FT256

Back in September 2007, the unthinkable happ­ened for devout Hindus: the government in India filed an affidavit in their Supreme Court declaring that the events in Ramayana – one of the holiest of Hindu books relating the life of the god Rama – “should not be read as historical truth” or as evidence that Rama ever existed.

As more than 80 per cent of India’s over one billion populat­ion are Hindu and elections were looming, this was not the smartest move. The hardline Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mounted angry opposit­ion, accusing the government of blasphemy in denying the existence of the widely worshipped Lord Rama and of “deliberately destroying the most ancient relic of Hindu history”.