Sometimes the pronouncements of those who subscribe to the right-wing agenda are so bizarre as to be utterly laughable. Earlier, Rajasthan Education Minister Vasudev Devnani had pronounced that the “cow is the only animal that exhales oxygen”. Justice Mahesh Chandra Sharma (coincidently also from Rajasthan) said that the “peacock is a Bramhachari and it does not have sex with a peahen. The peahen gets pregnant drinking the tears of the peacock”. The member of an organisation affiliated with the RSS also said that cow dung can absorb radiation – as ‘proof’ he produced his phone, the back of which was encrusted with dried dung.
Proponents of the view that India had this glorious, hugely advanced past feel that there must be some factual basis for the stories quoted by ancient epics. Ancient mythology the world over is replete with such stories: in Greek mythology, Athena sprang from Zeus’s head fully armed, Hera kept restoring her virginity, Apollo turned into a Dolphin and steered a ship to safety. Ancient Egyptian myth also depicts a number of part human, part animal personages, many with some extremely strange abilities. This does not mean that we equate myth with actual occurrences.
Those wishing to rewrite history feel that they are entitled to do so based on the popular sentiment of the majority. They feel that history can somehow be altered to uphold some erroneous, antiquated notions of caste and valour. Instead of harking back to a probably (or probably nonexistent) glorious past, how about concentrating on creating a glorious, inclusive, realistic, progressive future?
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