Ram Navami: How Yoga's Politicization Shapes Festivities in South Asia

Apr 19

It's been an auspicious week in South Asia and the diaspora and I've been exchanging salutations with many friends and family. Here's a brief list of events:

April 9 - Attuvela Mahotsavam which is a water carnival in Kerala

April 11 - Eid Al-Fitr marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan and end of fasting period

April 13 - Baisakhi marks the onset of the Solar year for the Sikh Punjabi community

April 14 - Tamil New Year commonly known as the Puthandu

April 15 - Poila Baisakh marks the first day of the Bengali calendar celebrated as the Bengali New Year

Today, April 17 - Ram Navami will be celebrated and marks the birth of Lord Rama

It's nourishing to be in a festive season and feel the aura of celebration at a time when the weight of war and multiple genocides are ever present. I especially love receiving the pictures of my friend's children out on the town or at temple celebrating with a mango lassi and a giant grin. However, there are deeper layers to the celebrations.

Disclaimer: I'm not a political analyst, just a person sharing thoughts. To read further, click included links and do your own digging.

In South Asia, what many may consider an auspicious and holy occasion, Ram Navami or the birth of Lord Rama, has become an annual event used to antagonize and incite unrest in many areas of the region.

Terms/Groups

Here are a few Terms/Groups involved (from Wikipedia): Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is a Hindu nationalist organisation, forbear and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family"), which has developed a presence in all facets of Indian society and includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling political party under Narendra Modi, the current 14th prime minister of India.

The Sangh Parivar has been described with monikers spanning the spectrum from "patriotic Hindus" and "Hindu nationalist". Some have also labeled them "Hindu chauvinist". While its constituent organisations present themselves as embedded in the traditional ethos of Hinduism, their ideological opponents have characterized them as the representatives of authoritarian, xenophobic and majoritarian religious nationalism in India.

"The festival of Ram Navami has become an opportunity for the Hindu right-wing to intimidate and assert their dominance over the Muslim community using the excuse of religiosity, which in totality aids their project of nation-building."

From The Diplomat | How India’s Ram Navami Processions Are Used to Enflame Religious Polarization by Rashad Khan (article)

Riot Background

The commemoration of Ram's birth is typically accompanied by a very long-standing tradition of street parades and jubilant festival, even chariot processions. However, with the formation of the RSS group and the early coalescing of the BJP party, the Ram Navami festivity planning in Jamshedpur became a powder keg of political conflict.

In their attempt to "Hinduise" the adivasis and antagonize the Muslim community, the RSS planned to start the Ramnavmi procession from Dimnabasti, an Adivasi neighborhood, and through the adjacent Sabirnagar, a Muslim majority neighborhood.

For the year leading up to the festival the RSS shared the message throughout India that they were not able to practice their religion freely, creating new and inflaming existing tensions. When the festival day came, a major riot ensued and 108 people were reported murdered. The government-appointed commission of enquiry, the Jitendra Narain Commission, found the RSS and the RSS-affiliated local legislator, responsible for having created a climate conducive to the riot.

Read more in the Communal Riots and Jamshedpur paper by Kashif-Ul-Huda

Ongoing Issues

There have been at least 10 instances of riots and killings on Ram Navami since 1979. Even now, 45 years since the first reported riots occurred in Jamshedpur the reigning Hindutva leadership in India, led by Prime Minister Modi oversaw back-to-back conflict and violence in 2022 and 2023.

Just today, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in a public address that "riot is Modi govt's only guarantee", read more on mint.com.

For more up-to-the-minute news throughout the region, read live updates from the celebrations on India Today.

Most reported processions have taken place amid heavy security, with one University in Bengal having revoked a procession permit which was protested by Left-backed students' organizations. The procession was scheduled to take place during the lead up to the lower house of parliament voting period April 19-June 3 or the Lok Shoba polls, stating the "safeguarding the right of every individual for peaceful and undisturbed home life".

"This election is seen as one of the most consequential in India’s history and will test the limits of Modi’s political dominance" from a recent AP News article.

Read more on the Lok Shoba organization and voting details from Explained: Why Voting Lasts 6 Weeks In Lok Sabha Elections on ndtv.com here.

Yoga

Yoga has been weaponized in South Asia by Hindutva political leaders.

As you learn more about yoga and its 8-limbed practice, understanding the current political climate between religious and ethnic groups where yoga originated is also part of the package of learning the sacred practice of yoga. Yoga is a system of deep healing and spiritual practice however, it has also become oppressive when it's wielded as a tool to suppress non-dominant voices and flatten critique of political power grabs.

