The author of <i >Reflections in the Sacred Pond</i>, which sets about to answer eighty questions on religious history in India.
I wrote about cars but my passion and qualification is to write about history and religion.
Why the Q&A format?
After Babri Masjid, I questioned a Hindutva friend till he couldn’t answer any more. I punched those in and have kept adding more.
One question you’d want in public discourse?
The question of how Hinduism has evolved—the seven stages...pre-Vedic, Vedic, Puranic... that process is true of every religion.
One thing you learned during your research?
What led to Hindu India’s downfall, in the 400 years before the Turkish invasions, was the collapse of free-form traditions of indigenous worship, and new Brahminical dominance.
What does the book want to tell the reader?
I’m just trying to show the deficiencies in history and public stereotypes.
Were you influenced by freethinking intellectuals from the past?
One has read Bernard Shaw, but I suppose as a teenager I was influenced by Ayn Rand.
Are you an atheist?
No—I subscribe to the earliest Indian philosophy, Sankhya, with only two realities: purusha, the person, and prakriti, nature.
You’re sceptical about formal religion?
I have great respect for the founders of all religions—but professional priests turn it into a source of persecution.
Won’t it provoke religious establishments?
If I’m hard on professional priests, I’m only pointing out the self-evident.
As a Muslim critiquing Hindu religious practice, do you expect trouble?
The Muslims won’t like this any more than the Bajrang Dal—for a Muslim, nothing is worse than a fallen Muslim—but no one will find cause for specific offence.