Thursday, June 16, 2011

Scrap the Insane Laws, Immediately

Now that MF Husain died in exile, some Hindus are breathing a sigh of relief.  When he was alive, Husain was a pain in the neck, an irritant, whose existence made Hindus uncomfortable; because it made them face some awkward truths which, according to them, were best avoided. 

Is Hinduism a great religion? These Hindus tout, ‘yes, it is’.  Then how come it is threatened by a puny artist and his art?  Is Hinduism tolerant and liberal? These Hindus say, ‘yes it is’.  Then how come some nude pictures of their goddesses by a contemporary artist become such a big problem when thousands of temples in India blatantly depict gods and goddesses in explicit nudity, some of them positioning these gods in perversely sexual acts?

Now that MF Husain is dead and gone, these Hindus conveniently excuse themselves from answering these uncomfortable questions.  Many Hindus who hounded Husain when he was alive are now ready to make amends by calling him a great artist.  They want to let bygones be bygones.  They want to see this as a ‘closed chapter’.

That’s where I find this whole ‘lets-forget-this-and-move-on’ charade dangerous.  I believe that NOW is the right time to face those awkward truths and ask uncomfortable questions because they have far-reaching consequences on how we are going to define this supposedly free nation.   Few years from now if we have done some good parenting, another Husain will be born in India who will do something more outrageous by taking a position which will make us even more uncomfortable.  What will India do then?  Will it hang him, or force him into exile?


What we did to Husain today is what some of the intolerant countries on this planet do to their citizens who ask uncomfortable questions about their sacred symbols, either it is the religion or the affairs of the ruling families.  By forcing Husain into exile India joined the ranks of such autocratic and theocratic nations.  A free nation would have protected Husain’s rights.  It would have protected him from the frivolous prosecutions that the people of this country launched onto him to shut him up.  By being weak, India fell few notches down in the ranking of free nations on this planet. 

To become free, we have to question our past

To become free, we have to question our traditions that hold us down, and we have to elevate our people from the depths of our prejudices and blind beliefs.  We have to realize some harsh truths.  That’s when we will find some uncomfortable answers.  That’s when we will realize that Khap panchayats are not upholders of our traditions but are the usurpers of our freedoms.  IPC Section 295A designed to prosecute people for hurting religious sentiments does not protect religion but it allows bigoted people to curb original thought by persecuting them.  Our religions don’t need protectors, they don’t need policemen.  We are no longer facing crusades from alien religions.   In this modern nation of India, we don’t have to give up our freedoms to a Church or a monarch to buy our securities.  IPC Section 124A designed to prosecute sedition does not protect this nation but instead weakens this nation.  This nation will remain weak as long as we do not question its authorities.  Today, we celebrate Anti-corruption movement because people question their rulers.  Imagine these protestors, including college kids, booked for sedition for harboring hatred against the Government of India. 

To reform this nation of its ills, we need to question our practices, notions and philosophies.  We can’t be selective then, because freedom is one way street.   Once free, people ask all kinds of questions.  Seeds of curiosity once set in will result in inquiry of the infinite.   We can’t channelize the process of inquiry or try to regulate it.

As Indians, we do not innovate or invent, and we continue to be corrupt, because we believe that inquiry can be regulated.  We think that we can tell our children what questions they can ask and what questions they should not.  Europe spawned Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, French and American Revolutions, invented the concept of a democracy, freed the common man, and created society on the basis of rule of law, because they started to inquire.  This inquiry started nearly 500 years ago.   Indians have not started that inquiry as yet.

Indians are generally hesitant to face harsh truths and this nature of theirs is the reason why we continue to have the menace of corruption in this country, why we have suppression of freedoms, and why people of a certain region, caste, or sex are discriminated.  Indians are hesitant to ask tough questions because most answers eventually come back to their doorstep and lay the blame right with each one of them. 

Some who pretend to sympathize with Husain and feel this is an unfortunate incident do not see any problem with our current legal system.  Yes, they admit, there are some anachronistic laws; but they are never used, they assert.  Even if they are used, they are usually thrown out by the courts, they add.  Even if there are cases where someone is convicted, those are the cases where the convicted person really deserved the punishment, they assure you.  I find this rationalization specious and cowardly and insincere; and I find the inherent ambiguity in our legal system a big detriment to creation of a free nation.

