This is a stark reminder of Albert Camus' The Rebel. Suicide is an expression of outrage against a-dharma, protesting violence against the natural, cosmic order and social organisation evolved over millennia.Hindus are prohibited from homosexual acts (maithunam
pumsi), such as in Manusmrti 11:174, which mentions both
men and women.
kalyanaraman
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/farright-french-historian-78yearold-dominique-venner-commits-suicide-in-notre-dame-in-protest-against-gay-marriage-8625877.html
Dominique Venner Suicide: French Far Right Reacts To Essayist's Death Inside Notre Dame Cathedral
HuffPost France | By Geoffroy ClavelPosted: 05/21/2013 6:32 pm EDT | Updated: 05/21/2013 6:54 pm EDT
Dominique Venner committed suicide on Tuesday in front of the altar of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The death of the 78-year-old essayist and historian sparked numerous reactions from French nationalists.
Several executives and members of the country's far-right National Front party took to Twitter to praise Venner. Directly referencing Venner's last blog post, National Front party leader Marine Le Pen called the writer's act an "eminently political" gesture destined to "awaken the people of France."
"All our respect to Dominique Venner whose last gesture, an eminently political one, attempted to awaken the people of France. MLP"
In a blog post published on the same day as his suicide, Venner talked about "new gestures, spectacular and symbolic ones, to rattle lethargies, to shake anaesthetised consciences and awaken the memory of our origins."
Louis Aliot, vice-president of the National Front and Marine Le Pen's partner, also paid his respects, calling Venner an "intransigent and courageous defender of our civilisation's values."
"My emotional thoughts go out to the tragic disappearance of D.Venner, intransigent and courageous defender of our civilisation's values."
Bruno Gollnisch, another figure of the National Front, saw Venner's suicide as a "protest against the decadence of our society." Gollnisch argued that Venner "experienced" the approval of the law on gay marriage "as it should have been experienced, as a promotion of decadence and a defacement of marriage."
Gollnisch added that "it wasn't his only fight, he also protested against the programmed disappearance of the French people, the progressive substitution with other populations."
Julien Rochedy, the president of the National Front youth group tweeted:
"It's with immense sadness that I hear about Dominique Venner's suicide. He will be reunited with the heroes from the Iliad he loved so much."
According to some members of the National Front, Venner was considered as a potential candidate to head the party when it was founded in 1972.
Honorary president Jean-Marie Le Pen commented on the suicide to the AFP by comparing it to the death of Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, a writer who collaborated with the Nazis during WWII and who committed suicide in 1945. "An intellectual suicide, which testifies with death," declared the founder of the National Front.
On Tuesday night, thousands of far-right militants gathered in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, carrying torches and national flags. According to Le HuffPost, an unidentified speaker said: "We ignored the deep causes of his gesture. We are here to pay tribute to his last fight (...) He always defended France, beautiful, strong and proud of itself."
This piece has been translated from French and originally appeared on HuffPost France.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/21/dominique-venner-suicide-french-far-right-reacts_n_3315372.html
DOMINIQUE VENNERNotre Dame Cathedral suicide: Campaigner shoots himself dead in front of horrified visitors
Dominique Venner, 78, shot himself in the head behind the main altar inside the famous church shortly after 4pm local time![Suicide: Dominique Venner was a well-known far-right activist]( "Suicide: Dominique Venner was a well-known far-right activist")
A campaigner opposed to gay marriage shot himself dead in front of hundreds of visitors at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris today.
Dominique Venner, 78, walked up to the altar, put a Herstal automatic pistol in his mouth and fired at about 4pm.
Visitors screamed in horror, before emergency crews arrived and the building was evacuated.
Getty
He had urged people to join a rally against gay marriage on May 26 and wrote it would “take a new gesture, spectacular and symbolic, to shake up the anaesthetised consciousness”.
A suicide note was found next to his body, but police have not yet divulged its contents.
Venner was a former member of the Secret Army Organisation, a paramilitary group that fought against France giving up Algeria as a colony.
The former soldier was a firearms expert and wrote on military history.
AP
One witness said: “There was screaming and lots of shouting following a loud bang. People were very scared.”
Venner, an ultra right-wing Catholic, was known to be furious when a law allowing gay marriage in France was approved earlier this month.
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Homosexuality and Hinduism
Currently, the issue of homosexuality in Hinduism is controversial, especially amongst Hindus in countries where homosexuality is generally accepted. Hindu views of homosexuality are varying and diverse, in part because the accepted Hindu religious texts do not explicitly mention homosexuality.
Homosexuality is also a complex matter in Hinduism because of the many types of religious life. In general, "twice-born" Hindus are prohibited from homosexual acts (maithunam pumsi), such as in Manusmrti 11:174, which mentions both men and women.
