popular religiosity.’ 9 Originated in Tamil Nadu, it spread to Maharashtra and Bengal.
Bhakti movement brought about a new vision of the Divine, and of man’s relation to it. The Divine was
conceived as the Divine Lover, a personal Deity; and unconditional Bhakti (devotion) became the principal
mode of worship. ‘Before the Divine Lover there is no distinction of sex, wealth, caste or colour.’ 10 If God
has any partiality it is for those persons destitute of wealth, for the sudras and the outcastes. The poorer
classes formed the bulk of the followers of the Movement.
There was a long period of interaction between Vedic religion and the protest movements. Brahmanism
succeeded in subduing or integrating them within itself. Deities, like Krishna and Siva of popular religions,
were adapted into the Vedic pantheon through a process of identification or subordination. The Mother
Goddesses who originated in the pre-Aryan matriarchal society, were subjugated to male deities. The result
was the emergence of Hinduism, as it is known today.
Religious Legitimization of Political Power
Mikhail Bakunin wrote, “It (the State) worships God only because he is its own exclusive God, the
sanction of its power and of that which it calls its right, that is to exist at any cost and always to expand at
the cost of other States.” 11 This is true of the ruling classes in all societies at all times. They have always
found God and religion as a means of legitimizing the political subjugation of the masses and serving their
class interests.
Kappen cites an example not from Indian history but from the history of the Christian West. In the
fourth century, Christianity was proclaimed the official religion of the Roman Empire. Kappen qualifies this
event as the “fateful alliance between the cross and the sword, between the imperial Christ and the Christian
emperor, an alliance which polluted the mainstream of Christianity down to our days. Later, imperialism of
the word and imperialism of the sword undertook the joint venture of colonial conquest.”12
The very last article, that Kappen wrote, was on the latest phase of this imperialism. He writes, “A
still greater guarantor of re-colonization is the Christian Ungod... It is the God whom Christians fashioned to
legitimize their lust for wealth and power.”13
Logos Versus Mythos
The French Revolution replaced God by Reason. Reason became the structural principle of society
and politics. In the political domain, man/woman was reduced to a mere citizen, a voter with no significance
as a particular, loving, willing, acting person. Each person became exchangeable for any other person. In
economics, Reason reduced human products, both the useful and the beautiful, into commodities with universal
exchangeability. In science, Reason affirmed the primacy of objective, analytical, and instrumental knowledge.
It is the impact of this ideology of modernity, that made the intellectuals incapable of understanding
the deeper dimensions of the fascist crisis in the West, asserts Kappen. They ‘failed to see that not only the
heart but also flesh and blood have reasons which reason cannot understand.’ 14
The process of reducing a human to a mere ballot paper, and her/his product to the price tag
attached to it, is in full swing in our present society. Kappen calls this ‘the culture of universal whoredom
where money can be exchanged even for love, loyalty and the favours of God.’15 Opposed to the realm of
Reason (logos), there is the realm of myths (Mythos). The historical experiences of a community, sink down
into the collective unconscious, where they get metamorphosed into myths by the processes of condensation
and displacement, as in a dream. Myths, more than any scientific truth, can evoke unconditional faith and
commitment and mobilize the psychic energies locked up in the collective unconscious. Religious rituals are
symbolic enactment of myths. Myths can also inspire ‘ethical action shaping the relationship of humans with
fellow-humans and nature.’16 Through myths, humans transcend their existential limitations.
Kappen differentiates three types of myths: cosmic myths centred on the world above, historical
myths centred on the world below and proleptic myths centred on the world ahead, i e., the world yet to
emerge. They in turn generate the cosmic, historical and prophetic forms of religiosity. The prophetic religiosity
rooted in the proleptic myths, such as the ‘Kingdom of God’ of Jesus, and the ‘Classless society’ of Marx, is
of central importance in Kappen’s writings.

Fascism and Political Myths

Kappen uses the word Fascism as a generic term with special emphasis on Nazism, its German
version. Italian Fascism inspired a host of movements, including Nazism, all over Europe. The Nazis were
often called fascists in the beginning. Radical nationalism, militaristic hierarchies, violence, the cult of the
charismatic leader, contempt for individual liberties and civil rights, anti-democratic and anti-socialist orientation,
a refusal to socialize industries, were some of their common features. Nazism stood out with its distinctive
ideology of hegemonic racism aiming to recast German society according to racial categories.
