NOTE FOR THE WORKSHOP DISCUSSION- Dr. M. Gangadharan

A Note on Religion and Dissident Spirituality- Dr. M. Gangadharan

Religions are cultural systems which decide in a general way the life-style of the believers. They are mostly institutionalised and provide support to the individuals of the religious community by inculcating self-confidence in them. Religious spirituality is generally expressed in prayers, pilgrimages and rituals sanctioned by religious texts and priests, or those well versed in the texts and traditions of the religion. Occasionally there will be some new philosophical interpretation of the basic texts of the religion which will expand its intellectual dimentions or re-form its ethical and moral precepts. But the religious orthodoxy built up by almost all religions are able to absorb the new ideas resulting from new interpretations of basic texts and re-formation of ethical and moral precepts. And they soon become part of the religious orthodoxy. The interpretation of vedic texts by Sankaracharya and the incorporation Neo Platonist ideas into Christian theology by Saint Augustine (354 - 430) may be taken as examples of new philosophical views on religious texts becoming part of religious orthodoxy in course of time.

Dissident spirituality is generally an expression of discontent with the orthodoxy of religions. Such discontent has been in India caused by social problems which the orthodoxy of religions failed to confront and solve. I can point out three cases in which dissidence was expressed spiritually and creatively in times of social change:

1. Thunchath Ezhuthachan, the poet of Kerala popularly considered the 'father of Malayalam language', though not literally true, is undoutedly the greatst poet in the language. His time has been variously reckoned by scholars and historians, as there is no clear indication of his time in his works. However, it may be safely assumed on the basis some literary evidence that he lived and wrote in the 16th century. Recent studies on the oceanic trade on the Malabar (Kerala) coast has found this period to be one of vigorous trade in spices. The arrival of the Portuguese on the Malabar coast did disrupt the trade for a short period due the ambition of the Portuguese to establish their monopoly in the trade in spices. But the trade revived soon and by the middle of 16th century the Portuguese had become part of the ongoing trade in spices. This in fact increased the volume of trade and made Malabar, especially regions near important harbours, prosperous. Ponnani, an harbour town to the south of Calicut, was one of the most important harbours in the Kingdom of the Zamorin. Nila (Bharata Puzha), one of the two longest rivers in Kerala, originates from the Western Ghats in the east and joins the Arabian Sea at Ponnani. This increased the value of Ponnani as a centre of oceanic trade in spices, as the spices were mostly grown in the high ranges and the long river provided a means of transporting them to the coast for export by maritime traders. Poonthanam Nambuthiri, a gifted poet of the second half of the 16th century, describes how "They earn lots of money/ Trading in jewels and gold/ In elephants and horses/ And by onstructing ships" . He also laments the moral decadence that accompanied the competition to make more and more money. But Ezhuthachan do not mention the condition of life of his time. Instead he translated the two great epics , 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata', into Malayalam poems of exceptional aesthetic quality with stress on sincere devotion to a God who knows everything and who is just and kind to everyone irrespective of caste and gender,.and who forgives anyone who repents sin committed in ignorance. These translations soon became very popular and began to be read ritually by all literate non-Brahmin communities. Ezhuthachn's works may be considered the creative expression of a kind of dissident spirituality as they did not conform to the dominant Brahmanic ethos which were totally influenced by the ideology of very rigid caste system. The great creative works of 17th and 18th century in Malayalam (by Unnayi Warriar, Kunchan Nambiar and Ramapurath Warriar) by non Brahmins as well as the emergence of art forms like Krishnanattom, Kathakali, Chavittu Natakam, etc., may be considered the consequence of Ezhuthachan's dissidence which opened up learning, literature and arts to non- Brahmins..

2. Mahatma Gandhi who dared to be different in his approach to religion may be considered to have opened up Hiduism through his dissident spirituality.
He declared himself to be a 'Sanathana Hindu'. But he never visited any temple and never cared to perform any of the rituals of orthodox Hinduism in his mature years. He always organised prayer meetings in which he discussed various social, political and spiritual problems. There were also songs at the prayer meetings in which the ideas of all religions were respectfully mentioned. Gandhi also insisted on eradication of untouchability among Hindus and worked for temple entry of all castes which was not allowed by the traditional Hinduism. His dissident practise of Hinduism may be considered as sanctioned by his spirituality. And this had impact on large number of Indians. In fact Hindu orthodoxy was effectively challenged by the transparent humanist position taken by Gandhi. The good relations between various religious and caste communities in India was made possible mainly through the break up of Hindu orthodoxy by Gandhi's spiritual dissidence.

3. Narayana Guru of Kerala (1856 - 1928), born in a family, considered to be of low caste at the time, in the southern part of the Princely State of Travancore received good education in Sanskrit and also training in Yoga from his early years. Though he was a devotee of a local temple for some time later he became an avadhootha and wandered in the hills and forests of southern Travancore. Finally he settled down at Aruvippuram, an hamlet on the banks of Neyyar river. Local people found him to be a wise guru in both religious and temporal matters. As the people who came to visit him increased he consecrated in February 1888 a Siva temple there without any of the traditional rituals related to such cosecration. When Brahmins questioned his authority to consecrate a diety he said it was only the Siva of Ezhavas thereby asserting that even those of the low caste has the right to worship Siva in their own way. He also built an ashrama near the temple and wrote on its wall the following verse:

'This is the model place where everyone
Shall live as brothers
without distinctions of caste or religion'.

This was an announcement in total contradiction of the norms and practices of the caste ridden Hindu society of those times. While living as an avadhuta Narayana Guru had composed a number of poems which explained the essence of advaita philosophy. He maintained that as all creation is the manifestation of the supreme being in various forms there is no fixed identity for anything in the world. His Atmopadesa Satakam' says: 'That which appears as oneself and the other are but the same Spirit that burns from the beginning'. This understanding of advaita was used to establish that there cannot be distinctions of caste or religion between human beings. His spirituality, clearly distinct from the Hindu orthodoxy of the times, was accepted by a large number of ordinary people and he began to be accepted as a Guru of great wisdom. This led to the formation of a society for the maintenance of the temple consecrated by him. This society was later (in 1903) constituted as Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Sanghom (S.N.D.P. Sanghom). Guru was assisted by the Sanghom to travel to all parts of Kerala to speak against meaningless and costly rituals of orthodoxy and to give more attention to learning and productive employment. He vehemently propagated against use of intoxicants which was draining the people of their energy. He advocated simple life dedicated to uplift of the poor and the downtrodden. The Sree Narayana Movement in course of time became very popular and brought about thorough change in life-styles of large number of people. Guru was accepted as the incarnation of a new spirit of humanism. This was the result of the recognition of Guru's dissident spirituality as genuine and humane.

Unfortunately in course of time Guru's teachings were used by some influential persons to create a separate identity for the Ezhava community. This was noticed by Guru in his later years and he even declared that he will have nothing to do with the S.N.D.P. Sanghom's attempts to consider one community to be better than other communities. However, it is a fact that Sree Narayana Movement started the process of community formation in Kerala. The sub-castes in different caste groups collapsed to form one community.