Dinakar’s story

To illustrate why insane laws should not exist, I have constructed a small story – completely fictitious. [If you want, you can skip the story by going to ‘End of the Story’ below].

There is a person named Dinakar who grew up in Uttar Pradesh.  When he was a young man, he did what every young man did, spent time with his friends and came home late.  One day while walking past River Ganges, he stopped by and pissed into a drainage canal which eventually joined River Ganga.  The friend next to him, Sudhakar, chided him that he was pissing in the Mother Ganga.   They laughed it off and went home.

Many years later Dinakar grew up to become a responsible citizen.  When khap panchayats were targeting young couples with insane and arcane interpretations of Hindu customs, he took up the cause to fight this khap menace to emancipate young Hindu men and women from the stranglehold of ultra-conservative Taliban like elder men.  This did not go well with many Hindus in Northern India who still believed in bigoted interpretations of Hindu scriptures and wanted them preserved at all costs. And these Hindus hated Dinakar.  They wanted to somehow stop him and teach him a lesson.  A group of chauvinists wanted to know if Dinakar has done anything wrong in his life so that they can go after him.  They were discussing how, when Sudhakar, the old friend, said that Dinakar is quite clean.  ‘We cannot prosecute him.  The only outlandish thing he did in his life was when he pissed into Ganga,’ he said.   There was a lawyer in the group who quickly reacted, ‘wait, we got him there’. 

It seems that there is some old law created by the British when Oudh was annexed.  To please the Brahmins of Awadh who were not ready to accept British rule, they created a law which states that anyone found desecrating by pissing or shitting into River Ganges will be imprisoned for life.  This law was never used but it still remained in the Indian Penal Code as Section 1067.

The lawyer in the panchayat group said that they can now prosecute Dinakar using this law.  An FIR was lodged. Dinakar was arrested.  Sudhakar testified that he saw Dinakar peeing into River Ganga long ago.  The fact that he actually pissed into a drainage canal that joined River Ganga became a matter of semantics.  The rest of North India followed suit.  Nearly 373 cases were registered against Dinakar in various districts and towns.   There were summons from various courts.  It was established that Dinakar violated a law, based on Sudhakar’s testimony, and hence was imprisoned for life.  Dinakar appealed to the High Court.  After languishing in the jail for few months, his case was taken up by the High Court.  The sane judge threw the case out and recommended that such arcane laws should be scrapped.

When Dinakar was set free he was still facing 372 other cases and summons from hundreds of courts in India.  When he went to a nearby town, he was immediately arrested.  It became physically impossible for Dinakar to fight each and every police and court case in India.  There were too many of them.  Entire Hindu population of North India was now ready to file a case against Dinakar on IPC Section 1067.  There was no end to this harassment.  Eventually it became impossible for him to live in the country as long as IPC Section 1067 was a law.  He left the country and migrated to Thailand to live with his brother.

End of the Story

Some Hindus give an insincere excuse that Husain was not hounded out of the country or expelled from the country.  They say that Husain left this country out of free will.  Instead of facing the various police cases and court cases like a responsible citizen, he fled this country, they remind you.  They say that the problem is not with the legal system.  According to them, the legal system is fine because the High Court eventually threw out the case. 

These Hindus don’t realize that it is humanly impossible to fight so much persecution and prosecution in one’s life.  And such persecution and prosecution happens only because certain insane laws exist.   If you read history, you will see that all those who went into exile, did so out of free will, while they could still exercise their free will, knowing very well that they came close to losing their free will, that they would be incarcerated or killed if they stayed any longer.  Voltaire lived in exile in Britain for few years.  Voltaire left France before the insane laws of France could catch up to jail him.  Einstein fled Nazi Germany before the insane laws of the land could put him on a train to be sent off to a concentration camp.

