Why spare Tulsi?

In the year 1992, during my stay in Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh), I had written a poem, ‘Tab Tumhari Nishtha Kya Hoti?’ I sent it to ‘Navbharat Times’. Vishnu Khare was the editor there in those days. He published it in the Sunday issue of ‘Navbharat Times’ dated March 31, 1992. After reading it, Girishchandra Srivastava and Shivmurti ji, who were living in Sultanpur those days, came to meet me.

By Kanwal Bharti

That poem became so popular among Dalit intellectuals that hundreds of copies of it were distributed through photostats. In today’s era, no newspaper can print that poem. I shared this experience because today Dalit intellectuals are being called illiterate on Ramcharitmanas. The last lines of that long poem published in ‘Navbharat Times’ are on the psyche of Tulsidas. These lines are as follows –

Tulsidas writes in Manas

Worship Sudra Seal Gun Heena.

Vipra Na Gun Gun Gyan Praveena.

Then, what would be your allegiance?

The main question today is of this loyalty, which is being ignored by Tulsi-devotees. If ‘Ramcharitmanas’ had been accepted only as a poetic work, and had not been made a religious book by the Brahmins, then there would have been no controversy. Not only Tulsidas wrote the biography of Ram, many other poets have also written it; Many poets like Valmiki, Bhavabhuti, Kalidas, Rasik Govind, Keshav Das, Maithilisharan Gupta etc. have written the story of Ram. Why were they not placed in the category of scriptures? In the history of Hindi literature, almost ninety percent of the literature till the emergence of the modern period is full of Brahminism and Brahmin-glorification. But objections are being raised on the Brahminism of Ramcharitmanas only because Brahmins have made it a religious book.

It is an irony that the loyalty of Brahmins is satisfied only in Brahminism and not in democratic discourse. If Tulsidas had included ‘Vipra’ in ‘Je Varnadham Teli Kumhara, Swapach Kirat Kol Kalwara’ and considered Brahmins as Varnadhama, and instead of ‘Dhol Gawar Shudra Pashu Nari’, ‘Vipra Gawar Shudra Pashu Nari, Sakal Tadna Ke By writing ‘Adhikari’, a Brahmin would also have been considered worthy of chastisement, and instead of ‘Pujiye Vipra Seal Gun Heena’, instead of ‘Pujiye Shudra Seal Gun Heena’, Shudra would have been considered worshipable, then what would have been the loyalty of Brahmins? Would he have been a devotee of Tulsidas even then? Why don’t Brahmins think like this with their straight mind? But they think with the wrong mind.

An article of this opposite mind has been published in ‘Amar Ujala’ of February 4, 2023 by Brahmin journalist Hemant Sharma – ‘Spare Tulsi’. Now if someone asks them to spare Tulsi, then whom should they catch? Catch Hemant Sharma? If Tulsidas insulted the Shudras by calling them adham, then only Tulsi will be caught. Why spare Tulsi? Did Tulsi spare the Shudras? Now, since ‘Amar Ujala’ is a Brahminist newspaper, Brahmin writers like Hemant Sharma can be published in it, but no Dalit writer’s article written against Tulsi will be published in it. If Hemant Sharma was a Brahmin of straight intellect, he would have thought about loyalty. Loyalty means putting yourself in the place of Shudras and thinking, then what would have been their loyalty?

In my view the whole article of Hemant Sharma is full of Brahmin-conceit. Considering himself to be a scholar and well-read, he writes, “This time the attack on Tulsi has been spoken by ‘miscreants’.” In the arrogance of being a Brahmin, he called all the Dalit intellectuals who underlined Tulsi’s Shudra-hatred as ‘miscreants’. Actually Kupad is synonymous with Shudra. Following the way Tulsi described Shudra as illiterate and base, Hemant Sharma gave a new word ‘Kupadh’ to such Shudras. And, under threat of power, no police station would dare to file an FIR against this scoundrel, while it is a very derogatory and hurtful word for Shudras.

