Religious Syncretism and Politics of Knowledge

By Zeeba T. Hashmi

Religion, knowledge systems and the ethos of a civilisation cannot be defined without taking into consideration the history of the region in which they are practised and which gives them the identity that people can commonly relate to. A religion can never be a monotonous doctrine thriving on its own; in fact, its expansionism depends on its absorbent character of taking within its folds varying ideologies that have merged together, over the course of time, to form conventions which we are familiar with and find in common in our present lifestyles and belief systems. In religions, we have found our common traits and empathic worldly views.

To understand what brings many commonalities between different value systems, religions have to be understood from different worldviews. But a religion denied its diversity of interpretation may leave a negative impact on a people if it is imposed in its literalist and puritanical form, which can come into direct contradiction with the diversity of peoples living within a society — as we have witnessed in the cultural destruction by the Islamic State and the Taliban.

Syncretism: A Natural Law of Civilisations

Syncretism is a natural, continuous evolutionary process that shapes our mindsets and societal trends. Let us look into the cultural transformation of Latin America and find similarities in cultural evolution with our own Indo-Pak region.

In South America, one may find many examples of Santería, which is a set of related religious systems that combine with traditional Yoruba beliefs — traditional African rituals brought to the Americas by African slaves — commonly found in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Orixás, a ritual to celebrate the sea goddess brought by the African slaves, is still practised in Latin America. Umbanda, a combination of Catholic belief and the power of spirits to influence one’s life, is also practised by some in Brazil.

Under different rulers throughout its history, the Latin civilisation gained rich knowledge and marked its achievements in astronomy, mathematics, calendric studies, writing (though initially limited to the elite class), sculpture, mural painting, sophisticated ceramic art and statecraft. But with the arrival of the Spanish, the harmony of the belief system in the Americas was disrupted dramatically. For the conquerors, it was a mission to convert the natives to Christianity, whereas for the natives it was difficult to accept the change because their original belief system — animistic in nature and followed for thousands of years — was entirely different from the newly introduced Abrahamic religion. It was a clash of civilisations for both the Spaniards and the natives, and the clash in religion meant violence.

However, in order to lessen the gap between two very different religions, some elements of the native faith were adopted to make a foreign, alien religion  more acceptable to the locals. That is one of the many reasons why the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe — shown as a native in images — took the place of pre-existing Tonantzin, a moon goddess. Jesus Christ took the place of the Sun God, which is why he is shown emerging from the sun. Religion had to be reformed by accepting some of the ancient religious doctrines to make it more culturally acceptable and in conformity with the spiritual needs of the people.

The Indo-Pak Civilisation: A Tapestry of Converging Thoughts

If we look into how present-day cultures in South Asia have undergone transformations, we find a pattern in the diverse lifestyles that makes it familiar to people here in their commonly identified historical and traditional contexts. The knowledge systems that existed before have followed multiple currents of thought, evolved and merged over centuries.

The Lokayata and Carvaka movements, centred around skepticism and materialism, laid the foundations for contradictory movements that resisted the dogmatic approach of the conventions being formed around that time. The tapestry of ideas conjoined with rationalism that ran side-by-side with spiritual dialogues centering around the ideas of divinity and fatalism. These ideas were evolving long before Buddhism and Jainism took birth, all alongside the influences of Chinese philosophies and the ancient Greeks. The ruins of ancient universities here speak of the once diverse nature of learning in this region.

The cultural influences that followed also came through their natural course, not through forceful imposition alone. Even though there have been incidents of violence and resistance, the dynamic characteristics of the civilisation were never entirely severed. The admixture of Aryan influences in the pre-existing Dravidian reflections on deities, the later inclusion of Islamic doctrines from Muslim warriors and rulers, and the essence of later Anglican influence in the region  have all played their distinctive roles in making us what we are today. There has been a fusion of beliefs in some instances, when people belonging to different religions have found common ground through their art, music, literature and expression. As in the Latin world, the religions of people here were moulded and reformed many times to suit the sensitivities of diverse populations.

Colonial Imprints on Knowledge Systems

Discrimination and the patterns of oppressing the subjugated were already present long before the Europeans began setting foot on the subcontinent, but the knowledge streams were diverse, shaped by different belief systems and philosophies of the time. The British colonisers did attempt to unify the education system, initially by providing grants-in-aid for village schools — a process explained in detail by Dr. G.W. Leitner in his survey of indigenous education in Punjab in 1882. It can be argued that this possibly brought about more communal tensions, and the differences between Hindus and Muslims became more distinct — not in terms of what content was introduced, but in terms of land policies on which the schools were to be established. The mass education system of that time was driven by the economic needs of the British administrators; whether it was a good or bad thing is not the debate here — it was inevitable and an ultimate necessity. The education systems previously brought in by church missions earlier merged with the local value systems, and provided for new avenues for social mobility to break away from rigid hereditary. This was, however, not the colonial goal. The colonial education system only concerned itself with administrative utility. It distanced itself from the fluid knowledge systems that were pre-existing through different schools of thought.