Husain left India because was forced into leaving.  He was left with no choice. If he stayed further, he would have faced hundreds of court trials, spending years going from one court to another.  What if one of the courts convicts him?  Does he have the power and support to change the legal system in India?  Not really.  It was a case of an individual against a mighty group backed by the state.  He was bound to lose.  Some countries call it persecution.

Scrap the insane laws, immediately

There are many anachronistic, insane and stupid laws in this country.  The fact that they have never been used, or that they are rarely used, or that they have been used with discretion is not a good enough reason for such laws to exist.  There is no justification for such laws to exist.  No individual can stand up against the onslaught of a committed group which uses such insane laws to prosecute and persecute him.    That’s why the modern nations give freedoms.  These freedoms can also be translated as the ‘freedoms from persecution’ and ‘freedoms for frivolous and unnecessary prosecutions’. 

POTA was used more effectively by the political parties in settling scores against political opponents more than catching terrorists.   The case of Binayak Sen is a good example of how insane and anachronistic laws can be used by people to create scapegoats.  

Existence of such stupid laws is the only reason why some people, like Binayak Sen, Arundhati Roy, or M F Husain are harassed by various groups and the state.  Such stupid laws do not serve any purpose other than giving some vicious groups to malign their opponents, to settle scores with their opponents, to discredit someone whose ideas they dislike, to harass someone because they don’t like them, and to create scapegoats to deliver a message to their detractors.  The modern legal system believes in the concept of letting 10 guilty men go to save one innocent; whereas these insane laws in India achieve the exact opposite. 

India should scrap these insane laws immediately, and thereby restore some confidence in its promise to build a free nation.

19 comments:

  1. Agree with almost what you write. But the question remains - why did MF not paint anything that would hurt some of the muslims or christians? Why did he pick only Hindu items?
    If he had also painted something similar related to the other religions, the Hindus would not have bothered. By exclusively showcasing only Hindu godesses, he being a non-hindu, has conveyed in a way his religious fanaticism. If he had declared himself an atheist possibly he would not have been hounded.
    You have to look at the situation in the light of the fact that there are multiple religions in India and religion is a deeply fanatical issue for Indians. There have been religious clashes in the past and continue to exist in some form today.
    Rather than exhort Hindus to be more tolerant you should ask all people of all religions to be equally tolerant. You cannot clap with one hand.

    Hinduism is tolerant in many facets. For e.g., it does not dictate that you pray everyday or visit a temple every week or pray in a certain way. A hindu is allowed to follow his own methods in so far as practicing his religion is concerned. I have never seen a Hindu or Hindu group trying to convert people of other religions to Hinduism except those who were converted from Hindusim to toher religions. Are all other religions as tolerant.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @POK,

    he did not paint muslim prophets probably because he knew he would have been killed. But is it the right example to emulate for the Indians/Hindus??

    A woman was stoned to death in Iran for having a relationship with a man of a different religion. You must be glad that in India that doesn't happen

    ReplyDelete
  3. POK:

    why did MF not paint anything that would hurt some of the muslims or christians? Why did he pick only Hindu items?

    May be, MF Husain was doing what every artisan in India did for centuries – conform to the practices already in vogue. An artisan who works on Hindu temples sculpts goddesses in nude and then goes to work on a mosque to etch Arabic texts onto the walls. That has been the practice for centuries in India, where the local artisans were both Hindus and Muslims working on both temples and mosques.

    May be, M F Husain was not doing anything more than what was already in practice, but might have used artistic freedom to expand the horizons only a bit further than what was already in practice. Many artisans, both Hindu and Muslim, took liberties in carving their statues, and that can be seen in the variations across the temples in India.

    Most Hindu icons were portrayed in nude for all our history, including the modern times. Saraswati, Lakshmi, Parvati were all portrayed in nude with big breasts and prominent nipples. Actually, it is surprising that MF Husain did not portray Hindu goddesses in the same voluptuousness. Instead he made his paintings less erotic than those found in Hindu temples. In that respect, M F Husain didn’t deviate much – he was actually being very conservative.

    Islam has no practice of painting human figures, and even if they do, they do it quite conservatively. Any trained artisan while working on a mosque would concentrate on intricate designs that mosques look for, and not nude pictures. M F Husain carried the same tradition in his paintings.

