Hatred, a Continuing Legacy to Guard Against

 

Do you remember Father George Ponnaiah? The Christian priest who infamously insulted Bharat Mata in a meeting at Aranmunai in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu on 18th July, 2021, claiming that she is dirty and can cause scabies. He continued with his rant to claim that "WE wear shoes because the filth of Bharat Mata should not contaminate US…. This Bhumidevi is dangerous; you could catch scabies from it." For sure, we all must have forgotten what Fr Ponnaiah concluded in his hate speech.

 

 

One, what did Fr Ponnaiah mean by that inclusive 'WE'? The Christian congregation? Though Ponnaiah conditionally 'apologised' for his insults to Motherland by claiming that he was misquoted, did the church establishment or anyone from the Christian audience condemn this and dissociate themselves from this vulgar tirade? The National Catholic Register reports that a Catholic priest in India will face trial for allegations of hate speech and goes on to highlight the denial and apology offered by Fr Ponnaiah, in spite of the verdict of the Hon'ble Court to the contrary, and concludes that 'persecution against Christians is on the rise'!

 

Second, how did this Fr Ponnaiah muster the courage to make such a blatantly abusive statement in public in Bharat? Is it because Kanyakumari district now has a Christian majority and the political clout that the Church wields in Tamil Nadu is enormous? From where did he derive his conviction to call Bhumidevi dangerous and dirty? Is it a continuity of an imperial and religious supremacist ideology to look down at Bharat Mata and berate whatever she holds high?

 

 

To get answers to the above questions, one has to read about a colonial-time manuscript on 'Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies' by a French Jesuit missionary, Abbe Dubois, who spent 30 years, from 1792 to 1823 CE, in India, trying to convert Hindus. This manuscript was bought by the East India Company in 1807 and used as a tool kit for cultural briefing of its India-bound officers. The reprint of 1897 CE has a preface by the German scholar Max Müller, who, we all know, 'championed' Indic study through his 'scholarly' works on Sanskrit and the Vedic scriptures.

 

No, this is not about Max Muller and his cunning ways of twisting and manipulating our Hindu legacy, social systems and values to suit colonial ends. It is about the certificate that Max Muller conferred on Jesuit missionary and author Abbe Dubois as 'a man remarkably free from theological prejudices (whose) work will always retain its value'. This Abbe Dubois claims that he learnt a few native languages and took care to dress and live as Indians do, 'to avoid any display of repugnance to the majority of their peculiar prejudices'.

 

Though Abbe Dubois might have concealed his prejudice in his countenance, he could not hide his revulsion to the Hindu customs, ceremonies and practices in his book. Some of the pearls and gems of 'wisdom' strewn across its pages will strike at the roots of the claim of Max Muller that the book is 'free from theological prejudices' and question not only Abbe's but even Max Muller's intentions. Some examples of the 'insights' that Abbe Dubois gained and disseminated are:

 

 

 

Now we know that the wretched hate that the present generation of evangelical priests like Fr Ponnaiah hold for Bharat, its Dharma, religions, culture, languages and values is not an exception but deeply rooted and ingrained in their colonial and missionary past. It is a continuity from the days of Roberto De Nobili, Abbe Dubois and Max Müller to this present, when the venom pours out of priests like Fr Ponnaiah on anything that represents Hinduism. This venom of hate for the Motherland and anything connected to it is imparted in many ways, formally and informally, in the minds of the gullible population, in particular amongst Christians, as Fr Ponnaiah did on the church premises, what with the enormous resources at the disposal of the evangelical machinery.

 

 

It will be surprising to know that this book of blatant lies penned by Abbe Dubois and acclaimed by Max Muller is still in circulation even after two hundred years of its first publication, re-printed in 1992. Thus, this book continues to propagate the racist white supremacist ideology mixed with cultural chauvinism, religious bigotry and fanaticism and dished out as 'truth' because it is written by one of the oldest missionaries who supposedly 'brought' culture, education and health to Bharat and appreciated by other white men like Max Muller, all from the West!