Doniger Does Doggie

Doniger Does Doggie
By Shrinivas Tilak

Let me begin with a clarification of the title, which was suggested by an “adult” film that had gained certain notoriety back in the 1970s. Called, “Debbie Does Dallas,” the film depicted exploits of a sex worker named Debbie with members of a professional sports team based in Dallas, Texas. I did not see the film but recollect from the newspaper accounts of the time that colloquially, the ‘doggie’ trick alludes to one of the more popular ‘positions’ in the sex act.

‘Doniger’ in the title refers to Wendy Doniger, who is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religion at the University of Chicago. The connection between ‘Debbie’ of the film and Professor Wendy Doniger (hereafter Doniger) is that they both are in the business of providing entertainment involving sex. Both employ bodies: Debbie her own; and Doniger the bodies of Hindu gods and goddesses.

Dogs (along with horses and cows) loom large in Doniger’s latest work. The index contains a dozen or so entries under the main heading of dogs for instance. The 779 pages book is officially entitled, “The Hindus: An Alternative History” (New York: The Penguin Press, 2009; hereafter The Hindus). In Doniger’s ‘alternative history’ (in reality it is more like a work of fiction and not at all a history) unfolding India and Hinduism, “dogs” represent “high caste Hindu males” who have according to her oppressed and repressed everybody else in India since the ancient Vedic times.

In Doniger’s reckoning, the traditional history of India (“a product of Brahmin imagination”), religious minorities and social outcastes are reduced to a status of a ‘scape-dog’ (or are they all underdogs) (p. 145) (these underdogs include Muslims who ruled over the Hindus and controlled territory larger than currently recognized as India for most of the last millennium; I told you this is a work of fiction!)

The main purpose of The Hindus, accordingly, is to provide a narrative account of alternative people who do not figure in the Brahmin-generated history — people who are “alternative” in the sense of “otherness,” people of other religions, or cultures, or castes, or species (even animals)(p.1). Having read The Hindus from cover to cover, I can say that Doniger lives up to her promise but at a terrible cost for Hindus and India.

Under the guise of providing an alternative history, the real nefarious agenda of The Hindus is to drive a wedge between Hindus and non-Hindus in India and elsewhere. In order to show how Hindus are so utterly unlike others Doniger engages in denigrating, distorting, and demeaning all Hindus (low or high caste, men or women) and what is worse, ‘defrocking’ (both theologically and sexually) their gods and goddesses.

Selectively picking mythic episodes (stories) from the Purana and the Tantra texts Doniger describes relations between gods and gods, between gods and goddesses, between goddesses and animals. Here, a god beheads another god; there, a goddess ‘hooks up’ with a buffalo [demon] and so on. See for instance chapter 14,‘Goddesses and Gods in the Early Puranas’ and chapter 15 ‘Sects and Sex in the Tantric Puranas and the Tantras.’

I will leave it to professional psychiatrists (like Dr. Shreekumar Vinekar) to analyze and interpret Doniger’s preoccupation with sex and pervert joy she finds in abstracting from Hindu myths sexual encounters (natural and ‘unnatural’) between gods/goddesses and humans or animals. Doniger claims that she is a ‘recovering Orientalist.’ Orientalism, she asserts, refers to a cluster of attitudes that implicated the first European scholars of India in the European colonization of India, overwhelming reliance on textual studies being one of them, pp.34-35). In truth, Doniger seems to have added a sexual dimension to the textual one in her so called studies of India and Hinduism.

Elsewhere Doniger does betray an awareness that Hindu views of animals are far more complex to capture by words like “sacred” or “impure.” Other people’s zoological taxonomies look bizarre only to people who view them through their own rather ethnocentric lenses (p. 659). The fact is: Doniger continues to look at all Hindu taxonomies through her unique ethnocentric lens.

Here, I will deal with two specific instances where Doniger clearly abandons the role of an unbiased, academic historian. While discussing the Taj Mahal in chapter 24‘The Past in the Present’ she claims, “One advocate of Hindutva has argued, on the basis of absolutely no evidence, that the Taj Mahal, in Agra, is not a [sic] Islamic mausoleum but an ancient Shiva temple…”(p. 679). Doniger herself does not bring any clear evidence for her assertion that the Taj Mahal is an Islamic mausoleum nor does she refer to any legitimate archeological study of Taj Mahal.

To date, the Archaeological Survey of India has not carried out a systematic survey of the Taj Mahal. Doniger does not mention P. N. Oak by name (the end note does provide reference to his book Taj Mahal: The True Story, 1989). There is growing evidence suggesting that it is still not clear who actually built the Taj Mahal or what its purpose was (see my blog “P. N. Oak: the lone fighter, etymologist, and historian” on www.sulekha.com for details).

After 686 pages, comes chapter 25 ‘In Conclusion, or, The Abuse of History,’ which is only 3 1/ 2 pages long! It begins with a long quotation attributed to Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar (1906-1973) who, claims Doniger, used the justifiable Hindu pride in religious tolerance to justify intolerance (p. 687). I have seen this quotation attributed to Golwalkar in dozens of so-called scholarly monographs by Western and Indian academics, historians, and Indologists who conveniently create a ‘straw-man’ out of Golwalkar as an iconic Hindu fanatic.

Like others Doniger demonizes Golwalkar and his thought as intolerant on the basis of just one paragraph from a small pamphlet “We, Our Nationhood Defined” (p 48-49). This is unhistorical, besides being incompetent and biased scholarship considering the fact that Golwalkar only translated that work into Hindi, originally written in Marathi by Balarao Savarkar, the younger brother of Vinayak D. Savarkar. It does not necessarily mean that Golwalkar, as the translator, endorsed or espoused all the ideas presented by Balarao Savarkar.

Furthermore, Golwalkar was active in India’s public life thirty-five years after the pamphlet came out and his collected works run up to thousands of printed pages collected in twelve volumes. One would expect a more nuanced assessment of Golwalkar from “one of the foremost scholars of Hinduism in the world” as claimed in the blurb. Those interested in an ‘alternative’ perspective on Golwalkar may consult my “Reawakening to a secular Hindu nation: M. S. Golwalkar’s vision of a dharmasapeksha Hindurashtra” (Charleston, SC: Book Surge Publications, 2008).

In sum, those who will rely on “The Hindus” to learn about Hindus in the history of India will do so at their own peril.

Dr. C.K. Raju has corrected a mistake made by Einstein

Dr. C.K. Raju, who helped India develop the Param supercomputer, has been selected for the Telesio-Galilei Academy of Science Award 2010 for pointing out a mistake made by Einstein and correcting it. See full citation.

Chandra Kant Raju
In physics, he defined a product of Schwartz distributions, and proposed an interpretation of quantum mechanics, dubbed the structured-time interpretation, and a model of physical time evolution. Also, he noted that every aspect of special relativity was published by Poincaré in papers between 1898 and 1905 and further noted that Einstein made a mistake on which much of modern physics has been built. He has proposed appropriate corrections. This award is made for these deep insights into these areas of physics.

Your Crime is Not Diminished by Time, or Apology

Only a devilish ideology can kill children on an industrial scale just for the pleasure of it. Sita Ram Goel called Christianity and Islam as evil ideologies that have arisen from the poison in human psyche. The more I read about their deeds and history, the more I tend to agree with him. 

How many missionaries or pastors have been hanged until now for crimes against humanity?

Your Crime is Not Diminished by Time, or Apology
Why Nothing has Changed for Victims of Church Torture, or for the Victimizers
By Rev. Kevin D. Annett  

“Its worse now, because I m supposed to be healed. They get away with everything and Im still here on the corner.” — Bingo, a homeless native survivor of Catholic Indian Residential schools, Vancouver, August 10, 2009

Here in Canada, I have an odd deja vu feeling these days that I’m working again on the Intensive Ward of the UBC Psychiatric Hospital, except somehow the patients have taken over.

It’s a feeling that’s reinforced whenever a smiling government or church official announces that the residential school era has “finally found closure” now that a few words have been uttered, and a bit of money thrown around. Somehow, these guys mistakenly believe that their liability and guilt as been diminished by their lawyers.

To stay sane, I stay close to people like Bingo and the many thousands of others who imagine they survived the electric shocks, the beatings, the sodomizing and starvation and tortures that were daily residential school life. It was official policy in Canada to destroy innocent children. Probably one hundred thousand children died at the hands of priests and nuns and other clergy, and their minions, many of whom still walk around free.

“Then I saw the priest take that little baby and throw him into the furnace. I heard a little cry and heard his body go pop in the flames. We weren’t ever supposed to tell.”

Irene Favel saw the burning alive of a newborn baby in the summer of 1944, not in Auschwitz, but in Lestock, Saskatchewan, at the Muscowequan Catholic Indian school. And she described it live on a national CBC television broadcast on July 3, 2008.

After the broadcast, no-one protested, save a handful. No outraged editorials responded with passion or appeal. No church official was ever charged or brought to trial.

In May of this year, an aboriginal woman named Charlotte Stewart and her sister Beryl held a press conference in Vancouver where they described watching their sister Vicky, age nine, get murdered in Edmonton by a United Church residential school employee named Ann Knizky.

“We want the United Church held responsible” said Charlotte to the two reporters who showed up.

“We want this woman brought to trial and the church to admit what happened. Vicky needs a memorial site so she won’t be forgotten.”

The church said all the predictably correct words, in a letter to Charlotte a month later, written only after the Stewarts threatened church officials with a lawsuit. But no-one is being held responsible, and the police are refusing to investigate.

On a national scale, this protection of perpetrators has been guaranteed by the Canadian government’s refusal to bring criminal charges against the churches for their killing of all those children. And the same guilty churches have even helped to choose the “Truth and Reconciliation” commissioners who will pretend to “investigate” the residential schools while promising that no names will be named or wrongdoing reported.

This kind of miscarriage of justice is called “healing and reconciliation” in Canada.

I won’t ask the obvious question anymore, which is how can church and state get away so easily with such a huge and monstrous crime. We know exactly how. The question is not even why might makes right, or how religion can sanctify murder, for history teaches us why.

Instead, what is suddenly confronting all of us, including the Pope and the Queen of England, is the realization that we cannot escape ourselves, or our own history.

We try to evade ourselves, of course, all the time. Many Canadians now really believe that we have somehow made better what happened at our hands to Indians, as if money and words ever heal anything. For every lawyer-crafted “apology”, every bit of hush money doled out anonymously, is designed to do something more basic than protect blood-soaked institutions, and that is simply to continue our own self-deception.

You don’t have to stand next to a residential school survivor, or a United Church clergyman, for more than five minutes to know that nothing has changed, for any of us. The survivor is still as crushed as ever, and the clergyman is just as stupidly self-justifying. And little Vicky Stewart still lies, unavenged and unremembered, in the cold earth.

And yet while nothing really has changed for us, the truth is finally out there, like a pesky virus in our body politic, threatening to germinate in our soul and change us.

Jesus once compared the kingdom of heaven to a tiny mustard seed, a very strange but compelling metaphor, since such a seed transforms any garden into a mass of weeds that chokes out all other contenders. The truth is like that, which is why we fear it so.

Nothing has been resolved, or reconciled, or healed. The churches and governments that planned and carried out horrible crimes against children are still as liable and guilty as they ever were, regardless of “compensation” and court-ordered gag orders. Native people continue to die in droves, and their land keeps being stolen. And it is the simple job of anyone who knows and love the truth to say and show this to the criminal parties, and dislocate them.

I watched with wondrous joy this summer when thousands of Irish men and women crowded the streets of Dublin with their outrage that the church could absolve itself, and be absolved, of its violence and murder against children. And I wait, and wait, for Canadians or Americans to demonstrate a similar clarity and courage.

And yet we can reverse our complicity, simply by understanding, and declaring, that the residential school crimes are not resolved, that the process of justice, cleansing and moral accounting has just begun, and that the churches and governments and persons responsible for genocide must and will be brought to public trial and sentencing.

We did so at Nuremburg, against other people. Can we do it now, against ourselves? And by doing so, find ourselves again?

Kevin Annett is a former minister with the United Church of Canada who was fired without cause in 1995 when he questioned the church over its killing of children in its Alberni Indian residential school. He is the author of two books and the co-producer of an award-winning documentary film on genocide in Canada. He is the Secretary of The Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared, and lives and works with aboriginal and low-income people as a community educator and minister in Vancouver, Canada.

For more information contact Kevin at: hiddenfromhistory@yahoo.ca This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or through his website at: www.hiddenfromhistory.org

Kevin Annett
260 Kennedy St.
Nanaimo, B.C. Canada V9R 2H8
Ph: 250-753-3345

Read and Hear the truth of Genocide in Canada, past and present, at this website: www.hiddenfromhistory.org

Film Trailer to Kevin’s award-winning documentary film UNREPENTANT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8HB5cbKHDU&feature=related

The glory of ancient Hindu astronomers

Earth’s Rotation, Globular Shape and Gravity

When we talk of the earth going around the sun as it has always done, its globular shape, the different seasons, different lengths of day and night, mind goes back to Galileo and Copernicus, scared to death, holding the truth back lest the fury of the church falls upon them for letting the world know the reality of nature. When one thinks of gravity one thinks of Newton sitting under an apple tree watching an apple fall to the ground and Newton proclaiming “Lo! there is gravity.”

If I were to say Hindu philosophers talked and wrote about gravity and the globular shape of the earth centuries before Newton and Galileo and Copernicus, and quoted Hindu sources, I would not only be dismissed as a “fanatical Hindu communalist” by our ‘all-knowing-secular intellectuals’ but also incur their wrath.  And who wants that?

In order to state the truth and make it acceptable to our ‘all-knowing-secular intellectuals’ let me seek the help of a Muslim scholar from Central Asia. Who around 1030 AD wrote a very comprehensive book “Indica” about India — its literature, its philosophy, its religion, its culture, its languages, its history, its geography, its customs, its sciences including astronomy.  I am talking about Abu-Raihan Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Alberuni — a scholar and a devout genuine Muslim by all standards.

Before I go into what Alberuni wrote let us take some time to find out more about this man — Alberuni.

———- Click here to read more —————

Stink from the Toilet Paper

Dirty laundry at the Times of India
By Raja M

MUMBAI – It’s official: the world’s largest-circulated English daily has been involved in some shady business. Exposing a long-known trade fact, a leading Mumbai English tabloid, Mid-Day, last week published the “rates” for purchasing editorial features in the Times of India. The Times has not issued a denial, and the rogue rate card seems to be the latest indicator of rotting media ethics and tolerance in India for corruption.

For sums ranging from US$45,000 to $66,000, the Mid-Day story alleged, one could buy a news feature plugging their business, get interviewed (the business owner supplies the questions and answers themselves) and have their picture published on the much-scorned Page 3 of the Bombay Times, the city supplement of the Times of India.

Decoding the Hindu trinity

Decoding the Hindu trinity

In Hindu mythology, there are three worlds, three goddesses and three gods. 

By Devdutt Pattanaik

Why there was no freedom movement based on Hindu nationalism?

Koenraad Elst in his article makes the point that many young Indian revolutionaires joined the Indian communist movement because they did not agree with the non-violent nonsense of Gandhi but had nowhere else to go. Joining the communists was the only alternative they had to Gandhian muddle-headedness.

The freedom movement had two main strains: one of Gandhi and the other of revolutionaries. Strangely, there was no strain that was rooted in Hindu nationalism. (This strain was last seen only in 1857 when Indian sepoys fought to “protect their dharma.”) What did the British do since then to ensure a mass movement of Hindus based on Hindu religion and nationalism never appeared in India again?

In any other society, a freedom movement based on the assertiveness of native ethos and culture against a hostile invader would have been the most natural outcome of being ruled forcefully by a predatory and brutal colonial power.

But in India, such a movement was missing among the Hindus though it was thriving among Muslims through the Muslim League. Why was there no Muslim League version among the Hindus that was grounded in Hindu religion and that strove to recapture political power from the British. This is an interesting question. Who was responsible for thwarting a movement that should have come naturally to the Hindus in India?

Was Gandhi introduced into India by the British precisely to thwart such a Hindu movement from emerging? (Gandhi came to India from South Africa on a Christian missionary’s advice.) Did Hedgewar make a blunder by rejecting offers to integrate RSS with the Hindu Mahasabha in political work for national independence and for the safeguarding of Hindu interests?

Hindu Mahasabha was the only political body of Hindus grounded in Hindu religion. But it could never become a mass movement. Why? Did Hindus make a mistake by rejecting a body formed to unabashedly safeguard their interests and supporting Gandhi who was there only to safeguard Muslim interests? Seeing this, Aurobindo derisively remarked that “Hindus have lost the capability to think.”

The all-India volunteer network of the RSS allied with the political vision of Hindu Mahasabha would have resulted in a powerful movement of Hindu nationalists who wanted to rule the land. It could have counter-balanced Jinnah’s Muslim separatism and offered Indian revolutionaries an alternative to Marxism.

Jyoti Basu and The Unnecessary Success of Indian Communism

By Dr. Koenraad Elst

Jyoti Basu’s demise is not the end of an era. The heyday of Communism in India is over, that turn has already been taken some years ago, with the electoral defeat of the Communist Parties of 2009 a major step downwards. Neither is the end near, for in India Communism is far more alive and combative than in almost any other country, with a formidable presence on the ground (Northeast, Jharkhand-Telengana corridor), in the trade-unions, in academe and in the parliaments of several states.

Communism’s persistent grip on West Bengal in particular is very largely Jyoti Basu’s own work. While the CPI supported the Emergency and took a leadershiop role in its enforcement, Jyoti Basu’s CPM opposed it, and he rode the wave of anti-Emergency resistance to power in 1977. After he led the state for 23 years, his successor Buddhadev Bhattacharya is still capitalizing on the party’s power position that Mr. Basu built.

His personal character shines rather brightly compared with the venality of hollowness of so many Congress, casteist and even BJP politicians. Like his Kerala counterpart, the late E.M.S. Namboodiripad, he showed that Marxism-Leninism requires from its votaries a lifestyle of discipline and dedication. The Communists, both inside and outside his own party, have reason to deplore the passing of a hero of their movement.

But what should the rest of us remember him for? He was born in a “bourgeois” family in Kolkata and had the privilege of studying in England. There he joined the freedom struggle and, through this involvement, came closer to the Communist Party of Great Britain. Only because the party instructed him to, he postponed full membership until after his return to India. In 1946 he was elected for the first time to the Bengal parliament, where the Communists supported the plans for the imminent Partition.

Many leading Communists (and other leftists, like Amartya Sen) were from East Bengal and found to their dismay that like all other Hindus, they had to flee the new state of Pakistan to India, the country whose unity they had betrayed. Unperturbed, they continued the anti-Hindu line they had shared with the Muslim league during the struggle for Partition. Once in power, the Communists patronized the immigration and integatrion of millions of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

At the end of his term, Mr. Basu even toyed with the idea of rebaptizing “West Bengal” as just “Bengal”, to do away with the implication that next to “West” Bengal, “there was another part tucked away somewhere”. That was a pretty crass instance of the Communists’ tendency to rewrite history at their own convenience, for of course there does exist another part, the East Bengal that the Communists themselves helped to give away to the Jihadi forces.

We should take this opportunity to highlight one phenomenon, which was concentrated mostly in pre-Independence Bengal, viz. the move of a large majority of revolutionaries — particularly from the Anushilan Samiti circuit — to join the Communist movement. An auxiliary reason for this development was British aid: revolutionary prisoners were given Marxist literature, because the British knew that the Communists opposed terrorist violence and aimed for a mass uprising in the long term, thus leaving British (and other oppressors’) lives out of harm’s way until the time of the Revolution.

Hindu nationalists who easily resort to cheap blame-the-British scenarios (“Jinnah was brainwashed by the British into trading in nationalism for separatism”), tend to overplay the importance of this; the British could only reinforce a tendency already in operation. After the success of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917-20, it was but natural that activists of a revolutionary temperament worldwide would feel attracted to Marxism. At least, they did so wherever an alternative was lacking. In Italy, many joined the Fascist movement and grabbed power in 1923 on a very similar wave of revolutionary enthusiasm.

Did India have an alternative? The freedom movement was captured by M.K. Gandhi in 1920 and left no room for revolutionaries, whom Gandhi emphatically disowned and condemned. The fledgling RSS, founded by an Anushilan Samiti disappointee, Dr. K.B. Hedgewar, renounced politics and preferred work in the sphere of culture, social self-organization and “character building”. Hedgewar rejected offers to integrate his volunteer corps with the Hindu Mahasabha in political work for national independence and for the safeguarding of Hindu interests.

So, it is likely that many revolutionaries, initially motivated only love of India and freedom, turned to Marxism not because of this ideology’s intrinsic strengths, but for lack of a native ideological alternative. Revolution-minded people obviously could not reconcile with Gandhian nonsense, anymore than the moderate constitutionalists (including the young Jinnah) could. They wanted to act decisively against the British colonialists, and also against backward social forces hampering the devolution of the fruits of freedom to the masses. Naturally they had no patience with Gandhism and associated anachronisms.

One alternative that might be cited is represented by the lone figure of Swami Shraddhananda. He stood for national freedom as well for an uncompromising stand against inequality and social injustice. But the party he co-founded, the Hindu Mahasabha, was soon embroiled in compromise with Hindus who supported the freedom struggle but practised the politics of the dead weight against social reform. Also, it did not involve itself in revolutionary struggle, not in terrorism of course, but not even in theoretical exercises planning for a revolutionary overthrow of colonialism in the long term.

Lenin, while renouncing “childhood diseases of Communism” such as stray terror, did teach a long-term strategy for taking power and imposing an unalloyed new order. Nobody in India seems to understand the challenge and the need for a convincing native alternative.

Sri Aurobindo lamented that the mind of the Hindus had become dysfunctional, but he too failed to formulate an alternative, let alone to work for it. After his personal experience with the failure of the armed struggle, he soon retired from politics and, while giving lucid comments on political evolutions, never came out again to provide practical leadership. All this while, Gandhi worked on people’s emotions, but the Marxists worked on their minds, and their penetration was more enduring.

Thus we see a long list of freedom fighters taking up Marxism and Socialism of various varieties. Not all these men and women were Marxists in the true sense, they only wanted to serve the national cause but not the Gandhian way. Thus, the problem was a lack of native Indian/Hindu vision and an ensuing line of action. We should not paint each and every Communist as a villain, but highlight the fact that a true native ideological narrative needs to be developed from scratch (if needed) and articulated. This would address a historical lacuna in India. Indian Marxism will die a natural death only when such a vision emerges.

How free are we?

How Free Are We?
Yes, the rise of Hindu nationalism is indeed a major threat to intellectual freedom in the study of India, but it’s also time to confront a climate of implicit censorship that leads to its own pathology
Jakob De Roover

Brilliant article by Jakob about the gang of Indian secularists, brown sepoys and American Christian fundamentalists in American universities, all of whom have come together in a wolf pack to brutally censor Hinduism studies.

Female Feticide – A Mysterious Propaganda

Female Feticide – A Mysterious Propaganda

Now-a-days you will not see a single week without an article about female feticide in Indian dailies and magazines. Center for Social Research (CSR) in its annual report says ‘Family tradition and dowry system emerged as the two major causes of female feticides’. This quote is one of the favorites of Indian feminazis as well. Here is a common man’s arm-chair research and analysis about this issue based on the available historical census data of India in comparison with two other countries China and USA.

Which agencies gain by spreading this propaganda non-stop about the Hindus? What is the objective?

Give Indians proper credit for Algebra

Give Indians proper credit for Algebra
By Vir Gupta

During his speech on June 4 in Cairo, Egypt, President Barack Obama gave credit to Muslims for invention of many things, including algebra. I would like to bring out  the facts about the history of Algebra.

The credit for the first use of algebra probably goes to the Babylonians, who solved some quadratic problems verbally, but recognized only positive roots. During the time of Plato, Greeks used geometry to solve algebraic problems. Later, Diophantus (about 350 A.D.) wrote some rules for multiplication and division and solved some simple problems in “Arithmetica”. His algebra was syncopated and rhetorical.

 Indians have a long history of using mathematics.Fire altars were constructed using Pythagora’s theorem long before Pythagoras. A decimal system for weights and measures was used in the Indus Valley (2500 B.C.). Numbers in multiples of 2, 7, 10, 100 and even one million are found in several books, including “Narad Vishnu Purana” (1000 B.C.), “Anuyog Dwara Sutra ” (100 B.C.), “Lalitvistara” (100 A.D.) and several Mahayana Buddhist books. “Anuyog Dwara Sutra” also gives multiplication of square roots of square roots. Basic use of logarithm appears in “Satkhandagama” (150 A.D.).

The Bakhshali manuscript (200 A.D.) found near Peshawar in Pakistan includes fractions, square roots, quadratic equations, simultaneous equations, arithmetic and geometric progressions etc.

Aryabhatta (499 A.D.), a great Indian astronomer, wrote 118 verses in “Aryabhattiya” which cover several areas including arithmetic, algebra, plane and spherical trigonometry. It includes continued fractions, square roots, cube roots, quadratic equations, sum of power series and a table of sines. He introduced the Kuttaka method (breaking down of original factors into smaller numbers). He gave the circumference of Earth as 4,967 yojanas (24,835 miles) and stated that Earth moves around the sun long before Copernicus.

Brahmgupta (628 A.D.), another eminent Indian astronomer, wrote “Brahm-saphuta-siddhanta”, containing 25 chapters in which he gave several rules for arithmetical operations involving zero. He solved several quadratic equations and gave both positive and negative roots. In his book, he also solves several indeterminate problems.

In addition, he worked on trigonometry and gave the area of cyclic quadrilaterals and the interpolation formula for computation of sines. In astronomy, he dealt with lunar eclipses, etc. He introduced some symbols in algebra, but it was mostly syncopated.
 
Other Indians who made significant contributions to arithmetic/algebra include Varahamihir (505 A.D.), Bhaskara I (680 A.D.), Mahavira (800 A.D.), Madhva (850 A.D.) and Bhaskara II (1114 A.D.). Mahavira wrote solutions to several arithmetic operations, including fractions, permutations and combinations, and areas of ellipses. The works of Bhaskara II, include beej ganita (algebraic root extraction), astronomy, the solution to Pell’s equation, solutions to indeterminate problems by the Chakrawaat method and Diophantine problems. He broached the fields of infinitesimal calculation and integration. He postulated the existence of gurutava (gravitational attraction).

Destruction of several universities by Muslim invaders around 724 A.D., 786 A.D. and 1200 A.D. brought an end to India’s dominance in the field of mathematics.

During the 8th century A.D., several Sanskrit works were translated into Arabic in Baghdad. (Baghdad means “gift of God” in Sanskrit.) During the 9th century A.D., Caliph al-Mamun established a “House of Wisdom” in Baghdad and invited scholars from many countries, including India, Persia, and Greece, etc., to translate mathematical and other works into Arabic. Persian scholar al-Khwarizmi wrote about half a dozen books on astronomy and mathematics.

His most famous work, “Hisab al-jabr wa’l muqabalah”, was written around 830 A.D. It consists of six chapters, each dealing with a different formula. Muslims give him credit for the invention of algebra. As per O’Connor and Robertson, researchers at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, al-Khwarizmi visited India and took with him several mathematical works to Baghdad. His book on algebra was based mostly on the works by Brahmgupta (628 A.D.). Most of his algebra can be described as rhetorical.

Muslim scholars never developed symbols, which were necessary for advancement. They also rejected negative roots of quadratic equations, although they had learned from Hindus, as per O’Connor and Robertson. However, they improved upon the Hindu number system and the positional notations. Other notable Muslim scholars include al-Karkhi (953 A.D.), Omar Khayyam (1050 A.D.), al-Tushi (1135 A.D.) and Jamshid al-Kashi (1380 A.D.). The work of al-Khwarizmi and other Muslim scholars reached Europe around 1200 A.D. and they mistakenly gave credit for the invention of zero and other numerals – and algebra – to Muslims.

On the whole, Muslims’ contribution to the advancement in algebra is very small.

The real credit should go to Indians. As far as Obama is concerned, he should present only the facts.

Shree Vir Gupta is a nuclear/chemical engineer with a deep interest in Hinduism and Buddhism.

Uttarpara Speech of Sri Aurobindo

Uttarpara Speech

30 May 1909

By Sri Aurobindo
When I was asked to speak to you at the annual meeting of your Sabha, it was my intention to say a few words about the subject chosen for today, the subject of the Hindu religion. I do not know now whether I shall fulfil that intention; for as I sat here, there came into my mind a word that I have to speak to you, a word that I have to speak to the whole of the Indian Nation. It was spoken first to myself in jail and I have come out of jail to speak it to my people.

It was more than a year ago that I came here last. When I came I was not alone; one of the mightiest prophets of Nationalism (Bipin Chandra Pal) sat by my side. It was he who then came out of the seclusion to which God had sent him, so that in the silence and solitude of his cell he might hear the word that He had to say. It was he that you came in your hundreds to welcome. Now he is far away, separated from us by thousands of miles.

Others whom I was accustomed to find working beside me are absent. The storm that swept over the country has scattered them far and wide. It is I this time who have spent one year in seclusion, and now that I come out I find all changed. One who always sat by my side and was associated in my work is a prisoner in Burma; another is in the north rotting in detention. I looked round when I came out, I looked round for those to whom I had been accustomed to look for counsel and inspiration. I did not find them. There was more than that.

When I went to jail the whole country was alive with the cry of Bande Mataram, alive with the hope of a nation, the hope of millions of men who had newly risen out of degradation. When I came out of jail I listened for that cry, but there was instead a silence. A hush had fallen on the country and men seemed bewildered; for instead of God’s bright heaven full of the vision of the future that had been before us, there seemed

to be overhead a leaden sky from which human thunders and lightnings rained.

No man seemed to know which way to move, and from all sides came the question, “What shall we do next? What is there that we can do?” I too did not know which way to move, I too did not know what was next to be done. But one thing I knew, that as it was the Almighty Power of God which had raised that cry, that hope, so it was the same Power which had sent down that silence.

He who was in the shouting and the movement was also in the pause and the hush. He has sent it upon us, so that the nation might draw back for a moment and look into itself and know His will. I have not been disheartened by that silence because I had been made familiar with silence in my prison and because I knew it was in the pause and the hush that I had myself learned this lesson through the long year of my detention.

When Bepin Chandra Pal came out of jail, he came with a message, and it was an inspired message. I remember the speech he made here. It was a speech not so much political as religious in its bearing and intention. He spoke of his realisation in jail, of God within us all, of the Lord within the nation, and in his subsequent speeches also he spoke of a greater than ordinary force in the movement and a greater than ordinary purpose before it.

Now I also meet you again, I also come out of jail, and again it is you of Uttarpara who are the first to welcome me, not at a political meeting but at a meeting of a society for the protection of our religion. That message which Bepin Chandra Pal received in Buxar jail, God gave to me in Alipore. That knowledge He gave to me day after day during my twelve months of imprisonment and it is that which He has commanded me to speak to you now that I have come out.I knew I would come out.

The year of detention was meant only for a year of seclusion and of training. How could anyone hold me in jail longer than was necessary for God’s purpose? He had given me a word to speak and a work to do, and until that word was spoken I knew that no human power could hush me, until that work was done no human power could stop God’s instrument, however weak that instrument might be or however small.
Now that I have come out, even in these few minutes, a word has been suggested to me which I had no wish to speak. The thing I had in my mind He has thrown from it and what I speak is under an impulse and a compulsion.
When I was arrested and hurried to the Lal Bazar hajat I was shaken in faith fora while, for I could not look into the heart of His intention. Therefore I faltered for a moment and cried out in my heart to Him, “What is this that has happened to me? I believed that I had a mission to work for the people of my country and until that work was done, I should have Thy protection. Why then am I here and on such a charge?”

A day passed and a second day and a third, when a voice came to me from within, “Wait and see.” Then I grew calm and waited. I was taken from Lal Bazar to Alipore and was placed for one month in a solitary cell apart from men. There I waited day and night for the voice of God within me, to know what He had to say to me, to learn what I had to do. In this seclusion the earliest realisation, the first lesson came to me. I remembered then that a month or more before my arrest, a call had come to me to put aside all activity, to go in seclusion and to look into myself, so that I might enter into closer communion with Him.

I was weak and could not accept the call. My work was very dear to me and in the pride of my heart I thought that unless I was there, it would suffer or even fail and cease; therefore I would not leave it. It seemed to me that He spoke to me again and said, “The bonds you had not the strength to break, I have broken for you, because it is not my will nor was it ever my intention that that should continue.

