He learnt the history of India piecing together the events that were narrated by a slew of people including the sants (the beggar monks that claimed to be in a state of renunciation), the merchants (vending all and sundry), the “guides” (who told scarcely credible stories of how, when, where and why the tourist spots existed), the palm readers and astrologers, the eager bystanders who nodded (the very oriental nod) and elatedly spoke gibberish.
He moved through the (high class) discotheques and through sleepy villages that had never seen power supply. There was rubbish strewn on roadsides some places and there were touching tales told of how people worshiped the Gods that took forms of trees, animals, human beings (yes, pantheism was rampant in India).He found it disconcerting that people, who were that sagacious and sane, worshiped snakes (often offering milk to the hooded asps called cobras) and the bloodthirsty Kali (mother Goddess).They had
deities and demigods that ruled over money and material wealth, the written word, rain, fire, wind and all other natural(and manmade) phenomena…
He found himself flabbergasted with all this information. Until a wise, well-traveled sadhu revealed that most of the illiterate, rural, agrarian Indians that dwelt in the darkness of ignorance would not submit to reason as much as to the word of the Lord. For example (he explained) ecological balance was not something that appealed to their rationality as much as the innate fear of the unknown. The Rishis (sages) of the bygone eras thought of credible stories to feed the villagers. They pretended that the karmic cycle would punish them if they did undesirable things. But, the other side of the coin was: the not-so-gullible countryside citizens would make up false beliefs and superstitions that they found convenient to hoodwink the natives into doing what they believed was correct.
Hence, Indian history took an ugly turn as certain societies demanded malicious acts like
the dowry, sati and child marriage. These acts were a consequence of irrationality (the biggest evil) that is almost dead after certain intellectuals put an end to them.
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