    We don’t look at the mosques and ask the artisan why he did not paint nude gods and goddesses in that mosque. In the same way, we don’t look at temples and punish the artisan for sculpting nude goddesses, even when the artisan is a Muslim.

    By exclusively showcasing only Hindu godesses, he being a non-hindu, has conveyed in a way his religious fanaticism.

    That’s your interpretation and the interpretation of all the bigoted Hindus in India. There is no end to such foolish interpretation. We can get peevish about almost anything anyone does and say it is an insult. When served non-veg in foreign nations, we get peevish, when joked about Indians, we get peevish. We can get ruffled very easily, and that’s what is happening here.

    M F Husain is no different from thousands of Muslim artisans who came before him. All of them sculpted nude goddesses in temples. M F Husain is just being a refined and sophisticated artisan that’s all, who conformed the mores of the our traditions – nude goddesses in the temples and intricate Arabic writings in the mosques.

    If a Muslim artisan sculpts a nude Hindu goddess in nude, then he is not called a religious fanatic. He is called an artisan, who did his job well, who is trying to make a living by drawing and sculpting those things which are considered standard practices.

    If he had declared himself an atheist possibly he would not have been hounded.

    No Hindu or Muslim artisan who sculpts nude Hindu goddesses in a temple declares himself an atheist. And yet, he gets paid for his work across India.

    Rather than exhort Hindus to be more tolerant you should ask all people of all religions to be equally tolerant. You cannot clap with one hand.

    I am not exhorting Hindus to be more tolerant. I am exhorting them to open their eyes and see various temples in India, instead of closing their eyes. Visit some museums and see Shiva tweaking Parvati’s nipple. Some of these sculptures might have been done my Muslims back then. Would you go about destroying those statues just because we find out it was done by a Muslim?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Agree Sujai,

    There are nude images on temples. And many may have been sculpted by Muslim artisans.
    But these were made by Hindus for themselves. MF on the other hand was not asked to paint nude godesses for a hindu religious purpose. If he had been asked to do so then the matter would have been dealt differently. But in this case, knowing the controversy that it will create in India, given the problems already existing here, he did something, that, naturally as expected, aroused latent animosity of hindus towards muslims. If this had been painted by MF say 1000 years ago, probably he would have been revered for creating an artistic work. At a time when religious feeling are peaking (for all reasons) he should have avoided it.

    As for being bigoted.....well people will be and if the vast majority of hindus are like that shoudn't MF refrain from hurting them.

    There are a million things that MF could have selected instead of HIndu Goddesses. Do you think he was being naive? I don't think so.
    For centuries this country had been targeted by people of other religions for many reasons including deep rooted bigotism. We cannot forget it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @sujai

    "Is Hinduism a great religion? These Hindus tout, ‘yes, it is’. Then how come it is threatened by a puny artist and his art?"

    in the same way i ask "is telangana a great land"?
    sujai says "yes it is"
    Then how come it is made impure by a puny jagan mohan reddy and his odarpu yathra???

    "Is Hinduism tolerant and liberal? These Hindus say, ‘yes it is’. Then how come some nude pictures of their goddesses by a contemporary artist become such a big problem when thousands of temples in India blatantly depict gods and goddesses in explicit nudity, some of them positioning these gods in perversely sexual acts? "

    is telangana tolerant and liberal. Sujai says yes it is. Then how come permanent residences made by seemandhraites become such a big problem when thousands of telanganaites blatantly made the same in outside states, some in potitions of managerial levels even in foreign countries???

    ReplyDelete
  6. POK:

    But these were made by Hindus for themselves.

    So we are going into minor technicalities now. A Hindu can create a temple for himself, and hire a Muslim artisan to make nude goddesses, but a Muslim cannot make nude goddesses for himself. What if you find out that someone commissioned Muslim to paint those nude goddesses, would you then forgive M F Husain?

    MF on the other hand was not asked to paint nude godesses for a hindu religious purpose.

    So, now you introduce another technicality. A nude goddess can painted for ‘religious’ purpose only?