I have had another thing for you to do and it is for that I have brought you here, to teach you what you could not learn for yourself and to train you for my work.” Then He placed the Gita in my hands. His strength entered into me and I was able to do the sadhana of the Gita. I was not only to understand intellectually but to realise what Sri Krishna demanded of Arjuna and what He demands of those who aspire to do His work, to be free from repulsion and desire, to do work for Him without the demand for fruit, to renounce self will and become a passive and faithful instrument in His hands, to have an equal heart for high and low, friend and opponent, success and failure, yet not to do His work negligently. I realised what the Hindu religion meant.

We speak often of the Hindu religion, of the Sanatana Dharma, but few of us really know what that religion is. Other religions are mainly religions of faith and profession, but the Sanatana Dharma is life itself; it is a thing that has not so much to be believed as lived. This is the Dharma that for the salvation of humanity was cherished in the seclusion of this peninsula from of old.
It is to give this religion that India is rising. She does not rise as other countries do, for self or when she is strong, to trample on the weak. She is rising to shed the eternal light entrusted to her over the world. India has always existed for humanity and not for herself and it is for humanity and not for herself that she must be great.

Therefore this was the next thing He pointed out to me, – He made me realise the central truth of the Hindu religion. He turned the hearts of my jailors to me and they spoke to the Englishman in charge of the jail, “He is suffering in his confinement; let him at least walk outside his cell for half an hour in the morning and in the evening.”

So it was arranged, and it was while I was walking that His strength again entered into me. I looked the jail that secluded me from men and it was no longer by its high walls that I was imprisoned; no, it was Vasudeva who surrounded me. I walked under the branches of the tree in front of my cell but it was not the tree, I knew it was Vasudeva, it was Sri Krishna whom I saw standing there and holding over me his shade.

I looked at the bars of my cell, the very grating that did duty for a door and again I saw Vasudeva. It was Narayana who was guarding and standing sentry over me. Or I lay on the coarse blankets that were given me for a couch and felt the arms of Sri Krishna around me, the arms of my Friend and Lover. This was the first use of the deeper vision He gave me. I looked at the prisoners in the jail, the thieves, the murderers, the swindlers, and as I looked at them I saw Vasudeva, it was Narayana whom I found in these darkened souls and misused bodies.
Amongst these thieves and dacoits there were many who put me to shame by their sympathy, their kindness, the humanity triumphant over such adverse circumstances. One I saw among them especially, who seemed to me a saint, a peasant of my nation who did not know how to read and write, an alleged dacoit sentenced to ten years’ rigorous  imprisonment, one of those whom we look down upon in our Pharisaical pride of class as Chhotalok. Once more He spoke to me and said, “Behold the people among whom I have sent you to do a little of my work. This is the nature of the nation I am raising up and the reason why I raise them.”
When the case opened in the lower court and we were brought before the Magistrate I was followed by the same insight. He said to me, “When you were cast into jail, did not your heart fail and did you not cry out to me, where is Thy protection? Look now at the Magistrate, look now at the Prosecuting Counsel.” I looked and it was not the Magistrate whom I saw, it was Vasudeva, it was Narayana who was sitting there on the bench.

I looked at the Prosecuting Counsel and it was not the Counsel for the prosecution that I saw; it was Sri Krishna who sat there, it was my Lover and Friend who sat there and smiled. “Now do you fear?” He said, “I am in all men and I over-rule their actions and their words. My protection is still with you and you shall not fear. This case which is brought against you, leave it in my hand. It is not for you. It was not for the trial that I brought you here but for something else. The case itself is only a means for my work and nothing more.”
Afterwards when the trial opened in the Sessions Court, I began to write many instructions for my Counsel as to what was false in the evidence against me and on what points the witnesses might be cross-examined. Then something happened which I had not expected. The arrangements which had been made for my defence were suddenly changed and another Counsel stood there to defend me. He came unexpectedly, – a friend of mine, but I did not know he was coming.

You have all heard the name of the man who put away from him all other thoughts and abandoned all his practice, who sat up half the night day after day for months and broke his health to save me, – Srijut Chittaranjan Das. When I saw him, I was satisfied, but I still thought it necessary to write instructions. Then all that was put away from me and I had the message from within, “This is the man who will save you from the snares put around your feet. Put aside those papers. It is not you who will instruct him. I will instruct him.”

From that time I did not of myself speak a word to my Counsel about the case or give a single instruction, and if ever I was asked a question, I always found that my answer did not help the case. I had left it to him and he took it entirely into his hands, with what result you know. I knew all along what He meant for me, for I heard it again and again, always I listened to the voice within; “I am guiding, therefore fear not. Turn to your own work for which I have brought you to jail and when you come out, remember never to fear, never to hesitate. Remember that it is I who am doing this, not you nor any other. Therefore whatever clouds may come, whatever dangers and sufferings, whatever difficulties, whatever impossibilities, there is nothing impossible, nothing difficult. I am in the nation and its uprising and I am Vasudeva, I am Narayana, and what I will, shall be, not what others will. What I choose to bring about, no human power can stay.”
Meanwhile He had brought me out of solitude and placed me among those who had been accused along with me. You have spoken much today of my self-sacrifice and devotion to my country. I have heard that kind of speech ever since I came out of jail, but I hear it with embarrassment, with something of pain. For I know my weakness, I am a prey to my own faults and backslidings. I was not blind to them before and when they all rose up against me in seclusion, I felt them utterly. I knew them that I the man was a man of weakness, a faulty and imperfect instrument, strong only when a higher strength entered into me.

Then I found myself among these young men and in many of them I discovered a mighty courage, a power of self-effacement in comparison with which I was simply nothing. I saw one or two who were not only superior to me in force and character, – very many were that, – but in the promise of that intellectual ability on which I prided myself. He said to me, “This is the young generation, the new and mighty nation that is arising at my command. They are greater than yourself. What have you to fear? If you stood aside or slept, the work would still be done. If you were cast aside tomorrow, here are the young men who will take up your work and do it more mightily than you have ever done. You have only got some strength from me to speak a word to this nation which will help to raise it.” This was the next thing He told me.
Then a thing happened suddenly and in a moment I was hurried away to the seclusion of a solitary cell. What happened to me during that period I am not impelled to say, but only that day after day, He showed me His wonders and made me realise the utter truth of the Hindu religion.

I had many doubts before. I was brought up in England amongst foreign ideas and an atmosphere entirely foreign. About many things in Hinduism I had once been inclined to believe that they were imaginations, that there was much of dream in it, much that was delusion and Maya. But now day after day I realised in the mind, I realised in the heart, I realised in the body the truths of the Hindu religion. They became living experiences to me, and things were opened to me which no material science could explain. When I first approached Him, it was not entirely in the spirit of the Jnani. I came to Him long ago in Baroda some years before the Swadeshi began and I was drawn into the public field.
When I approached God at that time, I hardly had a living faith in Him. The agnostic was in me, the atheist was in me, the sceptic was in me and I was not absolutely sure that there was a God at all. I did not feel His presence. Yet something drew me to the truth of the Vedas, the truth of the Gita, the truth of the Hindu religion. I felt there must be a mighty truth somewhere in this Yoga, a mighty truth in this religion based on the Vedanta. So when I turned to the Yoga and resolved to practise it and find out if my idea was right, I did it in this spirit and with this prayer to Him, “If Thou art, then Thou knowest my heart. Thou knowest that I do not ask for Mukti, I do not ask for anything which others ask for. I ask only for strength to uplift this nation, I ask only to be allowed to live and work for this people whom I love and to whom I pray that I may devote my life.”

I strove long for the realisation of Yoga and at last to some extent I had it, but in what I most desired, I was not satisfied. Then in the seclusion of the jail, of the solitary cell I asked for it again. I said, “Give me Thy Adesh (command). I do not know what work to do or how to do it. Give me a message.”

In the communion of Yoga two messages came. The first message said, “I have given you a work and it is to help to uplift this nation. Before long the time will come when you will have to go out of jail; for it is not my will that this time either you should be convicted or that you should pass the time, as others have to do, in suffering for their country. I have called you to work, and that is the Adesh for which you have asked. I give you the Adesh to go forth and do my work.”

The second message came and it said, “Something has been shown to you in this year of seclusion, something about which you had your doubts and it is the truth of the Hindu religion. It is this religion that I am raising up before the world, it is this that I have perfected and developed through the Rishis, saints and Avatars, and now it is going forth to do my work among the nations. I am raising up this nation to send forth my word. This is the Sanatana Dharma, this is the eternal religion which you did not really know before, but which I have now revealed to you. The agnostic and the sceptic in you have been answered, for I have given you proofs within and without you, physical and subjective, which have satisfied you. When you go  forth, speak to your nation always this word, that it is for the Sanatana Dharma that they arise, it is for the world and not for themselves that they arise. I am giving them freedom for the service of the world. When therefore it is said that India shall rise, it is the Sanatana Dharma that shall be great. When it is said that India shall expand and extend herself, it is the Sanatana Dharma that shall expand and extend itself over the world. It is for the Dharma and by the Dharma that India exists. To magnify the religion means to magnify the country. I have shown you that I am everywhere and in all men and in all things, that I am in this movement and I am not only working in those who are striving for the country but I am working also in those who oppose them and stand in their path. I am working in everybody and whatever men may think or do, they can do nothing but help in my purpose. They also are doing my work, they are not my enemies but my instruments. In all your actions you are moving forward without knowing which way you move. You mean to do one thing and you do another. You aim at a result and your efforts subserve one that is different or contrary. It is Shakti that has gone forth and entered into the people. Since long ago I have been preparing this uprising and now the time has come and it is I who will lead it to its fulfilment.”

This then is what I have to say to you. The name of your society is “Society for the Protection of Religion”. Well, the protection of the religion, the protection and upraising before the world of the Hindu religion, that is the work before us. But what is the Hindu religion? What is this religion which we call Sanatana, eternal? It is the Hindu religion only because the Hindu nation has kept it, because in this Peninsula it grew up in the seclusion of the sea and the Himalayas, because in this sacred and ancient land it was given as a charge to the Aryan race to preserve through the ages. But it is not circumscribed by the confines of a single country, it does not belong peculiarly and for ever to a bounded part of the world.

That which we call the Hindu religion is really the eternal religion, because it is the universal religion which embraces all others. If a religion is not universal, it cannot be eternal. A narrow religion, a sectarian religion, an exclusive religion can live only for a limited time and a limited purpose. This is the one religion that can triumph over materialism by including and anticipating the discoveries of science and the speculations of philosophy. It is the one religion which impresses on mankind the closeness of God to us and embraces in its compass all the possible means by which man can approach God.

It is the one religion which insists every moment on the truth which all religions acknowledge that He is in all men and all things and that in Him we move and have our being. It is the one religion which enables us not only to understand and believe this truth but to realise it with every part of our being. It is the one religion which shows the world what the world is, that it is the Lila of Vasudeva.

It is the one religion which shows us how we can best play our part in that Lila, its subtlest laws and its noblest rules. It is the one religion which does not separate life in any smallest detail from religion, which knows what immortality is and has utterly removed from us the reality of death.

This is the word that has been put into my mouth to speak to you today. What I intended to speak has been put away from me, and beyond what is given to me I have nothing to say. It is only the word that is put into me that I can speak to you. That word is now finished. I spoke once before with this force in me and I said then that this movement is not a political movement and that nationalism is not politics but a religion, a creed, a faith. I say it again today, but I put it in another way. I say no longer that nationalism is a creed, a religion, a faith; I say that it is the Sanatana Dharma which for us is nationalism. This Hindu nation was born with the Sanatana Dharma, with it, it moves and with it, it grows.

When the Sanatana Dharma declines, then the nation declines, and if the Sanatana Dharma were capable of perishing, with the Sanatana Dharma it would perish.

 The Sanatana Dharma that is nationalism.

 This is the message that I have to speak to you.

India’s GDP in 1500 AD

Indian and Chinese GDP in 1500 AD before Goras had looted them. People forget that these two countries were the richest in the world until 1800 and had remained so for the last four thousand years. The “prosperity” of the Western countries, for which they strut around so much today, is only 200 years old and based on loot and plunder.

http://www.matthewturner.co.uk/Blog/2005/09/world-gdp-in-1500.html 

UK’s capture of India two centuries ago was akin to Somalian pirates capturing USA of today.

Pat Robertson: Is this guy mentally sick?

“Haitians are Satanic and Deserve Their Suffering”

Leading evangelical Christian minister Pat Robertson recently caused quite a stir with his comments about the recent tragedy in Haiti.

Throughout this week, people worldwide have showed their compassion, empathy and support for the people of Haiti. We have heard horror story after horror story and been deeply saddened by the unimaginable pain and suffering these fellow humans have experienced.To the average person, this is a truly horrific occurance that no one would wish on their worst enemy.

But to Pat Robertson, this is the act of – brace for it -  a holy, perfect, loving and just God. Recently, he made comments basically arguing that the Haitians brought the Earthquake onto themselves. Why? Apparently, Robertson thinks that Haitians have made a pact with the devil.

Sadly, the voice of this nut-job (and I do mean nut job) still has immense power in the United States.  Millions of evangelical christians turn into his shows for wisdom and insight, and a dose of the news (with a serious right wing slant).

So what makes Robertson think the way he does? Well, I have an idea or two.  We know Robertson believes the Bible is 100% literally true. And we know that Robertson believes that anyone who doesn’t believe what he does is going to Hell.

Once you hold those two positions, it sort of opens up a giant can of possibilities for what you can, in your own mind, endorse. Once a person can be justified to suffer in a pit of fire for ETERNITY, then an earthquake is probably not viewed with near the same level of tragedy.

For Robertson, God is saving Haitians from his worst punishment (Hell) by trying to send a warning sign to them via this earthquake. It is classic Old Testament, Biblical theology. The Old Testament God certainly isn’t a hippie pacifist. He/She will lay the smack down on a country (heck, even his/her own followers) if they don’t stay in line.

So while most of the world sees this earthquake for what it is – a tragedy of immense proportions – Robertson sees it as an act by God to save the Haitians from themselves and Hell. God just doesn’t want his people to suffer in a pit of fire eternally. So God kills off a few in the meantime.

Robertson is a nut job.  And sadly, his remarks add pain to many Haitians who have enough Hell in their life right now on Earth.

The classic christian scholar C.S. Lewis writes extensively about how the ultimate human vice is pride and arrogance. It is people who are self-righteous and think they know everything that will be seperated from God in the next life. They won’t be humble enough to accept that God has “taken in” many people they don’t find deserving and that have different beliefs. This will be intolerable to them, so they will run off like a spoiled child whose mom suggests that he share his toy.

Robertson fits this to a “t.” Just maybe, Lewis is right; many “drunks and prostitutes” are closer to God than many “self-righteous prigs” who attend church vehemently.

Just maybe, if Lewis is right,  it could be Robertson in that pit of fire.

Aurangzeb’s rule and his treatment of the Hindus

The reign of Aurangzeb : his treatment of the Hindus
By Indigenous

Aurangzeb at the time of his accession

In June 1659, when Aurangzeb assumed the full honours of the imperial dignity under the title of Alamgir, conferred by his father, he was forty years of age, mature in body and mind, well skilled in affairs, both civil and military, and firmly convinced that it was his duty to uphold his religion at any cost.

The history of his reign, extending like Akbar’s over a period of nearly fifty years, may be condensed as being that of the failure of an attempt to govern a vast empire, inhabited chiefly by Hindus, on the principles of an ascetic Moslem saint.

Aurangzeb’s principles of government

Aurangzeb never flinched from the practical action logically resulting from his theory, that it was his duty as a faithful Moslem king to foster the interests of orthodox Sunni Islam, to suppress idolatry, and, as far as possible, to discourage and disown all idolaters, heretics (including Shah Mohammedans)’ and infidels.

He could not do all he would, but he did all he could to carry his principles into effect. No fear of unpopularity, no consideration of political expediency, no dread of resistance , was suffered to turn him for a moment from his religious duty as he conceived it.

The emperor Aurangzeb was a man of high intellectual powers, a brilliant writer, as his letters prove, an astute diplomatist, a soldier of undaunted courage, a skilled administrator, a just and merciful judge, a pious ascetic in his personal habits, and yet a failure.

Palliation of his fight for the throne. He crossed a river of blood to gain the throne. The best defence that can be offered for the crimes by which he won it, is that indicated in his letter reproaching his old tutor:

‘Ought you not’, he writes, ‘to have foreseen that I might at some future period be compelled to contend with my brothers, sword in hand, for the crown, and for my very existence. Such, as you must have well known, has been the fate of the children of almost every king of Hindustan.’That defence, as far as it goes, is sound. If any one of his brothers had gained the prize, Aurangzeb would have suffered death, and he can hardly be blamed because he preferred to inflict, rather, than suffer, death. The deposition of his father was a necessary consequence of the defeat of Dara Shikoh, who had already assumed the imperial authority with the assent of the aged emperor, who was then no longer fit to rule. Once the deposition had been effected, Aurangzeb spared his father’s life though sternly refusing him liberty.

The brutal treatment of Dara Shikoh, which cannot be justified, is explained by Aurangzeb’s intense hatred for all forms of religious heresy. His eldest brother, an avowed free-thinker, was to him a thing accursed, and a fit object for extremest insult. Aurangzeb regarded the world from the point of view of a Moslem ascetic, and as against the rights of orthodoxy the claims of kindred or of justice to Hindu unbelievers were nothing in his eyes. He took up the position of Philip II of spain in relation to the people of the Netherlands. Like that monarch he was intensely suspicious, trusting neither man nor woman.

His love, although sometimes given, was seldom sought and, perhaps, never returned, except by one grandson, prince Bedar Bakht.

Mir Jumla’s attack on Assam

In the earlier part of the reign the only wars, other than that of the succession, which claim notice are those with Assam and Arakan. Mir Jumla, the able general, who had done such good service for Aurangzeb when he was viceroy of the Deccan, and again in hunting down Shuja, was rash enough to follow in the footsteps of Mohammed the son of Bakhtyar (ante, p. 106) and to invade Assam. Mir Jumla failed like his early predecessor, and, like him, died soon after his return (1663).

Annexation of part of Arakan by Shayista Khan

In the course of the same year, Aurangzeb’s uncle, Shayista khan, who had allowed himself to be surprised by the Marathas in the Deccan, was transferred to Bengal as the successor of Mir Jumla. He governed the eastern province for about thirty years. His expulsion of the English merchants from his territory in 1686 has been mentioned (ante,p.161). At an earlier ate (1666) he had cleared out the portuguese and other pirates who infested the rivers in the neighbourhood of Chittagong, and sent an expedition against the king of Arakan, who had abetted the evil-doers, and was compelled to cede the Chittagong territory.

Twenty-year peace

‘The expeditions into Assam and Arakan did not disturb the general peace of Hindustan. A profound tranquillity, broken by no rebellion of any political importance, reigned throughout Northern India for the first twenty years of Aurangzeb’s rule.’ It is true that for nearly three years (1673-5) the Afghan clans beyond the Indus gave trouble, and during part of that time Aurangzeb in person superintended the operations of his generals, but the peace of India, as a whole, was not disturbed by skirmishing on the north-western frontier.

Aurangzeb’s history

Aurangzeb was a religious bigot, nad he reversed in every respect the wise policy of Akbar towards his Hindu subjects. In 1669, hearing that certain Brahmins were giving religious lectures at Multan and Benares, he ordered ‘all governors of provinces to destroy with a willing hand the schools and temples of the infidels’.Inconsequence, the temple of Vishwanath at Benares was destroyed. In 1672 a Hindu religious sect called the Satnamis rebelled, and was crushed with ruthless severity. In 1675, Tegh Bahadur, the ninth of the sikh gurus (post, p.p 224-6), was taken and executed because he refused to embrace Islam.

In 1678, Raja Jaswant Singh of Marwar died. The emperor tried to seize his children and have them brought up as Moslems. He adopted the same policy towards the young Maratha Prince Shahu. Finally in 1679 he revived the hated jizya or poll-tax which Akbar had abolished. By his bigotry Aurangzeb rent in pieces the mighty Mogul empire, and paved the way for the British conquest of India.

Alienation of the Rajputs

After some time the rana of Mewar (Udaipur) made an honourable peace, by a treaty which contained no allusion to the odious jizya, and Raja Jaswant singh’s son was recongnized as chieftain of Marwar. The mischief, however,had been done, and Aurangzeb had wantonly thrown away his most trusty weapon, the devotion of the Rajput chivalry.

During the following struggle in the Deccan he learned the extent of his loss, but never repented of his action or swerved a hair’s breadth from his principles. Notwithstanding the treaty, Rajputana was not pacified, and the greater part of the country continued in revolt until the end of the reign.

Prohibition of histories

A curious decree of the eleventh year of the reign abolished the office of imperial chronicler and forbade the publication of histories by private persons. This prohibition has caused a certain amount of indistinctness in the details and obscurity in the chronology of the greater part of Aurangzeb’s long reign. Such histories as were written secretly had to wait for
publication until the emperor’s death.

Aurangzeb and the Deccan

In 1657, when called away to take part in the fight for the throne, prince Aurangzeb, then viceroy of the Deccan, that is to say of Khandesh, Berar, Telangana, and Ahmadnagar, seemed to be an on the point of annexing the kingdoms of Golkonda and Bijapur and bringing the whole of the Deccan under the rule of his father. Many years elapsed before Aurangzeb as emperor was able to return to the scene of his early labours.

Meantime a new power had arisen, which, rashly despised at first, became strong enough to baffle all the efforts of the imperial grand army, and to condemn the aged emperor to long-drawn years of fruitless toil, ending in lonely death, ‘without heart or help’.

The new-born Maratha power. Before taking up the story of Aurangzeb’s campaigns in the Deccan during the twenty-six years from the close of 1681 to 1707, we must go back to trace the origin of the new-born Maratha power and sketch the life of Sivaji, who gave it birth. the Marathas are the Hindu population of Maharashtra, the country of the western Ghats, lying to the south of the Satpura hills, to the west of the warda river, and extending southwards as far as Goa. In the thirteenth century this region had been the centre of the Yadava power (ante,p.84). It’s best known towns are Poona, Satara, Kolhapur, and Nasik.

Description of the Marathas

The inhabitants of the barren uplands of the Deccan, with its fierce heat and uncertain rainfall, are a frugal, manly race. “They are ,” says Elphinstone , “small, sturdy men, well made though not handsome. They are all active, laborious, hardy, and preserving. If they have none of their indolence or their want of worldly wisdom.”

One feature of the Deccan must be particularly noted. It is intersected by a number of mountain-ranges, and high flat topped hills rise up on all sides. These hills are easily convertible, by means of a few bastions, into forts, which are almost impregnable without the use of siege artillery. These natural strongholds played an important part in the great struggle against the Mohammedans. The Marathas would retire to them when hard pressed, and then, when the opportunity offered, they would sally forth and hang upon their opponents’ flanks like a pack of wolves, cutting off stragglers and intercepting supplies. The Marathas were admirably adapted for these guerilla tactics.

Early life of Sivaji

Sivaji, the great Maratha champion, belonged to the Bhosle family. His father Shahji was a soldier of fortune, and while he was away on distant campaigns in southern India, on behalf of the kings of Bijapur, the lad was brought up at poona under his mother Jijabai. He became inspired with the idea of freeing his country from the Mohammedan yoke. At the age of nineteen he began his career by seizing some of the hill forts in the Poona district.

In 1659 the Biajpur government began to realize that the danger was serious. Afzal khan, a famous general, was sent with a large force. But he became entangled in the dense jungles between Wai and Mahableshwar, near sivaji’s fort of Pratapgarh. Here Afzal khan was tempted to a conference and cut down. His army was suddenly attacked from every side and completely annihilated. Bijapur now thought it prudent to come to terms.

Shayista Khan

The Maratha now ventured to ravage the Mogul territories, and thus provoked Aurangzeb to send his uncle, Shayista khan, to suppress him. But the Mogul commander, having allowed himself to be surprised, was transferred to Bengal, as already narrated (ante,p.208).

Auragzeb’s mistake

Other generals, including prince Muazzam, were now sent against the rebel, and after some time (1665) Raja Jai Singh of Jaipur persuaded Sivaji to submit and even to come to Agra to do homage. Aurangzeb enforced the court rules of etiquette on his opponent, and so incurred his undying enmity. Sivaji escaped secretly from the court, returned to the Deccan, and in February 1668 compelled Aurangzeb to recognize him as Raja.

Renewed war; death of Sivaji, 1680

The war was soon renewed, and the Marathas freely plundered the imperial territories, including the rich town of Surat, all except the English factory there. In 1674 Sivaji proclaimed himself sovereign of the Deccan with royal pomp at his capital of Raigarh. He then crossed the Narmada, and levied the chauth, or fourth part of the land revenue, a species of blackmail, payment of which was supposed to protect a district from plunder.

In the south, where his father and brother had held jagirs, he occupied the fortresses of Vellore and Jinji (Gingee), and was granted additional territory by the king of Bijapur in payment for help against the Moguls. In 1680 he died at the age of fifty-three, leaving behind him a great reputation as the champion of Hinduism, the creator of a nation, and the founder of a powerful kingdom.

Civil administration

Sivaji, who had begun life as a petty chieftain, showed, as his power grew, that he knew how to govern his unruly subjects. He was a devout Hindu, and , although illiterate and unable to sign his name, was well versed in the sacred lore dear to all Hindus. His government, accordingly, was organized on a Hindu pattern. The supreme authority under the Raja was a council of eight ministers who followed the principles of Brahmin law. The chief minister was called the Peshwa.

Other members of the council severally looked after various departments-finance, the army, and so forth. Maratha territory was divided into districts, each with a staff of officials, and each village had its headman (Patel). Higher local officers were known as Desadhikars, Talikdars, and Subadars. The ministers usually held military commands, and left their civil duties to deputies (Kabaris). The revenue settlements were made annually. Justice was in the hands panchayats.

Army and navy

The army was controlled by a commander-in-chief, below whom was a regular gradation of officers. The men were paid. At first Sivaji relied on his infantry recruited from the Western Ghats and the Konkan man who could climb like monkeys and capture the hill forts which were the seat of his power. Gradually the light cavalry became the most important Maratha arm. The horsemen preferred the lance to any other weapon. Discipline was strict. No soldier was allowed to bring a woman into the field on pain of death.

In this respect Sivaji’s force differed widely from the armies of the Moguls, and even from those of the East India Company, which were always clogged by a train of female followers. The chief object of the Maratha raids was to till the treasury; hence all plunder had to be strictly accounted for. Cows, cultivators, and women were not to be injured. A fleet capable of carrying four thousand soldiers helped the operations of the coast.

Character of Sivaji

Sivaji was a born leader of men, and a real master of guerilla warfare. There can be no doubt that he rally believed himself to be born with a mission ‘to protect Brahmins and kind’, and to set his country free. He lived in a dark and cruel age, when religious feeling ran high, and admittedly his career was stained by deeds which would be condemned in modern times. Of the death of Azal Khan it is impossible to speak with certainly, but the murder of the two Maratha chiefs, Chandrarao More and Baji Ghorpade, and the destruction of their capitals, is hard to defend. Equally cruel were the brutal tortures inflicted on the Hindu baniyas of Surat to extract their hidden treasures.

But on the whole he was a chivalrous and far-sighted man, and we may fully concur with the character given to him by Khafi Khan, the Mohammedan historian, who was certainly not biased in his favour:

‘He made it a rule that, wherever his followers went plundering, they should do no harm to mosques, the Book of God, or anyone’s women. Whenever a copy of the holy Koran cam into his hands, he treated it with respect, and gave it to some of his Mussulman followers. When the women of any Hindu or Mohammedan were taken prisoners by his men and they had no friend to protect them, he watched over them till their relations came to buy them their liberty.’

Aurangzeb assumes command in the Deccan

At the close of 1681, a year after Sivaji’s death, Aurangzeb in person took command of the army of the Deccan, resolved to extinguish the kingdoms of Golkonda and Bijapur, to curb the insolence of the Marathas, and, if possible, to bring the whole south under Mogul rule.

His treatment of the Hindus

The emperor’;s obstinate adherence to his wrong-headed policy of annoying his Hindu subjects added immensely to the inherent difficulties of his task. The first thing he did was to issue stringent orders for the collection of the arrears of the jizya tax in the southern provinces, and in three months he compelled his officers to squeeze twenty-six thousand rupees out of Burhanpur.

Insult was added to pecuniary injury by a proclamation that no Hindu should ride in apalankeen or an Arab horse without special licence. Such measures, of course, made the entire Hindu population the friends of his foes; but no consideration of prudence sufficed to turn Aurangzeb from his fixed policy.

The affairs of Golkonda

When he returned to the Deccan he found the government of Golkonda in confusion. The king, Abul Hasan, had abandoned himself to pleasure and ceased to take any part in public affairs, which were controlled by the representative of the emperor at his court and by two Hindu officials.

Aurangzeb, who could not endure Hindu influence, sent his son, Prince Muazzam, to restore order. The prince dallied over his task, but at last attacked the city of Hyderabad, which his soldiers plundered without permission. The king took refuge in the adjoining fortress of Golkonda.

In 1685 the prince, having made peace on terms displeasing to his father, was recalled.

Annexation of Bijapur, 1686

The emperor, leaving Golkonda alone for the moment, deputed another son, prince Azam, to reduce Bijapur. He had little success, and was superseded by his father, who took the capital in 1686 after an investment lasting more than a year. The kingdom ceased to exist, and the splendid city became the abode of desolation, as it is for the most part to this day.

Siege and annexation of Golkonda

Aurangzeb then resolved to make an end of the sister state of Golkonda, and to depose the king, who was accused of sending money to the Marathas, and allying himself with infidels.

When Abul Hasan perceived that his destruction was decided on, he is said to have become a changed man, to have cast aside his evil habits and played the part of a hero. Certainly the city was put in a good state of defence, and when the siege began early in 1687, the imperial troops found that they had been set a hard task. The Marathas cut off the supplies of the besiegers, who were reduced to extremities by famine and plague.

An assault ordered by the emperor failed utterly, and it seemed as if the siege must be raised. But a traitor admitted the Mogul army, and Golkonda fell (September 1687). By these conquests and later operations the imperial commanders were able to levy tribute from Tanjore and Trichinopoly in 1691, which date may be taken as marking the furthest southern extension of Mogul power.

Struggle with the Marathas

The two Mohammedan kingdoms had been destroyed, but the Marathas remained unsubdued, and the remaining twenty years of Aurangzeb’s life were spent in the vain attempt to subdue them. The emperor never returned to the north, and wasted those weary years gaining ‘ a long series of petty victories followed by larger losses’. His armies seemed to be getting the upper hand between 1698-1701, but in the succeeding years the enemy recovered the lost ground.

Maratha method of warfare

The Marathas never, or hardly ever, risked a general engagement, but expended all their energies, like the Boers in the south African war, in cutting off supplies, intercepting convoys, and incessantly harassing the enemy. Mounted on hardy ponies, they were able to move with a quickness which completely baffled the imperial armies; and, so each man carried with him his simple food and belongings, they needed no transport trains.

Inefficiency of the Mogul army

The Mogul forces, on the other hand, were unwieldy and almost immovable. The royal tents alone occupied a space three miles in circuit, and a contemporary traveller describes the whole camp as being ‘ a moving city containing half a million of souls’. Grant Duff sums up the situation in these words: ‘These apparently vigorous efforts of the government were unsubstantial; there was motion and bustle, without zeal or efficacy; the empire was unwieldy, its system relaxed, and its officers corrupt beyond all example.’ Success in these circumstances was impossible.

Execution of Sambhaji, Raja Shahu

For a time the emperor’s arms had a promise of success, and Aurangzeb had the poor satisfaction of putting to death with torture Sambhaji, a son of Shivaji, in 1689. He spared the life of sivaji junior, nicknamed Shabu (sahu), the infant son of Sambhaji, and kept his at court until his own death, when the young man was released and returned to his own dominions. He became Raja in 1708 after a contest.

Tara Bai

A few years after Sambhaji’s execution, Tara Bai, widow of Raja Ram, another son of Sivaji, had retrieved the Maratha losses, and directed the policy of devastating the imperial territories with such energy that the emperor was shut up in his camp, and his treasure was plundered almost under his eyes.

