On Diwali day Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya, and the city dressed up to welcome the victorious king, lamps and lights signifying hope, optimism and joy. Ram is maryada purushottam – the perfect man.
Yet Ram’s perfection is nuanced: he is heroic but not entirely flawless. The Ram persona shows how in Hindu traditions, heroes are complex figures, exemplifying the deep-thinking inward gaze. Hinduism’s ideas have proved so durable down the centuries precisely because they shun single-truth absolutes. A philosophy essentially of non-ritualistic spiritualism, Hinduism has never needed government protection or political patronage.
Yet this Diwali, the last before the general election of 2019, we are seeing the philosophical luminosity of the festival of lights dimmed by a political cacophony and the Read More
