http://www.sastwingees.org/2004/11/22/rational-or-impotent/ Knowledge is Scrumptious Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:41:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1-alpha-10188 hourly 1 http://www.sastwingees.org/2004/11/22/rational-or-impotent/comment-page-1/#comment-42 Anonymous Thu, 25 Nov 2004 20:44:00 +0000 http://www.sastwingees.org/2004/11/22/rational-or-impotent/#comment-42 Perhaps we are too rational and that is sometimes impotent as you correctly point out. But probably the answer lies in history - rabid religious fanaticism went out of fashion in Tamilnadu centuries ago after the Samanas (Jains) were vanquished by Hinduism. Add to that - Tamilnadu has been ruled by the zealously atheistic Kazhagams since 1967., which has forced us to treat religion more of a personal thing. Only in the past 3-4 years, the whole public display of religion thing (imported from Maharahstra) in the form of Ganesh Chathurthi celebrations has become popular. I think, its only a matter of time, before religious bigotry becomes as deep rooted as it is in North India. That, in my humble opinion, will be a much scarier and despicable place to be in, compared to the seeming impotence of today. Perhaps we are too rational and that is sometimes impotent as you correctly point out. But probably the answer lies in history - rabid religious fanaticism went out of fashion in Tamilnadu centuries ago after the Samanas (Jains) were vanquished by Hinduism. Add to that - Tamilnadu has been ruled by the zealously atheistic Kazhagams since 1967., which has forced us to treat religion more of a personal thing. Only in the past 3-4 years, the whole public display of religion thing (imported from Maharahstra) in the form of Ganesh Chathurthi celebrations has become popular. I think, its only a matter of time, before religious bigotry becomes as deep rooted as it is in North India. That, in my humble opinion, will be a much scarier and despicable place to be in, compared to the seeming impotence of today.

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