Retreat and death of Aurangzeb

The mogul army gradually crumbled to pieces, and ultimately (1706) Aurangzeb was forced to retire on Ahmadnagar, where he died at the beginning of March 1707 (N.S), in the forty-ninth year of his reign and the eighty-eighth of his life. His dust lies under a plain tomb in the village of Rauza or Khuldabad near Daulatabad.

Aurangzeb’s farewell words

However severely the policy and conduct of Aurangzeb may be judged, it is impossible to refuse pity to the old man on his death-bed when he addressed his sons in these sad words:

‘I know not who I am, where I shall go , or what will happen to this sinner, full of sins. Now I will say good-bye to every one in this world and entrust every one to the care of God. My famous and auspicious sons should not quarrel among themselves and allow a general massacre of the people who are the servants of God. . . My years have gone by profitless. God has been in my heart, yet my darkened eyes have not recognized His light. . . There is no hope for me in the future. The fever is gone, but only the skin is left. . . The army is confounded, and without heart or help, even as I am; apart from God, with no rest for the heart yet my darkened eyes have not recognized His light. . . There is no hope for me in the future. The fever is gone, but only the skin is left. . . The army is confounded, and without heart or help, even as I am; apart from God, with no rest for the heart. . . When I have lost hope in myself, how can I hope in others? . . . You should accept my last will. It should not happen that Mussulmans be killed and the blame for their death rest upon this useless creature. . . I have greatly sinned and know not what torment awaits me. . . I commit you and your sons to the care of God, and bid you farewell. . . May the peace of God be upon you.’

Aurangzeb’s failure

The causes of Aurangzeb’s failure are obvious enough, and have been indicated in the course of the narrative, but it may be well to sum them up briefly. Aurangzeb acted as if he were merely the head of the Sunni sect Mohammedans, and not the protector of all the races and creeds of India. Akbar had realized the truth that the authority of the monarch of an empire inhabited chiefly by Hindus could not be lasting unless it rested on the support of all his people. During the greater part of his reign he treated all religions with impartial justice.

Only in his latter days he forgot himself so far so to violate his avowed principles by heaping insults upon Islam. Jahangir accepted and put in practice the tolerant maxims of his father, encouraging the building of Hindu temples as of Christian churches. Shahjahan revived then old evil policy or persecution, harrying the christians and razing temples to the ground. Aurangzeb went farther, especially after 1678, when the death of Raja Jaswant Singh deprived his countrymen of their most powerful support.  The emperor, then, in 1679,reimposed the wisely abolished. He carried to monstrous lengths the policy of destroying the holy places of Hinduism, and may be reasonably charged with the overthrow of thousands of temples.

His measures forced all Hindus to regard him as their enemy and deprived him of the willing service of the Rajput clans. Sivaji, whom the emperor despised as a mere robber chief, was honoured by the Marathas as a hero, the champion and protector of Hinduism against the imperial bigot. Aurangzeb’s Sunni bigotry made him as hostile to the shah states of Bijapur and Golkonda as he was to the Hindu powers. He thus shattered the forces of Islam in the Deccan, by which the Hindu revolt of the Marathas might have been held in check.

The emperor’s suspious disposition, which prevented him from trusting anybody, deprived him likewise of all chance of finding trustworthy agents. He was, consequently, ill served. His life was so prolonged that he continued to grasp the sceptre after he had lost the strength to use it with effect. His officers, corrupted by luxury, lacked the vigour of their ancestors and were incapable of honest exertion.

The long-drawn-out Deccan wars exhausted a large part of the huge treasure of Shahjahan, and ruined the finances of the empire. Financial ruin involved the collapse of the whole administration. The subject might be treated from many other points of view, but what has been said may suffice.

Jyoti Basu: The Father of Waste Bengal

Destroyer of West Bengal

By Kanchan Gupta

Had it been Jyoti Banerjee lying unattended in a filthy general ward of SSKM Hospital in Kolkata and not Jyoti Basu in the state-of-the-art ICCU of AMRI Hospital, among the swankiest and most expensive super-speciality healthcare facilities in West Bengal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would not have bothered to arrange for a video-conference for top doctors at AIIMS to compare notes with those attending on the former Chief Minister of West Bengal.

Jyoti Banerjee, like most of us, spent his working life paying taxes to the Government. Jyoti Basu spent the better part of his life living off tax-payers’ money — the conscience of the veteran Marxist was never pricked by the fact that he appropriated for himself a lifestyle shunned by his comrades and denied to the people of a State whose fate he presided over for a quarter century. Kalachand Roy laid what we know today as Odisha to waste in the 16th century; Jyoti Basu was the 20th century’s Kala Pahad who led West Bengal from despair to darkness, literally and metaphorically.

Uncharitable as it may sound, but there really is no reason to nurse fond memories of Jyoti Basu. In fact, there are no fond memories to recall of those days when hopelessness permeated the present and the future appeared bleak. Entire generations of educated middle-class Bengalis were forced to seek refuge in other States or migrate to America as Jyoti Basu worked overtime to first destroy West Bengal’s economy, chase out Bengali talent and then hand over a disinherited State to Burrabazar traders and wholesale merchants who overnight became ‘industrialists’ with a passion for asset-stripping and investing their ‘profits’ elsewhere. A State that was earlier referred to as ‘Sheffield of the East’ was rendered by Jyoti Basu into a vast stretch of wasteland; the Oxford English Dictionary would have been poorer by a word had he not made ‘gherao’ into an officially-sanctioned instrument of coercion; ‘load-shedding’ would have never entered into our popular lexicon had he not made it a part of daily life in West Bengal though he ensured Hindustan Park, where he stayed, was spared power cuts. It would have been churlish to grudge him the good life had he not exerted to deny it to others, except of course his son Chandan Basu who was last in the news for cheating on taxes that should have been paid on his imported fancy car.

Let it be said, and said bluntly, that Jyoti Basu’s record in office, first as Deputy Chief Minister in two successive United Front Governments beginning 1967 (for all practical purposes he was the de facto Chief Minister with a hapless Ajoy Mukherjee reduced to indulging in Gandhigiri to make his presence felt) and later as Chief Minister for nearly 25 years at the head of the Left Front Government which has been in power for 32 years now, the “longest elected Communist Government” as party commissars untiringly point out to the naïve and the novitiate, is a terrible tale of calculated destruction of West Bengal in the name of ideology. It’s easy to criticise the CPI(M) for politicising the police force and converting it into a goons brigade, but it was Jyoti Basu who initiated the process. It was he who instructed them, as Deputy Chief Minister during the disastrous UF regime, to play the role of foot soldiers of the CPI(M), first by not acting against party cadre on the rampage, and then by playing an unabashedly partisan role in industrial and agrarian disputes.

The fulsome praise that is heaped on Jyoti Basu today — he is variously described by party loyalists and those enamoured of bhadralok Marxists as a ‘humane administrator’ and ‘farsighted leader’ — is entirely misleading if not undeserving. Within the first seven months of the United Front coming to power, 43,947 workers were laid off and thousands more rendered jobless as factories were shut down following gheraos and strikes instigated and endorsed by him. The flight of capital in those initial days of emergent Marxist power amounted to Rs 2,500 million. In 1967, there were 438 ‘industrial disputes’ involving 165,000 workers and resulting in the loss of five million man hours. By 1969, there were 710 ‘industrial disputes’ involving 645,000 workers and a loss of 8.5 million man hours. That was a taste of things to come in the following decades. By the time Jyoti Basu demitted office, West Bengal had nothing to boast of except closed mills and shuttered factories; every institution and agency of the State had been subverted under his tutelage; and, the civil administration had been converted into an extension counter of the CPI(M) with babus happy to be used as doormats.

After every outrage, every criminal misdeed committed by Marxist goons or the police while he was Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu would crudely respond with a brusque “Emon to hoyei thaakey” (or, as Donald Rumsfeld would famously say, “Stuff happens!”). He did not brook any criticism of the Marich Jhapi massacre by his police in 1979 when refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan were shot dead in cold blood. Till date, nobody knows for sure how many died in that slaughter for Jyoti Basu never allowed an independent inquiry. Neither did the man whose heart bled so profusely for the lost souls of Nandigram hesitate to justify the butchery of April 30, 1982 when 16 monks and a nun of the Ananda Marg order were set ablaze in south Kolkata by a mob of Marxist thugs. The man who led that murderous lot was known for his proximity to Jyoti Basu, a fact that the CPI(M) would now hasten to deny. Nor did Jyoti Basu wince when the police shot dead 13 Congress activists a short distance from Writers’ Building on July 21, 1993; he later justified the police action, saying it was necessary to enforce the writ of the state. Yet, he wouldn’t allow the police to act every time Muslims ran riot, most infamously after Mohammedan Sporting Club lost a football match.

Did Jyoti Basu, who never smiled in public lest he was accused of displaying human emotions, ever spare a thought for those who suffered terribly during his rule? Was he sensitive to the plight of those who were robbed of their lives, limbs and dignity by the lumpen proletariat which kept him in power? Did his heart cry out when women health workers were gang-raped and then two of them murdered by his party cadre on May 17, 1990 at Bantala on the eastern margins of Kolkata? Or when office-bearers of the Kolkata Police Association, set up under his patronage, raped Nehar Banu, a poor pavement dweller, at Phulbagan police station in 1992? “Emon to hoyei thaakey,” the revered Marxist would say, and then go on to slyly insinuate that the victims deserved what they got.

As a Bengali, I grieve for the wasted decades but for which West Bengal, with its huge pool of talent, could have led India from the front. I feel nothing for Jyoti Basu.

Follow the writer on: http://twitter.com/KanchanGupta. Blog on this and other issues at http://kanchangupta.blogspot.com. Write to him at kanchangupta@rocketmail.com

White Messengers of Death

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the extreme political and racial agendas of White professors and academicians.

These charlatans are always willing to prostitute themselves and their scholarship to advance the interests of their race and faith in any corner of the world. Give them a requirement and they will start delivering their made-to-order “scholarship”, pulling “facts” and “interpretations” out of their posterior end. They have active support of their equally rabid governments and the church. Indeed, they work on the instructions of these two agencies.

Here is one such example of their gutter scholarship. The objective is nothing else but to cause social unrest in India and then fish in troubled waters by converting a large chunk of Indian population. In short, they are trying to gift a “Rawanda” to India. 

It  is a strange cuckooland scenario. People of other race interpret Hindu scriptures in a racially and politically motivated way, while all protests of Hindus are over-ruled, in the spirit of “white people know best.” Can anybody do this with Jewish or Islamic scriptures and call Jews or Muslims as narrow-minded bigots for not agreeing with the interpretation of White Christians about their sacred texts? Only Hindus can accept this kind of bullshit from these people.

There is now a deliberate attempt by the American government to push these White professors into India. The Whites are putting pressure on Indians to open up their education system so that White professors can begin to teach in Indian universities. Indians have to be very very careful not to allow these messengers of death into their country.

Complaint Against Anti-Rama Song in Secondary Schools

We bring to notice Prof. Susan Wadley’s work emerging from two National Endowment for the Humanities grants (1994 and 1997) received by her to train high school teachers to teach the Indian epic Ramayana to American students. Besides India, Ramayana is also the sacred epic of Thailand, Indonesia and many other parts of Asia. While the project generated useful course material, it also included what are clearly partisan and political readings of the epic, as well as outright inflammatory ‘cheap shots’ at a sacred text.

This complaint is on behalf of United States citizens and parents of school children. Hinduism and Sikhism (which also worships Rama) are no longer merely about a far away exotic land that Americans have little to do with. We have Hindus and Sikhs right here in our classrooms today, amongst our office co-workers and as our neighbors. It is irresponsible for any multicultural school to introduce a protest song against Hindus and Sikhs that includes hate speech alleging that “Muslims were targeted”, or that certain people are “enslaved to form a monkey army” with the purported intention to “attack Muslims”. What does this do to foster mutual respect and understanding among different ethnic and religious communities in America’s sensitive tapestry, now represented in classrooms? Should Government funds be used to create such racially and religiously inflammatory teaching materials, denigrating to one’s classmates’ sensitivities, ironically in the name of multiculturalism?

We understand that academic freedom, and the freedom of speech, allows us all in this country to espouse ideas that may be unpalatable to some. These ideas could be politically or culturally biased or even prejudiced. However, such bias about others’ religions and religious ideals, others’ sacred texts and spirituality, when it is presented to high school students by non-experts (high school teachers), would lead to a warped understanding of others’ history and religions and to unintended consequences, including stereotyping and hatred of minority groups.

The particular version of the Ramayana that Prof. Wadley includes in the lesson plans, and that she says is her favorite version of the many songs on the God-king Rama and the Ramayana, was composed by an anti-Hindu activist. This particular “song” is included in the essay titled, “The Ramayana and the Study of South Asia” (“Education About Asia”, volume 2, number 1, Spring 1997, page 36, by Susan S Wadley).

Prof. Wadley says, “My favorite lessons are those that most directly challenge the ways in which South Asia is often taught. Hence the final lesson on low caste views of the Ramayana presents a reality too often ignored in western treatments of Hinduism and India. The low caste folk song presented in this lesson gives a view of the Ramayana not commonly found in western texts…. This view of the Ramayana as oppressing women and the indigenous pre-Aryan inhabitants challenges us to remember that India has never been the rigid society so often portrayed, but rather one in which multiple voices speak, often challenging the superiority of those at the top. And it is through the many tellings of the Ramayana over time, in different historical and social circumstances, that this message is conveyed so clearly” .

The professor considers this made-up hate song that is not part of the Ramayana or any of its standard interpretations, as being her ‘favorite’. This political diatribe against Hindus, and this false and mischievous characterization of Rama as the oppressor of women and of “lower caste” Hindus, and of Rama as a slave-holder and outsider (Aryan other as opposed to the native Dravidian) is not only an attack against Rama, who the majority of Hindus and Sikhs hold as the incarnation of God, but could also serve to create and fuel political, religious, and cultural rifts in India and feed American students complex Indian political issues in a simplistic and insidious manner.

We provide refutations to the claims made in this “song” to support our argument that not only is it a false depiction of both the epic and Indian history but a dangerous attempt at inserting one’s political agenda into American classrooms. We wish to point out that in an introductory course on world religions for young minds, it is important to give a clear, balanced, and sympathetic portrayal of a tradition (especially when it is a tradition to which they don’t belong). From this base, students can later explore more sophisticated and complex issues.

The average American teenager has very little understanding of Hinduism. These students have no idea of who Rama is, let alone his significance for Hindus and Sikhs. In an introductory unit, they will be merely struggling to grasp the bare outlines of Hindu and Sikh practice and philosophy. Given this, we cannot imagine the students reciting a “song” that views the Ramayana as a tool for oppressing women or lower caste people. They would probably imagine that this is what most Hindus and Sikhs think of Rama and that is what they believe in and practice.

This same principle carries over to the study of other religions: for example, Christianity or Islam. Some of the scholars who have studied the Bible have read all or part of it as being patriarchal and oppressing women, Jews, homosexuals and blacks. There are others who criticize its violence and the way it is used to oppress the poor. Still others question the authenticity of the Bible and the real-life events of Jesus. Of course, most Christians see the Bible as containing God’s words and would be horrified at the “deconstruction” of their sacred text.

Would we provide such portrayals of the Bible to our secondary school students, especially dramatized in performances of hate songs in the manner recommended by Prof. Wadley? Christians would object vociferously at what they would call an unfair portrayal of their faith. Islamists and Muslims would similarly protest if one were to characterize Prophet Mohammed as a jihadist and an oppressor of women, even if that were supported by textual references.

Scholars can debate controversial views on the Ramayana and the Bible all they want. We just don’t find it necessary to import such debates into classrooms where children are beginning to understand the basic contours of each religion. The question that Prof. Wadley should have addressed is this: if I were a Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Jew, or Moslem, how would I want my faith to be understood by those outside it? We believe she has not adequately understood this problem or has deliberately chosen to ignore it. Were this simply a scholarly interpretation, this would be an unfortunate, but not a public, issue.

India and the U.S. are the world’s two biggest and vibrant democracies, and it is only recently that there has been an effort to bridge the differences in perception that each has had about the other over the past fifty years. In such times, it is important that we are all engaged in constructive and positive work that will help build better relations and understanding among and between the peoples of the two countries. We therefore urge you to request Prof. Wadley to remove this particular portion of her Ramayana instructions in the relevant books and instructional material she has provided to high school teachers.

We are not asking Prof. Wadley to eschew her brand of politics or stop publishing her scholarly articles. What we are asking is that divisive, politically charged interpretations of a religious tradition not be made part of American high school students’ curriculum. A political activist should not turn social studies into a platform for social engineering, and Government funds should not be used in this way. Since her project is federally funded, it is a public issue that we feel we cannot ignore, especially since her interpretation of this epic goes directly against the spirit of the President’s Executive Order #13125, whereby it received funding.

Appendix I
From “Spotlight on Ramayana – An Enduring Tradition”, Chapter V.
UNIT 25, LESSON 2 (Pages 335 through 337):

Teacher Background

This lesson looks at one way in which caste and the ideology of caste are protested in India today. It is important that students in the US realize that caste is not accepted by all Indians, although that is the popular perception. In this protest song, sung by a group of untouchables in northern India, the Ramayana is the vehicle for protest.

It refers to Hindu-Muslim conflicts over the past decade, conflicts which are thought by government and untouchable alike to be started by agitators who seek to destabilize the government. (See also lesson x, this volume. ) Those most hurt by these conflicts are the poor who depend on daily wages to survive. If their town has a week-long curfew, they have no income for a week. The rich can survive these closings, but the poor cannot.

The song also refers to a popular belief that the Ramayana describes the conflict between India’s native peoples and the Aryans. Hence Ravana becomes the hero, the monkeys are the aborigines (who become low castes and untouchables) and Rama is guilty of warring on the weak.

Procedure

Distribute Worksheet 2. Read and discuss this song in class. Students should be asked to think about comparable traditions in our country (rap, rock and country music all conveying political, anti-elite traditions). They should also discuss any similarities with our history.

If you live near an area with Indian stores, you might seek out a store with tape cassettes and ask if they have any cassettes of Indian rap. One particularly popular singer is Apache Indian, a singer born of Indian descent in Birmingham, England, who uses a modified rap style to sing social protest songs about life in India and England. His songs deal with topics like arranged marriages and caste. They would be effective vehicles for reaching your students.

Summary

For homework, ask each student to write a song or story about caste in India. They could write a story of Shabari’s lineage. Or they could compose a song (in any style) about the evils of caste.

What Role Does Caste Play in the Ramayana and Indians’
Interpretations of it?

Appendix II

Worksheet 2

Read this song sung by an untouchable in north India.

The rulers who control all knowledge,
Claim the Ramayana to be India’s history
And called us many names – demons, low castes, untouchables.
But we were the aborigines of this land.
Listen to our story.
Today we are called the dalits – the oppressed.
Once the Aryans on their horses invaded this land.
Then we who are the natives became the displaced.
Oh Rama, Oh Rama, You became the God and we the demons.
You portrayed our Hanuman as a monkey,
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
You enslaved us to form a monkey army,
Those you could not subjugate
You called a rakshasa a demon.
But we are the forest rakshak – the protectors.
You invented the hierarchy of caste
Through your laws of Manu, the first man.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
And you trampled on the rights of women.
You made your wife Sita undergo the ordeal of fire
To prove her chastity.
Such were your male laws, Oh Rama.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
When Shambuka, the Untouchable
Tried to gain knowledge,
You beheaded him, Oh Rama.
Thus did you crush those who tried to rise above their caste.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
Days passed, years and centuries,
But our lives remained the same.
We skinned your cattle,
So that you can wear shoes.
We clean your gutters,
So that you can stay clean.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
Did you ever even ask, Oh Rama,
What our caste is?
Did you ever even ask
What our religion is?
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
Independence dawned.
It began with the rule of the constitution.
The author of the constitution Dr. Ambedkar
Framed the constitution around secular ideals.
The castle of caste privileges began to crumble.
No longer could the elite skim
The milk of religious exploitation.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.
But poverty grew and to divert the poor
From their real need, a new enemy was found.
Muslims were targeted and “taught a lesson”.
To destroy Lanka, Oh Rama, you
Formed us into a monkey army.
And today you want us,
The working majority,
To form a new monkey army
And attack Muslims.
Oh Rama, you representative of the Aryans.

Appendix III

Rama is depicted as an “Aryan” and thus an outsider. We note that the Aryan Invasion Theory is itself a colonial and racist construct of the 19th century, and therefore such a “song” cannot be a part of the folklore of Indian tribals. This “song” therefore foists colonial prejudices on an already suffering population, forcing them to look at themselves through the eyes of one of their historical oppressors.

Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana was himself a member of one of the “lower castes” (Please note that “lower” and “upper” castes are modern terms recently coined. There is no Indian term for “caste”. The term jati has been conflated with caste but is clearly very different from the Western conception and definition of caste. There are literally thousands of jatis in India, and the closest one can come to describing them is a “community” or “guild”). Superimposing this construct onto a sacred text is a work of imagination.

The Shambuka episode included in the “song” is considered by experts to be a later day interpolation in the Ramayana. That particular episode is at variance with other sections of the story, for example, the Shabari episode. The Shambuka episode occurs in the Uttarakanda which is considered a later addition to the Ramayana as a whole. Regarding the characterization of the Rama-Ravana Yuddha (battle) as a war between Dravidians and Aryans, the following points should be noted:

1. Tradition is unanimous that Rama was a Kshatriya (of the warrior class) whereas Ravana
was a descendant of Maharshi Pulyatsya and was therefore a Brahmin. The Jyotirlinga temple at Rameshwaram owes its existence to the expiation performed by Lord Rama for the killing of
Brahmins like Ravana.

2. Rama is depicted as a dark man whereas Ravana is depicted as a fair-skinned person in the epic. If Dravidians were dark and Aryans were fair, then Rama should be a Dravidian and Ravana should be an Aryan.

3. Ravana’s chief queen was Mandodari, who hailed from Mandor in Rajasthan, part of “Aryan” country. Therefore, even if Ravana was a “Dravidian”, it still follows that “Aryan-Dravidian” marriages were prevalent in those days.

4. Ravana is depicted in the epic as a scholar of Sanskrit. When the monkey-God Hanuman went to Lanka, he is said to have seen smoke emanating from the Vedic altars in the homes of the citizens of Lanka. Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana, also states that Hanuman heard the recitations of Vedas from the homes of Lankans. In short, the Lankans were Aryans!

5. Barring Rama and his brother Lakshmana, the entire “Vanara-sena” (army) was comprised of
the natives of South India. Therefore, the war could very well be characterized as one between Dravidians. By no stretch of imagination can the battle/war between Rama and Ravana could be characterized as one between Aryans and Dravidians. It is said that when Rama first met Hanuman, the latter addressed Rama in such mellifluous speech that Valmiki makes Rama say that Hanuman has to be a scholar in the Trayvidya to be able to speak so well.

6. According to anthropologists, Sri Lanka was originally inhabited by a people called Veddas who were not Dravidian. Thereafter, the North Indians from Gujarat and Tamils from the South migrated to Sri Lanka. This view of anthropologists puts a big question mark on the Aryan-Dravidian theory propagated by Christian missionaries and racist historians.

7. Contrary to the impression this “folk song” likes to portray, Rama is a hallowed figure amongst numerous tribal communities in almost every part of India.

The reference to tribes being treated as ‘monkeys’ and then being used to ‘attack Muslims’ is highly irresponsible and inflammatory. Besides, there is no basis for it.

If the scholar wishes to portray social issues facing dalits, she should also portray their plight today at the hands of Christians as well as Hindus, as explained at the following web site: http://www.dalitchristians.com/Html/problems_struggles.htm.

Some anthropologists such as Prof Wadley often fall into the trap of labeling all of India’s problems as ‘Hindu’, whereas they would not label the US’ very high incidence of child abuse, rape, massive prison population, drug and other addictions, and high incidence of clinical depression as ‘Judeo-Christian’ problems. Western scholars emphasize caste as the defining characteristic of Hinduism, often to the exclusion of other qualities. However, if they called it ‘class’ rather than ‘caste’, it would compel students to compare with the US’ own racially segregated churches, white supremacy groups, racial profiling, economic stratification, and civil rights issues.

America’s caste system is implicit and subtle rather than explicit and publicly acknowledged, but it is no less harmful. Americans label their social categories as demographic groups rather than castes, but this does not make the problems disappear. Often, social science studies scholars place the West above such ‘primitive’ practices so as to ridicule non-Western traditions. This exacerbates the pre-existing prejudices in our society when in fact scholars should act responsibly rather than using sensationalism in the classroom.
 

Shivaji’s 27-year War

Shivaji’s 27 -year War that Changed the Course of Indian History
by Kedar Soman

Schoolchildren in India learn a very specific blend of Indian history. This school version of history is stripped of all the vigor and pride. The story of Indian civilization spans thousands of years. However for the most part the schoolbook version dwells on the freedom struggle against British and important role played in there by the Indian National Congress. We learn each and every movement of Gandhi and Nehru, but not even a passing reference is made to hundreds of other important people and events.

My objection is not to the persons Gandhi or Nehru. They were great men. However the attention they get and the exposure their political views and ideology gets is rather disproportionate.

And thus it comes no surprise to me that rarely we talk about an epic war that significantly altered the face of Indian subcontinent. The war that can be described the mother of all wars in India. Considering the average life expectancy that time was around 30 years, this war of 27 years lasted almost the lifespan of an entire generation. The total number of battles fought was in hundreds. It occurred over vast geographical expanse spanning four biggest states of modern India- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. For time, expanse and human and material cost, this war has no match in Indian history.

It started in 1681 with the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s invasion of Maratha empire. It ended in 1707 with Aurangzeb’s death. Aurangzeb threw everything he had in this war. He lost it all.

It’s tempting to jump into the stories of heroics, but what makes the study of war more interesting is the understanding of politics behind it. Every war is driven by politics. Rather war is just one of the means to do politics. This war was not an exception.

Shivaji’s tireless work for most of his life had shown fruits by the last quarter of seventeenth century. He had firmly established Marathas as power in Deccan. He built hundreds of forts in Konkan and Sahyadris and thus created a defense backbone. He also established strong naval presence and controlled most of the Western ports barring few on end of Indian peninsula. Thus tightening the grip on trade routes of Deccan sultanates, he strangled their weapons import from Europe and horses import from Arabian traders. These Sultanates launched several campaigns against Shivaji, but failed to stop him.

On the Northern front, several Rajput kings had accepted to be the vassals of Mughals. Aurangzeb had succeeded to the throne after brutal killing of his brothers and imprisonment of his father. With Rajput resistance mostly subsided and the southern sultanates weakened, it was only matter of time before Marathas were in his cross-hair.

At the time of Shivaji’s death in 1680, Maratha empire spanned an area far more than the current state of Maharashtra and had taken firm roots. But it was surrounded by enemies from all sides. Portuguese on northern Coast and Goa, British in Mumbai, Siddies in Konkan and remaining Deccan sultenates in Karnataka posed limited challenge each, but none of them was capable of taking down the Marathas alone. Mughal empire with Aurangzeb at its helm was the most formidable foe.

For the most part, Aurangzeb was a religious fanatic. He had distanced Sikhs and Rajputs because of his intolerant policies against Hindus. After his succession to the throne, he had made life living hell for Hindus in his kingdom. Taxes like Jizya tax were imposed on Hindus. No Hindu could ride in Palanquin. Hindu temples were destroyed and abundant forcible conversions took place. Auragzeb unsuccessfully tried to impose Sharia, the Islamic law. This disillusioned Rajputs and Sikhs resulting in their giving cold shoulder to Aurangzeb in his Deccan campaign.

Thus in September of 1681, after settling his dispute with the royal house of Mewar, Aurangzeb began his journey to Deccan to kill the Maratha confederacy that was not even 50 years old. On his side, the Mughal king had enormous army numbering half a million soldiers, a number more than three times that of the Maratha army. He had plentiful support of artillery, horses, elephants. He also brought huge wealth in royal treasuries. Teaming up with Portughese, British ,Siddis, Golkonda and Bijapur Sultanates he planned to encapsulate Marathas from all sides and to form a deadly death trap. To an outsider, it would seem no-brainer to predict the outcome of such vastly one sided war. It seemed like the perfect storm headed towards Maratha confederacy.

Enormous death and destruction followed in Deccan for what seemed like eternity. But what happened at the end would defy all imaginations and prove every logic wrong. Despite lagging in resources on all fronts, it would be the Marathas who triumphed. And at the expense of all his treasure, army, power and life, it would be the invading emperor who learned a very costly lesson, that the will of people to fight for their freedom should never be underestimated.

After the death of Shivaji in 1680, a brief power struggle ensued in the royal family. Finally Sambhaji became the king. By this time Aurangzeb had finished his North missions and was pondering a final push in Deccan to conquer all of the India.
In 1681 sambhaji attacked Janjira, but his first attempt failed. In the same time one of the Aurangzeb’s generals, Hussein Ali Khan , attacked Northern Konkan. Sambhaji left janjira and attacked Hussein Ali Khan and pushed him back to Ahmednagar. By this time mansoon of 1682 had started. Both sides halted their major military operations. But Aurangzeb was not sitting idle. He tried to sign a deal with Portughese to allow mughal ships to harbor in Goa. This would have allowed him to open another supply route to Deccan via sea. The news reached sambhaji. He attacked Portughese territories and pushed deep inside Goa. But Voiceroy Alvor was able to defend Portughese headquarters.

By this time massive Mughal army had started gathering on the borders of Deccan. It was clear that southern India was headed for one big conflict.

Sambhaji had to leave Portughese expedition and turn around. In late 1683, Aurangzeb moved to Ahmednagar. He divided his forces in two and put his two princes, Shah Alam and Azam Shah, in charge of each division. Shah alam was to attack South Konkan via Karnataka border while Azam Shah would attack Khandesh and northern Maratha territory. Using pincer strategy, these two divisions planned to circle Marathas from South and North and isolate them.

The beginning went quite well. Shah Alam crossed Krishna river and enterd Belgaum. From there he entered Goa and started marching north via Konkan. As he pushed further,he was continuously harassed by Marathas. They ransacked his supply chains and reduced his forces to starvation. Finally Aurangzeb sent Ruhulla Khan for his rescue and brought him back to Ahmednagar. The first pincer attempt failed.

After 1684 monsoon, Aurangzeb’s another general Sahabuddin Khan directly attacked the Maratha capital, fort Raygad. Maratha commanders successfully defended Raygad. Aurangzeb sent Khan Jehan for help, but Hambeerrao Mohite, Commander-in-Chief of Maratha army, defeated him in a fierce battle at Patadi. Second division of Maratha army attacked Sahabuddin Khan at Pachad, inflicting heavy losses on Mughal army.

In early 1685, Shah Alam attacked South again via Gokak- Dharwar route. But Sambhaji’s forces harassed him continuously on the way and finally he had to give up and thus failed to close the loop second time.

In april 1685 Aurangzeb rehashed his strategy. He planned to consolidate his power in the South by taking expediations to Goalkonda and Bijapur. Both were Shia muslim rulers and Aurangzeb was no fond of them. He broke his treaties with both empires and attacked them. Taking this opportunity Marathas launched offensive on North coast and attacked Bharuch. They were able to evade the mughal army sent their way and came back with minimum damage.

On Aurangzeb’s new Southern front, things were proceeding rather smoothly. Bijapur fell in September 1686. King Sikandar Shah was captured and imprisoned. Goalkonda agreed to pay huge ransom. But after receiving the money, Aurangzeb attacked them in blatant treachery. Soon Goalkonda fell as well. King Abu Hussein of Goalkonda was captured and met the same fate as Sikandar Shah.

Marathas had tried to win mysore through diplomacy. Kesopant Pingle, (Moropant Pingle’s brother) was running negotiations, but the fall of Bijapur to mughals turned the tides and Mysore was reluctant to join Marathas. Still Sambhaji successfully courted several Bijapur sardars to join Maratha army.

After fall of Bijapur and Goalkonda, Aurangzeb turned his attention again to his main target – Marathas. First few attempts proved unsuccessful to make a major dent. But in Dec 1688 he had his biggest jackpot. Sambhaji was captured at Sangmeshwar. It was in part his own carelessness and in part because of treachery. Aurangzeb gave him option of converting to Islam, which he refused. Upon refusal, Aurangzeb, blinded by his victories, gave Sambhaji the worst treatment he could ever give to anyone. Sambhaji was pareded on donkey. His tounge was cut, eyes were gorged out. His body was cut into pieces and fed to dogs.

