Facts Are to Narratives as Stars Are to Constellations
The Consequences of a Brilliant Quip from Dr. Omar Ali
When my friend and fellow Brown Pundit, Dr. Omar Ali, said the titular statement, it made me introspect. How much of what I believe is really how it is? Since then, I’ve come to view beliefs like stocks or similar investment assets. Both positive and negative narratives can be simultaneously true about an idea, but if you really want to talk your book, you have to make a bet on one narrative or the other.
I thought about this statement while reading two books:
The Samnyasa Upanisads: Hindu Scriptures on Asceticism and Renunciation by Patrick Olivelle
Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God: Retracing the Ramayana Through India by Jonah Blank
The former is a commentary and analysis of a group of texts called the Samnyasa Upanishads. They are arbitrarily grouped. It’s not like an official canon of texts compiled by an acharya, rather it has been created by academics. Nonetheless, they provide insights into attitudes towards asceticism in Hinduism and India at large. In the analysis, Olivelle delves into the role of India’s second urbanization fostering asceticism, householder versus ascetic traditions in Vedic scriptures, as well as the relation of Sramanism with the aforementioned.
It is a fun read, but sometimes I can’t help but feel the narratives are pushed or stretched into the material. Hinduism is a diverse and dichotomic religion that is natural in reconciling differences. Olivelle however does a good job of representing competing perspectives which is appreciable.
The latter is masterfully written. It’s a travelogue of Jonah Blank, an American academic, in 1980s India as he visits various legendary locations mentioned in the Ramayana. Blank appreciates Lord Ram and the Ramayana. He approaches the ancient subject with understanding rather than the usual retrospective bigoteering that characterizes much of South Asian academia (exclusively reserved for Hindus of course). Yet Blank does lean left. For him, the fledgling movement to reestablish Ram Mandir at the site of Babri Masjid goes directly against the values of Lord Ram. In a way he is right. Ram is selfless, compassionate, and unconcerned with his own welfare almost to a fault by a measurement of mortals. But Ram was, is divine. This was a movement of his devotees. It may not have been Ram’s dharma, but it was their dharma. Across the book, you get to see how Gandhian so many Indians were and the transformation that occurs as the chariots of saffron awaken the fire in the hearts of Hindus. A great narrative of injustice is extracted from the facts of the past; but for Blank, he views something totally different.
With both of these books, I find my beliefs challenged. Some of which I change, others I reinforce. The most valuable thing from reading these perspectives is context.
My mother had read ‘Arrow of the Blue Skinned god’ when it first came out and pushed my brother and I to read it (right around the time the verdict came through).
I see Jonah Blank the same way I see Devdutt Patnayak. Patnayak wrote two beautiful books (Sita & Jaya) and it’s baffling to see their ideology online. Nevertheless, I do agree with your view - Jonah has written an excellent book. As he rightly points out, Ram would detest violence carried out in his name. However, what he misses is the Gita which says “Peace is reserved for the worthy”. He seems unable to reconcile what it meant that the holiest sites (Ayodhya, Mathura & Kashi) were desecrated and the fact that there was really no “peaceful” closure to centuries of violent conquest. I tend to agree with Naipaul when he agrees that the demolition was ugly but it was long overdue catharsis.