Ernst Cassirer gives a cultural analysis of the growth of Fascism in the West. The First World War
was followed by an ideological struggle among political systems. This required a new form of warfare in
which ‘spiritual’ weapons were to complete and perfect the material weapons.17 For this purpose old
myths, such as the superiority of the Aryan race, were revivified with distorted political connotations and
new myths were created. Secular, rationalistic, and Left movements could not comprehend the inherent
power of these political myths that let loose the exuberant stream of psychic forces locked up in the unknown
depths.
The central myth Hitler made use of, was that of the superiority of the Aryan/Nordic race. This led
to the belief that the Nordic race was destined to be the saviour of the world. This is what Kappen calls
messianism. A consequent feature of Nazism was autarchy. It meant the Nazi Party’s imperialistic claim to
‘organize the whole world on a large scale so that each country produced what it could best produce while
the white race, the Nordic race, undertook the organization of this gigantic plan.’18
Another feature of Fascism was the idea of corporatism. The whole of society was conceived of as
an organism in which individuals, groups, and classes sacrificed their private interest, and worked solely for
the greatness and glory of the German race. What Hitler referred to as the ‘nationalization of the masses’,
and their total identification with, and subjection to, ‘the Leader’ were the necessary pre-conditions for the
realization of the Nazi project.
Yet another feature of Fascism was demonization. When racial superiority is mythicized and installed
as the Absolute, ‘it can maintain itself best against an absolute other, an absolute enemy.’19 It is this demon
that confers legitimacy on the aggressive acts of the Absolute. Hitler projected the Jews as the most hated
enemy. The process of identifying an absolute enemy is demonization..
Fascist Features of Hindutva
The resemblance of Hindutva movement to European Fascism has been observed by many in the
past. A recent study, based on archival evidences, has conclusively established the historical tie-up between
the two.20 Kappen starts by analyzing the nationalist aspect of Hindutva. He identifies three strands of
nationalism in pre-Independence India: the communitarian, the secular, and the hegemonic. The first conceived
nationality in terms of a union of diverse communities. Kappen quotes Gandhi: “The Hindus, the Mohamedans,
the Parsis and the Christians, who have made India their country, are fellow countrymen.”21 This statement
reveals the spirit of communitarian nationalism. According to secular nationalism, that became the guiding
principle of the Indian Republic, what constituted the Indian nation, was the aggregate of all Indians as
citizens. Hegemonic nationalism is characterized by the hegemony of the Hindu community over the minority
communities. Kappen sees the on-going Ayodhya Movement as the present phase in the development of
hegemonic nationalism.
For the realization of hegemonic nationalism, Hindutva too is drawing its strength from the political
myths concocted from the Indian past. They politicize myths, and mythicize politics. For example the myth
of Ayodhya is politicized, and the politics of the Pokhran bomb blast is mythicized. Some adherents of
Hindutva, treated almost like Vibhuti, the soil collected from the site of the explosion.
In the mythical revolt of asuras against devas the Sank Parivar try to identify themselves with
devas, and fix the asura role to the minority communities and the Leftists. Using the political myths such as
Rama-rajya and Rama-janma-bhumi they are forging a new Hindu identity, ‘an identity that is more asura
than sattvika.’
Jettisoning what is best in the Indian tradition they are assuming some of the worst features of
theocratic Islam and medieval Christianity. Projecting Rama as the supreme deity they seem to assimilate
the aggressiveness of monotheism. This new identity is closer to Christianity than anything else. Kappen
adds that the Hindus are ‘proselytizing themselves into Christianity without, however, embracing the Christian
faith.’22
If this is the case, then there is a point in their opposition to religious conversion. If Hinduism itself
is church-ified like any Christian Church, why should the Hindus get converted into Christianity?
Quoting Sudhir Kakar, Kappen finds the root of it all in the self-hate of the Indians - ‘a self-hate that makes
Indians find their ego-ideal in the very people who conquered or colonized them.23 This, in fact, is true of all
ruling classes of India. For the colonial capitalists, India was a huge reservoir of raw materials, to be
processed and exported. So, too, were the non-Christians in India to the Christian Churches - human raw
materials to be converted into Christianity. The result was the history of a long period of humiliation and
oppression for the non-Christian Indians. The advocates of Hindutva are gradually internalizing this image
of the oppressor.
All the main constituents of Fascism - messianism, autarchy, corporatism, racism, the ‘Leader’ principle,
and demonization - have their roots in the Judeo-Christian mythology. Messianism is rooted in the Biblical
concepts of the Chosen People, and the long awaited Messiah. The ‘leader’ has its roots in Yahveh, or
Christ the Saviour. Corporatism is akin to the structure of the Christian Church. Christianity has a long
history of demonizing all other religious persuasions.
