In the past couple of years, there has been an explosion of Hindu-centric meme pages on social media with a significant number of followers. The meme pages are pretty diverse in their content and bursting with creativity. For instance, the Twitter handle @OGSaffron tweets aesthetic photographs with captions to motivate Hindus to invest their time in meaningful activities and spur them into action so that Dharma can be restored in India again. Then there’s the Facebook page ‘Hindu Nationalist Anime Girls‘ which does crossovers between anime and Hindu concepts.
Shivaji: “O Shri Bhavani, I seek your guidance!”
Bhavani: “Take this sword, O king, for I shall manifest through this sword and guide you.” pic.twitter.com/5mLFP6QLSo— OG Saffron (@OGSaffron) December 5, 2016
One such handle is ‘Dharmic Memes for Hindu Teens‘ which came up relatively recently on Twitter. Talking to OpIndia.com, the admins told us that the persons behind the account are a pair of brothers in their early 30s, who are regular office-goers. Their hometown is in Madhya Pradesh and they are currently residing in Haryana.
Talking about their inspiration to create the unique meme page, they said that their previous attempt at the dissemination of ideas wasn’t too successful. “We tried e-books, we failed. We tried podcasts, we failed. We created a super intellectual discussion forum and we failed. The attention span of a modern internet user is very less, they need quick engaging content and hence we decided on making memes”, said the founders.
न अन् ऋग्वेद विनीतस्य न अ-यजुर्वेद धारिणः |
न अ-साम वेद विदुषः शक्यम् एवम् विभाषितुम् ||How Shri Ram described Hanuman to Lakshman ji – Someone who doesn’t know vedas cannot speak in this way meaning Hanuman is definitely well versed with Vedas hence he speaks like a wise one pic.twitter.com/jvrKVMuFtO
— Dharmic Memes for Hindu Teens (@DharmicMemes) August 20, 2018
The purpose of the memes according to the creators of the account is to motivate individuals just enough to dig deeper into the scriptures, “The objective of Dharmic memes is to lure people into reading about our Dharm, our epics, our scriptures. It is supposed to serve as a teaser for people so that they get enough motivation to read the entire text, and we see the idea is already working.” The creators also appear to be well acquainted with the power of memes. “You may forget long articles, even the most well-researched ones. But memes, they stay with you.”
During Rajasuya Yagya Shishupal started abusing Shri Krishna.
Krishna – Use your words carefully Shishupal I have promised to forgive only 100 sins not more than that and you have already encashed those.
Shishupal – if that so then here is 101, do what you can do
Krishna – pic.twitter.com/U7mVlM4ElW
— Dharmic Memes for Hindu Teens (@DharmicMemes) July 29, 2018
The creators agree that social media has contributed greatly towards the rise of Hindutva, “Social Media has helped greatly in bridging the gap between knowledge and the knowledge seeker.” However, they admitted that it didn’t really affect their opinions at all or make them more ‘Dharmic’, it only gave them hope that all might not be lost and there is a ‘great chance of revival’ yet.
Good skills don’t come to us, we have to go and get them. pic.twitter.com/oFvHFeRWzb
— Dharmic Memes for Hindu Teens (@DharmicMemes) July 23, 2018
The creators made an interesting analogy when they were asked their opinion on the future of Hindutva, “Culture is like a rubber band. You stretch it to an extent and then it has the tendency to go back to the origin point. India has reached the limit of its elasticity and I see a great revival on its way. The coming generations will be more dharmic. Hindutva is here to stay.” They stated that they were not against any other religion, however, they believe a “Sanatan code of conduct will be best for the country.”
Related to ongoing events in Parliament. ?#NoConfidenceMotion pic.twitter.com/lFRl8XcQrv
— Dharmic Memes for Hindu Teens (@DharmicMemes) July 20, 2018
The creators of the account said that they haven’t really been inspired by any modern Hindu intellectual to any great degree. Valmiki and Ved Vyas remain their greatest inspirations, they admit. Over the course of the past couple of years, I have witnessed individuals who turned right-wing following specific events after they observed the behaviour and demeanour of the liberals on those occasions.
उल्टे वह हरि को बांधने चला ,जो था असाध्य साधने चला। pic.twitter.com/hXUUHVuuvP
— Dharmic Memes for Hindu Teens (@DharmicMemes) July 4, 2018
When asked if they were one of those, the brothers state that it was definitely not the case with them. “Our fascination towards Dharm was not driven by any incident or episode, we have always been like this. We come from the city of Mahakal!”
They also believe that the classification of the Indian political spectrum in terms of right-wing and left-wing is patently absurd as the concept is rooted in a European setting and is not particularly suited to India. They say with pride, “The only wings that we find refuge under is the wings of Vinata Nandan Garud!” The creators also lay great emphasis on Dharma and Karma. “A society without moral standards is destined to implode,” they say before going on to add, “a society in which individuals don’t do their duties becomes a chalet of degenerates.”
Lastly, when asked where they thought the country was headed and their opinions on the current political climate of the country, they used a clever analogy to convey their mind, “It’s a modern Devasur Sangram and thankfully the Devas are in power and I hope it remains the same for a long time.”
