'I Have No Faith'

From Beliefnet's Hinduism archives, a column from Spring 2000. V.S. Naipaul won the Nobel Prize in Literature in October 2001.

"Do you have to believe in God to be a Hindu?" This piquant question has been posed--perhaps rhetorically--by Anil, a member of Beliefnet. His query, posted on this site's Hinduism section, has thus far gone unanswered by other members.

I am not about to answer Anil's question, or at least not directly; I would like, instead, to link it to a train of thought I've had recently.

The other day, I went to the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan to listen to a reading by V.S. Naipaul. The Anglo-Trinidadian-Indian writer is, in my opinion--and in the estimation of others--the most polished and clear-headed contemporary writer in the English language. He chose to read from "Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples," his last book on the subject of Islam--a religion he had addressed previously in "Among the Believers." Naipaul has not written books specifically about Christianity or Hinduism; Islam remains the only religion he has addressed directly and sought to analyze at length.

Yet I, and others, have always regarded Naipaul as a Hindu. To my mind, his most moving novel is "A House for Mr Biswas," whose themes, characters, and flavors were drawn from his own early life in Trinidad. It's a peerless and compelling portrait of Caribbean Hindu society, drawn by a man who fully grasped the nuances of Hindu hierarchy. In fact, as a Brahmin by birth, he has often benefited from the advantages afforded by that hierarchy. (To be fair, most commentary on his "Brahminic" side--whether disparaging or admiring--has come from others. The author has never accentuated his Brahmin-ness, even though his persnickety mien has often, and with reason, been taken for the high-handedness of the high-born.)

Recently, Naipaul gave his imprimatur to a book of letters, "Between Father and Son," the collected correspondence between his father, Seepersad, and himself. On National Public Radio, he described the letters as "a cultural record of our community, the Hindu community of Trinidad."

Imagine my surprise, then, when Naipaul shot down a question put to him at the 92nd Street Y, at the end of his reading session. Was he the follower of any religion? "I have no faith," was the writer's naked response.

He didn't mention Hinduism, and didn't say that he was a Hindu. (He added no footnotes to his one-line riposte, so we didn't find out, even, whether he is an atheist or an agnostic.) This takes me back to the question with which I started this column--do you have to believe in God, or have faith, to be a Hindu?

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