Interreligious Dialogue and the Partition of India: Hindus and Muslims in Dialogue about Violence and Forced Migration

169 Pages·2018·1.315 MB·English

by  Mario I. Aguilar

In a time of schism, violence, and forced migration, how Mario I. Aguilar
can God be understood? With his latest book, Catholic
Benedictine hermit Mario Aguilar explores the religious
identities of Hindus and Muslims in the aftermath of the INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
1947 Partition of India. Looking at the experiences of
AND THE PARTITION OF INDIA
the victims who were silenced, he reveals how out of this
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traumatic period has emerged a peaceful dialogue between a
r Hindus and Muslims in Dialogue about Violence
faiths, held together by shared humanity and prayerfulness. io

Founded on a fascination with what unites rather than I. and Forced Migration
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divides religions, Aguilar offers a theological reading of a g
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major event in twentieth century history that is both creative ila
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and constructive.
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‘In this informative, evocative, and provocative work, Aguilar R
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interweaves anecdotal and experiential account with
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penetrating critical analysis. The response to toxic inter- I
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religious behaviour is the patient journey of deep, I
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interpersonal, interreligious dialogue. Aguilar deftly draws U
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the reader into his own such journeying and allied
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theological reflection.’ I
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– Professor Douglas Pratt, University of Waikato, New L
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Zealand and University of Bern, Switzerland G
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‘Perceptive political analysis intersects with passionate A
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theological imagination to paint a poignant, yet profound,
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picture of the boundary-crossing potential of the faith in
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the context of boundary reifications.’ H
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– The Revd Dr Peniel Jesudason Rufus Rajkumar,
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Programme Executive for Interreligious Dialogue and
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Cooperation, World Council of Churches
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Jessica Kingsley Publishers Mario I. Aguilar is Professor of Religion & Politics and Director O
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of the Centre for the Study of Religion & Politics at the University of
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St Andrews. He is also a poet and a hermit.
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www.jkp.com STUDIES IN RELIGION AND THEOLOGY
Series design: www.ianrossdesigner.com
Aguilar_9781785923128_UK_8.9mm_AW.indd 1 29/05/2018 16:21
INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
AND THE PARTITION OF INDIA
by the same author
Christian Ashrams, Hindu Caves and Sacred Rivers
Christian-Hindu Monastic Dialogue in India 1950-1993
ISBN 978 1 78592 086 8
eISBN 978 1 78450 347 5
in the Studies in Religion and Theology series
The Way of the Hermit
Interfaith Encounters in Silence and Prayer
ISBN 978 1 78592 089 9
eISBN 978 1 78450 354 3
also in the Studies in Religion and Theology series
Exploring Moral Injury in Sacred Texts
Edited by Joseph McDonald
Foreword by Rita Nakashima Brock
ISBN 978 1 78592 756 0
eISBN 978 1 78450 591 2
of related interest
Muslim Identity in a Turbulent Age
Islamic Extremism and Western Islamophobia
Edited by Mike Hardy, Fiyaz Mughal and Sarah Markiewicz
Foreword by H.E. Mr Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser
ISBN 978 1 78592 152 0
eISBN 978 1 78450 419 9
INTERRELIGIOUS
DIALOGUE AND THE
PARTITION OF INDIA
Hindus and Muslims in Dialogue
about Violence and Forced Migration
Mario I. Aguilar
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
Appendix 3 ‘A Woman’s Declaration for a Shared Humanity’ is
reproduced with kind permission from Porsiana Beatrice.
First published in 2018
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Mario I. Aguilar 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
material form (including photocopying, storing in any medium by electronic
means or transmitting) without the written permission of the copyright owner
except in accordance with the provisions of the law or under terms of a licence
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see www.ifrro.org. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to
reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work
may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 78592 312 8
eISBN 978 1 78450 625 4
Dedicated to
Irma Santibáñez, Glenda Tello,
and Sara Ann Catherine

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Introduction: Dialogues in Tri-Belonging . . . . . 13
1 The Silence of Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2 The Diversity of God’s Womb . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3 Rethinking Art and a Shared Humanity . . . . . . 85
4 Contemporary Dialogues of Unification . . . . . . 113
Conclusion: Towards a Theology of Restitution . . . . . 139
Appendix 1: The St. Andrews Declaration
for a Shared Humanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Appendix 2: The India Declaration
for a Shared Humanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Appendix 3: A Woman’s Declaration
for a Shared Humanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work on Partition and interfaith dialogue has been influenced
by the experience of a journey from New Delhi to Dharamsala via
Varanasi in June 2017 and three other visits to India during 2017.
Through the conversations with others and the friendship and care
of Indians in India I have experienced the sense of admiration for
such a developing canvas of human and divine experience. If the
two previous volumes explored the past and the present, this third
volume of my Indian Trilogy explores the future through the past.
If the other works were deeply grounded in history and theology,
this volume opens the possibilities of art and of a conversational
existentialism. It is art, utopia and existentialism that can unite the
forms and shapes constructed through forms into a shared shape of
insights that resemble the variety of the possible manifestations
of Brahma and of the Absolute.
In opening such ventures towards the Absolute in India and
among Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, I am grateful to Shruti
Parthasarthy, Executive Editor of the DAG Modern in New Delhi,
for her words of wisdom and encouragement and for preparing
materials and archives with enthusiasm and care. But more than
the texts given to me, the texts from her heart spoke of the realities
of utopia, art and knowledge as the manifestations of the Absolute.
These manifestations related to the secular work of Chittaprosad
and Altaf would not have been possible without the elegant
welcome provided by Kishore Singh, President of the DAG
Modern, and the ongoing advice and expertise of Rishnitt Singh
Heera as art advisory to the Fundación Milarepa of Chile.
I am grateful to the Babu-Gandhi family for opening the
year with a wonderful wedding in Amritsar in which I was able
to witness and take part in the Vedic prayers and have ex tend-
ed discussions with family members in Amritsar, particularly
9