You may skip the following 3 paragraphs. They are just by the way , sharing with you, some historical funda I gathered recently on the explosive stuff. The rest of it is about the fun versions, like food fundamentalism for instance.
‘Osama was killed by the U.S.’, screamed newspaper headlines on a May morning ( 3rd , to be precise.) Agreed . But the Osama brand of fundamentalism which has now become somewhat synonymous with terrorism is and will be alive and kicking for God knows how long. I cant begin my next sentence with a ‘Believe it or not’. You have no choice but to believe it as it is very much a part of modern American history. Many of us Indians are in the dark about fundamentalism’s American connection, its American origins.
Religious fundamentalism was a late 19th , early 20th century Christian movement in the U.S., a theological battle against the modern scientific explanations of the origin of man as given by Charles Darwin. The term,‘fundamentalism’ was coined by its votaries to describe strict adherence to the Five Fundamentals of the Christian faith ,namely,
1. The Inspiration of the Bible by the Holy spirit and thanks to it the inerrancy of the Scripture. 2. The Virgin Birth of Christ 3. The belief that Christ’s death was the atonement for sin 4. The Bodily Resurrection of Christ & 5. The historical reality of Christ’s miracles.
Along similar lines , there are fundamentals which the very orthodox and right wing radicals of all other religions swear by. Hence, Islamic, Hindu, Jewish , Sikh , even Buddhist fundamentalisms. Embattled forms of spirituality as they are described, they can be both defensive and offensive. The extreme offensiveness has resulted in the formation of terror outfits that have become a nightmare not only for governments but also for you and me .
Far less offensive and much more interesting to reflect upon and categorise are the other orthodoxies which govern our lives. Foremost among them I would place food fundamentalism.. The broad division is into Veggies and Non veggies. The Veggies can be further classified into 3 fundamentalisms- Religion dictated, Caste dictated and Health oriented. The Jains obviously lead the Pack in the religious category. ‘Ahimsa paramo dharma’ is their credo. They wont shed the blood even of a white ant or a mosquito. Extreme herbivores , they avoid onions. No ban on milk though. Eggs are a no- no. Gujju shopkeepers don’t stock eggs. I wonder whether they know that market eggs generally are unfertilized eggs and therefore eating them doesn’t constitute himsa ( violence or killing ) of any prospective life.
Among Hindus , caste generally decides whether flesh , fish and fowl are eatable or not. The South Brahmins, in general, are vegetarian fundamentalists, the no-eggs, no-onion types. Filter coffee is integral to the Tambrahm life style and milk is integral to FC. So they can’t object to milk. But milk is an animal product . Drawing milk is like drawing blood ! This sub-class of veg. fundamentalism is an offshoot of animal rights activism, ahimsa’s close cousin. Long before Maneka Gandhi was born, saw a cow or a goat, Mahatma Gandhi had boycotted cow’s milk. Only extreme illness persuaded him to agree to take goat’s milk.
Obsession with health cuts across religion and caste barriers. Are humans meant by nature to be herbivores or carnivores ? The question has not been convincingly answered either way. But there is the general acceptance of the idea that somehow plant food is lighter , easier on the digestive system etc. So you have vegetarians by choice or by medical compulsion in all castes and communities.
Veg fundamentalists look down upon the Non Veggies , sniff & show disapproval of kitchens , dining rooms , homes, restaurants where non veg items are cooked , served , eaten…Some housing societies in Mumbai do not allow Non –Veg eaters to become members. Non Veg affianadoes use equally vehement retaliatory tactics. But they are mainly confined to words and attitudes. They pour utter scorn on their antagonists. Veggies are just vegetables in their eyes, incapable of human passion, action and high heroics. Just breathing corpses in other words ! Thus the bloodless war goes on between the carnivores and omnivores on the one side and the herbivores on the other.
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