On the other hand, the famous Kama Sutra states that homosexual sex "is to be engaged in and enjoyed for its own sake as one of the arts." In general, then, the Hindu evaluation of homosexuality depends heavily on the context.
Background
Homosexuality has an ancient history in India. Ancient texts like Rig Veda (which dates back around 1500 BC), sculptures and vestiges depict sexual acts between women as revelations of a feminine world where sexuality was based on pleasure and fertility.
There are great differences amongst Hindus as to whether homosexuality is acceptable behavior. The debate takes place against the background of Hinduism's teachings on love, sex, and marriage, which might be summarized as follows:
- In Hinduism, love is regarded as an eternal force. It is seen as devotion between two people, whetherromantic or platonic. Hindus believe love and devotion are important in attaining Moksha or Liberation from the cycle of rebirths.
- Erotic desire or Kama in Hinduism was deemed as one of the most legitimate pleasures on earth (thus accounting for the vast numbers of erotic treatises, poetry and sensuous sculptures of ancient India). This however did not mean that lascivious behavior was promoted. Premarital sex in Hinduism is frowned upon and extramarital sex is prohibited. Sex was promoted within the context of a loving couple - usually heterosexual. On the other hand extremely ascetic schools of thought would have viewed sex as a distraction from the pursuit of Moksha.
Marriage in Hinduism is said to fulfill three functions: Prajaa, Dharma, and Rati. In marriage, Prajaa is progeny for perpetuation of one's family, Dharma is fulfillment of responsibilities, and Rati is companionship as friends andmutual pleasure as lovers. These three functions are given in the Dharma Shastras, books that are not considered to be religiously binding within Hinduism.
In Hinduism many of the divinities are androgynous and some change gender to participate in homoerotic behavior. In the popular Hindu epic Mahabharata, a transgender character named Sikhandin plays a pivotal role (5.191-5).
In modern India, transgendered men known as Hijras have sex with men. They religiously identify as a separate third sex, with many undergoing ritual castration. In Hindu thought a man who penetrates a Hijra is not defined as gay. And in the Kama Sutra sex acts involving homosexuality are regarded in some castes permissible while not in other castes.
Opposing Hindu Viewpoints on Homosexuality
Most of the debate on homosexuality within Hinduism is centered on these three teachings, and how proponents and opponents of homosexuality interpret these teachings.
Opponents of homosexuality argue that:
- Romantic love is only natural between a man and a woman, and it is impossible for two men or two women to experience the same form of love.
- Since romantic love is only possible between a man and a woman, sex between two men or two women can only be the product of lust, and lust is wrong; therefore homosexual activities are wrong.
- One of the three functions of marriage is Prajaa, the progeny for perpetuation of one's family. A homosexual couple cannot procreate, and thus cannot be married.
- Premarital and extramarital sex are wrong, and because homosexuals cannot marry, they should not engage in sexual relationships.
Proponents of homosexuality argue:
- Nowhere in the Hindu sacred texts is romantic love excluded to all but a man and woman, so there are no religious grounds to make a statement to the contrary.
- Since homosexuals can experience romantic love, homosexual sexual relationships are not all the productof lust.
- The three functions of marriage are given in the Dharma Shastras, books that are not binding to Hindus, and thus Prajaa is not a determining factor in Hindu marriages. Even if the three functions of marriage were binding in terms of marriages, Prajaa may be interpreted in a number of ways that do not involve procreation at all. Thus homosexuals should be allowed to marry.
- Sexual expression within a loving relationship is encouraged by Hinduism because it is not an expression of lust, but an expression of love and devotion to each others' happiness. Therefore, homosexuals in loving relationships (i.e. marriage) should be allowed to express their love sexually.
The Srimad Bhagavatam Debate
Within the Srimad Bhagavatam there are a few lines (Canto 3, Ch.20 Text 23, 24 & 26) that describe Brahma's creation of a group of demons that became obsessed with sex and demanded sex from him, but then he became frightened and ran away from them. Opponents of homosexuality believe this proves that homosexual behaviour is lustful and evil. Proponents of homosexuality argue that the demons were the children of Brahma, and that this story teaches that incest is lustful and evil (compare to the story of Shatarupa).
External Links
- RE: hindu homosexuality - Question and Vedanta answer on newsgroup alt-hindu, published on Hindunet.org.
- Hinduism FAQ: Prostitution - HinduWebsite
- The Gay and Lesbian Vaishnava Association (GALVA) "Information and support for GLBTI Vaishnavas and Hindus"
- Why should homosexuality be a crime? - An article in The Times of India giving instances of homosexuality in present day India and in religious texts.
- Being a gay Hindu - personal blog
Source
This article incorporates text from "Homosexuality and Hinduism" at Wikipedia.org, and as such is available under the GFDL license.
http://www.religionfacts.com/homosexuality/hinduism.htm