His commitment to the cause

His commitment to the cause

The Case for Reason — Understanding the Anti-Superstition Movement, a translation of original Marathi book Timiratun Tejakade, by the late rationalist leader Dr Narendra Dabholkar is certainly an important document, for those who want to know more about the voluminous work of Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, commonly referred to as AniS. It is also a must read, for those who accused Dr Dabholkar of targeting only one religion to eradicate superstition or for excluding a particular caste, while waging a war against superstition. As for those, who call themselves rationals but tend to flip flop due to absence of solid foundation required to adhere to the rationalist outlook, it is again an important read. 

Dr Dabholkar, who was murdered in broad daylight on August 20, 2013 at Vitthal Ramji Shinde bridge in Pune, always encouraged people to challenge the age old prescription of social and religious conduct handed down by earlier generations to the next generation. In this regard, this book is an important chronicle to help us understand his thoughts. His death may have erased his physical existence but his thoughts will continue to guide us to ask relevant questions and challenge the status quo. The original book has been translated into English by Suman Oak, former professor of SNDT Women’s University. 

The Case for Reason... is divided into two parts. The first one deals with understanding the anti-superstition movement and maps its entire theoretical framework. It discusses the concept of god and the role of religion and provides important insights into today’s world when  practice of astrology has seeped into the public discourse through the rampant use of vastushastra. The chapter ‘Vastushastra: Science or Faith’ highlights the fact how developers, and even architects are now captivated by it. The popular practices like Nadi astrology, predictions by Nostradamus are discussed in great detail in the first part. The chapter on hypnosis discusses its history and how it is being used by modern day ‘buvas’ or godmen to exploit helpless individuals, who turn to them to alleviate their problems. Similarly, another chapter ‘Bhanamati’ or black magic shows how it influences the rural areas and how such instances were successfully exposed by AniS. 

The second part exposes the fight against superstitious beliefs. For instance at Qamar Ali Darvesh shrine in Khed Shivapur, two stones were present. One weighed 90 kg and another weighed 60 kg. It was said that to lift the heavier stone, it would require 11 men to use only one finger each and to lift the lighter one it would require nine people to use one finger each. This came with a rider — while lifting these stones, people should cry out, ‘Qamar Ali Darvesh Ki Jai’ and with that the weight of the stone would become lighter. After reading this chapter, the readers will know how simple laws of force were responsible for this ‘miracle’ to take place.  

Amongst the list of battles against the superstitions is one of ‘Lord Ganesh Drinks Milk.’ This ‘news’ had created ripples in the ’90s. Readers will find it interesting to know how this phenomenon was exposed by AniS. The other chapters including ‘The Reincarnation of Maharani of Jhansi’, ‘The Award that I (Dabholkar) chose not to accept’, help readers deepen their understanding about the working of AniS and the commitment of several volunteers associated with this movement and the cause. When these cases were being exposed by ANiS, they were highlighted in the local as well as national media. However, the scientific reasoning behind these miracles was lost with the turn of the time.  

For readers having little or no interest in the history of scientific approach, finishing first few pages wherein Western approach to science is being discussed can be quite a task, but it will certainly give one the required understanding regarding the foundation of this movement. To sum up, we should appreciate Professor Oak for her efforts in aligning these narratives to the non-Marathi speaking readers because their lack of knowledge about superstitions deeply entrenched in Maharashtrian society would have forced them to lose the context. 

Finally, in RTI activist Aruna Roy’s words, this book indeed is a narrative of the courage of a person willing to die for it. This is indeed a fitting answer to the bullets that were fired to silence Dr Dabholkar.

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