I sometimes wonder the reason for the Hindus( Majority of Indian population) being so subservient and obedient. They accepted Moslem rule for 900 years and British rule for 200 years. It is a wonder that a large population of crores was governed by a comparative handful of people. Social scientists must study this aspect of the Hindu ethos. Why was there not a mass upsurge, that could have thrown these invaders in the Arabian sea. But it did not happen and that is a fact of history.
This is not to deny that individual warriors and local insurrections were not there, but by and large the masses remained passive and accepted their fate. A particular galling example is the massacre carried out by Timur-e-Lang, who in an invasion of India massacred 100,000 Hindus in North India in 1398.
Perhaps this stoic acceptance of their fate has something to do with their religion and the caste system. The religion as a philosophy is fine, but it teaches that the actions of man govern his future and killing an animal or a man is crime that will be punished. Secondly the caste system divided society and one class of people were not allowed to bear arms.
But times are changing and there is awareness that people power has some meaning. But the Hindus of India have a long way to go to change an ethos that has governed them for thousands of years. As such on the face of it a mass agitation like the one in Egypt does appear unlikely. There is rampant corruption, fissiperous tendencies and yet the masses have not done anything. We have ministers who have swindled the nation for thousand's of crores of rupees and yet the popular reaction is sadly missing. Frank Moraes wrote about the 'meek and mild ' Hindu, A man content to live his life the way it is, as it is 'written in the fate'. This concept must go and Hindu social reformers must change this ethos. There is the RSS, but it is not the vehicle to bring about the required change. We have to await a social reformer who will bring this about.
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