There were many people who did not like Sambhaji and thus were sympathetic to Mughals. But this barbaric treatment made everyone angry. Maratha generals gathered on Raygad. The decision was unanimous. All peace offers were to be withdrawn. Mughals would be repelled at all costs. Rajaram succeeded as the next king. He began his reign by a valiant speech on Raygad. All Maratha generals and councilmen united under the flag of new king, and thus began the second phase of the epic war.

To Aurangzeb, the Marathas seemed all but dead by end of 1689. But this would prove to be almost a fatal blunder. In March 1990, the Maratha commanders, under the leadership of Santaji Ghorpade launched the single most daring attack on mughal army. They not only attacked the army, but sacked the tent where the Aurangzeb himself slept. Luckily Aurangzeb was elsewhere but his private force and many of his bodyguards were killed.

This positive development was followed by a negative one for Marathas. Raigad fell to treachery of Suryaji Pisal. Sambhaji’s queen, Yesubai and their son, Shahu, were captured.

Mughal forces, led by Zulfikar Khan, continued this offensive further South. They attacked fort Panhala. The Maratha killedar of Panhala gallantly defended the fort and inflicted heavy losses on Mughal army. Finally Aurangzeb himself had to come. Panhala surrendered.

Maratha ministers had foreseen the next Mughal move on Vishalgad. They made Rajaram leave Vishalgad for Jinji, which would be his home for next seven years. Rajaram travelled South under escort of Khando Ballal and his men. The queen of Bidnur, gave them supplies and free passage. Harji Mahadik’s division met them near Jinji and guarded them to the fort. Rajaram’s queen was escorted out of Maharashtra by Tungare brothers. She was taken to Jinji by different route. Ballal and Mahadik tirelessly worked to gather the scattered diplomats and soldiers. Jinji became new capital of Marathas. This breathed new life in Maratha army.

Aurangzeb was frustrated with Rajaram’s successful escape. His next move was to keep most of his force in Maharashtra and dispatch a small force to keep Rajaram in check. But the two Maratha generals, Santaji ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav would prove more than match to him.

They first attacked and destroyed the force sent by Aurangzeb to keep check on Rajaram, thus relieving the immediate danger. Then they joined Ramchandra Bavadekar in Deccan. Bavdekar, Vithoji Bhosale and Raghuji Chavan had reorganized most of the Maratha army after defeats at Panhala and Vishalgad.

In late 1691, Bavdekar, Pralhad Niraji , Santaji ,Dhanaji and several Maratha sardars met in Maval region and reformed the strategy. Aurangzeb had taken four major forts in Sahyadrais and was sending Zulfikar khan to subdue the fort Jinji. So according to new Maratha plan, Santaji and Dhanaji would launch offensives in the East to keep rest of the Mughal forces scattered. Others would focus in Maharashtra and would attack a series of forts around Southern Maharashtra and Northern Karnataka to divide Mughal won territories in two, thereby posing significant challenge to enemy supply chains. Thanks to Shivaji’s vision of building a navy, Marathas could now extend this divide into the sea, checking any supply routes from Surat to South.

The execution began. In early 1692 Shankar Narayan and Parshuram Trimbak recaptured Rajgad and Panhala. In early 1693 Shankar Narayan and Bhosale captured Rohida. Sidhoji Gujar took Vijaydurg. Soon Parshuram Trimbak took Vishalgad. Kanhoji Angre, a young Maratha Naval officer that time, took fort Kolaba.

While this was in work, Santaji and Dhanaji were launching swift raids on Mughal armies on East front. This came as a bit of surprise to Aurangzeb. In spite of losing one King and having second king driven away, Marathas were undaunted and actually were on offensive. From Khandesh, Ahmednagar to Bijapur to Konkan and Southern Karnataka, Santaji and Dhanaji wrecked havoc. Encouraged by the success, Santaji and Dhanaji hatched new action plan to attack Mughal forces near Jinji. Dhanaji Jadhav attacked Ismail Khan and defeated him near Kokar. Santaji Ghorpade attacked Ali Mardan Khan at the base of Jinji and captured him. With flanks cleared, both joined hands and laid a second siege around the Mughal siege at Jinji.
Julfikar khan, who was orchestrating Jinji siege, left the siege on Aurangzeb’s orders and marched back. Santaji followed him to North, but was defeated by Julfikar Khan. Santaji then diverted his forces to Bijapur.

Aurangzeb sent another general Kasim Khan to tackle Santaji. But Santaji attacked him with a brilliant military maneuver near Chitaldurg and forced him take refuge in Dunderi fort. The fort was quickly sieged by Santaji and the siege only ended when most of the Mughal soldiers starved and Kasim Khan committed suicide. Aurangzeb sent Himmat Khan to reinforce Kasim Khan. Himmat khan carried heavy artillery. So Santaji lured him in a trap in the forest near Dunderi. A sudden, ambush style attack on Mughals was followed by a fierce battle. The battle ended when when Himmat Khan was shot in head and died. All his forces routed and Santaji confiscated a big cache of weapons and ammunition.

By now, Aurangzeb had the grim realization that the war he began was much more serious than he thought. He consolidated his forces and rethought his strategy. He sent an ultimatum to Zulfikar khan to finish Jinji business or be stripped of the titles. Julfikar khan tightened the Siege. But Rajaram fled and was safely escorted to Deccan by Dhanaji Jadhav and Shirke brothers. Haraji Mahadik’s son took the charge of Jinji and bravely defended Jinji against Julfikar khan and Daud khan till January of 1698. This gave Rajaram ample of time to reach Vishalgad.

Jinji fell, but it did a big damage to the Mughal empire. The losses incurred in taking Jinji far outweighed the gains. The fort had done its work. For seven years the three hills of Jinji had kept a large contigent of mughal forces occupied. It had eaten a deep hole into Mughal resources. Not only at Jinji, but the royal treasury was bleeding everywhere and was already under strain.

Marathas would soon witness an unpleasant development, all of their own making. Dhanaji Jadhav and Santaji Ghorpade had a simmering rivalry, which was kept in check by the councilman Pralhad Niraji. But after Niraji’s death, Dhanaji grew bold and attacked Santaji. Nagoji Mane, one of Dhanaji’s men, killed Santaji. The news of Santaji’s death greatly encouraged Aurangzeb and Mughal army.

But by this time Mughals were no longer the army they were feared before. Aurangzeb, against advise of several of his experienced generals, kept the war on. It was much like Alexander on the borders of Taxila.

The Marathas again consolidated and the new Maratha counter offensive began. Rajaram made Dhanaji the next commander in chief. Maratha army was divided in three divisions. Dhanaji would himself lead the first division. Parshuram Timbak lead the second and Shankar Narayan lead the third. Dhanaji Jadhav defeated a large mughal force near Pandharpur. Shankar Narayan defeated Sarja Khan in Pune. Khanderao Dabhade, who lead a division under Dhanaji, took Baglan and Nashik. Nemaji Shinde, another commander with Shankar Narayan, scored a major victory at Nandurbar.

Enraged at this defeats, Aurangzeb himself took charge and launched another counter offensive. He laid siege to Panhala and attacked the fort of Satara. The seasoned commander, Prayagji Prabhu defended Satara for a good six months, but surrendered in April of 1700, just before onset of Monsoon. This foiled Aurangzeb’s strategy to clear as many forts before monsoon as possible.

In March of 1700, another bad news followed Marathas. Rajaram took his last breath. His queen Tarabai, who was also daughter of the gallant Maratha Commander-in-Chief Hambeerrao Mohite, took charge of Maratha army. Daughter of a braveheart, Tarabai proved her true mettle for the next seven years. She carried the struggle on with equal valor. Thus began the phase 3, the last phase of the prolonged war, with Marathas under the leadership of Tarabai.

The signs of strains were showing in Mughal camp in late 1701. Asad Khan, Julfikar Khan’s father, counselled Aurangzeb to end the war and turn around. This expedition had already taken a giant toll, much larger than originally planned, on Mughal empire. And serious signs were emerging that the 200 years old Mughal empire was crumbling and was in the middle of a war that was not winnable.

Mughals were bleeding heavily from treasuries. But Aurangzeb kept pressing the war on. When Tarabai took charge, Aurangzeb had laid siege to the fort of Parli (Sajjangad). Parshuram Trimbak defended the fort until mansooon and retreated quietly at the break of monsoon.The mughal army was dealt heavy loss by flash floods in the rivers around. These same tactics were followed by Marathas at the next stop of Aurangzeb, Panhala. Similar tactic was followed even for Vishalgad.
By 1704, Aurangzeb had Torana and Rajgad. He had won only a handful forts in this offensive, but he had spent several precious years. It was slowly dawning to him that after 24 years of constant war, he was no closer to defeating Marathas than he was the day he began.

The final Maratha counter offensive gathered momentum in North. Tarabai proved to be a valiant leader once again. One after another Mughal provinces fell in north. They were not in position to defend as the royal treasuries had been sucked dry and no armies were left in town. In 1705, two Maratha army factions crossed Narmada. One under leadership of Nemaji Shinde hit as deep North as Bhopal. Second under the leadership of Dabhade struck Bharoch and West. Dabhade with his eight thousand men,attacked and defeated Mahomed khan’s forces numbering almost fourteen thousand. This left entire Gujarat coast wide open for Marathas.

In Maharashtra, Aurangzeb grew despondent. He started negotiations with Marathas, but cut abruptly and marched on a small kingdom called Wakinara. Naiks at Wakinara had sided with Marathas. Dhanaji marched into Sahyadris and won almost all the major forts back in short time. Satara and Parali forts were taken by Parshuram Timbak. Shankar Narayan took Sinhgad. Dhanaji then turned around and took his division to Wakinara. He helped the Naiks at wakinara to sustain the fight. Naiks fought very bravely. Finally Wakinara fell, but the royal family of Naiks successfully escaped with least damage.
Aurangzeb had now given up all hopes and was now planning retreat to Burhanpur. Dhanaji Jadhav again fell on him and in swift and ferocious attack and dismantled the rear guard of his imperial army. Zulfikar Khan rescued the emperor and they successfully reached Burhanpur.

Aurangzeb witnessed bitter fights among his sons in his last days. Alone, lost, depressed, bankrupt, far away from home, he died sad death on 3rd March 1707. “I hope god will forgive me one day for my disastrous sins”, were his last words.
Thus ended a prolonged and grueling period in history of India. The Mughal kingdom fragmented and disintegrated soon after. And Deccan saw rise of a new sun, the Maratha empire.

Reflection: Strategical Analysis

In this war, Aurangzeb’s army totaled more than 500,000 in number (compared to total Maratha army in the ballpark of 150,000). With him he carried huge artillery, cavalry, muskettes, ammunition and giant wealth from royal treasuries to support this quest. This war by no means a fair game when numbers are considered.

The main features of Aurangzeb’s strategy were :-

Use of overwhelming force to demoralize the enemy – This tactic had proved successful in Aurangzeb’s other missions. Thus he used this even in Maharashtra. On several occasions giant Mughal contigents were used to lay siege to a fort or capture a town.

Meticulously planned sieges to the forts – Aurangzeb knew that the forts in Sahyadri formed backbone of Maratha defense. His calculation was to simply lay tight siege to the fort, demoralizing and starving the people inside and finally making them surrender the fort.

Fork or pincer movements using large columns of infantry and cavalry – With large number of infantry and cavalry, pincer could have proved effective and almost fatal against Marathas.

Marathas had one advantage on their side, geography. They milked this advantage to the last bit. Their military activities were planned considering the terrain and the weather.

The main features of Maratha strategy were :

Combined offensive-defensive strategy – Throughout the war, Marathas never stopped their offensive. This served two purposes. The facts that Maratha army was carrying out offensive attacks in Mughal land suddenly made them psychologically equals to Mughals launching attack in Maratha land, even though Mughals were a much bigger force. This took negative toll on Mughal morale and boosted morale of their own men. Secondly, these offensive attacks in terms of quick raids often heavily damaged enemy supply chains taking toll on Mughal army.

The forts formed backbone of Maratha defense. Thanks to Shivaji, the every fort had provision of fresh water. The total forts numbered almost 300 and this large number proved major headache to Aurangzeb.

Defense of forts till onset of Monsoon – Forts are an asset in rest of the year, but are a liability in monsoon as it costs a lot to carry food and supplies up. Also the monsoon in coasts and ghats is severe in nature and no major military movement is possible. Thus Marathas often fought till Monsoon and surrendered the fort just before Monsoon. Before surrendering they burned all the food inside. Thus making it a proposition of loss in every way. Often times Marathas surrendered the fort empty, but later soon won it back filled with food and water. These events demoralized the enemy.

Offensive attacks in terms of evasive raids – Marathas mostly launched offensive attacks in the region when Mughal army was away. They rarely engaged Mughal army in open fields till later part of the war. If situation seemed dire, they would retreat and disperse and thus conserve most of their men and arms for another day.

The rivers Bhima, Krishna , Godavari and the mountains of Sahyadri, divide entire Maharashtra region is in several North- South corridors. When Mughal army traveled South through one corridor, Marathas would travel North through another and launch attacks there. This went on changing gradually and in the end, Maratha forces started engaging Mughals head on.
A noted historian Jadunath Sarkar makes an interesting observation. In his own words, “Aurangzeb won battle after battles, but in the end he lost the war. As the war prolonged, it transformed from war of weapons to war of spirits, and Aurangzeb was never able to break Maratha spirit.”

What Marathas did was an classic example of assymetric defensive warfare. The statement above by Mr. Sarkar hides one interesting fact about this assymetric defense. Is it really possible to lose most of the battles and still win the war?
The answer is yes, and explanation is a statistical phenomena called “Simpson’s paradox.”. According to Simpsons paradox, several micro-trends can lead to one conclusion, however a mega-trend combining all the micro-trends can lead to an exact opposite conclusion. Explanation is as follows.

Say two forces go on war, force A with 100 soldiers and force B with 40 soldiers. Now say in every battle between A and B, the following happens.

If A loses, they lose 80% of the soldiers fighting.
If B loses, they only lose 10% of the soldiers fighting.
If A wins, they lose 50% of the solders fighting.
If B wins, they lose only 10% of the soldiers fighting.

In the case above, the ratio of (resource drain of A / resource drain of B ) is higher than (initial number of A soldiers / initial number of B soldiers). So even if A wins battle more than 50% of the time, they will lose their resources faster and, in the end, will lose the war. All B has to do is keep the morale and keep the consistency.

One of the most famous warrior in ancient Indian history seems to agree with the conclusion above. In “Bhishma- perva” of Mahabharata, pitamah Bhishma begins the war-advice to king Yudhisthira with a famous quote -

“The strength of an army is not in its numbers”

It was not Shivaji’s personality but his vision and his values was what Deccan fought for. They imbibed that vision and made it their own. After that, they were not fighting for their hero, they were fighting for themselves. The secret of why people simply refused to surrender to Mughal power can be found not in Shivaji’s heroics, but somewhere else. The secret lies in the reforms he brought.

During the short span of his governance, Shivaji brought a manifold of reforms. For the purpose of discussion, I will divide them into four categories. Governance reforms, political reforms, defense reforms and social reforms.
Governance reforms deserve first attention. After the coronation, Shivaji put in place fully functioning governance consisting of Ashta-Pradhan (eight ministers). These eight men were noted statesmen in their era. They laid foundation of formal economic policy, foreign policy and other functions of government.

One key aspect differentiated Shivaji’s governance through ministers from the prevailing “watan and jahagir” type of governance – division of work based on function rather than geography. To put in management terms, this was “horizontal decentralization” where each minister was responsible for only one function, say judiciary branch, but was responsible for the entire empire.

This was much better than vertical decentralization of “watan” system, where one person would be named in charge of all affairs of a small region. Horizontal decentralization helped keep uniformity across the whole empire and made it easy for people to migrate, do business, and remain one political entity. Also when divided this way, different branches of government keep check on each other and stop each other from running amok. These ministers kept military focused on the military objectives. They checked personal rivalries between individual commanders. In addition these ministers provided a crucial diplomatic support complementing the military ventures.

Second, Defense strategy reforms. The combined choice of Guerrilla warfare as tactics, the reliance on light infantry and and a solid line of more than 300 strengthened forts represents Shivaji’s coherent defense strategy. Unlike Rajputs, who stuck to their code of warriors even as Mughal and Persian invaders broke every possible rule of ethics, Marathas retaliated in tit-for-tat way. They preferred guerrilla warfare for defense and engaged in open field battles only when necessary. They never disrespected the women like Khilji and Ghori did, so they were certainly ethical minded. But they never shied from attacking their enemies at night if required. They were more committed to the political objective than the personal objective of bravery.

Additionally Shivaji launched Navy. Though the Maratha ships were smaller and the weapons inferior in technology, they gave Marathas capabilities to open a sea front. This sea front played a big role in the 27 year war by blocking Aurangzeb’s supply chains from Surat.

Several social reforms were introduced as well. It is largely this statesmanship of Shivaji that laid the foundation of indefatigable Maratha resistance. Common people fought because ,for them, going back to the horrors of previous governance was simply not an option.

On the economic front, there was a taxation reform. The previous empires had followed a system of taxation that was predatory or at times outright cruel. They had appointed Jameen-dars that collected tax on their behalf. The amount that was to be deposited in the royal treasury was fixed, but the amount that was to be collected from the peasants was left to Jameen-dars. These jameen-dars exploited this opportunity to fill their treasures, driving the farmers to bankruptcy. Over the years these Jameen-dars had built big castles, had their own armies, their own courts and they enjoyed being mini-kings.

Shivaji scrapped this system of taxation and introduced taxes where the amount that was to be collected from the peasants was fixed. The appointed officers were given only limited mandate and authority to carry out their duty – to collect taxes. They were often transferred, preventing them from developing too strong local ties. If in any year it did not rain and the farmers lost their crops, the taxes were waived.

Shivaji’s fiscal policies were conservative. Thus no magnificent monuments like Taj Mahal or Royal Mughal gardens were built by Shivaji. But it was him for whom his nation was ready to die. This fiscal conservative bend shows a striking resemblance to another visionary leader. After the American revolutionary war, Thomas Jefferson refused to pay for the extravagant ballroom maintained by British Viceroy in Virginia colonies noting that ” such mansions represent colossal waste of taxpayer money”.

By contrast, Deccan Sultanates and Mughals had shown little interest in welfare of people. During the 22 years that took to build Taj Mahal, three times there was severe draught and hundreds of thousands of people died. But Shahjahan focused all the money and efforts on building a tomb for his wife.

It’s indeed an irony that that Taj Mahal has become symbol of India while the forts that cradled the first “swaraj”, first rule of people, languish in desolation

Epilogue

For centuries , the mountains and valleys, towns and villages of Deccan had gotten used to be a pawn in the game of power. They changed hands as kingdoms warred with each other. They paid taxes whoever was in a position to extract them. For the most part they remained in a sleepy slumber, just turning and twisting in their bed.

Once in a while they sent their sons to fight in battles without ever asking why exactly the war is being launched. Other times they fought amongst themselves. They were divided, confused and did not have high hopes about their future.

This was the condition of Deccan when Shivaji launched his first expedition of fort Torana in 1645. By the time of his death mere 35 years later, he had transformed Deccan from a sleepy terrain to a thundering volcano.

Finally, here was a man whose vision went far beyond himself and his appointed officers and was shared by a large general audience. Thus it was birth of first Indian nation-state. Perhaps the most important factor that distinguishes Shivaji’s vision from the rest is that it went far beyond creating an empire for himself in Maharashtra. It included a building confederacy of states against what he thought were foreign invaders. He was trying to build an Alliance of Hindu kingdoms. He went out of his way to convince Mirza-Raje Jaisingh to leave Aurangzeb. He established relations with the dethroned royal family of Vijaynagar for whom he had tremendous respect. He attempted to unify the sparring Hindu power centers.

And many responded. Sikhs, Rajputs, helped in the 27 years war in indirect ways. Nayaks in Karnataka, rulers of Mysore, the royal family of Vijaynagar were of valuable help to Shivaji and later to Marathas. It was certainly a step towards a nation getting its soul back.

While he was creating a political voice for Hindus, Muslims never faced persecution in his rule. Several Muslims served at high posts in his court and army. His personal body guard on his Agra visit was Muslim. His Naval officer, Siddi Hilal was Muslim. Thus Shivaji’s rule was not meant to challenge Islam as a personal religion, but it was a response to Political Islam.
Last but not the least, we must give due respect to one more thing. The seeds of every political revolution can be traced back to a spiritual one and this was no exception. The “Bhakti” movement in Maharashtra that began with 12th Century saint Dnyaneshwar and spearheaded by saint Tukaram (who was contemporary of Shivaji), played a role of social catalyst of immense effect. It created a forum, a pool in society where everyone was welcome. The shackles of cast system were not broken, but were certainly loosened. Once people were on the same page spiritually, it was easier for Shivaji to get them on the same page politically.

It’s tempting for a Maharashtrian to claim the root of success of Marathas solely be in Maharashtra. But at the height of it’s peak, only 20% of Shivaji’s kingdom was part of Maharashtra. When Marathas launched northern campaigns in 18th century, it was even more less. Thus limiting Marathas to Maharashtra is mostly a conclusion of a politician. Shivaji received a lot of support from various rulers and common people from all over India. It must be noted that the roots of Maharashtra culture can be traced to both ancient Karnataka and Northern India. In this sense, he was Indian king more than a Maratha king.

Dear readers, here ends the story of an epic war. I hope this saga gives you a sense of realistic hope and a sense of humble pride. All you might be doing today is sitting in a cubicle for the day ,typing on keyboard. But remember that the same blood runs in our fingers that long long time ago displayed unparalleled courage and bravery, the same spirit resides within us that can once soured sky high upon the call of freedom.

Jai Hind !!

Mullaperiyar Dam and Sabarimala: Is the Church behind the Controversy?

Mullaperiyar Dam and Sabarimala: The religious roots of the Controversy

By Bharat Nair

Mullaperiyar Dam is located in the state of Kerala in India. It derives its name from the portmanteau of two rivers, namely, Mullai Ar (Mullaiyar) and Periya Ar (Periyar). The dam was the result of a treaty (lease indenture) signed in 1886 for 999 years between the ruler of Travancore and the Secretary of State, Government of India, (then under British colonialist rule) representing Madras Presidency.

This masonry dam, built with lime and Surkhi by the British Army Engineering Corps, was commissioned in 1895. After Independence, Indian states were reorganised and their boundaries rationalised. The areas surrounding the Mullaperiyar Dam ( originally part of the State of Travancore) were merged with Kerala, while the state of Tamil Nadu received full rights to own and operate the dam as per the lease treaty. Tamil Nadu continued to use water from the dam. In 1970, both the governments decided to renew the treaty.

According to the website of Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, the controversy about the dam began in 1979 when several news reports began appearing in Kerala press regarding its safety.  From then onwards, the Government of Kerala began to see this primarily as a safety issue while the Tamil Nadu government saw it as an attempt to violate the water-sharing treaty.

It is not the intent of this article to argue for or against a party in this dispute. In fact this is not about either the historical aspects of water sharing treaty between the states or the safety aspects of the dam.

It is a painful historic fact that in India, many a times, local issues and disputes have worsened due to its being hijacked by various disruptive forces, national or international. Whether this holds true in the case of Mullaperiyar dam needs to be checked thoroughly.

This article is an attempt to investigate the forces that lie behind this controversy.

Mullaperiyar Dam Controversy in the Media

It is interesting to note that in the news media, Mullaperiyar issues get highlighted only during certain months of the year. This trend looks more or less the same for the last one decade (2000-2009).

[Figures 1 & 2 give the ‘Google news search’ for the individual years from 2000-2009].

A quick look at these figures suggests that the number of news items appearing in the media on this controversy starts in October, peaks around December and then continues on until April.

The significance of this trend will look surprisingly familiar to a Malayali or a person from South India.  It is obvious that news items about the dam controversy appear only in the months that are significant for the Sabarimala pilgrimage of the Hindus. Is this a mere conincidence? Let’s see.

Sabarimala Pilgrimage:

The Sabarimala pilgrimage is one of the most ancient pilgrimages of India. The presiding deity of Sabarimala, Lord Ayyappan, is one of the most popular deities in South India. The temple is open for worship only during the days of Mandalapooja (around November 15 to December 26), Makaravilakku (January 15), Vishu (April 14), and the first five days of each Malayalam month.

Sabarimala pilgrimage finds mention in many historical records of foreign travellers as well as colonial administrators (though this fact is studiously avoided by both Western and Indian scholars). 

‘Memoirs of Travancore’  written by William Henry Horsley in 1839 describes Sabarimala as “Chowrymully”:
“Among the other pagodas of celebrity that of Ayapen at Chowrymully attracts particular attention, vast numbers (and many even from the eastern coast) flocking to it at the period of festival in January, to present their vows and offerings, notwithstanding that it is situated in the wildest country possible.”

 
Fig.1. Google News Search for the years 2000 – 2004
 
Fig.2. Google News Search for the years 2005 – 2009

It is possible that some readers of this article will feel that this article is going to be just another conspiracy story with out any real substance. It may also be argued that this similarity in “news-trend” is most probably a result of either a natural or an accidental cause with no connection to Sabarimala issue.

But when one observes the recent over-earnestness of certain anti-Indian publications regarding the reporting of Mullaperiyar issues and  also the same yearly ritual of ‘hit pieces’ regarding Sabarimala coming around the same time of year, it would become clear to a sensible observer  that this cannot be a result of accidental or natural causes.  There is a hidden sense of purpose and deliberateness in these ‘hit pieces’ that most of the time these ‘news-stories’ come with highly misleading titles  and repetitive news  .

The first step in unravelling this mystery would be to develop some idea about the published ‘literature’ regarding Sabarimala by the modern scholars, esp. the Western Scholars. A few of the important such papers/ books will be discussed here in this context.

Only a few books have been published regarding Sabarimala so far in English by Indian / Western authors. Of the Indian authors, books written by K.R. Vaidyanathan “Pilgrimage to Sabari” Published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1978 and Radhika Sekar’s “The Sabarimalai pilgrimage and Ayyappan cultus” Published by Motilal Banarsidass, 1992 are the prominent ones. (Note: Radhika Sekar’s work was originally written for her Master’s thesis to University of Carleton and later published by MBD).

In the recent years quite a few foreign scholars have published research papers on Sabarimala. Amongst these, Remy Delage’s (a French geographer who have published a few papers in connection with “spatial dimensions” of Sabarimala Pilgrimage) and Filippo Ossello and Caroline Ossello‘s paper (‘Ayyappan Saranam’: Masculinity and Sabarimala Pilgrimage in Kerala) which deals with “gender aspects” of the pilgrimage are significant.

These works deserve greater attentions in this context as they are a pointer towards the western psyche regarding Sabarimala pilgrimage. As normal practice with Western scholarship, all these papers have irreverent comments/ descriptions of Lord Ayyappan such as “ambivalent diety” , “hyper-male diety”  and in a few places half-truths or plain lies . There are various remarkable things about these papers that can raise a few questions or doubts in the mind of a discerning reader.

“Mapping Out Social Change in South India” – A Geographic Information System and Its Applications (Chrtisophe Z Guilmoto, Remy Delage et al.)  is the result of a bigger project  “South Indian Fertility Project” (SIFP) funded by Institut Français de Pondichéry ( research centre of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Wellcome trust ( leading NGO of U.K)   etc. The objective  of this SIFP project is to “is to analyse the social and economic dimensions of demographic change through the study of spatial heterogeneity of fertility in South India”.

This paper  deserves to be read in full as its introduction to the subject, findings and the conclusion are relevant here. One also has to know why “mapping a religious pilgrimage” is a serious topic to be ‘researched’. Firstly Remy Delage in “Mapping Out Social Change in South India” asserts that “While in 1950s – 1960s, Sabarimala only attracted groups originating from Malabar Coast and the Tamil Districts neighbouring Kerala(Madurai, Virudhanagar etc), the pilgrimage today draws several million devotees coming mostly from the four corners of South India (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh).”

Author/Authors do not cite any source for this nor is it clear as to how he reached his conclusion regarding the numbers and the geographical distribution of pilgrims of 50 – 60 period. However Remy Delage in a published paper titled “From Fieldwork to Research Theory on an Indian Pilgrimage”  (another paper on Sabarimala Pilgrimage) gives a number of “ten to fifty thousand persons”. Again, it is not clear as to how he has arrived at this figure. This particular paper can be considered as an important one for our purpose in another respect also as he gives out the “complete list” of primary and secondary references perused for his research. (Please note that the omission of one important primary source is very significant of which more, will be explained later).

“Mapping out Social Change in South India” primarily is an attempt at mapping the pilgrimage of Sabarimala. In this study, a definite interest is taken with respect to movement of pilgrims from the State of Tamil Nadu. A district wise break-up of Tamil Nadu pilgrims was done using a questionnaire survey during the pilgrimage. Using this limited data, GIS maps were created for visualising geographic origin of pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, for representing routes and major destination (holy places) liable to be visited by the Pilgrims en-route to Sabarimala.

Though throughout the paper, an attempt has been made to study the routes or visiting places of the pilgrims from Tamil Nadu, the conclusion that the author arrives at is totally ambiguous and unrelated. It would appear as if such a conclusion is given just to hide the real intentions. This is because, the maps, (even though data is taken from a non-representative sample) clearly indicate that, the neighbouring districts of Madurai, Coimbatore, Theni etc ‘produces’ the major portion of the Tamil Nadu Pilgrims to Sabarimala. This fact is a matter of common knowledge and does not require any Geographic Information System (GIS) to prove this. But the use of GIS, to map out the routes and the other holy places/temples frequented by pilgrims of Sabarimala is a novelty, the use of which would be highly beneficial for its intended readership.

Here, the second connection between Mullaperiyar & Sabarimala emerges.

As per Wikipedia, “The dam’s purpose was to divert the waters of the west-flowing Periyar River eastwards, …………….taking the water from the reservoir through a tunnel cut across the watershed and Western Ghats to the arid rain shadow regions of Theni, Madurai District, Sivaganga District and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu”

This would mean that the areas served by Mullaperiyar dam are exactly the same areas from where, originates the ‘major portion’ of Tamil Sabarimala pilgrims.

Now it’s the time to ask ourselves some what if scenario questions and its effect on Sabarimala Pilgrimage:

a) What would happen if State of Kerala tries to forcefully ‘take over’ Mullaperiyar dam citing ‘safety’ reasons or tries unilaterally to build another dam in the place of Mullaperiyar?

b) What would happen if Mullaperiyar dam ‘breaks’ or is ‘made to break’?
The answer to the first question would be extreme resentment from State of Tamil Nadu which will lead to immediate economic blockade of the two passes which will lead to a state of mutual hostility. The result would be highly disastrous for Sabarimala Pilgrimage as well as for the unity of the nation. The answer to the second question would also be extreme hostile reaction from the State of Kerala towards the Tamils which would certainly affect Sabarimala Pilgrimage as well as the cultural unity amongst them. Thus it can be seen that in both cases, it’s a win-win scenario for those who want to disrupt the Pilgrimage.

The scarier part in this Issue is that, the same effects can happen even if there is a feeling that two mentioned scenarios are going to happen. i.e. Even a misunderstanding that the State of Kerala is attempting to change the treaty unilaterally or the feeling that the dam is extremely unsafe can produce the same result of disrupting the Sabarimala Pilgrimage. This has been happening for the last ten years. It can be seen that to till this day, this issue has been ‘kept alive’ (thanks to our ‘liberal political & Judicial system) by various means. The latest one in this regard is a ‘Hollywood movie” named “DAM 999”  which is going to get released soon.

The producer as well as the director of this movie, Sohan Roy is a Malayali Entrepreneur who owns a marine company based in UAE. The very name of the movie suggests that it is related to the Mullaperiyar Issue. It is still unknown how this subject is going to get treated in the movie or even how the movie is going to fare in the box office. But surely it looks like another attempt to take this issue to a ‘higher level’. The news that it is going to be released in 4 languages with the possible involvement of Celebrities like Aishwarya Rai, Celine Dione and other top level artists from Malayalam film Industry gives some hints about this.

But now a genuine question can be raised as to how and why Sabarimala is so important that such great efforts are being made to destroy it. Who are its enemies? What are their intentions? Have they attempted to destroy it previously? If so, why there are no historical records for it?

