Binary myopia
Hiranyakashyap, an asura king was a devout follower of Brahma, and impressed with his austerities, was granted a boon. He wished for immortality, but Brahma refused and asked him to wish for something else.
The king then cunningly negotiated with Brahma to limit the causes of his death instead. He wished not to be killed by any of god’s creations — demon, animal, or a man and neither could any man-made weapon kill him. He would not be killed in his abode or outside of it. His death would not come in daylight nor at night, neither would he die on the ground or the sky. With his wish granted, Hiranyakashyap was euphoric, thinking he had cheated death. Little did he realize the irony of his ways.
An uninspired mind perceives nature as binary, refusing to see it’s fluidity. Our folklores promulgate how any act can have both good and bad effects, but rarely talks in absolute terms. In the battle of Mahabharat, Pandavs fought on side of Dharma but also broke many rules as Yudishtra partakes in deception about Ashwathama’s death. Dronacharya, Karna, Bhisma Pitamah all were killed by Pandavas when they had not raised arms against the laws of warfare. The actions of Pandavas fighting on the side of dharma are not always righteous, neither can Kaurava’s fighting on the side of adharma can be seen as an embodiment of evil.
Hiranakashyap assumed the absence of daylight can only mean night, forgetting the beautiful dusk or twilight interspersed between day and night. The doorstep of houses is neither outside nor inside and this is where some of the longest conversations in any household take place even today. Lord Narasimha killed Hiranakashyap at dusk with his body perched on his thighs (he was neither on the ground nor in the sky), tearing his stomach with his nails, not a man-made weapon. As a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, he is not an entity created by Brahma. Hirankashyap’s death was inevitable owing to his folly of thinking that the world around him is binary, that nature can be demarcated into distinct entities.
Nature is fluid, and this fluidity of ideas, customs, and traditions between people of different beliefs is the reason for a vibrant Indian culture. Hindutva ideology is akin to Hiranakashyap that regards everything as binary, unable to appreciate what lies in between and is thus blind to the idea of fluidity in gender, sexuality, ideas. Hindusim not just recognizes but celebrates the vividity.
In Hindutva one can either be a male or a female, while Hinduism has stories of Shiva-Shakti (male female merged together). Hindtuva defines relationship between man and a woman only while Hindu folklores celebrate diverse sexuality ,gender identities. Hinduism accepts criticism as Lord Krishna accepts Dhritrashtra imprectation but in Hindutva either one agrees with the government or is an anti-national.
As we immure human nature to binary terms, Hiranakashayp story today is a reminder of how a mighty warrior king was vanquished because he could not see nature beyond binary.