As Saira Rao famously shared in her and Regina Jackson's Deconstructing Karen documentary, "You can't fuck your way out of racism". I agree and feel similarly in that, you can't take savasana to avoid conflict.

With yoga, the issues matter. The history of the practice matters. And the current context of how yoga is being used for manipulation and silencing matters.

As you learn and share about the stories of the asanas and uphold deity worship and veneration in your altars and studios, it's just as important to have the information on how that same deity worship and dogged veneration is used to manipulate and control the masses while inappropriately extolling the virtues of a more pious and superior class of people creating a false hierarchy in a richly multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, pan spiritual population.

Debashish Banerji , professor of religious studies at California Institute of Integral Studies says,

“Due to the proliferation of western educational models and the assimilation of postcolonial populations under global capitalism, the majority of middle class India lacks a foundation in its traditional scholarship, yet seeks the psychological security of a national identity.

Yoga is touted by the Hindu right as just this badge of national identity; so that an enormous section of the majoritarian population unthinkingly embraces its chauvinistic identity politics, a most dangerous development.”

From Yoga, Nationalism, Appropriation, and Authenticity in Asana Journal

It's not just the people in India that are subject to the effects of Neo-colonialism of yoga as the practices shifts and expands from its original forms crossing country lines and spanning centuries. These changes impact every single Non-South Asian person that interacts with the practice.

Utilizing the practice to increase a sense of individualism, showcase quantity over quality (# of reps / trainings / certificates held as superior to depth of knowledge / embodiment / integration), and further attaching to the idea there is a good/better/best way to practice over other methods, all that is to lean further into the dominant culture of a co-opted practice. Serving only to flatten the depth and lasting effects of the spiritual practice of yoga.

Practicing in a way that aligns with White Supremacy Culture also leaves students susceptible to misinformation campaigns about yoga and its purpose, creating an environment where critical thought and conversation is looked down upon and total compliance is lauded and held in high regard. (Read my previous critique of the Yoga QAnon Conspiracy NPR article here).

Hindutva depiction, Yoga, Rama in The Monkey Man (kinda-spoilery!!!)

We see a loaded, complex conversation play out in Dev Patel's recent theatrical release, The Monkey Man, in which a marginalized and disenfranchised youth's bloody revenge story incorporates themes of Hindutva politics, wide-spread corruption and classism, yoga as a proponent of ethno-nationalism and non-secular state building, and platforming of Hijra/third-gender communities, their struggles and spiritual and religious views.

In the film, the fictitious political climber / yoga guru Baba Shakti calls to mind right-wing spiritual advisers and politicians in India, namely one Baba Ramdev currently under litigation for making false health claims. Rana, the film's chief of police, could be seen as a stand-in for bureaucrats and administrators who critics accuse of emboldening extremists and stoking sectarian violence akin to the RSS group and ruling BJP party.

The depiction of yoga is used to depict a brainwashed population that is devout to their leader and his beliefs, dedicated to a single-minded fallible being rather than a comprehensive philosophy that encourages self-determination. Creating an atmosphere that is pregnant with the threat of violence due to a mob mentality mindset.

"The tensions that the film presents — between Hindus and non-Hindus, rich and poor, those who use religion for just ends or violent ends — aren’t unique to Hinduism,

but are present in societies around the world. “Monkey Man,” then, is a warning about what can happen when people are oppressed and disempowered for too long.

“What I found really powerful was that if we have a landscape in which there’s no Rama, in which Hanuman is on his own in the form of Kid, the place he finds respite and finds care is in the temple of the hijras,” Krishnamurti said."

Read How ‘Monkey Man’ offers another vision of Hinduism by Harmeet Kaur on cnn.com

Tie-ins

The tie-ins here to your practice, yoga spaces, politics on a world stage, impact of cultural co-opting and appropriation, and depictions in popular media are all interconnected. The messaging that we actively seek out and the messaging that we are subjected to all play in a role on how we continue to honor the roots, philosophy and current context of yoga.

The eternal question remains as present as ever, how will you adjust or maintain your practice in way that honors the complexities laid out here? How might you evolve your understanding and offering to continue to engage with yoga then and now?

That's all from me! Thanks for reading and as always, please hit reply to share your thoughts or click here to share anonymously.

Warmly,

Tejal

Learning Opportunities

Namaste Politics

Go deeper in your education with So You Want to Chant Om & Namaste, a 2-day workshop series, May 18-19 offered with Tejal

Click for So You Want to Chant info

Omwashing and Zionism

A Yoga Teach In for Palestine with Dr. Sheena Sood and Aniqa Anwar facilitated by abcdyogi

Click to watch the FREE Teach-In

Babri Masjid Mosque and Ram Mandir Documentary

Additional context to the ongoing religious intolerance and hatred