Sabarimala Temple Arson

In order to answer this, we need to historically revisit the 1950’s. It would be seen that in all currently available books/ websites/ periodicals there would be a single line mention of temple fire in Sabarimala, which forced the then administration to rebuild the temple.  Some very few websites mentions this as a handiwork of some ‘miscreants’. The entire matter has been so described in those books that even perceptive ‘hindutvavaadins’  began to assume this incident as ‘a forest fire’ intentionally / unintentionally initiated by members of a ‘rival’ community primarily for financial / land grab attempts.

It should also be noted that even our foreign scholars of this subject maintain their silence on this. Remy Delage in his paper titled “From Fieldwork to Research Theory on an Indian Pilgrimage” gives a full mention of the efforts of two devotees who tried to ‘promote’ Ayyapa in India, particularly after the ‘Temple fire’.  Yet he also ‘forgets’ or ‘choose not’ to mention this very important source. This is when he includes all government publications as well as record from 1906 to 2000’s.

What could be ‘so interesting’ in this report that all “our scholars” are conveniently forgetting it?? Why is it so difficult for researchers to locate this report??

It should not be so. As a matter of fact, there was an enquiry report titled “Sabarimala Temple Arson Case” which was later published by Government of Kerala in 1957.  This report (35 pages) is now available from a government owned website (Information & Public relations Department) (http://www.firstministry.kerala.gov.in/).

Sabarimala Temple Arson Case: Enquiry Report was the report of the investigation of the same case conducted by Shri. K. Kesava Menon, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Special Branch, C.I.D. (On Special Duty). This report is significant for multiple reasons. Firstly, this report completely unravels the players who are actually involved in this issue.

Secondly this report extensively covers the “sentiments” of a certain community and proves that the most important reason for this temple arson was religious fanaticism. Thirdly had this report been studied and lessons learnt, Hindus could have avoided the ignominy of the “Nilakkal Agitation episode”  This is because this enquiry report categorically narrates this strange episode in detail –

“There is another back ground, which if viewed with the facts and the incidents mentioned above, will lend support to the possibility of an organised plan to destroy the Sabarimala shrine. In the month of Makaram, according to Ouseph, he followed a party of muthalalies consisting of Karimbanal Kochukunhu muthalali, Jnellamitthath  Kuttiachan, Podimittom Verghese, Karipparambil Devassya, Vadakkepparambil thomman and Pottamkulam Thomas, who left Erumeli in a Jeep and went to Kalaketti from where they went to Kollamuzhi by walk and halted. They directed the coolies to go into the forests and hunt. Then the muthalalies and himself went to Nilakkal in search of a church which they believed to be existing at Nilakkal. Though a search was made, they did not find any remnants of a church, but they saw only remnants of two or three temples.

It is surprising that at this period of the history of Travancore these muthalalies are searching for a church on the route to Sabarimala. It may be that either they want to establish by some evidence the existence of a church there or to renovate it or they are in search of a suitable place for building a church. Anyway the desire for a church near the Sabarimala orthodox route seems to have been deeply rooted in their mind as otherwise there was no necessity for all these muthalalies to join on this business. This it can be seen that since some time, the Christians have begun to deel the increasing number of low caste Hindus visiting the Sabarimala temple in ecstasy and devotion, which in all probability they would have thought if not checked would inevitably result in a check to the growing process of conversion of low caste Hindus to Christianity.

Further, the existence of a church at Nilakkal and Pampakadavu would in the long run attract Christians to colonise the area and thereby they could exploit these fertile regions and improve their financial conditions.”

That these exact things happened after a period of 30 years during Nilakkal agitation which led to their success in building their church at Nilakkal proves the extreme short sightedness of the Hindus.

Some other Excerpts from the Enquiry report:

1) ……………… the marks of violence on the brass-plate door of the Sreekovil together with the marks on the idol, raise the irresistible conclusion that the forcible entry into the Sreekovil was for the purpose of breaking the idol and that the weapon that was used to cut the Sreekovil door was the same used to break the idol. At the scene of occurrence, there was an axe and it is definite that that axe was used to cut the Sreekovil door, as traces of brass were found on the sharp edge of the axe and hence it has to be said that the fire was not accidental. ( Page 2 of the report)

2) The temple and its surrounding buildings were built up of wood, copper, brass, which were not easily inflammable, but they have been completely burnt. This is evidence enough to show that great effort has been made to set fire to the temple and speaks a deliberate action. ( Page 2 of the report)

3) The possibility of fire around the forest area enveloping the temple and thus bringing about the destruction of the temple is also out of the question, as there were no signs of any such forest fire around the area, and there were ample indications of a deliberate setting fire of the temple at the scene. ( Page 2 of the report)

4) The temple and surrounding building as already mentioned having been built of mostly non-inflammable materials, could not be easily set fire to and on a modest calculation, the perpetrators could have worked at this at least for four to five hours continuously, as evidenced from the emptying of the ghee tins and utilising cloth and other materials to set fire to the temple. Further, there were signs of occupation of the temple premises by a party. They have made use of the provisions that were stored in the temple including coriander. These clearly show that great labour has been undertaken in committing this act. ( Page 3 of the report)

5) After having explained that theft was not the motive of the offenders, the next point for consideration is to find out what else is the motive and who could possible have that motive. From the examination of the scene of occurrence and attendant circumstances, it was possible to come to a conclusion that the offence was a deliberate one well conceived and executed. There was a touch of open vandalism and desecration was the only purpose. The breaking of the idol after forcibly entering into the Sreekovil by cutting open the door with an axe indicates ferocity. With this background, the whole point has to be viewed ( Page 3 of the report)

6) Offenders have to reach the temple through such routes and familiarity and knowledge of the surrounding forest area and routes are essential requisites for such an expedition. Though it will not be correct to state that there are no Hindus who are not acquainted with the place and route, it is reasonable to consider that Christians have got more familiarity and knowledge than the Hindus in this direction, as they and they alone occupy the places at the base of these hills and they are the only persons who hunt and poach in the vicinity of the temple day in and day out. In short, they have more facilities to commit this crime than any other community; and it is in evidence that they have hunted and poached in the vicinity during the relevant period.

The forest lands and the areas either at the beginning of these routes or lying along these routes are all cultivated not by the Hindus but by the Christians. The Hindus have not and cannot have so much of opportunities as the Christians. A Christian has absolutely no regard for a Hindu temple or idol. To him a Hindu idol is either a piece of stone or a block of metal. In short, he attached no sacredness for any Hindu idol or temple except that he may admire as a work of art. It is otherwise for a Hindu. ( Page 4 of the report)

7) This offence is not at all the work of a mad man as evidenced from the method or manner in which the temple was set fire to and idol broken. The Hindus have no influence over the area and any party of Hindus cannot get into forests without being noticed by Christians. ( Page 4 of the report)

8) A party of Hindu coolies who had gone to collect minor produce had satisfactorily explained their movements and a thorough verification was made. They had no hand in this. The Hindus have no purpose whatsoever by destroying this ancient sacred temple. It is from this temple that Hindus get a large income. It is this temple that brings unity among all classes of Hindus.  ( Page 4 of the report)

9) Further, if the Hindu Mandal wanted to dot it, they would have as well done this before the Kaviyur  reconversion or even before the Hindu Mandal Convention at Quilon. Finally, if the Hindus have done this, certainly information would have come out by this time regarding the perpetrators, because, psychologically at least one of the Hindus would have become terror-stricken and blurted out the details to somebody. It was because the offence has been committed other than by the Hindus, no information has so far come forth. This is borne by the fact that a Christian or a Muslim has absolutely no feeling for the destruction of Hindu idol or temple. This again is a point of Psychology.(  Page 5 of the report)

10) History has repeatedly shown that such sacrilegious acts in spite of the devotion of the Hindus towards such ancient temples and idols have been committed with a view to challenge the basic existence of the Hindu temples. This is not only due to the fanaticism in the wake of hatred but also due to a desire to put a stop to the influx of a large section of humanity into the folds of this ancient religion. This is one of the sacred temples which draw due to its sanctity thousands and thousands of devotees of all castes and creeds to offer their prayers to GOD AYYAPPA.

Long before the Father of the Nation preached temple entry for all untouchables, this ancient temple stood as a beacon light and guidance to the whole of India. For example, the low caste Pulaya and the high caste Brahmin rubbed shoulder to shoulder and offered prayers in this ancient temple. In the present day, in the wake of partition and communal tension among different communities, exhibiting the ugly signs of enmity against one another, this Makaravilakku stood in all its solidarity voicing forth the union of all Hindus into one fold and the fact stood as the foundation stone on which caste, creed and colour had to be shed away in the worship of the all-pervading God. (  Page 6 of the report)

11) Investigation having pointed out the hand of Christians on circumstantial evidence, the details of which I have given below, it is natural to believe that the above facts related to the motive are not inconsistent with the evidence gathered. I am emphasising this point to show that the case was investigated as an ordinary Arson case on other important circumstantial findings with a view to trace the offenders, in which the motive point was not taken into consideration to begin with, and after investigating this on the lines mentioned above, and having arrived at conclusions, the motive point came in naturally in the wake of investigation. (  Page 8 of the report)

Conclusions

1) Presently, Sabarimala temple reportedly gets better security coverage. Serious studies need to be made about Government’s view of threat perceptions to Sabarimala.

2) There were reports in the press regarding certain explosions on 27-12-2009 near Sabarimala which caused panic.  On 5th Jan 2010 PTI reported arrest of a LTTE  man at cumbum. This is a serious development to be considered. It is a widely known fact that a certain “Universal” religion was one of the sponsors for this terrorist organisation. The fact that most of these types are out of jobs now and sitting idle in T.N camps should be taken into consideration. Any attempts of LTTE to infiltrate to the either forests or the shelter camps for refugees near Kerala / T.N border needs to be monitored.

3) The protection of Mullaperiyar Dam needs to be strengthened. The fact that the adversaries can go to any length for their nefarious deeds is to be acknowledged.

4) Let us remember what H.G Wells says in his book ‘Crux Ansata’   “I think that it stands for everything most hostile to the mental emancipation and stimulation of mankind. It is the completest, most highly organized system of prejudices and antagonisms in existence. Everywhere in the world there are ignorance and prejudice, but the greatest complex of these, with the most extensive prestige and the most intimate entanglement with traditional institutions, is the[ XXX]. It presents many faces towards the world, but everywhere it is systematic in its fight against freedom.”

REFERENCES: 

1. Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India

http://wrmin.nic.in/index3.asp?subsublinkid=739&langid=1&sslid=733

2. Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India

http://wrmin.nic.in/index3.asp?subsublinkid=739&langid=1&sslid=733

3. JOURNAL OF KERALA STUDIES, PUBLISHED BY UNIVERSITY OF KERALA, Vol. XXXI, March-Dec 2004, pp. 1-66 (William Henry Horsley’s Memoir of Travancore (1839): Earliest English Treatise on the History of Travancore
Achuthsankar S. Nair,  University of Kerala)

4. “Stop Pilgrimage promotion in Sabarimala: Study” (P.Venugopal) : The Hindu, Dec 26, 2001

5. From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 24, Dated June 21, 2008 publishing repetitive news regarding Sabarimala on 2nd January 2010

6. Remy Delage-  Pilgrimage and Environment in South India — A Research of Compatibility Between Conflicting Ideologies ; Mapping Out Social Change in South India — A Geographic Information System and Its Applications

7. Filippo Ossello and Caroline Ossello — ‘Ayyappan Saranam’: Masculinity and the Sabrimala Pilgrimage in Kerala,2003

8. Filippo Ossello and Caroline Ossello — Ayyappan Saranam’ – [“The resultant child,Ayyappan, product of two males, was born from Vishnu’s thigh. Shiva and Vishnu were ashamed” – This story of ‘shame’ is un heard of and most probably  a wilful lie]

9. http://www.ifpindia.org/South-India-Fertility-Project-SIFP.html

10. http://www.demographie.net/sifp/objectives.htm

11. See  http://www.saranamayyappa.org/ResearchArticles.htm

12. See- ceias.ehess.fr/docannexe.php?id=952

13. Mullaperiyar Dam. (2010, January 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12:27, January 10, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mullaperiyar_Dam&oldid=336405035

14. Film Review,Oct 2009 –The Hindu http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2009/10/24/stories/2009102451611700.htm

15. Malayala Manorama Website (20-Dec-2009) http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/malayalamContentView.do?tabId=4&programId=1073752864&BV_ID=@@@&contentId=6320608&contentType=EDITORIAL&articleType=Malayalam%20News

16. Rajeev Srinivasan, Rediff http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/feb/28rajeev.htm -“The settlers are almost entirely Christian. In their enthusiasm, some Christians actually set fire to the Sabarimala temple in the 1950s: it was a nuisance to them in their attempts to grab the surrounding forest”
 
17.  Menon, K Kesava Sabarimala Temple Arson Case: Enquiry Report. Kerala — Trivandrum: The Govt.Press, 1957
 
18. Report can be downloaded from www.firstministry.kerala.gov.in/pdf/bills/Reports/tmple_arsn.pdf
 
19. For more details see http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=279

20. Malayala Manorama http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/contentView.do?contentId=6442196&tabId=1&programId=1080132915&channelId=-1073865030&BV_ID=@@@
 
21. PTI http://www.ptinews.com/news/453575_Suspected-LTTE-militant-arrested

Vatican slams ‘Avatar’

Vatican doesn’t like ‘Avatar’ because it allegedly promotes ‘pseudo-doctrines’ of pantheism and worhip of nature. What is wrong with worshipping God’s creation, I ask you? The sun, the moon, the stars, the air, the trees, the rivers, the sea, the plants – we cannot live a single day without them.

For me, this makes them divine because they give us the ultimate gift of life. Organised religions on the other hand have given us nothing but hatred, death, destruction and punishment for doing our thinking on our own.

Nature gives us life and nourishment. Organised religions give us death and regression. Which one should we hold divine and worship with reverence? It is a no-brainer, isn’t it?

Protests as Vatican Slams Avatar and Pantheist Nature-Worship
Pantheists are protesting as Vatican media slam the movie Avatar for promoting Pantheism, only a few days after the Pope attacked Pantheism in his New Year’s address.

Vatican Says ‘Avatar’ Worships Nature And Is “Bland”
by Ann Warren

Vatican calls ‘Avatar’ bland

The Vatican has described the science fiction film ‘Avatar’, which has taken $1 billion (£600m) at the box office, as bland, cliched and overly-sentimental.

 

 

The myths on which huge structures are built

It is clear that to demolish anti-Hindu Congress, the myths of Nehru and Gandhi that the party has created, have to be demolished. Just like the demon’s life was trapped in a parrot, Congress’ life is trapped in the myths of these two people (both of whom were actually British creations). Similarly, the life of Christianity is in the Jesus myth. To convert Hindus, Church spreads the caste myth. It is really interesting to see which structures are built on which myth. To demolish the structures, you simply have to target the myth that they are based on.

Nehru & other myths

R Jagannathan

Shashi Tharoor, minister of state for external affairs, got it both right and wrong on Jawaharlal Nehru because he forgot a basic piece of wisdom: you don’t fight foundational myths.

Myth-busting is for scholars, authors and retired politicians, whose ranks Tharoor may soon be forced to join given his controversial twittermania. It’s not for active politicians who want to leave their mark on history.

His remarks on Nehru —- to the effect that he followed a wishy-washy foreign policy driven by Gandhian morality — are a case in point. If you are a Congressman, you have to believe in the Nehru myth.

The Nehru myth states, inter alia, that modern India was entirely hiscreation (only slightly true), that he was entirely secular and democratic (not always), that the Nehru family is the only one that has the whole of India’s interests at heart (absolutely untrue), that non-alignment was a wonderful thing, and so on.

 
If you are part of a dynastic party, you cannot survive by challenging the Nehru myth. If you do, you challenge the very basis for its existence.

No Nehru myth, no dynasty. This is why the Congress cannot put any leader — Sardar Patel, Ambedkar, Jinnah, Rajagopalachari or Rajendra Prasad — on the same pedestal as Nehru despite the fact that they all contributed much to the making of India.

Besides, Nehru himself was no perennial success icon. His foreign policy blunders culminated in the humiliation of 1962. His economic policies were equally flawed, as Nehru believed in the Soviet model with minor roles for the private sector.

His daughter initially compounded his economic follies, but after the 1980s she started changing course. It took a bankruptcy in 1991 to finally abandon Nehruvian socialism.

The reason why Nehru made colossal blunders was simple: he was vain and hence sycophants could take him for a ride. This is why he persisted with VK Krishna Menon long after events proved him to be a liability; Chinese leader Zhou Enlai pulled wool over his eyes by pretending to be a novice in international affairs.

Nehru held forth about his views on the world believing Zhou to be a genuine admirer when the latter was actually playing to his ego and neutralising him on Tibet.

In course of time, the Nehru myth has been extended to the whole family, from Indira Gandhi to Rajiv to Sonia and now Rahul and Priyanka.

Thus, Indira is the social messiah (bank nationalisation, garibi hatao), Rajiv Gandhi is the moderniser and reformer (though Narasimha Rao actually did more in reality), and Rahul the new youth icon and emancipator. You question these myths at your own peril. Tharoor got a rap on the knuckles only for this.

Without myths there would be no institutions, for myths are the glue that holds disparate elements together. Whether it is a religion or a corporation, myths are essential and beyond reality.

Management writers Jim Collins and Jerry Porras (Built to Last) discovered that successful companies that have survived for over 100 years tended to have cult-like cultures that you could not question. People who questioned the corporate myths (“we are a people-oriented organisation”) were ejected fast. You can’t be in Wal-Mart and not participate in the company’s theme song. You can’t be in HP without kowtowing to the HP Way.

In Pakistan, they have a Jinnah myth — he was never a pious Muslim, but given his role in the creation of the state, you can’t mention it. In India, Jinnah has been demonised (often for good reason), but a rational reassessment is not possible either by the Congress (which believes in the Nehru myth) or the BJP (which has to follow the RSS, which believes in Akhand Bharat, where Jinnah has been given the villain’s role).

It doesn’t matter that Partition has actually created a huge Hindu majority India, of the kind that the RSS could not have dreamed of in a united India. But myths do not need to have a rational basis.

It’s the same with the major organised religions. You can’t be a Christian without believing in virgin birth and resurrection, never mind that these myths are far removed from the message of Jesus Christ and invented much later.

You can’t be Muslim without believing that before the prophet arrived it was all jahiliya — the age of ignorance — even though common sense tells us humanity always had its dark and bright spots in all ages. Hindus have too many myths to count, but the point is that a thought gets institutionalised only with the help of myths.

Myths work best when you pay lip service to them, but don’t get hemmed in. If Tharoor wants to change Nehruvian ideas, the best way is to lionise Nehruism and then dump his ideas in practice. This is what we have done with Gandhi. So why not Nehru?

Evangelists in Orissa

This report from a missionary website shows how White missionaries are openly proselytising in India, flushed with cash provided by American churches.  I thought missionary visas were banned by India two decades ago? Then why there is no check on these people coming to India and organising huge events? Is there pressure on administration from Sonia Gandhi to allow them in and do their work? Are they bribing local ministers and cops? There is something wrong somewhere. Hindus will be destroyed if they stop protecting Dharma, and the Whites with their pernicious, genocidal ideology will win.

This is a gleefull report from missionaries about their activities in Orissa. The events are based on most pathetic superstitions — miracle cures, black magic, occultism and dead bodies coming alive after being eaten by ants. And to believe that these people accuse all other faiths of living in darkness!

God’s Moment in India

Last year on a hot, humid evening in Warangal, a city in southern India, about 8,000 locals gathered in a giant sports field while what seemed like 100,000 insects buzzed in the night sky. Most of the people were Hindus, but this did not stop them from visiting a Christian event hosted by a local evangelist, Harry Gomes, who is based further south in the city of Coimbatore.

 As the dark-faced crowd gathered, billowing saris sparked a riot of turquoise, pink, saffron, green, aqua and red. The women in these flowing garments reclined on a huge piece of yellow fabric that covered half a football field. Men sat in white plastic chairs or stood near the edges of the field, where towering floodlights bathed the scene in a harsh glow.

Gomes, who has sponsored more than 200 outdoor evangelistic crusades in India since he began his ministry in 1996, was seated on the stage with his head bowed, oblivious to the noises from the audience or the blaring music coming from a praise team standing next to him. Accompanied by a drum machine and synthesizer, four women from Gomes’ Bible college sang Indian choruses in Telugu-one of 29 major languages spoken in India today.

After a litany of announcements and more songs, an Indian minister in a black suit announced it was time for Gomes to preach. The restless crowd settled down while the dark clouds grew menacing. The bugs provided a strange soundtrack, crackling and sizzling as they hit chairs, sound equipment and light bulbs.

A small rug was rolled out on the stage, and Gomes knelt on it, clutching his Bible in one hand and a microphone in the other. In his deep, resonating voice-obviously created for preaching-he began his brief sermon, all in perfect Telugu. (Gomes also speaks Hindi, Tamil and other Indian languages.)

After the sermon the action began. Still kneeling, Gomes began to recite a list of sicknesses and ailments. Arthritis. Tumors. Blindness. Heart problems. Skin disorders. People in the crowd began to stand. To the left of the giant stage, a woman-obviously demonized-began to scream. Two members of Gomes’ ministry team ran to help her.

Gomes kept his eyes shut throughout his 15-minute prayer for the sick. He does not lay hands on people in his meetings but simply prays that Jesus Christ will reveal Himself to the Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims who come to hear him.

“It is Jesus who does the healing,” he told Charisma. “We only need to believe and pray.”

So far, about 12.4 million Indians have come to Christ in Gomes’ meetings, but that is a small number compared to the total who have embraced Christianity in India in recent years. This nation of more than 1 billion people is on the verge of a spiritual upheaval.

Indophobia of Whites: What drives it?

Vamsee Juluri writes his views about a particularly nasty article about India by Barbara Crossette in “Foreign Policy.”

Indophobia: The Real Elephant in the Living Room
By Vamsee Juluri

Juluri has diagnosed the reasons of Indiophobia of the Whites correctly when he says:
“The present Indophobia has its origins in colonial Hinduphobia. Fuelled by the crazy stories of missionaries determined to rid the world of heathen Hindus and steeped in the ideologies of the colonizers’ civilizing mission, Indophobia infiltrated popular, journalistic, political and academic thought.”

This Hinduphobia is what gives rise to movies such as Slumdog Millionaire and creatures like Wendy Doniger and Martha Nussbaum. The phenomenon is driven by the Christian hatred and fear of religiously tolerant pagans.

Exactly which all governments in the world are secular?

Ireland has passed a blasphemy law. George Bush started funding faith-based initiatives of the church. British MPs publicly protest against anti-coversion laws in India. It is a myth that Western countries are secular. Their entire worldview is based on promotion of Christianity. Muslim countries or even Israel don’t even pretend to be secular. It is only Hindu suckers who have got conned into this secular business and wilfully put the noose around their necks.

Wake up guys! There is no shame in asking for state support for promotion and protection of Hinduism in your own country. Jews, Christians and Muslims, all claim and get state support in their respective countries whereever they are in a majority. Secularism is just a trick of the church in pagan countries. Get rid of it.

Irish atheists test blasphemy law

Months ago when the new and controversial Irish anti-blasphemy law was being passed, it made headlines around the world. Now that it has gone into effect, the fracas has really begun, with a group of Irish atheists immediately putting up a challenge. The atheists claim the law is unenforceable and have posted “25 blasphemous quotations” on their website in order to test it. These quotations are, for the most part, relatively tame, but they do demonstrate the ridiculousness of such laws in countries where there exists a multiplicity of faiths. In a nation or area run by a religious tyranny, such as occurred under Christianity in parts of Europe during the Dark Ages and Inquisition, or as in brutal Muslim-dominated countries to this day, such a law could be carried out, because it necessitates a monolithic religious structure that excludes all others.

In free, democratic nations, however, such a law is the height of absurdity – and those who passed it in Ireland evidently knew that fact, because they claimed, if I understand their position correctly, that they were essentially only doing it in order to fend off something worse.  What could be worse and coming down the pike at them? Perhaps what is happening in other parts of Great Britain, to wit Islamization? One look at this law may indicate which “religion of perpetual outrage” is being appeased once more:

Under the law, which went into effect Friday, a person can be found guilty of blasphemy if “he or she publishes or utters matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion.”

The point in challenging this law is that what is defined as “blasphemy” to one individual, group or culture within a multifaith and multicultural land may not be blasphemous at all to others – so how will these determinations be made? Here are a few examples of what is blasphemous to me personally:

It is blasphemous to me to insist that there is a giant, usually male god person somewhere “out there” separate and apart from creation who is angry, vengeful and wrathful.
It is blasphemous to me to discuss this god person using the sexist terms of “he,” “him” and “his,” in whatever language.
It is blasphemous to me to suggest that this god person is so petty and obsessed with women’s hair and skin that “he” must have them cover themselves up under threat of rape and brutality.
It is blasphemous to me to say that the quality of divinity has occurred only once in history in a particular individual of a certain ethnicity some 2,000 years ago.
It is blasphemous to me to coerce people into believing without any credible, scientific evidence illogical and supernatural events, such as a man being born of a virgin, walking on water, raising people from the dead and flying off into heaven.
It is blasphemous to me to state that there has only been a handful of “prophets of God” from a particular part of the world and that the last one for all eternity existed some 1,400 years ago.
It is blasphemous to me to claim that a warrior who married a six-year-old girl and consummated the “marriage” when she was nine is called a “prophet of God.”
It is blasphemous to me to assert that another warrior who ordered the slaughter of tens of thousands and the rape of kidnapped virgin girls by “chosen people” is also called a “prophet of God” and his exploits are “godly.
It is blasphemous to me to raise up writings as “holy” that consist largely of blood and gore, as well as calls for the hatred, mistreatment, enslavement and murder of nonbelievers and infidels.
It is blasphemous to me to treat human beings like born-in-sin pieces of garbage in the face of an all-glorious god who deserves all the praise but none of the blame for the world’s ills.
It is blasphemous to me to attempt to overthrow the democratic rule based on my holy scripture, which is the American Constitution.
And so on.

Moreover, by looking at the news I am insulted on a daily basis in matters that I hold sacred, such as the right of women to keep their hair and face uncovered in public, as well their genitals intact, along with so many other atrocities committed regularly in the name of God, religion, holy books, prophets, sons of God, etc., ad nauseam.

Now, who is going to arrest and try all the hundreds of millions globally whose beliefs blaspheme my religion?

The Jesus Myth

Some more stuff on the Jesus myth:

The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a mythical Christ?
by Earl Doherty

Truth be Known
A great website by Dr. D.M. Murdock who has now adopted the name “Acharya S.” She is a brilliant writer who wrote the best-seller “The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold.”
Don’t forget to visit the new forum she has set up to discuss these issues: http://freethoughtnation.com/ 

The Gnostic Gospels What were they? Why did the Church attempt to destroy them?

The Jesus Myth where faith and logic collide.

The Case Against Historical Christ by R.G. Price

And who can forget our very own Sitaram Goel with his brilliant book:

HISTORY OF HINDU-CHRISTIAN ENCOUNTERS
AD 304 TO 1996

The Goddess of Big Lies

Great Literary Frauds of Our Time
By John Dolan

FRAUD #1 Arundhati Roy: The Goddess of Big Lies

It was about time somebody called the bluff of the outspoken but lightweight Arundhati Roy. She is a Christian fundamentalist pretending to be a communist.

An average writer –  there are thousands like her in India — she is nothing but a creation of the Whites through their awards. She remain in circulation only because of the leftist-liberal network in India that itself is nourished by the Whites and positioned against the Hindus. The sooner the Hindus wake up to the strategy of the Whites to raise the profile of leftists and Hindu haters (Arvind Adiga types) in India through their awards such as Booker and Magsaysay, the better for their future.

Hindus should flush these Gora awards down the toilet and show middle finger to the brown sepoys who get them.

The Sanskrit Village

Everyone speaks Sanskrit in this village.

Vedic village’s tryst with IT

Govind Krishnan

A quarter century ago, AI magazine carried an article that evoked much curiosity among its readers — regular or casual. The 1985 spring issue of the California-based quarterly featured a write-up by an American called Rick Briggs on artificial intelligence (AI) and Sanskrit. Briggs, who compared its grammar with that of the computer, came to a startling conclusion: Sanskrit, which ceased to be a living tongue millennia ago, had such a logical meaning-structure that it could be a rich mining field for AI.

The following year, Briggs and several academicians flew down to India to pick the brains of India’s Sanskrit pundits who had gathered at Bangalore for a conference inspired by his research.

Had their trip happened today, those experts would have taken Bangalore as nothing more than a stopover. From the Garden City, they would’ve taken a bus and travelled seven hours north to meet the residents of Mattur. In this village, Sanskrit isn’t dead. The language leads an existence — perhaps beleaguered, but tenacious — among its 2,000-odd people. Critically, Briggs and company would have also have witnessed the beginnings of this near-Vedic village’s strange tryst with Hindustan’s nascent IT revolution: the village has produced around 150 software engineers!

It is a link Briggs would have found exciting. Mattur and its twin village Hosanahalli, a few kilometres north of Shimoga town, sandwich a thin strip of the Tungabhadra. Enter Mattur, and your senses are assailed by a host of sights that is eccentric in its fusion of the picturesque and the quixotic. While a set of Smartha Brahmins recite Vedic hymns by the riverside in the morning cold, a couple of young men with tufts zoom past on a black Pulsar — the unstitched folds of their white uparivasthras flapping in the breeze. When I enter the home of Gopal Avadhani, a retired engineer, a boy named Shantarama introduces himself in Sanskrit, “Mama naama Shantarama.”

Sanskrit dominates the life of Mattur, and not just because half the populace speak the language — with varying degrees of fluency. Right about the time Briggs and his crew were discovering the semantic potential of Sanskrit for computer applications, Mattur was rediscovering Sanskrit for itself.

The journey back to its Vedic roots started for the village in 1981 when Sanskrita Bharati, an organisation that promotes the classical language, conducted a Sanskrit workshop in Mattur. It was attended, among others, by the pontiff of the Pejawar Mutt in nearby Udupi.

Inspired by this village where Sanskrit survived as a spoken language, the seer reportedly exclaimed, “A place where individuals speak Sanskrit, where whole houses talk in Sanskrit! What next? A Sanskrit village!” It’s a call Mattur took to heart.

Sanskrit is reputedly a tough nut to crack, but is it that different from picking up any other language? In some rather important ways, it seems it is. When Shantarama leaves for school and says “Aham vidyalayam gachhami” (I am going to school), he will know that gachhami is very much like gamanam — which means movement. Both words come from the root class gam, from which a fluent Sanskrit speaker can dig up words for all kinds of movements and for things that move. Like gau for cows and khagah for birds. But khagah is not merely something that moves. It is that which it moves in khagam (sky). From a few basic classes (root words), Sanskrit creates an endless chain of words — all linked to each other.

“The objects, events and actions are all labelled depending on the root,” says Srivatsa S, who is doing his research in linguistics at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad.

Dhruv Kumar, who is scholar Gopal Avadhani’s nephew, is one of Mattur’s success stories. He heads a software development company in Bangalore. The IT professional is a stranger to linguistics concepts, but he is very familiar with the idea that one can link together a vast set of seemingly random things by boiling them down to basic classes that will split the objects between them. He would be doing it every day. In his office at Mahalakshmi Layout when Dhruv works on Java or C ++, he is using Object Oriented Programming (OOP), a programming technique that thinks on lines similar to Panini’s Sanskrit grammar.

OOP allows the programmer to define classes and clump together objects belonging to the same class. Each object within the class can be a further class, and can give more objects, just like one word leads on to another in Sanskrit.

Dhruv, however, is not interested in whether Java shares semantic genes with Sanskrit. His obsession at the moment is Shridam — a rural BPO that set up operations in Mattur three months back. Shridam is Dhruv’s way of giving back to the village that raised him and which he longs to go back to. The BPO, the brainchild of Mattur’s affluent techie migrants, employs 50 villagers at the moment. “It gives us from Rs 3,000 to 5,000 a month,” says Pattabhiraman, an employee. “We might get double that in Bangalore, but the cost of living there makes Shridam much more attractive. Besides we can stay at home.”

The beehive of air-conditioned cubicles that outsource business operations from foreign shores is something we only associate with a city. But Dhruv thinks this has not only limited our business imagination but held our villages back. “If I can service the USA sitting here in Bangalore, why can’t I do the same from Shimoga? From Mattur?” The words of a dreamer? Dhruv does not agree. After all, the line between dreaming and innovation is a thin one. “When I can get better support, better connectivity and better power in Shimoga, why can’t I deliver the same product to my customers at a lower cost?”

Sridham is only the tip of the iceberg for Dhruv and his various associates. For them setting up a rural BPO is merely the first step in stemming the flood of urban migration that is eroding the very fabric of villages like Muttur. They have much bigger plans for their village. The profits from the BPO shall go into a special fund with which they hope to launch much bigger technological projects in Mattur. And these projects will be not only be run but conceived and conceptualised by the youth of Mattur. “We want to educate our young people and take up their ideas,” Dhruv explains. “Let them come up with their own projects and execute them. We will give them the support.”

What kind of projects does he have in mind? “Well, for example, wind and water energy from the Tunga can be harnessed to generate power indigenously. The channels of the Badhra flow into the Tunga and the water force can be a valuable resource for our village,” he says. Other plans of a similar kind are being chalked; the thrust is to make the Muttur a self-sufficient unit. 

If Dhruv’s dreams come true, Mattur would be a bizarre candidate for that holy grail of liberal economists — the global village. It would be bizarre not merely because the denizens of this global village will speak Sanskrit and wear unstitched clothes while running software companies and techno-heavy development projects. 
How to keep a language alive

If one man can be said to be responsible for Mattur’s Sanskrit revolution, it would be Srinidhi, a stocky, bullet-headed man with an enthusiasm that belies his forties. Srinidhi heads Sanskritha Bhavan, a Sanskrit-teaching institute that has taken upon itself a job that to many would seem quixotic, the task of taking the language out of textbooks and literature and bringing it back to life on the streets of Mattur.

Among the many things the institute does, the primary one is the language support it gives to the local school. Sanskrit is the first language in the Sharada Vidyapeeth, a private school managed by the villagers that educates the village’s children at little more than Rs 80 a month. Sanskrita Bharati organises spoken Sanskrit courses every few months to make sure that nothing is learnt by rote and forgotten.

These Sanskrita Shibirams (Sanskrit camps), where learners brush up on their speaking skills see all kinds — men, women, Brahmins, Harijans, college students, middle-aged farmers. And the discussions, Srinidhi says, are very lively. The enthusiast, however, admits that the occasional old-timer who grumbles “Sanskrit? At my age?” is not uncommon.
The technological edge

Fifty to sixty software professionals from Mattur are placed in the different IT firms that have made Bangalore the Silicon valley of India. “People from my native place are working for companies such as Wipro, Infosys, HP, IBM and several others in Bangalore,” says Shashank who is the chief technological officer of Samartha, a software development company in Bangalore floated by another Matturite. Samartha which offers IT services to IT giants in India and abroad, and have HP, IBM and Wipro among its clients. The organisation employs 100 software engineers, of whom 25 are from Mattur.

Another venture with a Mattur entrepreneur at its helm, combines software development functions with that of a training institute. The company provides training to graduates in languages like Java and PLSQL (Procedural Language/Structured Query Language). Mattur has not just spawned techies. It has made its mark in the scientific community also. “Two scientists from Mattur have won the Bhatnagar award for original research,” said Dhruv Kumar, the owner of Samartha.

American history as told by a Red Indian

Want to read American history that you never knew existed? Daniel Paul, a Red Indian, tells the stories that Caucasians do not want anyone to know.

Daniel Paul

Why Hinduism will win in the end

Indian culture — the oldest in the world — is irresistible. It grew out of a spiritual core that emphasises individual freedom, respect for other individuals and races, harmony with nature and treating material wealth as inconsequential. 

Our religion and culture are the produce of a psyche that is conditioned by the concept of Dharma — the primordial, universal order of things that ensures peace, fulfilment and justice for all. While Muslims and Christians rampaged through the whole world, enslaving other people and looting their treasures, Hindus considered going outside their borders to subjugate other people as “opposed to justice and dharma.” 

No wonder, all Xian fundamentalists hate Hinduism more than Islam and try to use the latter to destroy the former. Hinduism poses a civilisational and intellectual threat to the Church that Islam doesn’t. Remember the Hare Krishna movement?  

Just explain the concepts of Hinduism to Americans and Europeans and they will come on their own — there is no need for us to carry rice bags with us like missionaries to sell spurious goods that no one will buy otherwise. Aren’t we all proud to be Hindu, the inheritors of the greatest civilisation humanity has ever produced? 

I request you to mail the link of Hindu Wisdom to everyone you know. Post it on your Facebook page and spread it everywhere. 

Read this to know how Hinduism is taking America by storm: 

America fast adapting to “things Indian”

Wendell Thomas also agrees that Hinduism has invaded America. 

 

Ahmed, the Jihadi

A cultural Taliban in secular India

By V Sundaram

This shows how stupid it was for Hindus to have allowed these people to remain in the country after Partition. Curse Gandhi for that.

The sheer depths of Indian Civilisation

The sheer depths of Indian Civilisation        
Sandhya Jain
31 Dec 2009 
 
Barely seven years after Prof. B B Lal penned “The Sarasvati Flows On: The Continuity of Indian Culture” (2002), the defiantly-in-denial UPA has been forced to admit the existence of the Vedic Sarasvati. In response to a parliamentary question, the government revealed that a study by scientists of ISRO, Jodhpur, and the Rajasthan Government’s Ground Water Department has found irrefutable evidence of palaeo-channels and archaeological sites of pre-Harappan, Harappan and post-Harappan ages, indicating the existence of a mighty river matching descriptions of the Saraswati in Vedic literature.

Now, once again taking the bull by the horns, Prof. Lal thunders that the Harappan or Indus-Sarasvati civilisation is not only archaeologically the oldest civilisation of India, but that it is the material counterpart of the Vedic texts! Supporting this bold hypothesis is powerful evidence from hydrology, geology, literature, archaeology and radiocarbon dating. A picture clearly emerges of a vibrant material civilisation with profound metaphysical insights in the north-western region, which bequeathed us the unity and continuity that are the hallmarks of Indian tradition.

Amazingly, every little aspect of our civilisation can be traced back to the dawn of our religion and culture in the Sarasvati basin. At Nausharo in pre-partition India (now Pakistan), French excavator Jean-Francois Jarrige found a small terracotta figurine of a woman, hair painted black, and red paint in the medial parting indicating the sindoor worn by Hindu married women to this day. Carbon dating traces the levels where the image was found to circa 2800-2600 BCE. Similarly, the famous bronze statuette of the dancing girl, found at Mature Harappan levels of Mohenjo-daro, reveals the continuity of the practice of wearing serial bangles on the upper arms in parts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, the very regions where Harappan culture most thrived.

The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, an unknown mariner’s account of the sea trade between India and the Red Sea in the early centuries AD, and the seventh century Chinese pilgrim Hieun-Tsang, both mention the export of beads from India. Chanhu-daro in Sindh and Lothal in Gujarat have yielded a rich bead-making industry.

Far more startling is the continuity in agriculture, which sustained this rich civilisation and the arts and crafts that in turn created a flourishing overseas trade, and wealth that made India a coveted prize for adventurers in the centuries that unfolded. Excavations at Kalibangan in the Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan, from the Early Harappan circa 2800 BCE, show fields ploughed wide apart from north to south (for tall mustard plants) and shorter east-west furrows (for gram), so that the multiple crops share the winter sunshine and do not cast shadows upon each other. This pattern endures in Indian fields to this day. This era also created the ploughshare and spoked wheel, the tandoor and roti, chulha and chapatti, and pots and pans and other vessels of daily use!

If these seem like small drops in a civilisation as vast as the ocean, the finding of terracotta figurines in various Yogic asanas, which take the Astanga yoga of Panini (2nd century BCE) back to Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, must make us pause. It is staggering material evidence of spiritual quest accompanying great wealth, unmatched in any ancient civilisation. It is convincing proof, if proof be needed, that the material wealth desired in Vedic mantras refers simultaneously to a deeper metaphysical quest. 

This is augmented by the famous limestone statuette of the Mohenjo-daro priest-king, with his eyes introvert and eyelids half-closed, a meditative form later associated with Buddhist tradition, especially in Tibet and China. Yet this form of dhyana is mentioned in the Bhagvadgita (ch. 6, verse 13) which states that the gaze should be fixed on the tip of the nose!

The famous seals of the Sarasvati civilisation reflect later developments in Hindu religion and culture – the worship of Siva as a linga; Pasupati seated in yogic posture surrounded by animals; buffalo sacrifice; worship of the sacred pipal; the crucial role of agni in the havana or yajna; the fire altars for individual and communal worship; the kamandalus of the sadhu; the sacred svastika…  I could go on, is nothing new?

Town planning, especially given the chaos in our cities today, will remain ancient India’s greatest contribution to civilisation. Be it Kalibangan, or Sisupalgarh near Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, the grid pattern with streets running north-south and east-west was the rage. This, it is pertinent, was an era in which Egypt or Mesopotamia (the West’s favourite ‘cradle’ of civilisation) had no notion of such town planning – which must be conceded was original to India. To cap it all, there were covered drains and manholes for discharge of sullage.

Bricks were kiln-fired, and there was bonding, with bricks laid out in alternate courses – length-wise and breadth-wise – for strong walls, way back in the third millennium BCE. And clay floors were soled with fragments of terracotta nodules and large pieces of charcoal – to absorb moisture, prevent dampness travelling up the walls, and inhibiting termites!

Describing in detail the major Harappan settlements – Kalibangan in Rajasthan; Banawali and Rakhigarhi in Hissar, Haryana; Harappa in Sahiwal, Pakistani Punjab; Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan; Surkotada and Dholavira in Kachchha, Gujarat (which yielded terracotta horse figurines); and Lothal in Ahmedabad, Gujarat; Prof. Lal has traced the vast spread and efflorescence of a civilisation going back more than five thousand years. It is rich in agriculture and familiar with many types of grains and cereals and fruits; animal husbandry is known and many animals are domesticated – cow, sheep, goat, pig, camel and elephant; the spotted deer, blackbuck and sambhar are hunted for food; fish and turtle are known. Above all, there is irrefutable evidence about knowledge of the horse and its usage, with bones found at numerous sites, including Lothal, Kalibangan and Surkotada.

Vedic Harappan civilisation used its long coastline from Gujarat to Sindh and Baluchistan for a thriving sea trade with the Gulf and Africa, selling marine, mineral and forest resources to distant markets. A coffin with the deodar lid suggests that the Himalayas were sourced for wood, with logs being pushed downstream as is the practice today. There was a rich industry in bead-making, shell, ivory-working, not to mention metal, mainly copper and bronze, though gold and silver ornaments had also arrived.

Truly a Golden Age. The only thing missing is the inscrutable script, surely a precursor to Brahmi, the language that developed later. But who were these Vedic people – were they Aryan invaders as we were taught in school, or indigenous ancestors whose achievements were ‘stolen’ by ascribing them to so-called Aryans, a people who have left no traces of like achievements in any of the lands from where they supposedly descended upon the Indian plains.

It is now conclusively established that there was no Aryan Invasion, or even Migration (the current theory). What does remain, however, is a West-led mental resistance to accepting the indigenous origins of the Vedic (Hindu) religion, culture, and civilisation. But the time for intellectual arguments is over; it will take the further economic and military decline of the West to eclipse this denial.

How Deep are the Roots of Indian Civilisation? Archaeology Answers

B B Lal

Aryan Books International, New Delhi, 2009

Price: Rs 390/-

Pages: 150

Shady ToIlet paper’s new salvo against India

Here is Times of India newspaper’s Aman ki Asha project. This message was printed on a full-page false cover of the paper on New Year day. (Note: Times of India (ToI) is called ToIlet paper by its readers due to its unethical, anti-national editorial standards.)

Love Pakistan

Feels odd to see those two words side by side doesn’t it?

Terror, hatred and fanaticism somehow sit more comfortably in our minds when we think of the other side of the border.

Words that we’ve been fed in daily doses over the last six decades/ And in greater doses over the last one year.

Shutting our minds to the undeniable truth that people across the border are above all, people. Like us.

So here’s the question. Is there any chance at all, that we could still raise a hand not in anger but greeting?

Depends on who raises the hand first, some of us would say. Also how, whisper a few others. But mostly, it boils down to one simple question.

Why?

Why must we do it? Why do we need them? Why don’t they first say sorrty for what they’ve done? And the answer is simple.

It is easier to say Hi than to say sorry. It’s shorter too.

Besides, there is no rule that says a book has to be closed before a new one is opened. Not even if it’s a history book.

So on the first day of this new year, we’re going make a start. Again.

With Aman ki Asha. A brave, new people-to-people initiative by The Times of India and Pakistan’s Jang Group to bring the people of two fine nations closer together. Culturally, emotionally and peacefully.

Starting with a series of cross-border cultural interactions, business seminars, music and literary festivals and citizen meets that will give the bonds of humanity a chance to survive outside the battlefield of politics, terrorism and fundamentalism.

In the hope that one day, words like Pakistan, India and Love will not seem impossible in the same sentence.

Aman Ki Asha
An Indo-Pak Peace Project
The First Step

This is a pernicious attempt by rabidly anti-national Indian leftists, communists and jholawalas who have infiltrated into English media in droves. India has absolutely nothing to gain by this while Pakistan will benefit immensely. It is designed to defang the Indians and encourage them to recieve blows from Pakistan repeatedly with inertness.

Basically, Pakistani government and the Goras who back them and arm them know very well that the apple cart — Pakistan hitting India repeatedly through terror — can be upset once India makes up its mind to hit back and pay in the same coin. This “south Asian” business and “both are essentially the same people” campaigns are funded by the Goras in India to thwart exactly this possibility. They use TOI and Rediff for this purpose where they have made strategic investments to have editorial control.

It is stupid to think that peace between two countries depends on the goodwill of the two peoples, one of whom is on the recieving end of bomb blasts and shootings orchestrated by the other.

The people and their feelings do not matter at all in these things. It is the governments which drive these as a matter of strategy. The problem lies in the Pakistani ruling junta and its Islamic fanatacism, violence and terror as instruments of foriegn policy. The TOIlet’s communist editors and deranged owner wants to hide this basic fact from ordinary Indians.

Only idiots can think that these kind of issues can be solved by westernised elites of two countries listening to ghazals together in five star hotels. This is a case where common people have more common sense than the “intellectuals” which have appointed themselves as thought leaders of the Indian society.

TOI is an American mouthpiece. Most of this pacifism business — peace at all costs with Muslims and Pakistsan — has been orchestrated by the Anglo Americans in India, right from their propping up of Gandhi and Nehru. Today, they are using Indian leftists — the quintessential anti-nationals — as useful idiots in this game. The idea is to demilitarize the Hindu society completely. This process started after 1857 war with propping up Gandhi to preach non-violence to the victims and the colonised. This TOI campaign is an extension of the same process by the same hostile race.

To get an idea of how stupid this TOI campaign of Aman ki Asha is — which preaches pacificism and goodwill to the victim when the bodies of the Mumbai shootings are still warm — imagine ToI printing the same message for Ruchika’s father Subhash Chander Girhotra to make peace with Rathore after 19 years of bad blood. Here is what it will look like:

Love Rathore

Feels odd to you — Ruchika’s father — to see those two words side by side doesn’t it?

Hatred and a desire for revenge somehow sit more comfortably in your mind when you think of him and what he did.

Words that you’ve been fed in daily doses over the last 19 years. And in greater doses over the last one year when Rathore was let off the hook easily.

Shutting your mind to the undeniable truth that Rathore living in the same town as you is above all, a man. Like you. He eats, sleeps, shits, breaks wind and gets an erection. Like you.

So here’s the question. Is there any chance at all, that you could still raise a hand to him not in anger but greeting?

Depends on who raises the hand first, some of us would say. Also how, whisper a few others. But mostly, it boils down to one simple question.

Why?

Why must you do it? Why do you need him? Why doesn’t he first say sorry for what he has done? And the answer is simple.

It is easier to say Hi than to say sorry. It’s shorter too.

Besides, there is no rule that says a book has to be closed before a new one is opened. Not even if it’s a book of crime against you and your daugther.

So on the first day of this new year, you’re going to make a start. Again.

With Aman ki Asha. a brave, new Girhotra-to-Rathore initiative by The Times of India and a charitable trust run by Rathore to bring you and Rathore – two fine people – closer together. Culturally, emotionally and peacefully.

Starting with a series of cultural interactions, seminars, music and literary festivals and citizen meets that will give the bonds of humanity between the two of you a chance to survive outside the battlefield of mutual hatred.

In the hope that one day, words like Rathore and Love will not seem impossible in the same sentence to you .

Aman Ki Asha
A ToI-Rathore Peace Project
The First Step

This is how absurd this ToI’s message should look to all Indians who refuse to fall into this anti-national trap laid down by this notoriously shady and unethical newspaper with hush-hush Western linkages.

Here is B. Raman’s take on this latest stupidity of the notorious jholawalas of Times of India. He raises eyebrows over TOI’s choice to partner with the Jang Group which he says is as shady in Pakistan as TOI is in India. It seems Americans have made investments in both the newspaper groups and are now just pulling strings of their puppets to trigger social engineering in India.

TOI-Jang Bhai Bhai

Solution to Telangana crisis

My compromise formula for the current unrest in Andhra Pradesh about the formation of Telangana state:

Split the state into Telangana and Andhra. Let Hyderabad be a UT for 25 years before being transferred to Telangana.

Hyderabad currently generates revenues of Rs 15,000 crores a year. Divide this — one third to Telangana and one third to Andhra for 25 years to develop their respective capitals. One third retained by central government for administration expenses.

Announce that the new capitals of Telangana and Andhra will be connected to Hyderabad with 6-lane expressways within two years.

This way, Telangana guys will be cool — they will eventually get Hyderabad after 25 years. Andhra guys will be cool — they will not immediately lose out on all the investments and hardwork done by them in Hyderabad over the years. MOrever, each will get one-third of Hyderabad revenues, so there is no heart burn. Quarter of a century is enough time for them to develop their capitals to Hyderabad standards.

As a bonus, two new cities in the area will get to develop hugely as respective state capitals, benefitting the region’s economy.

Builders lobby and other businessmen from coastal Andhra will be cool with Hyderabad being declared UT — their investments in various projects will not go to ruin. Their value will actually shoot up.

There will be no harrasment of migrants to Andhra by “Telanagana Navnirman Sena” because the city will be directly administred from Delhi.

Win, win all round. This is the only acceptable solution I can think of. It is important for tempers to cool down. Delaying Hyderabad’s transfer to Telangana will help in this. Handing it immediately over to Telangana will be a disaster.

Goose of Bengali Hindus seems to be cooked

Destiny of West Bengal Hindus: The Coming Days of Slavery to Islam

How fast-breeding Muslims are turning West Bengal (and entire India for that matter) into a Muslim-majority state and signs of the consequences that await its Hindu populations.

Did Brits take India from Muslims?

“Britishers snatched India from Muslims in connivance with Hindu baniyas” — this is the argument very often heard in Pakistan and some Muslim circles in India.

Well, here is a map of India of 1760. As you can see, most of India is under the control of the Marathas (the area in yellow). Bengal by this time was captured by the British through the battles of Buxar and Plassey. So what exactly were Muslims holding in 1760? They were holding only the area which is now Pakistan (Sindh, Multan, Lahore, Kashmir), Awadh (today’s eastern UP) and Nizam’s dominion in the south. That is all. (Mysore  state was ruled by the  Hindu Wodeyars.)

Muslims were esentially ruling only 25 percent of Indian land, while Marathas were ruling 60 percent. Soon Maharaja Ranjeet Singh also conquered entire modern-day Pakistan, thus further shrinking the land under Muslim rule drastically. Combined with Marathas and Sikhs, the Indic faiths were ruling 90 percent of India. So what is this hogwash about Muslism taking India from the British? If Goras had not arrived on the scene, Hindus and Sikhs would have retaken the whole of India in another 30 years, thus winning the civilisational war that was started by the Afghan and Arab Muslims when they invaded Hindus in their own homeland, carrying their “true god / false god” ideology with them. 

The fight for India was between Marathas and the John Company (as East India Company was often called). In fact, Marathas were ruling from the Red Fort in Delhi and the Mughal emperor was recieving a pension from them.

The battle for Delhi and the tradional seat of Mughal power was fought between Maratha army and British army (led by general Gerard Lake) on the banks of the Yamuna river. It is called the Battle of Patparganj. A memorial to this battle erected by the British government still exists inside the Noida golf course.

It is time this bluff of Muslims was called.

Raping Daughters-in-law

Raping Daughters-in-law: Following Holy Tradition of the Prophet
Wednesday, 16 December 2009

By Dr. Radhasyam Brahmachari   

An account of how Muslims across India are emulating the holy tradition of prophet Muhammad by raping their daughters-in-law.

Avatar and Hinduism

New movie Avatar shines light on Hindu word
By ARLENE NISSON LASSIN FOR THE CHRONICLE

Avatar’s origins, however, come from the Sanskrit language in sacred Hindu texts, and it’s a term for divine beings sent to restore goodness to Earth.

Hinduism, the third-largest religion in the world with about 1 billion adherents, began many centuries ago on the Indian subcontinent, and a majority of the world’s Hindus reside in India.

Those who practice Hinduism recognize three main deities. Lord Brahma is considered the creator of the universe; Lord Vishnu is considered the sustainer of the universe, to right things when needed; and Lord Shiva is the redeemer of the universe.

It is believed that these deities sent avatars — incarnations of themselves in human form — to perform “dharma,” or righteous duty, to right wrongs or to restore peace and goodness.

Hindu theology names 10 numbered avatars. Two of the most important from Hindu scripture are Lord Rama, the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu and written about in the poem Ramayana; and Lord Krishna, written about in the mythological poem Mahabharata.

The Mahabharata, the world’s longest epic poem at more than 90,000 verses and one of the most important Hindu texts, tells of a battle between bad forces and the Pandava family. The avatar Lord Krishna appears to assist Arjuna, one of the five Pandava family brothers, reveals his divinity to him and encourages him that it is his duty to fight for right.

Illustrations of these Hindu avatars, which are magnificently detailed and reflect an aura of divinity, are in stark contrast to Cameron’s alien-meets-robot-warrior look in the film.

Despite the very different avatar interpretations, local Hindus’ reverence for specific avatars from their scripture does not conflict with how they are seeing the modern usage of the term.

“The way the term is now being used is not a distortion of my beliefs,” said Anil Dandona, a practicing Hindu. “It is just a term. We believe the Supreme Being sent humans to create righteousness. These messengers of God take a human form, but they have godlike qualities, and they are delegates sent to do a task.”

Rishi Bhutada, Houston coordinator of the American Hindu Foundation, agreed with Dandona. He said that while Hindus use the term to mean an alternative representation of the divine, using it to mean some other representation does not “raise any hackles.”

“There are certain sacred terms that would offend Hindus if used improperly, but avatar is not one of them,” Bhutada said.

Local filmmaker Ashok Rao, who has made four full-length feature films, is looking forward to Cameron’s film, and he feels that as long as filmmakers do not insult the sensitivities of a particular religion, then artistic license can be used.

“The film’s use of avatar is a close relationship to the original meaning. It is a word meaning reincarnation and isn’t meant to always mean a representative of God on Earth. It simply means one being in another form.”

“In literature, moviemaking, poetry and other forms of art, something is taken and stretched in meaning. That is art,” said Rao.

Here is another one on the issue:

Avatar The Movie – Similarities with Hindu Teachings and symbols and concepts in Hinduism

Basically, people in the West are tired of this “true god, false god” theology, with hatred for anyone who doesn’t belong to their club. Pantheism with its tolerance and harmony with nature has again begun to appeal to them. It is nothing but the rise of the theology of Greece and Rome before it was suppressed brutally by Church. There is a limit to how long you can keep people’s minds caged on fear of punishment in hell. Sooner or later, people start moving toward free-thinking as they begun to suffocate in the mental chains of Semitic faiths. Many people in the west have reached a tipping point now.

Good news for Dharma

2,000 Gujarat tribals return to Hinduism in Surat

Surat, 21 December, 2009

As many as 2,000 tribal people from remote parts of eastern and southern Gujarat tribal belt today reconverted to Hinduism in a function held at Adajan area in Surat on Monday.

Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Shree Swami Narendracharya Maharaj of Nanij presided over the purification ceremony — a three-hour function. Wearing dhotis and sporting the sacred thread, the converts’ heads were tonsured to signify their rebirth.

During the purification ceremony, the converts who felt cheated after going to Christianity apologized to their forefathers for betraying their faith. Converts were purified by Panchagavya and Bhabhuti. The converts were given fresh ‘Vastram’. The affidavits will be made and later registered to complete the formalities

The entire conversion process was similar to the one when 350 years back Shivaji Maharaj brought Netaji Palkar into Hindu dharma by performing the purification process.
 

The organisation which reconverted tribals to Hinduism.

If you want to donate something for propagation and protection of Sanatana Dharma, never make the mistake of donating money to temples controlled by the government. Your money will never be used to help a single Hindu. It is just a racket run by anti-Hindu Congress. The government will take the entire money away and subsidise churches and mosques. Instead, give money directly to organisations such as the above.

Secular mafia: Why do Hindus knowingly support it?

A translation of a powerful speech given by Sasikala Teacher, of Hindu Aikya Vedi, in Kerala on the occasion of Guru Gowalkar’s Birth Centenary Celebrations.

Source: Ghatotkacha’s blog

Jolting the Hindus awake from their slumber

Distinguished guests seated on the podium, my dear fellow Hindu activists and my other sisters and brothers!

We are gathered here on the penultimate day of the Birth Centenary Celebrations, at the Taluk level, of Param Pujaneeya Guruji M.S Gowalkar the second “Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The audience and those distinguished persons seated on the stage are not unaware of the sacrifices made by Guruji and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for this Nation and for the Hindu society. The Birth Centenary Celebrations of Param Pujaneeya Guruji are being held at 159 Taluks.

We have come to understand this fact that when ever such large Hindu conferences take place, there are people outside the venue, who despite their hectic work schedules, cover their faces and hide their bodies but lend us their ears. These Hindus are present in spirit but not in bodies. Among those Hindus, who lend us their ears but who do not attend the conferences, there may be well-wishers and there may also be friends.

 There is a question that at least some of them ask us at some time or the other. The Hindus who say with pride that they are Hindus have had to face this question on several occasions. The question is none but this. “Ok, we agree when you say that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been functioning since 1925; that the man who had the most tremendous impact on our era, Dr Hedgewarji, the karma yogi, Param Pujaneeya Guruji and tens of thousands of selfless activists have worked for Hindu solidarity and prosperity; that the Sangh had been active in Kerala since 1940. Now tell us what has been your achievement in Kerala?”

This is the question for which we need to enlighten them with an appropriate answer.

They ask, have we been able to return at least one Member of Parliament or one Member of the Legislative Assembly. Many of us have had to face this question. It is the grossly distorted value system of the society that is responsible for the very fact that such questions are put to us. People think that politics means only party politics and that the benchmark for success of party politics has to be measured by the “spoils of office” or the rewards and benefits considered by a winning political party to be its legitimate due. It is due to this preconceived and misconceived notion of the society that we are asked such a question. However, even those who ask us this question are aware of the reality that there have been drastic changes in the Hindu society of Kerala. They realize it even if they are unable to honestly admit it.

In 1921 when the Moplah Muslims, instigated by the “Secular” Gandhi’s Khilafat Agitation, were awash with a monster tide of murderous Islamic religious frenzy in Eranadu and Valluvanadu Taluks of the erstwhile Malabar District,

the Hindu who surrendered his neck,
the Hindu who abandoned his Dharma,
the Hindu who discarded his wealth,
the Hindu who when his temples were defiled, desecrated, despoiled and destroyed looked on passively hopelessly and helplessly,
the Hindu who turned and fled without even once looking at others around him …
all this is part of the savage history of Malabar Moplah Rebellion,
the shame filled history of Hindu humiliation and
the tragic story of the SECOND MALABAR HINDU GENOCIDE.

Fast forward to the time of Maaradu beach massacre, of poor Hindu fishermen by Islamic Pakistan-inspired and Communist-supported well-armed jihadis, which left 8 immediately dead and 15 mortally wounded. Not one single Hindu had fled the Maaradu beach in the wake of the pre-planned murderous assault.

If the Hindu had resolutely and with a stout heart held his ground then it is not because of any traditional strong will of the Hindu fishermen of Maaradu beach or their brute physical strength or any courage that the Hindu might have acquired as a matter of course but because of the disciplined Hindutva activity of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which instilled Hindu consciousness in the Kerala Hindu Society filling it with vigour and verve and enabled those handful of poor Hindu fisher folks to face their armed assailants with courage and fortitude. There was an organized Hindu society standing solidly behind them.

In 1950, the famous Sabarimala Temple burned … we all know it was deliberately burnt, the people from Tiruvalla Town know the whole story. During the death dance of the Christian fundamentalists, the sanctum sanctorum and the holy image of Lord Aiyappa got burned down. The average Hindu of those days cried in their temples and in their private pooja rooms and with voices choked with emotion tearfully implored Lord Aiyappa, “Please chop off the arms of those who vandalized your holy temple”. However, Lord Aiyappa not being into the mercenary hit-man business, no hands were chopped off!

Lord Krishna had said in Bhagawat Gita, “Arjuna, take up the bow and fight, I will personally drive your chariot.” Lord Krishna did not say, “Don’t worry, just sit tight with holy marks on your foreheads and say your lovely melodious prayers in chaste Sanskrit with perfect cadence and intonation, I will do all the work for saving Dharma.”

He said, “Yield not to paltry faint-heartedness, shake off that unbecoming and unmanly despondency, take up your weapons and fight, and then and only then I will guide you to definite victory. … You will be forced to fight whether you wish to or not. … You have no choice but to fight.”

The Hindu forgetting the teachings of Lord Krishna, beseeched Lord Aiyappa to punish those Christian fundamentalists who burnt the holy Sabarimala Temple and nothing happened at all. But as Sri Sadanandan Master said some time back, when a “cross” appeared “mysteriously” in the Nilackal mountain forest belonging to Sabarimala Temple, the Hindu devotees did not merely pray to the Lord Aiyappa to save them, instead all the Hindu devotees went in unison and acting in concert forcefully wrenched that “cross” out of the sacred ground and threw it far away.

If the devout Hindus could act with courage of conviction and strength of character then it is not the strength they allegedly acquired over passage of time, rather it is because of the disciplined Hindutva activity of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which organized the then divided and scattered Kerala Hindu Society and instilled the sense of Hindu consciousness in them and gave them moral and physical courage to take on their implacable foes.

In Malappuram Jilla, there is no Hindu who does not know the saga of the wealthy Muslim businessman and estate owner Uneen Sahib who, out of profound reverence, sheer affection and deep devotion to the ancient rishi parampara, returned to the fold of Sanatana Dharma and proudly adopted the Hindu name Ramasimhan.

The local Muslim clergy trembled at the thought that if lay Muslims become aware of the greatness, glory and grandeur of the ancient Sanatana Dharma they will seek liberation from the tight suffocating Islamic grip and escape to the liberal, liberating and exhilarating environs of Sanatana Dharma.

Moplah Muslims armed with deadly weapons entered the house of Ramasimhan and in a dastardly act slaughtered the sleeping Ramasimhan along with his family and retainers in cold-blood. The Moplah Muslim vandals then demolished the beautiful Mattummal Sri Narasimha Moorthy Temple which was reconstructed by the intrepid Ramasimhan at the dawn of Indian independence. The terrified Hindus of the locality even feared to retrieve and give a funeral to the bodies of the slain Ramasimhan and family. We remember that Malappuram Jilla which feared a violent aftermath if they tried to retrieve the bodies of Sri Ramasimhan and his family to give them a decent funeral, remained petrified with horror.

Today we have come to know that the Hindus of that very same Malappuram Jilla have fought an arduous and protracted legal battle and retrieved the premises of the Narasimha Moorthy Temple, which was adored by the pious Ramasimhan, and the adjacent buildings and temple properties. The Malappuram Jilla is no more the place where the Hindus remained petrified with horror. Ramasimhan Trust is moving forward with reconstruction of the Mattummal Sri Narasimha Moorthy Temple and the place where that Temple once stood is now renamed Ramasimhan Nagar by the Hindus of Malappuram to keep alive the sacred memory of the Hindu martyr Ramasimhan for whom they have nothing but the deepest affection and the utmost pride.

The sacred memory of Ramasimhan fills the invigorated Hindus of Malappuram Jilla with zeal and fervour. If the miniscule Hindu population of Malappuram Jilla, which had once remained frozen with fear in the presence of a scene of mass murder, can now outstare the adversary and move with firm steps and courageous mien, it is not because the Hindu acquired courage over a course of time but because of the disciplined Hindutva activity of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which instilled Hindu consciousness in the Kerala Hindu Society filling it with vitality and valour.

Today the Hindu society is organized enough and united enough to face the direct challenges posed to it. But that, my sisters and brothers, is not enough. A health-conscious person does not wait for a disease to strike and then achieve its cure. A health conscious person would aim at preventing a disease from attacking the body. Today we have the organized strength to face the challenges posed to our society, but that is not enough. What we need to achieve is a state of affairs wherein challenges posed to our society will be few and far. It is to this end that we must act, so time has not yet come that we can put up our feet and relax in tired indolence.

We may have lots of stories of victories against anti-Hindu forces. Every village may have its tale of awakening of Hindu consciousness. Today the Hindu is not a fallen tree which any one can jump on with ease and with impunity. We must act to achieve a state of affairs wherein our enemies will think twice before posing challenges to our society. To this end we must have full awareness of the situation existing today, the challenges and pitfalls facing the Kerala Hindu society.

It is of course easy to merely describe the situation facing the Kerala Hindu of today. The Kerala Hindu has the generous liberal democratic choice of death before:

the armed murderous jihadi,
the treacherous cancerous evangelical destroyers of our beloved families and
the anti-Hindu “secular” politician who will use all the provisions of our constitution, laws, government policies and government machinery to destroy us with supreme contempt and malicious neglect.

We are walking around carrying with us these ample choices to choose our demise from.
The death sentence has already been passed concerning us, Kerala Hindus.
We can be done to death violently by the savage Jihadis.
We can be destroyed by the foreign inspired and sponsored “evangelical love,” also known as religious conversion.
We can be throttled, choked and suffocated to death by the withering contempt and cruel neglect of the politicians, whom we unfailingly and regularly vote to the halls of authority and seats of power.

It is this awareness of the THREE MORTAL ENEMIES that the Hindu society desperately needs. It is only this awareness of the three mortal enemies that can prepare the Hindu society to create a state of affairs wherein our enemies will think twice before posing challenges to our society. We must be mindful of the extent to which our Hindu society has been entrapped and ensnared by these three enemies.

Let us start with the murderous jihadi terrorists. Islamic Fundamentalism is not a problem confronting only the Kerala state. It is a problem confronting the entire world. But can a problem confronting the entire world be solved by a few Hindus here? We are aware that it cannot be so. Islamic terrorism can strike any where, be it America or Britain or Russia or Indonesia. But should Islamic terrorism exist in India? That is our question.

Is the world’s largest democracy incapable of combating Islamic terrorism? Is the country with the world’s longest written constitution incapable of combating Islamic terrorism? Yes, it is definitely capable of doing just that! Then why is this country being repeatedly ravaged by the scourge of terrorism. This is the question that is vexing us, concerned citizens, today.

If this country is being repeatedly laid low by terrorism, then it is not the capability or efficiency of the terrorists. If this country is being repeatedly laid low by terrorism, then it is because the society has lost its ability to recognize and identify the supporters, collaborators, facilitators and sponsors of Islamic terrorism. More dangerous than the thieves are the conspirators to thievery. This society is unable to recognize and identify those who sponsor terrorism, those who inspire terrorism, those who provide ideological foundations for terrorism, those writers and opinion makers who, with unfailing regularity, whitewash the crimes of the terrorists.

This society is unable to unmask and denude in public the hollow pretensions of social uprightness of those demonical collaborators and that is why Islamic terrorism is flourishing and growing by leaps and bounds in our land. Islamic terrorism is flourishing not because those few terrorists are in any way great. Islamic terrorism is flourishing because of these treacherous and heinous apologists for Islamic terrorism.

Let us examines some instances within the limited time we have here. The State Government Order that all male employees must attend work clad in white cotton dhoties (mundu in Malayalam) saw its ceremonial inaugural implementation in the state capital Trivandrum. Our Honourable Chief Minister Comrade V. S Achyutanandan was scheduled to donate the first white cotton dhoti to the veteran Malayalam film actor Jagathy Sreekumar.

However this aged revolutionary-lion hero Comrade V. S Achyutanandan declined to honour Jagathy Sreekumar on the grounds that the thespian was embroiled in the Vithura sex scandal involving gang rape of a minor girl. An accused in a criminal case should not be publicly feted was the stand taken by our Chief Minister. The highly literate Keralam saluted the Chief Minister’s public display of fealty to the Constitution and reverence for law and order. We experienced much pride and joy in the knowledge that we have in our state a Chief Minister who has loyalty to the Constitution and respect for law and order!

Let us consider another instance. Recently the venerable Kanchi Acharya Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal had visited Kerala. At that time all the government functionaries had stayed away from all the functions attended by the venerable Kanchi Acharya. The excuse dished out in the media was that the Acharya was one of the defendants in a murder case. Some history-sheeter blurted out the Acharya’s name after a round of violent “hospitality” in a Tamil Nadu police lockup and the venerable Acharya instantly became a defendant in a criminal case. But a criminal case was pending before the magistracy so when the government functionaries excused themselves from the Acharya’s presence, the “secular” Malayalis held their heads high in their pride at the Rule of Law being given precedence over all positions spiritual and temporal.

Soon enough we had to witness a sorry spectacle. Abdul Nasser Maudani arrested on 8 April, 1998, in connection with 1998 Coimbatore bomb blast which left 56 people burnt to death was indicted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code – spreading communal hatred, criminal conspiracy, and sedition. We see these very same self-proclaimed “secularists” going on political pilgrimage to the Coimbatore Central Jail to pay homage to this mass murderer who was declared ineligible for bail by the High Court.

Jagathy is an accused in a case, so then don’t give him a dhoti in a public function, Shankaracharya is an accused so don’t share the dais with him. However, conduct political pilgrimages to the Coimbatore Central Jail to have a darshan of the mass-murderer Islamic terrorist who was declared ineligible for bail by the High Court. Aah! This is the anti-Hindu “secularism” for you!

We also witnessed with deep revulsion the Kerala Assembly unanimously passing an anti-national resolution on March 16, 2006 seeking the release of terrorist Abdul Nasser Maudani, on “humanitarian” grounds. Sufiya, terrorist wife of this terrorist Maudani, also wanted in another terror case, has a bevy of “secular” admirers and well-wishers calling on her, offering her bouquets and making kind enquiries about her health and well being. In India “secularism” is perverted.

Each gram of tallow lost by Maudani, each hair of his esteemed Islamic terrorist self that turned white in Coimbatore jail and each inch of girth that was lost around his corpulent Islamic waist, was commented upon in threadbare detail and paeans were sung in his honour by

the ever attentive minority controlled media,
the vote seeking politicians, and
the cultural leaders and social intellectuals who are paid and kept by the CPI (M).

These anti-Hindu Nehruvian “secularists ” went to Coimbatore Jail with weighing machines to measure and record the falling weight of the Islamic terrorist. None of these alleged “secularists” had any problems interacting with the Islamic terrorists who are defendants in cases involving high treason. WHY? This is the anti-Hindu “secularism” for you!

In this land, the jihadi terrorist is an honourable face. Each youth is grappling with the question – whether to live and work in honour or become a Jihadi terrorist!

In Sreekrishnapuram is a small village near Cherpulassery town in the Palakkad district of Kerala. Outside that village, in the Paalamala forest, when an adivasi died of extreme starvation, none of the “secularists” who stood in queues to measure the reducing waist-line of the diabetic Islamic terrorist Maudani enjoying Tamil Nadu Government hospitality in Coimbatore Jail, none of the secularists who carried weighing machines to accurately record the falling weight of their beloved Islamic terrorist, bothered to know the extent of poverty and deprivation faced by the Hindu Adivasis who, pushed into starvation, were disposed of their lands and livelihoods and were driven into alcoholic destitution, disease and despair.

It is these very same anti-Hindu Nehruvian “secularists” who have driven this rich land and her once-proud people from plenitude to poverty.

The one-legged Islamic terrorist Maudani languishing in the Coimbatore Jail brought tears to our eyes. His loss of human rights agitated us and made us loose our sleep. In the same Coimbatore Jail, there is an accused by the name Sateesh, whose both legs are afflicted. Born in a traditional Hindu blacksmith community, he is accused of having manufactured weapons. That is the case against him. A poor man accused of making some money by manufacturing weapons.

The Malayalee society which arranged elaborate Ayurvedic treatment for the one-legged Muslim Madauni did not bother to send even one ounce of medicine to Sateesh who is confined to a wheel chair in the very same Coimbatore Jail. WHY? This is the anti-Hindu “secularism” for you!

Sateesh is a petty criminal, we don’t want any criminals; we want only Islamic terrorists. The market is pretty much down for petty criminals, we want only the Islamic terrorists who take human lives without a tinge of conscience. So when we go in processions for terrorists, more and more dreaded Madaunis are created.

We know that this October was a time for humiliation for all Bharateeyas. It was on October 20th that the sanctum sanctorum of our democracy was assaulted.

Several security guards were killed in the assault on the Indian parliament on 13 December 2001. Mohammad Afzal the sole surviving terrorist who was captured was condemned by our Supreme Court to be hanged to death on October 20.

This October 20 went by, November 20 went by. December 20 went by. January 20 went by and now February is with in reach. Can any one of you say what the condition of Mohammad Afzal is? Will Mohammad Afzal definitely be hanged or will he be consecrated either as India’s Home Minister or as Kerala’s Education Minister? We have such doubts because of our past experiences. Will we have the misfortune of seeing him in any of these positions?

Why is it that we cannot carry out a verdict of death sentence handed out by the court? It is not the RSS, VHP or Hindu Aikya Vedi who passed death sentence on Afzal. It is the Supreme Court of India which handed out the death sentence.

On 1st December 1999 at around 10.35 AM, the class teacher of Mokeri East U.P. School in Koothuparambu near Panur in Kannur District and Vice- President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, Kerala State, K.T. Jayakrishnan was conducting class for his 6th standard students. Suddenly, his bodyguard (provided by the state government to protect his life due to threats from communist criminals) disappeared and seven CPM activists entered the class room, shouted slogans and warned the students not to move, blocked the class room’s entrance, took sword-sticks and razors in their hands, came near Jayakrishnan Master and stabbed him several times. Jayakrishnan Master breathed his last within five minutes.

After confirming his death, the CPM men left the place in procession, walking along the public road brandishing the blood-stained weapons as if they were celebrating a victory. This most horrible murder was committed in front of students less than 11 years old. The young children of tender age were shocked as their most respected class teacher was brutally murdered in front of them. The incident created psychological problems for many children who had to undergo psychiatric counseling.

It is the Supreme Court through whose fingers, through whose elaborate procedures of law the cruel savage animals who hacked to pieces a school teacher in front of his terrified screaming primary school students, slipped through. It is the Supreme Court that passed death sentence on Mohammad Afzal. If the verdict of the Supreme Court can be accepted in one case, it should be accepted in the other case too. The Supreme Court cannot be the Court of Justice in one case and the Court of Injustice in the other case. If the verdict of the Supreme Court can be accepted in one case, why is it that we are in a position that we cannot accept the other case. Reason is the same, an inverted and perverted anti-Hindu “secularism”.

When Mohammad Afzal was sentenced to death by hanging, one Chief Minister of a state leaped up and vehemently asserted that Mohammad Afzal must not be hanged. He is none other than Ghulam Nabi Azad of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. This worthy believes that he became the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir State because he is a Muslim. Of course that belief is not without an element of truth in it. This is our perverted anti-Hindu “secularism”. One cannot become the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir State unless one is a Muslim. One cannot become Chief Minister of Mizoram unless one is a Christian. One cannot become Chief Minister of Nagaland unless one is a Christian.

Why go so far? Let’s talk about Kerala. In a panchayat with a Hindu minority population, if it is not reserved for Schedule Castes or Schedule tribes, can a Hindu possibly become the Panchayat President? So when the Hindus become minority then they can forget all posts. However in this Kerala with 56 percent Hindu majority any one can become the Chief Minister. Ooman Chandy, A.K Anthony, C.H Mohammad Koya or any one else can become the Chief Minister; that is our anti-Hindu “secularism”.

In Andhra Pradesh where there is a much greater Hindu majority, Samuel Rajasekhara, a Christian, can become the Chief Minister. In Maharashtra where there is an even greater Hindu majority, Abdul Rehman Antulay, a Muslim, can become the Chief Minister. In Bihar any one can get to be the Chief Minister since there too the Hindu is in majority. Where there is a Hindu majority, then any thing goes. But if the Hindu turns minority then the majority community gets to corner all the benefits.

Just imagine, for the post of Vice-Chancellor for the Calicut University, they couldn’t find someone from all over this Malayalee land, instead they had to go all the way to Uttar Pradesh-based Aligarh Muslim University to find a Begum for adorning the post of Vice-Chancellor. REASON: the University of Calicut lies in the Muslim-majority Malappuram-Calicut Districts. Oh! How can they possibly appoint any one other than a Muslim for University of Calicut that lies in Muslim-majority Malappuram-Calicut Districts!!! Otherwise where is “secularism”, eh? This is how the anti-Hindu Nehruvian “secularism” works.

It is this perverted secularism which made Ghulam Nabi Azad Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir State think that he is Mussalman as is Muhammad Afzal and one Mussalman must save the life of another Mussalman, so don’t hang Afzal. Besides doesn’t Quran state that a Muslim cannot be executed for the crime of killing a non-Muslim?

I am not sure whether our Government is run according to the Constitution of India or whether it is run according to the Quran or the Shariat or something else. However Ghulam Nabi Azad says Afzal should not be hanged. I was under the impression that Ghulam Nabi Azad is a Congress Chief Minister. If so, is this the opinion of the Congress Party? We want to know if this is the considered opinion of this ruling party.

We must find out whether this is the opinion of the Congress Party. We all know about this Congress Party. It is a party which many of us believe in. We all know that such a disciplined political party does not exist in this vast wide world!!! If one Congress man declares that the sun rises in the East, then even before he puts his tongue back in his mouth, ten Congressmen would hold press conferences to proclaim that the Sun rises in the West! Such is the extent of their party discipline!!! However Ghulam Nabi Azad’s “One Mussalman must save another Mussalman” thesis has not been contradicted to this date by any Congressman. So if we take it that his opinion is the same as that of the Congress Party, then we see a repetition of history.

In 1931, Sukhdev Thapar, Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru, the pre-eminent freedom fighters and patriots, were sentenced to death by the British colonial government for attacking and killing a police officer after Lala Lajpat Rai was beaten to death with lathis by the British Indian colonial police.

The “Mahatmaji” was proceeding to London for the Second Round Table Conference as the representative of the Congress party. People in their vast numbers begged “Mahatmaji” with tears in their eyes to please ensure the death sentences of those patriotic young ones are rescinded. It was definitely within the power of that “Mahatmaji” to ensure some thing like that. But the “secular” “Mahatmaji” said in no uncertain terms, we are advocates of non-violence. What Sukhdev, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru had committed, though barely out of their teens, was an act of atrocity. The perpetrators of atrocity must face the consequences of their atrocities, so exclaimed the self-righteous Congress party!

As a consequence of the irrepressible attachment and insatiable lust for non-violence, the Congress party decided that Veer Bhagat Singh and his comrades-in-arms should die for their acts of violence and that the Congress Party will not be defending them despite their being freedom-fighters. However you must also visualize another scene.

16 November 1926, the sanyasi who captured the imagination of the nation, the spiritual leader of Arya Samaj, Swami Shraddhananda, who was on his sick-bed, was attacked by a Muslim terrorist by the name Muhammad Rashid. In this Bharat, where a sanyasi is revered like God, an old ailing sanyasi was shot in his sick-bed by a Muslim terrorist Muhammad Rashid. This Muhammad Rashid too was awarded death sentence by the even-handed British Colonial Government.

The “secular” “Mahatmaji” and the Congress who decided out of their undying romance for non-violence to let the young Hindu heroes Sukhdev, Bhagat Singh and Rajguru be hanged by the Colonial judicial system, that very same “secular” “Mahatmaji” rushed to meet the Viceroy and humbly pleaded that (the Muslim terrorist) Muhammad Rashid be viewed as a “misguided youth” who had committed an “unintended homicide” of the sanyasi and importuned the Viceroy, on bent knees, to pardon “brother” Muhammad Rashid!!! This is the anti-Hindu “secularism” for you!

This story which refuses to remain erased despite several attempts to erase it and whitewash it from the annals of Indian history tells us that history is repeating itself.

The “Mahatma” and the Congress Party valued the life of Muhammad Rashid in 1926 because he was a Muslim terrorist. Today in 2009, the Congress Party values the life of Muhammad Afzal only because he is a Muslim terrorist.

It is this terrorist-desiring, terrorist-coveting and terrorist-appeasing attitude that is the sole cause of the rise of Islamic terrorism. I have given this example to highlight the fact that Islamic terrorism is flourishing because of these treacherous collaborators.

Again the Leftists of Kerala and the so-called intellectuals who are compelled to set to tunes the hackneyed songs of the Leftists, come out with this time worn cliché, “Death sentence is outmoded and inhumane.” “Do we have the right to render capital punishment?”

Who are asking these questions?

Those Commies who adore the blood stains of mass slaughter by the minions of Mao and Stalin,
those who hacked to pieces the school teacher, K.T Jayakrishnan in front of his terrified screaming primary school students,
those who have a track record of attacking and stabbing to death in broad day light the individuals who leave their party,
those very people are now asking, “Do we have the right to kill?” “Isn’t death sentence is outmoded and inhumane?”

We have heard that Satan can quote the Bible, but now we are actually seeing it happen. We have now seen the form of the Satan. Since when has death sentence become inhumane in this country?

Was it not in this country that the two Hindu youth, Nathuram Vinayak Godse and Narayan Apte, were hanged on 15 November, 1949 for killing Gandhi? No one argued then that death sentence is inhumane. No Hindu came forward to defend these two Hindu youth. People thought that the two committed an unpardonable crime so let them pay for their crimes. No one came forward to defend these two Hindu youth.

Was it not in this country that two Sikh young men were hanged for the assassination of Indira Gandhi?

If the assassins of Indira Gandhi can be hanged, if the killers of Mahatma Gandhi can be hanged, then the attackers of the Indian Parliament … the Indian Parliament which ranks much higher than any “Gandhi” … the attackers of the Indian Parliament can also be hanged.

On the contrary, if the argument is that the assassins of Mahatma Gandhi can be hanged because they are Hindus, the assassins of Indira Gandhi can be hanged because they are Sikh, but the attackers of the Indian Parliament must not be hanged because they are Muslims, then there is some thing very seriously wrong with this alleged “secularism”.

If we are living with the worry that there is no Unified Civil Code, then please understand that the Unified Criminal Code is also disappearing before our eyes. If criminals are convicted after paying heed to their religion, they why is the Preamble to the Indian Constitution so hypocritically proclaiming itself to be “SECULAR”?

Article 15(1) of the Indian Constitution provides: “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them”

Yet, discrimination is being made “on grounds of religion”. In one of his statements, the anti-Hindu “secular” Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said: “Muslims have the first right to nation’s resources.” How is this assertion not discriminatory against other citizens “on grounds only of religion”? Our politicians are promoting their narrow political and electoral interests at the cost of those of the nation in the name of this anti-Hindu “secularism”.

Is it “secularism” to convict some one solely on the basis of his religion? We need to find an answer to this question. If it “secularism” to convict some one on the basis of his religion then, my dear people, you will need to inquire from the thief who makes a mid-night raid in your house, before you hand him over to the police.

Since criminals are indicted or set scot free on the basis of their religion, there may be no point in handing over criminals of certain religions to the Police. If they are not to be convicted then at least we can save ourselves the trouble of handing over, the criminals of certain religions to the Police. Whither is our “secularism” headed? It is the direction that our anti-Hindu “secularism” takes that creates terrorists. It is that direction that prevents our government from taking strong action against the terrorists to save our citizens. That is why Islamic terrorism is flourishing and growing by leaps and bounds in our land, creating a “soft state”.

The ruling authorities are taking eunuch-like decisions, not decisive and manly steps, to control the law and order situation in this country. Only decisive and manly steps will ensure that terrorism is destroyed forever. Let one bomb burst anywhere and our ruling authorities will be startled out of their deep slumber. They will then go back to sleep until the terrorist bombs burst! Once awaken from their deep sleep by a terrorist bomb-burst they go into a frenzy of sound and light, just like Diwali flower-pots, all sound and fury for a while.

When bombs went off in Bombay suburban train station and assault rifle rained bullets all over the place, Manmohan Singh leaped out of his sleep and thundered: “There will be no compromise with terrorists.” “We will never surrender to terrorists.” “We will chop off the nose of the terrorists and pickle it.” Such furious sound bytes convinced us that it was the end of terrorism as we know it. But what happens when the chemical in the Diwali flower-pot is exhausted. No light no sound, just a little smoke for a short while and after that even that smoke is gone.

There must be another terrorist bomb blast some where else for the ruling dispensation to wake from its deep slumber. When the ruling authorities are in deep sleep, the police authorities will be drawing cartoons for their own amusement. They are drawing the sketches of criminal offenders. A bomb exploded in Kannur bus stand and the police started drawing sketches of the criminal offenders. A bomb exploded in Bombay suburban train station, and the police started drawing sketches. A boat got burnt in Beypore, and the police started drawing sketches. A K.S.R.T.C bus was burnt in Tamil Nadu, and the police started drawing sketches. Let any terror incident take place and then the police will take out the canvas. Then the public is harassed with questions like, have you seen a person with this ear, have you seen a person with this nose, have you seen a person with this mouth!

People wonder why should they co-operate with the police, what is the purpose of catching the criminals and handing over them to the police? Is it to waste our tax-payers money for providing elaborate Ayurveda cures for the terrorists? Is it to waste our tax-payers money for treating the terrorists to five-star facilities? Let our tax moneys remain in the Treasury.

If the terrorists remain outside, then at least we can manhandle them if need be. If they are handed over to the police, then for all we know, the terrorist will become a media-celebrity and a “respected leader” tomorrow. Is this how the terrorists should be dealt with? It is not the fault of the police. Earlier they looked for intelligence and physical fitness for recruitment into the police force. Nowadays, it is the ability to draw sketches that is the criterion for police recruitment. They say that the ruling authorities have enough sketches to make a drawing exhibition. Whither is this country headed?

If the ruling dispensation is not compelled to take firm and decisive steps by the organized strength of the people, then this country is fraught with grave danger. If the Hindu blood spilled on the streets of Eranadu and Valluavanadu for the Khalifa of some far-away Turkey is still in your memory, then be aware and conscious of the crocodile tears being shed in the name of some Saddam Hussein. Otherwise time will compel us to pay for that too. The time constraint prevents me form going into that story.

There are three villains of the piece. One is the Islamic terrorist. People of Tiruvalla town are not at all unfamiliar with that category. Perhaps more than we here, the people of Tiruvalla are familiar with this category, seeing for themselves and experiencing every day.

There is an overall 2.5 percent of Christian population in India today. Their continued existence as Christians or their following Christian modes of worship is not opposed by any Hindu. No Hindu is opposed to the Christians offering their kind of worship. We respect Christ and love the Christian people. The Hindu loves very much the Christ who preached that one must love the neighbour as one loves oneself. However we cannot tolerate the Christian Evangelist who insists on dragging others into his religion.

We love the Christian who loves his neighbour. If the Kingdom of God belongs to him, then so be it. Let the Christian have that Kingdom of God. We have no use for it. Let the Christian have that Kingdom of Heaven too. Now when we say, we don’t want that Kingdom of God, why don’t you leave us alone? We don’t need your company. We can go alone. But now I have this doubt. They are afraid of going alone to their Kingdom of Heaven. They scream this bus will go to Kingdom of Heaven, this is not a limited stop bus; this is a non-stop bus, come on! Get in! Get in! I am inclined to believe that they are afraid of going to the Kingdom of Heaven alone.

Where is the Heaven without the Hindu? Where is the “secularism” without the Hindu? That is probably why they are throwing nets to ensnare the Hindu. We have been telling the ruling dispensation with ache in our hearts, stop religious conversions using the law of the land. Religion is not a matter of commerce. We see unemployed youth carrying large bags of goods and telling us how profitable it is to buy those goods from them.

Religion is not some thing to be sold on the streets. Religion is some thing to be experienced and realised. Bharatam is the cradle of religions, Sanatana Dharma is the Mother of all Religions. How long should we tolerate some one coming with a large bag and trying to sell us religion? Some trader comes and tells us, this religion will take us straight to heaven, this has so many benefits. Religion is not some saleable commodity. It is well past the time to make religion-mongers understand that religion is not meant for sale. We are telling the ruling dispensation to bring about laws to curb religious conversions.

There should be a law against religious conversions. If the Government does not bring about a law against religious conversions, then we, the public, can stop religious conversions. The mothers seated before me can stop religious conversions. We have the strength and capability within us to do so. During the time of Rama-Avataara, the Gods and rishis were asked to take birth as Vaanars. Do you know the peculiarity of the Vaanars? They react in the same way as you behave with them. If you jump they jump. If you throw stones then they throw stones.

Let’s behave like the Vaanars of the Sri Ram Sena. Let’s behave in the same manner in which they behave with us. Let’s pay them back in the same coin. Let’s go street by street and try to propagate our religion. Let us go into the houses and fix a few deals for conversion. Soon enough you will find a clamour for a law prohibiting religious conversions. Let the Hindu convert ten others to Hinduism and you will see the government bringing out a law against religious conversions.

It is not easy converting others as it is easy to convert the Hindus.

First the Government told the Hindus, have only two children and the Hindus obeyed and adopted family planning.

Then the Government told the Hindus, have only one child and the Hindus readily accepted this norm too.

Next the Government will inform the Hindus not to reproduce. Don’t have any children. You need not propagate your society. You need not exist any more.

Oh! We would agree to that too!

For us, the demography is not a big deal. So when we lose numbers, no one takes notice.
But the Christians and Muslims have made their numbers through hard work. So when they lose a few numbers, there will automatically come up with a law against religious conversions. The ruling dispensation should ponder over the question as to whether they ought to push us into taking such a step.

In my childhood days, I have heard, the Christian priests coming to temple festivals, standing upon a bench and yelling, “Repent! Oh Sinners!” Of course, we didn’t pay attention, as we are not sinners! So we took no heed.

In Tirupathy-Tirumala temple, the richest temple in the world, among the pilgrims standing in queues to have a darshan of the Lord, among the devotees waiting patiently for their turn, a woman was apprehended for distributing pamphlets containing Christian literature. The woman was an employee of the Tirupathy-Tirumala Devasthanam! A Christian evangelist enjoying salary and perquisites from the Tirupathy-Tirumala Devasthanam and doing proselytization among the devotees on the holy Tirumala!

Can the Missionaries ask for a better deal? Giving No Objection Certificates to heaven to the Hindu devotees queued up for having a darshan of the Lord. The woman who was eating the food out of the salary given by the Lord of Tirupathy-Tirumala was doing proselytization among HIS own devotees on the holy Tirumala. How could she do it? How did this happen? This is what the present day Hindus need to inquire. This can be attributed only to the smartness and skill of the Andhra Chief Minister Samuel Rajasekhara Reddy, a Seventh Day Adventist Christian! That smartness and skill Kerala will witness tomorrow. The ruling dispensation grabbed the control and wealth of Hindu temples by sheer force and bullying.

How many of us know this shocking fact that over 60 percent of the employees of the Tirupathy-Tirumala Devasthanam are Christians? That is the smartness and skill of Samuel Rajasekhara Reddy.

When the destitute Hindu runs from pillar to post in despair, those employed in Hindu temples, those who are paid from the coins contributed by the poor Hindus, of these 60 percent are Christians! Should not this chilling fact open the eyes of the Hindus? Kerala will experience the same fate tomorrow. Kerala temples will employ Christians while the poor Hindus suffer unemployment, starvation and malnutrition.

According to the Devaswom Bill which will become the law of the land tomorrow, all employees of the Devaswom Boards in Kerala will be appointed through the Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC). Can any reasonable person believe that only Hindus will be appointed to Hindu Temples by the KPSC? Can any reasonable person expect that KPSC will order that only Hindus apply for the posts advertised?

If the KPSC issues such an order, won’t it be dragged to the Courts? Will such an order limiting KPSC appointments to Hindus stand the test of “secularism”? Thus, even the doors of Devaswom Boards in Kerala will be closed to Hindus. Youth of Kerala who are awaiting the news of a job appointment with bated breaths, pay heed, the doors of Devaswom Boards in Kerala will be closed to you. Guardians of the unemployed youth, who go to temples after temples and pray with tears in their eyes for some employment for their wards, don’t you now think that this problem begs a solution? Don’t you now think that we need to fix this problem ourselves? According to the new ordinance on Devaswoms, all appointments will be handled by KPSC.

There may be corruption in the existing Devaswoms. We all are very aware that no organization is free from corruption. To remove corruption, the society has to change. The answer to corruption is not forcible assumption of governmental control. For if that were so, then the ruling dispensation in this Kerala state which is soaked to the gills in the Lavlin corruption scandal ought to be dismissed and President’s rule ought to be imposed on the state. If the answer to corruption is forcible assumption of governmental control, then the solution of government ministerial corruption is dismissal of the corrupt government ministry and forcible imposition of Presidential rule. Why isn’t that being done?

Is cutting off the head, the cure for headache? Those who prescribed such a cure are suffering from lunacy and we the common people must cure those people from such lunacy. If we the Hindu population do not acquire organized strength to cure those suffering the delusional lunacy of prescribing beheading as a panacea for headache, then we will see our Hindu temples that we have built up through long hard work, being emptied of their coffers and their landed wealth. We will have to witness the temple traditions destroyed.

Earlier we saw our temple wealth being looted. While the temples had crores of Rupees in earnings, the Hindu remained poor. While the temples like Sabarimala, Guruvayoor, Kadampuzha and Vaikkom had crores of rupees in revenue, the evangelists go hunting for the poor Hindus to give them charity and hang crosses on their necks. This is because the crores of Rupees of temple revenue went straight to the government coffers, leaving nothing for the Hindu poor. The government does not want to control the places of worship of the non-Hindus. The government does not want to take the revenues from the places of worship of the non-Hindus.

The pilgrims to the famed Sabarimala Aiyappa temple go past the Vavar Mosque. None of the pilgrims had any objections to that. Vavar or Babur makes no difference to them. However, the moneys given by the Aiyappa pilgrims to the Vavar Mosque are controlled by the Erumeli Mahallu Committee. The State Government does not want to control it, or spend it or even know about it.

 However, the money, given by the very same Aiyappa pilgrims to the Sabarimala Aiyappa temple, goes to the Kerala State Government and is controlled by it. So the donations to the Vavar Mosque go to Islam and the donations to the Sabarimala Aiyappa temple go to the “secular” state government. This, my dear people is the wretched anti-Hindu Nehruvian SECULARISM. Please understand this is the real face of “secularism” in India.

Our Hindu temple wealth does not benefit us Hindus. Tomorrow, even the cultural and traditional matters associated with Hindu Temples will be determined by the secular politicians. Secularism-addicted politicians and administrators who do not hesitate to take any anti-Hindu action spread the canard that if one temple is destroyed, then that much superstition will be destroyed. If they take control of administrative, cultural and traditional matters associated with Hindu temples, then is there any guarantee that they will not take the decision that the Muslim Muezzin can call the “Faithful” Muslims to prayer from the ramparts of the Hindu temples. Our experience in this matter has been so painful indeed.

If the secular politicians controlling the Temple Devaswom Boards take the decision that the Muslim Muezzin can howl five times a day to the “faithful” Muslims to prayer from the ramparts of the Hindu temples, would the Hindu be organized enough to resist and put down such attempts? The Hindu, having lost the temple wealth to the “secular” politicians controlling the Temple Devaswom Boards, can protest only from outside. So what, the “secularists”, say, aren’t the Hindus meant to tolerate every thing? So, let the Muslim Muezzin give his call to Muslims to prayer from inside the Hindu temples.