Mass Indoctrination and Alienating Identities

There have been political manoeuvrings on the basis of exclusionism.  The resistance to integrating diversity, played up by some of our political actors, has caused chaotic effects — because for them, allowing such integration could mean going against the ideologies they want to propagate.  Hegemonic attempts have done irreversible damage — confusing our identities by giving more credence to static interpretations of religion and history, which suit the state’s need for control, than to diverse ideological affiliations. There began the journey of alienation from the soul of a civilisation that had grown and matured through ancient times, with the pluralistic and rich character of its people.

As Romila Thapar puts it, the history of knowledge we find today is non-linear and disintegrated. History has become increasingly corrupted and subject to different political interpretations, with some aspects even manufactured through the rewriting of history based on myths and fiction. The mass schooling system in our current scenario is an easy tool for political and religious indoctrination — because it is convenient to control and design the type of citizens the state wants. The current dilemma here is not whether this is a colonial legacy, but what content is being disseminated.

The hegemony of the dominant narrative will always remain unchallenged and unaddressed, as all political actors today scramble for a compromise for their survival. This state does not seem willing to integrate critical and scientific inquiry in schools. The fate of a learner depends only on the luck of having an intentionally good teacher — but even teachers have been intimidated into abandoning academic freedom, and so they comply.

The Tragedy of Exclusionism: Pakistan’s Unresolved Crisis

It is important to acknowledge and appreciate diversity in religious and cultural thought — especially in understanding how knowledge has come to be here. However, that there is a downslope to relying too much on spiritual or religious thought and too little on scientific inquiry. This leaves education with no practical purpose in today’s world.

The idea that Pakistan was created on the basis of Islam is rooted in the principle of exclusionism. Though many historians — and perhaps rightly so — have disputed the claim that Islam was the sole reason for the creation of Pakistan. But the general perception, indoctrinated by the state, has persistently endorsed the two-nation theory as the basis for Pakistan’s existence. This theory, the relevance of which is kept alive even today, has birthed bigotry and distrust towards religious minorities here. The trend of exclusionism, which is further adopted and promoted by hard-line and sectarian religious leaders who profit from it, is extremely dangerous. The cultural stagnation caused by the imposition of hegemonic, rigid and puritanical ideologies that people, coming from very diverse backgrounds, cannot relate to remains a tragedy.

In 2010 Pakistan  adopted the 18th Constitutional Amendment under which the devolution of  some subjects from the concurrent list allowed for the provincial assemblies to legislate on matters directly pertaining to their local populations more effectively. Education is one such devolved subject, but in some provinces, the curriculum policies still relies on the center on curriculum matters. The current curriculum imposed in all provinces was prepared  by National Curriculum Council, a body working under Federal Ministry for Education and Professional Training, which raises a serious question over the extent of its jurisdiction over a provincial subject.  The single national curriculum-renamed as National Curriculum of Pakistan, has remained subject of  controversy especially over the way it has been imposed where the needs for diverse local identities remain unacknowledged and excluded. Promotion of ideology for the state is a matter of its primary concern. It can further be seen how higher education commissions have made Quran classes and Pakistan Studies mandatory for all students even in their higher education levels. The current regime now grows more intent on dismantling the provincial autonomy over education by bringing it back under central control. Educational pursuit will be made possible only if a single narrative of the state is accepted.

A society and its ethos that are built on the evolution of plural thoughts and belief systems that took centuries to form, cannot become a singular identity in one blow. History has proved time and again that any attempt to do so has had very chaotic results for the people for a very long time.

Editor’s Note: The original article was published as an op-ed piece for The Daily Times titled “Religious syncretism and cultural growth – Daily Times” dated 3rd September, 2015. This blog-piece is an expansion on the thought with a comparison to syncretism examples found here in Indo-Pak history with colonial influences and impacts we see in present day politics around education and religious identities. It is important to bring this topic up to emphasize on the need to acknowledge and appreciate diversity of thought and people amidst the re-ignited political debate in Pakistan around centralization of power by taking the autonomy away from its provinces. 

Zeeba T. Hashmi is an opinion writer and a researcher exploring themes of education that interconnect with issues of indoctrination, hate speech, knowledge barriers and politics on education. She runs her think tank, Ibtidah for Education.