The rationalist rage against Lord Rama is raging at full clip, unmindful of the outrage being caused to millions. Since Sunday last, not a day has ended without an innuendo from the TN CM: Rama did not exist …Which engineering college did Rama attend? … burning buses is the culture of Ram bakhts …Rama, a big lie like the Himalayas and the Ganges ….And at the time of going to press, Karunanidhi has last declared that ‘Rama was a drunkard’. But if Rama is fiction is it not irrational to dissect his character? Anyway, let’s remain tuned to K for more such enlightenment on the Lord Himself.
Incidentally, Rama built that well-aligned, but much maligned bridge at Sethu with the aid of Nalan, who was an engineer of sorts by the standards prevailing in those days, though we do not know which engineering college N himself was an alumni of. And again, we hear that there is no historical proof of Kannagi, except the statue that stands on the Marina, erected, rather, re-erected recently by K, ie, sculpted by someone and unveiled by K. For just as Rama was no engineer, K too is no sculptor. (the Ks here refer to Karunanidhi, not Kannagi). And this Kannagi of Illango’s imagination goes to heaven on Lord Indira’s chariot after burning down Madurai, in the climax of Silappadhigaram. We have never heard the rational K object to this. And lest we forget, Silappadhigaram, Manimegalai themselves have references to Rama that K could not have missed. Wonder why this rationing of rationalism!
But such pseudo-rationalism is the hallmark of the movement itself and falsehood has been its vehicle. The leaders of the Dravidian movement built successful political careers by peddling the Aryan-Dravidian divide in raucous rhetoric to a population already simmering in discontent. There is much material now to show that the Aryan Invasion theory itself was a colonial concoction and that both Aryans and Dravidians belonged to the same human stock, the divide being only geographical and linguistic. When the rationalist movement first talked of Dravidanadu as a separate geographic entity, all the four southern States figured in it. The Justice Party, DMK’s ancestor, had Telugus and Malayalees too. But the people of the three other States quickly saw through the dubious game and rejected these rationalists who promptly downgraded their movement to a linguistic one, with Tamil suddenly getting foisted as the USP. Overnight Malayalees, Telugus and Kannadigas became persona non grata to them. But the Dravidian label was retained unmindful of the truncated core. This monstrous misrepresentation continues to this day.
And K has cleverly appropriated the mantle of the movement’s mastermind, representing it in all its unadulterated and ugly rabidness, thanks to his political longevity, a perversely fertile mind and an acerbic, acidic tongue albeit forked. But what are the credentials of this self-appointed guardian of all that is Dravidian or for that matter, Tamil, and what is his understanding of the land he leads? In K’s rational scheme of things, Lord Rama is Aryan and a predator, an alien who is more foreign than even Sonia Gandhi. So be it. But are Aryan Rama and his co-Aryans the sole harbingers of all the rituals, ‘superstitions’, belief systems, modes of worship etc of the Dravidians? Surely, the Kalaingar by virtue of being a Tamil ‘scholar’, must have read the profuse Tamil literature besides being quite familiar with the history of this land, which is supposed to predate even stone and sand. Now, was this part of the world a rationalist’s haven, bereft of God and faith before the Aryans ‘communalised’ it? Opposite!
South India, Dravida, has from time immemorial, been a bastion of Hindu culture with TN ranking as the foremost land of spirituality. While the North had elements of political and even militant Hinduism owing to frequent Islamic invasions, here Hinduism was wholly bhakti-oriented and therefore more pristine. There are more temples and festivals in this State than the whole of India put together. Every village has its deities and rituals.All the timeless literature of the Tamil land are suffused with religiosity. The Agananooru, Purananooru and several ancient Tamil works even have copious references to Rama as well as Sethubandhanam. K’s own darling poet Thiruvalluvar starts with an invocation to God, ‘who is the sole origin of all life just as ‘Aa’ is the first letter of the Tamil alphabet’. The voluminous treatises of alwars, nayanmars and the numerous poets of the Sangam age overflow with devotion.
Lord Muruga is worshipped as the Tamil mascot. The kings of this land excelled one another in building temples and sustaining various aspects of faith. Every facet of a Tamil’s life be it art, architecture, music, dance, sculpture, philosophy and even science had faith as the touchstone. In short, religion and God, not ‘rationalism’, has been the foundation of TN as a civilizational entity and the Tamil language itself, in all its forms and dialects, is a continuous and consummate expression of bhakti. Minus piety, there is no Tamil identity. Unless savants ranging from Avvaiyyar to Kambar to Thirumoolar to Arunagirinathar to Vallalar to Bharathi are declared non-Tamils. How odd that the rational K has completely misunderstood theTamil culture that he boasts of upholding! Instead, how tragic that he should be the thaanai thalaivan of the very ’dravidian’ people whose beliefs he insults and negates daily!
And K and his political tribe have done worse. By purveying a victim psychosis they have not just caused a fatal alienation in the minds of the people here but have also completely obliterated the huge contributionsof the South and TN to the larger national cultural mainstream. If anything, the North-South cultural traffic has been two way. But instead of revelling in legitimate pride, the populace here has been led to wallow in endless humiliation as a subdued race, an idea drilled into their psyches through spurious histories and self-serving ideologies. And these pride-busters pass off as champions of self-respect!
For the devout, religion and god are matters of faith, while for a true rationalist, they must be subjects of inquiry and understanding. But given the culture and convictions of our rationalists whose dark designs and darker deeds lie hidden behind dark glasses, one should be truly superstitious to expect restraint, respect and reasoned debate. Even if the rational being happens to be a CM of a State, whose official symbol is a Temple, and under oath to be fair to all. In fact, he would deem it rational to bite the hands that vote.
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