> > hi > If u have a hard copy send it to me. I hve requested my computr operator lady whther she can compose it for me or not? she has agreed to it. I would get it composed and make it available for all. my postal address is: T. Ranjith, Lecturer (Communication), ERT, Electronic Media Production Centre, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-68.
> > > Hi, > Are we guided by the seduction of 'printed' > and 'most recent' writing ? That could be an indicator of authors' ( lack > or access) > location, relation with publishing industry etc. > > Thus A Murali fan trying to foreground marginalised texts aginst the > Zardarians!! > > These are excerpts from > > "Community Formation, colonial habitus and the Brahmin Lifeworld"( > "Haritham", 32 pages.) .[ Some friends contacted me asking whether they > could read Murali's papers in original. I could send anybody the copies if > they will publicly agree to type/ get typset those papers/ parts of it and > make them available here. I believe, we owe such a duty to such fascinating > / neglected thinking.) > > > > > > i)Tradition and modernity, faith and reason, indigenous and foreign:these > were the key constitutive binaries of the colonial self. That is why history > could be presented as a movement between the binaries, moral judgement as a > critique of the one by the other , and analyses as a revealing of the > binaries as elements or as levels. > > ii) The contempt against ritual limited religion from being an aspect of > practices or doing to an article of faith, a space within the heart.Anything > in religion that alluded to the sensual or the ribald was mercilessly edited > out or, as in the case of *RasaLila *,interpreted out of shape into > ponderous metaphysics.This was the case of rituals that demanded expenditure > of wealth and time.Like the protestant ethic, the new Hindutva was a shade > artless and came down on the richness of conventions. The project of > reviving the old was in effect , the creation of a new habitus, a dream > masquerading as a memory. > > iii)…when the communal discourse reintroduced the Hindu-Indian equation, > the terrain of the community could be expanded to include whatever was > national in it….These terms qualify not only nation , religion and culture > but perform adjectival and adverbial functions that adorn other objects and > activities viz:customs, dress, attitudes and orientations. Socially, > Hinduism could be anything and everything precisely because it was nothing > in precolonial times. This is epitomized in the claim that it was a way of > life life and not a simple faith. > > > > iv)Even during the medieval period the *Astothara namavalis *and the *Sahasra > namavalis * helped to link together local divinities as just nominal > variants of the classical pantheon. But they were probably circulated only > locally among elite groups. Once the same texts started circulating in print > and very recently through audio-cossets , this high culture was on the way > to becoming a popular culture within which the nation and the community were > born.With the increase in transport and the possible geographical zone of > each pilgrim center expanding, hindutva was becoming virtually national, > though the process is not complete even now. The linking together of pilgrim > centers in lists and *stotras *earlier on was not carried out by a modern > media before a national public.It is so now. Therefore, Tirupathi and > Sabarimala are becoming *Hindu *temples on a national scale and the gods > there potentially worshippable by Hindus the country over. > > > > v)The colonial habitus shares with modernity the use of certain techniques > which contribute to the creation of new identities including that of the > religius community.Of these , a changed perception of time is the most > important.The time of tradition was not homogeneous as tradition itself was > modeled on what was the immediate past often perceived as an *always *. > with the homogenization of time, this tradition has been broken through the > ruse of history.Historicising of tradition implied stepping out of it; the > radicalizing of the past as several quantifiable or homogeneous periods.The > present is made unique as a point from which each of these epochs is > available to vision simultaneously. This colonization of time applies to > future also, where several futures are available as possibilities in the > present ,from which the present could choose. The past and future no longer > dominate the present through tradition and fate , but the present is > pregnant with both , as that which masters time. What does this shift in > modernity imply as far as community construction is concerned ? It implies > that even when the community is conceived as the product the past, even when > it swears by tradition, it has taken that irrevocable step into the modern > consciousness of time. It claims to construct itself out of several > fragments from several epochs, axing away what is anachronistic in it > through the multiple vision of offered by history. It is also to choose its > future among many alternatives. > > > > vi)..the traditions that are invoked , used, continued or even revived are > put together in the manner of bricolage from a number of elements > ready-to-hand for the agents. The new habitus has a much greater degree of > control and choice not only in temporal depth, but in spatial range also. A > contemporary identity like the Hindu has the freedom to be at once more > ancient than the medieval or more Islamic than the Hindu . Antiquity and > foreignness can to a great extent be simulated. > > > > vii) Lifeworld and habitus are not the equivalent of tradition and > modernity. Both tradition and modernity are part of the colonial habitus…For > example, cricket for a third generation urban youngster is part of his > tradition and by extension, its language is part of his habitus.The > lifeworld is different because it is that segment of the past that is with > us and cannot be changed. If it is changed, it simply ceases to exist.One > example would be this. When jati becomes a matter of choice in India, some > segment of the lifeworld would have been just erased. > > > > viii)..Only God is dead. The sacred is alive and kicking politically.The > sacred is an investment in the unconscious. It resurfaces in the irony of > movements that negate god, making a god out of movements.In the forties the > sacred was invested in the nation and in the in the seventies revolution. > Those who contest its investment in the Brahmanical order cannot be secular > in the gross sense of those who worship the state.They would have to > generate an order of legitimating for themselves and for others. In this > sense, the struggle over the political fortunes of this subcontinent need > not be one between religion and secularism, but could be between different > sensibilities of the sacred. > > * * > > * * > > * * > > * * > > -- > Dileep R I thuravoor > > > > > -- Ranjit --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