    If he had been asked to do so then the matter would have been dealt differently.

    And how do you know if no one commissioned MF Husain to paint the nude goddesses? Most of his paintings were commissioned by patrons. Would entire Hindu community pardon and forgive M F Husain if it became evident that some patron commissioned him to make the paintings?

    So you are going to make a law like this: You can paint nude goddesses only if some Hindu asks you to do it, and only if it is for religious purpose. But any other way, we will prosecute you and imprison you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. nenusaitham:

    in the same way i ask "is telangana a great land"?
    sujai says "yes it is"


    You must be stupid.

    I never said Telangana is a great land. So, stop wasting my time here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @sujai,

    telangana is not a great land, yet u spend hundreds of man hours writing on it.
    telangana is waste land.
    a.p is waste land.
    India is a useless society
    hinduism is a religion of nude pictures

    ok.happy

    is there ANYTHING about which u have a positive opinion???

    ReplyDelete
  9. Is Hinduism a great religion? These Hindus tout, ‘yes, it is’

    Hinduism is not a great religion. It is built on the principles of inequality. Whereas most religions accept equality at least in principle, Hinduism does not. It is built on the caste ideology and ineqaulity is its philosophical base. With the advent of democracy and acceptance of equality as a core value, it is difficult for Hinduism to stake a claim to co-exist with the progress humanity has made.

    Hindus say that they are a tolerant lot and dont convert others to Hinduism. The matter of fact is that it cannot, it cannot accept people into it, without specifying the caste. It thus have a philosophical framework that makes it impossible to accept conversions to it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @ Sujai,

    Never argue with a fool,they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience....

    Arts and Science have always remained step children to religion.As long as people refuse to distinguish between religion and legal system.

    I recently came across a news report which shows an image of Puttaparti Sai Baba being in possession of a pair of slippers with the golden images of gods and goddesses on it....Can it get worse than this???

    Would we have the so called Hindu Dharmik Sansthans slapping cases against the god man or his associates????

    Are legalities concerning,hurting religious and ethnic sentiments,limited to Non-Hindus,in India???

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=209774812397219&set=a.171893482852019.30992.100000941045952&type=1&theater

    ReplyDelete
  11. All this discussion around MF is just meaningless.
    Risdhie had reason for going to exile.
    Whereas this guy ran away unable to face law of the land.
    He was a coward and exiled needless to mention to an Islamic country.
    He was not only famous but rich too.
    He had admirers from big circles. He could have hired Jetmalani to defend.
    When he had conviction that he did no wrong he should had the same courage to defend himself.
    There was never any kind of fatwa against him from Hindu groups.
    Nor those groups ever touched his other works.
    It is unfortunate that people like Sujai misuse their talent in defending this kind of people.
    It is just stupidity to scrap laws in response (perceived) injustice meeted out to one individual.

    This is biggest hypocrisy of these intellectual. When a judge makes a comment in their favor, the law and judiciary is great.
    But if some other 'intellectual' is hurt law should be scrapped.

    Same hypocrites keep quiet when various sections claim sentiments 'hurt' based on caste, region, political worship.
    Then they do not see mob culture and bad laws.
    When a section can have aspirations and sentiments based on region why not another section have similar feeling based on religion?

    ReplyDelete
  12. POK,

    I would like to say your questions about MF are wrong.
    In the first place why should one deliberately work against sentiments of a section?

    Taking nudity in temples to defend MF was nothing but skewed thinking.

    Majority of the Indian educated in last century were influenced by both leftist and centrist views.

    It was a false belief of these people that religion denounces or bans sex. Neither Hinduism nor any other religion ever did such thing.

    'Kumarasambhavam' is an example of narrating 'Romance' of gods.

    'Venkateswara suprabhatam' is another example.

    Beauty is an important aspect of devotion. Stotrams of every god, both male and female, invariable have description of beauty.

    Unfortunately these Hindu bashers use only negative meaning of those.

    One will come back with question "then why I cannot paint a goddess in nude".

    Anybody who understands why there are different dress codes for different occasions will get the answer.

    Is there any reason why not President of India and Speaker attend parliament in Bikins?

    (Of course nobody will be assumed by their show:-))

    Can anybody explain why US, a country with freedom of expression and free sex, took up case of Clinton and Lewnski? Why should president of most powerful country maintain sexual morality?

    There is a place and time for everything and same applies to sex, romance and nudity.

    Nude presentation of goddesses is not new to India or Hinduism. Works of many Hindu artiste include it.

    Then what is wrong with Hussain? In the past such works were limited to some circles mostly literary and artistic. But MF chose to publicize it and deliberately.
    He could have faced Hindu fanatics but he could not face the legal system. And ran away.

    PS: BTW, most people bashing Hindu fanatics on MF's case are today protesting the move by Maharashtra govt banning liquor for under 25.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous,

    I do not want to comment on your knowledge of Hinduism.

    If possible, please read the chapter "assimilation" from Romilla Thapars History Of India.

    Only thing I want to add is maybe Hinduism is the only religion that prescribed Dharma & Karma for humans beyond "Tinnaama padukunnama tellarinda"

    ReplyDelete
  14. Madamjee,

    nice seeing your comments after long gap.

    I am sure you know US has a department called INS. An important part of this is "Naturalization", to ensure migrants can and will live like other citizens in America.

    More than 6 decades ago India chose a funny thing called "Democracy". A bunch of Oxford and Cambridge educated framed a set of principles for governing the country.
    These great principles declared some sections as "victims" and some other sections as "offenders".

    But they did not have guts to punish the "offenders" nor they helped them "naturalize" to new principles. They were just branded "incorrigible".

    I don't think I have to explain the reason. Votes. A win-win situation for them. Provide lip-service to "victims". Do not punish "offenders". Keep getting votes from both.

    We have a great example in new millennium itself.
    It is everybody's knowledge that Narendra Modi encouraged violence against Muslims. It could not be proven legally. Even beyond-the-regular judicial activism could not help it.
    For a decade every political party, every social activist did extensive campaign against him. Great Madams called him 'Merchant of death'...

    You know the real funny thing. No one including great lawyers, constitutional experts suggest a simple law to make a Minister/CM/PM accountable for failure of maintaining Law and Order. Such law will help stop people like Modi continue in politics.
    You think such a simple thing did not occur to them?
    No. They will not just take up such acts. Reason 1: that will eliminate 'Godhra Ghost' once for all. These parties cannot ask Muslim votes in other states. Reason 2: it may boomerang on them.

    Great intellectuals of our country know very well choosing between "devil and deep sea". Not only they chose one but went on supporting every act of their choice. Now these intellectuals strongly think and propagate that only fundamental forces commit offenses. Everybody else is "Clean".

    In case you got confused with my comment, here is summary.
    It is not the religion that is dominating or dictating. It is lack of conviction by policy makers to implement what is envisaged.
    Today our great elite started attacking 'religion' itself instead of eliminating the 'bad practices' of religion.

    BTW, your comment "Never argue with a fool,they drag .." reminds me the ancient Brahmin arrogance.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous,

    I recommend you one more thing.

    If you belong to AP, please visit Guntur dst and also new Merimata Temple in WG dst (on Vijayawada highway)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Is Hinduism a great religion? These Hindus tout, ‘yes, it is’. Then how come it is threatened by a puny artist and his art? Is Hinduism tolerant and liberal?

    Sujai,

    you started with "some Hindus" in first para. But raise question against Hinduism itself.
    They too were self-appointed guardians of Hinduism like some Telanganites claiming to represent 4 crore people's sentiment.

    Your understanding of 'God' seems to be very restricted. At least in the context of Hinduism. Not every statue in a Hindu temple is god or goddess. Almost every temple has statues of animals, demons etc also.
    Not all of 'mukkoti devatalu' are worshiped. The statues on Temples you talk about depict various races Naga, Deva, Kinnera, Kimpurusha, Yaksha, Gandhrava and more.

    It is very uncommon to depict a worshiped deity in nude.