Hemant Sharma raises those things in his article, which have no meaning at all. For example, Tulsi was abandoned by her parents because she was born in a bad Nakshatra. Which Dalit critic of Tulsi has objected to this? Will Hemant Sharma bother to tell? Now that this absurd question has been raised by Hemant’s Brahmin intellect, let me tell you that the parents who abandoned Tulsi were also extremely foolish, ill-mannered and Brahminist, that’s why they believed in omens and omens. They might not even believe in God, just like today’s Brahmins don’t, for them only rituals are important. If they had believed in the authority of God, they would not have believed in omens and bad omens, because neither birth happens by looking at the stars, nor death happens by looking at the stars. Only ritualistic illiterate fools believe in constellations. Now let’s take the second question, who brought up the child who was abandoned by the parents? How did he get educated? How did you become a poet? The answer is only one that Tulsidas was a Brahmin, and there was never any hindrance in the development of a Brahmin at any time. If Tulsi had been replaced by a Dalit, and his parents had not abandoned him, he would have lived and died as a slave;

Hemant has further written that Tulsi stumbled door to door, and went to the shelter of Hanuman and started writing ‘Ramcharitmanas’ with his blessings. Firstly, we have nothing to do with this outrageous biography of Tulsi. Our protest is only against the insult of Shudras in ‘Ramcharitmanas’. Secondly, the question is not that in whose shelter did Tulsi go and with whose blessings did he start writing ‘Ramcharitmanas’, rather the question is that how did poor Tulsi get his education? How could he write anything without being educated? Hemant has written that in the era of Tulsi, neither the Mandal Commission nor the women’s discussion of Simone the Bua had come. This means that then from where did Tulsi understand that Shudras and women should be respected. How Brahmins protect their heroes can be understood from this example. Admittedly, the Mandal commission and women’s discussion did not come, due to which Tulsi became anti-women-Shudra, but where did this feeling that Brahmin is the best and supreme came from in him?

The answer is that Tulsi got this feeling from Manusmriti, which came in his time. From the same Manusmriti, he took the idea that Brahmins are supreme, women and Shudras are inferior. And even if Mandal commission and Simone de Bua’s feminism had come, Tulsi would not have been a supporter of women-Shudra, because when Mandal commission came, only Brahmins, who are devotees of Tulsi today, supported Mandal. Had opposed it, and had shouted that he would die by self-immolation, but would not allow the backward castes to read and write.

Hemant ji remembered something! If Tulsidas were alive today, he would have been as much anti-Dalit, as much anti-Mandal and as much anti-Muslim as the Hindus of RSS and BJP today, and probably you too.

Hemant has given the example of Dr. Lohia, who praised Tulsi and Ram. But Hemant does not know that Lohia could not make his place among the Dalits because of his Hindu mask. Because of this mask, Dr. Ambedkar never liked Lohia, and because of this mask, Ramswaroop Verma kicked out Lohia’s party. Be it Socialist Lohia or Communist Ram Vilas Sharma, they were wearing masks of socialism and communism on their faces, but from inside they were Brahminists. Similarly, even today all the Brahmins are wearing the masks of socialism. But their real faces are immediately exposed on the issue of opposition to Brahminism. Hemant has written that “Tulsi also condemned the misguided Brahmins – ‘Vipra Nirchar Lolup Kami, Nirachar Sath Brishali Swami. Even after this, how can Tulsi be called a Brahminist?’”

Hemant ji Manu has also condemned Brahmins. But do you know which Brahmins? In Manusmriti those Brahmins have been condemned, who used to teach Shudras. Tulsi was also a critic of such Brahmins. Even after this, we consider Tulsi as a Brahminist, because it was Tulsi who asked to worship even a foolish Brahmin, and whose Rama was not born for the welfare of human beings, but only for the welfare of Brahmins.

The specialty of Brahmins is that they are skilled in diverting the issue and turning it in another direction. Hemant Sharma has also diverted the issue in his article and has not answered even a single question of Dalit intellectuals on Tulsi. The matter is only in ‘Ramcharitmanas’ verses related to insult of Shudras, which is limited to Tulsi’s opposition only, but Brahmins linked it to Ram’s insult and diverted the issue by raising the question of Hindu sentiments. The moment these Brahmins and Dwijs raise the question of Hindu sentiments, they consider Shudras as non-Hindu. If the Shudra is not a Hindu, then he must declare it. And if the Shudras are Hindus, why are their sentiments not included in the Hindu sentiment? Do the feelings of Shudras as a Hindu have no value?

Courtesy : Dalit Dastak

Note: This news piece was originally published in dalitdastak.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights