India The Awesome Wrath of Rama

The god Rama is worshiped by many of India's 696 million Hindus as the embodiment of chivalry and virtue. But it was Shiva, the god of destruction, who showed his face last week as thousands of Rama devotees marched toward a 462-year-old Muslim mosque in Ayodhya, a site holy to both Hindus and Muslims in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Shouting "Break the mosque! Break the mosque!" about 100 stone-throwing crusaders pulled plaster from the walls and planted saffron-colored flags atop the shrine before they were driven off by police and paramilitary troops armed with tear gas, riot sticks and guns. At least six militants died; next day an additional 16 were killed as police used bullets and bamboo staves to hold back the crowds.

In defiance of government policy, Hindu militants have vowed to tear down the Babri mosque, which they believe was built on Rama's birthplace, and erect a temple of their own. As a result, more than 257 people have died over the past two weeks as clashes between Hindus and Muslims spread to cities in six other states.

The spasm of communal violence has almost brought down the 11-month-old government of Prime Minister V.P. Singh, who offered to resign for the second time in three months. It was the most serious challenge yet to Singh, who is struggling to hold his party together, even as the rise of Hindu nationalism threatens to undermine the secular foundations of the world's most populous democracy. Said S.R. Bommai, president of the Prime Minister's Janata Dal party: "The country is at a crossroads. We have to choose between secularism and religious fundamentalism, between democracy and mobocracy, between unity and disintegration."

The Ayodhya incident was just the latest blow to a government shaken by a series of crises. Two weeks ago, the Prime Minister's ruling coalition lost its majority in the parliament after Singh ordered the arrest of L.K. Advani, a Hindu nationalist who had refused to halt a five-week religious march to Ayodhya to support the construction of the Rama temple. Advani's Bharatiya Janata Party responded by withdrawing its backing from the government, a move intended to provoke Singh's downfall in a vote of confidence scheduled for this week.

Another volatile force tearing at India's fragile unity is the politics of caste. Two months ago, Singh opened that pandora's box by announcing that he was setting aside 27% of government jobs for Indians who belong to 3,000 designated "backward castes." The Prime Minister took the initiative to enlarge his support among lower-caste voters and cut into the B.J.P.'s and the opposition Congress (I) Party's power base. But it had the unanticipated effect of arousing ancient animosities among caste groups in the north and stirring violent protests, including self-immolations, by upper-caste students who felt they were being squeezed out of an already tight job market.

Singh is also wrestling with problems inherited from his predecessors, including separatist movements in Punjab, Assam, and Jammu and Kashmir that have claimed 4,000 lives this year. These rebellions are a reaction to the increasing centralization of power in New Delhi, particularly during the tenures of the late Indira Gandhi and her son, Rajiv, who was ousted as Prime Minister last November.