    "whose existence made Hindus uncomfortable"
    Again huge false propaganda by intellectuals.
    Not only Hinduism but every religion wanted to keep sex away from spiritual and devotional practices. But none advocated banning sex from society itself.
    Definitely they advocated sexual morality for society.
    In my childhood I read in our textbooks that Indians did not progress in medieval period owing to 'defeatist' attitude. This is how educated elite interpreted 'Karma Yoga'. Even today it is same except the word 'karma' is a fancy (maybe it is entered in Oxford dictionary with western interpretation).
    Similarly foolish things are said about sexual awareness in India and used against the Hinduism.
    The 3rd purushaardham 'kama' makes provision for sex for entire life. To put crudely you don't have to hunt or buy sex in market.

    There could be some Hindus who tout 'Hinduism is great'. But what most look for is not to belittle ideals set by Hinduism.

    MF created the controversy deliberately. He painted a lady in nude with 'veena' in her hand? He could have named her after some 'Gandharva lady'. But he named it 'Sarswati'.

    England is democratic for more than 400 years. Monarchy Did any artiste try present draw nude pictures of Monarchy?
    I would say they would not do such thing. One, they still respect Monarchy. Two, Monarchy will oppress such thing.
    But here in India we are ready to support people who denigrate images worshiped by other and call it "freedom of expression".

    ReplyDelete
  17. For a fresh, much needed perspective on M.F.Hussain's art, please read the following post:

    http://bharatendu.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/m-f-husain-in-a-new-light-a-hindu-art-perspective/

    Note: Very long post!

    Basically, the blogger Sarvesh is saying that viewed from an overall body of work perspective, Hussain has indeed been respectful and identified more with Hindu Art form than with the (as touted by his left lib supporters) Western form of Art. But if he was projected as essentially an Indian chitra kaara, he may not have sold as many as he did.So, he may have allowed the 'progressive' tag to his paintings.

    The controversy around his offending paintings seem all the more silly.At best, it served in jacking up the prices of his paintings.At worst, we have to listen to holier-than-thou folks about how India/Indians have to feel ashamed.Fact is, Hussain lived a good life and did what he needed/wanted to do.

    yawn :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. @SLB,

    Apologise for the delay in getting back.

    Foremost of all,I always wonder why people blame politicians for the laws that they have to adhere.That is such a pathetic excuse....

    Yadha raja thatha praja,yadha praja thatha raja....

    Intelligent and well qualified politicians like Manmohan Singh,Chidambaram and Co.,failing miserably,is not due to their personal shortcomings,it is due to the misuse of the existing laws by the people of the country.....

    They would have been extremely successful entrepreneurs,if we the citizens in India and elsewhere,had not made politics a business to run...

    We just make excuses for the lack of a principled,democratic and impartial civil society.Period...

    ReplyDelete
  19. I agree with the statement that the core philosophy that makes Hinduism is the caste structure and that being based on the principles of inequality makes Hinduism outdated and misplaced with the progress that humanity has made. and hence it sounds ludicrous when someone claims that Hinduism is a great religion.

    Again the tolerance of Hindu's not converting others to Hinduism is simply because it is incapable of accepting. It can only reject.

    Whereas other religions agree to equality in principle, Hinduism do not. Further other religions promise a heaven at least after death for all. In Hinduism, however the lower caste's are not given such a promise even after their death!!. Philosophically this is ultimate cruelty.

    MF Hussain had done thousands of paintings, and it is just a handful of paintings that has portrayal of nudity. The nudity thus depicted has to perceived from an artistic perspective, which is impossible for perverted fanatics. Nudity comes not for the sake of nudity. Those that cries foul have actually never seen these paintings at all.
    Hussain is remembered for his genius and the numerous pieces of art that he churned out and not for the handful of paintings that happen to have some nudity.

    ReplyDelete

Dear Commenters:
Please identify yourself. At least use a pseudonym. Otherwise there will be too many *Anonymous*; making it confusing.

Do NOT write personal information or whereabouts about the author or other commenters. You are free to write about yourself. Please do not use abusive language. Do not indulge in personal attacks and insults.

Write comments which are relevant and make sense so that the debate remains healthy.