Samuel Rajashekhara, the earlier Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, tried to hand over 5 out of 7 hills to the Christian evangelists and only the alert and active Hindus of that state prevented that diabolical design.

What prevents the “secular” anti-Hindu politicians from deciding that the Hindus have too many temples, so let some temples be converted to mosques? If you think this is far too outlandish, then all you have to do is to refer the book ‘HINDU MASJIDS’ by Prafull Goradia.

If the secular politicians take such a subversive decision, would the Hindus be able to fight such a challenge? We, Hindus, must be able to recapture our lost temple wealth and prevent any more of our temple wealth from being captured by others.

We study in our schools about the Travancore Kingdom being absorbed into unified Kerala. If we dwell deep into the laws of the land, we can argue that the ruling dispensation cannot assert any rights to Travancore territory, let alone Hindu temples. We all know that donated property cannot be repossessed, reclaimed, reacquired or regained by the donor. Even if it is the father who has gifted his property to his son, the father cannot rescind the gift deed and retake the gifted property.

Travancore Kingdom was gifted by Maharaja Marthanda Varma to Sree Anantha Padmanaabha Swami, the presiding deity of Sree Anantha Padmanaabha Swami Temple at Trivandrum. The Kings of Travancore thereafter ruled as “Padmanabha-Dasas” or Servants of Sree Anantha Padmanabha Swami. So legally this lands comprising of Travancore still belongs to Sree Anantha Padmanabha Swami.

If Colonel Munroe could grab temple properties with a drop of ink from his pen, today the glib tongued Devaswom Minister of Kerala state will not hesitate to capture Hindu temples or to illegally arrest and detain Hindus. Here is where we Hindus need to wake from our deep slumber. Temple revenues must be put to use for furthering the interests of the Hindus. Temple revenues are not to be deployed at the discretion of any secular government.

This Kerala state is a land which gives a subsidy of Rs 13,000 for each Hajj pilgrim to Makkah. That is right! This State gives a subsidy of Rs 13,000 for each Hajj pilgrim after unconstitutionally grabbing the revenues of Hindu temples. Not only they don’t give any thing to the Hindu temples, but on the contrary, they are grabbing the temple funds given by the Hindu devotees.

Do the poor pilgrims to the Sabarimala Aiyappa temple get any free amenities at all? From the time a pilgrim leaves his house on his journey to the Sabarimala Aiyappa temple, he is exploited and sucked dry like sugarcane bagasse. The pilgrim has to pay toll, whether there is a bridge on the road or not. The authorities try to empty his pocket in every possible way. The Main Central Road (MC Road) which is most used by the pilgrims to the Aiyappa pilgrims is dug up most of the way, but did any one care?

After the Mandalam temple season and Makara Vilakku temple season, our transport minister proclaims loudly that he will repair the MC Road within 10 days. Now where was this transport minister before the two temple seasons? After the Aiyappa pilgrims travelling on the MC Road reached their respective homes with their lungs full of dust, our transport minister makes his grand proclamation that he will get the MC Road repaired within 10 days. Whether he will actually get the MC Road repaired or not is another matter. But why didn’t that Minister think of repairing the MC Road before the start of the two Sabarimala Aiyappa temple seasons? Aren’t these Sabarimala Aiyappa pilgrims contributing crores of Rupees directly and indirectly to the state government treasury?

So if we Hindu again display apathy, demoralization and disorganization, then we will be unworthy of even calling ourselves Hindus. The anti-Hindu “secular” politicians have publicly proclaimed that the Muslims have the first claim on the national resources of India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared in a conference of chief ministers that the Muslims have the first claim on the resources and development of the Indian nation.

I ask you if the Hindus are supposed to eat leftovers of other’s meal. We should be capable of asking loudly, IF THE MUSLIMS HAVE THE FIRST CLAIM ON THE NATIONAL RESOURCES OF INDIA THEN ARE THE HINDUS SUPPOSED TO EAT THEIR LEFT OVERS?

Should we allow the anti-Hindu “secular” politicians who wish to serve us leftovers from Muslims’ meals to control our Hindu temples? Should we allow the anti-Hindu “secular” politicians who did not react, when those who came to Guruvayoor Temple to pray were forcibly taken away for conversion to Christianity, to control our Hindu temples?

When our Hindu temples lay in ruins, when our Hindu temples became dilapidated, we did not see any of these anti-Hindu “secular” politicians coming to our aid. We had struggled long and hard to restore our Hindu temples. Those anti-Hindu “secular” politicians who did not bother to help in restoring and renovating our Hindu temples, what right have they to control our Hindu temples?

The communists who proclaim that they have no God and no religion, what business have they inside our temples? Aren’t Hindu temples to be administered by devote and believing Hindus?

Kerala state cabinet minister, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, went to Kadampuzha Temple and performed certain religious ceremonies. People, please note, this shameless spineless character who is presently the Home and Tourism Minister of Kerala and a Member of Politburo of the god-less atheist Communist Party of India (Marxist) went to that temple in the cover of darkness and in the name of “Balakrishnan” despite being always known by this full name, “Kodiyeri Balakrishnan”, and performed the religious ceremonies.

THOSE WHO HAVE INFERIORITY COMPLEX, THOSE WHO FIGHT SHY OF PROCLAIMING THEIR HINDU FAITH, THOSE WHO DENIGRATE SANATANA DHARMA BY THE DAY AND SNEAK INTO HINDU TEMPLES FOR PRAYER UNDER THE COVER OF DARKNESS, CAN WE ALLOW SUCH WRETCHED LOW LIVES TO ADMINISTER OUR TEMPLES?

We need to think. Aren’t the Hindus the only ones with this problem? Kodieri Balakrishnan denies having gone to the temple. Suddenly, another “Balakrishnan” surfaces to accept the “guilt” of having gone to a Hindu temple. State Crime Branch launches an investigation. A big drama is enacted to convince the CPM cadres that their leader did not go to any Hindu temple.

Our Stalinist Kerala Chief Minister Comrade V.S Achyutanandan’s son went to Sabarimala Aiyappa Swamy temple at the dead of the night with a cloth over his head and face to avoid being recognized by the Communist Party cadre, but he was soon spotted and soon enough a political storm was kicked up!

Ex-Chief Minister Comrade Nayanar and his wife fled to Kanyakumari in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu to make rice ball offerings to their departed ancestors, to avoid the Communist Party cadres from coming to know of the Hindu religious ceremony conducted by their “godless atheist” leader. If the communist party cadres come to know of the incident, then it would be a “loss of face” for Comrade Nayanar and consequent eternal shame!

I ask you, if it is a matter of deep shame for the godless atheist communist E.K Nayanar and his wife to make rice ball offerings according to Hindu ritual traditions, if it is a matter of shame for the godless atheist communist Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to be seen performing Hindu religious ceremonies in Kadampuzha temple and if it is a matter of shame for the godless atheist communist V.S Achyutanandan’s son to go on a pilgrimage to Sabarimala Aiyappa Swamy temple, then isn’t it also a matter of shame for those godless atheist communists to administer Hindu temples?

Shouldn’t it be a matter of shame for the godless atheist communists to administer the temples inhabited by the Hindu Gods and Goddesses? The Hindu must be able to loudly ask this question to the communists and demand a reply.

Comrade T.K Hamsa proudly proclaimed that as a believing and practicing Muslim he has conducted four Umras and a Hajj. He did not conduct four Umras and a Hajj with a cloth on his head to cover his face and hide his identity. On the contrary, he loudly trumpeted his Islamic faith and performed those pilgrimages with aplomb, his head held high. As long as the Hindu politicians have no strength of character and courage of conviction to assert their Hindu identity and proclaim their Hindu faith, can we allow them to enter our Hindu temples let alone administer them?

Know this, Hindu temples are meant only for Hindu devotees. It is not for those who have no faith in Hinduism. When those who have no faith in Hinduism try to grab control of Hindu temples, then we must resist strongly and forcefully.

Hindu society’s unity is not something to be destroyed by temporary personal animosity and vendetta. We the Hindu people need to develop the inner strength to inspire our leaders. No leader of any population descends from the sky on a rope. Rather, they are drawn from the very same population. If the support of the supporters propels the leaders to greater heights of leadership, then the very same supporters too need to develop the inner strength to inspire, caution and even correct the course taken by those leaders.

Hindu society should not lose its morale when faced by temporary personal animosity and vendetta. The Hindu society has studied in history classes about the personal animosity and vendetta of the Kings Jaichand and Prithviraj Chauhan around Delhi area and how it led this country to a thousand years of Islamic plunder, pillage, loot, rape, enslavement of the people, mass slaughter, mass religious conversions, destruction of temples, destruction of libraries, stoppage of scientific progress and the near collapse of Hindu civilization itself.

We need to be on guard here. DO NOT LET OUR HINDU TEMPLES PASS INTO ALIEN CONTROL. DON’T LET THE ANTI-HINDU “SECULAR” POLITICIANS GRAB CONTROL OF OUR TEMPLES THROUGH THE MEDIUM OF DEVASWOM BOARDS. Until the last drop of their blood is drained away, the devout Hindu population should resist this asuric manoeuvre to grab control of our Hindu temples.

Just as some Visha-Vaidyas summon the snake which bit a human and get it to remove the poison, the Hindu devotees must not give up their strenuous opposition until they compel backers and movers of the Devaswom Ordinance to withdraw that Ordinance. Those backers and movers had chased the state Governor to procure his assent for the Devaswom Ordinance, which was hurriedly drafted in the late hours of the night.

The powerful unified presence of the Hindu devotees who compelled missionaries from exploiting the Nilackal issue to their advantage, the powerful unified presence of the Hindu devotees who similarly fought and resolved to their satisfaction the cross issue in Kanyakumari, the powerful unified presence of the Hindu devotees who forced their way into Ayodhya to achieve their religious goals; time has come to bring out once again that very same powerful unified presence of the Hindu devotees.

For this, the Hindu society should fortify itself with physical strength and moral courage and face their enemies who are trying to grab control of more temples with that Devaswom Ordinance. We cannot come out of the battlefield without complete victory else we will have to face the divine wrath. Bhaktas are the ones who are supposed to fight on the side of Easwara-Chaitanyam.

We must see in the eye of our mind the enchanting scene of the newborn baby Sri Krishna being carried in a basket by his father Prince Vasudeva to the safety of Gokulam across the flooded River Yamuna. The Lord did not just fly away to safety; he expected Prince Vasudeva to carry Him away to safety and that is just what the Prince did. You can see from this incident that we are supposed to protect Easwara-Chaitanyam with our lives, if need be.

Sri Rama, an avataar of MahaVishnu could have easily gone to Lanka with the help of Pawan-putra Hanuman, challenged King Ravana to a duel and killed him and rescued Sita Devi. Yet, Sri Rama mobilised the Jambavan clan and the entire Vanara tribal nation to fight Ravana’s hordes. HE also made the rishi-Munis contribute their spiritual prowess for the victory of the vast Vanara army of Sri Rama. Maharshi Agastya composed the Aditya Hridayam Stotram for Sri Rama’s victory. Sri Rama even made all the Gods contribute weapons to HIS army.

Why did Sri Krishna, again, an avataar of MahaVishnu demand that Arjuna get off his posterior, shake off his despondency and fight in the MahaBharata war when Sri Krishna, who killed King Shishupala with a throw of Sudarshana chakra, could have easily killed Duryodhana, the Crown Prince, with a throw of Sudarshana Chakra and rendered the terrible Mahabharata war unnecessary? We are supposed to fight on the side of Dharma with all the resources at our disposal. This human intervention on the side of Dharma is a way for the Divinity to judge us mortals.

The anti-Hindu “secular” attempt to grab control of the administration of the Hindu temples and to gain control of the revenues of the Hindu temples is only to make the Hindus impoverished so that their conversions to the Semitic desert cults become easier. The anti-Hindu “secular” politicians, who are in the pay of the American-backed Christian missionaries with seemingly limitless funding, are in the forefront of the concerted attempt to grab control of Hindu temples in Kerala.

The anti-Hindu “secular” politicians are only serving their missionary paymasters and trying to facilitate conversion of Hindus. We Hindus have to wake up from our deep slumber. We are our own leaders. We have to make our own destiny. We cannot rest until this exploitive and oppressive anti-Hindu Devaswom Ordinance is withdrawn.

The mothers in these places have started displaying their courage. I came here from CherukolPuzha (near Kozhencherry town, Pathanamthitta district). Due to constraint for time, I could not talk individually to the mothers there, but as I was leaving the meeting venue, a group of mothers rushed to my car and told me that the mothers there will not withdraw from their strike. They even informed me that I can proclaim whereever I go that the mothers in CherukolPuzha are not withdrawing from their strike until the anti-Hindu Devaswom Ordinance is withdrawn. They don’t know about the men-folk, but the mothers are not withdrawing from their strike until they attain victory. There are so many similar instances where mothers have fought until they attained victory.

We just have to keep fighting until we attain victory. This is also a message to the anti-Hindu “secular” politicians who will use all the provisions of our government machinery, government policies, laws and constitution to kill us with supreme contempt and malicious neglect. Even to utter the two syllables Hindu, they have nothing but disgust and contempt. What right have they to rule over the Hindus? What business do they have to administer Hindu temples?

Those who delight in being palanquin bearers for Madanis, those who shed crocodile tears for Saddam Husseins, those who are able to see the tears of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine but are unable to see the tears of the terrorised Hindus of Jammu & Kashmir, why do they wish to portray themselves as guardians of the Hindu society? None of the anti-Hindu “secular” politicians have done any good for us in the past and none of those wretches need to bother pretending to be our benefactors in future.

The anti-Hindu “secular” politicians come together only to insult and cast scorn on the Hindus. Even if the Leftists and the Congress-wallahs fight on every occasion, we have witnessed the sorry spectacle of the two political rivals coming together on every single anti-Hindu platform.

You must have heard of the Divine Retreat Centre at Muringoor in Thrissur district against which the police have registered cases of cheating, forceful confinement, causing hurt by poison and dangerous weapons and destruction of evidence. The Kerala High Court appointed a high-level team to investigate allegations of criminal activities. CPM Party Secretary Pinaray Vijayan who made a pilgrimage to the Divine Retreat Centre at Muringoor to make his pious contrite confessions was closely following the highly Christianised Congressmen.

This godless atheist Communist Pinaray Vijayan came way after giving a good conduct certificate to the Divine Retreat Centre. He even asserted that the prayers conducted at the Divine Retreat Centre can cure diseases. If that is really so then, let the CPM, ruling Kerala State, disband the Kerala Government Department of Health. Let the CPM shut down the hospitals in Kerala. All people in Kerala can go to Christian Divine Retreat Centres, chant their congregational prayers, clap hands and sway in unison and be “saved” from ailments.

Is the CPM agreeable to that? Please remember that Comrade V.S Achyutanandan crossed to seas to obtain a cure for his ailments. That is what he did; fly off to America, crossing the sea. He did not go to any Muringoor Divine Retreat Centre to say his prayers. WHY? The Communists are only trying to appease the Christian missionaries for money and votes!

Now some of the Hindu mothers have acquired the presence of mind and courage to ask in return, why did you not bring the earlier Pope John Paul II to Divine Retreat Centre in Muringoor for prayer? After all, he suffered from Parkinson’s disease for over 20 years. Why didn’t the Christians bring Pope J.P II to the Divine Retreat Centre if the prayers over there would cure diseases?

We are being compelled to counter the propaganda with such retorts. When the missionaries come to us with their propaganda, we are constrained to pay them back in the same coin.

In a tsunami hit beach where Mata Amritanandamayi’s selfless disciples were distributing food and blankets, the missionaries came to distribute their crosses. They pointed to a church in the vicinity and said, the Virgin Mary ordered the tsunami to halt and the tsunami halted. Hearing such incredible propaganda the Hindu mothers were shocked at first. Then they recovered their composure and asked, the Virgin Mary who ordered the tsunami to halt here could have asked the tsunami to halt in Velankanni coast too. Why did she not do so? This is not something we like to or want to say, but we are compelled by the missionary propaganda to resort to making such remarks.

We know that the destructive forces of nature do not penalize or favour the adherents of any particular religion. We don’t believe that divinity always comes up with miracles. Even Bhagawan Sri Rama did not just fly over to Lanka. He built a long sea-bridge using all available help. So we are not the people who expect miracles to occur and we are not impressed by the miracle stories peddled by the missionaries with vivid imagination and glib tongue!

We do not challenge other religions by demanding that their adherents show us miracles in support of their religions. However we are being compelled to counter their propaganda with sharp retorts.

The Hindu who had an inclusive world view and who saw the several paths of various religions all leading to God, that Hindu is now compelled by the constant barrage of missionary propaganda to make counter propaganda and put down other religions.

What did the anti-Hindu “secular” politicians gain by such religious and political radicalisation of the Hindus?

Could the anti-Hindu “secular” politicians secure the territory of this country? NO.
Could the anti-Hindu “secular” politicians protect the lives of the citizens of this country? NO!

All they could achieve is to inject religious fundamentalism into the peace-loving Hindus.
If this anti-Hindu Nehruvian “secularism” could have achieved any thing positive,
any thing positive at all, we could have supported this “secularism”. But that is not to be!
We bear in our minds the trail blazed by Dr Hedgewar ji, one of the most influential men of this century, and Guru Gowalkar ji, the great karma yogi, who with the intent of advancing scientific, technological, economic, cultural and spiritual progress of the nation and strengthening its military might, endeavoured to mould the minds and character of our youth and build generations of courageous patriots to achieve such supreme national objectives.

To advance along the trail blazed by Dr Hedgewar ji and Guru Gowalkar ji and to take forward this nation to its appointed place in destiny as the undisputed leader of the comity of nations, to sweep away the THREE MORTAL ENEMIES which I had mentioned earlier, not to eliminate those people physically but to neutralise their hostility and to make them behave in amicable manner with us, we will have to inspire them through our own physical might, economic prowess, strength of character and courage of conviction!.

We are willing to respect all the Semitic prophets; we are willing to honour Allah and love the people who have converted to Islam, but we will in no way put up with Islamic fundamentalism. If this is a breach of the “secularism,” so be it! We Hindus will just have to become communalists for as long as it takes to root out this cult of intolerance. After all, we have seen no benefit in Hindus alone adhering to this anti-Hindu Nehruvian “secularism”, so we Hindus will just have to become communalists for some time.

To achieve rapid and all round progress of this great nation, all sections of the society will have to work in unison. The Hindu society, which reveres the sacred memory of Dr Hedgewarji and Guruji, must lead this national endeavour. Every step that we take we should be guided and inspired by our them and the thousands of selfless Swayamsevaks who went along that sacred path before us. We bow our heads, in all humility, before those great souls and seek their blessings.

With these words, I hereby end my speech. Thank you all.

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Translators Note:

Temples under non-Hindu control.

Many times, common people wring their hands in anguish and express their helplessness against the entrenched anti-Hindu political class. Hindu devotees need not despair. Indeed they can take DIRECT ACTION.

1. According the anti-Hindu “secular” UPA government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh, Muslims have first claim on India’s resources.

While going to a temple, inquire whether the temple is under the control of the HR&CE Department / Devaswom Board / Devasthanam Board. These Departments and Boards are controlled by anti-Hindu “secular” politicians. E.g., Guruvayur Temple, Chidambaram Temple etc.

DON’T PUT MONEY IN THE HUNDIS OF HINDU TEMPLES UNDER NON-HINDU CONTROL, no matter how famous they are.

The money put in the Hundis of such alienated Hindu Temples go straight to the treasury of the anti-Hindu “secular” governments and such money will be doled out for Hajj committees, Jerusalem visits, Christian-run government-aided schools and Muslim Madrassas.

Even the Maulavis are given pension out of such temple funds. State Pastors Fellowship president Rev K. Pratap Sinha said that a Special Minority Corporation was established in Andhra Pradesh, a subsidy of Rs.20,000 was being extended to Christians to visit Jerusalem and Rs.15,000 worth material was being sanctioned to poor Christian couples who were marrying at mass weddings. Rev K. Pratap gave full credit to the Christian Chief Minister Y.Samuel Rajasekhara Reddy for these blatantly pro-Christian programmes funded out of the State Treasury.

Now Hindus’ money is stolen and given to Christians and Muslims so they can breed more and convert more.

If you go to a temple controlled by the Government controlled HR&CE Department / Devaswom Board / Devasthanam Board, please do give money to the employees of the temples like poojaris, watch and ward staff and sweepers but do not put money in the temple Hundi.

Now if you are a sentimental person, there is still something you can do. Donate money to a Hindu-run orphanage or old-age home in the name of your favourite deity, collect the receipt and deposit it in the Hundi in the full knowledge that the anti-Hindu “secular” politicians cannot steal it and use it against us.

2. Convince your relatives and friends not to give money to temples under the control of non-Hindus (temple boards controlled by anti-Hindu “secular” politicians).

3. When the Hindu Temple-goers stop giving money to the Temples controlled by the anti-Hindu “secular” Governments those Temples will become poorer and the anti-Hindu “secular” politicians – be they of the Congress variety or the Communist ilk – will no longer want to control those cash-starved Temples. Then it will be easier for the Hindus to retrieve control of Hindu Temples and administer them for the benefit of the Hindu society.

4. Please give money only to temples run by Hindus and encourage the administration to start schools and orphanages and to take over and re-establish dilapidated and ruined temples.

5. There are Hindu-run orphanages, old-age homes and schools for deprived children. Please help them financially.

6. Please inquire about the administration of Charities before giving donation. Do not give any money to Christian Missionary charities like Child’s Relief and You, World Vision etc. They will take your money and convert orphaned Hindu children into rabid Hindu-haters.

Why Telangana?

If I get my conspiracy theory antennas up, I think the following scenario is what caused Telangana decision:

This is a decision ordered by Sonia Gandhi, influenced by her foriegn linkages (which can be easily deduced by the kind of decisions she has been stuffing down everyone’s throat). (I strongly believe she is a Western plant.)

There is a strong evangelical angle to it. Everything was fine when Sonia managed to put a Christian chief minister in place. YSR had a double personality — he was a hard-core evangelist at heart while dressing and talking like a traditional Telgu person. While in power, he surrounded himself with Christians, including his chief secretary. He was openly conniving with evangelist agenda, such as releasing government funds for building and renovating churches and giving pilgrimage subsidy to Christians for visiting Bethlehem and arranging state infrastructure for his son-in-law’s proselytising rallies.

With his death, there was panic and mourning in the church/CIA nexus. (Remember, americans opened a consulate in Hyderabad under YSR’s watch. The rabidly evangelical royalty of Scandanavian countries regularly began to visit Hyderabad after YSR came to power. Remember the breast beating in America and its extra-ordinary efforts to find YSR’s helicopter.)

Now, 90 percent of the 2.5 billion dollars that officially arrives into India from Christian countries is, according to a Home Ministry report, meant only for Tamil Nadu and Andhra — these two states have clearly been marked for massive Christianisation. (Their long coastline makes sure they will be economically viable as separate Christian countries when the Goras begun to do a North East here in some years.)

Most of the funding from Gora churches for Andhra, in turn, is earmarked for Telangana — this is the area where the pastors managed to infiltrate into rural areas and establish churches in villages which had never seen one.

It is this force which is behind the abrupt decision to declare Telangana merey two months after YSR’s death. YSR’s ’sudden removal” threw a spanner in their work. There is no way they can implement their evangelical agenda without a Christian chief minister in power. (Rossiah has already begun touring Tirupati and other temples.)

The only soluton was to separate Telangana from rest of Andhra and begun working on it afresh with a sympathetic Congress and an obliging KRC in power. Most probably, congress will try to manoever a Christian into power there once it wins elections in Telangana. Christianisation of Telangana will be a god-send — it is contiguous to Christian areas of Chattisgarh, Vidharbha and Orissa, thus expanding the “Christian oil drop” further in central India.

Maoists (who are nothing but a tribal christian militia) will have massive power in Telangana — the small, impoverished state won’t be able to do much to stem their tide, especially with church-backed chief minister in power. This will be in contrast to big states which can throw a massive amount of resources and force in any part of the state to hose off any insurgency.

This Telangana thing only benefits the Maoists and church — essentially, one more nail in the coffin of Hindus due to their political blindness iin supporting Congress “leaders” who do not even pretend to represent their interests. (The same thing the goofballs did with supporting Gandhi who made no bones about the fact that in any confrontation, he will only side wth Muslims.)

I strongly suspect the Hyderbad consulate of US is behind this decision through Sonia Gandhi. I can only imagine the massive maps of Andhra dangling in its conference room, with detailed district-by-district census figures about religious demography.

In short, if HIndus of Telangana love their life and don’t want their leaders to be “suddenly removed” by Maoists (a la Orissa), they better reallise quickly which side their bread is buttered. India is too big. The Goras and their church want to gobble it up by dividing it into smaller helpings.

A soldier’s daughter

Who let the politicians out?

by Vaishnavi Prasad

It’s very simple. A military coup, that is. One collective word is all it needs to convert this nation from a democratic country to a progressive economy with martial law.

The armed forces will take over the nation, and no one can do a thing about it. Not the police force, not Manmohan Singh(=Sonia Gandhi), not A.K. Antony. No one. A movement will arise so suddenly and with the fury of a raging tsunami, that it will rewrite India’s future, inject discipline in the blood of every Indian, unscrew unopened bottles of potential and terrorise the intestines out of those who dare to oppose them or irrigate the minds of others with vile thoughts. Corruption will be eliminated 90% and progress will double. Indeed, the souls of our forefathers who fought for real freedom, will rest whole-heartily under this military control. Ironic, but true.

The question here is, why won’t they do it?

Let me tell you what bothers me. I am the 19 year old daughter of a retired government servant, an army officer to be specific (note the ‘Servant’.. absolutely true in case of the armed forces)

My father, who retired as a Colonel, is not a reciever of the PVSM, AVSM, VSM, or even the VC for that matter. He was a part of the army, served an ordinary Colonel’s role, did not jump in front of a bullet to save his men, or plan an intelligent strategy to capture some enemy territory. He was a part of both major wars with Pakistan and China, returned without being a decorated war hero, served in regiments in both borders, saw extreme weather conditions and backward technology and most importantly, he enjoyed and took immense pride in doing all this and serving the nation.

Yet, I feel my father is a greater man than many ‘greats’ in this nation. Shahrukh Khan, or Pratibha Patil,to begin with:neither of them have sacrificed more than a sleepless night or compromised on their Saturday morning sleep for the nation.

I don’t blame you for saying, ‘Oh, she’s an army officer’s daughter, obviously that’s why she’s biased’. I don’t deny it. It is true. I am biased. And I want every single person in this country, if not the world to be biased. I can only tell you what it is like to have seen these people up, close and personal, to have heard true incidents of bravery and selflessness and then know they’re are being paid peanuts, to sacrifice their lives without hesitation for the nation.

When I was 16, my family took a holiday to Arunachal Pradesh, to the regiment where my father had been in command, more than 20 years ago. From a scenic , quaint little town called Tenga, on the banks of a gushing river, we travelled to a snow desert near the Chinese border called Bumla. Here, in the middle of nowhere, one could see a small board stuck in the ice reading ‘Welcome to India’. For as far as our eyes could see in all four directions, there was nothing but snow. Beside that board stood a guard, probably of south Indian origin, in 6 layers of clothing, a giant wind-cheater and the heaviest pair of snow-boots imaginable, against constant rapid winds, endless lengths and immense depths of ice, pacing an abandoned minefield from the 1962 war, looking through a telescope at Chinese vantage points to track enemy positions and moves.

He didn’t opt to be there, but when he chose the forces as a career he knew what he would be facing, and he faces it with valour, for he has the patriotism that you and I and many of our politicians lack. Tomorrow he may die in battle, but I know for sure, that no one who has joined the forces will ever regret taking up that profession. If he dies in an act of bravery, he will most probably be awarded a VC or PVC medal for the same, posthumously. Then the government might give his family a lump sum and/or a measly monthly stipend of Rs.850 to Rs.1500. I ask you, is that all this man’s life is worth?

What about a serving soldier? He mostly hails from small areas or rural backgrounds with an uneducated wife and 2 children back in his village alone.Typical, but true. This man, who has time in the forward areas only to eat, sleep and watch the enemy, hardly sees his family. His entire salary is sent back home to his spouse, who faces the brunt of yet again uneducated parents-in-law ready to blame her for anything that happens to their son. In such a situation, a soldier’s wife receiving the pitiful salary of her husband will be left an orphan in the middle of the road, simply for the lack of money.

Then, these war heroes, and martyrs are forgotten within minutes, no, wait, seconds of their death. No one forgets to come for the Republic Day parade ,or to place that wreath they didn’t order on the grave of some memorial they don’t know was built for what om Independence day. Just because it is protocol. Protocol to ‘remember’ (or forget?) these people on these ‘days’ meant for our nation, to ‘remember’ them for the 30 seconds it takes you to read patriotic forwards and messages in your in boxes on email and on your cellphone.

Like a 90-year old war veteran said, I guess it’s the forces who are to be blamed. Right from the 3rd pay commission-who screwed up royally- the three forces have always put the pride of serving the nation over money. I guess it’s their fault they didn’t demand it then.

My father and I have been discussing this issue for a while now, and my blood boils, every single time I see our so-called Defence minister Mr.A.K..Antony defending his stupidity on a podium which he does not deserve. Have you for a minute stopped and thought about why you at home are able to enjoy your evening spent listening to your iPod, or watching a DVD on your 42-inch LCD? It is because you live in India, where the borders, threatened by invasion every second, are guarded constantly, by the watchful eyes of some 27-year old son of a mother who sits far away in a remote town, praying consciously every second for the safety of her son. If that guard decided to look away for even a minute, he would be dead, within seconds, and there would be an invasion leading to chaos everywhere. Soon, India would become a replicate Iraq, pandemonium prevailing,where you would need the permission of your invaders to even use the toilet, which under normal circumstances would be your birthright.

Sometimes it’s scary, how something so simple and routine is linked to something so complex and out of hand. From all of you who saw these reports of the military’s peaceful war against the government on television, some of you changed the channel since it didn’t concern you, some saw the report and took it in as general knowledge, and some burnt rage over it for a few seconds. Those whose blood still boils, would be the ones who have actually some patriotism left in their blood.

Am I being too philosophical for a nineteen year old? Most of you might say yes, but I say, why not? You would too, if you saw the fire in the eyes of these people the way I do.

And what is it, with Mr.Antony’s comment on discipline? I’m sorry Mr.Antony, but you politicians, who hit each other with chappals, and microphones, use unparliamentary language in the parliament, come half an hour late to a meeting, and do not know the words of the national anthem, are talking about discipline.Please, don’t make me laugh.Or with the panel that is enquiring the pay commission having IAS officers in it!? Why don’t we have a separate pay commission for the Military like most other countries do? Why do we have to put up with a cock-eyed system? Why does a DGP get paid almost twice as much as his equivalent in the forces? Why does the army have to replace the fire-brigade, police force and everyone else, when it is specifically mentioned that the forces are only for training during peace and attack during war. Why does the government involve the forces in flood relief , earthquake relief, tsunami relief, and more recently, rescuing of children fallen in pits? Then to put the cherry on the icing, you pay them in a pay scale adopted in 1948?

I have faced and will face a lot of criticism for my views.As some of my friends say, we do get good rations, accommodation and cheaper FMCGs and alcohol. Rations and accommodation -anyone in a decent government service gets that. Cheaper FMCGs- The least the government can do is to remove the taxes off the MRP of many products and make it available to the average soldier, who in return is willing to pay the price of his life for his nation. Cheap alcohol- yes, a bottle of rum is relatively cheaper. Why don’t you spend one year of your life to replace a soldier in snowy altitudes, in nothing but a tent or in the blistering heat of the Thar with the only wind bringing sandstorms along with it or in the jungles of Nagaland with the leeches sucking your blood out and I’m sure ANY soldier you replace to give him precious time with his family will gladly give you all the rum he can ever get in his life, simply so you don’t die of exhaustion and depression and actually live to tell your tale.Simply, so you can survive.

Let me remind you (non)patriotic souls, that the life of a person in the armed forces is one filled with dignity and pride, and I believe it should reflect in how much s/he is paid, for glamour and corruption rule the roost today, and that bias will take our country nowhere.

Hoping for the best to come for our brave men and women.

JAI HIND.

Vaishnavi Prasad

Hat tip: BRF