The Hindu Agony (Part 2) : Separation, Abandonment, and Rejection

To understand and empathize with someone, you must walk a mile in their shoes. I did. Painfully. And I share my insights with you now.

I have often wondered why the wounds appear to be deeper with hindus, why do they have more anger towards muslims?

One can look at it as religious hatred or racial or caste based discrimination, or one can look at it in a larger cultural context.

Hinduism does have rituals, but it seemed to be less of a religion in the beginning and more of a particular expression of culture. In fact, it is an indigenous "religion", it has roots that go back 1000's of years, in fact, it is the description and history of a people. christianity and islam are foreign to this land and culture.

Just as the native americans have their own beliefs and "religions" which are tied to the geography they inhabit, hinduism is also tied to the land and nature. Being vegetarian, protecting cows, etc, have very strong ties to a particular belief about the environment that they inhabit.

So, imagine if you will, in this family or tribe, invaders come and occupy parts, and there are conversions from the hindu way of life to this new way of life. Some conversions are by choice (an unfortunate hindu caste system is the catalyst for that), and some are by sword.

Now, as a muslim, you can begin to understand the deep wounds inflicted on the hindu psyche.

1. Abandonment issues
2. Rejection
3. Separation anxiety

The muslim convert, as dostmittar pointed out, seems to adopt a foreign culture, clothing, language, and eating habits. This is a total rejection of the previous way of life. If we look at identify metamorphosis, it makes total sense that one has to discard the old identity, or portions of it, to take up the new identity.

However, this rejection is indeed a slap to a previous tribe member from the now ex-tribe member.

The muslims may refer to cases of muslim to christian conversions to get an idea of how the hindus feel.

Add to this volatile mix the fact that the convert sided with the occupying forces. This, to the hindu, was a betrayal, that was hard to bear.

The hurt that a hindu felt, was then compounded. Not only did the convert reject the culture, the way of life, and the history of his people, he then went on to find another "house" to live in. The after effects of the separation anxiety and abandonment that the hindu felt, are still felt on various levels of dialogue.

So if a pakistani muslim contemplates this scenario, he can understand where the hindu hurt is coming from.

Note: I am not passing judgment on if the hindu is right or wrong in this, just stating that I can understand where the hurt comes from.

Feel free to discuss...
(Part 3 is all about KaalChakra)