Kappen’s Vision of the Future
The insistence on rational and secular thinking even goes to the extent of denying the past, and the
hope of a future derived from it. This makes the present an end in itself, valued in terms of the pleasure it can
give. Human existence is thus reduced to a series of disparate experiences of pleasure and pain. The
resulting fragmentation of being and consciousness has become a universal phenomenon. It thus destroys
traditional cultures, and ‘focuses on immediate consumption at the cost of humankind’s global, futural
wellbeing.’24
The Left and secular movements in India have to realize the potential power of myths in any
social formation. The artificially fabricated myths of Hindutva, and such other retrogressive forces can be
countered by utilizing the power of genuine liberative myths taken and re-interpreted from the Indian past.
But where are such myths to be found? Not so much in the dominant Brahmanic tradition as in the
protest movements like Buddhism and the various Dalit-tribal cultures? The Brahmanic ruling stratum has
always tried to posit their own discourse as exemplary. Whereas the subaltern classes have always tried to
subvert this monologic closure with a plurality of popular discourses culminating in liberative movements,
such as the Bhakti movement. Their historical experiences of it, repressed by the dominant ideologies, re-
emerge as myths and symbols. Only such myths and symbols can re-vitalize and revolutionize the Indian
consciousness, which is essentially sign bound.
This counter culture, rooted in liberative myths and symbols, can make the subterranean forces ‘burst
all bounds, shaking the very foundations of the existing system.’25 The secular revolutionaries often fail to
acknowledge the subversive power of religious myths and symbols. This failure makes it easy for the
reactionary forces to fabricate distorted versions of the liberative myths and symbols, and use the same for
their purposes.
Though he uses Marxian tools of analysis Kappen does not fully subscribe to its economic
determinism. He asserts that political, ethical, aesthetic and religious dimensions of life are primordial and
not derivative at least in their essential dynamism. These dimensions, and the values pertaining to them,
must broadly inform the political, economic, and cultural life and structures. Then only India as a nation will
have its own visage.
This is what Kappen calls integral secularism - ‘the only secularism in harmony with the ethos and
culture of our people.’26 The resulting religiosity is what he calls secular religiosity - a religiosity that is
secular in so far as it seeks the Divine as the depth-dimension of this world, not as a power outside it. ‘It is
a religiosity because it concerns our relation to the ultimate ground and goal of all that is.’27
1. Sebastian Kappen(2019), Hindutva and Indian Religious Traditions, Notion Press
2. A. M. Mundadan CMI, Paths of Indian Theology, Bangalore, 1998, p.54 3. Kappen 2019, p.2
4. Sebastian Kappen (1983), Jesus and Cultural Revolution- an Asian perspective, Build, Bombay, 1983, p.37
5. Kappen 2019, p.14 6. Henry Clarke Warren, Buddhist Discourses, Asian Publication Services, 1980, p.59
7. Kappen 2019, p.5 8. Kappen 2019, p.17 9. Kappen 2019, p.7 10. Kappen 2019, p.8
11. Mikhail Bakunin, ‘The Immorality of the State’ in The Political Philosophy of Bakunin by G. P. Maximoff , The
Free Press, NY, 1953 12. Kappen 2019, p.25 13. Sebastian Kappen(2002), Jesus and Culture, ISPCK, Delhi,
Chapter 13 14. Kappen 2019, p.52 15. Sebastian Kappen(1992), The Future of Socialism and Socialism of
the Future, Visthar, Bangalore, p.vii 16. Kappen 2019, p.52 17. Ernst Cassirer, Symbol, Myth, and
Culture, Yale University Press, 1979 18. Kappen 2019, p.53 19. Kappen 2019, p.54
20. Marzia Casolari, ‘Hindutva’s Foreign Tie-up in the 1930s - Archival Evidence’, Economic and Political Weekly,
No.4, Vol. 35, Jan 22-28, 2000, pp.218-228 21. Kappen 2019, p.55 22. Kappen 2019, p.59
23. Kappen 2019, p.59 24. Sebastian Kappen(2013), Ingathering - Autobiographical writings and Selected
Essays, Jeevan Books, Bharanaganam, Chapter 21 25. Kappen(1983), p. 48-49
26. Kappen 2019, p.65 27. Sebastian Kappen (1994), Tradition Modernity Counterculture, Visthar, Bangalore,
p.57