Ayodhya Judgement - dawn of sacred, secular and spiritual India

Ayodhya Judgement -

dawn of sacred, secular and spiritual India

A

Ayodhya Judgement -Reinforcement of Historical Process of Assimilation

Para1of Ayodhya Judgement

". These first appeals centre around a dispute between two religious communities both of whom claim ownership over a piece of land admeasuring 1500 square yards in the town of Ayodhya. The disputed property is of immense significance to Hindus and Muslims. The Hindu community claims it as the birthplace of Lord Ram, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The Muslim community claims it as the site of the historic Babri Masjid built by the first Mughal Emperor, Babur. The lands of our country have witnessed invasions and dissensions. Yet they have assimilated into the idea of India everyone who sought their providence, whether they came as merchants, travellers or as conquerors. The history and culture of this country have been home to quests for truth, through the material, the political, and the spiritual..."

Para77of Ayodhya Judgement

..."Above all, the practice of religion, Islam being no exception, varies according to the culture and social context. That indeed is the strength of our plural society.

Cultural assimilation is a significant factor which shapes the manner in which religion is practiced. In the plural diversity of religious beliefs as they are practiced in India, cultural assimilation cannot be construed as a feature destructive of religious doctrine. On the contrary, this process strengthens and reinforces the true character of a country which has been able to preserve its unity by accommodating, tolerating and respecting a diversity of religious faiths and ideas"...

Para88of Ayodhya Judgement

"The Places of Worship Act which was enacted in 1991 by Parliament protects and secures the fundamental values of the Constitution. The Preamble underlines the need to protect the liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship. It emphasises human dignity and fraternity. Tolerance, respect for and acceptance of the equality of all religious faiths is a fundamental precept of fraternity. This was specifically adverted to by the Union Minister of Home Affairs in the course of his address before the Rajya Sabha on 12 September 1991 by stating:

―I believe that India is known for its civilization and the greatest contribution of India to the world civilization is the kind of tolerance, understanding, the kind of assimilative spirit and the cosmopolitan outlook that it shows…

The Advaita philosophy…clearly says that there is no  difference between God and ourselves.... "

Resonance of Constituent Assembly Debates on historical process of assimilation.

 The Honourable Shri K. Santhanam  said in the Constituent Assembly on 8 Dec 1948 "...At the same time, we should not interfere with the historical process of assimilation. We ought not to think that for hundreds and thousands of years to come these linguistic minorities will perpetuate themselves as they are. The historical processes should be allowed free play. These minorities should be helped to become assimilated with the people of the locality. They should gradually absorb the language of the locality and become merged with the people there. Otherwise they will be aliens, as it were, in those provinces. Therefore, we should not have rigid provisions by which every child is automatically protected in what may be called his mother-tongue. On the other hand, this process should not be sudden, it should not be forced. Wherever there are large numbers of children, they should be given education—primary education—in their own mother-tongue. At the same time, they should be encouraged and assisted to go to the ordinary schools of the provinces and to imbibe the local tongue and get assimilated with the people. "

B

Ayodhya Judgement can be better appreciated by understanding  Secularism in India as per Constituent Assembly Debates

 It is imperative to know the truth behind this term "secularism" in India .Meaning and interpretation was debated in the Assembly  on several occasions. It is relevant to mention the debate dated 27 December 1948 of Constituent Assembly  for the amendment no 1146 standing in the name of  H .V. Kamath. Debates on the  Amendment no 1146 clearly, explicitly and precisely underlines in the meaning of secularism in the India.

Amendment No. 1146, as moved and adopted , was as follows:-

"That in the affirmation or oath in article 49, for the words 'I, A. B. do solemnly affirm (or swear)', the following be substituted:-

'In the name of God, I, A. B, do swear'

or alternatively,

'I, A. B. do solemnly affirm'."

... I would appeal to the House that we are heirs to an immortal and a spiritual heritage, a heritage Which is not physical, nor material nor temporal: a heritage which is of the spirit--a spirit that is, ever was, and ever shall be, a heritage that is eternal. Let us not squander this invaluable heritage. Let us not dissipate this heritage: let us remain true to our ancient heritage, our spiritual genius. Let us not lightly cast away the torch that has been handed down to us from time immemorial. Let us in the words of Swami Vivekananda aspire to conquer the world spiritually. Let us blaze forth a trail that will be the light of the world as long as the sun and moon and stars endure. I shall only end with the words which were ever on Mahatma Gandhi's lips:

"Ishwar Allah tere nam
Sabko sanmati de Bhagvan."

