interview
Sagarika Ghose | Battle of Ideologies
2021
Summary
Sagarika Ghose reads from Bruce Lawrence and David Gilmartin's book Beyond Turk and Hindu to argue that, before British colonial census-takers hardened religious categories, India contained a transactional, locally integrated world of Islamicate and Indic traditions. In this world, she notes, the categories of Hindu and Muslim were largely subsumed within more intermingled and localised structures of devotion drawn from many denominations.
Building on the reading, Ghose points to a long Indian tradition of shared shrines and of saints and prophets worshipped across communities. She cites Sai Baba of Shirdi, revered by both Hindus and Muslims and, by some accounts, a Muslim by birth, as a recent example of such straddling of both worlds. She frames these as liberal expressions of coexistence that can be recovered by studying India's religious traditions.
Key points
- Ghose reads from Bruce Lawrence and David Gilmartin's book Beyond Turk and Hindu.
- Before British colonial census-takers, identities were not irrevocably cast as Muslim and Hindu.
- Pre-colonial India held a transactional, patchily integrated world of Islamicate and Indic traditions.
- Categories of Hindu and Muslim were largely subsumed in intermingled, localised structures of devotion.
- India has a long tradition of coexisting shrines followed across religious communities.
- Some saints and prophets straddled both the Hindu and Islamic worlds.
- Sai Baba of Shirdi, worshipped by both Hindus and Muslims, is cited as a recent example of such coexistence.
- These shared traditions represent liberal expressions of coexistence found within India's religious history.
Transcript
Sagarika Ghose | Battle of Ideologies
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHr4LZJSy5w Duration: 122.1s
Speaker 1 (00:00): I’ll read out a little bit from Bruce Lawrence and David Gilmartin because I think this is a very interesting book and I think it’s important that you read this. It’s called Beyond Turk and Hindu.
Speaker 2 (00:14): and they demonstrate that before the coming of the British colonial census takers, before identities were irrevocably cast as Muslim and Hindu, there was a transactional, local, patchily integrated world of Islamisate and Indic. This may not have been a secular idyll, but it was an interlinked space of memory, artifact and written text. This world created identities in which the categories of Hindu and Muslim were largely subsumed in more intermingled and localized structures of devotion, which combined traditions from all denominations.
Speaker 1 (01:00): So there was a tradition in India where these coexisting shrines had a long tradition and were deeply followed. I’m sure in your own homes you would know that there are certain saints and certain prophets who your family may worship or may be part of your neighborhood or may be part of your community who straddled both worlds. who straddled both the Hindu and the Islamic world. The most recent example of such a saint, of course, is the Sai Baba of Shirdi, who is worshipped equally by Hindus and Muslims, and according to some traditions, Sai Baba of Shirdi was, in fact, also a Muslim by birth. So, this is, again, another aspect of coexistence
Speaker 2 (01:54): and liberal expressions of coexistence that we can find if we study India’s religious traditions.
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