There was a time when one could go into a bookstore and confidently expect to find a book on Hindu mythology resting peacefully, wedged between Greek mythology and Egyptian mythology. There was an understanding at a certain level that Hindu mythology was just that, a myth. An allegorical interpretation of the world by drawing parallels from an unexplained natural world, through anecdote, analogy and parable. Scholars draw similarities between various myths. James G. Frazer in his definitive work, the Golden Bough has traced the creation myth in even small, isolated communities of the world, the Flood makes an appearance in mythology from Mesopotamia to India and the Saviour God who dies to save his people and then resurrects finds resonance in almost every society which draws a parallel to the agricultural cycle of death and rebirth.

The recent hullabaloo raised by right-wing groups, the HJS and the SS, in Goa over Dr Jose Pereira's pictorial interpretations of Hindu mythology and specifically his interpretation of Krishna's relationship with Radha, are worrying on two accounts. First it seeks to expunge any hint of sexuality in mythology. There is a renaissance of the old puritanical vice of associating sex with impropriety; a demeaning of the spiritual and sullying of all things pure. Yet, scholars have found many similarities between Krishna and the Greek God Dionysus, among which are their fondness for women. Sexuality was linked to fertility which was absolutely essential for the propagation of life, the promise of which was tenuous at best. Sexuality was not to be curtailed; in fact it was to be encouraged by all means.

The second more worrying aspect is the increasing need by radicalized Hindus to claim proprietorial rights over Hindu mythology and then to interpret it as a reality rather than as analogy. Imagine for a moment if Greeks and Egyptians suddenly claim ownership of their respective mythologies. These have been studied by scholars across the world totally devoid of any religious connotation and yet these too were venerated deities at one time. How absurd would it be if the Greeks took umbrage every time the frivolous Cupid was flashed across Valentine cards. Surely, there is an understanding that these ancient wisdoms are not the property of any one particular culture or religious sect. Rather they are universally owned now, in the public domain for all to study and interpret as they wish. Their interpretation by "outsiders" are not to be viewed with suspicion and anger.

Perhaps even more regressive is the need to find a reality in what is essentially a myth. Our understanding of science and our natural world, must necessarily mean that we accord mythology its rightful place. Perhaps, as Deepak Chopra suggests, as archetypes that live on in our human consciousness. But certainly the wind Gods, the fire Gods, Zeus, Apollo, Hera, the stealing of fire by Prometheus or the abduction of Persephone by Hades is not a reality. This obsessive need to translate what is essentially myth into a reality has caused untold misery in India. It has brought down mosques, caused riots, resulted in carnage, the exile of one of my valued artists and almost every other month some other treachery is threatened on anyone who dares to "misinterpret" that which has now become private property of a few self-appointed custodians.

Dialogue and serious scholarly study in a free society should never cease. What sullies religious and theological profundity or cultural traditions is not alternative interpretations but threats to have these interpretations stifled and indeed literally cut off. When we speak of cutting off the hands of our greatest intellectuals, we in fact cut off the voice of our most profound thoughts.

This sadly is not the sign of a progressive society but rather one that is in regression.

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