...Some vain kind of politicians in their attempt to imitate some fashionable slogans of the West have allowed themselves to believe that in a secular State God is taboo. A secular State means the state of Truth and God and eternity without prejudice to any particular religion. In India all our culture, and all our policy and civilization has been spun and woven round the one nucleus, God, and if God is banished I do not know what Swaraj will mean to India. Personally I along with so many others, seniors and juniors, and millions of people fought for thirty years for Swaraj. The Swaraj of my conception was Ram Raj. It was not the political freedom alone that mattered. If I may be permitted to say so, I care a tuppence for political freedom. India did not only mourn the loss of her political freedom but her real grief has been the loss of her freedom of spirit. Our spiritual freedom was first hit when Somnath was attacked.Since that time, all these hundreds of years, India has not been feeling free. Real Swaraj means "Ram Raj" How this idea of secularity has been misinterpreted, I will not be going out of the subject if I take the house into confidence and inform them that very recently at a conference of A. I. R. officials they came to the unanimous decision that the recitation of the Gita and the Ramayana, the Koran and the Bible should now be stopped. If secular State means that our children will not know about the Ramayana or listen to the Gita or the Koran or the Granth what is political freedom worth? This is stretching the meaning too far. If God is banished from this "Ram Rajya", India will become Ayodhya without Ram....

"...Even in the British Parliament, when they assemble, they do so only after prayers. They hold prayers. In the proceedings you will find that the Parliament met at such and such an hour and after 'prayer' began their proceedings. Theirs is not a communal State too. In Ireland, as also in many other places, God is not forgotten.... We worship God and our faith must be recorded. India believes in God and therefore the Indian State must remain a State of God. It must be a godly State and not a godless State. This is our meaning of secularity..."

C

Sri Ram- Maryada Purushottam- in original Constitution of India

Artistic work of Nandlal Bose in original Constitution of India has included the Scene from Ramayan which depicts Sri Ram , Sita and Laxman returning from the Lanka after victory over Ravan. That Sri Ram Chandra ji has been the Aryan ideal of land of veda has been beautifully described by Sri Aurobindo

"The distinction that India draws is not between altruism and egoism but between disinterestedness and desire. The altruist is profoundly conscious of himself and he is really ministering to himself even in his altruism; hence the hot & sickly odour of sentimentalism and the taint of the Pharisee which clings about European altruism. With the perfect Hindu the feeling of self has been merged in the sense of the  universe; he does his duty equally whether it happens to promote the interests of others or his own; if his action seems oftener altruistic than egoistic it is because our duty oftener coincides with the interests of others than with our own. Rama’s duty as a son calls him to sacrifice himself, to leave the empire of the world and become a beggar& a hermit; he does it cheerfully and unflinchingly: but when Sita is taken from him, it is his duty as a husband to rescue her from her ravisher and as a Kshatriya to put Ravana to death if he persists in wrongdoing. This duty also he pursues with the same unflinching energy as the first. He does not shrink from the path of the right because it coincides with the path of self-interest".01CWSA 236

D

Conclusion

That  French revolution brought ideals of  Liberty, Equality and Fraternity for human race. Sri Aurobindo writes that Liberty and Equality has been achieved to some extent in various forms but Ideal of Fraternity has not seen the light of the  day. Microcosmic harmony could be seen in the Auroville . After the formation of United Nations , our planet -Earth has witnessed , inter alias, one place aspiring for  Human Unity i.e. Auroville in Asia which has been acknowledged by UNESCO by its resolutions in years-1966,1968,1970 and 1983.. This judgment is the macrocosm of human unity and fraternity. As a matter of fact this judgment explicitly underlines that India has not only  welcomed but nurtured and preserved all who have come to India and Indianised  themselves irrespective of the merchants, traders , invaders and missionaries.

As a matter of fact one can feel  some shades of Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa while reading the judgement.

Year 2019 is also 550  birth centenary   of Guru Nanak Dev ji .Pronouncement of   Ayodhya judgement on the auspicious day of inauguration of Kartarpur Corridor has spiritual significance. Indeed demolition of Berlin wall three decades ago on the same day underlines the significance of the judgement  for India.

 

That this judgment is based on the recognition of faith only is the disinformation. Both the parties were given due time and procedure to establish their claims. Whoever has been able to establish the case must get benefit of the evidence. . Faith of the parties has been accepted to the extent parties have been able to establish with the support of material evidence.

To conclude ,this judgment is as important as the working of the Constituent Assembly  which resulted in the adoption of Constitution of India on 26 November 1949. Unity and integrity of India  has been the motivating force in the writing of the judgment where both parties to the suit has been given space to worship. Drawing the inferences for other temples and mosques would be an act of mischief  .As a matter of fact,it is high time for the people of India to follow  and reaffirm the ideals of Sri Ram- Maryada Purushottam in all walks of life .